by L. L. Mintie
“What are you,” he seethed venomously. “The Glimmruyn do not have that kind of power!”
He lunged at her, eyes full of death.
Out of nowhere something cut through the water—a giant blurry beast—and swept by Lizzy, who posed no threat to her, and chomped the giant eel in half. She must’ve been mighty hungry, because not a minute later, she gulped down the other half in an instant with a quick sluuuurp! Lizzy watched in stunned silence as Moonfin finished her meal and swiftly returned to her resting spot on the seafloor.
“I guess we can’t be friends now,” she mumbled coolly into the bubbly waters.
Then Lizzy chased after the sea dragon into the vast, deep pool, zipping and swirling through the water, her Glimmruyn abilities giving her amazing maneuverability. And though she still wasn’t sure what was happening, she did feel more and more at ease in the ocean, understanding better what Xili had tried to tell her earlier. She was no longer afraid.
Moonfin lay quietly near a very large, half-opened, cross-hatched gate, her long body rising and falling with steady breathing. Lizzy stayed back a good distance and studied her, awestruck. She was easily the size of a small battleship, covered in a tight armor of mostly crimson and celadon hues with glints of gold throughout. A series of dorsal fins lined her back. Four great flippers, all edged with razor-sharp claws, lay flat on the seafloor. It was her tail that clued Lizzy into her unique name: the fin was a fully formed, horizontal half-moon.
Her face was the most frightening of all. Not an ugly sort of frightening, but the kind that majesty and strength inspired. Several bendy horns, Lizzy wasn’t sure how many, maybe twelve, grew from her face. Some looked like bone; others looked fleshy. Waves of ridges flowed up her forehead to where two long whip-like antennae emerged in place of where ears might have been. Her mouth was unnerving, with rows of teeth sitting above the lips and jutting upward. Anything that went near those jaws would be doomed—that eel didn’t have a chance.
Moonfin’s eyes remained shut—she was taking a nap after her filling lunch. Now was Lizzy’s chance to get close enough to unlock the chain around her ankle. She circled around back as quietly as possible and found the leash that tethered Moonfin to the seafloor. Ever so gently she crept up to her flipper, which, although the size of a tree, was the narrowest part of her shackled leg.
Lizzy considered the lock for a few moments.
“Okay, I see it, there’s a sliding bolt with a key-hole for manual release. No problem, but—OH NO! Where’s the key!”
It was at that moment she noticed the shadow of a dinghy moving above her … and so did Moonfin, who swung around like lightning, red eyes glowing, and growled furiously. Lizzy could feel the full force of the monster’s rage flooding her heart, and she thought she might burst with the power of it.
Moonfin lunged at the moving shadow and toppled the little boat over, spilling its two occupants into the sea. Jeff and Kai came plunging downward. She lifted her flipper, about to whack them cold, but Lizzy panicked and shouted some word, and looking back on it she wasn’t even sure what it was, but was something like “Aparasazna!” and felt it meant, “Forbidden!” She was sure Moonfin didn’t even hear her at that moment …
Moonfin abruptly halted, flipper frozen above them mid-smack! A very sudden change washed over her face. She looked … confused? She lowered her flipper, her eyes shining softly, and spewed a snarling, smoke-filled grumble before settling back down on the seafloor.
Lizzy didn’t know what would happen next—whether Moonfin would eat them or not. She moved fast as Jeff and Kai came hurtling toward the deadly jaws and grabbed them both, dragging them back up to the boat. And that’s when Lizzy noticed it, the scales around their necks glowed with the same red and green colors as Moonfin’s armor.
Jeff and Kai broke the surface, holding onto the dinghy to catch their breath, exhaling terror-filled cries.
“What happened?” gasped Jeff. “One minute I thought we were goners, the next she totally ignored us—”
“What are you both doing out here!” Lizzy cut in angrily, coming back to her human form as she surfaced. “You’re going to get killed!”
“Lizzy—you dropped the key before you ran off to that shipwreck,” coughed Kai. She held up her wrist with the clinking key circling it. Jeff shimmied back into the boat and Kai followed him. Lizzy hung onto the edge to steady the rocking, reaching out her hand.
“Give it to me, then. I want to get her out of this cave before we’re discovered!” Kai slid the key ring onto Lizzy’s wrist.
“But there’s a problem!” cried Jeff. “After you ran up the beach, we looked over the chain system that holds Moonfin. The metal isn’t forged from around here—from earth, I mean.”
“I know that already! Iddo said it was forged from an asteroid core. Anything else? Quickly!”
Kai and Jeff looked at each other uncertainly.
“From what we could tell, there’s a pin leading from the shackle and piercing into her flipper. If you unlock it with the key the wrong way, it sets off an explosive that will tear her flipper apart—and us along with it,” said Jeff, looking defeated.
A trap! The realization hit Lizzy full force.
“That way it slows her down so he can follow her blood trail.” She sank down, the air knocked out of her.
“There was more, but we only just got that part of the data before the system went completely dead,” said Kai.
Lizzy’s eyes suddenly brightened, remembering something.
“Kai, do you still have some of that gum from the Chiroptera Café?”
“Yeah, but—”
“I’ll explain later, just give me whatever you have left.”
Kai pulled out a small handful of drenched gum and handed it to Lizzy, who squished it into a ball in her palm. She swam like a bullet cutting air down to the chain that fed from the shackle around Moonfin’s foot. It was a long shot, but taking the gum, she formed the rubbery wad into a stringy ring-shape and wrapped it around the chain. It fizzed and bubbled and ate right through the metal in a matter of seconds.
“Good ol’ polyisobutylene,” she said, smiling. “You’re a brilliant little octopus, Iddo!”
Lizzy gingerly slid up to Moonfin’s side, who didn’t move, except to slowly turn her head and peer at Lizzy mournfully. She pressed both hands against the armored fin to find a language they could both speak in. No words came, but a steady stream of pictures filled her mind instead. Lizzy saw her battles fought in the sea cave … and she saw her babies. Oh, dear, so much sadness. She had almost forgotten about the calf in the Quarantine Room. They all died save the one. It’s how Krell had kept her obedient for so long.
“So you have a heart after all,” Lizzy whispered to her. “You’re free now. Go! Swim through the gate!”
The chain was cut, and the gate stood half open, plenty of room for her to fit through, yet Moonfin didn’t budge an inch. She just looked over at Lizzy with sad, baleful eyes. Why didn’t she jump at the chance to charge out to sea?
“I bet you’ve been here so long that you don’t even know what it is to be free … or maybe you’re afraid you’ll leave something behind?”
Lizzy stroked her fin, briefly, because Moonfin opened her rather enormous toothy mouth and spoke.
“What do you want, Glimmruyn?” she rumbled.
Lizzy quaked all over.
With popping eyes, she said, “I-I’ve come to help you!”
Moonfin snorted gruffly, smoke billowing from her nostrils. “Then you have wasted your time,” she growled savagely. “Go back to the sea from where you came.”
“B-but—I am not just from the sea. Look here—”
Lizzy concentrated hard and transformed to her plain human-self for a brief moment. And had she thought it through, she probably would not have done it. Moonfin’s head bolted up, and sparks flew from her mouth. “HUUUUMAN! I hate humans! Leave before I kill you, hafliiiinnng!”
Lizzy didn’t doubt that
for a second, after all the poking and prodding Moonfin suffered at Dr. Krell’s hands. She transformed back. “I’m sorry for all the pain they’ve caused you,” she said sadly. Then, sitting down in the sludgy seabed, she pulled her knees into her chest and buried her face in her hands, discouraged, and searched her heart for the right words to say to Moonfin, but none came. Not even a Glimmruyn word came to her.
Then a small idea came into her head.
It might have been a bad idea, for how does one move a giant sea dragon out of a cave except with fear and trembling?
She darted up to her enormous eye and laid a hand on Moonfin’s head. Lizzy tried to convey to her in pictures that her babies depended on her to escape. Moonfin’s eye narrowed, sending a chill down Lizzy’s spine. She continued to explain as best she could all about the Quarantine Room: where it was in the aquarium, and all that Dr. Krell was doing there, and also about the offspring that had died, except the one, which was still alive, but trapped.
That did the trick.
Fiery hues rippled under her skin and billowed toward her head, releasing more smoldering sulfur through her nostrils.
“Follow me,” Lizzy said swiftly.
They both lifted off the seafloor and broke the surface right next to the dinghy, which sent Jeff and Kai scrambling in fright.
Lizzy waved to them and shouted, “I want you to get out of the boat and grab onto one of her dorsal fins!”
Jeff and Kai gaped, wide-mouthed back at her.
“Are you insane? We were lucky to escape death once!” snapped Kai. Jeff shook his head violently while muttering incoherent words.
“Listen—you know these scales around our necks? My mom said they let off an EM pulse, and I think it might be confusing Moonfin into thinking we’re part of the ocean—like non-human or something. It’s sending a signal message, and I’m willing to bet she won’t hurt either of you.”
Jeff let out a terrified groan.
“We don’t have a choice now. People are coming,” he said, casting glances back toward shore.
Jeff was right. The earlier alarm was short-lived but enough to bring some techs to this side of the sea. Little dots wearing white lab coats flooded the shore and were yelling and pointing at them. A few even mounted Jet Skis and were rapidly heading their way.
Jeff and Kai dove into the sea and swam behind Moonfin. She didn’t lunge at them or pay much attention to them at all, but only looked over curiously with one of her sizable eyes, at one point swinging a gigantic nostril around and giving them a long sniff before looking away satisfied.
Latching on to one of her dorsal fins, they motioned to Lizzy that they were ready. She wrapped her hand around one of the long antennae that shot out from Moonfin’s head, and digging deep into her Glimmruyn heart, she shouted, “Muktiparu—freedom!” And off they went, getting the ride of their life as Moonfin tunneled through the water. She gave the Jet Skis a huge wave after flipping her massive fin, and Jeff and Kai laughed heartily when they looked behind to find them tumbling into the water.
Coming to the underwater gate, they glided out through a very long lava tube—which is why it was so difficult for the Glimmruyn to find: lava tubes can go for miles—and away from the black caves of Frog Mountain. After what seemed like an eternity, because Moonfin had to slow down several times and break the surface for Jeff and Kai to breathe pockets of oxygen along the top of the lava tube, they emerged out in the open ocean, the setting sun blasting their faces as they surfaced.
Lizzy didn’t want to risk another capture by Dr. Krell, and so she had Moonfin ride them over to a small beach on the far north side of the island. Concealed by steep rock cliffs, it would be difficult for him to find. She moved in close to shore.
“I’ll take Moonfin to Xili and the others,” Lizzy told them, “and meet you back here before nightfall.”
She watched as Jeff and Kai pulled up onto the beach. Once there, they turned, sopping wet, and waved her out to sea.
Chapter 20
FREEDOM!
Lizzy sidled up to Moonfin, holding on to one of her many dorsal spikes, and the two glided out to the Deep to gather with the other Glimmruyns. It was many miles yet, and Moonfin swam silently the first few. But then she spoke, and Lizzy‘s heart lurched to have such an old and frightening creature speak into her mind.
“Hhhaaaffliiing,” she growled haughtily, “there is more to you than the eye can see.”
Lizzy was silent.
She didn’t like being called a “hafling.” It just meant that she wasn’t wholly one thing, or another. But how do you argue with a dragon?
“And I am neither stupid nor blind. I can see that your friends are human. The scales around your necks did stop me at first … but not for long.”
She was surprised to hear this.
“Then why didn’t you go ahead and eat them, like you did the eel?”
Moonfin shook the waters around them.
“What offense have they given me?” she roared. “I am not unjust toward humankind. Snirchers”—and she said this word as if it was filth to her taste buds—“are another matter. Besides, humans are abhorrent to the palate. Simply too chewy.” Her shard-filled mouth twitched slightly, and Lizzy couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not.
Moonfin suddenly whipped her head around and peered one of her big fiery eyes onto Lizzy.
“You are not made for retribution. Leave such things to the likes of me!” she rumbled. Lizzy guessed she meant the moment she, Lizzy, was going to pulverize the Snircher eel into a bazillion scummy pieces and whispered, “Thank you,” knowing she was right. Moonfin puffed a small fire-ball in response.
“I owe you this one thing,” she continued in a most superior tone. “When you saw into me earlier and the pains I suffered, I saw into you as well. You gave me the gift of showing me my children held captive on land. Now this one thing I give to you: the one you call ‘Brandon’ lives.”
Lizzy was stunned. “But how do you know—”
Moonfin swung one of her long antennae forward.
“When I place these above the surface, I can read the data streams and radio signals, as well as hear conversations that take place on land in close proximity. Once, not very long ago, I heard his name mentioned, and they spoke about him as if he were alive.”
“But—”
“That is all I know of it!” she snarled deeply.
Lizzy held Moonfin’s words in her heart like precious stones, and they swam the rest of the way in silence.
The Glimmruyn were waiting, having received a message from Iddo that Lizzy was attempting to free Moonfin and would soon be on her way. Xili, Cheroo, Rhizoo, Tevu, and many she probably had seen before, but couldn’t remember, had all gathered on the surface of the waters to take Moonfin to safety.
Lizzy was so very happy to see them all.
“Mhmhmhmh, my sister, you did it! There is no time to waste. We can take her from here,” said Xili joyfully.
“She knows all of you?”
“Oh yes! We have been on many migrations together.”
Lizzy glanced anxiously toward Frog Mountain.
“But where will you take her? If she continues on her usual route, Dr. Krell is sure to find her again.”
Xili smiled. “You do not need to worry. We will hide her away in the great canyons for a time and make sure there is not a tracking device implanted, and then we will set her free in a distant sea.”
Lizzy looked unconvinced. “But if he could do it once before—”
“It is very unlikely Moonfin will fall for his tricks again. Indeed, it is Dr. Krell I should worry about if they by chance meet again.”
The Glimmruyn surrounded Moonfin, caring for her, checking her wounds and consoling her pains. Lizzy explained the problem of the shackle on her flipper, and Xili assured her they would remove it safely, healing the damage it caused. That was their job after all!
Xili sighed happily.
“You have done well,
child. Many were saved because of you.”
“But the aquarium … so many have perished—” Lizzy felt the pain welling up in her heart.
“That battle will be fought one day.” Xili placed a watery hand on her cheek. “You had better go. Wait on shore with your friends for one more night, and Captain Quinn will come with his fishing boat to take you home at daybreak.”
She turned to leave.
“But wait, Xili, please,” Lizzy suddenly blurted. She had so many questions!
“Yes?”
There was a long pause as Lizzy tried to recall that puzzling word she had uttered within the dark caves of Frog Mountain. She mouthed it silently a few times to get it right before saying it out loud.
“Wh-whirl-whirly … whirliptinger?”
A look of pleasant surprise flooded Xili’s face.
“Whirliptinger came to you?
“Yes, in the cave. There was this horrid Snircher named Samira—”
“Oh! I have heard of her,” Xili said, shaking her head. “She is one of the vilest of the Fear Guardians—one of their queens, as I understand it.”
“Queen?”
Xili twittered about, highly distressed to even speak of such things.
“She has the unique ability to split from her animal so they can act independently. Only the most powerful can do such a thing. They are often deadly. Are you—?”
“I’m okay,” said Lizzy, hungry to know more. “Can you tell me about … about this Whirliptinger?”
“Why, it’s your sword, of course!”
Lizzy was dumbstruck. I have a sword of my own, she thought wildly.
“All the Glimmruyn receive a weapon of some kind when they reach the age of maturity. Whirliptinger chose you. Some receive the bow, others the horn. And some receive a secret word that only they can know and wield. It depends on the warrior and their needs. I am very glad Whirliptinger came. The sword will only come when you need it the most!”
She needed it all right—Samira nearly sucked the life right out of her. With a jolt she remembered, too, the man who spoke from the darkness of the cave, saying, “Like the time you were little you called, and it came.” How did he know?