by Claire Buss
Jenni was trying so hard not to laugh that tears were leaking out of her eyes. She waved a hand and the cut was gone but everyone had seen how Mia's bravado act had misfired and she stalked over to the other side of the pier. Her hulking barbarian shadow followed.
Jenni cheerfully had her finger jabbed, the sparkly silvery blood drops dutifully collected. Next up was Willow who gasped at the metal of the knife but gave up her green sap happily. Joe watched with interest and held out his finger bravely, but had to shut his eyes the entire time. Once the drops were collected he sucked his finger hard.
Fourteen stood in front of Ned. 'Shall I do you?' she asked.
'What?' Ned was confused.
'Shall I prick you and you prick me? Together.'
Although he knew what she meant Ned couldn't stop the blush. Just play it cool, play it cool. Ned's inner thoughts were getting far too loud, so he coughed and took Fourteen's slender, soft hand in his. He had never felt more rough and awkward in his entire life. She flourished a blade from somewhere and together they pricked fingers. The blood began to drip on the floor until Ned blushed again and fumbled a vial, one for each of them. The others watched in amusement.
Now that all the blood had been collected, Ned put the vials back in the waterproof bag and knelt down to speak to Pearl. 'Is it payment in advance?'
'No, pay at the Way Gate when we get there. Are you ready?'
Ned nodded and asked Willow for some rope - he didn't look to see where she got it from but it was hemp, good and strong. He looped the rope around the waist of each of them, tying them to each other, himself in the lead, the vials of blood bag dangling from his waist.
Ned gave them final instructions. 'Stay together. Don't touch anything. Don't interact with anyone. Focus on the person in front of you, ignore everything else around you. Jenni?'
The sprite nodded and muttered her spell. Instantly everyone began clawing at their necks as gills formed and the air became unbreathable. There was a mad dash for the water as everyone hurried to get in the ocean and ended up falling in a tangle. Luckily Pearl was on hand to right everyone and help them reorient themselves. She was particularly interested in Willow whose wiles seemed to work just as well under water as they did above. Joe had trouble keeping his eyes away from the mermaid's shape, so he had resorted to closing them.
'Okay, Pearl. I think we're ready.' Ned said.
The mermaid took Ned's hand. He looked back at Fourteen who was studying them coolly but there was nothing he could do. Without Pearl's touch to lighten them all they would never be able to keep up with her. As it was, it was going to be a long slog through the inky waters to get to the Isle of Illusion but first they had to make it past the Way Gate and Mermaid City.
They set off. It was quiet and cold. No-one felt much like talking. Shoals of fish glinted from time to time as they came to investigate the strange procession. Large shapes loomed in the distance – they could have been boats or whales or well, better not to think of the 'or'. Thankfully, this being mermaid territory meant they didn't have to worry about sharks - mermaids hunted them for sport. All they had to worry about were the blood thirsty merpeople.
Pearl's hand tightened on Neds. A mermaid was approaching, fast.
'Darla.'
'Pearl.'
They greeted each other warmly.
'What treats do you bring to lunch?' asked Darla.
Pearl chuckled. 'They are not for you, Darla. They seek passage to the Isle of Illusion and have their blood payment for the Way Gate.'
Darla pouted. 'Well, let me know if anyone falls behind. I'll see to them.' She swam to the edge of Ned's vision but he knew she was keeping pace with them. A ridiculously easy thing for her to do as a single man swimming as fast as possible was no match for a hungry mermaid and a long train of edible delights like this? It was temptation on a seaweed platter.
More mermaids joined Darla's peripheral swim. None came to speak to Pearl, clearly Darla had told them why they were there but it was beginning to feel more and more dangerous to Ned to be in the water.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was only about ten minutes, the Way Gate finally appeared. It was a rusty old gate that had somehow found its way to the bottom of the ocean. It marked the beginning of the mermaid settlement and they guarded the gate at all times. Anything that went through the gate had to pay the blood price. They were, after all, asking permission to travel through Mermaid City and most importantly pay for protection from their children. Juvenile mermaids were even more vicious than the adults. They were like piranhas with the faces of angels. Blood payment ensured that the children would be kept inside, but only for a short time. Food that freely walked in couldn't be ignored. Ned hoped for mermaids in a good mood at the gate otherwise they might have to swim for their lives.
'How many?' The first guard asked, his eyes raking over the travellers hungrily. Ned decided his muscles looked much bigger than Brogan's. It was not a comforting thought.
'Seven,' replied Pearl.
'Two for the big guy?' The second guard chimed in. He was smaller but looked speedy to Ned, all streamlined and eel-like.
'Yes.' Pearl smiled widely. There was a short pause.
'Make the payment,' demanded the big guard.
Ned fumbled with cold fingers to undo the bag at his waist. It seemed to take forever but he finally managed to pass the bag over. They rooted through it, hooting with delight at the fae vial and looking intrigued by Willow's contribution. Finally the larger guard looked at the line of wary travellers.
'You've got ten minutes.' And he moved aside to let them through.
Ned sighed with relief. You could traverse Mermaid City in seven minutes, so ten was pretty reasonable. He tugged on the line to get everyone's attention. 'We've got ten minutes to get through the city. Do not interact with anyone, especially the children. If we swim fast and close together we'll make it without any problems. Everyone alright with that?'
There were lots of nervous nods. The guards held the gates open and smiled toothily at the food passing through.
'Did you tell them it was ten minutes from the moment they set their toes in the ocean?' asked the speedy one.
'Nah. Spoils the fun.'
The guards watched the slow swimmers.
'How much time do they have left?' Speedy was feeling hungry.
'None. Ready for some lunch?'
The two guards left their post and swam after the meal train.
Jenni was behind Ned and she yanked his rope. 'Boss, summink ain't right. There's a helluva lot of fish faces following us, including those guards.'
'It's probably because they've not seen this many of us in one place before.' Ned tried to sound convincing.
'I ain't 'appy about this, Boss.'
'Aren't we protected magically?' asked Ned.
'Momma K's magic doesn't work down 'ere. You'll have to ask nancy boy.'
Ned sighed and pulled on the rope connecting Jenni to Joe. 'Joe, hey buddy, focus.'
Joe was circling the edge of pure panic, his eyes were wide and pupils hugely dilated, he was panting slightly on the verge of hyperventilating. If indeed it is possible to hyperventilate underwater when you are breathing ocean. He managed to bring his wild, frightened gaze to Ned's face and nodded barely.
'Joe, buddy, I need you with me, okay? Can you extend a protection spell around us?' asked Ned.
Joe looked around fearfully, expecting attack from every side. He shook his head. 'I can't, I can't do that kind of magic. Just simple stuff. Usually I either amplify or quash.'
Ned inwardly cursed. 'Which is it with me?'
'I don't know, I've never tried with you.' Joe flinched at a piece of seaweed dancing in the water.
'Let's try now then shall we?' asked Ned. 'Joe? Hey, Joe – buddy – with me.'
Joe nodded and held out his hand. Ned grabbed it and gave it a little squeeze of reassurance, unsure whether that was for his or Joe's benefit. He tried to quieten his mind an
d think about a protective shield over his friends. When his thoughts drifted towards Fourteen, an enormous surge of power pulsed through his body, making Joe jolt in surprise and a blue ring of protection appear around the group. Impressed, Ned let go of Joe's hands. 'Thanks kid, that was great.'
Joe looked shocked. 'I think that was all you, Boss.'
Ned smiled and nodded to himself. Being in love wasn't so bad after all.
A juvenile mermaid bounced off the shield. It looked annoyed. As if it was being denied a free lunch. Ned shouted for Pearl's attention. She turned and her eyes widened at what she saw. Ned followed her gaze and saw at least a hundred or so hungry mermaids swimming behind them.
'I thought we had ten minutes?' he asked.
Pearl thought for a moment. 'Um, did you check when that ten minutes started from?' She sounded sheepish.
'No I did not ask when that ten minutes started from,' snapped Ned. 'Ten minutes is ten minutes. Right? Right?'
Pearl looked even more embarrassed. She shrugged fluidly, making things jiggle, but not quite enough to distract Ned from his impending death.
'Stop that. Get us out of here, Pearl. You still work for me, okay?' Ned was hedging his bets.
Pearl nodded and then peered more closely at the mostly human group in front of her. 'Who is protecting us? Fae magic doesn't work down here.'
'Me,' growled Ned.
A new light of respect grew in Pearl's eyes and she grabbed his hand, tugging him forwards. The others hurried as quickly as their land-loving limbs would let them move through water. Mia was feeling the drag of the additional knives but there was no way she was going to let any of them go now. They might be protected for the moment, but that magical barrier had no guarantee of lasting forever and she had delved Ned before, he was patchy at best. That is why she'd dismissed him as a credible threat earlier. Now he was the only thing she could count on and she didn't like it.
More mermaids bounced off the shield, but Ned only had eyes for the gates in front of him. Like the entrance gate, these were rusted and clearly from an abandoned wreckage of some kind or other. Somehow or for some unknown reason they delineated the mermaid territory. If they could get everyone past those gates they would be safe. Or as safe as prey is in open water. The juveniles would not be allowed to pass through the gates and hopefully most of the adult mermaids would see it as too much trouble.
Everyone was feeling tense. Time slowed. The shield started to boing as more and more mermaids hurled themselves at it, trying to pop its protection. It held, barely. Ned could feel his grip on the magic begin to dwindle. They had to make it to the gates. He had to keep Fourteen safe. They surged forward, swimming for their lives and passed through the gates. No-one followed them. Yet. Pearl turned and made a half bow to them.
'I should stay here. Hopefully I can encourage my family not to follow you or try to eat you.'
'I hope so.' Ned could almost feel sharp teeth boring into the back of his neck so without looking around or even thanking Pearl for getting them that far, he set off as fast as he could. Without the mermaid's buoyant touch, it was hard going so he ordered everyone to swim to the surface and for Jenni to remove the gills. As they broke the waves they could see the Isle of Illusion. It wasn't far. Or was that part of the illusion? With true grit and determination they swam, conscious of the many fins that had begun to flash beneath them. Just a little further. There. Ned felt sand beneath his boots. He stood and tried unsuccessfully to run out of the water. At best he managed a semi-hobble. The others followed as fast as they were able, most falling to a crawl but all of them moving forwards. Anything to get away from the mermaids. They had all forgotten they had no idea what waited for them on the island.
Chapter 27
The Isle of Illusion could not be accessed except by travelling through the Mermaid City. Boats that tried to sail across the stretch of water either didn't make it that far or they never came back, so the mermaids' blood price was always paid, one way or another. Fae were unable to pop to the island due to a strong magical force-field repelling them, hence the intrepid group's journey through the ocean. None of them ever wanted to put a single digit in that body of water ever again. They lay gasping and heaving on the beach looking like rather well-armoured seals. Eventually Ned marshalled his thoughts enough to do a headcount. Everyone was still here. The hot sun that blazed above them seemed to be good for drying them out quickly, if not for anything else. It was time to figure out how to achieve the next stage of their quest.
'Joe, you alive?' asked Ned.
'Yes, Boss.'
'Where on the Isle did this guy say he was going to hide the grimoire?'
'He told me he lived in the fire grove or something.' Joe didn't sound certain.
'Fire grove. Sounds great.'
Ned heaved himself to his feet and did a body check. Then he looked around him and his heart felt like it fell out of his chest as he looked at Fourteen lying motionless on the sand. Then he saw her chest move. She was breathing. He had trouble catching one of his own for a moment and was studiously trying to avoid looking at Jenni, who was grinning at him from ear to ear.
'Okay, troops, up and at 'em,' barked Ned.
There was quite a lot of groaning, the sort you normally come across when everyone knows they should be doing something but they can't be bothered to actually get down to it.
'Can't we stay on the beach for a while? There's some interesting seaweed here.' Willow pouted. The seaweed in close proximity to her looked glossy and swollen, like it was doing its best to impress.
'No,' replied Ned. 'Let's get going. Where are these fire groves, Joe? Anyone?'
Joe scratched his head. 'I think they're in the middle of the island.'
'Great. Let's head for the middle then.'
Ten minutes later and the group came out of the dense forest back to pristine beach. It looked a lot like the beach they had left. Indeed, Ned was fairly sure that pile of seaweed plumped and ready for Willow's attention was the same piece as earlier. That can't have been right. Surely the island wasn't that small. And anyway if they were walking away from themselves then they couldn't come out on themselves, could they?
'Wait here,' he ordered and went backwards through the forest. He came out in front of himself and everyone was stood waiting for him. 'Right, there's no middle.'
'What do you mean there's no middle?' Mia scoffed at him and dragging Brogan, set off into the forest. Moments later she reappeared on the beach coming back the way she had gone but from the other direction. It was disconcerting. No-one else believed it until each and every one of them had done the exact same thing. Ned felt that Jenni and Fourteen only did it because everyone else had and they didn't want to miss out on anything, but his pride was certainly a little dented that no-one took him at his word.
The light was beginning to fade. It would soon be dark out here in the middle of the ocean, on a tiny island, with no city to light their way.
'We'd best build up a fire and get some sort of shelter set up. We can figure out what to do in the morning.' Ned tried to sound a lot more positive than he felt.
'If we make it 'til morning,' Joe said gloomily, setting off to look for driftwood on the beach.
Within half an hour they had a fire blazing merrily and everyone seemed to be waiting for everyone else to produce some dinner.
'Who had the food pack?' Ned demanded.
No-one answered.
'C'mon, someone must have bought the food pack.'
'Er, that was meant to be you, Boss,' Jenni smiled up at Ned with rather too much hope glistening in her eyes.
Dammit, he thought. All that distraction this morning about bloody socks and boots and he had forgotten to pick up the ruddy satchel with all the provisions in it. 'Does anyone have anything at all?'
A quick whip round produced a couple of sticky toffees and half a hank of dry bread that Brogan said he was saving for something special. No-one liked to ask for what exactly.
'Jenni, can you do anything?'
'Not here – the isle protects against magic.'
'Anything from the ocean maybe? Now that we're beyond the mermaid's territory?'
She looked at the glittering water with distrust then held her hand out. There was considerable resistance to her magic. She was going to have to stand in the water. In the end Ned and Brogan stood either side of Jenni on some handily jutting rocks, and dipped her feet ever so slightly into the water, ready to yank her out at the slightest show of mermaid fin. Once her feet were in the water, fish began flying out at regular intervals until at least twenty of varying size and colour lay in a heap by the fireside. Mia and Fourteen proved the depth of their knife skills by gutting and filleting the fish for supper. There was a competitive edge in the air, the sort you get when any two women are doing the same task, at the same time, together. It happens amongst family members, very good friends and even Emperors and their usurpers. In the end it was an even match, ten fishes filleted on either side but the last few to go under the blade were somewhat sloppily done. No-one cared, they were all too hungry.
'Nothing poisonous, was there, Jenni?' Ned asked after half the fish had been consumed. Everyone stopped eating to look at her. She shrugged and carried on munching regardless. The pace of consumption slowed somewhat but, to be honest, the idea of warm, full bellies outweighed the possibility of crippling stomach aches and potential death. Everyone felt they had been through quite enough already that day.
Gradually people stopped eating, stopped talking and started falling asleep. A small part of Ned was telling him to set watches and keep the fire burning through the night. They didn't know what dangers might be lurking on the island. Despite their inability to walk into the interior, it didn't mean that something nasty couldn't walk out. He hushed the voice. Fourteen was leaning on him. It felt safe and warm and she smelled heavenly. He never wanted to move again, ever.
Early that morning, or indeed later that night – hard to tell when you are sleeping on the beach and your fire has gone out – Ned woke up with a crick in his neck and a dead weight lying on his arm. Fourteen was snoring. It was still endearing even if it did sound like a saw cutting through wood. But now he had to pee, it was probably that which had woken him up. He eased himself out from under Fourteen and went to find a suitable rock. When he turned to come back, everyone was gone. He blinked, stared for a while, rubbed his eyes, turned around, and then stared for a bit longer. Yep, no-one there except a few discarded fish bones, which may or may not have been theirs to begin with.