“We’ve been following him underwater for two days and nothing has happened.” Visola yawned, opening her mouth widely to take in a huge breath of water. “We’ve been down here so long your hair has bleached itself. I think he’s going to be safe, Zuri.”
Aazuria pulled a lock of her hair before her face and saw that Visola was right. She looked up at the twins. “Let us wait a little longer.”
“Fine. But I hate camping out in open water. Eating whatever grows or swims nearby—this is barbaric.” Visola and Sionna had followed their leader in search of Trevain’s boat for several hours, easily keeping up with her effortless high speeds. They had found several other fishing boats before they located The Fishin’ Magician. Initially, they had all felt the exhilaration of being in the water again, strength infusing their bones and spirits. However, now that they were just hovering around deep beneath the boat, waiting for the crew to exhaust themselves and head home, they were feeling rather bored.
When a metal cage was lowered nearby, Visola grinned. “Don’t get caught! You’ll be used as sushi by the sailors for lunch,” she signed to her sister as they lurked deep in the shadow of the ship they stalked.
“At least I’m palatable and won’t give them food poisoning,” Sionna retorted with her hands.
“You’re right, but they would probably lose their appetites at the sight of you and toss you out with the bad seafood.”
“Viso—we look exactly the same. Quit insulting yourself!”
The sisters were startled out of their mindless time-killing banter by a hand signal from their newly platinum-blonde leader. They were further surprised when she reached behind her and pulled the assault rifle off her back. She stared down at the device in her hands, before looking to the twins for help.
Visola swam forward and quickly mouthed the instructions on how to use the weapon, giving plenty of gestures for rapid training.
“What did you see?” Sionna asked, frowning.
Aazuria pointed above them, to shallower waters, her eyes squinting in the darkness. The boat was turning around very slowly. Approaching the ship at high speeds, but still at a distance, was what looked to be a school of large fish. Upon more careful examination, and as they drew closer, one could see that they were actually people swimming in a military like formation and diverging around the boat. Their legs were covered with some sort of black fabric which made it look as though they all had black tails.
Aazuria could just barely make out the white glint of shark’s teeth strung around their necks. Legend had it that the Clan of Zalcan trained their young warriors by pitting them against sharks in wrestling matches. Every single tooth on their necklaces came directly from a shark that the wearer had actually killed in hand-to-hand combat. If a warrior killed another warrior in a duel of honor, they would take the other’s necklaces as a trophy and wear them as his or her own. The greatest warriors wore so many strands of necklaces that their necks were fully armored by them—they also wore them around their wrists, ankles, waists, and around their foreheads.
“It is them,” Aazuria said. “I am sure of it. It is the Clan of Zalcan. Well, a few of them; maybe scouts or raiders. ” She felt her blood boiling and knew instinctively that they were going to attempt to cause some sort of trouble on Trevain’s boat. She began swimming up to the surface with the rifle in her hands, but she felt herself restrained. The twins began to hastily pull her back down deeper into the waters.
“What are you two doing? We need to go and confront them,” she argued.
“No,” Sionna mouthed. “There are at least thirty of them, and only three of us! They haven’t spotted us yet, and that gives us the advantage. We’re here for reconnaissance, so let’s observe.”
“We need to see how they work, and what they want,” Visola added. “Take a few deep breaths, Zuri. Your captain will be fine.”
Aazuria nodded, appreciating the wisdom of her friends. She retreated into the darkness with them, out of sight. She pulled slow breaths of water into her lungs, trying to calm herself down as she watched the mermaids prepare some kind of attack. Trevain is up there, she thought to herself, and so is Brynne and several other innocents. She had not realized how fond she had grown of not just the captain, but his entire crew in the past few weeks. She had no clue what the enemy intended until she saw that a few of them were laughing and swimming in zigzagging patterns under the boat.
“Are they drunk?” Aazuria asked.
“I don’t know, but they’re definitely enjoying themselves,” Visola responded, frowning.
“Do you think that ‘Atargatis’ might be amongst them?” Sionna wondered.
Aazuria saw it then—a blonde woman swung her arm back and launched a harpoon at someone on the boat. The person fell into the water, and several of the mermaids immediately surrounded him, dragging him down. Aazuria’s heart began to pound so hard it was painful, and she placed the rifle between her teeth before using her hands to rapidly swim up to the boat. The twins knew that they could not stop her this time, so they grasped their own rifles and followed.
It was several seconds before their enemies were aware of their presence. The black-clad sea-dwellers were so focused on the person they had taken from the boat that they did not even see when their own numbers began to dwindle.
Aazuria had never held a rifle before, but she found it surprisingly easy. Her first shot missed, but she gripped the metal barrel more tightly and tried again. Her second and third shots were slightly more precise, and after that it became easy. Aazuria shot at least five people who had heaped around the man, fearing that it was Trevain they were harming. A dark pool of blood surrounded him and she could not see his identity. Sionna and Visola shot many people on the flanks of the formation until they were too close to use the rifles.
The lifeless body of a man she had shot in the lower abdomen floated close to her. Aazuria pushed the rifle onto her back, and felt the man’s waist for more basic forms of weaponry. Scoring a knife, she propelled herself forward into the thicket of battle, engaging in hand to hand-to-hand combat with the remaining mermaids. Her only focus was on fighting her way through the crowd toward the injured man. She was terrified of fighting the skilled Clan warriors, but she knew that she was much smarter than the sharks they had ripped all those teeth from.
She saw with great relief that it was not Trevain they had attacked; the man in the water was Arnav, the young student from New York of whom Trevain had always spoken so highly. She swam toward him, but a blonde woman with countless necklaces intercepted her with a leer.
Aazuria was caught off guard for a moment, for she thought she recognized the woman. She did not have time to remember who she was, for the woman seemed intent on gouging her eyes out. She would not allow this to happen easily, and used her knife to defend against the woman’s strikes. When her blade bounced off the woman’s waist, she discovered that the shark’s teeth did serve as effective armor. As she struggled to keep the woman from gashing her body open, she realized that the woman was obviously the leader. Her black garments were the most ornate, and she was the most skilled fighter. Aazuria was kept on her toes in dodging the woman’s attacks, and trying desperately to get in a few of her own. She silently prayed that each thrust of her arm would be the last. The woman’s sword hit Aazuria squarely in the thigh, and Aazuria flinched, expecting a huge laceration. She was stunned when the blade of the knife did not penetrate her soft armor.
Visola saw this, and tried to get away from the fight she was having with three people at once to help her friend. She hacked at them mercilessly, but they were very fast. Sionna was in a similarly overwhelming situation. The blonde woman that Aazuria was fighting was annoyed that her blow had not wounded her opponent as much as she had anticipated. She reached out and grabbed a handful of Aazuria’s hair, but Aazuria used the opportunity to drive her knuckles into the woman’s soft breast. The woman recoiled in pain, and Aazuria lunged forward, using her other hand to slice open the woman’s throat—but her opponent just barely evaded the blade. The blonde woman fought valiantly. Before both women knew it, their fight had broken the surface of the water. Their gasping and yelling was now audible in the air.
The men on the boat above began to take notice of the action, and began to crowd to the starboard side of the Magician.
“What in the bloody hell?” Ujarak exclaimed.
“It’s pretty dark, but it looks like there are two women wrestling in the water,” Doughlas observed.
“It’s fucking cold down there! What’s wrong with them?” Edwin wondered.
“Help!” Aazuria screamed, in a piercing voice which she hoped that none of them would recognize. She continued to fight with the blonde woman as she yelled to the men. She figured that if she screamed at the top of her lungs her voice would be adequately distorted. “One of your men—he is in the water, injured and drowning!”
“What is she talking about? We’re all right here,” Brynne said in confusion.
“Where’s Arnav?” Trevain said very suddenly. Everyone began to look around frantically. The captain began to pull off his boots so that he could dive into the water.
Meanwhile, the giant blonde woman had placed Aazuria in a headlock and was proceeding to choke the life out of her. “So you know those people, do you, sweet pea?” she whispered.
Aazuria froze in her struggle for a moment, recognizing the voice and the pet name. “Koraline?” she gasped out in a labored voice as her neck was crushed. The woman had been one of her ballet instructors many decades ago. She was Corallyn’s mother. Aazuria tried desperately to pry the muscled arm away from her throat. The pointy shark’s teeth on the woman’s bracelets which covered her arms from wrist to elbow were digging painfully into Aazuria’s skin. She was sure that she was bleeding, but she did not care; her focus was on survival at this point.
“No one has called me that in a while. I go by the name of ‘Atargatis’ now. It rather suits me, don’t you think?” Koraline further tightened her grip on Aazuria’s throat, causing her to grow dizzy from the strangulation. She desperately tried to free herself, hammering her elbow back into the woman’s ribcage. She reached behind her to press her nails into the woman’s eyes, but Koraline seemed to anticipate her every movement. Aazuria knew that unless Visola or Sionna could fend off their own attackers and come to her rescue, she would be unconscious within moments.
Aazuria was startled when Trevain was suddenly in front of her, and his fist was flying into Koraline’s face. She darted beneath the surface as soon as she was free of the woman’s grip, breathing deeply. She saw that the twins were still alive and fighting. She dove down to where she had last seen Arnav. She slipped her arms around the boy when she found him and rapidly swam to the surface, carrying the boy. Once they had broken through to the air, she pressed her fingers against his jaw, checking his vitals. Finding nothing, she gasped and pressed her ear close to his nose and mouth. There was no sign of life. He was already dead. “No,” she whispered. She closed her eyes, feeling powerless. She turned to Trevain in despair.
“I could not save him,” she spoke softly, holding Arnav’s dead body mostly above the surface in her arms. She suddenly remembered to incline her head downward, using her white bangs and wet hair to conceal her features.
Everyone was curiously peering off the side of the boat. Trevain moved towards Aazuria in the water. She assumed that he must have killed Koraline or at least knocked her unconscious, for no one was immediately attacking them for the first time in several minutes. She extended her hands to offer Arnav to the captain. She was eager to swim away before someone could recognize her identity under the paler skin, hair, and eyes.
Suddenly, a look of alarm came to Trevain’s face. “Look out!” he shouted, diving forward. “No!”
Aazuria screamed at the violent impact of something colliding with her body and piercing right through her. A searing pain shot through her back. A frenetic female laugh mocked her agony; Koraline had thrown a javelin directly at Aazuria, aimed precisely at her heart.
Trevain had moved swiftly towards her within the water and pushed her aside just in time, or it surely would have hit its target. The javelin intended for the center of her torso had gone through her right shoulder instead. She moaned with the blinding pain, and felt Trevain’s arms around her. She looked up at him through dizzy, blurred vision. She had let go of Arnav, whose body was now sinking. She clutched Trevain tightly, blinking and trying to focus. She was about to say his name when she caught herself.
“That’s just a taste of things to come!” the blonde woman shouted. “I won’t rest until I have my daughter back—and until every one of you is dead. Tell Kyrosed Vellamo that I’m coming for him!”
Aazuria flinched, wondering if Trevain knew her last name. “But he is…” She could not speak through the blinding pain. Her head spun, and she struggled to stay conscious. The world was fading, but she firmly dug her fingers into Trevain’s upper arms for support. She used his strength to stay grounded and awake. Her head, neck, and shoulders which were above water were covered in a cold sweat from the severe pain. Her hand immediately moved to grasp the javelin, instinctively trying to rip the offending shaft out of her body.
“Atargatis, you bitch!” shouted Visola, bursting out of the surface of the water. The redhead grabbed the woman around her neck and dove down into the depths of the sea.
Aazuria felt a rush of relief, knowing that Visola had fought off her own attackers. She prayed Sionna was also safe. She sighed; it was over. Tears had come into her eyes without her permission because of the excruciating pain. She tightened her grip around the javelin in her shoulder, knowing she must pull it out, but finding it too unbearable to do by herself. She would surely pass out if she tried, or at least end up screaming unattractively. Instead she gritted her teeth and used both hands to break off the narrowest part of the stick which had been protruding from her body. She looked up at Trevain who had bravely risked himself in order to save her, and still held her protectively. He had even allowed the body of his friend to sink into the sea in order to save someone he believed was a complete stranger.
“You’re hurt badly, Miss,” he was saying. “You have to come aboard the ship and let me take you to a hospital.” He found himself suddenly stricken by the idea that it might not be an injured woman he held in his arms, but a legendary creature. “Who are you?” he asked breathlessly.
She smiled through her pain. The bleeding coming from her shoulder was profuse, but she knew it was not a lethal wound. She felt a rush of gratitude. She had been impressed with the speed and vigor with which Trevain moved in the water. It had been brave of him to jump off the ship to help her, when none of his crew members had. She could not believe that she now lived with this valiant man, and that he was hers to go home to. She also could not believe that he did not recognize her—but she was glad for this.
“Thank you for saving my life,” she said softly, before slipping her hand behind his head and kissing him. At first his mouth was tense and unresponsive, and he displayed surprise more than anything. She wondered with amusement if he felt guilty for cheating on her. A second later, his lips softened, but she had already ripped herself away from him and disappeared under the water.
“Wait!” he shouted fruitlessly. He submerged himself under the water, intending to follow her, but she was already too deep beneath the surface for him to see where she had gone. He looked around in every direction frantically, but the injured white-haired woman had disappeared. Only Arnav’s floating lifeless body, and the bodies of several of the other attackers floated in the ocean around him.
Meanwhile on the boat, there was a silent confusion. “Did you guys see what I saw?” Edwin asked softly.
“Weird chicks fighting,” said Ujarak with a clueless shrug.
Wyatt cleared his throat. “Uh… Arnav was killed by a bunch of people wearing black, but then some females wearing green kicked their asses for it?”
“They had APS underwater assault rifles strapped to their backs,” Doughlas said. “Probably some military training thing… they probably came from a stealth submarine which we can’t see somewhere around here…”
Everyone began peering off the side of the ship and looking for the aforementioned vehicle. The captain had just been helped back onto the deck by Brynne, and he heard the submarine comment. Trevain grabbed a towel and began to absorb the water in his hair. “A sub… that makes sense. I don’t know why that didn’t cross my mind.”
“So Arnav is really gone?” Billy asked quietly.
A flash of rage darkened Trevain’s face. “I don’t know why any of us should be surprised. Three fishing trips. Three deaths. They say one man dies per week during the fishing season but this…” Everyone jumped in surprise when the captain grabbed a handful of heavy metal rigging and violently hurled it across the ship. It smashed against the metal cages with a loud clangor. “What the fuck is going on?!” Trevain shouted, as tears filled his eyes.
“Shhh,” Brynne said, moving to his side. She had never been scared of the kind captain in her life, but it seemed like something had broken in him. After a moment’s hesitation, she reached out to hug Trevain. He immediately softened and returned the hug. She felt how wet and cold he was, and she shivered. “You need to warm up downstairs and get some dry clothes.”
“Yeah,” he said. It was all he could do to stay standing. Callder may have been a freeloading loafer, but Arnav had been a brilliant young man with a future. Trevain felt dizzy with disgust, and had an urge to empty the contents of his stomach all over Brynne. She must have sensed this, because she stepped away. He realized then that he had scared her with his display of violence. “I’m sorry I cursed and yelled.”
“I curse and yell in front of you all the time, Murphy,” she responded. “So who was that albino chick you made out with in the water?”
Trevain shook his head, completely oblivious. “All I know is that she was on our side. She tried to stop it from happening.”
“They had to be marine forces,” Doughlas was saying. “That’s the only explanation.”
“Or they could have been…” Billy trailed off, knowing that he could not reasonably finish that sentence.
“What? They could have been what?”
“Mermaids,” Billy mumbled softly.
“Don’t be fucking ridiculous,” Trevain said angrily. He resisted the urge to toss more large pieces of metal across his boat. He resisted the urge to scream at the top of his lungs. Instead, he allowed Brynne to guide him downstairs so that he could get warm and dry.