He headed to the back door, Nick and Aidan falling in behind him. As they got to the water Liam stopped a few feet away from the newcomers, giving his mother a curiously formal nod. “Mamere. I didn’t expect you to come here.”
Closer up, Nick could see the family resemblance. Mother and son had the same hazel blue eyes and elegant cheekbones, but the mermaid lacked her son’s smile lines.
“My child,” she said, ignoring Aidan and Nick. “I received word that one of the land demigods wished you released from your studies to play bodyguard?” She said the last word as if it tasted sour.
“Lord Chiron, yes. He wants Aidan and me to guard our chuisle.” He waved Nick forward. “Mamere, this is Nick Gardiner, mate to Aidan and myself. Nick, this is my mother, Lady Eine, leader of the Bright Water Elders.”
The mermaid’s mouth firmed, obviously unimpressed. “I had hoped you’d grow out of this childish affection you have for,” she paused, flicking a glance at Aidan, “your friend. But bringing a landwalker into it? Surely you must see how ridiculous this all is.”
Liam stiffened. “It isn’t ridiculous, Mother. The Oracle himself declared that Aidan is my fated mate, and that a male from the land would be our third.”
“And yet no mating mark has appeared on your back. Which should have illustrated that your affection for him,” another flicker at Aidan, “was nothing but folly.”
Liam turned and exposed his back to the newcomers. “We have the mark now. All three of us.”
Nick watched Eine’s lips tighten even further when she saw the tattoo. “How do I know that’s not something you obtained in a landwalker’s tattoo parlor?”
“Lady Eine.” The merman stepped forward. He had the same muscled swimmer’s build as Liam and Aidan, with warm brown eyes and a strong jaw. “I can feel the power in the mark. It’s no landwalker imitation. Your son truly has been mated with Aidan and this human.” He gave Liam a friendly nod. “I’m glad you finally found your third, Li. I know how long you’ve been looking for him.”
“Thank you, Colm," Liam said, equally friendly.
Nick blinked at the name. Was this the same Colm that Liam’s mother had wanted him to mate with?
Great. I have a mother-in-law who thinks I’m not good enough for her son.
Well, fuck that noise.
“Yeah, hi,” he said, moving to Liam’s side and deliberately taking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Lady Eine. You, too, Colm.”
Lady Eine’s expression flickered in momentary distaste, but Colm stepped forward and held out his hand to Nick. “It's good to meet you, Nick. You can call me Col.” He hesitated. “This is what your people do, right? Shake hands when you meet?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Nick took his hand and shook it. There was an immense strength in the mer’s grip, but he didn’t try to crush Nick’s hand or pull any sort of stupid Neanderthal tricks. Probably because he’s on a completely different evolutionary track from the Neatherthals. “I take it you’re friends with Liam and Aidan?”
“You could say that.” Col shot the other mers a merry grin, and Liam blushed.
Lady Eine made a throat-clearing noise. “If you’ve been marked by the Fates, then I cannot say anything against it,” she said, her tone very clear that there were all kinds of things she wanted to say about it. “However, we have another issue. Last night, two of our rangers cornered an injured ilkothella and were able to capture it.”
She glanced at the triton, who stepped forward. “Right now it’s being kept in an isolation cell,” Kasos said. “I know Lord Bythos had studied a previous specimen, and I’d asked him if he was interested in this one as well or if we should simply kill it. He said that we should speak to the Bearer and have him examine it.” Dark brows came down in a dubious look. “I presume one of you knows who the Bearer is?”
Liam pointed at Nick. “Our chuisle is the Bearer of the Rod of Asclepius, and a most skilled physician.”
The chill in Lady Eine’s attitude thawed slightly. “You are indeed the right hand of a god?”
“So they tell me,” Nick said. “Do you have a place where I can examine the ilkothella?”
“No.” Aidan’s expression clouded. “Baby, I don’t think that’s safe.”
“Aid, this is why I have the Rod,” Nick said. “If I can figure out how Thetis is changing mermaids into these things, I might be able to come up with some kind of treatment for them, or even a vaccine.”
His mates exchanged a long look, before Aidan finally nodded. “All right. But we’ll be with you as guards, understood?”
“Fine.” Nick turned to the triton. “Can you bring it here?”
Kasos shook his head. “Lord Bythos has placed a protective geas over these waters. If we tried to bring the ilkothella here, it would disintegrate the moment it entered the cove. You’ll have to come to our grotto.”
“Quite impossible,” Eine said. “He’s a landwalker. He’ll die within minutes of being submerged.”
Nick grinned. “Not if I have Poseidon’s Kiss.”
Her hazel eyes widened in sudden respect. “Ah. That makes things quite different.” She glanced down at his legs. “But you won’t be able to keep up with us in the water. I shall summon a mount for you.”
****
“You’re doing great, baby!” Aidan called.
The words sounded like dolphin song, but somehow made perfect sense in his head. Nick gritted his teeth and hung onto the (holy mother of Cthulhu, he didn’t want to think about this) harnessed shark he was currently riding. “Are you absolutely sure this is safe?” he called back in the same language. “And what the hell am I speaking?”
“It’s Éthlé, the sea tongue. Lord Poseidon gave it to you with his kiss,” Aidan called back. “And yes, you’re perfectly safe. We’ve been domesticating sharks for centuries. It won’t hurt you.”
Nick muttered something unpleasant under his breath. It had taken all of Liam’s persuasive power, plus Pythia’s assurances that he was safe, to climb onto the large creature. Even through the mer equivalent of a saddle pad he could feel the roughness of its skin against his inner thighs. If I start bleeding and this damn thing eats me, I swear I’m going to haunt them.
That won’t happen, Pythia said. After some quick questions, he’d learned that Pythia was not only waterproof, but could shrink the Rod and herself to a variety of sizes. The now-baton-sized Rod was securely strapped to his back, with the snake peering over his shoulder. You’re perfectly safe, Nicholas.
I’ll still feel better when I’m off this thing, Nick thought grumpily. Are you sure being in water isn’t going to hurt the Rod?
It’s the instrument of a god. You could throw it into a volcano and it wouldn’t be damaged.
Yeah, but what about you?
My existence is entwined with the Rod. I am as invulnerable as it is.
Her phrasing caught his attention. Wait. Were you originally separate from the Rod?
Yes. A group of boys came upon me one day and tried to stone me to death. I was able to escape, but I was grievously injured. Lord Asclepius found me and nursed me back to health. In return, I became his companion and assistant. In time, he cut himself a walking stick and let me curl around it. It became the Rod, and I its voice.
So you’re trapped by the Rod? He didn’t like that. It makes me feel like I’m using you.
Don’t be silly, Nicholas. I loved my master, and I love the art and practice of medicine. I’m extremely pleased to be of use again, and by a physician of your high ethical standards. My only request is that you not put me away in a closet when we’re not working together. It’s very boring, you know.
Nick felt his face heat. Shit. I’m sorry. I’ll make sure you’re always out from now on.
Her tongue flicked over his ear affectionately in response.
It was hard for him to judge their speed, but the ocean floor beneath them appeared to be moving by at a respectable clip. Looking up, his heart clenched when he spotted
a shoal of largish sharks circling through the water head of them.
“Uh, Liam?” he called. “Jaws, dead ahead?”
The mer chuckled. “It’s all right, Nick. They’re ours.”
The other mers and triton slowed, slipping under the patrolling sharks. His mount followed, getting closer and closer to the bottom, before abruptly diving towards the sand.
Nick yelped, leaning away from the expected impact. The sandy floor slid past them like clouds, revealing a large underwater cave with glowing globes in shades of white and pale green mounted on the walls.
The triton and mers drew close to one of the globes, where another mer wearing a mesh vest and belt waited. “You can get off now, baby,” Aidan said, gently pulling his hands loose from the shark’s reins.
Nick stared up at the cave’s ceiling. A wide round hole opened up into the water, and he could clearly see the greyish shapes of the sharks circling there. “What the hell?”
“We’ll explain it all later,” Liam reassured him. As the vest-wearing mer led his shark mount up towards the cave opening, Liam and Aidan took his upper arms in a careful grip and tugged him down towards the rock-strewn floor, where Lady Eine, Col, and Kasos were already waiting. “Here’s the entrance.”
With a flick of her sinuous tail, Lady Eine dove through a large ring of nondescript rocks and disappeared. Kasos and Col followed, the brown-eyed mer giving Nick a wink before vanishing from sight.
The penny dropped. “Cloaking technology,” Nick said incredulously. “You people have cloaking technology?”
“Just because we live underwater doesn’t mean we’re primitive, baby,” Aidan said. Twisting gracefully, he followed the triton and other mers.
“We’ll show you the rest of the grotto. Then you’ll understand,” Liam said, hand moving to the small of Nick’s back. “Just dive straight down through the ring. The rocks are just an optical illusion.”
Nick flailed a bit in the water as he stared at the rock ring. It looked solid and real. Cautiously, he swam down to it, and tried to touch one of the rocks in the center. His hand passed through it like smoke.
“Convinced?” a laughing Liam said. “Come on, Nick. Just go through.”
He straightened out and pushed himself through the rock ring. What he saw next stunned him. He’d entered an enormous underwater cavern, easily a mile wide and half a mile high. Lining the floor of the cavern far below were slender fluted towers topped with blue glass domes, sprawling colonnades, and open spaces that looked like parks. All of the buildings were lit with the same luminescent globes surrounding the upper cave. Hundreds of tailed bodies swam busily through the underwater city, just like any downtown scene on land.
Nick stared, entranced. My God. There are so many of them. I never even guessed.
Liam bumped into his back, pushing him down a bit. “Welcome to the Bright Water Grotto, chuisle,” he said, wrapping his hand around Nick’s and squeezing gently. “Welcome home.”
Lady Eine turned, tail swishing neatly. “Commander Kasos, why don’t you take my son and his mates to the holding cell so that the Bearer may inspect the creature,” she said. “Afterwards, bring them to my home.”
“My lady.” Kasos bowed. “This way, mers.”
Aidan and Liam showed Nick how to wrap his arms around their shoulders, pulling him along easily as they swam after the triton. The quartet dove deeper towards the mer city, edging off towards a plainer, utilitarian-looking building on the outskirts. A number of tritons were on guard around it, and the two at the entrance pounded their tridents in what Nick guessed was a salute at Kasos’s approach.
“I’ll be honest with you, Bearer. I’m surprised we were able to capture the creature,” he said over his shoulder as they swam through the entrance. Nick got a brief look of a busy anteroom before Kasos turned into a corridor guarded by more tritons. “It’s usually kill or be killed with them. I don’t like the fact that this one didn’t fight to the death.”
He flicked his tail to halt himself, pausing in front of the only proper door Nick had seen so far. “Bearer, I ask that you do not approach the creature or try to examine it without letting my men restrain it first,” he said. “Its appearance is bad enough, but its venom is deadly.”
Nick felt Aidan and Liam tense. “Trust me, I won’t go near it.”
With a nod, Kasos shot the bolts on the door and opened it, gesturing for them to enter.
The room was constructed from blocks of stone that looked rougher than the ones used on the outside. One half was blocked off with thick bars of the same metal as Kasos’s armor. A glassy barrier lay just beyond the bars, isolating the water in that half of the room.
Beyond the bars floated a nightmare. At first glance the ilkothella appeared to be a hellish mating between a mermaid and a shark, with more than a little zombie thrown in for flavor. It was half again as large as a merman, with ragged hair that had turned a sick sort of grey, and its distended mouth contained at least three rows of razor sharp triangular teeth. Its eyes were oversized as well and totally black, with no sign of a sclera. Greyish-green skin blended into a scabrous tail section, with whole areas of scales worn off. The creature’s breasts hung loose and empty against its ribs, and the large, flat nipples looked cracked and painful.
It swam slowly back and forth in its cell, nursing a crusted wound on its side. As Nick entered, it paused and turned that oversized head towards him. A slow welter of bubbles streamed out of its mouth.
He started floating towards the transparent barrier, but Aidan’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Nick.”
“Right, sorry.”
Liam tapped the Rod on his back. “How close do you have to be to use this?”
“Good question.” Nick reached over his shoulder and unsheathed the Rod. “Pythia?”
The golden snake raised its head, tongue flickering out to taste the water. Within arm’s length would be best, but I can do a gross analysis from here.
“Gross is right,” Aidan muttered. “I’m staying right next to you, baby.”
“I know. Just let me concentrate.” Nick held up the Rod and concentrated on the ilkothella. It stilled, staring back at him.
Images fluttered through his mind, studies of mer organs from the inside out being compared to the creature in front of him. Already he could detect massive disruptions to the circulatory and pulmonary systems.
He tried to narrow his focus and study the ilkothella’s bloodstream, but the mental image wouldn’t resolve. Pythia, I need to examine its circulatory system at higher magnification.
I’m afraid I can’t do that, Nicholas. You’ll need to be closer to do that.
He started to move, but Aidan’s grip on his arm stopped him. “No closer, Nick,” the mer warned.
“I have to. I can’t do fine anatomical work at this distance. Look, it’s got bars and a big-ass sheet of glass between us—”
The ilkothella shrieked, the sound ripping through the water like a living thing. Nick dropped the Rod and slapped his hands over his ears, curling into a ball from the icepick jab of pain in his eardrums. The triton and mers copied him, shouting in anguish.
The sharp agony slowly dimmed. Grimacing, Nick reluctantly pulled his hands from his ears, staring at the ilkothella. It had started pacing again, but it now wore a smile. “Fuck. Yeah, no closer,” he muttered to himself, ducking down and grabbing the Rod.
“That’s enough.” A grim Kasos hustled them out of the room, shutting the heavy door with a slam. “I didn’t know the damned things could do that,” he said, rubbing an ear and wincing. “I’m all for killing it now.”
Part of Nick agreed with him. “We can learn more from it if it’s alive,” he said reluctantly. “Is there some way your people could rig up some sort of restraints with a tight-fitting muzzle? I don’t think it can make that loud of a noise if it can’t open its mouth.”
The triton commander scowled, but nodded. “It’ll take us a day to come up something strong enough. I’ll
talk to the engineers, get them started on it.” He gestured to Liam. “In the meantime her ladyship requested your presence at her home with your mates. I’ll have some of my men escort you there while we work on the restraints.”
Liam didn’t look thrilled, but nodded. “Thank you, commander.”
With an acknowledging grunt, Kasos guided them back through the labyrinth of corridors to the station’s anteroom. “Bearer, I’m issuing you a propeller,” he said, gesturing to a nearby officer. The officer nodded and brought over something that looked like a small portable fan in a dark green casing with a hand grip on either side. “That way, you won’t be dependent on your mates to get around the grotto.”
The officer handed the propeller to Nick. “This power button in the right grip turns it on and off, and you can increase or decrease speed with the slider bar on the left grip,” he explained. “The lower button here reverses flow direction—use that if you have to stop quickly.”
Nick hefted the device. “You get humans down here a lot?”
“No.” The officer grinned. “It’s what mers with tail injuries use to get around.”
“Thanks.” Nick gave the mer equivalent of a wheelchair a dour look. “I think.”
At another order, two armored tritons fell in at their sides, and the five of them swam out into the street. “Hold the propeller out in front of you like a steering wheel,” Liam instructed, “then push the power button.”
Nick slid the Rod into its holder and held up the propeller, hitting the power button. He was suddenly yanked forward by the strong pull of the device. “Whoa!”
Liam swam up to him. “Are you all right?”
“Are you kidding me? This is so much better than a shark!”
His mate grinned. “I’m glad you like it. Let’s go.” He set off, and Aidan and Nick followed with their guards in tow.
Between controlling the speed of the propeller and keeping up with the group, Nick didn’t have much time to study the buildings around him, but what he did see looked like a cross between The Lord of the Rings’ Rivendell and a steampunked riff on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The predominant architectural element was the column, and most of the buildings had an open, organic feel to them with gentle curves taking the place of straight lines.
Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone Page 20