by Jim McCann
“You did it!” Arthur yelled, his voice echoing in the massive cathedral. He winced and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed them. The two made a beeline for the exit.
The piazza buzzed along with life, not noticing the odd couple cradling the key in their hands as they strode along the canal.
“Shall we open it?” Mera’s hands were shaking.
Just then, a figure burst from the canal, rising high into the air and hurling a concussive grenade at them. It exploded just as Arthur grabbed Mera to shield her. The impact knocked the two back and caused a panic in the piazza as dozens of people ran for safety.
The figure marched through the clearing smoke. He wore a black suit, similar to the Atlantean guards, but sleeker somehow, and more menacing, Arthur thought. The helmet was certainly new, he noted, as a scrambled electronic voice tinged with malice and hatred issued forth.
“Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men.” The voice echoed through the piazza, sending more people screaming for shelter.
As the figure spoke, Murk and three Atlantean soldiers sprang from the water, each armed with hydro-cannons and lethal Atlantean steel swords. They fanned out, forming a semicircle that blocked Arthur and Mera from the canal.
Addressing the captain of the guard, Mera commanded, “I order you to stand down!” But the soldier didn’t move. From behind, Murk made a chilling proclamation.
“Princess Mera. You have been charged with high treason.” As she heard those words, it was clear the only way for her to ever see home again would be if Arthur were king.
Arthur instinctively placed his arm in front of Mera. “How did you find us—” he demanded.
“Your betrothed sends his best,” the mysterious figure said to Mera, advancing closer.
Mera looked at her wrist. “The bracelet,” she said, Orm’s betrayal setting in. “He’s been tracking us since the Ring of Fire!”
An earsplitting sound sliced through the air, and a massive blast of energy shot from the glowing red eyes in their enemy’s helmet—hydro-plasma beams. The arc of energy struck Arthur squarely in the chest, sending him flying back. Mera darted after him.
“Hand me the key!” Arthur whispered, trying to catch his breath as she reached him. His shirt had been melted from his body from the blistering heat of the incredible weapon.
Mera shook her head. “The key and canister are safer with me!”
Arthur looked at her in disbelief. “Are we seriously arguing about this now?!” Mera gazed unflinchingly back at him. “Fine! New plan: keep the key and the canister separate. I won’t let them get their hands on Atlan’s trident.”
Mera nodded, shoving the canister into his hands. She took off at a run across the piazza, drawing the soldiers and Murk into her wake.
Arthur scrambled to his feet as the man in the black suit grew closer. He felt strange, weakened, from the power of those plasma beams. “Who the hell are you?!” Arthur had never faced such a foe before.
“Maybe this will jog your memory,” came the electronically scrambled voice, as he unsheathed his sword. He then raised his other hand and pointed it at Arthur. A short blade sprang from his forearm. “‘Let’s not make a habit of it’ were your words the last time we faced each other, right?”
Recognition hit Arthur like a tidal wave. “The guy from that Russian sub?”
“Call me ‘Black Manta,’” he said, lunging. Arthur blocked the sword blows with his armor bracers. “Did you think you could leave me there to die and forget me?”
Black Manta kicked Arthur’s legs from under him, toppling him forward onto the ground. At that moment, Black Manta struck quickly, slicing into Arthur’s back. Arthur yelled in pain—and surprise. This man had been easy to dispatch when they met on that submarine, but now . . . Arthur could feel from the slices on his back that his enemy had drawn blood.
Mera heard Arthur’s cry from across the piazza. So did the soldiers and Murk, who she was battling. Mera took the moment of distraction to disarm the nearest soldier and kick him back. Spinning, she swung the blade up at Murk and sliced clean through his hydro-cannon. She slammed the hilt of the blade into his face and then ran up his body, flipping over him!
She landed and spun around, ready to face the captain of the Atlantean guard, but was too late—the guard turned the hydro-cannon to her and blasted her right into the canal. She sank, her dress floating to the surface a few moments later.
Arthur’s vision was going fuzzy from the pain, but he managed to land a blow. Black Manta saw Arthur leap into the air and land on a nearby rooftop. He followed him. The two men grappled until Black Manta managed to pull out a grenade. He pushed it against Arthur’s thigh and stabbed through the O-ring of the pin and twisted it. He jammed the O-ring on the blade, trapping the grenade against him. Pain coursed up Arthur’s body.
Black Manta leaned in. “This is how you left my father to die.” He disengaged the blade from his forearm, leaving it lodged in Arthur’s leg. Arthur gasped in pain. “Tides always turn if you’re patient enough. Time to die, fish man.”
With that, he kicked Arthur from the roof. The big man landed on the ground of the piazza, grenade still stuck. He was trapped—if he pulled the blade out, the grenade would blow him up, along with half the piazza. But if he stayed, Black Manta would surely kill him.
Worse, he realized as he looked around—Mera was nowhere to be seen.
Eleven
Arthur was slow to get to his feet. As he pulled himself up, carefully holding the blade to not jostle the grenade, he called out to warn the few remaining people in the piazza to clear out.
“Aquaman’ll save their lives? But you don’t offer the same when someone begs you to save their father,” Manta spat.
Arthur noticed from his vantage point that a glowing red light was climbing up the power pack on Black Manta’s suit, like a loading bar. It looked like that horrible weapon was almost finished charging.
Gathering all his strength, Arthur grabbed a nearby table and turned in time for the table to catch the brunt of the force of the plasma beam that shot from Black Manta’s helmet. He flew across the square, crashing into tables and onto his back on the ground.
As Arthur struggled for air, he heard a familiar sound coming from the nearby canal. The water was churning. Black Manta was moving in for the kill, only to find that Arthur was painfully chuckling.
“You find death funny?”
“No,” Arthur said, pointing at something behind Black Manta. “But gonna laugh my ass off when she gets through with you!”
Black Manta turned to see a magnificent sight. Mera, rising from the canal water, standing on the funnel she had created, emerald armor shining in the sun, her eyes glowing an electric blue.
“You fools thought you could drown me?” Her voice boomed across the piazza. “I command the water!”
With that, she threw her arms forward. Spears made of water struck the commandos, Murk, and Black Manta simultaneously, battering them far across the piazza, buying the duo a little time.
She rushed to Arthur, seeing the knife in his leg. “Look what I caught.” Arthur chuckled. “Or, I guess it caught me.”
Mera reached to remove the blade, but Arthur stopped her, pointing to the pin. Mera’s eyes grew wide. There wasn’t much time to devise a plan. Their enemies were already beginning to pull themselves together across the makeshift battlefield.
“Do you trust me?” Mera looked confidently at Arthur.
“You saved my life before, so why not?” Arthur smiled.
She motioned and water from the canal rose and jetted to her, floating in midair. She closed her eyes to concentrate, and the water began to swirl around them. It formed a mini-cyclone. A tiny bead of sweat formed on her brow, and the droplet lifted off her face to join the whirling mass that rose above them. The water swept through the air and settled onto Arthur’s leg.
Arthur watched the mouth of the swirl tighten u
ntil it became a funnel. Suddenly, the blade slid from his body, pulling with it the grenade’s pin. Before Arthur could protest, the grenade was caught up in the storm as well.
The water rose higher and higher, carrying with it the deadly explosive. When the water reached its apex, it formed a sphere around the grenade just as the metal ball exploded. The sound rocked the piazza, but nothing was damaged. Water from the explosion rained down across the square.
Mera opened her eyes and looked down at him. “I think we’re even on saving each other,” he said.
Mera smiled. “I’d agree,” she whispered, parting her lips slightly as she looked down into his golden eyes.
Arthur’s heart was pounding. Must be the adrenaline, he thought. Then, seeing the enemies approach behind them, he scrambled away from Mera and to his feet. “Hold that thought,” he said.
Black Manta approached, his hydro-cannon spouting round after round into Arthur’s chest.
“We played this game before, and you lost.” Arthur sneered.
He reached out and grabbed the weapon in his hand. With a grunt, Arthur bent the barrel of the hydro-cannon up at a ninety-degree angle and wrenched it from Black Manta’s hands. Anger flashed in Arthur’s eyes. Quietly, he uttered, “My turn,” and delivered a brutal uppercut to Black Manta, cracking the helmet and sending the man soaring backward.
For her part, Mera raised her arm and willed the water to cease, forming a wall in front of her. She gave a mighty heave, and the wall of water flew back at the men firing on her, knocking them to the ground.
She jumped, landing in front of Murk, and summoned a thin tendril of water to her from the canal. She glowered at Murk and hissed, “You swore allegiance to the wrong king.”
With that, the water tendril became a whip and snared Murk around the throat. It slammed him down, obeying the motions of Mera’s arms. She hydrokinetically lifted him and flung him back to the sea.
Behind her, Arthur lunged for Black Manta. He saw the beams energize in the broken helmet’s eyes and dodged as the blast exploded in multiple directions. David was caught as his blast backfired and he screamed in pain. The helmet shattered from his head.
His arm was pulled up by a woman’s hand. Mera was on him! She slid the bracelet on his arm as she leaned in close. “Here. Let my ‘betrothed’ track you in the darkest depths.”
She moved aside as Arthur pounced. He lifted Black Manta and ran with the man held over his head. He leapt over the canal and turned toward the sea that it spilled into.
Arthur looked up at David, bruised and bleeding. “Like I said,” Arthur repeated, “let’s not make a habit of this.”
Mera’s arms were raised, and the sea churned and spun, far from the boats in the harbor. Arthur leapt in the air and hurled David into the center of the whirlwind.
The sea swiftly dragged Black Manta down.
Mera lowered her arms. The waters calmed. The pair stood for a moment in the sudden silence before turning to each other.
Arthur shook his head slightly and brushed back his long wavy hair. His eyes grew serious. “That will buy us some time, but we need to leave. Now. Where the hell are we going?”
Mera held up the key. “I guess it’s time to find out.”
Arthur handed the golden canister to Mera, who inserted the key.
The container opened to reveal an ancient parchment, strange script scrawled across it. He stared at it hard, and then shook his head, handing it to Mera. “I can’t read this.”
Mera’s lips curled into a rare grin. “Why? Is it in English?” Mera glanced at the page and her eyes widened. “You may not be able to read this, but I can!”
Arthur could barely contain the excitement in his voice. “Well?”
“The ancient ones smile on us. The trident of Atlan is not far, and the seas favor us, Arthur Curry,” Mera said. Without another word, and trusting that he would follow, she turned to the water and dived straight in.
Arthur smiled. He couldn’t believe he was following a warrior princess back into the depths of the sea, chasing a trident of legend. And when they found it . . . Arthur was surprised that he suddenly felt worthy of it, worthy to be king.
With a giant leap, Arthur dived into the water after her, ready to claim his birthright . . . and with it, the throne of Atlantis.
Photo Section
Copyright
AQUAMAN: THE JUNIOR NOVEL. Copyright © 2018 DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. AQUAMAN and all related characters and elements © & ™ DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WB SHIELD: ™ & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s18) All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
HARP41444
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2018952745
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
ISBN 978-0-06-288907-2 (trade bdg.)—ISBN 978-0-06-285225-0 (pbk.)
Digital Edition NOVEMBER 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-285226-7
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-285225-0
1819202122PC/BRR10987354321
FIRST EDITION
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