Into the Abyss

by EJ Altbacker

  “I’m right here, Finnivus! Come off that whale and fight me! IF YOU’RE NOT TOO TURTLE!”

  The current carried his words right to the royal court. Gray flicked his tail dismissively toward Finnivus and swam back to a tremendous cheer from his own mariners. Even through all the noise, Gray could hear Finnivus’s shrieked “ATTACK!”

  Gray smoothly slotted himself into the diamondhead position. “Way to rile him up,” snickered Striiker.

  “I hope so,” Gray said. “I really do.” Maybe Finnivus would make a dumb mistake because he was angry. They needed any advantage they could get.

  The Indi armada moved, slowly at first, but then gaining speed. They came straight forward in Spearfisher Streaks by the Cliffs.

  Gray thought Indi might try to end it early. During the first Battle of Riptide, the mariner prime (the one after Whalem) was too careful. He could have won the day with a crushing first blow. The delay caused by his caution allowed the reinforcements Takiza brought from the Sific to reach the fight and turn the tide.

  This mariner prime was being aggressive, though. The Indi armada wasn’t separating into battle fins and feinting attacks to pull them out of position. He had numbers in his favor and wasn’t afraid to use them. This mariner prime was trying to destroy Riptide United with one mighty attack.

  “Hake Sideslip!” Gray barked. It was a bold move in a massed formation, more of an angled attack. But being so outnumbered, Gray was forced to take chances and be daring. It turned out to be the correct call—the Riptide forces got upper position on the armada. The bottom of Gray’s formation sheared through the topmost Indi mariners. But still, it was only a glancing blow, and not too much damage was done.

  The two formations turned as fast as they were able. Gray saw the royal court off to the side of the battle waters, watching. Finnivus was there, enjoying the spectacle as the two armadas fought and sharks died. Gray could have sprinted his force at the court, but they would have been caught from behind. Also, the squaline and almost a thousand Black Wave mariners were guarding the emperor and his court. Riptide United could never batter through that in time and would be ground to chum between the two forces.

  “Sunfish Greets the Morn!” Gray shouted and the order was passed on. This maneuver was neither offense nor defense but a move to get everyone into position to defend or attack. He would have to call another maneuver afterward, but right now turning speed was the most important thing.

  The Indi mariners were well-trained and disciplined. They came again, barreling ahead in a Tuna Runner formation, coming straight forward to overwhelm Riptide United.

  “Raise our depth one hundred! Prepare for Topside Slide!”

  Gray heard a loud fwump noise in the water as the massed sharkkind in his formation angled upwards simultaneously for twenty furious tail strokes. The entire force climbed a hundred yards, gaining height and negating the armada’s advantage of the current. Usually a Topside Slide would go into the massed formation version of a Topside Rip. Sure enough, the Indi mariners maneuvered into an adjusted Waving Greenie, ready to change that to a counterattacking move.

  But Gray didn’t use the Topside Rip. The advantage of Indi’s larger formation was too much. They had enough fins to envelope both sides of his lines. Instead, he ordered, “Seahorse Circles, down and left!”

  The Riptide United formation did a diving left turn and smashed into the right third of the armada. Gray’s formation overlapped Indi’s on that side, allowing Grinder’s hammerheads to tear into them from behind.

  Before, the current had carried away most of the blood spilled. Now there was so much, the water became a hazy shade of crimson. Gray could see at least thirty or forty Indi sharkkind spiral downward in their death throes on the way to the Sparkle Blue. There was a throaty yell of support from the Riptide mariners who weren’t fighting.

  Gray couldn’t leave Hammer Shiver engaged for too long. The Indi mariner prime immediately ordered an Octo Reverse, trying to wrap the other end of his formation over Grinder and his forces.

  “Rock Lobster Retreats!” Gray bellowed.

  This move got Grinder out of danger. Hammer Shiver rejoined the Riptide United formation, which separated from the Indi armada and circled a slow turn. Gray ordered Waving Greenie to settle everyone. His forces needed a few precious seconds to get themselves into position once more.

  But Indi’s mariner prime didn’t allow that.

  The Black Wave went through a progression of maneuvers that Riptide United would have to practice a year to do correctly: Manta Ray Rising, Sea Snake Engarde, Sea Pike Pirouette, before finally crashing into them with the devastating Cuttlefish Strikes the Crab, hitting their formation dead center.

  “Break-Break-Break!” Gray commanded. Some would have tried to fight their way through, but the Indi armada was too thick. The preplanned emergency Break command split their forces into four double battle fins of more than two hundred sharkkind each. Hammer, Vortex, AuzyAuzy, and Riptide escaped up, down, and one to each side, respectively. The move caught Indi by surprise, and Gray lost only a few mariners. The damage could have been far worse.

  But each shark I lose is someone I know! Gray gnashed his teeth in dismay and buried the thought. There would be time to grieve later … if they survived. The Indi armada stayed in formation and circled once more. There was no confusion whatsoever in their ranks.

  Gray stayed with the AuzyAuzy mariners and bellowed, “Re-form diamondhead on me!”

  Olph the battle dolph sent the order out. Some of their mariners were slow to get into position. They were getting tired already. The longer the battle went on, the more it favored the numbers and skill of the Indi armada.

  The Black Wave rushed at them once more. They had gained precious position with their amazingly quick turn. Their top two levels of sharks were higher than Gray’s! And the mariner prime didn’t waste this advantage. He came at them with Orca Bears Down. Gray’s formation would be ground into the seabed!

  “Tripletail Turns Up!”

  There was no way to stop the attack, but this maneuver regained the height they lost. And Gray’s forces were now with the current! It was dead even when the Black Wave crashed into Riptide United.

  Gray’s sharks fought valiantly, but the Indi mariner prime had succeeded in scoring another solid hit. The battle currents flowed back and forth, the fate of the oceans balanced on an urchin spine.

  Losses on both sides were heavy, but Gray’s forces couldn’t absorb them like Indi. If Riptide United stayed in this feeding frenzy, they would be too badly mauled to reorganize. And if their formation broke apart, it was over.

  “Yellowfin Feeds on Minnows, up!”

  Another risky move borne of sheer desperation.

  He heard Striiker exhorting the fins under his command, “Come on, you flippers! You wanna live forever? Swim! Swim for your lives!”

  Somehow, through grit, training, and sheer will—somehow—Riptide United got above the Indi formation.

  Gray immediately called, “Topside Rip!” The move was very effective in a massed formation. But that wasn’t why Gray called it. The real reason was, even with numbers, the Indi mariner prime would withdraw and regroup, which was exactly what happened. But after this saving exchange, Gray’s forces didn’t have the current in their favor.

  And everyone was so tired from the fighting.

  With ridiculous ease, the Indi armada reformed into a dual pyramid, the small points touching in its center. Their entire upper level was completely above Gray’s highest sharkkind. This formation would snap down on Gray’s mariners like the jaws of a hungry shark on a bluefin.

  The Black Wave roared toward them.

  “Umm, boss?” asked Jaunt.

  “I know! I know!” he shouted.

  They were about to be destroyed, and there was nothing Gray could do about it!

  THE INDI ARMADA CHARGED AT THE WEARY Riptide United defenders.

  Gray had a split second to answer. To flee using
Swim Away would expose their tails to attack, and they would be torn apart. It was then he saw Riptide’s reserve battle fin roaring in from the left, taking the Black Wave by total surprise.

  Gray yelled, “Topside Slide, right!” even though their forces were lower than Indi’s. The combination of the surprise attack by a hundred sharks and the Riptide United forces unleashing a concentrated hit on only one side of the enemy formation created a solid strike.

  The two armadas met with a howl and a crash, both sides ripping and tearing for their very lives. There were so many sharkkind whirling and twisting away in their death agonies that a constant cry of pain and anguish vibrated the battle waters all around them. The fight reached Gray himself at the diamondhead, and soon he was ramming and biting any Indi mariner who got close.

  Though Riptide United battled ferociously and with courage, the massive Indi formation began to push Gray’s forces backward. There was no way to withdraw. If the Black Wave overlapped both their far edges, it was over. Gray knew he needed to do something, but he was fighting for his very life! In the chaos of battle, he couldn’t see the big picture of what was going on.

  Riptide United was doomed!

  Then Gray heard something.

  At first he thought it was Olph, still positioned above his dorsal fin and crashing into any Indi attacker who got close. But this was different; stronger and deeper.

  It was the orcas.

  A pod of fifty of the black-and-white behemoths smashed into the top of the Indi armada. They struck with their namesake move, of course, Orca Bears Down. The sheer weight of the giants drove row after row of Indi mariners downward, compacting them into a disorganized mess.

  “Spearfisher!” was all Gray needed to shout to take advantage of the orcas’ surprising appearance. Everyone pushed forward, dealing death with their razor teeth. The waters turned blinding red.

  The subcommanders in the Indi armada panicked. One cried out, “Swim Away!” Others repeated the order. Half the Black Wave retreated; the other half fought. The Indi mariners who remained were outnumbered and enveloped by Vortex and Hammer Shivers on either side of their disintegrating formation. They broke. The Riptide United forces pursued, swimming down any Black Wave sharks they could catch, shearing off tails, and sending those fins to the Sparkle Blue.

  Gray couldn’t take the chance of Finnivus ordering the mariners guarding his royal court into the fray, though. “Re-form! Re-form!” he shouted. The order was click-razzed by Olph, still pressed against his dorsal like a barnacle. Whatever complaints Gray voiced before, right now he was glad the dolph was so close.

  The current cleared the blood from the battle waters and Gray could see again. Finnivus and his royal court were on the move! The Indi armada joined with the rest of their mariners in an organized withdrawal. Though they were retreating, it would be foolish to pursue.

  Gray knew the battle wasn’t over, not by a long shot. The Black Wave would regroup and come back. And Riptide United had lost one out of every five of their sharkkind. But they wouldn’t have driven Indi away at all if it weren’t for the orcas.

  The leader was at the head of his battle pod. Gray swam out from his position in the massed formation to speak with him.

  “You came,” Gray said.

  “Yes,” the massive orca answered. “My brothers and sisters believe in your words. They are here, as am I, because we want a better ocean than the emperor would create. We want peace in the Big Blue and are willing to fight by your flanks for this. For the first time in ages, the orcas will bear down.”

  “My deepest thanks to you all,” Gray said. “Come, we’ll show your mariners to the feeding grounds and introduce you to everyone else.”

  “I think they’d like that. It was a bit of a swim. By the way, my name is Tik-Tun.”

  Gray dipped his snout in respect. “Nice to meet you, Tik-Tun.”

  And that was how the orcas came to join Riptide United in the first day of battle against Finnivus and his armada.

  “That’s what failure gets you!” Finnivus yelled at the seasoned head of his former mariner prime, neatly presented on a platter floating on a sea turtle’s back.

  The emperor looked at the new mariner prime. “I—we—hope that you do better! Or else!”

  Velenka watched as Finnivus slapped the platter with his tail, and the head floated down into the royal court. Indi forces had stopped about an hour away from the Riptide battle waters.

  “Yes, Your Magnificence!” replied the new mariner prime.

  “Get out of my sight and prepare for a victorious battle! Do you understand me? Victorious!”

  The mariner prime was so scared he couldn’t speak. He took his snout from the seabed and dipped his head at least twenty times before rushing from the court. He wasn’t royalty, but a common mariner with the rank of commander. No one from the Line was dumb enough to volunteer for the job now that an easy victory wasn’t in the tides. Perhaps the new mariner prime would have the skill that the previous one did not.

  Velenka shivered. She had almost died in the battle! Since her attempt at poisoning Finnivus was discovered, everything was going sideways and into the rocks. If she hadn’t bumped a shark at her flank into an oncoming hammerhead, she would have certainly swum the Sparkle Blue!

  It was that sneaky little muck-sucker’s fault. Tydal would pay—after Gray and his sharks were beaten. It couldn’t happen any other way. The armada was just too large to lose. If only the emperor would use their numbers to their fullest! But a good third of the mariners remained to guard him while the others did the fighting.

  “So, Velenka,” Finnivus said, lolling her way. “How was your day? I see you’re still alive.”

  Velenka smiled as graciously as she was able. “It was a pleasure fighting for your glory, Emperor Finnivus. And yes, I am well. I only hope this proves my innocence and undying loyalty to you beyond any doubt!”

  Velenka’s stomach roiled with rage. I will see you dead, she thought.

  Finnivus swished his tail absently from side to side and clicked his notched teeth together. “No, I don’t think your innocence and undying loyalty have been proven beyond any doubt. Best to keep your place and see the battle through.”

  There had to be some way to improve her position!

  But how?

  Then she had it.

  “Oh, I wish you could have been there,” Velenka said, flashing her own lovely white, needle teeth once more. “The experience of fighting in such a great battle was exhilarating. I must thank you. It’s as if I hadn’t really lived before this.”

  The emperor’s interest was piqued. “Really? Father spoke of that many times. He said fighting flank to flank made the fins closest to you like brothers and sisters.”

  “So true,” she answered, making her eyes fill with tears. Velenka could do this at will. As a pup she discovered tears could sometimes bring her what strength or guile could not. “But those beasts killed one of my battle brothers. A mariner whose name I didn’t even know. Yet, without thought, he sacrificed himself to save me. Never will a day go by when I won’t whisper my thanks in the waters of your empire for that.” Actually, the mariner Velenka bumped had glared at her with real hate before he died.

  “It would be interesting to experience up close,” Finnivus mused. “That Gray, he insulted us. He provokes us!”

  “Oh, please no!” Velenka cried out. “You’re much too important to swim out with the brave and bold mariners of Indi Shiver. And Gray is such a ferocious beast! He’s unstoppable. Should he see you—”

  “Are you saying that I—we—couldn’t beat a pup from the boonie-greenie in mortal combat? I’ll have you know I was trained by the finest mariners in all the Big Blue. I’d have his gills between my jaws before he even realized I was there!”

  “But fighting in the battle waters—while it’s glorious and unlike anything I’ve experienced—is also confused and frenzied! And Gray fights from behind a line of his best mariners from a posit
ion called the diamondhead.”

  “I know what it’s called!” Finnivus shouted. “And I have the finest personal guard in all the Big Blue! No fin, or group of fins, could ever get past my armored squaline! Impossible! Isn’t that so, Tydal?”

  The brown and yellow epaulette dipped his snout low. “That is a fact, my emperor.”

  What a little muck-sucker! she thought. Velenka had been waiting to catch Tydal away from the royal court and put an end to him. She was a mako after all. If she couldn’t send a puny epaulette shark to the Sparkle Blue, she didn’t deserve her urchin-spine-sharp teeth! But Tydal knew she was waiting to pounce and grubbed for his meals inside the court. He didn’t care that everyone was making fun of him. Finnivus actually found it amusing when Tydal told him, “What better place to eat than underneath Your Magnificence?”

  The Emperor swam off his blue whale and pitched his voice to the entire royal court. “It is decided then! My squaline and I will join the armada and command the final destruction of Gray and his traitors ourselves! Tydal, tell the new mariner prime he’s being demoted. After all, who better to lead than me?”

  “No one in the seven seas, Your Majesty!” Tydal swam off to give the message.

  Inside her mind, Velenka rejoiced.

  With any luck Finnivus would be killed and she would take over before anyone was the wiser. Her poisoning had already eliminated a few of the more powerful contenders to the throne. Indi Shiver was ripe to swim a different current, one with her leading the way.

  But then Finnivus looked down at Velenka and added, “But you are right. It is dangerous. So you will swim right in front of my squaline.”

  “But—but—” Velenka stammered. “They’re armored! Can’t I be behind them with you?”

  The emperor shook his snout from side to side. “Oh, I can’t be losing squaline needlessly. It takes a long time to train a shark to swim in armor, you know!”

  Finnivus laughed his insane, high-pitched titter as Velenka’s heart sank to the ocean floor.