I clenched my fists. "The world isn't perfect. There's still a long way to go. But what you're talking about, allowing a zombie apocalypse to take over, there are innocent people. Even the people who suffer injustice, still, will fall to this... plague..."
Marinette shrugged. "Many have died fighting to make a better world. It is the sacrifice that must be paid to finally build a world free of oppression."
"By enslaving everyone? By turning me into a Loa without a will of my own?"
"Again, an acceptable sacrifice," Marinette turned and swam out of my cavern, my cell. "Enjoy your last moments of relative freedom, Joni Campbell."
I shook my shackles. "This isn't freedom! I'm in chains."
Marinette turned and smiled at me. Then she left me alone.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I sat there in the darkness. Only one piece of glowing kelp left floating in my cell. But it was near the opening of my cell. I tried to kick my fin again...
But this time, when I stirred the water, I pushed the last piece of kelp out of my cell.
"Damnit!" I shouted.
My heart sank. Trying to use kelp to reach Merlin was a long shot. I mean, when it happened before, Agwe said Tahlia had used the kelp to give me a vision. She used it, attuning my mind, to allow me to speak to him. Tahlia wasn't here.
I closed my eyes and allowed my body to sink to the floor, my arms held over my head by the chains.
"Miss Campbell?" A deep, gravelly voice said.
I opened my eyes.
The old, crazy merman who'd been following me when the mermen led me to my prison was floating there at the entrance of my cell. He had a handful of kelp, offering enough light I could make him out.
"How do you know my name?" I asked.
"I've been down here for a while now," the man said. "Hiding in the shadows..."
I cocked my head. "So you heard all of that? What Marinette said?"
The man nodded. "One of the legionnaires who brought you here. He is my son. He said you wielded a trident like mine."
I shrugged. "If you heard all that, then I guess you know I'm not from this time..."
"Tell me, Miss Campbell. How did you come upon that trident?"
"I was born a human. But I was half-human... half Fomorian. I suppose you heard that much, too."
"I did."
"When I first came to Fomoria, Agwe told me the Trident was mine by inheritance. He said that the enchantment belonged to the last of my ancestors who died here."
"Indeed it did," the man said, extending his hand and summoning his own trident.
My eyes widened. "Holy crap. That looks like mine. I mean, exactly like..."
"It does not merely look like yours," the man said. "I believe it is yours. Though, not yet. But it will be."
"Wait," I said. "Does that mean..."
"I believe you are one of my descendants," The man said. "And that makes us family."
"But your son... you said you had a son... I was told this trident belonged to the last ancestor of mine who lived here."
The man smiled at me kindly. "If we accomplish what I intend, and what my son has agreed to do... I imagine he'll be exiled as a result."
I stared at the man blankly. "Sir..."
"Ichthus," the man said. "That is my name."
"Ichthus," I said. "Why would your son agree to do something like that. This is your home!"
"My son, like me, would like to see this place endure more than a few more centuries, Miss Campbell. And based on what I've just heard, our King has been compromised."
"In my time, I took his place. I'm the queen of Fomoria."
Ichthus smiled at me and nodded. "Then, Your Highness, since our loyalties are to Fomoria, we must also recognize you as not only our kin but as our queen."
"So you and your son... you're going to help me escape?"
Ichthus nodded. "I'm an old merman. I don't have the virility I once did. I would only hold you back. But my son... you can trust he will be at your service."
"Still," I said. "He's one merman. That legion... and I'm guessing that wasn't even all of them..."
"They number in the hundreds," Ichthus said. "But if we can succeed and helping you escape."
"Can you unchain me?" I asked.
Ichthus shook his head. "I cannot. And I'm afraid my son, Sephus, doesn't have a key."
"But you're Fomorian, right? You have some magic. If I can use a little..."
"I have access to these chambers from time to time because I'm a caretaker in the King's employ. But my son does not. And I fear, at my age, I have only a little magic to spare. In old age, our magic fades with our lifespan."
I thought about Cleo. How when we'd siphoned the last of her magic, she died. "I'm not going to use it. It would kill you, Ichthus."
"Like I said, I'm an old merman. If my sacrifice is what is needed to spare you and our future. It would be a good way to die."
I shook my head. "Even if you are old, Fomoria needs someone here who knows the truth. Someone who won't be exiled. Not to mention, if you died for me... I can't have that on my conscience."
Ichthus held out his hand. "It seemed you were trying to get some of this kelp before..."
I sighed. "It was a long shot. My son... I guess he's your descendant too... he's a gatekeeper, a powerful druid. I thought I might be able to use the kelp to reach him."
"You're welcome to try, Your Highness."
I shook my head. "Joni. Just call me Joni. I mean, you're like my great, great, I don't know how many greats, grandfather. You can call me by my name."
"Very well, Joni," Ichthus said. "I don't know how soon I'll be able to visit you. I pray this will work."
"If it does, how do we get out of here?" I asked.
Ichthus pressed his lips together. He reached and touched one of the chains binding my wrist. Faint, blue magic passed from his hands to the chain. "If this works, if you can get out of these bindings, the magic in this chain will fade. I'll know you've escaped. I will do what I can, along with my son, at that point to arrange for your escape."
"Thank you, Ichntus," I said, smiling at my ancestor.
Ichthus smiled back and draped a strand of glowing pink kelp over my neck.
The second it hit my skin, at the base of my skull, the room exploded in color. Probably a hallucination. But it was pretty. And magnificent.
"Merlin," I said, out-loud, hoping my son would hear me.
A shrill ringing sound filled my ears.
"Merlin, can you hear me?" I asked.
Nothing...
Darkness for a moment. A darkness I hadn't known since the time I went to the void.
But then, where Ichthus stood, another man took his place. Not a merman. This man had legs. He appeared as an old, Black man, in a straw hat and overalls.
"I'm sorry I'm not the one you're looking for..."
I cocked my head. I knew his voice. "Papa Legba?"
Legba smiled and nodded. "Always nice to hear from one of my queens. Tell me, Miss Joni, what can I do for you?"
"I need to get out of here," I said. "I thought if I could reach Merlin again... like you helped me do before..."
Papa Legba pinched his chin. "I might have a better idea. There's another, two others in fact, who've entered the void... given your current predicament, I think they might be what you require."
"But Merlin is a gatekeeper," I said.
"And I do not presently have a connection to your son," Legba said. "But your husband..."
"Agwe?" I asked. "You know where Agwe is?"
Papa Legba said. "Indeed, I do. And he's with another... a wyrm..."
"Ruach," I said. "They left together. After Enki died... didn't even tell me where they were going before they left."
"But they've gone to exactly where you need them to be. That is, if you'd like me to guide them to you through the crossroads."
"These caverns are too small for a full-grown wyrm," I said. "If you bring Ruach here."
I nodded. "He would. Can you bring Agwe here, through the crossroads, and Ruach somewhere outside the firmament?"
"Of course I can!" Papa Legba said.
"By the way," I said. "I could use some kind of primer, you know, how to use your aspect. Until now, I wasn't sure I still had it."
Papa Legba grinned. "Tell me, have you embraced your role as queen?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I've been so paranoid about the bokors... I guess I've been a little absent."
"Grow into your destiny as queen, of both Fomoria and all the Seas, and you'll find my aspect might come to your aid in ways not even I could predict."
"How wouldn't you know what your aspect does?" I asked.
"Because, Joni, every queen must come into her own. As you grow into your role, as you embrace your queenship, my aspect will grow with you. Think of it as a child growing up. You do not yet know what he will be."
I laughed. "Well, in my case, I sort of do."
"Your case excepted," Legba said. "Stop complicating my metaphor."
"Sorry," I chuckled.
"In most cases, a parent does not know what a child will become. A parent does not tell a child what to like, what talents to have. A parent, rather, helps her child discover its talents. My aspect is like that. Born in you, we do not know what it will become. But it is your job to nurture it as your new talents emerge."
I nodded. "Alright. Well, I suppose I'll just have to trust you on that. I'm ready to get the heck out of here. Can you go ahead and send Agwe through, and Ruach, too?"
"You're a poet!" Legba exclaimed.
"I didn't mean to do that," I said. "Just sort of happened."
"Indeed. Indeed. Such will be likely how new talents owed to my aspect will first appear. Now, unlike you, a poet, I am not. But I shall give it a shot!"
I giggled a little. "Remember. Send Agwe here. Ruach just outside the city."
Legba nodded. "Red rover, red rover, send Agwe right over!"
I snorted. Not the kind of incantation, or whatever, I expected Legba to use. But if he was going for rhymes, I suppose, it worked.
Papa Legba faded from view. I presumed he hadn't forgotten Ruach. Hopefully, the wyrm would be waiting outside the city. If Agwe showed up, and we got out of here, we'd need the wyrm's help to escape the merlegion's pursuit.
Usually, I'd see a portal of some kind open up—a gateway. But the effects of the kelp were still pretty intense. Legba was gone, but colors were still swirling all around me.
"Ichthus?" I asked. "You still here?"
Someone spoke. It must've been him, I thought. Sounded sort of like when the dentist talks to you while you're under laughing gas. Distant. Incomprehensible. But somehow, when he says "open," you understand him anyway.
This time, I presumed, Ichthus was telling me to breathe.
I felt a touch on my neck. He was removing the kelp. Good thing because if things got any nuttier, there'd be no telling what I'd see next.
I could only hope I wouldn't have any visions of a young Burt Reynolds again. Or was it Tom Selleck? I don't know. I get those two dudes mixed up. Both were in their prime long before I was born. They both had wavy hair and mustaches. Couldn't keep them straight.
I mean, I know, in my mom's era, these men were supposed to be paragons of sexiness. But that mustache and chest hair look just wasn't my thing.
I shook my head and started to breathe.
A figure emerged in front of my face. Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Standing there in his tuxedo, in the middle of the water, giving me a kissy face.
Good Lord, why the hell does this stuff always bring out my mom's old-school man crushes?
I took another breath and exhaled. The water down here was a little stagnant compared to the water at the open sea. There wasn't a lot of flow in these caverns. But it was still breathable.
Pierce Brosnan was still standing there. He looked at me and smirked. "Shaken, not stirred."
Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and started shaking me back and forth, my chains clanging against the dungeon walls.
I closed my eyes for a second and opened them again.
The second-rate James Bond was gone. Agwe was there in his place. Ichthus was nowhere to be found. All the colors I'd hallucinated faded as my vision returned to normal.
Chapter Twenty-Six
"Agwe!" I shouted, then I tried to hug him, but my hands were still restrained.
"So, what brings a nice girl like you to a place like this?" Agwe asked, smiling at me.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with my dick of a husband disappearing on me. I had no choice but to improvise, and, it seems, I've screwed the pooch every step of the way."
"You did what?" Agwe asked.
"Not literally! Good Lord!"
"So this is Fomoria. Obviously. Why are you chained up?"
"This isn't the twenty-first century, Agwe. It's the eighteen-nineties—long story. But Marie Laveau sent me here through a headshop time machine. She introduced me to the world's first-ever vampire. I met a caplata who worked on my family's plantation in Baton Rouge. We went after Marinette because Marie said she was a key to why we have zombie sharks in our own time."
Agwe narrowed his eyes and brushed his hand across my neck.
"What are you doing, you doof?" I asked.
"Making sure I got all the kelp. Because all that sounds like one crazy trip."
I sighed. "Can you just get me out of here?"
"What?" Agwe asked. "Chains aren't your thing? If only I knew. I could have brought a whip."
I cocked my head. "Shut up and help me, or I'm going to turn your mer-butt fifty shades of red first chance I get."
Agwe laughed out loud. "Use my magic."
"I was planning on it!" I siphoned a little magic from him. He had plenty. You know, being a demigod and all. Kinda sucks that if I was a Loa, my abilities always depended on others having some magic I could use. Of course, when I took it and amplified it, I was stronger than they were. A trade-off, I supposed.
I shifted into wyrm form and slithered out of my bindings.
Not as easy as I expected. My arms didn't want to shift into fins as quickly as my body shrank. It left me stretched to my limits for a moment before the shift finished.
Hopefully, Ichthus would sense it. Whatever magic he'd channeled into the bindings, not enough I could have used. But he said if I got out of the bindings, the magic would dissipate. He'd know it. He and Sephus would carry out their plan to help me get out of Fomoria.
I released my magic and returned to mermaid form.
I looked at Agwe, now free. He smiled at me.
I slapped him in the face.
"What the hell was that for? I just rescued you!"
I snorted. "No, I rescued myself. I used you to do it. Thank Papa Legba for that."
Agwe sighed. "You don't understand..."
"I'll tell you what I understand. You don't respect me as Queen of Fomoria. Not as your wife, either. You up and leave with Ruach without so much as letting me know? Hell, Agwe, you could have at least left a message with Titus or something."
"I had my reasons," Agwe said.
"You disrespected my authority, Agwe. How can I ever be a good queen if even my husband doesn't honor my title."
"I'm the God of the Sea, the King of the whole Ocean... and the Wyrms are not under your rule, Joni. I wasn't undermining you in any way."
"Are you mansplaining your excuses to me now?" I asked as I placed my hands on my hips.
"Mansplaining? I don't know that word..."
"Godsplaining, then! Either way, it's misogynistic and misanthropic!"
"A lot of big words."
"Says the mansplainer," I quipped back.
"Joni, I wasn't trying to demean you in any way. That wasn't my intention. I knew you'd want to come along. And the people of Fomoria
need a queen who is present right now."
"You're still mansplaining. Or, godsplaining. Or whatever this is. At best, you're just making excuses. You couldn't trust me to make the decision myself?"
"That is not what I was..."
I cut him off, "And as your wife, to go on a mission like this without so much as a conversation? It's disrespectful, Agwe. We're supposed to be partners."
"You're right. I suppose I'm not used to relationships... like this..."
"And you did this because I needed to stay there as queen? Because the queen couldn't go off on adventures, leaving Fomoria behind? You clearly don't know me very well. Because look where we're at now!"
Agwe shook his head. "Who's in charge?"
I shrugged. "Tahlia."
Agwe stared at me blankly. "Seriously?"
I nodded. "She's the acting priestess. I trust her as much as anyone."
Agwe sighed. "Well, if we get out of here, we can get back to your proper time before much time has passed."
I smiled. "They'll be fine. Presuming we can figure out how to stop these sharks."
"That is the thing," Agwe said. "These sharks aren't animated by Baron Samedi or anyone wielding his aspect."
"I know," I said, nodding. "Marinette said she'd animated them before we killed her when she had Conand as a host."
"That means someone with her aspect is controlling them," Agwe said. "A bokor or caplata."
I nodded. "All shit I figured out, Agwe. You still haven't told me why you and Ruach left... I mean, you took him out just before Enki's funeral. Kind of messed up."
"We couldn't wait," Agwe said. "We were trying to catch Marinette before she left the void for Guinee."
I stared at Agwe blankly. "It had been a long time since we killed her in Conand. Why would you think she'd still be in the void?"
Agwe shook his head. "Again, Joni. Time is relative with respect to the void. All we had to do was make a claim on her in the void. I was hoping to bind her, summon her with another host."
"Another host?" I asked.
Wyrmrider Vengeance: An Underwater Magic Urban Fantasy (The Fomorian Wyrmriders Book 2) Page 14