Fire Heart (The Titans: Book One) (48 page)

The mermaid clapped her hands excitedly, the sound manifesting as a dull thump.
No, no. This is good. It means the bihirit has taken to you.

Ah.
Clare paused a moment, and then wondered,
What happens if it doesn't, er, take to me?

It would burn through your flesh until your head fell away from your body.

Clare stared at the smiling woman, but decided not to comment.

Here,
the mermaid said after a moment, and she tapped one of the pearls with her forefinger. It began to pulse with a faint blue light.
Now your thoughts will only be heard by those you wish to hear them.

Clare smiled with relief.
Thank you. That was becoming rather...awkward.

The mermaid giggled, and then held out her hand.
I am Mileena, daughter of Ayprel.

Clare,
she responded, and grasped the mermaid's hand.
It's a pleasure to meet—

Her words cut off abruptly as her eyes widened and her mind went completely blank. For an instant she was unable to comprehend why, and then she realized with some surprise that Mileena was kissing her passionately, as though she were a long-lost lover. Her lips were cool, moist, salty, and the webbed fingers that trailed up Clare's neck were smooth and soft. It was then she realized that this was the same mermaid who had given her the gift atop the Leviathan.

When at last Mileena broke away Clare remained motionless, able only to drift and stare in surprise.

It has been a long time since I kissed the mouth of a human,
said the soft voice in her head.
I had forgotten how much better it is. Yours is undoubtedly one of the best I have had, though.

...Ah,
was all Clare was able to think. Mileena stared at her in confusion.

Did you not like it?

Clare gaped.
You're...a woman,
she thought.

Yes,
said the voice in her head,
a woman among hideous men.
Mileena shuddered in revulsion.
Have you seen them? There is a reason we desire human lovers.
Her words held hidden meaning in them—meaning that Clare had no trouble understanding.

But...but, I'm a woman, too!
She lifted her hands as though to pacify some coming fury, and the motion made her drift back ever so slightly.
I—I'm sorry, I'm finding this terribly awkward...

But Mileena only smiled and shrugged.
I like you, Clare. You make me laugh.
She indicated off to her left with a wave of her hand, and Clare followed the gesture to see Will in a similar situation as her own—with the mermaid who had kissed him before, no less.

Human men are fickle,
said Mileena's voice in her head.
If you ever grow tired of him, I will always be here.
And then she darted away with a flick of her tail. Clare, for her part, felt her eyes narrow at the sight of Will and his fish woman, who had her arms clasped around his chest from behind and her tail wrapped around his legs. To his credit, Will face was a map of discomfort and embarrassment. But the mermaid seemed either not to notice or not to care, for she did not release her grip, and continually trailed her lips across Will's cheek and neck.

Yorova,
said Borbos' voice, and now he sounded angry. Will's mermaid darted her head up, and rage flashed through her eyes.
Leave him be,
the Titan growled, and his voice was like thunder in Clare's
mind.
Now.

The mermaid reluctantly released her hold on Will and drifted off into the depths, flipping her tail angrily as she went. Borbos shook his head and ran his fingers through the dark strands of his hair.
Will, Clare,
he said after a moment, and he beckoned them over.
Come here.

Clare angled her body in his direction and kicked—and shot through the water like an arrow. She avoided running into Borbos at the last instant by raising her hands instinctively, and the motion halted her progress as surely as if she had run into a wall. Borbos guffawed, and Clare felt her cheeks heat—until a moment later, when Will careened toward them in much the same fashion. He failed, however, to stop, and struck Borbos like a boulder, sending the Titan spinning end over end through the sea. Borbos only laughed harder.

That,
said the Titan's voice in Clare's mind,
be exactly what Davin and Talyn did the first time I brought them down here. Davin even ran into me just so.

Clare snorted and covered her mouth with her hand, darting a quick glance at Will, who was grinning in both mirth and embarrassment. Borbos' laughter slowly faded as he righted himself.
Now,
he said after a moment,
for transport.

Transport?
Will asked, looking around in confusion.
Underwater?

We can already swim faster than normal,
Clare said.
Witness the soaring tackle.

But not as fast as the merfolk,
Borbos replied, and as if to add credence to his words one of the mermaids darted past them so quickly that she was gone before Clare felt the turbulence from her passing.
So we be using the water drakes.

Water wha—?

Will's mental question quickly turned into a physical shout of surprise as a monstrous creature rose from the depths beneath him. It was long, perhaps three times as long as a man was tall, and its body was shaped like a snake's, complete with dark blue scales. Ragged, vertical fins crested the length of its back end, and long spines extended back from the base of its skull in a frill. Its maw was a wicked, underbitten thing filled with long, sharp teeth. It looked almost like a nightmarish version of an eel.

But its eyes—its eyes were what caught Clare's attention the most. Constantly roving as though searching for prey, they glowed an unnatural yellow, and the slit-pupils held a cunning, predatory intelligence in their depths. Clare shivered as they passed over her.

Be calm, Will,
Borbos' voice said in her head.
The water drakes will not harm you so long as you be a friend of the sea.

That, Clare decided, seemed to be the ultimate rule that governed each of the supernatural things they had encountered: do not anger the frightening monsters, and they will leave you alone. She was glad that such fearsome creatures had such noble inhibitions.

The water drake swam in a tight circle around Will, who stayed completely still except for his eyes, which followed the creature's as it made its rounds. It stopped a moment later and floated calmly in the water, its gently undulating length extending out over Clare's shoulder. It stared at Will for a moment, and then moved in and nuzzled his face.

The gesture was so akin to one of Grim's that Clare laughed.
It seems you have a way with beasts,
she thought, and Will smiled, slowly bringing his hand up to touch the drake's jaw. It darted away a moment later, and then slid between his legs so that he was riding it like a horse. It was more slender than one, however, and he had to hold on to the spines at its neck to keep from sliding off.

Clare was about to make a joke about how he looked riding atop the beast, but something bumped into her from behind and she whirled around. Another water drake was floating a mere hand's breadth from her face, and she was afforded a perfect and uninterrupted view of its toothy maw. It was far more unsettling up close, and she found herself swallowing nervously at the thought of being on the wrong side of the creature's temper. Its mouth hung open slightly, and she could see the pale lump of its tongue and the dark void at the back of its throat. Its teeth seemed much larger up close, and she could see quite clearly the yellowed bases where they fit into the drake's bony mouth. She shivered involuntarily.

It cocked its head and stared at her with one unblinking yellow eye, the pupil darting to and fro as it scanned her face. She felt as though she were being sized up for a meal. She remained motionless as it inspected her, its snakelike body waving gently like a flag in a breeze. And then, finally, it seemed satisfied. It darted away, and a moment later she felt it halt beneath her. She reached out tentatively to grasp the spines around its head. When it did not protest, she gripped them more firmly. They were cool and hard, and had the texture of a river-smoothed stone.

The drake darted forward then, and she wrapped her legs around its body instinctively to avoid being thrown into the depths. Her heart raced at the unexpected acceleration, and she felt she would be hurled off. Strangely, though, the water seemed to part for her almost as easily as air.
Just like I can move more easily down here,
she thought.
This must be what it feels like to be a fish.

The drake turned sharply, nearly sending her careening out into the abyss, but she held on and a moment later the creature came to a halt. Her hair drifted forward, momentarily obscuring her vision before falling back down to reveal Borbos and Will. Borbos was laughing again; Will was careening off into the blue, his serpentine steed nowhere in sight. Clare heard him send a string of colorful curses shooting through her mind, and she chuckled. A moment later Will's drake darted out of the depths and coiled around him, gently nudging him back to an upright standstill. Then it swam back beneath him and, with exaggerated ease and care, carried him back to Borbos and Clare. There seemed to be an amused glint in the drake's eyes, but Clare could not be certain.

Again, just like Davin and Talyn,
Borbos chuckled.
Don't worry, though—I'm sure you'll get used to it in no time.

Clare was beginning to find the comparisons to “Davin and Talyn” somewhat wearing. Did Borbos have to keep rubbing salt in her wounds? She said nothing, though, and suffered in silence.

What about you?
Will asked.
How are you going to keep up with us?

I be the god of the sea, boy!
Borbos laughed.
I can swim faster than the fastest mermaid. But we are wasting time—the distraction above will only fool the Dark One's minions for so long. Quickly now, let us go and free our son.

And with a kick of his feet he shot away into the distance, the sea soon swallowing his form completely. Clare and Will's drakes followed without a command; they knew, it seemed, what it was their master wanted. The soft, now-familiar tug of the sea on her body enveloped Clare once again as her mount hurtled through the water toward the towering City.
We're going to the bottom of the sea...
she thought, a strange mixture of fear and excitement fluttering through her.

A chill ran through her body despite the ethereal warmth that enveloped her; she looked over at Will, whose face had taken on its familiar mask of grim stoicism. He was ready for battle; she wanted to draw strength from that, but the blackness below them and the thought of the horrors lurking there suddenly set her guts to twisting. If they did indeed have to fight, it would be completely different from any fight she had ever been in. She was out of her element here, out of her comfortable world.

She turned her gaze back to the fore and, with a deep breath of sea water, tried to steady her anxious nerves.

~

“Do you see those windows on the sides of the ships?” Serah asked quietly, pointing at one of the closer vessels. Feothon nodded. “They are cannon ports,” she said. “I had no idea Borbos was doing this.”

“I do not understand,” Feothon said slowly. “Cannon ports?”

Feothon had spent most of the last five hundred years secluded in the Dark Forest; he was, Serah remembered belatedly, somewhat out of touch with the times.

“Windows for a weapon that uses firesand to hurl iron balls at the enemy,” she replied, indicating the square holes once more. “The sailors push the cannons out through those and fire them.”

Feothon shook his head slowly. “What happened to ballistae? And flaming arrows? I have been
gone for far too long.”

Serah smiled sadly. “It happens to all of us,” she murmured. The sunlight glinted from her dark eyes as she stared out over the waves. “Borbos must have spent a considerable amount of time fitting his whole fleet with such firepower, no? And a great deal of these vessels are new—I see many ships that I have never seen before. I wonder if he was expecting something.”

“We all were.”

“Indeed,” Serah sighed. “I only wish it would have happened a little later, so that I could have had more time to train Will. Sometimes it seems the Void itself is working against us, no?”

“It does,” Feothon replied softly, and said no more.

As Serah looked at him, she realized suddenly how very tired her brother looked. His years, it seemed, had finally caught up with him; it would have been almost unnoticeable to any but those closest to him, but she could see it as plainly as day. The way his shoulders slumped ever so slightly, the way his smile lost its luster far too quickly, the way his eyes would simply go unfocused for long periods of time—he looked as tired and as old as Borost had.