Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone

by Nicola Cameron

  The tritons looked more solemn at that. “All right,” Lysandros said, hefting his black trident, “get into position and wait for the signal.”

  ****

  Liam, with Col at his back, swam away from the massed tritons and mers back up to the yacht. In addition to speaker neckbands, the tritons had brought spare tridents for them. “Didn’t expect to be doing this when I woke up this morning,” Col said.

  Liam felt a flush of guilt. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”

  “No, don’t be sorry. I’m glad to help.” Col grinned at him. “Beside, it beats Tartarus out of recording yet another Elder council meeting.”

  They hit the surface and swam to the yacht, changing forms. Col tossed his trident aboard and climbed easily into the stern, giving Liam a hand over the edge. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

  Liam nodded grimly. “Compared to what Aidan and the rest of them are doing, this is the easy part.” He studied the ladder leading to the pilot house and steeled himself to climb it.

  A hand on his shoulder stopped him. “I heard Kasos explain how to drive this thing,” Col said. “And I know you don’t want to admit it, but I can tell you’re hurting. Stay down here and keep an eye out for ilkothelloi.”

  His friend’s concerned look grated on him, but he had to accept the logic. “All right. Just try not to hit anything.”

  Col theatrically peered around the empty waves surrounding them. “Yes, I’m really worried about that. You just watch your ass, friend.”

  Liam gave him an ironic salute. Butting the end of the trident against the deck, he settled down to wait for their signal.

  ****

  The ilkothella at the hold entrance lifted her head, as if hearing a silent command. She whirled and shot out.

  Nick stared after the creature, clutching the Rod more tightly. Think it’s a trick?

  Possibly. But I doubt Thetis is in a game-playing mood at the moment. Pythia unwound a bit from the Rod, tasting the water with her flickering tongue. Oho. I can taste mers. And tritons, a large number of them.

  The cavalry. Relief threatened to rush through him, but he pushed it back. So what do we do?

  Undoubtedly they’re mounting an attack on this structure to rescue you. Also undoubtedly, Thetis will recognize this and use you as a hostage. We need to get out of there.

  He turned, staring at the cages that held Claire and the mermaids. What about them?

  Hold me up to each lock.

  Skipping Claire’s cage, he kicked awkwardly to the first mermaid’s cage and held the Rod to the lock. Pythia shrank more and slithered through the keyhole, tiny golden body twisting. After a moment there was a dull thunk, and she pulled out. Gods, I hate rust. Hurry and take me to the rest of the cages.

  You can pick locks?

  She twisted to look at him. If he didn’t know better, he would have sworn she’d smiled cheekily. I can do many things, Bearer. But we’ll talk about that later. Let’s get these mermaids free and find a place to hide.

  He moved as quickly as he could, opening the five remaining cages. The mermaids swam out, some looking frightened. Others looked angry. “Thank you, Bearer,” one of the angry ones, a blonde with large brown eyes, said. “Are we being rescued?”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  The blonde turned. “All of you, go find hiding spaces, small as you can,” she ordered. “If you get a clear shot to get away, take it. Go!”

  The rest of the mermaids obeyed, pausing to look outside the hold before disappearing into the gloom beyond. “My name is Meghan,” the blonde mermaid said. “I’m a ranger with Northern Current grotto. What are we going to do with the goddess?”

  Nick kicked back to Claire’s cage. Inside, the sea goddess was half again as large as she’d been, her skin patchy grey and sickly looking. “Claire, can you hear me?”

  The goddess slowly raised her head, working her jaw with its sharp new teeth. “I hear you, Bearer,” she rasped.

  “It’s time.” He hesitated. “Will you keep your vow?”

  She nodded. “If you keep yours.”

  “I will.” He held up the Rod, and Pythia unlocked the cage. Slowly getting a feel for her rebuilt body, Claire kick-swam out into the hold. She turned those solid black eyes on Meghan and blinked. “Be at ease, Ranger. I haven’t succumbed to the Nereid’s madness yet.”

  Meghan’s jaw was set. “Yet.”

  Claire smiled. The effect was chilling. “You won’t be my target, I assure you. Bearer, I can feel where the bitch is in my head. Shall we go fulfill our vows?”

  ****

  Kasos and Fergus floated at the head of their forces. Across from them, more ilkothelloi had swum out from the wreck, moving in patrolling circles. Joining them were the two changed orcas, looking fearsome with their expanded jaws and lumpish but powerful bodies.

  The triton commander lifted a hand to his neckband and touched the stone there.

  “Now.”

  As one, the tritons and mers surged towards the wreck. Ilkothelloi rose to meet them, backed by the mutated orcas. The joint forces skillfully harried Thetis’s creatures with tridents and nets, evading the snapping jaws and clawed hands. A group of tritons and mers broke off to engage the now-vicious orcas, luring them farther and farther away from the wreck.

  As soon as the battle was joined, Aidan, Lysandros, and the strike team began their surreptitious trek along the ocean floor, finally reaching the downed ship. Two tritons went in first, then one leaned out and gave the hand signal for “clear”.

  Aidan and the rest of the tritons followed. Almost immediately Lysandros held up a fist. They all smelled the acrid scent of frightened mers. “We’re tritons and a ranger with the Bright Water grotto,” he called.

  Four heads poked out of nooks and crannies around the wrecked room. One tiny redhead threw herself at Lysandros, sobbing.

  With care, he detached her and handed her off to a triton, waving up two more of his men. “Get them back to base,” he ordered.

  “Wait,” Aidan said quickly, darting to the redhead’s side. “Did you see a human here?”

  “The B-bearer?” she said, eyes wide. “He’s o-one deck below, where we were being k-kept.” She pointed at an open doorway leading to a passageway. “Take the first opening on the right and go down.”

  Aidan grabbed her hand, kissing the back of it. “Thank you.”

  Their guardians shuttled the now-freed mermaids out through the gap in the hull, reducing their group to seven. The two point tritons led the way across the passageway and down the narrow staircase. It opened onto a hold with open cages lined across the far end.

  It was also empty. Aidan scented Nick and wanted to howl with frustration.

  “You have his trail?” Lysandros asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Find him.”

  Teeth drawn back, Aidan followed the scent trail to the far end of the hold, where there was a door. Not waiting for the point guards he went through into a long passageway, checking blind spots as he swam.

  A rusty patch on a wall exploded outward and an ilkothella barreled out of it, slamming into Aidan and knocking him further down the passageway.

  He brought up his trident shaft in time to intercept the creature’s champing mouth, slapping its tail hard with his own. It fell back, growling. He spun the trident, bringing it up in attack mode in time to catch the ilkothella’s next lunge. To his shock it grabbed the trident’s tines and pushed, powerful tail threshing hard and shoving him further down the hallway.

  Afraid he was going to be wedged in a corner, he yanked the weapon back, trying for a low thrust. The ilkothella wriggled impossibly to avoid it, giving him a leering grin.

  Before he could try another thrust the creature was yanked back up the passageway. Thank you, Lysandros.

  And then he could see the ilkothella’s captor. To his shock, it had waving green hair like most of the minor sea goddesses, but its skin was mottled grey and it was much larger t
han any nymph or demigoddess he’d ever seen.

  And then it opened its mouth. Razor sharp shark’s teeth tore into the ilkothella’s tail. The creature wailed in pain and fury, turning on its new attacker. Aidan hung back, trapped as the goddess and ilkothella savagely wrestled in the water, biting and clawing at each other.

  The goddess wrapped her legs around the ilkothella’s trunk and swung around to the creature’s back. Grabbing a solid handful of hair, she yanked the ilkothella’s head to the side and sank her teeth into its neck. Black blood bubbled up as the ilkothella screeched.

  The goddess tore her head back, taking the ilkothella’s throat with her. The creature spasmed one last time and went still, drifting slowly down to the deck.

  Aidan brought up his trident as his green-haired savior spat out her mouth of flesh, wiping a forearm across her lips. “Put that away. I mean you no harm,” she growled.

  Aidan braced himself. “Excuse me, my lady, but I’m having problems believing that,” he said tightly.

  “Aidan?”

  Behind the goddess, Nick and a blonde ranger swam out of a doorway. The relief on his mate’s face was a mirror of the sensation suddenly bubbling in his chest.

  Aidan darted past the goddess, keeping himself between her and his mate. Frantically he ran his hands over Nick’s body, terrified he would find a bite mark. “Are you all right? Tell me you’re all right.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Nick’s face was drawn and his eyes exhausted, but his skin was intact. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” Over Nick’s shoulder, Aidan saw why the tritons hadn’t come to his aid. The ilkothella’s rush through the bulkhead had caused that section of the passageway to collapse, blocking off his backup. “Who’re your friends?”

  Nick introduced Meghan and Claire, briefly explaining what had happened to the goddess. “We need to get out of here.”

  “The only exit I know of is behind that.” Aidan pointed at the caved-in section of the passageway.

  “Not a problem.” Claire opened a door in the passageway and swam into what looked like a small equipment hold. Aidan, Nick and Meghan waited at the door while the goddess went to the tiny, rusted-out porthole.

  “We won’t fit through that,” Aidan pointed out.

  “Give me a moment, mer.” Claire raised her legs, bracing them on either side of the porthole, then reached down and grabbed the rusty, glassless edges. With a grunt she ripped the porthole wider, the screech of tearing metal painfully loud in the tiny cabin. Two more powerful tugs, and the hull now looked like something large had punctured it from the outside.

  She turned to them, sharkish mouth grinning widely. “Big enough for you, mer?”

  “Yes, my lady,” he said respectfully.

  “Mmph.” She dove through the hole, just clearing the edges. Aidan urged Meghan to go next, followed by Nick and himself. Outside, they found Lysandros and the others, who had backtracked to find another way into the wreck.

  The moment the tritons saw Claire, however, they immediately fanned out around her, caging her in a spiked ring of black tridents. “Surrender and you will not be harmed,” Lysandros said.

  The goddess straightened, chin coming up. “I will tell you what I told the mer. My grudge is with Thetis, not you. Let me pass and face her, and none of you will be hurt.”

  “She’s telling the truth,” Nick said quickly.

  “And why are we supposed to believe one of Thetis’s creatures?” Lysandros snapped.

  Claire stared at him, divinity mixed with pain in those black eyes. After a moment, he flinched and bowed his head. “I was the patron goddess of naval sailors and all those who did battle on the waters,” she said. “It is my place to deliver retribution to Thetis for doing this to me. Do not stand in my way, triton, for you will be defeated.”

  Very reluctantly Lysandros bowed and backed away. “If you truly intend to engage the Nereid, I suggest you move quickly,” he said. “Now that we’re all out of the wreck, my commander has plans for it.”

  ****

  Liam’s neckband tingled. A voice muttered, “And go.”

  He stepped to the ladder leading to the pilot house. “Col! We’re go!”

  “On it.” The motor started again for a brief time, and Liam felt the ship move position before it shut off. Col clambered down the ladder, grabbing his trident from where it rested against the wall. “Ready?”

  “Yes.” They both knelt on the deck for stability, and Liam raised his right wrist, touching the control band there. A loud boom tore through the air, and the ship rocked violently upwards.

  Soon, there was a detectable tilt to the deck as the bow began to sink in the water courtesy of the two tiny hydrogen charges that had blown holes in the hull. “Let’s go,” Col said.

  The two of them stood and dove cleanly off the stern, changing once they were in the water. The coordinates given to them by Kasos were exact, and they could already see that the ship would glide down through the water and land on what looked like an old wreck on the bottom.

  “Let’s get to the triton base. I bet Aidan already has Nick there waiting for you,” Col said, clapping him on the shoulder.

  As they angled downwards and started swimming, Liam hoped he was right.

  ****

  Aidan looked up. He could see a cluster of tritons suddenly pull back from the ilkothelloi they were harrying. The reason quickly became apparent as an enraged Thetis swam into view, followed by the hulking Halkyone. He’d never seen the goddess in her mutated form before, but the description from Ian, Bythos, and Aphros matched the shape that swam overhead right down to the trailing, diaphanous rags.

  “You dare attack me?” The words rang out through the water. “I shall see you all dead for this!”

  Above her, a dim shape began to form. Aidan realized it was a boat, rapidly sinking and heading for the wreck. Before he could hope that it landed on the screaming goddess, however, she also spotted it. Lifting a hand, she pointed at the boat.

  It froze in position, hovering in the water.

  “You think to crush me with human toys?” she called. “You fools. Learn my power now.”

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Claire’s lipless mouth draw back in a snarl. The goddess launched herself up from their group like a meteor, arrowing towards the Nereid and her handmaiden.

  The collision between goddesses rocked the waters. All the combatants—tritons, mers, ilkothelloi, and orcas—were sent tumbling violently as Thetis and Claire struggled with each other.

  Aidan’s group spilled across the sea bed, caroming off rocks and boulders. The mer managed to slam his trident point-down into the sand as an anchor, grabbing Nick as the human rolled past.

  As they struggled to right themselves, Aidan looked up and saw Halkyone clamping her teeth onto Claire’s ankle, trying to tear the goddess away from her mistress. Above them, the ghostly white ship had resumed its descent towards the wreck.

  Thetis throat bulged as she screamed, throwing her arms wide. “Be still!”

  The water around them suddenly went rigid. All the combatants, including Thetis’s own forces, were held in place, unmoving.

  Aidan could see Lysandros struggle to take a breath, and fail. Horrified, he realized the water in his own gills had hardened as well, smothering him.

  Thetis was about to do the impossible. She was going to drown sea creatures in their own element.

  ****

  Head spinning, Nick tried to focus on the mers and tritons around him. He couldn’t understand why everyone was just hanging in the water, unmoving. What the hell?

  Thetis has solidified the water, Pythia said, appalled. This is unheard of.

  He twisted, pulling out of Aidan’s arms. Even in the dim underwater light, he could see the mer’s lips were turning blue. The water in their gills, too?

  Yes. None of them can breathe right now. But you can still move because of Poseidon’s seed. You have to save them, Nicholas!

  How?r />
  Stop Thetis!

  With no other weapon at hand, Nick wrenched Aidan’s trident out of his grasp and crouched, kicking off hard against the sea bed and swimming up towards the Mad Nereid as quickly as he could.

  Thetis blinked at his approach. “The Bearer? How are you still moving?”

  He reached over his shoulder with his free hand and drew the Rod. “Thetis, please, let me help you,” he begged. “I think I know what’s wrong with you.”

  “Wrong?” She loomed, rags trailing out from her body. “You call this wrong, vermin? I call it power. I call it freedom. And soon this entire cursed planet, gods and vermin alike, will cower before me and know the taste of my wrath—”

  A blur streaked past in his peripheral vision. Screaming, Claire sank her teeth into Thetis’s shoulder and tore viciously at the flesh. The Nereid shrieked in pain, thrashing as she fought with the enraged sea goddess.

  The water softened abruptly. Triton, mer, ilkothella, and orca alike gasped, struggling to breathe again. Even Halkyone hung there, blinking hard and gaping like a fish. She shook her head, mouth still open, and spotted Nick.

  Pythia’s presence swelled in his mind. The trident, Nick. Now!

  Desperate, he brought up Aidan’s trident and jammed it as hard as he could into Halkyone’s maw, grimacing when he felt the tines crunch through the back of her throat. Her eyes widened, and she grabbed the shaft of the weapon, dark blood blooming around her head like a deathly cloud. He held on until her struggling hands loosened and her body stopped writhing. Eyes going dull, she began to drift down towards the wreck.

  A furious scream made him turn back to the battling goddesses. Thetis, now covered in bleeding bite marks and gouges, had managed to push the sea goddess away from her. She fixed a glare of purest hate on Nick, then on something behind him. Shock and rage battled on her face, and her form abruptly melted into the blue of the water.

  A strong arm slammed into Nick’s middle, yanking him away from the wreck. He looked up and saw a desperate Liam holding him and swimming as hard as he could. Col arrowed next to them, Claire in his arms.