“Well, it looks big enough for both ships to enter side by side,” Cynthia said, raising her glass to survey the harbor as they came abreast of the open gate. “And there are docks inside, though it would be difficult to sail in, with such tight quarters. Perhaps they had tenders or tugs.”
“Perhaps,” Ghelfan agreed.
Edan wished Cynthia would go away—he had been enjoying his talk with Ghelfan—but she studied the harbor through her glass and kept talking.
“I can bring the ships in easily enough, though it looks as if there’s a fair amount of weed clogging the harbor. I’ll clear it out before we—” Cynthia stopped in mid-sentence, her brow furrowing. “Wait a minute, I…” She stepped to the rail, and a tendril of water quested up the scupper and pooled about her feet.
Edan felt her power swell and clenched his jaw against the smothering, nauseating pressure. He stood firmly, refusing to show that it bothered him.
Her eyes widened suddenly. “Damn! I should have known!”
“What?” Edan asked, suddenly nervous. The marvelous city had allowed him to forget the menacing ocean for a moment, but if something in the water concerned Cynthia so, it sure as all Nine Hells bothered him.
“Coral, Edan.” She pointed to the harbor mouth and grinned ruefully. “The entrance is blocked by a reef.”
Edan breathed deep with relief, willing himself to relax; no catastrophe was imminent.
“A thousand years of growth,” Ghelfan said, nodding. “In fact, the entire shoreline is likely overgrown. I imagine the city is riding much lower in the water than her designers intended, with the added weight of a circumferential reef.”
“You’re right, Ghelfan, but…” Cynthia closed her eyes for a moment, and Edan supposed she was looking at things under the water. He shivered. “The city has subsided recently. There’s no growth down to about three feet.
No
growth, not even the light layer of algae you’d expect after a few weeks.”
“Three feet is a substantial decline. I wonder what could have caused it?”
“It’s sinking?” Edan’s voice cracked with another sudden worry; he did
not
want to go poking around inside a floating stone city that might be sinking.
“It’s got to be the mer,” Cynthia said. “Chaser sent his dolphins scouting ahead, and he said they encountered Kip and Fah, the dolphins that disappeared with Eelback’s school, so we know they’re here. They must have broken in from below and somehow caused the city to take on water.” Cynthia looked to Ghelfan, worry on her face. “Any chance of it sinking completely?”
“I don’t think so, Mistress. The city is designed so that water can be admitted or expelled from certain chambers. This was usually controlled by Akrotia itself, but there should also be mechanisms in place to prevent unwanted water intrusion in the absence of the seamage, doors that close automatically in the case of a hull breach, so the city will remain afloat.”
“Well,
that’s
good,” Edan said with a nervous laugh.
Cynthia flashed him an irritated glare and turned away.
“What?” he said, but she ignored him. Edan looked to Ghelfan for an explanation, but the shipwright just shook his head minutely, so he let it go.
Edan felt Cynthia call on the winds just enough to ease the ships nearer to the harbor gate. Then the winds died completely, and the two ships turned their bows toward the towering arch and eased to a stop, as if guided by some unseen hand. The gate stood about three ship-lengths away. He felt an uneasy stirring in his stomach, and knew she had shifted her effort from wind to water. Several mer surfaced next to the ship, and she motioned to them with her hands, arms and head. The mer signed something back, then vanished under the water.
“What did you tell them?” he asked, refusing to be put off again.
“To swim clear of the area,” she said without turning. “You may want to move away from me, Edan. This could be uncomfortable for you.”
“Why? What are you going to do?” He took a few steps back, feeling her building power in his gut.
“I’m going to clear the harbor.”
“Clear the…” Her power swelled, and he backed away, moving to the furthest corner of the stern. His knees quaked with the oppressive weight of her magic. The air had suddenly become so thick with it that he had trouble breathing; he thought he might drown right here on deck. Then he felt the ship quiver under him, and he forced himself to watch.
The sea surged into the artificial harbor, flowing past the immobile hulls of the two ships so strongly that the wood vibrated under Edan’s feet. The flow increased to a torrent, and the sea mounded up within the small bay. Then the flow stopped and the water rose as a wave, an impossibly stationary wall. Edan could see the strain in Cynthia’s hands, clenched white on the rail. His knees quaked, and he leaned on the bulwark at his back, grasping one of the thick ropes as he tried to stay upright, to bear the agonizing discomfort of her power. Flicker chittered in his ear, her flame coursing up the side of his face, and he grasped that flame like a lifeline. He raised his own power just a tiny bit, just enough to drag in an unsteady breath.
Do it
, he thought.
Do it before I drown!
“Signal
Peggy’s Dream
, Chula,” Cynthia said, her voice tense. “Tell everyone to hang on.”
Chula barked orders to the signalman, then bellowed, “All hands; hold fast!”
Edan wondered for a moment how any hold could be faster or slower than any other, then realized his mistake, and wrapped his arms around the rope.
The wave thundered outward, bringing with it all the accumulated weed and detritus that had fouled the small bay. But it did not just flow out, it hammered the coral barrier that blocked the entrance, sending spray, weed, and bits of shattered coral flying into the air to the height of the circular arch. The power of it staggered him, even as he felt the force of the wave’s impact shudder through the hull. Crewmen cheered, some punching the air with their fists at the show of their mistress’ power. Others stood in rapt awe, mouths hanging open in astonishment.
Edan had a slightly different response to Cynthia’s magic: he fell to his hands and knees and retched the contents of his stomach onto the deck.
≈
Akrotia shook.
Silt drifted down onto Redtail’s head, and his mind buzzed as his sensitive lateral lines—the mer’s sixth sensory organ—translated the vibrations in the water into a message in his brain. He looked up from the voluminous maps spread across the floor of the chamber and met Eelback’s eyes.
*The seamage,* they signed simultaneously. *She is here!*
Eelback rolled the thick sheaf of sharkskin parchment and stowed it in his satchel. The maps depicted the maze of tunnels and grottos and rooms the mer had explored during the last ten tides. They had flooded many passages and chambers, gaining access to much of the lower regions of the city, rooms that normally had been reserved for landwalkers. But still, they hadn’t found the Chamber of Life.
*Come!* Eelback signed, his colors muted with concern shot through with quick flashes of excitement. *We must make sure the seamage’s child is securely hidden. Everyone must move inside the hull.*
*Kelpie will not want to come,* Redtail warned.
*She will not want to, but she will come, nonetheless.* Eelback flipped his tail, and Redtail followed. He flinched as they swam out through the door where he had nearly met his end, then they were in the familiar outer city. From there it was no more than a hundred tail flips to the grottos where they had set up their base of operations, but Redtail grew tense as he detected a rank odor, then saw a strand of mucous float by. He saw Eelback’s tail flips quicken, and he kept pace.
They entered the grotto and stopped short. Against one wall, Kelpie—clutching the seamage’s child—huddled with Tailwalker and Slickfin, who held Tailwalker’s tether in one hand, her dagger in the other. In front of them, the rest of the mer were arrayed in a defensive arc, weapons at the ready, displaying the bright colors and splayed fins of warning. In the middle of the room writhed a squirming mass of myxine, their slimy bodies undulating and coiling about one another, making it difficult to guess exactly how many there were. The water was fouled with their mucus, which stuck to the grotto walls and swayed like sea fans.
Redtail swallowed forcefully. The myxine disgusted him, and he felt as if they always eyed the mer as if they were food.
We are,
he thought.
Everything is food to them
.
Eelback had insisted that the alliance was necessary to the success of their venture, so Redtail accepted it. No longer did he doubt Eelback or the scrolls. Slickfin had told him how Eelback had saved his life, bringing him back to the grotto and insisting that Kelpie heal him. Redtail was honored to call Eelback his friend, and he intended to do all in his power to see that his friend’s plans reached fruition, so he swallowed his disgust and trusted Eelback to deal with the myxine.
Eelback swam forward and signed, *What is the matter? Why have you come here?*
One of the myxine oozed out of the coiling mass to face him, its short arms waving and clawing in a barely understandable imitation of their language. *We come because the great whales of wood have come to Akrotia, just as you promised, Eelback. It is time for us to feed on the landwalkers, as we agreed!*
*Not yet,* Eelback signed, making a chopping motion of assertion. *For now, you must wait.*
*Why must we wait?* the creature signed, its disgusting mouth tendrils waving, their hooked ends flicking and fluttering as if looking for something to grasp. *Our current meal is almost finished, and we grow hungry. We must feed soon, or we will retreat to the depths in search of another source of nourishment.*
*You must wait because that is what we agreed on,* Eelback insisted. *If you attack now, the seamage will destroy you with a wave of her hand. Only when she is in the Chamber of Life will it be safe for you to feed. But…* Eelback drew out his signal as an enticement, though Redtail doubted that the myxine would understand the subtlety, *if any mer other than those in this room swim beneath the city, they are yours to feed upon.*
The creature waved its tiny arms in frustration, turned and wormed its way back among its fellows, then emerged again, signing quickly. *You promised us many on which to feed, mer and landwalker alike. We will wait, Eelback, but we will not wait forever! We must feed soon!* And without waiting for a reply, the squirming mass of myxine surged out of the chamber, trailing strands of milky mucus in their wake.
With a wary look toward the portal, Slickfin swam forward. She sidled up beside Eelback, twisted her tail around his, and stroked his crest with her long fingers. *We felt something, my betrothed.* she signed. *What has happened?*
Redtail smiled at his sister’s deliberate posturing and use of intimate address with Eelback before the school. It pleased him to see her staking her claim after so long pretending to desire Tailwalker as a mate.
Eelback stroked Slickfin’s crest, then shifted away so he could sign for all to see. *The seamage has arrived. Undoubtedly, she is accompanied by mer from Trident Holder Broadtail’s school. We must withdraw into the inner grottos of Akrotia so they do not find us and interfere with our future. Come!*
Kelpie swam forward with her charge cradled in one arm.
*I will not go, Eelback,* Kelpie signed. *Kip and Fah cannot go there. Without them I have no way to feed Seamage Flaxal’s child.*
Redtail had expected her to balk. Slickfin had told him that Kelpie had healed him only after Eelback had threatened Tailwalker, so Redtail felt no gratitude to the priestess. He moved slowly around behind her as she watched Eelback’s reply.
*You will come, Kelpie. Everyone must come inside. We have found other entrances nearer to the surface that Kip and Fah can use.* Eelback made a motion of departure, and the rest of the mer began to file out of the grotto.
Kelpie’s shoulders slumped in resignation, and she flipped her tail to follow.
She gave up too easily,
Redtail thought. There was no arguing with Eelback’s authority, but that had never stopped the priestess from trying before. Looking more closely at her, he noted more than worry and fear in her colors and posture, perhaps a suspicious twitch to her fins, a covert glance at Tailwalker.
She’s hiding something
.
Kelpie was dangerous, but danger would have to be tolerated, for she was also necessary to Eelback’s plan.
But still, Odea’s priestess bears watching
, Redtail thought as he brought up the rear of the school, his eyes on Kelpie’s shapely tail,
in more ways than one
.
Chapter 14
Agendas
Smoke and tears heralded the arrival of his majesty’s warships,
Cape Storm
,
Iron Drake
and
Ice Drake
. Few on the beach even looked up as the three menacing craft made their way into the bay, battle ready, weapons loaded and manned. The natives were too busy mourning their dead, collecting the refuse of the cannibals’ slaughter for burial, and quenching the fires that still smoldered. Sailors rowed launches into shore to disgorge more than a hundred heavily armed marines, but there was no opposition for them to face. The place was eerily silent save for the wails of those who wept.
Norris hurried to the end of the stone pier, tugging his jacket straight to best display the badge of office on his breast. The jacket was the only thing remotely clean about him, but he didn’t care. By the time he and Tim had returned to the cave from the summit and helped everyone else down to the beach, he had only enough time to quickly check Camilla’s chamber, then run to his room—ransacked like all the others—grab his jacket from the pile of clothing that apparently hadn’t appealed to the pirates’ sense of style, and hurry down to the pier. He was sweaty and anxious, and took several deep breaths to calm himself.
The two drake-class vessels dropped fore and aft anchors, poised for a full broadside within easy bow-range of the beach, while the frigate pulled alongside the pier with the aid of two launches full of straining sailors. The captain called over to Norris even before the docking lines were secured.
“Count Norris, I presume.” The fifty archers with their arrows trained on Norris’ chest belied the man’s polite tone; caution trumped courtesy. “Captain Donnely, at your service, sir! What happened here? Where’s the seamage?”
“The seamage is not here, Captain Donnely. Had she been, the events of the last few days would undoubtedly have played out differently.” He paused while the gangplank was lowered and the captain and his guard stepped onto the pier. “We were attacked by pirates, Captain. Pirates allied with the most despicable brutes I have ever witnessed.” He waved a hand at the havoc behind him, the scattered human remains, the burned village, the grieving natives. “Cannibals, Captain. An entire galleon full of them. They have only just departed, and with many prisoners whose fate I fear to imagine if we do not act quickly.”