Her suite was nowhere near as secure as the vaults, but it was all they had. Serafina, roused now, sped ahead and cut left. Neela was right on her tail. They swam down a narrow loggia and then through a coral archway.
Seconds later, they were at the door to Neela’s suite. But it was too late. There was no time to get it open. The soldiers had cast their own velos and had gained on them. In a desperate move, Neela cast a fragor lux spell, hoping to slow the attackers with a small light bomb.
Lava’s light,
Now attack,
Cause my enemies
To fall back!
She’d sung the spell too fast. It was weak. They were done for, she knew it.
But the spell wasn’t weak.
All at once, every globe in the hallway dimmed. The light from each one swirled together into a brilliant, glowing ball. It hurtled through the water, hit the ground a foot away from the soldiers, and exploded, forcing them back. Serafina swung the door open. The two mermaids raced inside and pushed it closed. Neela threw the heavy bolt in the nick of time. Just as it shot home, a body thudded against the door.
“What kind of frag spell was that?” Serafina asked, panting for breath.
“I don’t know,” Neela said. “I’ve never done it before.”
There was another thud. The door shuddered.
“They’re going to break it down,” Serafina said. “We can’t stay here.”
Neela swam to a window. The waters outside were thick with soldiers. “Where can we go?” she asked frantically. “They’re everywhere!”
“We could cast a prax spell and camouflage ourselves against the ceiling,” Serafina said.
“They’ll search every inch of these rooms. They’ll find us.”
A pounding started, rhythmic and loud. The invaders were battering down the door. Neela saw that it was bowing out of its frame with every blow.
“Is there anything here we can use to defend ourselves? A knife? Scissors?” Serafina asked. “I’m not going without a fight.”
Neela rushed to her vanity table and started pawing through the bottles and vials on it, looking for any kind of sharp object. And then she saw it—Yazeed’s whelk shell necklace. She’d taken it from him when she and Serafina had found him and Mahdi in the reggia.
“Sera, over here!” she said. “Hurry!”
“What is it?”
“Yaz’s transparensea pearls.”
Neela shook the pearls out of the shell. The songspell of invisibility used shadow and light and was notoriously difficult to cast. Spellbinders—highly skilled artisans—knew how to insert the spell into pearls that a mermaid could carry with her and deploy in an instant.
Neela and Serafina each held one between the palms of their hands. A second later, they were invisible.
“Come on!” Neela said, opening a window.
She couldn’t see Serafina, so she felt around in the water for her, got hold of her arm, and pushed her out through the opening. Her own tail fin had just cleared the sill when the door came crashing in.
“I CAN’T GO ANY FARTHER. I have to rest. Just for a few minutes,” Serafina said.
She and Neela had been swimming fast for over an hour through dark waters and were almost three leagues west of Cerulea, heading for the fortress at Tsarno. A sputtering lava torch, picked up on the edges of the city, was their only source of light.
“We’ve got to keep moving,” Neela said, looking around warily. “You’re shimmering, Sera. The pearls are wearing off. Come on.”
“I will. I just need a minute,” Serafina said. She was exhausted. She sat down on a rock, leaned over, and vomited.
Painful spasms racked her body until there was nothing left inside her. Nothing but the images of the arrow burying itself in her mother’s side. Of her father’s body sinking through the water. Of the dragon tearing through the palace wall.
“Here,” Neela said, handing her a kelp leaf.
Serafina took it and wiped her mouth. A tiny octopus, spooked by their movements, shot out from the seaweed and swam off. As she watched him, she thought of Sylvestre. She’d left him sleeping on her bed when she’d departed for the Dokimí. She had no idea if he was dead or alive. She had no idea what had happened to Tavia. To the ladies of her court. Or even of her mother’s final fate.
Neela sat down next to Sera and put an arm around her. Sera leaned her head on Neela’s shoulder. Some of the numbness she’d felt was wearing off and she realized she owed her friend a great deal.
“We’d be prisoners right now if it wasn’t for you,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me until we’re in Tsarno,” Neela said. “Who are they? Who did this?”
“Ondalina. That’s what my uncle said. He was worried this would happen. He wanted my mother to declare war on Admiral Kolfinn. I wasn’t supposed to know, but I overheard them talking.”
“Why would Kolfinn do such a thing?” Neela asked.
“I don’t know,” Serafina said. “All I know is that he broke the permutavi without any explanation. And now hundreds are dead. My father. Maybe my mother. We don’t know where Ahadi and Bilaal are. Or Mahdi and Yaz.”
Neela uttered a stifled cry.
“What is it?” Sera asked.
“Oh, Sera. One of the last things I said to my brother was that he was a tube worm,” Neela said, tears shimmering in her eyes. “It might be the last thing I ever say to him.”
“It might be the last thing you ever say to anyone,” a deep voice rumbled, making both mermaids jump up. “You’re bait if you stay here. Soldiers rode through earlier. Mermen in black uniforms.”
“W-who are you?” Neela stammered.
“Where are you? Serafina said, peering through the gloom.
“They’re asking about two princesses. That would be you, I assume. They’re asking everyone they see, which is why they didn’t ask me.”
A small movement close to where they’d been sitting caught the mermaids’ attention. It was a merman who looked like a scorpion fish. With his spots and bands of color, and the weedy frills of skin on his face, he was perfectly camouflaged against the algae-covered stone he was sitting on.
Just then, they all heard something, faint and faraway. It sounded like fins churning the water.
The merman rose from his rock, the better to listen. “Hippokamps. Probably the same patrol,” he said tersely. “They’re coming this way.”
“We’ve got to hide,” Neela said.
“There’s an abandoned eel cave about a hundred yards north of here. You’ll see the wreck of a blue fishing boat. The cave’s another ten yards past it. Swim fast and you’ll make it.”
“Thank you. I don’t even know your name,” Serafina said. His kindness heartened her. It was good to know there were still merpeople who cared, allies who would help her.
“Zeno. Zeno Piscor.”
“Thank you, Zeno. We won’t forget this.”
Zeno flapped a fin at her. He settled himself back on his rock, eyes open, watching the waters. Serafina and Neela swam fast. The sound of hippokamps grew louder.
“Where’s the blue boat?” Neela asked anxiously, a few minutes later. “It should be here. Did we miss it?”
Serafina spotted it. She led the way to the eel cave. Its entry was littered with the bones of its former occupant’s meals. The cave itself was narrow and dark, with a low ceiling. A minute later, they heard hippokamps and mermen. Neela, who was carrying the lava torch, quickly buried it in the silt.
“Why are we stopping, Captain Traho?” a voice called out. “We searched this area on the way out.”
“To rest the animals,” came the reply.
Serafina heard the mermen dismount. They were very close. “There’s a cave here!” one shouted.
Her heart pounding, Serafina looked at Neela.
“It’s empty. We checked it before,” another soldier said.
“Check it again!” the captain bellowed. “They could have passed throu
gh here after we did. Be careful. I want them alive.”
Neela gasped. Serafina swam to the back of the cave, pulling Neela with her. She sang a prax spell to camouflage them. She sang it fast and low, but it was still strong enough to blend them into the gray stone wall.
The soldier, holding a lava torch, swam halfway into the cave, glanced around, and swam out again.
“Empty!” they heard him call out.
The captain swore. “They can’t have made Tsarno,” he said. “No one swims that fast, even with a velo. Someone must be hiding them. Ride on!”
The mermaids didn’t move a muscle until the hippokamps were gone. Then they both collapsed on the cave floor.
Serafina was the first to speak. “Why do they want us alive? What do they want with us?”
“I’m guessing that whatever it is, it’s not good. Come on, let’s go. It’s not safe here.”
“I have to rest first, Neela. Just for a little while.”
“Is that a good idea?” Neela asked.
“It’s okay. We’re out of sight. I just need a few minutes to get my strength back. Then we’ll head out and follow Plan A—swim like mad to Tsarno.”
Neela looked skeptical. “That’s going to be a challenge with soldiers on hippokamps hunting for us.”
“You have a Plan B?”
“No, but I have a Plan Zee. Because never ever have I needed a sugar fix more than I do right now. Murderous lowtide sea scum invaders sure ratchet up the stress levels.” She reached into a pocket in the folds of her sari skirt and pulled out two zee-zees. “Here,” she said, handing one to Serafina. “Candied clam with wakame crunch. So good.”
Serafina smiled wearily. She unwrapped her sweet and ate it. She was glad to have it.
She was even gladder to have Neela.
“GET UP.”
Neela heard the words, but they seemed so far away. She didn’t want to get up. She’d fallen asleep and wanted to stay that way.
“I said, get up!”
She felt a stinging slap on her tail.
“Ow, Sera! What is it?” she mumbled, opening her eyes.
But it wasn’t Serafina who’d slapped her. It was the wiry, eel-like merman who was leaning over her. He was wearing a black sharkskin vest. A row of stiff spikes ran from his forehead to his neck. A lantern glowed nearby.
“Who are you?” Neela cried, scrambling up. “Where’s Serafina?”
The merman swam aside and Neela saw her friend. She was sitting on the floor of the cave, her hands tied behind her and her mouth cruelly gagged.
“Sera!” Neela shouted. She tried to go to her, but was grabbed from behind. Like living ropes, two moray eels threaded themselves through her arms, binding her tightly.
“Let me go!” she shouted, struggling against them.
Another moray, bigger than the rest, swam to her. He wound his thick body around her neck and squeezed. His monstrous face floated only inches from her own. He hissed at her, baring his long, curved teeth. Neela couldn’t breathe.
“Stop struggling and he’ll let go,” the merman said.
Neela, gasping, did as she was told. The moray uncoiled himself and swam to his master.
“Good boy, Tiberius,” the merman crooned.
“What do you want with us?” Neela asked angrily.
The eels binding her arms tightened themselves, making her cry out in pain.
“Easy, my children, easy,” the merman said to the eels. “They’ll fetch a fine price for us, but only if they’re alive.”
“You have to let us go. You don’t know who we are,” Neela said.
The merman smiled darkly. “Baco knows exactly who you are. He also knows that Captain Traho has put a bounty on your heads. Baco Goga is going to be very rich.”
“You can’t do this! We’re going for help. Cerulea’s under attack. It may fall!” Neela said.
“It has fallen, little merl,” he said. “Tsarno has fallen. And every town in between.”
“No!” Neela said. “You’re lying!”
The merman laughed. With his hand, he made a motion of a fish swimming away. “Gone. All gone. As you’re about to be. But first, you must pay Baco rent for staying in his cave.”
He signaled to the morays. They swam to the mermaids and began divesting them of their jewelry. Neela closed her eyes, revolted. She felt them tugging at her necklace, heard their teeth clicking against her earrings, felt their tongues sliding over her fingers, removing her rings. They’d just started on her bracelets when she heard Serafina scream behind her gag.
Neela’s eyes flew open. One of the eels had dropped the necklace he’d taken from Serafina and had thrust his head down the front of her gown to retrieve it. Sera, lashing her tail furiously, caught another eel with her fins, and sent him spinning into a wall. He hit the stone hard and fell to the cave’s floor, motionless. The other eels were on her immediately, snarling. Tiberius sank his teeth into her tail fin. Sera screamed again, and tried to pull away.
“Stop it!” Neela yelled. “Leave her alone!”
Baco swam across the room and grabbed Serafina’s chin. “That was my Claudius!” he hissed furiously, his fingers digging into her flesh. “You’d better be sorry. Are you? Are you sorry?”
Serafina, her eyes huge with fear, nodded.
“You lumpsucker! Take your hands off her!” Neela shouted, struggling against the eels who were still holding her.
“Get me something to shut her up,” Baco ordered. Tiberius brought him a length of sea silk. Baco jammed it into Neela’s mouth and tied it tightly behind her head.
“These two are trouble. I want them gone. Go to Traho right away,” Baco told Tiberius. “Tell him I have what he’s after.”
The moray nodded and swam off.
“Tiberius, wait!” Baco said.
The moray turned. Baco flipped him a doubloon. He caught it in his mouth.
“Give that to Zeno. With my thanks.”
THE SOLDIERS REMOVED Baco’s flimsy restraints. They shackled Serafina’s wrists with iron cuffs and blindfolded her. They forced an iron gag into her mouth and wrapped a net around her. Then, one of the soldiers slung her over the back of his hippokamp and rode fast. The others followed. The ride was agony. The net’s filament bit into Sera’s skin. The gag, with its bitter taste of black metal, made her retch.
An hour later, they arrived at what sounded like some kind of camp. Sera couldn’t see anything through her blindfold, but she could hear hippokamps whinnying, orders being shouted, and the blood-chilling roar of Blackclaw dragons. One of her captors carried her a short distance, then dumped her on the ground. She tried to free herself but soon stopped, for she was slapped—hard—whenever she moved. She tried to call out for Neela but couldn’t because of her gag.
Lying on her side, she strained to hear all that she could, sifting the conversation for clues to her whereabouts.
“…on Traho’s orders…”
“…pockets of fighting, but they can’t hold out…”
“…find the prince. Just dangle a siren or two…”
Who are they? she wondered. What do they want with me? She didn’t have long to wonder, for she was soon hoisted up and set down again. This time, in a chair.
“The principessa, sir,” a voice said.
“Remove the net.”
Several hands pulled the netting away. Serafina’s shackles were removed, her blindfold, too, but not her gag. She looked around warily, her eyes adjusting to the light of lava lanterns. It was still dark. Probably close to midnight, she guessed. She was inside a well-appointed tent. There was a large campaign table in its center. A bed stood in one corner and several chairs were scattered about.
A woman—obviously unconscious, her head lolling—sat in one of them. Serafina was horrified when she realized who she was.
Thalassa’s beautiful gray hair was down around her shoulders. Her face was bruised. She held her manacled hands close to her chest. Blood swirled above them, pulsing fro
m the stump of bone where her left thumb used to be. Serafina tried to swim to her but was roughly pushed down in her chair.
“Do you wish to help her?” a voice asked. The same voice that had instructed the others to remove her net.
Serafina searched for its source and saw a merman floating in the corner. He wore the black uniform of the Ondalinian invaders. His thick brown hair was cut short. He had a compact build and a cruel face.
“My name is Markus Traho,” he said. “I’m going to remove your gag. You are to use your voice only to speak. And only to me. Attempt to use magic and the canta magus loses her other thumb. Do you understand?”
Serafina glared at him but did not reply.
Traho pulled a dagger from a sheath at his hip. With a quick, fluid motion, he drove it into the arm of the chair in which Thalassa was sitting.
“I said, Do—you—understand?”
Serafina quickly nodded.
“Very good.”
Traho retrieved his dagger, then swam to her. He worked the tip of the knife under the strap of her gag then jerked the blade toward him.
Serafina spat out the gag. “What have you done to her?” she shouted.
“It wasn’t me, Principessa. It was the canta magus who cost herself a thumb,” Traho said, putting his dagger back in its sheath.
“Who are you working for? Kolfinn?”
“All in good time,” Traho said. “You’ve been summoned, have you not?”
“Summoned? I’ve been brought here against my will,” Serafina said, furious.
Traho smiled thinly. “Very clever, Principessa.”
Serafina gave him a look of contempt. “I’m not trying to be clever. I’m trying to get answers. First Kolfinn breaks the permutavi. Now he attacks Cerulea, murders our merfolk—”
The blow was hard. And so quick Serafina never saw it coming. Her head snapped back. Light exploded behind her eyes. She stifled a cry. When the pain subsided, she sat up straight again and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Traho leaned over her, his face only inches from her own. “Dear Principessa, I don’t think you really do understand,” he said. “I ask the questions. You answer them.”