by EJ Altbacker
IT HAD BEEN A HALF DAY SINCE FIRST CONTACT with the Indi armada. There were continued skirmishes between the patrols in force, but the main Black Wave force didn’t attack.
Yet.
Gray was proud of what Riptide United had done, but the job was far from over. It was a miracle they had survived at all. This was a small lull in the battle. The awful thing was that Finnivus would decide when to continue. They would battle on his terms. It bothered Gray. Not because of pride, but because it was a tremendous advantage for the invaders.
There had to be a way to use his resources to win the battle. But how?
Gray watched from his position over Speakers Rock in the Riptide homewaters as the leaders of the different shivers and Lines argued their points. Everything that could be done to prepare had been done. Their mariners waited in a loose formation, just a few hundred tail strokes away. Gray noticed that his council meeting was less organized, with more people talking over one another, than when Prime Minister Shocks led them.
But he can give off an electrical jolt when he needs to, thought Gray.
“We smashed them in the snout once,” Grinder announced. “Let’s do it again!” The hammerhead gestured at Gray with a fin. “It’s no secret I wasn’t your biggest fan when we started, but your moves today were nothing short of brilliant. Hammer Shiver is with you!”
“We also got lucky,” said Barkley.
Striiker bristled. “Leave it to Barkley to find the rotten coral in the reef.”
“If Tik-Tun hadn’t joined the battle, we would have lost!” Barkley motioned to the giant orca leader, who nodded as everyone thanked him again.
“That’s true,” Gray added. “And let’s not forget Onyx and Silversun sending our last battle fin in at the perfect time to support us.”
“A very good decision,” Tik-Tun said in his deep, rumbling voice.
Grinder and several others gave Onyx and the leader of Vortex a few hearty tail slaps to the flank. Onyx was fine with this, but the small port jackson shark winced. “Okay, enough. My beautiful hide is delicate, you know.” This got a laugh from the group.
“We’ll snoutbang them once again, Gray!” said Jaunt. “Sure we needed a few breaks, but who’s to say we won’t get a few in the next scrumble, too?”
Mari swished her long-lobed thresher tail thoughtfully. “True. But I’d hate to rely on getting lucky.”
Onyx agreed. “If we have to count on luck, we’re done.”
Gray nodded. That was a good point. He turned the problems they faced over in his head. They were vastly outnumbered by a superior and very skillful force. Riptide United would always need the current on their side, that was for sure. Gray knew the surrounding area better than Finnivus, so that was a plus. And then there were the orcas… .
Quickeyes gestured toward Tik-Tun. “We do have a brand new weapon, though. Not even Finnivus commands orcas.”
Tik-Tun waggled his flukes at the group. “It is true. We can make some difference, but there are only fifty of us here. A single battle pod. And our flippers and flukes make it difficult for us to fight in formation with you who have fins and tails. At least that is how it was ages ago. If their commanders are clever, they can defend against us the next time we meet.”
“No proof of cleverness from Finnivus so far,” said Jaunt, which got a chuckle from the group.
Gray shook his head. “We can’t let them continue to set every condition in the battle. I don’t think that would be wise.”
Snork nervously came closer to the meeting of the leaders. Barkley signaled him over, and pretty soon the two were whispering and flashing signs between themselves. The sawfish was a member of the ghostfins and knew their secret language.
When the pair stopped “talking,” everyone looked at Barkley. “Well?” asked Gray.
Barkley sighed. “Finnivus has joined his personal guard to the armada.”
There was a dismayed groan, but then Mari said, “At least they’re all together.”
“Right,” agreed Striiker. “Just one big group of chowderheads to beat on instead of two!” Grinder gave the great white a flank bump in hearty agreement.
Barkley shook his head. “Unfortunately, Finnivus will also be in the formation … with every single one of those armored squaline.”
“I don’t care how tough they are,” Grinder announced. “If Finnivus swims the battle waters, one of us can get to him.”
“This does change things,” Silversun noted. “If we take Finnivus …”
“By take, you mean send him to the Sparkle Blue, right?” asked Striiker.
“No. I don’t think so,” Gray answered. Everyone started talking at once but hushed when Silversun nodded for Gray to continue. “Finnivus is the emperor. If he dies, one of the Black Wave’s commanders will take over and continue the fight. A fight in which we’re still vastly outnumbered. But if we capture him …”
Mari swished her long thresher tail through the water. “That’s right! And from everything we know, Finnivus is very interested in staying alive!”
“The problem is that the Black Wave’s losses have not only been replaced, their numbers have increased!” Quickeyes argued. “And we lost two hundred mariners. Even with the last of our replacements, we’re barely a thousand strong.”
Gray’s mind churned. Finnivus was grouping his forces into one mega-armada. It certainly seemed like a bad thing. But by putting himself at risk, the war could be stopped in an instant. The seeming huge disadvantage held the path to victory! Gray cleared his mind as the others talked. An idea began to form. It was risky, but then every move against the Black Wave was perilous.
“Okay,” Gray told everyone, cutting his tail through the water for their attention. “We need to fight where we have the advantages.”
Silversun flicked his tail. “Advantages are nice. Do you have an idea that gets us a few?”
Gray nodded. “I have a couple. First, we need to talk to Prime Minister Shocks.”
Barkley goggled. “First, we need to talk to Prime Minister Shocks? That’s the first thing we need to do?”
“Definitely,” Gray told everyone. His plan would require several things to fall into place. But it was their only chance.
Silversun leaned over to Snork and asked, “Who might this Prime Minister Shocks be?”
“An eel,” the sawfish answered. “The leader of the dwellers at our old reef!”
There was silence from everyone as they considered this.
Finally, Grinder grumbled, “That better be one tailfin-kickin’ eel.”
GRAY COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WHEN THE BATTLE entered its second week. His body ached of deep bruises, as well as a ragged (but thankfully shallow) scrape on his flank he received from a huge tiger mariner in close combat. There was no time to get it fixed by the doctor or surgeonfish. Gray had to be strong. Not for himself, but for everyone. If it seemed like he was beaten, their forces would wilt.
At least one in three from Riptide United was injured. So many sharkkind trailed blood that their entire formation could be tracked by scent alone for miles. And they were exhausted. When stories were told about the Battle of Silander’s End, Gray assumed it was like the first Battle of Riptide, a huge clash and over the same day. In fact, he had imagined it over in an absurdly short, but dreadful and costly, few minutes. This wasn’t like that at all.
The massed formations of Indi and Riptide United had only fully engaged twice in the last seven days; once on the first day and then again on the fourth. The mariners of Riptide United had almost been overwhelmed once again. Only a lightning quick retreat and some heroics by the orcas saved Riptide. While the Indi commander wanted to smash them, the addition of Tik-Tun and his orcas had given Gray the advantage they needed to survive. Just as they seemed to be hopelessly entangled, the orcas would roar in and create an escape path. But as Tik-Tun predicted, soon the Indi commanders learned to guard against the mighty battle pod.
The battle against the Black Wave was
mostly a series of feints and rushes. Finnivus, or whoever was actually giving the orders for the Indi armada, was constantly trying to lure Riptide into battles in which they had the upper fin. Whether it was setting formations where they had the better current, or using their superior speed to trap Riptide in a position where they couldn’t maneuver or retreat, there was always something.
How long had Silander’s End lasted?
Maybe it went on for months… .
Gray shook his head to clear it. He didn’t think they could hold out for months. Or even days. Adding to their misery was the fact that the Indi armada, even though it was three times as large as Riptide’s formation, was just as fast.
“They’re setting up again,” said Striiker.
The other subcommanders nearby looked to see what Gray would do. Things were not going according to plan. Gray had felt warm and tingly when he thought of his idea in the council meeting. But that was a week ago. Maybe it wasn’t a good plan at all.
Maybe the tingly feeling was because you ate a bad fish, Gray thought glumly.
The idea hinged on getting to the Maw, but the Black Wave stubbornly refused to advance into the deeper waters. Gray knew why, too. The heavy water was harder to swim in. And it was darker there, a little scary. Consciously and subconsciously, Finnivus and the Indi armada avoided heading that way.
And Gray couldn’t push them to it! That would absolutely guarantee Finnivus went in the other direction. But his own mariners were tired from the constant swimming as Indi kept checking their turns. Sooner rather than later, Riptide United wouldn’t be able to withdraw, even with Tik-Tun’s help. Then Finnivus would have them.
Once again, they would have to take a chance.
“Ready to attack,” Gray said. “Split formation, five to one after contact and execute Swim Away.” There was a slight hesitation from Olph, but then the dolph sent the message out.
There was a moment of silence in the water before Grinder shouted, “You want to do what?” from his end of the formation.
Velenka tensed as she watched the Riptide mariners rush forward. They had obviously been practicing and shifted their formations so smoothly now! She cursed the day she ever met Finnivus. He had placed her directly in front of the squaline guarding him. If the two armadas met, she could easily be ground to chum between them. But Velenka didn’t plan on staying in her rank. In the chaos of battle, she would make her escape. She would swim far away, to the Arktik if necessary, and lose herself in the Big Blue. If Velenka couldn’t be empress of the oceans, she would at least take her life back.
Finnivus couldn’t find her then, she thought.
Could he?
The Indi subcommander shouted the commands that he got from the mariner prime, who got them from Finnivus. Velenka had the sneaking suspicion the mariner prime was changing some of the orders that didn’t make sense—and saving their lives. It would mean his seasoned head on a platter if Finnivus found out, but she silently thanked him all the same. Over the last week Velenka had learned the commands well. She needed to know them to stay alive! With incentive like that, she was an eager student.
Velenka braced herself for another clash of armadas.
But at the last moment, Gray and most of his mariners swam off to the left, with just a double drove, two hundred sharks, hitting the very top of Indi’s formation. Thankfully that was well away from her. They then broke off and quickly circled right and away.
“It’s a fake! It’s a fake!” yelled Finnivus. The emperor was swimming by himself for the first time in years, his blue whales well in the rear. The vain tiger shark wasn’t lying when boasting that he’d been trained by the best combat instructors in the Big Blue. He was deadly. Before they had started this eternally long battle, Finnivus had even killed a few of his own mariners in one-on-one practice.
Velenka’s subcommander got them in a formation to pursue the smaller group, but Finnivus yelled, “Don’t split our forces! Go after Gray!”
The Indi armada sped up, gaining on the bulk of the Riptide mariners, who descended as they moved. The light from above began to wane as they moved deeper, toward the Dark Blue.
This is a trap, she thought.
But Finnivus had caught the scent of victory and wouldn’t let it go for all the bluefin in the Tuna Run. Suddenly the Riptide mariners whirled and charged again. This time they hit the Indi formation on its right. The mariner prime ordered a flanking move, but lightning quick, the hated orcas came in and smashed them back. The huge beasts would cause even the toughest sharkkind to think twice no matter how disciplined they were. Gray’s mariners retreated, swimming full speed into the blackness, downward as fast as they could.
“After them!” shouted Finnivus.
Gray set a brutal pace from his position at the diamondhead. They were close now. So close. Darkness enveloped the Riptide United mariners as they passed over the black depths of the Maw. Finnivus and his Black Wave were just a hundred tail strokes behind and coming fast.
“Turn and form up! Set pyramid fins up, hover at the ready,” Gray told Olph, who click-razzed the command. The mariners snapped into position and waited. The Indi armada came out of the gloom, slowing.
“Attack!” Gray heard Finnivus shriek. “Cr-crush them!” The emperor wasn’t used to the pressure of the depths and stammered because of it. Whalem had told Gray that the Indi armada didn’t do any drilling at depth, but Striiker had brought their mariners here several times to train since the first Battle of Riptide. He’d gotten the idea from Lochlan, who thought that a good mariner should be able to fight anywhere. Now was when that training had to pay off.
The Indi armada picked up speed, crossing over the Maw.
“SECOND UNIT, SPINNER STRIKES!” Gray bellowed, though Olph’s clicking and razzing cut through the water better than he ever could have done shouting.
Lochlan had scolded Gray for using the Spinner Strikes in a massed formation. And he was right. Theoretically, if you could attack the totally unguarded bottom of the enemy’s formation, it would be a great move. But when did that ever happen when two armadas were fighting? To call the move was foolish because the enemy above would spot the hundreds of mariners below and grind them into the seabed.
Unless you had a giant hole to hide your mariners inside where the enemy couldn’t see them!
And that was what Gray had. He had the Maw.
The double battle fin that Gray had split from his formation was composed of their fastest sharkkind. Those sharks had swum around everyone as Riptide United and Indi fought their way to the Maw. The two hundred sharks went down into the gloom, where the currents fell into the Dark Blue. They wouldn’t be scented or seen when Indi came to strike Gray’s mariners.
Gray’s smaller force now attacked, roaring straight up from the dark depths of the Maw and mauling the soft underbelly of the Black Wave formation.
But that wasn’t Gray’s only surprise.
He had sent Barkley to speak with Briny and Hank, the devilfish. Now they, and ten thousand other small horrors, boiled forth from the Maw. With their slimy, black skin and spine-sharp teeth that seemed to overflow their mouths, they were a sight. And even though every sharkkind in the battle waters was much larger than any of these little prehistore monsters, they would scare the krill out of you if you hadn’t seen them before. Gray had prepared his sharkkind for their appearance, telling everyone how frightening they looked, but not to be afraid. Briny and Hank would tell their friends to nibble on the group of sharkkind farthest from Takiza’s training fields. And this was exactly where Gray had led Indi Shiver.
The Black Wave went into full panic mode! Indi sharks swam in all directions, fouling row after row of their formation. Some Indi mariners were so terrified of the devilfish, they tried to batter their way through their own armada, bumping, biting, and tail-whipping anything that got in their way.
“It’s time!” Gray shouted. “We end this now!”
“That’s the way, ya big beauty!
” yelled Jaunt.
“Hammer and Vortex, open a path to their diamondhead!” Gray called. There was no named move for this, but Grinder and Silversun’s mariners were very experienced. They came off the sides of the Riptide formation and hit the center of the Indi armada as planned.
The Indi mariners were frantic. They were being attacked from below and harried by scary little monsters everywhere else. It distracted them to no end, and so they weren’t prepared for Riptide United’s snout-to-snout assault.
Gray could actually hear Grinder’s amazingly loud “Chaaaarge!” as they slammed into the Black Wave. As soon as Riptide crashed into the formation, Silversun’s commander and Grinder each called Seahorse Circles, but in opposite directions. Hammer and Vortex Shivers split the center of the Indi pyramid, creating a gap that got wider and wider.
The Black Wave was breaking. The attack at their bellies, combined with the frontal assault and the Maw creatures, was creating a perfect storm.
“Golden Rush, attack sprint!” Gray yelled. Olph the dolph clicked the command, and there was a fwush when the AuzyAuzy mariners accelerated as one. Gray watched the battle rage in front of him as he zoomed toward the melee. The Indi armada was panicked and under siege, but even in disarray they still outnumbered Gray’s mariners. They tried valiantly to get organized. If the Black Wave managed that, it would turn the tide of the battle waters.
The fate of the entire Big Blue glided on a current as thin as an urchin spine.
It would all be decided in the next thirty seconds.
And everything depended on getting to Finnivus.
Gray bellowed, “For Lochlan, BULL SHARK RUSH!”
The Bull Shark Rush was used to break past a larger formation of sharks. It was an all or nothing move usually used to escape. In this case, they were breaking into the Indi formation to capture Finnivus.
Gray felt his blood pumping, fiery hot, from the tip of his snout to the end of his tail. He swam as fast as he could, shooting forward as he accelerated into a blur. For a moment Gray thought he would leave everyone behind.