The Veiled Descendants

by Sophia Menesini

  Perses goes to leave, but before he reaches the soldier, Ceto stops him, gripping his forearm.

  “Do I tell the generals we march to Oceanus?”

  Perses considers the request and then nods.

  “It’ll give us time to make it over the mountain pass safely. There’s many elven traps I’ll need to break, old magic that will need to be dissolved. We leave come dawn.”

  The soldier looks up and places his forearm over his chest firmly. He starts to stand, but Ceto turns her gaze upon him.

  “Did I say that you could leave, Captain?”

  “No, Your Majesty, I just assumed…”

  Ceto laughs. “You assumed, yes. I gave orders not to be disturbed, and yet you entered my tent without permission.”

  “No, Your Majesty, I—” the soldier tries to explain, but Ceto cuts him off.

  “No? You deny my claim? Are you saying I’ve lied?”

  “No—no,” he stutters, raising his hands up in surrender, “Coral Fang told me to fetch Lord Perses immediately.”

  “I am your empress! You obey me,” Ceto shouts shrilly. She grabs the longsword near the bed and with quick precision removes the captain’s head from his body before he can react.

  Perses watches the officer’s head roll until it stops at his feet, the poor man’s cheek still twitching.

  Ceto’s chest rises and falls heavily, blood splattered on her face.

  Perses calmly walks toward their bed and picks up the silk robe laid at the foot. He opens it up and places it on her as she puts her hands through properly. He even steps around and ties it for her as she pulls her hair out from underneath.

  “Such strength,” Perses compliments, and leaves a light kiss on her lips.

  He chokes as her hand reaches out and grasps his cock through the silk of his pants, holding him by his genitals.

  “After I inform the generals, I expect you to be naked in my bed when I return. I plan on having my way with you until daybreak. Am I understood?”

  Perses clears his throat and vainly tries to speak clearly, “Perfectly, Your Majesty.”

  Ceto releases him and Perses takes a shallow breath, following her out of the tent.

  She gracefully takes off toward the general’s tent across camp, and Perses chuckles as he watches her human men stumble over themselves to bow as she walks by.

  Perses smells him before he sees him. He looks over his shoulder to find Coral Fang’s glowing milky eyes from the dark, where he’s standing off to the side of the empress’s tent.

  “Coral Fang, you let her kill that poor boy,” Perses notes with a tsk of his tongue.

  “Sorry, Master,” Coral Fang admits with a razor grin.

  Perses examines the Merrow quickly for injuries but finds none. The creature’s body is disgusting, covered in scales and fish slime, with three rows of gills crossing the monster’s neck. Long webbed fingers end in razor-sharp, coral-like nails, and knifelike fins extend off his ankles, thighs, elbows, back, and the top of his head. The Merrow are vicious humanoid creatures with no tail to make them merpeople, but not mortal enough to be considered elven anymore. With the help of Perses’s magic, the Lycon blacksmith was able to create light armor for his Merrow army without restricting their fins or swim speed.

  “Did you find an opening?”

  “No, the boundary is closed to us until Master can accumulate enough power; there’s no way into the Eastlands.”

  “I figured as much,” Perses concedes, “but no matter, once I have immortality, my power will grow and then not even the great Ami will be able to keep me out. Speaking of, I have a new job for you, Coral Fang.”

  Coral Fang steps closer to his master, bowing. “Anything.”

  “I need you to see if the Veiled Duchess survived the Megathirio. It’s on its way to Tenaro, but they’ll find Triton is much closer than they realize.”

  “Orena,” the monster spits.

  Perses nods. “They’re not far from the border.”

  He projects the coordinates into Coral Fang’s mind, and he grunts in pain.

  “If they survived, follow her.”

  “What do you want us to do? When we get to the island.”

  “Wait until they have Triton, I’ll be able to sense it. I’ll send you the order, and then burn it,” Perses commands.

  He turns to go back into the tent to ready himself for Ceto’s return when a cold, slimy hand stops him. He looks back at the creature with disgust, and Coral Fang immediately drops his hand from his master’s shoulder.

  “The ship, my lord?”

  “No, you fool. The island. Then return immediately to me for the Arethusian invasion. I need them to come home quickly, and that should give my darling brother and sister all the incentive they need to face me.”

  Chapter 17: Trial by Boiling Water

  Jo

  “Water dragon.”

  Jo can barely hear herself think as Shea’s translation leaves her panicking.

  Everyone is rushing to their stations.

  The Megathirio, a water dragon, has risen out of the sea, but it hasn’t blasted its boiling water across the deck yet. The monster is huge; it towers over the ship, steam rising from its blistering red scales.

  Black horns twist off of its serpent-like skull. The boiling water blasts don’t seem to be the only thing they have to worry about, as the talons on the creature’s hands and the razor teeth don’t look exactly harmless.

  Jo eyes the wings with terror—how are they going to defeat this thing?

  She notices Beck has already taken off toward the bow.

  Jo calls after him as does Shea, but she can see him helping the injured crew out of the way so the rest of the abled crew can get to harpoons and launch them.

  “Aster!”

  James shouts from behind them at the wheel.

  They all look up to see Aster hanging from the crow’s nest—the force from the creature surfacing must have knocked him from the platform.

  He has a rope tied around his waist, but with the Megathirio so close, the last thing he wants to do is go swinging toward the bow.

  “Aster!” Shea shouts and she takes off to go after him, but Poseidon stops her.

  “Let go of me!”

  “Shea, if we’re going to have any chance of living through this, I need you to listen to me!”

  Jo looks up at Aster, watching his right hand fail as it lets go of the edge.

  He’s hanging on by only his left and the rope attached to his waist.

  James runs down the steps of the helm, but Caen sees him and stops shouting at Mister Tero to start firing.

  “James, you get back to steering this vessel away from that dragon or so help me gods it’s not the monster you’ll have to worry about!”

  “But what about Aster,” James growls.

  “I’ll get him,” Jo says.

  Shea stops listening to what her father’s saying and turns to her with wide eyes.

  “You’re not bloody going up there!”

  “Hey, if that’s your kid up there, then he’s mine too, so yeah I’m getting our boy,” Jo orders and that shuts Shea up.

  It must be enough for James too, because Jo turns to look at him and he’s already back at steering.

  The ship begins to turn, but it’s not fast enough; the dragon’s wings expand and one flap sends everyone falling to the ground.

  “It can’t fly, but it can create some strong gusts off the deck,” Poseidon says. “The thing’s too quick and has too much power to shoot at it unrestrained. The water’s heat won’t kill you; it’s hot but you’ll drown from the constant rush of it before you burn long enough to do any lasting damage.”

  “So what do we do?” Shea bellows and the dragon screeches again.

  It brings a claw down, tearing through the front sail. Then it rears back its ugly head and Jo can see Tero tying ropes around sailors and connecting the ropes to the mast with Beck’s help.

  Searing water erupts from the c
reature’s throat—Tero and Beck manage to avoid most of it by hiding behind the mast, but Jo loses sight of them, and many of the crew cry out in burning pain.

  Aster screams from above; he’s trying to pull himself up, but he can’t.

  Jo doesn’t have a lot of time. She pulls the sword from her scabbard, the one she grabbed from Shea’s room just in case, and realizes it’s Shea’s old sword. The one her father tried to kill her lover with. She stares down at the enchanted gold blade and part of her wants to throw it overboard but another part thinks its poetic.

  “So what’s the plan? He doesn’t have much time,” Jo demands.

  She’s looking at Shea, and Shea reluctantly looks to Poseidon.

  “Well you heard her, what do you suggest?” Shea questions.

  Poseidon smiles and gets to it. “Okay, Jo, you get to the kid and save him. Tell Beck to aim the harpoons off the port side and get the cannons ready. Shea and I are going to restrain it!”

  “How?” Shea argues.

  “We’re going to imprison it in, well, for lack of a better term, a bubble of water. We hold it, suspended, and Beck and the gunners shoot.”

  “I can’t do that, I don’t have the power. It’s too strong. I’ll never hold it!”

  “Shea,” Jo yells, catching her attention.

  Her captain turns to her, and she notices Shea’s green eye catch on the blade Jo’s holding.

  “You can do this.”

  Jo doesn’t wait for a response; she takes the sword and starts running to the rope ladder leading up to the crow’s nest.

  “Jo!”

  Jo looks up in time to see a wave of boiling water rushing toward her.

  A large mass hits her from the side and she lands between two cannons with a body on top of her—the sword clamors to the side.

  Water rolls past but the little bit that hits her makes her cry out.

  The figure on top of her groans as the water splashes across his back.

  “Caen!”

  Caen looks down at Jo and quickly helps her up.

  The water dragon has ripped up the bow of the ship, the Duchess’s figurehead sinking into the fathoms.

  Jo sees Beck in one of the harpoon chairs, and he takes a good shot at the creature, pelting it through the right wing, ripping through the thinner flesh.

  The dragon screams in agony, and Beck jumps as a wave of boiling water blasts apart the harpoon launcher.

  “Aster’s still hanging on, you’ve got a clear moment!”

  “Caen, tell Beck to get the gunners facing the port side and to aim the left harpoon off the rail. Poseidon and Shea are going to incapacitate the dragon, enough to get in a good shot.”

  The two of them look back to their captain and the god. Poseidon finishes saying something to Shea, and she nods with determination.

  The next thing they can see is the father-daughter team walking down the center of the ship toward the Megathirio.

  The dragon screeches when it sees them, and Jo hears Aster shout.

  She looks and screams when she sees his last hand slip from the ledge.

  Aster bellows as he falls, but he must have managed to grab his dagger at his right side because he quickly plunges the knife into the side of mast. He’s hanging from the dagger’s handle now but it won’t hold him long.

  Jo and Caen take off.

  The dragon screeches and it’s louder closer to the bow.

  Caen reaches Beck, and Jo reaches the ladder just in time for the dragon to open its mouth again.

  This close she can see the water bubbling in its throat before it expels it at the deck.

  Jo closes her eyes, preparing herself to withstand the full pain of the blasting heat, but it doesn’t come. When she opens her eyes, she sees the water erupting from the dragon’s mouth is being pushed back toward the Megathirio.

  She turns and sees Shea and Poseidon with their hands outstretched, straining with obvious effort as they force the water coming from the dragon to encase the dragon’s head. The more water it spits out, the more their casing expands down the creature’s body.

  Jo starts climbing.

  She sheathes the sword and pulls herself up the rope ladder.

  Aster is still struggling to hang on, but she realizes if she just gets high enough, Aster can let go of the dagger and swing to the ladder, and she just has to be ready to catch him so he doesn’t swing past her and end up in the water prison with the Megathirio.

  The dragon’s tail breaks from the water bubble, as it panics from the magical encasing crawling over its body.

  The sound of cannon fire echoes across the open ocean, but the cast-iron spheres practically bounce off the creature. The steel harpoons seem to be the only thing strong enough to pierce the monster’s hide.

  Its tail slams into the side of the ship, and the Duchess creaks from the impact.

  Caen shouts for someone to get below and check the damage.

  No use defeating this thing if the Duchess sinks.

  “Aster,” Jo calls out.

  Aster looks over to the rope ladder and sees Jo a little farther down.

  “I’m slipping,” Aster croaks, beads of sweat dripping down his beautiful face.

  “That’s okay, I need you to let yourself fall. I’m going to catch you!”

  Aster shakes his head. “If I swing too far over, I’ll hit the thing!”

  “I promise I’ll catch you, Aster, just let go. I need you to trust me.”

  A strange gargling sound roars from behind them, and Jo gasps as she looks and sees the Megathirio almost completely encased.

  Its wings and tail struggle, occasionally escaping the giant water prism.

  It’s incredible.

  Jo turns her attention back to Aster though, who is staring at the magic casing in shock.

  “Aster!”

  ​He looks at her.

  ​“Trust me, son.”

  ​His eyes widen.

  He looks down at Shea, who’s screaming at the energy it’s taking to hold the Megathirio in place—and then, he lets go.

  ​Aster falls quickly and as the rope tied around his waist pulls taut, he grunts in pain from the force as he swings toward Jo.

  ​He’s flying toward her, but she also notices he’s coming in a little low. Okay, a lot low.

  Jo scrambles down the ladder as fast as she can as he swings to the left side of ladder.

  He’s moving fast.

  She reaches out and grunts as his body slams into her, and she uses his own momentum to propel them to the back side of the rope ladder.

  Jo has Aster pressed against the rope, shielding him with her own body against any attack.

  They’re both breathing hard and the left side of Jo’s body pulses from the hit, but she’s got him.

  “Thank you,” Aster murmurs, and without really thinking Jo presses a quick kiss to the top of his head.

  Jo hadn’t even realized she’d closed her eyes until they shoot open at the sound of Shea shouting.

  “I can’t hold him, he’s struggling too much!”

  “Keep your focus on what I told you,” Poseidon orders. “Now we’ve got to create an opening for them to shoot the harpoons through!”

  “I’m barely holding him inside, I can’t think about doing more,” Shea screams, her arms quaking.

  Her face is red, and Jo can see from here a tendon visibly popping from her throat.

  “Careful!” Poseidon cries, as Shea briefly loses her hold—long enough for the dragon’s mouth to shoot through the water prison.

  It tries to spray the deck, but Poseidon manages to catch the water and push it back into the casing; the creature screeches from the feel of its own heat.

  “Shea, concentrate, look at what you’ve done, the power you have! Beck has the shot, we just need to open the way.”

  Jo looks over and sees Beck in the harpoon contraption—he’s got the gun primed, and he nods that he’s ready.

  “We can do this, I just need you
to trust me!”

  “I can’t!” Shea bellows.

  “Daughter,” Poseidon commands, and Shea turns her head toward him with momentous effort, “trust me.”

  Shea takes a shallow breath; she turns back to the Megathirio.

  She keeps her left hand outstretched but drops her right, and Poseidon does the same. Then they both bring their right hands up and begin to draw a slow circle in the air.

  Jo watches the water bubble holding the dragon, but nothing seems to happen.

  They’ve got him pinned by the pressure, keeping his chest open for Beck to take the killing shot, but they’ve got to create a window through the water first.

  And then Jo sees it, a faint swirl in the water over the creature’s chest getting bigger.

  ​Shea is yelling at the effort, sobbing like she’s in pain.

  Jo looks down and her heart stops as she can see blood pouring from Shea’s nose. Jo thinks she might collapse, but something else happens.

  Gradually, Shea’s eyes begin to glow. Her wounded eye slowly changes back to her normal shade of green and the scar knits back into smooth flesh. Her braided red hair flies free, turning brighter and richer than before. Her skin glows—not just tan but a true golden glow shining from her flesh.

  “What’s happening?” Aster cries.

  Poseidon turns to his daughter and laughs but Shea doesn’t seem to be aware of the changes. Her stature grows until she might even be the same height as Caen.

  The window in the water opens and Shea’s scream silences. She’s quiet, her hands no longer shaking; instead of continuing the circular movement with her right hand, she uses a strange motion and water picks up one of the steel harpoons.

  She pulls her right arm back and then pushes it forward like she’s throwing an object.

  The harpoon suspended in midair by water goes racing toward the Megathirio and plunges into the water dragon’s chest.

  The bubble of water encasing the dragon drops and the creature screeches in agony, gurgling on some boiling water it can’t expel.

  The crew watches in shock as the Megathirio collapses into the sea, black blood coating the ocean’s surface, and the dead monster sinks below the rocky waves.