The Rising

by Kristen Ashley

  “Have you had fish in batter?” Faunus asked.

  “Never,” Teddy answered.

  “Something to look forward to,” Faunus murmured.

  He hoped so.

  By the gods, he hoped so.

  Chu of the Trusted

  Aboard the Passenger Galleon, the Constant

  STRAIT OF MEDUSA

  “You will not perform this ritual,” Chu growled.

  “Chu, they’re aboard this very vessel,” Serena returned. “I can sense them.”

  “You will leave them be.”

  “I will draw one to me and ask why they follow you.”

  “You will do no such thing.”

  “I will know why they follow you!”

  “I do not care why they follow me, Rena.”

  “Well, I do!”

  They glared at each other across their cabin.

  He watched her get a hold on herself, something she did much faster than he.

  “I fear you’re in danger,” she said far more quietly.

  “If they wished me dead, I would have met that fate outside Dunlyn.”

  She was now confused. “Then why are they here?”

  “I do not know, and as I said, I do not care. I won’t be drawn into whatever is happening across the Triton Sea. It is not my life. My world. My home. And it never again will be.”

  “Do you think they’ll just go away?”

  “I think, when they wish their presence to be known, and their message to be delivered, they will do it.”

  “But they don’t wish you harm.” She made a statement that was a question.

  “Harm comes in many forms, my warrior,” he replied. “And whatever their business, them coming from there will cause me harm.”

  “Chu,” she whispered.

  “I survived assassins, mouse, I’ll survive whatever this is.”

  She did not look convinced, but she didn’t say more.

  “Have you ever fucked aboard a ship?” he asked.

  Her face changed, and not to what it normally did when he would utter such words.

  To obstinacy.

  His woman was anxious.

  “We are nearly there,” she remarked.

  “And?” he asked.

  She shook her head, “It won’t work, Chu, you will not turn my mind from my worries.”

  “Care to wager?”

  She studied him.

  He moved to her.

  She did not wager.

  Which was well and good.

  For she would have lost.

  Queen Ha-Lah

  Queen’s Study, Keel Castle, Nautilus

  MAR-EL

  “You feel sure of this,” Farah asked Ry where they all sat about, pouring over the tomes they had confiscated from Go’Doan, as well as the ones Ry had brought to Sky Bay, all of which covered the makeshift table that Tint, Bond, Ore and Nis had set up in my study.

  “Before they were captured in the stones, they cursed the gods who created them, and…” Ry lifted the armless spectacles to his eyes, but even so, he squinted over the volume before him and read from it, “and vowed vengeance with no mercy that they would wreak destruction across the lands and to the peoples the gods had also created, before they sought the gods and consumed them, taking their all-powerfulness within themselves and replacing the makers so all would worship them or know tyranny.”

  “And you are certain the gods who created them are Triton and Medusa?” I queried.

  Ry shoved aside the book in front of him and reached for another beyond that, which was opened to a pertinent page.

  I had earlier read from that book myself.

  It was entitled, THE CREATORS: TRITON AND HIS QUEEN.

  He bent over it and read, “To the sirens, as demi-gods, they gave them their dominion as was their wont, fearsome power to play with those on the seas, so the sailors would revere them and pray to them. To the Mer, their chosen, the ones that sprang forth from their love, they gave the bounty of The Deep. To the beings, they gave them land to sew and reap and make plenty. To the charmed, they gave magic, to hold and protect. To the demons, they gave havoc, in order that all their creatures would know adversity, and how to draw together to overcome it.”

  Ry pushed that tome away, pulled another out from under one to his left, opened it at a marked page, and read.

  “But the demons did not lose their purpose. And when the land was locked in turmoil, the Beasts would sleep. But when the land sought serenity, the Beasts would awaken. And those proclaimed would face the challenge. In victory, this homage to the goodness of the gods would make them rise. In defeat, the demons would kill the gods to become gods themselves and the realm of Triton would grow dark for eternity.”

  He turned to another marked page.

  “For the proclaimed would be born holding the power of the gods. And they would wield it. But the god would call his sacrifice. And he would have it. And then the power would be unleashed.”

  “What sacrifice?” Farah whispered.

  “You have all sacrificed along this journey, have you not?” Ry, catching her mood, said soothingly.

  I sat, struck.

  “Yes,” Farah answered.

  “No,” I said.

  They both looked at me.

  “You…” Farah began, but she didn’t go on, for it was true. I hadn’t. Not like the rest of them. Then she said, “Aramus lost his man in Fire City.”

  “Aramus did, but I barely knew him.”

  I said these words at the same time I felt my blood run cold.

  Farah reached a hand to me and murmured, “Ha-Lah.”

  “Is there more about this sacrifice?” I asked G’Ry.

  He shook his head. “That is the only mention of it, my dear.”

  “You barely knew Aramus when you married,” Farah tried. “You didn’t get along.”

  My eyes drifted to the window.

  “You might not have known Aramus’s man, but your husband mourned his loss and he is a part of you,” Farah continued. “You definitely knew Jasmine. You—”

  “Triton will require of me,” I whispered.

  “Ha-Lah,” Farah curled her fingers around my forearm, “don’t say that.”

  “I have not sacrificed for the prophecy,” I said tonelessly.

  “There is but one note about it, my queen. We have already learned some of the words were written in error. Perhaps it means nothing,” Ry suggested.

  I looked to him. “There is nothing in all of this that means nothing. We’ve righted wrongs. We’ve brought peace. And in doing so, brought forth the demons. To keep what we earned, we must sacrifice. And everyone has sacrificed, except me.”

  Ry looked deep into my eyes and stated, “You know this is untrue.”

  “I—”

  “You are not your true self, even now. You do not live your whole life in hiding without sacrifice,” he declared.

  “She knows I’m Mer,” I told him, referring to Farah.

  “Well they,” he threw his arm to the window, “do not. Not yet. You will find victory, my queen, all of you will. And you will be written in the tomes as the Protectors. You and your people. You have helped them to rise again from the depths. To be known and seen. And I do not believe you did this without sacrifice.” He patted the table with his hand and finished, “Think not of this any longer. You need your wits about you.”

  He was so very right.

  I nodded.

  I then glanced at Farah.

  She squeezed my arm.

  “The plan is set,” Ry stated, his voice firm. “We must drive them to Triton.”

  “We must drive them to Triton,” Farah agreed.

  I looked to the window.

  And wondered where my husband was.

  King Cassius

  The Abyss, Fifteen Miles Down the Coast from Nautilus

  MAR-EL

  “If I was a god, this is not where I’d be,” Cassius muttered, staring down into the dark maw.


  “The gnomes have reported?” Aramus asked him.

  He looked to his friend, surprised at this abrupt question.

  “They have. They track them. And the creatures are here,” he confirmed. “We simply await everyone’s arrival before we enact the plan.”

  “And we have all, so far, successfully made Mar-el without them knowing we have sailed the sea?” Aramus pressed.

  “As far as I know,” Cassius said, glancing at Ellie, who was patrolling the wide edge of the abyss along the sea, gazing into the hole, before turning fully to him. “My brother—”

  “He is not at his full strength. I do not know what power he has, if any, that can help,” Aramus said. “And I have broken a vow every king of this realm has kept sacred that you even know he exists.”

  “I’ve known Triton exists since I had conscious thought,” Cassius told him reassuringly. “Granted, I didn’t know where he dwelt, but I knew he existed.”

  “He’s lonely,” Aramus murmured.

  “We’re working on that,” Cassius said.

  “They could come for him before we have our plan in place,” Aramus stated.

  Cassius felt Elena’s gaze and looked to her.

  She lifted her chin then moved away from the abyss, seeing to their mission there, which was to check the lay of the land, tighten their approach, understand what they had to work with before they had to work with it.

  He watched her move farther away before he again gave his attention to Aramus.

  “Would you like to tell me precisely what has you so uneasy?” he demanded low.

  “He is a god and gods do not do something for nothing.”

  “We have no choice but to move forward,” Cassius pointed out.

  Aramus opened his mouth.

  But Cassius spoke first.

  “The sprites and pixies fly, and Lahn rides with True and Farah as they drive their demons here,” Cassius bit. “The gnomes and Tor ride with Elena and I as we drive ours here. The Mer ride with you and Ha-Lah as you drive yours here. And the fairies fly, and Apollo rides with Mars and Silence as they drive theirs here. All our captains will already be here to offer might and magic. Frey uses the dragons to keep them here. We unleash all hell on them with the Mer in the depths at the ready to force them into that underground cavern if we fail to do nothing but shove them over the edge. At the least, in the end, they will be contained. This is our plan. It’s a shite plan, but it’s a plan. We chuck everything we’ve got at the bastards and hope like fuck it works.”

  Cassius moved closer to his friend.

  And he spoke on.

  “I’m uneasy too. Everyone I love, save my daughters, will be here.” He pointed to the rock beneath their feet. “I don’t wish to lose a single one of you. I definitely don’t want to lose all of you. And I for one am going to fight like hell to make sure none of that happens.”

  Aramus’s stare was intent.

  He then grinned.

  “Just to note, I love you too.”

  “Always a pain in my arse,” Cass muttered, looking away.

  Aramus clapped him on the shoulder and held.

  Therefore, Cass looked back.

  “If there’s loss, if the good we accomplished in our realms remains despite that loss, it was worth it,” his friend said quietly.

  Cassius drew in a deep breath, shifted his eyes to the side, and saw his wife standing, staring out at sea, hands on hips, the sunshine of her hair blowing in the sea breeze.

  And he determined he wasn’t going to lose shite.

  Regardless, he looked to Aramus.

  And said, “Absolutely.”

  King True

  The Beach, Keel Castle, Nautilus

  MAR-EL

  “She’ll be fine,” True assured.

  Mars scowled at the lapping water that, not long ago, Silence and Jorie waded into.

  And then disappeared.

  “She’s with Jorie,” True reminded him. “She’ll come back, pink in her cheeks, delighted with her adventure.”

  Mars looked into the horizon. “Two years ago today, you and I faced each other on a battlefield.”

  True’s body locked.

  Gods, he was right.

  “And now you are my brother,” Mars went on.

  True said nothing.

  “They will not take her from me,” he told the horizon.

  “No,” True replied.

  Slowly, Mars turned his head and locked eyes with True.

  “They will not take you from me.”

  True drew breath into his nose.

  And he repeated, “No.”

  “I know she will be all right, True. But when she is away from me, I will always, always worry.”

  “All right, my friend,” True whispered.

  “Worry with me,” Mars invited on a murmur, then he bent his knees and fell to his arse in the sand.

  True followed him.

  They sat, wrists to their knees, and stared at the sea.

  Two men who loved a woman.

  Waiting for her return.

  Queen Silence

  THE DEEP

  The swim was long, and this was good, for it took me quite some time to get used to the many, many Mer that swam at our backs, not all males, there were a good many females.

  And they all carried tridents.

  There were a great number of us.

  My people.

  With me.

  I loved that.

  However, the swim was long, and I worried, for Mars would worry after me.

  These were my thoughts when I saw it.

  A warm, blue glow that rose out of the depths.

  Jorie, beside me, struck lower, swimming toward it, and as he had instructed, I remained close to his side.

  But I could not stop myself from rearing back when, from where the glow emanated—what looked like the mouth of a cave—the beasts formed out of the shadows on either side of it.

  Angmostros.

  Two of them.

  I had never seen one.

  They were colossal.

  And terrifying.

  Jorie stopped with me and drifted close, his long tail coiling about mine.

  This felt like a hug, a mermaid embrace, and it was a thing of beauty.

  “Steady, my little sister,” he murmured, also winding his arms around me. “We are of royal blood. She will make them let us pass.”

  “The others…the…the others won’t be coming with us?” I asked, ignoring my hair floating about my face, running along my neck, under my jaw.

  He shook his head. “They have swum with us solely in case the Beasts that have risen on land could get to mischief in the depths.”

  I nodded.

  “I have gone to her,” he said comfortingly. “Our father has gone to her. His father before him. She is our benefactress. She is a friend to all Mer. But others could seek her for reasons she does not wish. So she guards herself. Regardless, you need not fear the beasts of the sea.”

  I nodded slowly.

  “Except sharks, but only because they’re rabble-rousers,” he muttered.

  And this made me grin.

  He grinned back, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and unwound himself from around me.

  And then, my big brother, my Jorie, gave me one last, long look to ascertain I was all right, and I showed him that I was.

  He then nodded and struck out toward the mouth of the cave.

  I swam beside him.

  The long, long necks and flat, jagged heads of the angmostros coasted in the water, their mouths agape, out of the dark depths of which spiked pointed tongues, those dread mouths were further lined with sharp teeth, and the gleaming pinpoints of their blue eyes followed us as we swam to the opening of the cave.

  Jorie was right.

  They allowed us to pass.

  We entered its light, and instantly, I felt a contented warmth from within.

  And with a few kicks of my fin, gazing in wonder all about me, all I c
ould think was…

  I wished I could take Mars here.

  153

  The Rising

  Magnus Reardon

  Aboard the Pirate Ship, Medusa’s Navel, Outside Bloody Boy Cove, Twenty Miles North of Nautilus

  STRAIT OF MEDUSA

  “Captain!” Bellamy shouted, and Magnus looked down from the helm to watch his man’s swift approach. “You need to see!”

  Just looking at Bellamy’s face, he knew it.

  He knew there was a reason he’d turned back from delivering their load to Fleuridia in the Northlands.

  He jerked up his chin to Tallis beside him and Tallis took the wheel as Magnus made his way to the stairs, down to the main deck and all the way to the bow.

  When he saw what he saw in Bloody Boy Cove, he grunted, “Spyglass,” to Bellamy.

  Bellamy handed him his telescope.

  Magnus elongated it and held it to his eye.

  Sirens damn it.

  He turned on his boot and ordered, “Birds. Now. We need to get word to Aramus. Mar-el is being invaded.”

  “But…by whom. And…why?” Bellamy asked, the gods not granting the man much stature, thus he was running to keep up with the long strides of his captain.

  The answer to his question was, by the looks of it, everyone. Airenzian. Dellish. He even caught sight of some Nadirii.

  He did not share that with Bellamy.

  He stopped short, turned to look down to his man and repeated, “Birds. Now.”

  He then made haste to the helm in order to come about and head to Nautilus.

  Nick Walsh

  Hayloft, Public Stable, Nautilus

  MAR-EL

  “The female has separated from the pack,” Angus reported.

  He’d seen this from his vantage, studying the inn.

  She’d gone out the back.

  He’d also seen the gnomes go after her.

  “Follow her,” Nick ordered.

  Angus immediately ran to the stairs.

  “I will repeat, I do not know why we’re here,” Rory said.

  Nick did not take his eyes from the inn as he asked, “Do you wish to go on thieving?”

  “Of course,” Rory replied.

  Slowly, he turned his head to look at his friend. “If you wish there to be an Airen, and Airenzian, to charm out of their baubles, we have work to do. Here.”