by Starla Night
Roa abandoned his chase and landed beside Adviser Creo.
What could Elyssa do?
“Kill him,” Adviser Creo said.
“No!”
Roa raised the knife.
Elyssa shrieked the first thing that came into her head. “If you destroy this city, your brother could be injured.”
Roa paused and tilted his head. “Injured? Or dead? You are right.”
Thank goodness.
His eyes glowed. Twinkling with a strange light. “He did not rescue me from prison for all this time. He enjoyed himself here. He deserves to die.” Roa started to bring down the knife.
Grinding sounds suddenly shook the sanctuary, unbalancing all of them. Elyssa and Adviser Creo fell on their backs. Roa fell forward, burying his blade in the dais without touching Kadir.
The granite ceiling cracked and broke into pieces.
A Buick-sized submersible smashed into the holy sanctuary.
The adviser darted out of the way. “What is this madness?” The seed fell from his hand. It rolled across the dais.
Dirt formed a thick, impenetrable cloud. The submersible engine grated, horrendous and teeth-on-edge annoying. The cloud settled. Inside the window, the pilot was the evil, pasty man. Blake.
Madness was right. He had come for Sea Opals.
The adviser looked for the seed and found it at the same time Elyssa did. He roared. “Roa!”
Roa left the knife buried in the dais and kicked. He was faster than her but she had moved first. They both converged on the seed.
She grabbed it.
He changed the angle and closed on her throat.
She evaded and screamed. The seed in her hand vibrated hard. The Life Tree flashed hot and bright like a strobe. Roa stopped and pressed a startled hand to his chest.
Above, the submersible’s arm cleared debris. Whirring sounded as it dropped the pieces outside the sanctuary. Blake maneuvered the submersible in to grab another chunk.
Kadir crawled for the adamantium knife.
The adviser reached it first. He yanked the knife free of the dais and turned to Kadir.
Kadir rolled over, ready.
Adviser Creo raised his arm to bury the knife in Kadir’s heart.
No.
Elyssa flew to attack the adviser.
Roa darted in front and backhanded her.
Bright lights flashed in her eyes. Pain burst hot in her brain. It felt like she’d slammed her face into the wall. Like all those times she slipped and hit her head.
She’d been training her whole life for this moment.
Roa kicked forward, so quick, his hands brushed her closed fist holding the seed.
She flew backward, kicking quickly even though the world wavered and she struggled to make sense of it. He gained on her. She kicked up, through the new opening in the ceiling.
The submersible claw arm pushed the last chunk away. The Life Tree was laid bare to its pincers.
Beyond Blake, the city erupted in a battlefield. Mer fought mer. Chaos, screaming, and blood filled the city. No help would come.
Roa grabbed her throat. It hurt. He shook her hard. “Give up. It is over. You are all dead.”
A scuba diver kicked over the top of the submersible.
Elyssa would know that tall, slender, fearless shape in a dry suit anywhere.
Her scream vibrated deep in her chest. “Aya!”
Gigantic air tanks were strapped to her back. Bubbles erupted from a package on the back of the suit. Inside the tight, full-body neoprene, Aya was bundled up in a thick wool that just barely showed her features. She held a spear gun in one gloved hand and a large flashlight in the other.
The flashlight strangely flattened the glow of the Life Tree.
The submersible maneuvered behind her.
“Aya, watch out!”
Roa lifted Elyssa by the throat like a trophy. “Yes, watch out, human. Watch out as your loved one is crushed.”
Aya took in the whole situation in an instant. She lowered the gun and pulled the trigger.
The spear flew across the short distance and buried deep into Roa’s shoulder.
He screamed and released Elyssa, gripped the arrowhead, and yanked at it painfully. The barb would not come out. He fell back, along the outside of the sanctuary, struggling with the spear.
Only Aya would be a crack shot on the bottom of the ocean in the middle of a blinding battlefield.
Elyssa kicked down into the sanctuary. Aya dropped the used spear gun and paddled after her. Even with her plastic fins, she struggled to keep up.
Kadir scrambled in a life-and-death struggle for the knife. The adviser pummeled him in the bullet-hole and yanked the knife free. While Kadir writhed, he climbed onto Kadir’s back, rendering him immobile. He lifted the knife over his head.
Elyssa grabbed the adviser’s wrist with both hands.
He startled badly. “Do not touch another male, you filthy bride!”
She threw him off Kadir. He tumbled over and over, down the corridor toward the petaled entrance. Elyssa helped Kadir rise. Safe into his hands she thrust the twin seed.
They had all survived. Roa and the adviser fled. It was over.
The submersible engine whirred. The submersible flew forward and shoved Aya into the trunk. She jerked, pained, and tried to push free of the pincers. They closed down, crushing her to the tree.
The Life Tree screamed. It felt like a hand grabbing onto Elyssa’s aorta and yanking.
Aya struggled.
The pincer crushed the Life Tree against Aya’s tanks. They burst and crumpled. She clawed at her mask. Cracked glass filled with water.
Outside, visible behind the submersible, Soren roared. He shoved aside the warriors he was fighting and kicked toward the sanctuary. Invaders pinned him. He fought helplessly.
The submersible reversed. Branches separated from the Life Tree stem with a heart-squeezing rip. The submersible backed out of the sanctuary carrying the struggling Aya and the upper branches of the Life Tree in its metal grip.
Black poison raced down the remaining stump of the Life Tree.
Kadir collapsed. His face and chest turned a matching black. He clawed at his chest. His skin cracked into pieces, his body shattering like blackening glass.
He was dying. Right in front of her.
She had to do something. Anything.
He clawed at his throat as though an invisible hand squeezed him.
He was the Life Tree.
She grabbed the adamantium knife from the loam beside his spasming hand. An injury causes the Life Tree to get poisoned. Only the knife can purify the wound. She traced the blackness down the trunk, spreading like gangrene.
She sliced the upper half of the trunk completely off.
The adamantium knife sliced through the wood like slicing through a thick apple. The upper chunk dropped away. It turned into a blackened char.
Half a trunk remained. The blackness stopped spreading.
Okay. She had stopped the poison—
Kadir screamed.
It slammed into her like a second backhand. She bucked as the world turned red. Pain surged through her body as though it had overflowed Kadir’s and seared down their connection. On his chest, blackness receded, but his eyes bulged. It was not natural. Every muscle in his body tightened.
“Don’t give up.” She tried to gather him in her arms. “Fight!”
He stopped shaking and exhaled. His body deflated and lay still. The twin seed rolled out of his lax hands and heat leached to cold.
She rubbed his skin, his body, his cheeks. It was too late. In mere moments, his body grew pale and bloodless.
Balim appeared at the edge of the shattered ceiling. Long scars marred his torso and his face was bloodied from battling. He vaulted the rubble and fell into the broken sanctuary.
“You have to save Kadir,” Elyssa cried through clenched teeth and tears.
“I cannot.”
“You’re a doctor!�
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“His injury is too much. His Life Tree is too damaged. They cannot survive.”
“Try.”
He curled up in a ball.
No one would help her. Kadir was dying. The Life Tree was nearly dead.
“Try!” she screamed.
“There is nothing to try.” Balim rocked. “It is over. The dream of Atlantis is dead.”
“No.” She refused to hear it. “No!”
The Life Tree glowed low in the trunk. There was still life in the trunk, and still in Kadir also.
“His heart cannot survive. The shock is too great.”
She had faced down Chastity Angel. She had gained the respect of Soren. She had yelled at the adviser and unmasked the hidden traitor.
All for nothing?
Then this wouldn’t matter.
She plunged the adamantium knife directly into the Life Tree trunk, stabbing deep into its heart.
Kadir elevated from the loam. Pain wrung his body like a wet rag.
She removed the knife and pushed the twin seed deep into the purified hole.
Nothing happened.
“What are you doing?” Balim shouted. He tried to support the thrashing, red-faced, mouth-gaping Kadir.
“I’m feeding the seed into the Life Tree to strengthen it.”
“It cannot grow. This is unheard of. Impossible.”
“It’s not impossible!” The trunk glowed again with her conviction.
“The seed casings are too hard to crack using ordinary force. You put them in without even trying.”
“They will so grow!” She placed her palms on the trunk and willed it. Just like back on the platform, when she willed the flower back to life.
A lot of times, she had wanted something really hard and it had not come true. She’d failed the college placement test, she’d been left behind while Aya progressed, she’d been passed over for promotion. But that was okay. Those failures were nothing. She had saved up her good fortune to right now.
The Life Tree would regrow. Kadir would be saved. She was a queen.
Have faith.
The trunk of the Life Tree glowed impossible bright. Inside it, the seeds cracked. New life glowed brilliantly within its trunk. The light shone in her, and in Kadir. It glowed from their chests.
Balim stopped struggling. His eyes widened.
“New life for new life,” she said.
Kadir’s eyes opened.
“My king,” Balim whispered. His own chest glowed. His expression opened with faith and tears. He turned to Elyssa, made the more-kiss salute, and bowed so low his face kissed the dais. “My queen.”
Kadir rose.
The tracking bullet from his back fell out and landed on the dais among the ruined petals. His wounds closed and his body pushed out the foreign matter. Like the Life Tree sprouting before their eyes, he emerged with his full strength.
He turned to Elyssa and held out his arms.
She rushed into them and hugged him.
Their hearts beat in tandem. The pulsing glowed with the same rhythm in the new Life Tree, and in the chests of the returning warriors. Faith, identity, unity. They had fought to defend their city. They had refused betrayal and tainted power offered by the adviser, and instead, banded together in great harmony.
They had won.
She counted the number of missing. At what cost?
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kadir held Elyssa close.
She was his savior. She was his heart.
Their warriors gathered in the broken sanctuary. Those most injured were moved to the foot of the Life Tree. Faier limped to the dais; his one healthy fin was badly sliced. Iyen’s face had been split nearly in two and would leave a terrible scar. Balim tended them.
The submersible was long gone. Aya had disappeared with it. Roa, the adviser, Tial, and Soren were all missing. Zoan had been recovered from the old ruins, tied up and beaten down.
His remaining warriors greeted the new Life Tree with awe.
The new Life Tree was a thin sprout growing directly out of the trunk of the old. Its bark was no longer only his silvery tint. The color had changed. Silver combined with a bubbly pink. Despite its small size, it was bright and sparkling. Fearless.
Just like his Elyssa.
The warriors looked to Kadir to explain.
He stood tall. “Today, because of treachery, the Life Tree died. And today, because of determination, the Life Tree was reborn. Because of Elyssa—”
“And everyone,” she said.
“—and all of you,” he confirmed. “We won today because of faith. Faith in our vision. Faith in our city. Faith in each other. So long as we keep this faith burning bright, Atlantis will withstand any attack. Someday, all will flock to our city. We are the future and the hope of our race.”
Their worn faces lightened. Their backs straightened and they lifted their chins. Their injuries were still raw, but together, the pain could be endured.
Kadir linked hands with Elyssa. Together they wove through the injured crowd, pausing to speak with each warrior. They reached Faier.
He bent over his sliced fin and did not look up.
Kadir placed his hand on Faier’s shoulder. “Ciran tells me you fought like two warriors in this battle. You defended Iyen after his injury and you saved Pelan’s life.”
He mumbled. “Does it matter?”
“Your injuries were honorably received. Atlantis is lucky to call you a citizen.”
His head remained bowed.
“You will be included in all future selections for brides. No matter your injury.”
“Does it matter?” He looked up. “What bride will join with a warrior like me?”
Deep slashes crisscrossed his face and gashed his chest and back. The wounds were horrendous. Much worse, even, than the wounds he had sustained defending Rusalka.
Faier’s face crumpled. He looked away again. His fin leaked blood into the dais.
Elyssa’s light burned even brighter in her chest. She knelt before him and touched his elbow. “Many women, Faier.”
He lifted his head.
“What women want is a kind, loving, determined male who would go to the limit to protect them. That’s you all over. Maybe your face won’t grace the cover of Merman Weekly, but from this angle, you kind of look like a rugged George Clooney.”
He blinked. “What is that?”
“The sexiest man alive. For, like, twenty years in a row.”
Faier frowned. “You are kind. That comparison is too incredible.”
“Fine. Don’t believe me.” Elyssa rose and rejoined Kadir. “Kadir says you’re going to the next bride event. You’ll just have to see for yourself.”
Her confidence made Faier think hard. He studied his injuries and stroked the clear parts of his mauve tattoos. He always strove to be considerate, fair, and thoughtful but he did not extend those qualities to himself. It made him an easy warrior to fight beside, but a difficult warrior who could not accept a well-earned honor. As Elyssa prophesized, only meeting the right woman would ease those fears.
Just as Elyssa had eased Kadir’s.
Kadir tugged Elyssa to the next warrior, leaving Faier with his thoughts.
“Will he be okay?” she asked.
“Yes.” Kadir nuzzled her. “His mind wars with his heart.”
“I get that.” Elyssa leaned against him. “My mind tells me to worry about Aya. But my heart says not to worry. I feel in my chest she’s okay. Isn’t it crazy?”
“You are steeped in resonance.” He stroked her shoulder. “I also feel Soren and Tial. They are okay.”
Elyssa tightened her lips. Her eyes reflected her concern. “I hope so.”
A shout of welcome rose. Tial appeared at the crumbled wall of the sanctuary. His body was beaten and his hands were empty.
“Tial.” Kadir met him at the piled rubble. “You are a welcome sight.”
“You too.” He was changed by the battle. His young face reflecte
d an adult’s confidence and determination. “Adviser Creo tricked me into the hands of my old city warriors. But, I fought them off.” He touched his chest. “I feel rested for the first time since leaving Newas.”
“That is a reward of your faith,” Kadir said. “The Life Tree has filled us all with energy for our resonance.”
Tial nodded. “Queen Elyssa, what is your will?”
“I am safe with Kadir.” She stroked Kadir’s chest. “You may do as you wish.”
“I will patrol my city.” Tial found Ciran and reported for orders.
“My king! My queen!” Zoan smiled through a split lip and double black eyes that forced him to squint. “A new shoot has grown.”
“Good.” Elyssa smiled at him kindly. “Feed it back into the stem for strength.”
His mouth dropped in shock. “I did not say it was an ordinary shoot! This one has a bulb. It grows from the seafloor.”
That meant a new castle was growing.
And he had deliberately misled them. Elyssa twisted her lips and wagged a finger at Zoan. “I’m watching you.”
His eyes twinkled. He made the salute. His right hand bore new scars around the old, slowly healing shark bites.
Zoan was a resilient warrior. He had not fully processed his brother’s betrayal — and his brother had gotten away, it seemed — but he rebounded more easily than some.
“A new castle. Wow. It will be nice to have ours to be alone, I guess.” Elyssa sighed.
“We will not have it for long.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The Life Tree responds to our resonance,” he reminded her, swinging her gently in his arms. “A warrior has claimed his bride.”
“So ours will remain open to our warriors? Good. I like having a big, full castle.” She smiled and relaxed. “I hope we meet the new couple soon.”
He expanded her smile with a wondrous glow. This free, easy kiss between king and queen was the promise they had tried to achieve. This, here now.
Her deepening kiss spoke all.
Lotar and Gailen returned with Adviser Creo. He alone was dark-hearted and quivering, well aware of the amazing transformation of the resonant mer.
“You should not exist!” he shouted. “You treat your brides badly. Your city will cause a thousand deaths.”