Tom cursed. “Well, I want something now.” He refocused on Yusuf. “So, speak up, or I’ll have Brutus lock you in with the rest, Orc. How do we reach the surface from here?”
Showing his palms, Yusuf raised his trembling, manacled hands in surrender. “Please, there is no way up to the surface from this place. Commander Pohl sent some of us out to map the area when first we arrived . . . sent us to look for ways that Selkie prisoners might try and escape.” He shook his head. “There is none. No passageways up to the surface. There are only these two tunnels.” He pointed toward the train and the tunnels on either end of it – one leading south to Røyrkval, the other northbound toward the Salt capital.
Lenny swallowed hard, knowing where the northern track led. So, it’s either back to the ice tunnels down south, or on to New Pearlaya . . .
Tom sneered against Yusuf’s fervent nodding. “Why should I believe you?”
“Ask them,” Yusuf pointed a trembling finger at the freed Selkies in the crowd. “Commander Pohl released some of the prisoners . . . he told the Selkies if anyone could find a way out of here, then they would be free to go and none would follow after them.”
“And?”
“None made it out alive,” said Yusuf. “Of those who didn’t come back, we found their bodies strewn throughout the cavern, sir. All of those had starved or frozen to death, rather than come back to their cages. Truly, there is no escape from this place, sir. Not living, at least.”
“There is,” said Lenny, drawing the attention of all as he pointed back toward the train tunnels. “‘Cause we escaped one such place already.”
Tom’s face darkened at Lenny’s reply.
“Well?” Brutus asked. “What’s the plan now, Tommy? If there’s really no way out and it’s on to New Pearlaya, or else back to Rorykval, what’re we to do with all these other Selkies here?”
“Don’t know,” said Tom. “Take them with us, I suppose. What do you think, Dolan? You and Jemmy were both brought down from the capital, no?”
“Yeah,” said Lenny, thinking back to all the prisoners lined and chained in the dungeon-like station beneath the city. “We could maybe run the same scheme there as we did in offloading here. Having more bodies might help us to catch the Orcs in the capital that are sure to be waiting there by surprise too, but then what? Even if we live through the first wave of getting back, there’ll be all kinds of Orc soldiers and catcher gangs too for the crown to call down and hunt us after.”
Brutus snorted. “Then, we’d best not wait for the second wave or any thereafter. Aye, it’ll be every man for himself once we get to the pearled city, that’s what. Having more bodies should help in that too. All of us scattering about throughout the city like rats coming up outta the sewers.” He laughed. “Ought to keep the Orcs and catcher gangs busy awhile, so it will. Confusion for all and every man a fair chance at searching out his own way. And us to seek out our own families too, eh, Tommy?”
The elder Weaver nodded, though his expression shared none of the hope or mirth that Brutus did.
Family . . . Lenny thought dourly, his mind turning to the question of where he might go or what to do. What if you don’t got one no more? He wondered as to his own path in the days ahead. His gaze turned to watching Jemmy T load Yusuf on board the train. For a moment, he considered the possibility of returning to the capital with his father’s friend and seeking out Edmund’s whereabouts in New Pearlaya. Lenny discounted the notion a moment later. Nah, he told himself. Can’t do that. Not when I’m the one who got Jemmy in this mess. Almost landed Edmund in it too.
Lenny looked back in Tom’s direction, debating whether or not he could help Tom to find Garrett. Whether their reconnecting could help Lenny to find Ellie. If she might still be with the princess, Sydney, and if he could take up the queen’s previous offer for protection too.
For all the scenarios running through Lenny’s mind, it was the constant mantra of Declan Dolan that stayed with him when his gaze turned toward the Selkie masses once more. “We can’t leave them . . .” he said quietly.
“Nobody’s leaving anybody behind, Dolan,” said Tom. “We just said they’re coming with us.”
“No,” said Lenny, remembering his single night of running alone on the streets of New Pearlaya. How it ended with him being caught by Orc catchers and thrown back in the slave stocks to be resold at auction, his saving grace that Edmund and Jemmy T came to his rescue. “I mean we can’t just take them all back to New Pearlaya and leave them to scatter on their own,” Lenny said to the others, an idea forming in his mind as he watched his father’s former friend coming back to rejoin their company. “If we don’t stick together, then the Orcs, the catcher gangs, the masters . . . they’ll just find and take these Selkies here as slaves all over again. Keep repeating the cycle.”
Tom Weaver shook his head. “You figure out a plan for what you want to do with them, then, Dolan. I’ll not be sticking around for it. We get back to the capital, I’m off to find my son and my wife the first chance I get.”
“Aye,” said Brutus. “And me to find my family too.”
“Even if it means quitting on fighting the Blackfin and the Merrow king?” Lenny asked.
Brutus squinted. “What’s that you say?”
Lenny took a deep breath. “Yusuf said the Merrow king and the Blackfin sent all these down here because there were too many Selkies running and rebelling, right? That the royals and the masters were worried about another Selkie Strife.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, let’s give them a reason to pay attention to us,” said Lenny, his blood warming at the immediate cheer he saw in Brutus, the knowing smirk and delight spreading across the face of Jemmy T also. “And let’s give our people some hope for a change. A reason to believe we might turn the tide for our people for good and all.”
Tom Weaver alone seemed dissenting of the idea. “Another rebellion won’t work,” he said. “Røyrkval was one thing because we had no choice, Dolan. It was either rise against the Orcs, or be killed down there. Same with fighting here in Bouvetøya. We’ve had real fighters with us in both places, but we’ve taken some losses on those scores too. Now, you’re talking about bringing a bunch of women and children on board. Old folks too.”
“There’s child gangs of Selkie cutpurses all over New Pearlaya, no? And the Silkies I know can handle their own, yeah?” Lenny asked, his thoughts turning to Ellie and Chidi who had fought beside him before. How Ellie at least would have had some of her own words to say at the slight, perceived or otherwise.
Tom chuckled at the argument too. “Aye, the Silkies I’ve known can handle a blade. My wife, at least.”
Brutus chuckled. “She might still when you turn up after all these years being gone and with that ugly mug of yours too, Tommy.”
Lenny nodded. “So, we’ll give all these here some blades, then,” he said, reflecting again on the Orc soldiers who had come for Ellie in the night after they were seemingly rescued from Crayfish Cavern. “That’ll catch some of the worser sort off guard when we reach the capital. If nothing else, we might give some of these we’re bringing with us a real shot at escape.”
“How so?” Tom asked. “Say we make it off the train and take control of the main station in New Pearlaya . . . then what? You’ll have near enough a thousand Selkie slaves tucked away right in the heart of the city, all of us nestled deep underground and with nowhere to go. Say nothing if one of the Orc soldiers there, or the Selkie taskmasters with them, gets way. All it’ll take is one of them running topside to alert the others throughout the city of a Selkie incursion.”
“Then, we better make sure none of that sort gets away,” said Lenny. “As for what to do with the older Selkies and the children after, methinks I know a guy who might be able to help us in that department . . .” Lenny’s gaze shifted to his father’s friend. “What do ya say, Jemmy? You got any ideas of how we smuggle these people topside?”
“Aye, brudda,” said the former
tavern owner and Selkie conductor. “You talking about my city, mon. Jemmy T? Him be helping you and these here on their way to freedom always.” He smiled so wide that Lenny thought his face might break. “These Orcs worried about another Selkie Strife? Jemmy T gonna give them one, yeah?” He laughed. “Aye, just like in them good ol’ days when we be running and fighting with Declan Dolan.”
“I’ll cheers to that, then,” Brutus growled. “For if it’s hope and fighting and freedom you’re selling for our kind, Dolan, then I’ll fight with you the same as I did for your father before.”
Lenny and Tom Weaver shared a look, the elder Selkie nodding in agreement.
“All right then, Dolan,” said Tom. “Let’s get these people on board. Seems we all got us a north-bound train to catch.”
20
SYDNEY
When she had been imprisoned in the oubliette, Sydney longed for any hint of light.
Now, with the traitor trails ended for the day, Sydney had been placed back inside the glass cell that were housed in the royal dungeons. Rubbing her eyes, she wondered if the Orcs guarding her would ever allow the torchlights surrounding her tank to be put out. Every few hours, when the torches began to dim, the guards changed shifts. The old guards would leave and take the dimmed torches with them. The newer would replace the lanterns with fresh pitch to brighten the dungeon housing Sydney once more.
All the while, Sydney’s water-filled tank hung poised over the darkness of the oubliette in warning that the Orcs should again cast her into the pit if she gave them any objection, or fuss.
Sydney had neither the strength or will to defy her Orc captors. She lazed at the bottom of her tank as best as she could. Had she been in her full human form, her knees would have been tucked against her chest. Instead, Sydney lay her cheek against her rubbery dolphin tail.
When weariness attempted to take her, Sydney fought against the oncoming sleep. For each time she closed her eyes, the horrors she had witnessed the Blackfin commit returned to haunt her. From his breaking Yvla’s body, to executing Ms. Morgan at the traitor trials, the shade of the Blackfin swam with Sydney always in her dreams, he and his pod hunting her and all those she cared for.
Through the blur of her tired eyes and the surrounding water, Sydney thought she saw the Blackfin coming for her again when the dungeon doors leading into her outer cell were opened by the Orcish guards outside.
Rather than allow the Blackfin to see her defeated, Sydney straightened inside the tank, her lip curling as a pair of hooded figures walked into the dungeon. Based on the way the Orc guards stood to attention, Sydney estimated the first of the newcomers to be the king. Though her assessment proved correct when both of the newcomers dropped their hoods, Sydney’s brow furrowed at the one who stood alongside the king. Rupert?
Pressing her hand against the glass at the sight of him, Sydney retracted the gesture a moment later. No words between them were needed to understand the betrayed hurt in Rupert’s eyes. Where first she believed it pained Rupert to see her held prisoner, all such notions vanished the longer Sydney watched him stare at her shark tail.
Darius patted the young lordling upon the shoulder. “There,” the king pointed to Sydney’s tail. “You see now, my friend? Do you still doubt all that I have told you?”
Rupert’s reply came so quietly that Sydney scarcely heard him. “No, Your Grace.”
Rupert! Sydney called to him, hoping for a flicker of recognition in her friend. Her former riding trainer would not look at her, his gaze holding on her tail in disbelief. Rupert, look at me! Please!
The king intervened. “He is looking at you, Sydney,” said Darius. “And therein lies the issue. He sees you truly now. Both your savage origins . . . and the heart of all the wicked lies you and your mother have told.”
Sydney shook her head as Rupert finally looked up at her. There were questions aplenty in his gaze. The pain she saw in them wounded Sydney more. Rupert . . .
The king glared at her. “Quiet! We did not come to treat with you, girl.”
Why did you come, then? Sydney asked.
“The Blackfin did his duty,” said Darius. “He mentioned you and Lord Bowrider had a conversation in private earlier today, before the trials began. Indeed, it was said that your friend, Rupert, here was quite adamant to speak with you alone.” He shrugged. “Naturally, I was curious to hear what was so important that the pair of you needed to meet in private. I could have certainly arranged such a meeting between you both, had Rupert come to me with the request.” Darius clapped him on the shoulder, squeezing. “Isn’t that right, boy?”
Rupert bowed his head, staring at the stone floor. “Aye, Your Grace,” he answered quietly.
Again, Darius clapped the young lord on the shoulder, bucking him up. “Ah, but we understand each other better now, I believe. Don’t we, my young friend? After all, we both know what it is to love someone who clearly does not share our interest.” The king glared at Sydney, then. “Just as we both know what it is to be lied too by the very person we would have done anything for.” He turned back to the Merrow lordling. “Would you agree or no, Lord Bowrider?”
Rupert looked at Sydney, all the question and hurt in him gone. Anger and sternness had swept away any former weakness or tender feeling that Sydney had previously seen in his eyes.
“Well?” the king asked him. “Would you agree or no?”
“I do, my king,” said Rupert. “It seems you had the right of it all along, as I should have guessed and believed from the start. Forgive me, Your Grace.”
The king released his hold on Rupert, patting him on the back instead. “There is nothing to forgive, my boy. Love is a dangerous game. You and I rightfully followed our hearts’ desires, as anyone would. Unfortunately, we were both swindled by the beauty and false affections of these wicked sirens.”
Sydney swam to the wall of her tank. Rupert, I didn’t swindle you! I didn’t mean—
The king slapped the glass to silence her, roaring his response too. “Quiet, girl! Or else I’ll have you thrown back into the oubliette to waste away for the whole of time.”
Sydney sank in her tank at the sight of the king enraged. Though she knew he was not her true father, in her mind she still could not reconcile his hatred of her. She had the thought to call out to Darius too, to name him father as she had all her life, if only to play to the decency she remembered within him. But, as with Rupert, she saw in the king no hint of their former relationship. Even as she questioned what to say or do, she watched her Orc guards move to stand by the lever that would drop the base of her tank and cast her back down into the oubliette’s pit of darkness. None had given Sydney any shred of doubt that they would carry out the king’s threat.
With Sydney silent, Darius again turned toward the tank. “You wish to know why we’re here, girl? I brought Lord Bowrider to this pit of despair that he might know you truly. Aye, to save him the years of wasting away in service to a love that will never be. To spare him thoughts of one who would never appreciate his efforts and sacrifices in full. I brought him that he might see your lies made plain, Sydney, as I should have welcomed someone to do for me with your mother from the start.”
I didn’t lie. Sydney thought to herself as she looked on Rupert. I just didn’t know.
“So many lies, girl,” Darius said, more to himself than her she gathered by the tone of his voice. “And to what end?”
Again, Sydney kept quiet, not understanding if he wished her to answer or no.
The king sagged outside her tank as if his body were tethered by invisible weights, his face wearied with questions. “Where is your brother, Sydney?” he asked her quietly. “Where is Jun?”
I-I don’t know, she said. He was at home—
The king pounded his palm against the glass. “Stop lying to me!” He snarled. “Where is my son, you bloody savage! What have you and your whore mother done with him? Why did she not bring him here? Why do none of those from your cursed zoo know where my son
is?!”
Because we told you the truth! Sydney yelled back, unable to contain her rage. Mom left Jun at home, so that she could come after me! How many people have to tell you the same story before you believe it!
The king snorted as he backed away. “Hold to your lies all you will, then.” He shook his head. “The Blackfin assures me that his Orcs will find Prince Jun soon enough. Then, we’ll know which of us holds the truth of that story as well, won’t we?”
Everything I said is true, said Sydney. I’m not lying.
Darius shrugged. “Sadly, I have no way of knowing the truth or lie of which you speak, do I? Not until your brother is found and brought here, that is. Rest assured, Sydney - the Blackfin will find Prince Jun. Aye, just as the Blackfin and his seawolves sniffed you out among the Selkies and brought all those traitors they discovered hiding at your mother’s refuge ashore back here to stand trial.”
The seawolves found me because of a stupid mistake I made in trying to get rid of any ties to you. Sydney thought to herself of the royal seal and clothing she had cast into the sewers, the lone clue to lead the Blackfin and his Orcs into Catcher’s Corner. That doesn’t mean they will find Jun.
When Sydney gave him no reply, the king smiled in such a way that set her to shivering anew. “Still . . .” he began. “I should rather find the prince without the seawolves to locate him first. And there might be another means to learn whether you speak true or no, Sydney. Would you care to hear it?”
Sydney shook her head. I don’t need to play your games. I’ve told you the truth all along.
“Then, you shouldn’t find it difficult to do so now either,” said the king, studying her closely. “Tell me, Sydney . . . what did you and Rupert speak about today in private?”
Sydney’s fingers twitched at her side. What does he know? She wondered of the king before her gaze instinctually turned to Rupert. What did you tell him?
Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 Page 30