by EJ Altbacker
BARKLEY TOOK HIS TIME WORKING THROUGH the coral and greenie so no one would see him as he tracked Drinnok. Even so, he had rushed a little when going through the fire waters. He didn’t like staying so close to the shifting seabed with all its seaquake tremors. One time, a gout of lava breached the surface fifty tail strokes to his left and exploded with a rumbling BOOOOOM!
It was pure luck he hadn’t been right on top of it.
Barkley found Drinnok and the rest of the prehistores less than a day’s swim from the AuzyAuzy homewaters. It wasn’t hard picking up their trail. Drinnok and his mariners were all massive. They didn’t need to hide from anyone, or even an armada of anyones. Most of them were around thirty-five feet and thicker and more muscular than Gray. And each of them had a tremendous appetite.
That was what gave them away. In every direction, large fins and dwellers were swimming for their lives, terrified. All you had to do was go in the opposite direction of the screaming survivors.
No, the problem wasn’t finding Drinnok. The problem would be getting past his guards, who ate anyone that came too near. Barkley jammed himself into a crevice that was overgrown with greenie and watched. It didn’t take him long to figure out the gaps in the patrol pattern. He waited until the sun was low and caused the most shadows before beginning his creep forward to the Fifth Shiver leader. If Barkley was spotted, there would be no time to explain himself or plead for his life. He would be gobbled up in one bite.
Well, you think you’re the best at sneaking around, he thought. So prove it.
Drinnok rested himself between two coral reefs in the center of a ring of prehistore guards. The greenie in the area wasn’t tall or as thick as Barkley would have liked, which was probably why they had chosen it. This kelp was more ropy than the leafy kind that would have hidden him better. Barkley positioned himself so the medium-strong current that pushed the green-greenie in Drinnok’s direction was at his tail. This allowed him to move from one clump to another whenever heavier currents washed through the area. Slowly, he got closer and closer.
Barkley passed a giant thresher, who dozed after having eaten an entire bowhead whale. The current pushed again and he darted to another clump of greenie. A prehistore bull shark turned. He had probably noticed something moving in the corner of his eye. The immense shark wasn’t sure though. He poked at the greenie next to Barkley with his snout but then left.
Barkley moved once more, this time to a clump of greenie just ten yards from Drinnok’s right flank. Two giant hammerheads crossed overhead, keeping a watch on their leader’s dorsal fin. Barkley stared at the over forty-foot megalodon. His gills were as long as Barkley was from snout to tail.
Speaking with Drinnok now seemed like the stupidest idea in the world. Barkley could probably creep away if he was careful, but he shook the thought from his mind. Gray had seen something in the prehistore king and Barkley trusted his friend’s judgment. If there was any way to avert a war, he had to try, even if it meant his own life.
That brave thought did not, however, stop his voice from squeaking when he said, “Drinnok, King of Fifth Shiver, I seek an audience.”
The king’s ears were sharp. With a swish of his giant tail, he spun himself. Drinnok stared at Barkley, who repeated, “Drinnok, King of Fifth Shiver, I seek an audience.”
“I heard you the first time,” he replied. “I’m trying to figure out what you are, and how in the name of Tyro you could sneak up less than a tail stroke from my gills.”
Barkley dipped his snout low. “It’s more like three tail strokes for me, your majesty.”
“Yes,” Drinnok agreed. “You are very small.”
The bull shark that Barkley had evaded earlier rushed over. “My king! Are you all right? Shall I eat the intruder?”
Drinnok flicked his fin at the prehistore bull. “No, Rastor. Now that this puny dweller has evaded every layer of your defenses, I will question him myself.”
“But, but King Drinnok—” the bull sputtered.
“Why don’t you change the patrol patterns, Rastor?” Drinnok said. “Or should I choose a more competent captain for my guard?”
Rastor dipped his head. Before swimming away, he eyed Barkley in a way that told the dogfish his life was over if Drinnok dismissed him. The megalodon king swung his head, with its giant mouth and dagger teeth, toward Barkley once more. “Your audience is granted. You have two minutes.”
“First, is Hokuu here?” Barkley asked, looking around. He didn’t see the frilled shark. “If he is, I request that he not be allowed to listen.”
“One minute and fifty seconds,” Drinnok said.
Better make it good, Barkley thought. “My name is Barkley and I’m here as a representative for Gray, who you know as Graynoldus. He wants you—”
“The pretender who fancies himself the Seazarein?” interrupted Drinnok. “He wants me to do what, exactly?”
Barkley dipped his snout to the gigantic megalodon. “Gray specifically told me not to use the title of Seazarein in front of you. He wants you to know he never desired to be the Seazarein but it was forced upon him when Hokuu sent Kaleth to the Sparkle Blue.”
Drinnok grunted. “Another pretender, but a worthier one. Continue.”
“Gray doesn’t want to go to war with Fifth Shiver,” Barkley told the king.
Drinnok interrupted him. “Because he fears me.”
Barkley dipped his snout again. “With respect, King Drinnok, Gray isn’t afraid of anything. He doesn’t want war because he believes that there’s room enough in the ocean for all of us.”
“Is this another trick?” Drinnok demanded. “The last time your pup wanted to talk, his allies attacked us.”
Barkley shook his head from side to side and gave Drinnok an emphatic tail swipe. “Gray was after Hokuu, who has said that you want to send every shark here to the Sparkle Blue. He had to try to stop that, as you would if the situation was reversed. But when Gray saw you, he felt you weren’t that type of shark. He even went to the Underwaters to check. He agrees that it’s dangerous there and wants everyone who wants to come up to be able to. He knows it was Hokuu behind King Bollagan’s death.” Barkley gave Drinnok a smile. “If he’s wrong, I suppose I’ll be eaten right about now, as it’s been two minutes. But if he’s right, maybe we could speak some more?”
Drinnok nosed Barkley out of the greenie. “What type of fish are you?” he asked.
“I’m a dog shark, your majesty,” Barkley answered. “Some call me a dogfish.”
“You are entirely tiny. Your teeth are so small you couldn’t have sent me to the Sparkle Blue if you had a day to chew on my gills as I slept.”
Barkley clicked his mouth shut. He wasn’t about to give a smart-alecky answer here. Too many lives were at stake.
“I’m not insulting you, dogfish, but in my home you wouldn’t survive a day.”
“Are you done not insulting me, your highness?” Barkley asked. “There are pressing matters to discuss.”
The big megalodon laughed. “What I mean is that you’re a smart and cunning shark, even though you are small. You were able to evade my royal guard. None of my enemies in the Underwaters has ever gotten this close, and many have tried. And what about Takiza? He’s even tinier than you, but powerful as a seaquake. Who knows how many seemingly weak sharkkind were sent to the Sparkle Blue because the Underwaters are so dangerous? Perhaps some of them would have had the chance to grow up like you, or Takiza, and discovered skills that would make all of Fifth Shiver stronger.”
Barkley was dumbfounded and couldn’t answer for a few seconds. “King Drinnok, that’s one of the nicest things that anyone has ever said to me. And smart. I can’t believe a shark as big as you would realize something like that.”
Drinnok cocked his head. “Is that because you think large sharkkind are stupid?”
“No, no,” Barkley said. “That’s not it.”
Drinnok poked Barkley with his immense snout, sending him skidding a good ten feet. “You should laugh when a king makes a joke.”
Barkley was petrified. “Ha, ha, ha . . . funny.”
“I would speak with young Graynoldus,” Drinnok said. “But if this is another trap . . .”
“It’s not, your majesty,” Barkley said. “He does ask one thing, though.”
Drinnok became wary. “And what would that be?”
“Can you keep this a secret from Hokuu?” Barkley asked. “Graynoldus doesn’t trust him.”
“Hokuu is a powerful ally if there were to be a fight,” Drinnok said. “To not bring him might be considered foolish.”
Barkley nodded. “True. But Gray is waiting with only a few sharks, not an armada. If your scouts see more, you can always leave. And if it’s like I say, you can bring all your mariners to the meeting. That’s how badly Gray would like to avoid war.”
Drinnok studied him. “You are an interesting shark, Barkley. Very interesting, indeed.”
GRAY NERVOUSLY SWAM BACK AND FORTH AT the meeting area outside the fire waters. When he’d sent Barkley to talk with Drinnok, it seemed like a wise decision. His friend was the only fin who could sneak past everyone and speak to the Fifth Shiver king without enraging him. Sending Takiza or a finja like Shear would have started a war for sure. Barkley was the only choice.
But now that Gray had time to mull it over, it seemed like his worst idea ever.
What if Drinnok simply ate Barkley?
Gray scanned the waters and saw nothing. “What was I thinking?” he muttered.
“It was a good decision,” said Shear who swam above him, matching Gray’s every move while guarding his dorsal fin. “You are the Seazarein. You cannot—”
“Yes, Shear,” Gray said, interrupting the prehistore tiger. “I’m the Seazarein. I can only risk the lives of others and never myself. Blah-de-blah-de-blah-blah.”
The finja captain of the guard harrumphed. “You’re risking your life right now, attempting to meet with Drinnok without your armada. Foolish.”
“The AuzyAuzy mariners are not my armada,” Gray answered.
Shear replied, “They are all your mariners should you wish it.”
Gray circled up and bumped the tiger from his position. “Well, I do not wish it. And stop hovering over me. It’s like swimming under a cloud.”
“Oh if only I could guard you by hovering,” Shear said. “You swim from side to side like an expectant father. At least let my mariners blend into the waters.” Shear gestured toward the finja, silently on guard, but visible, as they were not using their abilities to hide themselves.
“I told you, no. I don’t want Drinnok thinking this is a trap.”
Gray did stop moving back and forth. Here, Shear was right. Though Gray was nervous, he shouldn’t be showing that fact to everyone. It didn’t send the right message to Drinnok or even his own mariners. He was the Seazarein, after all.
“He comes,” Shear said, again from above his dorsal fin. The tiger had returned to his position over Gray while he had been thinking. The guardian captain could be very tiring. Gray flicked his fins and snapped his tail to get the blood moving. Drinnok moved forward with five of his Fifth Shiver prehistores, most likely the sharkkind of his Line. The rest hovered fifty tail strokes away, wary and alert.
“Shear, don’t do anything unless I order it,” Gray told his captain of the guard. “Understood?”
“I hear you,” the tiger answered in a clipped tone.
Gray swam out to meet Drinnok—and Barkley!—between the two groups of sharkkind. “Good to see you, Bark,” he told the dogfish. He was so relieved his friend was all right that his heart was pounding. He tried not to show this but Drinnok noticed anyway.
“You care for your mariners,” Drinnok said. “That is good. Some born into positions of power don’t realize that their orders have consequences.”
Barkley remained silent, hovering at Drinnok’s massive flank. He didn’t join the conversation because it was between the two leaders. Barkley also didn’t swim over to Gray’s side for protection. With Drinnok’s prehistores all around, it wasn’t as if that would guarantee his safety anyway, and it would be an insult to the king.
Gray nodded. “Every fin and dweller’s life has great worth. And I don’t like to order anyone to take a risk that I wouldn’t face myself.”
“Nor should you,” Drinnok said. “It’s the coward’s way. But this time you were right to send another as I wouldn’t have listened to you after our first meeting.”
“I didn’t order that attack,” Gray said.
“Your friend Barkley explained,” Drinnok said. “I believe him. He also tells me you remember nothing of your father. Is that true?”
Gray nodded. “It is.”
“I knew him well,” Drinnok said. “He was a constant urchin spine in my gums.” The megalodon king nodded to himself. “But I respected him. Your father didn’t care about hurt feelings when he gave advice. He wouldn’t say what I, Bollagan, or anyone wanted to hear if it wasn’t the truth. That is admirable . . . most of the time. In other cases, when the decision is very important, a leader must decide and his subjects must obey. Don’t you agree?”
Drinnok was a more thoughtful shark than Gray would have imagined. It proved you could never judge a shark by looks or size alone. He was smart and laying a verbal trap here.
“I would say that I’m like my father in that way,” Gray answered, choosing his words carefully. “I don’t expect Barkley to agree with me on everything. In fact, if a day goes by without him complaining, I’d be worried. I think it’s okay for someone who has earned my trust to disagree with me on even the most major of decisions.”
“But he had to earn that trust,” Drinnok countered. “And you would make the decision that was best for the sharkkind in your shiver even if he didn’t agree, would you not?”
Drinnok had Gray there. “I would and have,” he told the bigger megalodon.
“Your ally Takiza kept us imprisoned in the Underwaters,” the prehistore king stated.
“Because he feared what you might do to us,” Gray said. “He thought you had led a coup and betrayed your king, sending everyone in his Line to the Sparkle Blue.”
Drinnok slashed his tail through the water so hard it churned up greenie from the seabed. “I would never swim such a low and dark current! I would have challenged Bollagan and fought him snout to snout if I wanted to rule. That is our way and my right. But it would have been dishonorable. Instead, I waited for his final answer.”
“But others didn’t wait,” Gray said. “It wasn’t hard for me to find out who killed Bollagan, so you must know also.”
Drinnok nodded. “It was Grimkahn. The dwellers in our Underwaters are powerful, not like here. After it had been done, there was nothing to do but swim aside or claim leadership.”
“Takiza didn’t know that,” Gray said. “He didn’t know you well enough and couldn’t take that chance of not acting. And it wasn’t only Grimkahn. Hokuu helped.”
“That was his right and choice. Only the strong survive the Underwaters. And you don’t know me either,” the megalodon king added.
Gray flicked his fins up and down in agreement. “That’s true. But you’re here now so I can see you’re a thoughtful fin. I’d like to think I am, too. I think Fifth Shiver should have the choice whether they want to live here or there. I won’t block you from coming up.”
“And you’ll give up the throne of Fathomir?” Drinnok prodded.
Gray shook his head. “With respect, King Drinnok, I can’t. As you say, we don’t know each other well, so I can’t leave the safety of my friends and family to someone I don’t know.”
“Then where doe
s that leave us?” Drinnok asked. “I am the king of Fifth Shiver. I was in Bollagan’s Line before you were born.”
“I have no doubt you proved yourself in the Underwaters and earned that position,” Gray told the megalodon. “But in the Big Blue, I’ve proved myself.”
“I grant you that,” Drinnok grumbled. “Now that we’ve met, I see you’re not entirely unsuited to lead. But still, I will not dip my snout to you.”
“I’m not asking you to. You rule Fifth Shiver—that won’t change,” Gray told the king. “Perhaps in time you’ll lead everyone. Who knows? Until then, we should agree to live in peace. We can all live in peace.”
Drinnok nodded. “I believe this is worth trying.”
Gray exhaled, relieved. “I’m happy to hear you say that.”
“And so am I!” said a familiar voice. Gray and Drinnok turned to see Hokuu. He weaved his eel body, which rippled in excitement. “Because those words will be your doom!”
GRAY TAPPED DRINNOK ON THE FLANK. “WE should swim away right now.”
“Swim away?” said Drinnok. “From a frill shark? He answers to me! Your inexperience shows, Graynoldus. Watch and learn.”
Barkley bumped Gray. “You’re right and I don’t like this. Hey, I’m sounding like Shear.”
The tiger finja was over Gray’s dorsal fin. “Which means you’re being smart for once.”
Drinnok yelled at Hokuu. “Explain yourself! What are you doing here?”
Hokuu snapped his lithe tail in the water and pointed. “Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to see with my own eyes when the king of Fifth Shiver betrayed everyone who swims in the Underwaters.”
“You question me?” Drinnok roared. “I am your leader! You follow my orders!”
Hokuu’s emerald eyes glittered with hate. “And I have been doing just that, my king,” he said. The frilled shark waved his lithe tail with a flourish as a monstrous sea crocodile crested the ridge next to him.