“There you are!” Bras raised his free arm as though they were old friends. “I was afraid I wouldn’t get to see you before I dealt with your flagship.” He turned back to his men and handed his hostage to another. “Now we’ll get to see what the future Sun Crown is really made of!” The pirates cheered, and Bras returned his gaze to Michael, still advancing as he spoke. “I’ve been waiting for this for a while. That sea wench merely afforded me the opportunity.” He raised his sword.
Michael blocked Bras’s first attack and then the series of attacks he launched after. His legs were still tingling from the transformation, and he couldn’t get his footing right to make his own attacks. All he could do was defend.
“I’m going to kill you just like I killed the merprince,” Bras said as he forced Michael up the deck steps. “But don’t worry about your little mermaid.” His red coat flared out as he took a wide swipe at Michael’s arm, missing by an inch. “I’ve decided not to sell her. I’m going to keep her all for myself.”
Possessed by a strength he hadn’t known before, Michael sprang at the pirate, their swords clashing so hard that Bras stumbled back. He regained his footing only for Michael to push him back again, this time causing him to fall down the steps. Leaping down after him, Michael attacked again and again, with each attack picturing Arianna’s face. The thought of Bras holding her filled him with a new wave of rage.
“You. Won’t. Touch. Her.” With each word Michael shoved Bras backward again. But Michael didn’t see the hole one of the pirate’s casum balls had left in the deck. His ankle went right through it. Bras was on him immediately, knocking the sword from his hand. Michael grabbed the pirate’s knee and twisted until the pirate was down as well, losing his own sword. As the pirate scrambled, Michael finally managed to pull his ankle from the hole. Frantically, he looked around for his sword. As he looked, Bras grabbed him by the collar, and soon they were rolling on the ground, each trying to go for the other’s throat.
Just when Michael’s fingers were nearly numb from trying to yank the pirate around, they rolled beside a pile of weapons Jonas must have dropped on the deck as Bras’s men had taken control. Bras snatched up a short sword and held it to Michael’s neck.
“You should have just kept that little mermaid safe in your castle,” Bras said, his black-and-white whiskers pulling up into an awful smile. “Or learned to shoot a bow and arrow. Either way, you’ve failed her.”
“Yes, I have,” Michael said as his left hand searched the wood planks beneath him for something, anything. When his hand finally touched a single weapon, however, he had to smile. You have an interesting way of answering prayers, he told the Maker. And with that, he brought the arrow up into the pirate’s side. Shock spread over Bras’s sun-weathered face, and Michael drew him near. “But I’m a fast learner.” And with that, he shoved Bras’s body over the side of the ship and into the water.
A loud groaning made the pirates and crew alike look up.
“The mainmast is cracking,” someone yelled just before a series of loud crashes filled the air. A strangled scream came from somewhere in the center deck, and the pirates began to scramble back to their own ship. As men shouted and ran, Michael looked for the source of the scream and found a young sailor pinned beneath one of the mast’s long arms. The wind was quickly wrapping the sail around the man. If the mast moved any more at all, the man would be suffocated.
“Cut the rope. Don’t try to untangle him!” Lucas shouted from behind.
“I know what to do!” Michael yanked a knife from the young man’s exposed boot and began to cut away carefully at the rope. Lucas had dragged Michael to the shipyard too often as children for Michael to have learned nothing.
Just as Michael cut the young man free, an unusually large wave slapped the side of the boat, sending it into a near spin. The knife flew out of his hand, and Michael grabbed the railing just in time to avoid falling into the water.
“Michael!” Lucas yanked him back so hard that they spilled back onto the deck. Lucas didn’t wait for him to get up, though. Instead, he rolled over and grabbed Michael by the shirt. “You can’t take risks like that!” His face was deadly serious. “You heard what Arianna said! It’s not fair to our people! You cannot be king if you sacrifice your humanity!”
Michael stood up beside his brother and looked at the scene around them. All four pirate ships were turning away and heading north up the coast.
“Duarte!” Lucas shouted to his first mate. “Send word to the ships that they are to make chase!” He let out a whoop and turned to Michael.
But Michael couldn’t rejoice. He stared down at the still waters below.
“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked, looking down as well.
“If the water is still,” Michael said, “that means the battle below is over as well.”
Lucas’s face fell, and he squeezed Michael’s shoulder, but Michael felt no better.
“Renata’s allies have fled,” Lucas said. “Surely that means something.”
Michael didn’t respond. Let her live. Please let her live. His crown, his restored body, even his own life would mean very little without her.
“Ho, now, what’s that?” Lucas pointed at a little set of ripples not far from the deck where they stood.
Michael held his breath and gripped the railing until it groaned.
He nearly collapsed with relief when Arianna’s beautiful head emerged from the water. When her blue eyes met his, she gave him the most brilliant smile he had ever seen.
“Arianna!” He pulled his shirt off and started to lean forward until Lucas grabbed him again and yanked him back with a glare.
“Don’t make me tether you to the deck. I swear, I will.”
But Michael was too relieved to be annoyed. Arianna was alive. Renata was gone. They and their kingdoms could finally be free.
Arianna had begun to swim toward the ship when the waters around her started to churn. Arianna looked up at Michael again, but this time, there was fear in her eyes. The water continued to swirl harder and faster until a vortex had formed, its edges wider than the ship itself.
Michael turned and grabbed the closest rope he could find. But by the time he returned to the railing, Arianna was being sucked down into the vortex. He had just enough time to glimpse her tail beginning to shimmer.
55
The Right Thing
Michael searched frantically until he found the pile of weapons again. He snatched up an arrow and steadied himself against the edge of the ship.
“Michael?” Lucas was immediately at his side, clutching his arm. “What are you doing?”
“You were right. Our people deserve a king.”
“I think that song is still in your head! Now do your duty and get off that railing!”
“A true king,” Michael said softly, turning to his brother, “adheres not only to duty, but also to honor. If I can’t be a man of both duty and honor for my people, then they deserve better.”
“Your duty is to be king! To stay alive! What are you doing?” Lucas didn’t sound like a prince or the leader of the royal navy anymore. He sounded like Michael’s scared little brother.
Michael put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and smiled. “The right thing.” Gripping the arrow tightly, Michael dove straight into the center of the vortex.
When he hit the water, a wave of pain pulsed through him. He felt like a smelter’s torch was being pressed against every inch of his waist and legs. Despite being surrounded by frigid water, Michael forgot how to move, although the vortex was tossing him about. As the pain slid down his body, so did the scales. Michael let out a bellow as his feet fused back into fins. Compared to this, Renata’s song bursting his ears had been nothing. The pain of the past few days had been nothing. This pain made him want to die.
Just as Michael’s vision began to spot, it was over. Trying to catch his breath, he tumbled out of the vortex and slammed into a large rock. Once he was able to right himself, however, hi
s tail felt as though he’d worn it all his life. Without stopping to take stock of himself, Michael turned and propelled himself back to the maelstrom’s center.
When he got close to the bottom, he could see Arianna lying pressed against the seafloor. Her face was beginning to lose its color. Her fins were nearly translucent, and they were beginning to separate. She reached up, but wasn’t able to lift herself off the ground. If she has legs, Michael realized, she can’t breathe. He didn’t have much time.
Only when he swam closer did he see Renata. Singing as she hovered just outside the vortex, Renata looked like a different creature entirely. Her once-smooth face now had three gills cut into each cheek. A sea worm poked out of one of the many holes that pierced her chin. Her black eyes shot up to meet his, and her mouth curved up into a smile that revealed three rows of needled teeth.
Even louder she pushed out her song. Arianna cried as her legs began to thicken again, and Michael was hit by ripples of peaceful confusion. He knew he was going to do something, but what was it? The woman on the ground and the woman before him both looked familiar, and both pulled parts of his heart in different directions. Looking at the older woman made him uncomfortable. And yet, her song called to him . . .
The girl on the ground had turned so pale she was nearly blue. As he began to move toward the other woman, however, the girl on the ground pierced him with her eyes, and her gaze was enough to stop him completely. She opened her mouth. At first he heard nothing, and turned his gaze back to the older woman.
A thin melody, almost like the tinkling of a broken bell, began to encircle him. The song was quieter than the older woman’s song. In fact it was nearly impossible to hear. But it was beautiful. It was a song he had heard once and a song that felt as ancient as time itself. And he knew in his core that it was for him alone.
The fog began to clear from his mind, and Michael remembered what he had come to do. Charging forward with the power of his new tail, Michael readied his arm and drove the arrowhead straight into Renata’s heart. Her song stopped midnote and she fell back, slamming into the coral wall behind her.
Michael swooped down and pulled Arianna up into his arms. She felt like one of Lucy’s rag dolls as she lay limply against his chest. Her breaths were shallow and shuddering in a way that frightened him.
He’d begun to pull her up from the seafloor when something slammed him down. When his head stopped spinning, Michael found himself staring up at the monstrous mermaid once again. This time, however, an arrow stuck out of her chest, black oil oozing from the wound.
“You think you can best me with your weapons? Now, before you serve me, you will watch her die!” She sucked in a deep breath and let out a blast that surged through the water.
Just when he thought he couldn’t stand to hear her song any longer, that other softer song joined in again. The surge slowed just enough for him to open his eyes. When he did, Arianna was looking at him. Her blue eyes were fixed on his, and she gave him a gentle smile.
Michael shook his head. You’re too weak. The amount of power it would take to overpower Renata was far more than he was sure existed in the girl lying limply in his arms, gasping for breath. She only pressed her forehead against his chin and briefly closed her eyes. Then she took a deep, rattling breath.
Her song was a clear bell ringing in the midst of Renata’s song of darkness. But this time, that bell was no longer broken. And the longer she sang, the louder her song grew. The waters around them tossed once more in tumult as hot water mixed with cool.
Renata continued to sing while raising her triton and pointing it right at them. Michael braced himself, but Arianna only kept her eyes closed. Then she let out a single high note and held it. He could feel her shake with the effort. And yet, she continued to hold the note.
The triton began to glow, but not in the way Michael had seen before. Instead of shooting out, green light sparked at both ends of the triton and began to eat its way inward. Renata looked down at her weapon in shock. As soon as she looked away from them, Michael began swimming to the surface as fast as he could, Arianna still singing and trembling in his arms. For a brief second, he considered turning around and swimming to Lucas’s ship. But one glance at Arianna told him she didn’t need a ship. She desperately needed land.
They reached the surface just as a boom sounded from below, followed by a tidal wave that pushed Michael and Arianna up and out. As soon as it happened, Michael felt the last remnants of confusion clear from his head. He was finally free of the siren song. Renata was really dead.
Michael was about to give a sigh of relief when he felt something flop against his chest. He looked down to see the remaining color draining from Arianna’s face. Her legs lost their scales, and even though he dipped them back into the water, she did not turn.
56
A New Song
Michael’s skin stung all over, and it was getting worse by the minute. The air felt strange, too, and it threatened to make his head spin. He tried his best to ignore it, however, as he gently laid Arianna on a large, flat rock in the shallow waters just off an empty beach.
“Come on,” he muttered as her head flopped back.
Her breathing was shallow, and she made no move to turn or roll over or even flutter an eye.
“No, no, no, no.” He gathered her up again, trying to find some way to revive her. “You brought us this far!” Michael looked up at the sky. “Don’t let me lose her now! I beg you!” He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “I beg you,” he whispered as tears made his vision blurry.
Just when he was sure she couldn’t be without air any longer, Arianna’s chest heaved, and she began to cough and sputter.
Michael clutched her close and rocked her back and forth, thanking the Maker with prayers too deep for words.
She blinked up at him, and a small, tired smile spread across her face. Then her eyes grew wide. “Michael!” She tried to sit up. “You’re being burned!”
He placed her back on the rock. “You’re too weak to be left alone. And I’ve suffered worse.”
“But . . . what happened?” She blinked, looking around them.
“It’s over. Renata is gone.”
“You mean I killed her?” Her voice trembled.
He shook his head. “She destroyed herself. We barely escaped.” Then he laughed. “Why do you look so sad? We won!”
“But you . . .” she looked down at his body, and Michael felt his smile tighten.
“The sacrifice was worth it. You were worth it.” He chuckled morosely. “Besides, Lucas will make a better king than I ever would have.”
“Nonsense.” A familiar spark lit her eyes as she moved closer to the edge of the rock and swung her legs over. The way the white dress hit her knees as she dangled them into the water made her look young and vulnerable. It also made him want to take her in his arms all over again and swim until they had outrun every danger that might threaten her.
She tried to press his shoulders down. “You really do need to get in the water. It took my mother days to recover from her burns when I was born.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.” He reached up and caressed her cheek. “Not again.”
In the light of the early morning her hair began to glow as it reflected the sun. Michael tenderly ran his fingers through its wet locks. It was like touching silk. He lifted his other hand to cup her cheek. How the sun burned! But touching her was bliss, and he shivered as he moved his hand down from her cheek to her neck.
“So,” she said breathlessly, “where does this leave us?”
Michael just drew her back into his arms and clutched her to his chest.
“She got what she wanted.” She choked on a sob. “Even after death, she still found a way to separate us.”
“No she didn’t.”
Arianna frowned up at him, then glared at her own legs, which were still as human as ever, but he just smiled and wiped away the tear that had rolled down her cheek. “We are free t
o use our minds and hearts as the Maker intended us to.” He swallowed and tried to make his voice light. “I will say that I’m quite sorry to lose my legs, though. I know you liked them. I always thought they were quite nice myself.”
She laughed, tears still falling.
“Do you know how utterly beautiful you are?” Without waiting for her to reply, he pushed himself farther out of the water and met her mouth with his. It tasted of sea salt and tears. Scooping her off the rock, he held her close. The way she melted against him was more addicting than any of the songs Renata had used to captivate him.
A throat cleared behind them, and Michael turned into the blinding sun to see a few dozen merpeople behind them. From what he could make out in the blinding, stinging light was that each merperson wore a thick covering over his head and shoulders. Michael was rather sure that the blurry one who had cleared his throat was Arianna’s father, Amadeo. Michael considered putting Arianna down to swim by herself but then remembered that she had no fins. Not that he was in any hurry to let her go.
Amadeo wasn’t looking at him, though. Instead, he was looking at Arianna. And he was holding the triton. “I believe, daughter,” he held the triton out, “that this is yours.”
Arianna’s eyes were wide, and she turned to look up at Michael, her brow puckered. “I don’t understand. I didn’t win the contest.”
“Renata was never officially crowned,” Amadeo said. “The triton changed its mind. It abandoned her and chose you.”
“But how do you know?”
“I found my sister dead and the triton several feet away. It had stopped heeding her call, it seems. It found a song more ready to take the crown. Someone more worthy.” He held the triton out farther, its blue edges glinting in the sun’s rays and making Michael’s eyes hurt even more. But Arianna still didn’t take it. Instead, her grip on Michael’s arms tightened.
Silent Mermaid: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid (The Classical Kingdoms Collection Book 5) Page 34