David helped Faren to her feet. “Lead the way,” he said.
Luna followed behind them in a daze.
It didn’t take them long to find the tree in question. It was obvious, with the cuts and scrapes dug deep in the bark, others had already used the precious sap for their medicinal needs. Crimson fluid dripped from the cuts. In some areas, someone had completely ripped the bark away in long strips, but the sap staining the tree’s tougher insides had already dried.
David immediately set to work hacking away at the white and black mottled bark. Everywhere he cut, the tree poured forth the healing liquid.
David saturated Faren’s wounds. She saw him grimace when he felt the holes under his fingertips. “Does that hurt?” He waited for her to answer.
“No, I’m fine.” She sucked in a small breath.
When he finished with Faren, David began smearing the sap on his wounded calf.
“Stay with her,” Faren said, gesturing to Luna with her eyes. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“No,” he argued, standing up straight. “You can’t go back out there.”
“I have to find my sister.”
A light shower started, filling the trees with the cacophony of rain. It did not blot out the sounds of fighting from the beach, the screams of pain.
Through the strands of wet hair on her face, Faren saw Cindel run past. Several demons chased her, carrying spears and nets.
Faren was running before she knew it. And then David was running beside her. “I’m coming with you.”
They weren’t the only ones ready to run to Cindel’s defense. Growling grabbed Faren’s attention, and she turned to see a pack of jaguars inching from the forest. Two of them ran toward Cindel, and they were already attacking the demons chasing her before Faren and David could get to her side. The animals tore the monsters limb from limb.
Faren saw another wave of demons making their way ashore. Mers and selkies met them in the surf, and the battle continued.
“Cindel, let’s get you out of here,” Faren cried. She and David hurried her back into the forest, rejoining Luna in the underbrush.
David pulled Faren close.
Luna dropped to the forest floor and began rocking back and forth, with a dazed expression. She looked so lost. Faren ached for her. She wished she could ease her heartache, but she knew the war had already taken its toll on her friend.
When Faren saw a sea demon ripping sealskins from the ground and shredding them, she jumped up and ran toward it, screaming. “Get away from there!”
Her enemy continued to dig, hurling sand over her shoulder until she found the next pelt. She destroyed that one, too, and tossed it to the ground a discarded heap.
Before Faren could attack, a handful of ocelots leaped onto the demon. They gnawed at her flesh and ripped her hair from her scalp.
When the wild cats dragged the creature away, Faren knelt down and picked up the shredded sealskins. She wanted to cry for the selkies that would be without pelts, but she couldn’t. No matter how atrocious the devastating find was, she was dry inside. The war had seen to that.
Faren wiped the wet hair from her eyes and covered the skins up the best she could.
The first thing she noticed was the sound of the distant waves–they were growing louder, crashing faster.
Faren looked up to see an immense monster break the surface of the water in a great flurry of frothing sea foam and fury. Waves rolled from massive red scales.
Furia, Faren thought, unable to breathe. It had to be Furia. She was barely aware of David pulling her back to the sheltering ferns.
They watched the beast rise from the sea in all her demented glory. Her body shimmered beneath a layer of bright, red scales that expanded the length of her torso. Her face, although beautiful, housed many rows of razor-sharp teeth. She hovered eighty feet above the waves, staring down at those occupying the beach. Those still alive stared back. No longer could Faren hear the sounds of battle or the cries of the dying. In their place, utter silence lingered.
Furia opened her mouth and screeched. Everyone on the beach fell to their knees and covered their ears to block out the monster’s piercing cry. When she grew silent, they stayed on their knees, waiting to see what would happen next.
“What the…” David breathed, beside Faren.
All her life, Faren had heard stories of the creature that lived beyond the drop off. No matter how horrible the legends had depicted Furia over the years, nothing could have prepared her for the atrocity emerging before her now.
Furia fixed her eyes on those held in her trance. Her long, black claws dug into her flesh as she squeezed her hands into tight fists. Blood dripped onto the sand. Her hundred foot tentacles moved about rhythmically. She screeched again and launched her bulk from the surf.
When several selkies ran past, Faren saw Teegan among them. “Teegan,” she hissed. He heard, saw them, and came and sank to the ground beside Luna.
The sea demons didn’t run–not at first. Not until the creature they had coddled for so many centuries began grabbing them and eating them, by huge handfuls. Furia, Faren saw with horror, was a cannibal. She could see the beasts’ confusion turn to fear, then panic. The dwarfed monsters began to run for the safety of the forest. Some of them made it.
“We’re not safe here.” Faren glanced at David and pulled her little sister deeper into the forest. Teegan, helping Luna, and David followed. They came upon a copse of banyans and Faren led the way into their midst. It was dark and still beneath the thick bows and ancient hanging roots, dry despite the rain. The small group of friends huddled together.
Faren turned to her sister and hugged her, trying to block out everything but the sounds of the wind through the banyans. Its innocent, harmonic lullaby was the one thing keeping her from falling over the edge of rationality
Cindel was quiet, unresponsive, and when Faren released her to look into her face, she could see her sister’s eyes were blank. How would their father have handled this situation? How would their mother have made things right? Faren didn’t know. The right words refused to come.
Will this day ever end?
Faren buried her face in David’s shoulder and waited for the screaming from the beach to stop.
* * *
When Cindel laid her head in Faren’s lap, Faren smoothed her hair and sang her the lullaby their mother used to sing. At the sound of her voice, Cindel relaxed, and it wasn’t long before she was asleep.
The forest was growing darker, and Faren could hear mers stirring from their hiding places. She realized it was time for them to move on.
“We can’t stay here,” Faren said. “We’ll die.”
No one moved.
Faren hauled Cindel to her feet and tugged her toward the edge of the forest. Luna and David followed. Left and right, Furia killed other mers who had already run from the forest. “Listen to me,” Faren told her sister. “When I say run… you run.”
Cindel cried. “No, no,” she sobbed, staring at the mers dying on the beach.
“Not yet,” Faren said. “Not yet.”
Cindel continued to cry, “I can’t, Faren. Please, don’t make me.”
“Not yet… now… run!” Faren whispered. She yanked Cindel from the forest and pushed her toward the surf. All around them mers and demons ran for their lives.
“Cindel, pick up the pace!” David took her other arm. Even though they were halfway down the beach, Cindel still struggled to get back to the forest. David picked her up and hurried her into the surf. They dove into the small waves.
“We need to get to the north side,” Faren said. “There’s an underwater cave there where we can hide.”
“She’s coming!” Luna cried, staring over her shoulder. “Furia’s following us!”
Faren turned to see Furia had reentered the sea. She scooped up demons by the handful as she came. The invisible mers swam for cover, but the beast tracked them without the need for sight.
“T
here,” Faren cried, gesturing toward the coral encrusted steamship, “hurry!”
When the group made it to the wreckage, they swam into the hold. There were many others hiding in the ship. Sea demons and mers took shelter, cowering within feet of one another. It was quite a sight.
“David,” Faren cried, looking around, “where’s Teegan?”
David tried to stop her. “No, you can’t go back out there!” He grabbed her arm.
“I have to. I have to find Teegan.”
Faren pushed him off and swam back through the ship, squeezing through the gathering crowd. “Teegan,” she called out, “Teegan!” She fought her way outside in time to see Furia chasing him down. She hurried toward them, determined to save her friend. Before her eyes, the monster scooped Teegan up and ate him in one bite before he could even cry out.
“No!” Anger replaced Faren’s fear. She picked up a spear and soared toward the beast. She raised her weapon and aimed it at Furia’s bulbous body. It bounced off her flesh like a rock skipping across the surface of the water.
The beast looked over at her and grinned. She reached for Faren and missed; all she got was a handful of sand and shells.
Faren swam back to the boat. She could hear the commotion coming from inside the wreck and prayed for their safety. The last thing she wanted was to be the reason for the deaths of so many.
Before Furia could track her, David pulled Faren back inside. He tugged her through the mass of mers to the rear of the boat. They made it back to Luna and Cindel just as Furia caught up to them. When the beast picked up the boat, mers and demons grabbed what they could to keep from falling out.
Faren hauled Cindel toward her, and David and Luna sidled up next to them. They grabbed the rungs bolted to the wall leading to the deck. Others latched onto the metal beams crisscrossing the decaying ceiling.
Furia made her way back to shore clutching the boat, and when she was able to poke her head above the surface, she raised the steamer high into the air. When she shook the creaking vessel, many forms tumbled into the water either morphing back to mer form and swimming away, or using others as stepping stones to escape.
“Hang on!” Faren cried when Cindel’s hands started to slip. “Don’t let go.”
Cindel screamed and tightened her grip.
Faren could see the surface of the water from where she dangled over the large hole in the side of the boat. To her horror, little by little, her hands slipped off the rung. “Ahhh, David!” she screamed before her grip tore loose. But she didn’t fall. Faren looked up to see David clinging to the railing by one arm and hanging onto her with his good hand.
“Don’t let go of me, baby,” he yelled. “Don’t let go of my hand. Don’t let go!”
Faren pulled herself up and hung on for dear life. From here, she could see mers and demons hanging off every part of the boat. They littered the decks, grasping rotted boards, and clung to the stern.
Furia dropped the wreck. Splashing water sucked many of mers and sea demons out through large holes in the hull of the ship. David grabbed Faren with one hand and Luna with the other. Faren held onto Cindel until the water calmed down.
“We’re alive!” Cindel cried. Her laugh turned into a sob. She floated to the floor and wept openly.
Luna snuggled up to her and held her, rocking the younger mer back and forth. “It’s okay, honey. Everything will be fine. We’ll get out of this.”
Faren left David’s side and sidled up next to Cindel. She wished she knew what to do, but the answer eluded her. All that stared back was a ship full of trembling souls and the realization as to how powerless she was. Sap plugged up many of their wounds, while others bled freely.
David swam to her and took her hand, in quiet understanding.
When the mers calmed down, they resumed their natural vibrancy. They huddled together on one side of the boat while the demons stayed to themselves on the other.
“It’s getting quiet,” Cindel pointed out. She lifted her head from Luna’s lap. “I wonder what’s going on out there.”
“I think we all want to know the answer to that question.”
Faren looked up at the new thought to see Suri swimming up to them. She let go of David’s hand and swam forward, ready to fight.
“Calm down,” Suri said. “I think we have enough problems without creating more.”
Faren maintained her stance. She stared into the monster’s eyes without wavering. “What do you want?”
“Look around you,” Suri hissed, scanning the hold. “Look at us… hiding together like allies.”
“You are no ally of mine,” Faren shot back, clenching her fists. How could this beast float here and pretend to be her friend? Faren’s father and friends crept back into her mind, and she moved toward Suri.
David stopped her. “Faren, wait,” he said, swimming in front of her. “Let’s hear her out.”
“Hear what out? They murdered my friends. They killed the only parent I had left.” Faren’s thoughts attracted the attention of those around them.
David ran his hands over her wounds and down her arms. “I know, baby, and I’m so sorry,” he said, taking her hands in his. He gazed down at Cindel and gave her a small smile.
Faren followed his gaze and closed her eyes tight. It was difficult to look into the face of such an innocent soul and not think of their parents. Cindel didn’t have a father to take care of her because of Suri and her minions. How could she overlook that detail for any reason? But she relented anyway.
“What do you want?” she asked Suri, lifting her chin. She tightened her jaw, waiting for a response.
The sea demon continued as if Faren hadn’t just snubbed her. “We’re alike, you and I,” she said. “We find ourselves staring back from the same side with the same enemy.”
Faren’s blood boiled. “We’re nothing alike,” she spat. “Don’t ever forget that.”
Suri ignored her outburst. “Like I said, we face the same enemy, and we can’t fight her alone. We need each other.”
“Why are you here, anyway?” Faren pointed out. “You could have stayed in the forest with the selkies.”
Suri almost appeared offended. She drifted back and shot a look at her minions scattered around the decomposing ship. “I’m sure many stayed behind,” she shot back. “But the rest of us who couldn’t get away really didn’t have much choice... did we?”
Faren hated to admit it, but Suri had a point. If they joined forces, they had more of a chance to defeat Furia. So why did she feel traitorous to everyone killed that day?
“This isn’t up to me,” Faren said, tight lipped. “The High Council has the last say, but what are you suggesting?”
Luna climbed out from under Cindel and swam up to Faren. “Faren, no,” she said, touching her arm. “What makes you think she’ll keep her word? I don’t trust her.”
Suri grinned. “We still have the Ring of the Ancients, but it’s useless to us. Only you know how to harness its power.”
Before she could answer, Cindel jumped from the floor and pulled Faren to the side. “No,” she whispered, blocking Suri’s view. “Don’t tell her anything. She’s lying to you.” She looked back at the sea demon before continuing. “Do you think she’s here by accident? Look at her,” Cindel whispered again. “You may not be able to read her thoughts, but I can.”
“What did you hear?”
“She followed us here, because she thinks you have all the answers. When we defeat Furia, she plans on destroying us all.”
Faren was quick to answer the demon. “I’ve decided not to speak to the High Council after all,” she said, swimming up to her. “The answer is no.”
Suri lunged at Faren, knocking Cindel over when she flew past. She grabbed Faren’s hair and slammed her head into the bottom of the boat.
David swam up behind Suri and grabbed her. No matter how hard he tried to pry her off, Suri wouldn’t budge. “Get off her!” he screamed, yanking her hair.
Suri let go
of Faren and swam back, looking at her. “I can still see you,” she hissed. “What makes you so brave all of a sudden?”
Faren knocked the demon through the gaping breach in the hull and swam after her. She raced toward her with her fists out in front of her.
“Really?” Suri said, laughing. “That’s all you have?”
Faren’s eyes never left the demon’s face. “No, but you might want to turn around and say hello to our guest.”
“What are you…” As soon as Suri spun around, Furia grabbed her. Suri fought the beast, screaming. “You can’t do this! We took care of you! No…” That was the last thing Faren heard before ducking back inside the ship.
“Immortal,” she mumbled to herself with a smirk.
She joined her friends and relaxed in the corner, satisfied with her contribution to mer society. Mers hugged her and chatted in excitement. The leader of the sea demons was dead. They stared at her henchmen still crouched close by.
When everything was quiet again, Cindel wrapped her arms around her sister’s waist. “Did you find Teegan?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Faren didn’t know what to say. “I… he didn’t make it,” she stammered, unable to believe the words coming from her mind were real.
“Oh, Teegan... no,” Luna whispered.
Cindel got very quiet and straightened up. When she finally spoke, her thoughts were void of emotion. “One of us needs to tell his grandmother,” she said. She left the group behind to sit in another corner alone.
Luna’s eyes widened. “Have you seen Harmony?”
Faren took a deep breath and turned away. She could still see her friend’s face as she died. She could still hear her final ragged breath.
“What?” Luna cried. “What is it you’re not telling me?”
Faren didn’t have to say anything more. She knew that her heartbroken look was all they needed to see to find out the truth.
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