by Lucia Ashta
By the time we returned to Bundry Castle, Gertrude could be waiting to offer me the hug I’d sorely needed since I last saw her in human form.
If we made it out of here alive.
The mervillage and our enemies were just beyond this ridge. And Anna and Carlton, two innocents, might be there with them.
“Are you ready, child?”
I discovered Mordecai looking at me.
“As ready as I’ll get.” I didn’t think I’d ever be truly ready to face two dark sorcerers who wished to kill me—but only after they sucked me dry. I was here to move forward despite my well-founded fear. I’d made us race over here. It was time to keep going.
“Ariadne?” Mordecai said. “Are you ready?”
“Oh yes. I can’t wait to get my hands on that nasty merwitch. We have a debt to settle.” With Grand-mère astride Randolph, she looked as powerful as Mirvela. I hoped with every speck of my being that our intentions to rid the world of such substantial darkness would prevail.
“Hold on to Randolph,” she said, but Grand-mère didn’t allow me any time to deliberate where I’d least mind grabbing on. Without any further warning, she said, “Let’s go now, my darling,” and Randolph took off, leaving me struggling to get a proper hold on his fin, and wondering what—if anything—it meant that Grand-mère referred to me with the same endearments she used with a monstrous fish.
I felt a bit like a tumbleweed, trying to hold on to Randolph’s fin while he pumped it back and forth when Grand-mère said, “Clara, darling, you must let go of Randolph’s fin if we expect him to swim properly,” as if one rode monstrous fish at the bottom of the sea all the time.
I looked up and down, across sides with a deep violet shimmer to them when the eyeball light illuminated the otherwise black-looking scales. “But where do I grab onto if not his fin? It’s smooth everywhere else.”
“Here, ma cherie.” Grand-mère leaned down and extended an arm to me. “Well? Are you going to take it or do you want to swim the rest of the way?”
I thought I’d prefer to swim, but not if it meant falling behind and allowing them to take on any potential danger without me there to help however I might manage. I clasped her hand and allowed her to pull me behind her. Immediately, I squeezed my legs against Randolph’s sides to keep from sliding off, but that seemed to hinder him.
When I managed to soften my grip, I realized that riding Randolph really wasn’t that bad, especially since I couldn’t see any of his eyes from this vantage point.
I looked down, searching for Mordecai, and found him hugging the beast’s stomach, beaded braids trailing behind him with a faint rustling. He was enjoying the ride.
But his smile drew into complete seriousness when we arrived at the summit of the underwater mountain and we surveyed the mervillage below.
It was lit, which made our surveillance easy, but it still contained the man who’d murdered Mordecai’s brother and taken his soul, and killed Marcelo’s sister and stolen her son. And it was refuge to Mirvela, who’d taken more than eight years of my life and Marcelo’s. And those were just the obvious offenses.
These two sorcerers had harmed many more than us, and now they surrounded themselves with a village of merpeople—men, women, and children.
Mirvela and Count Washur had surrounded themselves with innocents they knew we wouldn’t want to risk hurting.
Ordinarily, we’d turn around. We’d leave right then and wait for Mirvela and the Count to abandon the mervillage before we faced them, if we did at all.
But we wouldn’t. Now that we’d arrived here at the crest of the mountain that looked out over the mervillage, concealing it from sight—although I couldn’t imagine many people ever made it this far below the ocean to spot it. Under almost any circumstance, they’d be safe from discovery.
Tonight they wouldn’t be safe.
Because down there, amidst a swarm of merpeople of all ages and tails of all colors, were a terrified Anna and Carlton.
And a formidable Mirvela and Count Washur were mere paces away from them.
Chapter 11
I didn’t need to convince either Mordecai or Grand-mère of the urgency to take action. Grand-mère’s eyes grew wide in fury, making her appear a perfect rider to Randolph, whose eyes dominated his features. She set her jaw in determination and flared her nostrils.
I’m glad that anger isn’t directed at me. She looked dangerous, as I suspected she was, which was a good thing—a very good thing—when we were about to take on these two dark sorcerers, who’d positioned themselves to receive the support of an entire tribe. She’d said her magic was mostly limited to animals, but her expression wasn’t that of a woman without recourse. She was formulating a plan, and whatever it was, I couldn’t wait to see it.
Mordecai’s determination was more subtle, but I knew him well enough to realize it wasn’t any less fierce. The features of his face and body shifted nearly indiscernibly, from those of a joyful magician to those of a wizard who’d do whatever it took to set things right—and Mirvela and Count Washur had left a trail of devastation in their wake.
I didn’t experience any changes in myself. I’d been trying to prepare for this moment since I left Bundry Castle in the middle of the night, even if I did that mostly by avoiding thinking about what risks I was taking and all the many ways things could turn out worse than they already were. My loved ones and I had already suffered deep losses at the hands of these two sorcerers, but we could always lose more. When our enemies were Mirvela and Washur, it was likely.
And still it didn’t change what we’d do. Because rescuing Anna and Carlton was the right thing to do, and doing what was right was important to us. It’s what allowed us to retain our humanity whereas Mirvela and Washur had lost it.
“My darling,” Grand-mère said and I turned to look at her, but she was talking to Randolph, not me. “You stay here. I don’t want to risk you getting hurt.”
I tried to follow the conversation to glean some of her ways with the animals, but I noticed no reaction from Randolph.
“But chère, the risk is too great. Better that you stay here.”
Again, I was unable to discover any signs that Randolph was responding to her, though clearly he was.
“You’re certain?” Grand-mère said.
More big-eyed impassivity from the giant fish.
“All right, then, if you’re sure. Thank you, Randolph. You are a brave beauty.”
“He’s coming with us?” Mordecai asked.
“Yes, he says the merpeople won’t hurt him.”
“This particular merqueen might,” I said.
Grand-mère said, “I know, darling. When a creature of the sea loses respect for the animals that share it with her, it’s a terrible thing. But he insists on taking the risk. He says he might be able to help us, and I think he’s grown fond of me, the sweet creature.”
I tried to reconcile the animal-loving witch in front of me with the lady of high aristocracy I’d grown up believing she was—I couldn’t.
“Are you ready, Clara?” Mordecai asked.
No resounded through my mind. No I wasn’t ready for this, I’d never be ready for this. Not ever, no matter how much magic I learned or how much I grew to understand my unique way of accessing the elements. I’d never be ready to face two sorcerers who didn’t value any life but their own.
But there was only one possible answer to Mordecai’s question. “I’m ready,” I said, and my voice shook only a little.
Just then, Count Washur, who didn’t seem to realize we were watching him, gripped Anna by the arm. Even from hundreds of feet away, it was apparent he was hurting her, and when the woman resisted, he shook her—hard. Then he disappeared behind a coral wall that marked a boundary of the mervillage.
Mirvela finished a conversation she was having with two mermen, signaled to Carlton that he should swim in front of her, and followed him behind the same coral wall, which entirely obscured them from view. Carlton didn�
��t resist her, and I wondered if it was because he’d figured it was useless for a magician with his limited skills, or whether he’d endured enough of her torment to decide it wasn’t worth it anymore.
Either way, we needed to rescue them now, and this must be, I realized, the reason for the urgency I sensed. Every additional second they spent in their proximity increased the risk.
Obviously, I wasn’t the only one thinking that. Mordecai said, “Ariadne, do you think you can take on Mirvela if I take on the Count?”
“I have a spell I’ve never had to use on the tip of my tongue, waiting for her. I’ve never had the displeasure of meeting anyone who deserved it before her.”
“But Grand-mère,” I said, “I thought your magic was mostly limited to magical creatures. Mirvela is a witch. Won’t she hurt you?”
“Mirvela is a merwitch, which means she isn’t fully human. ‘Not human’ is my specialty. I’ve never tried to control a merwitch before, and I have no doubt she’ll try to fight me, but I think she’ll be in for a surprise. I’m more powerful than I look.”
Sitting astride Randolph, long red hair flowing behind her in wild tangles, milky skin and determination plastered across every one of her features, she looked plenty powerful to me. It seemed like I was the only one who didn’t know what I was doing. “What should I do, if you’re each taking on one of them? Deal with the merpeople?”
“If we’re lucky,” Mordecai said, “you won’t need to do anything at all. Ariadne and I will rid the magical world of two of its great dangers.”
“And I’ll deal with the merpeople too,” Grand-mère interjected. “Despite what Mirvela is, in my experience merpeople aren’t usually aggressive.”
“Do you think you’ll have to kill them, Mirvela and Count Washur? Is that the only way?”
“Of course killing isn’t the only way,” Mordecai said, “it rarely is. But since I’ve already bound both of their personal powers and they’re still able to access at least some magic, I’m not sure what options remain to us. If we could be certain they’d never harm us again, of course I’d prefer not to have to kill them. Extinguishing life has never been something I take lightly. I hope I never do.”
“But you think you’ll have to end up killing them?”
He turned to meet my searching gaze in the light of Randolph’s telescopic eye. “Probably. Of course, if luck is on our side, anything could happen.”
It’d been my experience that in the world of magic I was beginning to discover, anything could happen, and it mattered little whether luck was on our side or not. “And if luck isn’t with us today? Then what do I do?”
“Then you do whatever you can think to do, child, because if we reach the stage where you need to interfere… well, let’s just say, that’ll be the time not to hold back. In any way.”
He pinned his stare on me, making clear what he meant. If they didn’t manage to kill them, then the responsibility would land on me. Unless we had wonderful luck, the task of sparing the world from the grief these two sorcerers would inflict fell entirely on my already-burdened shoulders.
It wasn’t a surprise. I’d realized much of this when entering the water, before I learned Mordecai and Grand-mère would be there to help me.
I squared my shoulders to the only path open to me right now. “It’ll be whatever it’s going to be.”
“Good then,” Grand-mère said, “we have a plan. Allons-y!”
I didn’t think our plan was much of one, but in circumstances like these, it was all we’d manage. Magic was unpredictable. In the hands of seasoned magicians of opposing forces, it could be almost anything. When you added someone like me to the mix, well, the truth was that we had no idea how today would end, and which of us would survive the day.
But even if I wasn’t programmed to be part of the first wave of attack, I wouldn’t risk falling behind. In the world of magic, seconds counted and could mean the difference between life and death.
“Hop back on, darling,” Grand-mère said, already reaching an arm down to me.
I slid behind her on Randolph, and Mordecai right behind me.
And then it was the time for stealth and silence, until they spotted us.
And after that, it’d be the time for miracles.
Chapter 12
I imagined the mervillage would otherwise be a peaceful place. Even with our enemies seeking shelter there, the energy of the place didn’t feel frightening. I thought I might want to visit and discover more of the merpeople’s ways, under different circumstances.
I found myself wishing for the safety of these people, who weren’t, as Grand-mère said, fully human. I hoped they wouldn’t attack us in Mirvela’s defense, but I feared they might. After all, Mirvela was a merqueen and we were outsiders. But if they attacked us, we’d have no choice but to defend ourselves however we could, and I dreaded what that conflict might look like.
Randolph navigated the near darkness of the ocean water expertly, and he surprised us by extinguishing his eyeball light once we crested the summit of the underwater mountain. Even without the light’s guidance, he led us toward the mervillage in a straight line—at least, that’s what I assumed, because I couldn’t see a thing, not even Grand-mère who sat right in front of me, her trailing hair swirling across my face and tickling my nose.
He only began to slow once we neared the mervillage and its own illumination. The settlement wasn’t lit by candles as it would have been above water, but by glowing orbs that floated in the water as if they were flotsam, only a thousand times more beautiful.
I noticed no silhouetted sentinels keeping guard of the place, and if the merpeople were ordinarily as peaceful as Grand-mère and Randolph asserted, then there’d be little need for them. But Mirvela might’ve positioned some, or Count Washur. Even as a guest, he’d likely try to exert control, and either one of them had to realize we’d come after their captives at some point. Unless they thought us incapable of entering the water and surviving, and if that was the case, then they’d underestimated us, and that was a good thing.
I’d take any advantage we could get, however small.
But I wasn’t trusting that things were as calm and carefree as they seemed, and Grand-mère and Mordecai weren’t either. If they were trying to lure us into a trap, they’d fail, because we were going willingly, and we were going no matter what.
“Most of them appear to be sleeping,” Grand-mère whispered.
“Yes, but we can’t trust that,” Mordecai said from behind me.
“Can you see Anna or Carlton? Because how nice would it be to just be able to go in and grab them? We could deal with the other two at another time, when they aren’t in the middle of a village of innocents.”
“That would be nice, but I think it’s too much to hope for. There’s a reason Mirvela sought shelter here, and it may reach beyond protection in numbers.”
I hadn’t thought of that. What else might the merpeople be able to do? They were creatures of the water, within their element—literally surrounded by vast amounts of it. Their power, of which we had limited understanding, would be enhanced. I asked, “Do all merpeople have magic?”
Mordecai deferred to Grand-mère, and I could feel her pondering the question. “I don’t know if they all do, but I do know that most do. If they choose to turn against us in support of the merqueen, things will become… difficult.”
I imagined the odds of merpeople supporting a merqueen and rising in her defense were great. I gulped. What had I been thinking entering the water on my own? If Mordecai and Grand-mère hadn’t shown up, I’d be lost, facing clear suicide by overwhelming odds or retreat.
“We need to try to spot Anna and Carlton before moving in and revealing our position,” Mordecai whispered.
“Does that mean you agree to rescue them and retreat?” Grand-mère asked. “To leave the challenge of Mirvela and Washur for another time?”
Mordecai hesitated, but then said, “Yes. I can live with that. There�
�ll be other opportunities to face them, I’m sure.” Sotto voce, he grumbled, “They don’t seem to understand how to leave us alone.”
“Good.” Grand-mère sounded happy about that, and I was happier seeing at least a hazy sort of plan taking form. I wished we’d discussed this behind the mountain, before we’d put ourselves at risk of discovery, but I guessed it was better now than never, once we were out in the open and vulnerable in a thousand different ways to attack.
“All right, Randolph, bring us closer to the village, but do what you can to keep us out of view. We want to try to sight the two hostages.”
Right away, Randolph took off again, skirting the shadows for which he appeared to be made. His skin was the color of deep shadow. From astride him, he seemed to disappear into the edges of the village, skirting the coral reef.
But Grand-mère, Mordecai, and I weren’t designed for the deep ocean. Only our magic allowed us to survive it. Our coloring wasn’t made for the shadows, but for the light, and I realized we only had moments left before we were discovered.
The edges of the village were dotted with gigantic oyster shells. When I’d been a prisoner of Mirvela’s merworld beneath Irele Castle, I’d slept in a shell just like these. All of them were closed as if for sleep except for three.
I scoured the ocean floor contained within walls of reef. There were the large shells, out of the way, and in the middle of them, an open space that might be used for gatherings, and at the far end of it, a throne.
“Do you see that?” I spoke so softly that my voice was little more than a flutter on a water current.
Ahead of me, Grand-mère nodded. So they had a queen here too—or perhaps a king. I couldn’t decide how that affected our predicament, if it did at all. Maybe we could ask for some kind of diplomatic immunity, as was afforded the ambassadors of foreign nations. We could be ambassadors for dry land, seeking good will of all people beneath the waters.