by E. G. Foley
“Let me take the first one.” Sapphira swam a few feet ahead of him. “I’ll show you how it’s done.”
The startled look Maddox gave her as she passed him told Sapphira he was not at all used to taking orders from a female.
But, sensible lad, he hung back, as ordered, to watch her demonstration.
Commander Tyndaris had schooled her over the years, after all, in how to combat every sort of sea creature prone to attack.
As the first ray came flying over, Sapphira held up her hand, palm out. “Halt, in the name of the King! I am Crown Princess—Ahh!” She ducked with a shriek as it gave her a warning, in kind, buzzing low over her head, but not yet attacking. Her jaw dropped at such insubordination. “That thing completely ignored me!”
“I noticed,” Maddox said in amusement.
“I think they were expecting us,” said Nixie.
“Figures!” Sapphira muttered.
Either Jones had ordered the rays to give no quarter even to a royal, or the tiny-brained creature simply had not comprehended her words.
Sapphira whirled around as the ray swept off, wide fins flapping, and looped about to come at her again, this time in earnest.
“Go on, Highness, show me how it’s done,” Maddox teased softly.
“Humph.”
But this time Sapphira was ready for the creature and parried the attack with her spear. The ray pressed its assault, gleefully slashing and stabbing at her with the long, wicked barb on the end of its tail.
Thankfully Maddox was a quick study, for the next ray was there in an instant, its big, gold, angry eyes glaring at him from out of the top of its flat head.
He warded it off with the harpoon, blocking the first exploratory stab the creature aimed at him as it arced away over his head.
“I see. They’re not so bad,” he mumbled, never taking his eyes off the creature.
“Here come some more,” Nixie reported, her wand at the ready.
“Your harpoon was a good choice,” Sapphira remarked tautly as they braced themselves for the next attack. “Most sea creatures have seen harpoons before and are scared of them merely by reputation. That should help you.”
“Do I look like I need help?” Maddox drawled, glancing at her.
She flashed a smile at him—and then they were surrounded. The fight was on, churning the water into a foaming white vortex around them. The fight slowly moved beyond the rim of the canyon as they pressed on toward her sister.
Sapphira pierced the wing of the ray trying to stab her; it became impaled on her blade so that she had to fling her spear to get rid of it. The ray went flying off, wounded, and slid down, out of the fight. Maddox jabbed the one coming at him in the belly. It let out a screech and went careening down, spiraling into the pitch-black.
“Advance!” Sapphira surged forward, gaining ground with Maddox beside her and Nixie ducking her head, a little behind and between them.
“They’re kind of cute, aren’t they?” Maddox said through gritted teeth as he fended off another one.
“I always thought so,” Sapphira replied, ducking to avoid being stabbed in the head, then striking back viciously and killing the thing. “Little grumpy, though.”
“I daresay.” Nixie zapped one that surged toward her from behind, and the creature clearly didn’t know what to make of that.
But both Sapphira and Maddox flinched when the sizzle of blue electrical energy from her wand conducted through the water to give each of them a small shock, too.
“Ow!” said Sapphira.
“Careful, girl!” Maddox scolded.
“Sorry,” Nixie said.
Sapphira ignored her instinctual fear of the bottomless gorge as they continued to advance toward her sister, keeping the young witch between them. All the while, they battled more stingrays circling and flying around them in every direction.
Sapphira suddenly noticed that the cage was now left undefended. “Nixie!”
“Ciao!” Nixie vanished, and Sapphira supposed a bit of invisibility couldn’t hurt, as long as she and Maddox kept the rays distracted.
Between thrusts of her spear, she stole just enough of a glance to see that her sister was gripping the bars of the cage, watching anxiously.
“Sapphira, behind you!” Lil yelled, pointing.
She whirled around and stuck the ray behind her in the gut, but was more annoyed than grateful. “Keep her quiet!” she said, hoping Nixie was still close enough to hear. “She’s going to bring the rest of the crew running!”
Whirling and darting in the battle against the stingrays, Sapphira kept watch on her sister all the while from the corner of her eye. She saw Nixie reappear right beside the cage a couple of minutes later, and for a moment, her conscience needled her for sending the land girl into even more danger than she realized.
In any case, Nixie was obviously not used to practicing her art underwater, for it took her a few tries of zapping the lock with her wand before she got the cage door open.
Sapphira’s heart lifted as Nixie reached in and—although she was not quite the warm and fuzzy type—hopefully offered the frightened younger princess a reassuring word before pulling her out of the cage by her wrist.
“They’re clear!” Sapphira told Maddox as he hefted his knife and chopped the barb off the tail of the stingray trying to gut him. It let out a squeal and vanished, spiraling down into the depths; she looked around, but all the rays were gone.
Still, she knew they didn’t have long.
Maddox and she both rushed toward Nixie and Liliana as they made their escape, then they all swam at top speed back over the edge of the canyon to the sandy plateau.
There, Sapphira stole the briefest of moments to wrap her arms around her terrified little sister. “Barnacle!”
“Calypso Deep—!” Lil choked out.
“I know. Father will hear of this,” Sapphira vowed. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Lil was trembling but gazed up at her gratefully. “I knew you’d come.”
“Not just me. Wallace is waiting, too.” Sapphira let out a sharp whistle. “Time to go, boy!”
Liliana let out a small cry of joy as the seahorse came speeding out of his hiding place to join them. His presence helped calm her down at once.
“Nicely done,” Maddox mumbled to Nixie while Lil hugged her pony.
“You too,” the witch said. “Are we done here?”
Sapphira nodded. “Time to get to the Keyhole. Come on!”
Fortunately, they hadn’t gone too far from Driftwood. They raced toward its distant lights at top speed, but gave the town a wide berth, veering around it in Isabelle’s direction.
“Let’s hope your friend is paying attention,” Sapphira said, her heart pounding as they made their escape. “After all, I did give her the easiest job.”
Maddox frowned at her disparaging tone regarding Isabelle.
Nixie didn’t seem to like her comment, either.
“Don’t worry about Izzy,” she said in a prickly tone. “She’ll sense us if she doesn’t see us.”
“Won’t sense me,” Maddox said dryly.
Sapphira wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but Nixie seemed to understand exactly.
“You cause her too much interference,” she said with a sigh.
“Not my fault,” he mumbled.
Just then, a long, mellow note sounded through the water, and Sapphira could not help but notice the glow that came into Maddox’s eyes when he heard it.
He looked askance at Sapphira. “Told you. Isabelle never lets anybody down.”
Unfortunately, that was not the only sound that reached them.
For at that moment, the faint, frantic clanging of a ship’s bell started ringing out behind them—coming from the direction of the Dutchman.
The signal sent a chill down Sapphira’s spine; Jones’s crew must’ve noticed that their hostage had escaped.
“Swim!” Maddox urged. “They’ll be here any minute.”
<
br /> “Lil, take hold of Nixie,” Sapphira ordered her sister while she, in turn, grabbed hold of Maddox’s hand. “Let us help you two. We’re faster swimmers than you. You carried me on land; we’ll help you in the water.”
“There they are!” gruff voices shouted from behind them.
“Let’s go! Head for the Keyhole, Lil! Wallace—run!” She and her sister bolted forward, dragging their respective landers with them, the seahorse racing alongside.
Neither Maddox nor Nixie had time to protest as they went tearing past Driftwood at top mermaid speed—nearly twenty knots.
With her little sister keeping up their fear-fueled pace, Sapphira didn’t slow down for a heartbeat, but she did steal a peek over her shoulder—and gulped.
In the darkness behind them, she could just make out a large number of Davy Jones’s horrible shark-shifter crewmen coming after them, though still half a league behind.
Dread filled her as logic warned they’d probably stop at Driftwood to look for Lil and report to their captain. Oh, Jake, you three had better get out of there now, she thought, but she said nothing.
What mattered was that she had got her sister back; Jake and the other two landers would just have to fend for themselves.
Her team barreled on.
CHAPTER 12
Puppetmaster
When Jake saw Davy Jones swaggering off down the wooden boardwalk of Driftwood, leaving the Briny Bottom, he thought fast and decided on the brazen approach. No one was immune to flattery, after all, not even the infamous Lord of the Locker…probably.
“Hurry!” he whispered to Dani and Archie, then rushed over to the rickety puppet theater and commandeered it with a bribe.
He had no idea how much his sand dollar was actually worth in land money, but it must’ve been a lot, for the odd-looking octopus man quickly took the puppets off his many hands and let Jake have a go.
Dani slipped into the close wooden confines of the puppet theater with him. Jake tossed her a puppet of a lady whale with a wig and big red lips. “Here. Welcome to show business.”
“What should I do?” Archie whispered.
“Carnival barker! You know how to talk to a crowd, after all your speeches. Get Jones’s attention while I think of a plot!”
“Done,” Archie said, then disappeared out front.
Quickly pulling two puppets onto his hands, Jake glanced at them each with a frown as he racked his brain for what he could make them say that might keep Davy Jones from leaving.
One puppet was a clam with a big, wide, sarcastic grin; the other was a serious-looking lobster in a bowtie. “What the blazes do I do with this?” he cried in exasperation.
Meanwhile, Dani had discovered a peephole in the wooden front of the puppet theater. “Ohh, I can see everything from here!”
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Archie cried in a loud voice up front. “Step right up—I mean, swim right up and see! You are about to witness the most amazing performance in the ocean. Starring…Sam the Clam! And, er, Robert the Lobster!”
“Where did he get those names?” Jake asked, scrunching up his nose.
“They were painted right on the front of the theater. Didn’t you see?”
“Also starring,” Archie continued with admirable showmanship, “Lady Wynonna the Humpback Whale!”
“Well, he’s definitely got their attention,” Dani reported, her eye to the peephole.
“Everybody, let’s give them all a big round of applause!” Archie said, leading the cheering.
Only a few fish folk in the audience clapped slowly here and there.
“We’re on!” Dani whispered.
“I don’t have a story idea!”
“Well, make something up! Come on!”
Both crouching inside the puppet theater, Jake and Dani raised their arms and waved them about as their characters arrived on stage.
“Robert, old fellow! How are you on this fine day?” Jake made the clam puppet ask the lobster.
He decided on the spot that Sam should be something of a wiseacre, while the lobster could be the straight man.
“Oh, you know…” he had Robert answer in a hangdog sort of voice. Jake wiggled his first two fingers to make the lobster’s antennae move up and down. “The old fungus been flaring up again—”
“Why, look here!” Sam the Clam cut him off. “It’s our most excellent friend, Lady Wynonna!”
“Hello, Robert!” Dani’s whale greeted the lobster.
“And Sam,” Robert pointed out.
“Humph! Sam who? I’m not speaking to him.”
“Why not, Wynonna?” the lobster asked.
“He thinks I’m fat!” the whale cried. “He said so last week! Insufferable mollusk.”
Jake flashed a grin at her as they heard the audience guffaw. Then he dove right in to luring Davy Jones over before the pirate and his fierce crewmen were out of earshot.
“I say, dear girl!” Jake made the lobster say, deciding on the spot to model the character on Archie. “Have you ever heard of Captain Davy Jones?”
“Well, of course!” Dani’s whale puppet answered in a very loud voice. “Everybody knows the Lord of the Locker!”
Jake nodded at her for following his intent without any need for explanations. “I’ll bet neither of you know just how powerful Captain Jones is, though,” the lobster said.
“Keep going!” Archie whispered, briefly poking his head in behind the theater. “This fish is hooked! He’s coming over.”
Jake swallowed hard. “Did you know that every sailor who goes to sea trembles in fear of his name?” the lobster asked in tones of awe.
Dani twisted her whole arm back and forth to show the whale shaking her head. “No, Robert, why is that?”
“Because any sailor who drowns at sea is fair game for him. He owns the whole place, you see.”
“The whole ocean? Surely not!”
“It’s true—so they say.”
“He must be very powerful,” the lady whale said admiringly.
“Ahh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” a deep, rumbling voice called in amusement from the audience. “Just wait till I get my hands on that orb.”
Jake and Dani exchanged an eager glance behind the scenes, realizing Jones himself had come over to watch the show. He’d taken the bait! Well, who wouldn’t want a puppet show in his honor?
I certainly would, thought Jake. But they had to keep it going.
“They say he can command a hurricane in the Atlantic and a typhoon in the Pacific at the very same time!” said Robert in a sage voice.
“Really!” the whale said while the audience murmured, impressed at this claim.
“He can control the leviathan,” said Robert.
“What’s a leviathan?” Wynonna asked sweetly, and for some reason, the audience laughed loudly at this.
Jake and Dani looked at each other and shrugged.
“No idea,” he made the lobster say, and the audience laughed harder.
Archie poked his head behind the side of the puppet theater again. “Do something! You’re losing him!”
“What do you suggest?” Jake asked.
“You need a narrative arc! Motivation! Conflict!” Archie said, waving his hands.
Well, conflict I can do, Jake thought, considering he made people want to kill him everywhere he went. Here goes nothing.
If flattery had all too soon bored the captain, then there was only one thing left to resort to.
Insults.
For this, sarcastic Sam the Clam was the perfect stock character. “Say, you two,” Sam said, “it’s all very well, you singin’ the praises of Captain Davy Jones, but let me tell you something! He’s not as mighty as you all seem to think.”
“Ooooh,” said the audience, laughing uncomfortably.
Dani gave Jake a wide-eyed look and blanched. “Oh, really?” she said uncertainly. “And wh-why is that, Sam?”
“Well…” Jake cast about for an insult that would detain the madman
but wouldn’t get them murdered.
Dani ducked her head and glanced through the peephole. “He’s listening,” she whispered. “He paused and looked back.”
Good. Jake was pleased that his talent for being annoying should come in handy once again.
Inspiration dawned.
“The problem with Davy Jones,” Sam the Clam said, “is that he smells like fish! And—he has bad teeth.”
Dani looked at him, aghast, while, beyond the flimsy wooden boards, the audience gasped.
Jake shrugged at her. It was the only thing he could think of.
Thankfully, a few rumbles of nervous laughter followed. Hearing that, Jake gulped and pressed on.
“Jones may be able to command the wind and all that, and capture every poor soul who ever drowns at sea,” the clam said—not him, of course. It was just a comedy routine, after all.
The Lord of the Locker understood that, right?
“But I ask you this,” Jake, or rather Sam, continued. “What does he do with all the poor souls he captures? Where does he even put them?”
“Soul cages!” a heckler in the audience shouted back. “Everybody knows that!”
“Or they join his crew and get changed!” yelled another.
“Those blokes. Ugh!” said Sam, while Jake tucked away this enlightening piece of information. “Have you ever seen an uglier lot than them? They look like something Dr. Frankenstein sewed together!”
“Aw, Jake, I don’t want to die,” Dani moaned.
But the audience didn’t get the joke, anyway, so thankfully, the carrot held her ground.
“Y-yes, but looks aren’t everything,” Lady Wynonna offered. “I mean, look at you. You’re not such a prize, yourself, Sam.”
“What? I’m the best-looking bivalve on the seafloor!” the clam protested. “Not that I care what you think, tubby. All I’m saying is if Davy Jones had to force his crew into service like the old press gangs, then are they really loyal? I’ll bet if you asked them, most of those brutes would admit the rumor we’ve all heard about their captain is true.”
“What rumor is that, Sam?” Wynonna asked cautiously, Dani wincing beside him.
“Oh, you haven’t heard? They say Davy Jones is a horrible navigator. Can’t read a chart to save his bloody life. The real reason he just roams around constantly throughout the Seven Seas is because…he’s always lost!”