Ice Crypt (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai Book 2) (21 page)

“Let’s go,” said Pontus, with a hint of urgency.

We swam hard and fast.

The blue stone from Spio’s weapon glinted in the light. I scanned it from iron tip to bone handle.

“Spio, that weapon is gorgeous.”

“The Trident of Terror,” he said, holding it out.

“How long did it take you to make?”

“It’s been my working project for a few tidecycles. A special weapon for a special occasion.”

For the first several leagues, we brushed the surface as we travelled, breaching as we pleased. In such a small group, it was easier to keep our senses tuned ahead for danger. Then we heard the long, ghostly moan of a pod of grey whales. In one motion, without discussing it, we dove deeper. We swam along the lip of the canyon we’d followed on the way south.

I kept my weapon on the opposite side of my scar, trying to avoid the sting of holding the iron too close. Still, as we passed over that unseen shipwreck, my skin prickled and my scar burned.

I clenched my jaw.

Adaro’s fault,
I thought.
His fault you’re here. His fault you’re not with Meela.

Some time later, we broke away from the canyon and veered east. We followed a stronger current into emptiness so vast I couldn’t sense the bottom. This was the most direct path, but not a comfortable one. Food was nonexistent, and we faced the possibility of encountering a whale or a shark.

We surfaced for breath after another quarter-tide, and then dove again. By that time, the hook weighed heavy on my arm, but I wasn’t willing to put it away.

The only time anyone spoke was to go over the details of the plan—like repeating it a million times would help it go smoothly.

“Let’s go over our hiding places again,” said Junior. “We can map out the exact crevices.”

“Would you stop, please?” I said. “You’re making me nervous.”

“It’s a law of the mind. Practicing something in your head is as effective as practicing in real life.”

“Since when have you been into Vassana?” said Pontus.

Junior projected embarrassment and mumbled something about self-improvement.

“Amathia is really into that,” said Spio. “She’s always talking about attracting what you want by sending messages to the universe.”

“Who’s Amathia?” I said.

“A girl back home. She’s not my girlfriend. Yet. But I’m working on it by sending messages to the universe.”

“Is it working?”

“I think so. Yesterday I saw a chunk of moss shaped like boobs. I think it’s her, sending messages back.”

“Right on!” said Nobeard.

I pursed my lips.

The current changed. Activity ahead. The others didn’t notice, so I shot to the front and extended a hand to stop Pontus.

“Wait.”

Chaos stirred in the distance.

“Feeding frenzy?” said Pontus.

“No. It’s too spread out. Listen.”

The glopping current clouded the sound, making it hard to identify. It was close, yet carried a league into the distance.

“I don’t smell blood,” said Coho.

He was right. It wasn’t a frenzy.

“Let’s go slow,” said Pontus.

Instinctively, we clustered together. We moved at half the speed as before, keeping silent and using minimal movement so we could feel the current.

Their controlled, precise movements revealed what they were—or who they were. The murmur of voices followed. They were deep, distorted.

We slowed our pace even more.

Their presence blended, hard to distinguish. But the mood was clear, floating on the current like plankton.

It was despair.

We stopped.

Shapes of mermen, mermaids, and children materialised. They formed a line moving northwest, crossing our path at an angle and stretching farther ahead than I could sense. Ropes tethered them together—though that wouldn’t hold them if they really wanted to escape. What held them were the armed soldiers patrolling the lengths, keeping them from drifting sideways or downwards.

We sank a little. In the open water, there was a chance they’d sense us.

The merpeople in line were not from Utopia, or anywhere up north. Their tails were more colourful than ours, shades of blue and pink and yellow, like the reefs I’d seen in these latitudes. Something glimmered in their faces, ears, and collarbones. I thought they might have been gems.

Their hair was bunched and braided in a way that reminded me of snakes. It drifted wildly, some braids apparently supported by kelp buoys because they floated weightlessly. Others had glinting gems braided into the ends.

Even the shape of these merpeople was slightly different—longer, slimmer.

Where had they come from?

A commotion caught my attention. A mermaid with a vibrant green and yellow tail was fighting a guard. Her cheekbones glimmered as sunlight caught the row of gems embedded in her skin. Her eyes blazed red. She yanked at her ropes so those closest were jerked forwards. The noise and turbulence of their struggle blasted through the empty water.

“He is too young to fight,” she shouted. “Please, let him stay.”

It took me a moment to understand her accent. The dialect was different—lower, more pronounced.

“He’s old enough to work in the camp,” said the guard.

He looked and spoke like us. The guards had come from up north.

Two others appeared at his side. They shoved the mermaid back in line.

“Then let me stay with him,” said the merman behind her. “I’ll do better in labour than on the front.”

A smaller, more tender aura existed somewhere between them. A child.

“You’ll go where you are assigned,” said the guard.

“If you think I am going to do battle for that scum you call a king,” said the mermaid, “you are sorely—”

The guard struck her across the face. She collided with her husband and child, creating a ripple several prisoners down the line.

My heartbeat sped up. I tried to calm it before I became desperate for breath.

This line must have been all merpeople under Queen Evagore’s rule—or, at least, they were at one time. Now they were being rounded up and sent to the labour camp, or straight to the battlefront.

I wondered what Adaro was making them do at the camp, and if Katus and Ladon had been truthful in telling me about the conditions. Then a terrifying thought occurred to me: Would similar round-ups be happening back home?

The dread tightening around me told me the guys were wondering the same.

“Evagore was ripped from her throne!” said the mermaid, disentangling herself.

“Enough!” said the guard.

“Adaro will meet the fate he deserves. The queen will return to her kingdom—”

A dark, stone blade flashed between them. Before I understood what had happened, blood poured from the mermaid’s throat and clouded around her face. Then the boy was screaming, and the father grabbed him before he could lunge forwards.

“No! Mom!”

The scuffle died quickly, as those nearest fell back.

“Finally!” said a voice behind us, so near and with such volume that I startled into demon mode.

We whirled around, weapons raised.

“Whoa, guys, it’s just me,” said Axius.

No. No, no, absolutely no.

I spun back around, facing the line of prisoners. The nearest guard had turned in our direction.

Though I couldn’t see his expression, I could make his shape out in the water.

And if we could see them, they could see us.

I grabbed Axius by his perfectly combed locks.

“
Dive
,” I said through clenched teeth.

No one hesitated. We shot downwards, hurtling away from the scene. I dragged Axius along, forcing him to keep up, before throwing him away from me.

We swam at top speed until we reached twilight level, then kept going until there was barely enough light to see.

How had he followed us? I cursed myself. We’d all been too focused on what lay ahead to pay attention to what was going on behind.

Pontus stopped. He whirled around and grabbed Axius by the throat. “Everyone shut up.”

More than ever, I felt the predator in him.

We held position, weapons raised. Anger bubbled inside me. We stayed quiet for a long while, listening, feeling, watching the world above.

Nobody had followed.

Pontus turned back to Axius and snarled. “What are you doing here?”

His hand was clasped so tightly around Axius’ neck that I wondered if he would break it.

“I lost Lysi back at the raft,” said Axius, voice strangled. “I searched for a while, then heard the First Officer say something about a few guys and the girl leaving, so …”

“You followed me?” I said, voice escalating to the pitch of a dolphin.

Pontus released his grip on Axius’ throat, stunned.

“Oceans couldn’t keep us apart, Lysi.”

“What the crap is that supposed to mean?” I said.

Axius massaged his throat. “I followed your scent.”

I stared at him, shaking with anger. Spio snatched the hook from my hands just before I slammed into Axius and started punching him in the chest.

“
That
 
- is
 
- so
 
- creepy!
”

Axius raised his arms to fend me off.

Coho drifted closer. “If he was able to follow our scent, who’s to say someone else didn’t follow his?”

I stopped punching. We all looked at Coho, and then Axius.

“Did anyone tail you?” said Nobeard, aiming his mace at Axius’ throat.

Axius squeaked.

“Answer him!” I said.

“I don’t think so,” he said in a small voice.

Coho turned to us. “What do we do with him?”

“Ever heard of keelhauling?” said Nobeard, mace still raised.

“Oh! The Trident of Terror can have its inaugural stabbing,” said Spio.

“We aren’t killing him,” said Pontus. “We’ll send him back.”

“We can’t send him back,” said Junior. “He probably overheard everything.”

Nobeard jabbed Axius in the throat. “Did you?”

“Yes.” Axius pushed the weapon away. “Everything. And now I know …”

His eyes found mine, dim red orbs in the blackness.

“You aren’t really going out with Spio.”

Something incoherent burst from my mouth, like a muffled scream and eight different swear words. I wrapped my fists in my hair.

My frustration reached beyond his relentlessness. I couldn’t believe our plan was at risk because of him. Because of me. I was already the spotted fish in this group. Now Axius had to force himself between them and me. The others probably wished they hadn’t let me come.

Axius turned back to the guys. “I know you’re going to kill someone at the mine. I’m assuming it’s someone important, or this mission wouldn’t be a secret.”

“Wait,” said Pontus. “You don’t know who our target is?”

Axius didn’t respond.

The blanket of stress dissipated a little. Nobeard lowered his weapon.

“Lysi,” said Axius, “if you let me come with you, there’s something important you should know about the mine.”

I bared my teeth. “Liar.”

But he wasn’t. I wanted to send my fist through that air of bald earnestness.

“I’ve been to the Moonless City before,” he said. “My mother took us all—”

“I don’t care about your family vacation! Tell me what you know about the mine, Ax.”

“Not until you agree to let me come with you.”

I glowered at him.

“Cover your ears and hum,” said Pontus. “Don’t stop until we let you, or you’re dead.”

Unrattled, Axius did as he was told.

The rest of us grouped together.

“You think he’s serious?” said Spio.

“He is,” I said.

“We should let him come. He could be useful,” said Pontus.

“That grog-for-brains will wreck our plan,” said Nobeard.

“It’s not like we can send him back. He might blab,” said Junior.

“Or Strymon could interrogate him,” said Pontus.

“So what do we do? He’s a risk either way,” said Coho.

“I say we send him home,” I said.

“Of course you do,” said Junior.

“No, listen.” I dropped my voice to barely a whisper. “His family is well-off under Adaro’s reign. I haven’t had any indication from him that he’d want to … you know.”

I glanced at Axius. He was still humming tunelessly, hands over his ears, looking like a complete cod.

“He’s not going to be into the plan,” I said.

“But what about whatever he knows about the mine?” said Coho.

“We’ll beat it out of him.”

Coho laughed.

I shrugged. I was being serious.

“He’s still our ally. We’re not going to beat him into a blob of algae,” said Pontus with an air of amusement.

“If we send him back, we could try bribing him into silence,” said Coho.

“With what?” I said.

There was a pause. All eyes landed on me. I backed away.

“Nope.”

“Just tell him you’ll go out with him,” said Junior. “You don’t actually have to do it.”

“Yeah,” said Spio. “Where are you going to go for a date, anyway?”

I scowled. He wasn’t supposed to side with them.

I considered our options. We could let him come with us, or we could send him back and do our best to ensure his silence—which might not work anyway, knowing Strymon’s determination. As far as I was concerned, this was a lose-lose situation.

I snarled.

“Fine, he can come. But you understand he absolutely cannot know who our target is?”

Pontus shrugged. “He might be into it.”

“No. He won’t.”

I tried to read each of them, hoping they believed me. I caught Spio’s eye. He nodded.

They all turned to Axius.

“Also, you fish faces have to keep him away from me,” I said.

“Deal,” said Junior.

“Aye, aye,” said Nobeard.

“My pleasure,” said Coho, rubbing his knuckles.

Spio returned the Iron Hook of Doom to me.

Pontus waved Axius over, who stopped humming and let go of his ears. He seemed much too pleased for a guy who’d just ticked off a group of armed outlaws.

“We’ve decided you can come,” said Pontus.

Axius’ face melted into a stupid smile, like he was sinking into a pleasant dream.