The Veiled Descendants

by Sophia Menesini

  “I appreciate it. Thank you.”

  The sky overhead is black and orange. The city is burning outside and it’s a harsh glare against the midnight blue.

  Shea uncorks her waterskin now attached to her waist. She realizes Jo’s sword is missing.

  Triton doesn’t seem to be carrying any weapons either, but she figures it’d be a mistake to underestimate him.

  She leads them out into the hall, looking around for any trace of trouble.

  They move quickly into the next room and run straight into Poseidon.

  Jo catches Shea as she stumbles back, and Poseidon stops himself from falling by catching himself on the white clay wall.

  “Oh. It’s you,” Shea growls.

  Poseidon sighs. “I was coming to find you.”

  “Thanks for the concern,” Shea scoffs. “Do you know what’s happening?”

  “Merrow. Dari, Caen, Phoebus, and some of the crew are in the storefront of the dome trying to keep the magic boundaries in place. They’re surprisingly strong for elven magic,” Poseidon states.

  “I strengthened them, when I snuck through,” Triton speaks.

  Poseidon finally sees him as he steps around the corner.

  “You’re here.” Poseidon smiles.

  “Not for you,” Triton responds.

  Shea and Triton glare at Poseidon while Jo stands there looking uncomfortable.

  “I know our family is a bit dysfunctional right now, but we should probably get going,” Jo suggests, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

  Poseidon clears his throat and unhooks something at his side.

  Shea recognizes her old sword, the one Jo has been using, and he hands it to her wife.

  “I know you don’t trust me anymore,” Poseidon says to Shea, and he’s looking at both his children, “but you still need people to help. Let me do what I can. Because even though I’ve lost your faith, you’re still my children and I want to protect you. Both of you.”

  Triton scoffs, turning away, but Shea takes a shaky breath.

  She knows he’s right, and even if he did lie, he’s not completely worthless. He is still able to help more than most. Shea forces herself to put aside her anger and at least use him.

  “We need to get to the storefront; have you seen Aster, Beck, and James?”

  “I think they were in the kitchens,” Poseidon reports.

  “Okay, then let’s go.”

  As she takes a step forward to lead the group again, the sound of glass breaking fills the air. Battle cries, men shouting, and people screaming echo down the halls. Clashing metal and banging is coming from the dome and Shea takes off in a run toward the sounds.

  “They’ve broken through,” Triton barks.

  No shit, Shea thinks and startles when he responds.

  “I was just saying,” Triton snaps back in her mind.

  She looks at him briefly as they run to the dome.

  He gives her a humorless grin.

  She shakes her head, turning back as they enter the dome.

  It’s chaos.

  Shea has never seen the Merrow up close before.

  Their bodies are humanoid, but their skin is covered in scales and fish slime with three rows of gills down the neck. Long webbed fingers end in razor-like nails and knifelike fins extending off their ankles, thighs, elbows, back, and the top of their heads. They’re grotesque and misshapen.

  They seem to be wearing some kind of armor, and all of them carry Lycon swords, black volcanic metal produced from the forges in Acheron.

  Perses really is working with Lycos.

  Shea can’t believe Ceto is this insane—to be aiding him, an elf of all things, even for power.

  The center tree is burning. Leaves are falling, creating small balls of fire cascading down from fiery branches, and the house lays mostly in ruins. They broke down the storefront with an explosion of some kind.

  Shea doesn’t see Dari, Phoebus, or Caen. She does, however, see Beck, James, and Aster fighting with albeit improvised weapons against two particularly nasty Merrow.

  The first has orange fins and purple skin with brutal pure black eyes, while the other has overly large teeth spilling out of its mouth with white eyes and a gray ashen body, both covered in slime.

  Aster seems to be wielding a large skillet, while James lunges with a pitchfork, and Beck swings a sickle he must have found near the hay bales in the stables.

  They’re holding their own.

  Aster manages to slam his skillet into the orange-and-purple one’s head while James skewers him with a pitchfork.

  Beck dodges a nasty blow and slices the sickle into the gray one’s middle, killing him but also losing his sickle in the creature’s side.

  Shea shouts to them and they turn, finding her quickly. They point toward the dining area and Shea turns to see Dari in a white nightgown, sword fighting a large Merrow. Phoebus is lying up against the wall, and Caen, in his vest, pants, and boots, is protecting him from two Merrow charging at them.

  The one fighting Dari must hear Shea’s shout because he turns toward her, and points.

  He calls in elven for the other Merrow to attack her. Looks like he might be the one in charge.

  Dari screams as she is unable to dodge a blow to her leg and the Merrow slashes her thigh.

  Phoebus cries out and starts crawling toward her as quickly as he can with his broken leg.

  “Poseidon, help Caen! Triton, Jo, go help Beck, Aster, and James. I’m going to go help my mom,” Shea orders.

  She takes off running into battle before anyone can object.

  Jo and Triton head for the three boys.

  Triton summons water from the air as he moves his hands in a precise gesture and water forms around both.

  Jo draws her blade and they fight the oncoming Merrow together. There’s not many left and if they can kill the last few, they can start making their way to the docks before more pile into the merchant’s home.

  Shea spots Caen swinging his hammer, crushing a Merrow’s skull. His back is turned as another lunges at him with its blade.

  Shea shouts for Caen to turn around but there’s not enough time. She almost changes paths, narrowly avoiding a Merrow that storms her, swinging his blade across her chest. She uses the water from her pouch and wraps a lasso around the creature’s throat, breaking its neck.

  Poseidon has created a trident from the wedding wine. He rushes to Caen’s aid and impales his trident through the Merrow attacking the other man, picking the creature up and throwing it across the room.

  Caen side-eyes Poseidon with an angry glare, but he can’t ignore his help and gruffly expresses his thanks.

  Looks like they’re a team for now.

  Members of the Arethusian navy and Shea’s crew battle the rest of the nightmarish creatures. A few of their allies are dead on the floor.

  Shea finds the two Oceanan soldiers who accompanied Beck at the beginning of this voyage on the ground.

  The male officer has been decapitated and the woman holds his detached head in her lap, her eyes wide and unseeing, blood soaking her clothes.

  Shea takes down another Merrow that tries to sever her arm as she bends the water offensively. She forces the liquid down his throat and changes it into icicles, ripping his throat out from the inside.

  Semele has found her way to one of the dead Merrow’s swords. She’s fighting off another, keeping him off Dari’s back, while Dari summons burning vines from the center tree to wrap around the Merrow attacking her.

  Shea’s almost to her, only a few steps away.

  Dari’s leg is bleeding badly, and just as Shea’s about to make it to the two older women defending the dining area, she spots Phoebus.

  He’s still crawling toward Dari, his broken leg splinted around his leather pants and his peasant shirt ripped, but now a Merrow has noticed him.

  The creature smiles at the slow-moving dwarf.

  Phoebus winces in pain as his broken leg slides across the gro
und.

  It advances from behind him and Shea makes a choice.

  Semele and Dari seem to have things in hand, so she veers off course and runs toward Phoebus.

  The abomination growls, alerting him to its presence in time for him to see the Lycon sword coming down on him.

  Shea shoots out her hand with a guttural cry, the water changes form midair, solidifying into a solid ice spear that hits the Merrow in the chest, throwing him off his feet to fly backward.

  A feminine scream catches Shea off guard, and her steps falter. Shea turns to find Jo, searching for her desperately, and her eyes land on the queen near the broken storefront helping Beck kill an incoming Merrow.

  Jo turns around as well, relief visible when her eyes land on Shea, but then they widen in horror as she stares beyond her.

  “No!” Phoebus cries, his hand flung out.

  Shea turns to where he’s pointing and finds Dari with a Merrow standing behind her. His sword is thrust through her chest, lifting her off the ground.

  Semele is the one who must have screamed as she tries to fight harder against the Merrow she’s battling to get to Dari.

  Nausea grips Shea’s stomach. There’s a roaring in her ears, a gushing noise like river rapids. She can feel her veins thrumming with power.

  The Merrow behind Dari pulls his sword from her chest, dropping her to the ground like a discarded object.

  Shea’s vision tunnels; her hands are moving of their own accord, and there’s a sensation like an invisible rope in her hands that she’s pulling on.

  A thunderous sound echoes throughout the dome as Shea screams. A wall of water rushes from the garden, breaking down a part of the dome. Water tentacles shoot from the turbulent column and grab at the remaining Merrow in the dome.

  All of them.

  They’re sucked inside the liquid wall. Shea thinks she can hear someone shouting her name, but she ignores it. She’s going to kill them; she’s going to kill them all.

  Once they’re inside, she clenches her fists slowly. Ice inches its way up the water, freezing everything inside the churning wave, even the Merrow, until frost obscures the view.

  She pulls her clenched hands together, feeling the raw power humming inside. She thinks she can hear a man’s voice in her head whisper…

  “Beautiful.”

  But she’s not beautiful, she’s dangerous.

  She pulls her hands apart, and the wall of ice shatters, the creatures inside bursting into a million pieces of ice and flesh.

  It falls to the ground with a loud crash.

  Shea lands on her knees, the ground around her pulsating with power. She has to keep going, she has to destroy every last one of them.

  A man’s face appears in her vision. A familiar one, with light blue eyes and copper-brown hair. He’s saying something to her, but she can’t hear it. All she can hear is the sound of the ocean.

  She watches his mouth because he seems to be repeating the same phrase over and over again. She focuses on the movements of his mouth until his voice filters in.

  “Epistrépste se mas tin mikrí adelfí. Eímaste to máti kai i kataigída den boreí na akolouthísei.”

  He repeats this phrase until her brain finally translates the elvish: Come back to us, little sister. We are the eye, and the storm can’t follow.

  “Triton,” Shea whispers, her voice hoarse from screaming.

  He nods, and even grants her a smile.

  “Are we safe?”

  “For now,” he comforts.

  “Dari,” Shea breathes.

  She looks past Triton and sees Phoebus sitting on the ground with Dari in his arms, rocking her in his embrace.

  “No,” Shea grunts.

  She stands as quickly as she can, waving off Caen, who has come closer to help.

  Semele has her head bowed and seems to be murmuring something to herself, a prayer perhaps.

  Beck and Jo are standing behind Phoebus, watching him with Dari while James holds Aster, who’s buried his head against his shoulder.

  Shea runs as best she can, and as Phoebus looks up and sees her, a single tear escapes his eye. He gestures for her to come closer.

  She kneels down and sees that Dari is still breathing.

  Her heart leaps.

  “She’s alive,” Shea exclaims.

  “Not for much longer, my little one,” Dari murmurs.

  Shea places a hand over the wound in Dari’s chest, but Dari pushes her hand away.

  “No, it’ll only delay the inevitable.”

  “We can get you to Nol,” Shea argues, but Dari raises her hand weakly and presses a finger to her mouth.

  “It’s okay. I’m ready, but you all need to get out of here, more will be coming.”

  “We’re not leaving you here alone,” Shea commands.

  “She won’t be alone,” Phoebus states.

  He pushes some of Dari’s white hair away from her face and Dari smiles at him.

  “What?” Shea croaks.

  “I can’t leave my wife, and my leg will only slow you down. Dari’s right, you need to go.”

  “If you stay, you’ll die, Phoebus,” Caen emphasizes.

  “And we’ll die together.”

  “I can’t leave you both behind, you’re my family,” Shea pleads, tears starting to fall.

  “And we always will be,” Dari says. “But you have other family who can be helped now, and you need to get them out of here.”

  “No,” Shea stubbornly refuses. She turns to Triton and Poseidon standing behind her. “All of our power, there must be something we can do!”

  Poseidon looks away.

  Triton glares at their father, disgusted with his cowardice. He looks Shea dead-on.

  “Death is not our dominion. There’s nothing we can do.”

  “I’m sorry, Shea,” Poseidon tells her.

  “That’s not good enough!” Shea roars back.

  “Shea!” Phoebus barks.

  She turns to face the man she considers a grandfather, tears brimming in her eyes.

  He gazes at her with fire, and a set expression.

  “Who are you?”

  “Phoebus…”

  “Who are you? Who did we make you, who did Paetre make you?”

  “Captain,” Shea grits. “Captain of the Veiled Duchess.”

  “And a leader. Their leader, and being a leader comes with sacrifices. You have to get your people to safety. You have to make sure our deaths are not in vain. You have to kill Perses. But in order to do that, you have to live. Leave us and get to the ship.”

  “But you’re my people,” Shea whispers.

  Phoebus laughs and Dari smiles, a choking sound escaping her throat.

  “And we always will be,” she gasps. “We love you, little elf, and we will always be with you just as Paetre is.”

  “We love you, Shea,” Phoebus adds.

  Shea bites her lip to keep from sobbing. She hugs them both the best she can and kisses Dari’s forehead and Phoebus’s cheek.

  “If we’re going to leave, we best do it now before more of them come,” Caen advises, gritting his teeth.

  Shea stands shakily and Jo races toward her, catching her as she falters.

  “I’ve got you,” Jo tells her.

  Beck is at her other side, helping as well.

  “Jo,” Dari rasps.

  Jo turns, kneeling down beside Dari and Phoebus.

  “Take care of our girl.”

  “Always. Thank you…for everything.”

  Jo squeezes Dari’s hand and stands.

  She recruits Beck to go and scout the caved-in storefront. James offers to follow as well.

  Aster kneels down, hugging Dari as tightly as he can without hurting her, and she kisses him on the head as Phoebus ruffles his hair.

  “You’re the man now. Caen’s an old softie, so you got to be the one in charge of them,” Phoebus orders.

  Shea laughs while Caen looks mock affronted.

  Aster sniffs,
nodding. He stands next to Shea and takes her hand.

  She knows he won’t leave her side.

  “Caen. It’s been a lifetime,” Dari chuckles.

  “I never thought I’d be the last one left,” Caen jokes, wiping his thumb across his nose quickly.

  “Well you are,” Phoebus drawls. “So don’t let us see you anytime soon. You get old. Well, older than you are.”

  Caen laughs but it’s hollow.

  Phoebus reaches up his hand.

  Caen leans down, taking it, and squeezes gently. Then he stands and salutes with his hand over his heart.

  “It’s been a pleasure, Captain,” Caen states, “and a privilege, my lady. Tell Paetre…” Caen looks away. “Tell him I…never stopped loving him, missing him.”

  “Will do, brother,” Phoebus sighs.

  Shea is surprised by the way Caen phrases his message to Paetre. She almost wants to stop him, clarify what he means, but there’s no time.

  It’s time to go.

  The last of the crew that came to the wedding, who survived, are all at the broken storefront with Jo, Beck, and James.

  Aster keeps his hand in Shea’s.

  Caen walks away without looking back, and Poseidon follows.

  Just as Shea turns to go as well, she notices that her immortal brother is still with Dari and Phoebus.

  “They’re going to come,” he tells them.

  “We know,” Phoebus growls with his head held high.

  “Merrow are cruel folk. And while I think your wife will pass before they arrive, I would rather you not suffer a worse fate,” Triton explains.

  “I’m not leaving her,” Phoebus yells.

  “I know.”

  Triton reaches under his cloak and Shea realizes he has a travel bag. He reaches into the pack and pulls out a black plant with blue veins riddled through it. He kneels down in front of Phoebus and Dari and shows it to them.

  “This is Azulshade, it grows only in the depths of the Underdeep and the shallows of Tenaro. I managed to collect some during my time there. If you turn it into a salve, it has incredible healing properties. I would have used it on your wife, but by the time I could have made the right poultice for her, it…Well. But if you were to eat it, it would stop your heart inside of thirty seconds.”

  He offers it to them.

  “Take it when we leave. It’s a peaceful way to go, you won’t feel much, perhaps a little discomfort and then it’ll all be over.”