Fire (The Mermaid Legacy - Book 2) (18 page)

I asked if they could weave the coins into rows.

Within a few minutes I had a length of fabric interwoven with coins, that mostly overlapped. At my request they made twelve such pieces and one long one that flared at the top.

We arrived back at The Haven as Dad was finishing up the final moves for the day. I slipped the piece of armour over my head and swam to Takimu who was busy drilling four of the Oceanids in sparring movements.

I slipped into the circle, taking one of the Oceanid’s Mizraks and holding it awkwardly. It was an unwieldy weapon in my inexperienced hands.

“What are you wearing, Alexandra?” Takimu asked as he whirled between the four of us, placing strategic strikes to show up our vulnerabilities.

“In theory…” I replied, parrying a blow awkwardly, “this should stop any Mizrak attacks.”

He laughed, continuing with the exercise but increasing the intensity until the other Oceanids drew away and it was just the two of us swirling around each other.

I found my instincts took over immediately as I dodged the blade but inevitably I wanted to test the durability of the armour and so I forced myself to drop my guard and allowed him to strike me in the midriff, tensing my muscles as the blade whistled through the water.

I doubled over as the pain of the hit ran through my body, my ears ringing and black spots dancing momentarily before my eyes as I crumpled, curling in on myself.

I could hear Takimu yelling at me from a long distance away, the sound oddly muffled. I blinked my eyes as Oceanids surrounded me and Takimu knelt at my side, white sand spooling around him in a soft cloud as I struggled to focus on his terrified face.

Maya pushed him aside and gently placed her hands on my shoulders and as she did so life and energy flowed threw me immediately and I was able to straighten out a bit, my vision clearing.

Takimu stood peering anxiously over Maya’s shoulder as she gently removed my arms from where they were clutched around my stomach. I expected a plume of blood to flow into the ocean, but none did.

“It worked.” It was Takimu who made the astounded statement, a grin spreading over his face as he pushed Maya aside a little, spreading his hands over my midriff and prodding the coins that laced the fabric.

I groaned and Maya shoo’d him away.

“You still hurt her,” she snapped angrily.

I shook my head, straightening up and prodding my bruised stomach.

“I’m still alive.”

The commotion had brought Aoi and Dad racing across the arena. Dad’s expression was thunderous as he pulled Takimu’s long braided hair, jerking his head backwards.

“What were you thinking?” he bellowed.

Takimu muttered a series of apologies before slinking away.

Aoi was examining the fabric I was wearing curiously.

“It is made with such unattractive material,” he murmured.

“It’s probably worth a fortune on land,” I muttered, watching as the coins gleamed dully in the water.

“This is what I had in mind for armour, Aoi. It will at least protect us from the Mizraks if we end up in one-on-one combat.”

“If we can save just one Oceanid from Neith then the precaution would have been worth it,” Dad said to Aoi.

Aoi informed the pod that we would all be wearing armour and organised for it to be created immediately, hoping to create a formidable barrier.

Every Oceanid was put to work and,, as they scattered to do Aoi’s bidding, I pulled Dad to the entrance of The Haven to show him the weapons I’d managed to find at the wreck gardens.

He inspected them carefully. “These will take practice before anyone is any good with them.”

“So we start practising tomorrow.”

He nodded. “You might have some trouble convincing the Oceanids that they need to work with weapons like these to defeat Neith.”

“That’s only because they haven’t seen the size and power of Neith’s army.”

He nodded. “OK, we start tomorrow!”

With the first part of my plan having gone so well, I have to admit I was over-confident when I met Thanh and the other Mami-wata he’d managed to convince to join us at the exit of The Haven after dinner.

I learnt the lesson all humans eventually do when they work with sentient creatures…that as tame as they may appear, they will always be wild at heart.

Not all of the Mami-wata had bonds with Zmija. I discovered that the relationship with the Zmija was unique to the Oceanids at The Haven and that they generally guarded these relationships jealously.

The Mami-wata from the visiting pods had bonds with dolphins mostly, but explained that they could form bonds with certain whales too.

“The whales are not friendly to anything that resembles a man. They have long memories that do not forgive the atrocities done to them,” the leader of the visiting pod, Khazhak, explained.

“Would they attack Neith on our behalf?” I asked.

“It is doubtful,” he replied.

“What about colossal squid?”

He nodded. “Yes, if we get to the sperm whale, they may well agree to attack colossal squid, if for no other reason but a meal.”

“Where can we find sperm whale?”

“There are none close to here, but travelling with dolphins, maybe two hours from here, there could be some.”

“What about travelling with the Zmija?”

“An hour, at most.”

“Let’s go then,” I replied, calling Mitra as I did so.

Our party numbered twenty Zmija and thirty-six Oceanids. I rode alone with Mitra, her aggressive behaviour towards anyone who made an attempt to come near us discouraging other riders.

The purpose of the exercise, apart from finding sperm whales, was to see if Mitra could manage the other Zmija as a group. The concept had been sparked by Sabrina’s statement that Mitra and I were destined to do great things together, two queens…my theory was that if I could control Mitra and she could control the other Zmija, we would have a phenomenally powerful attacking force. If this idea worked with the Zmija, I was hoping it could work with the dolphins and sperm whales too.

Mitra, can you get the other Zmija to swim in a Vshape behind you?

The communication was silent to my ears, but when I looked to my left and then to my right the other Zmija had moved into a shallow Von either side of us.

I practised various shapes with her as the Zmija wound their way through the kelp, delighted with the responsiveness of the pack.

Once we reached open water the Zmija sped up. They began a series of leaps into the void, spreading the fins that ran the length of their bodies as they did so and gliding across the top of the water in giant leaps before diving back beneath the waves.

I found myself revelling in the warm evening air as it whistled past me, the moonlight glinting silver off the Zmija around us.

We’d been travelling for about forty-five minutes when we heard several loud whumps and then the screaming in the water.

It was a blood-chilling sound that made my stomach roll in fear and sent a shiver of fury through Mitra.

She and the other Zmija stopped leaping and instead dove deep into the velvet black of the darkened ocean.

“What’s going on?” I asked Thanh whose Zmija had drawn close to me.

“Whalers,” he replied.

“What?!” I was shocked that it would be going on so close to The Haven.

“They hunt at night so that the coastguard don’t catch them.”

Another awful scream shuddered through the water.

“Can’t we do anything?” I asked, desperately searching the water for the source of the sound.

“Not unless we want to be found.”

Another whumpf in the water followed by a mangled scream of pain had every muscle in my body tense with fury.

“How many whales will they take?”

“The entire group,” he replied.

A hatred so deep I recognised it couldn’t just be mine welled up within me.

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mitra would attack the whalers.

Mitra, wait
.

She waited a few moments before she let out a shriek of rage and shot forward followed by every other Zmija and their helpless passengers.

I tried desperately to talk to Mitra, but could feel her actively blocking me as she raced towards the source of the screaming.

The blood in the water when we got there was horrifying. It flowed out of several gaping wounds in three whales that were being slowly reeled in.

The first thing Mitra did was so shocking I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She swam straight at each injured whale, killing it instantly.

The water was ominously quiet for a few moments before the metallic ringing of another harpoon being loaded echoed through the water.

In the few seconds before the evil spear was shot into the water I grew suddenly weaker as I felt my talents being drawn from me. It was a subtle but insistent pull, one I tried hard to resist but I found parts of them slipping from my control.

Mitra dove deep beneath the ship and then turned and threw herself at the void.

Mitra, what are you doing!
I screamed at her.

We flew into the dark thin air and as we did so Mitra spat a huge energy ball at the ship before we splashed back into the water with a jolt.

The metal of the boat screamed in protest as rivets popped and the once smooth hull of the boat twisted as the heated metal responded to the colder water. I felt as though my head would burst, the sound was so intense.

The other Zmija rammed their massive skulls against the ship’s hull, rocking it back and forth until we all heard the unmistakeable crack and tear of the metal giving way.

Mitra and the other Zmija moved away from the ship deep in the dark water, watching as it sank into the night of the sea.

The survivors splashed around in the water, desperately calling to each other as their legs pumped in useless desperation. The sea would probably claim them before they could be rescued.

Mitra, we have to get them to land
.

She was confused by my reaction but before I could argue or convince her to help the humans, she and the other Zmija dove deep into the water and flattened out, keeping very still.

Be still, s
he commanded me, the anxiousness in her thoughts enough for me to instinctually obey.

A few moments later the water was filled with a whirring sound followed quickly by dozens of Oceanids who dragged the hapless survivors deep beneath the water, allowing the inevitable action of water on human lungs to end them, and all the while I was screaming silently at Mitra to help them. She didn’t even grace my thoughts with an answer; she just remained rock-still in the dark depths.

As we watched the massacre a sense of deep satisfaction thrummed through Mitra.

I was furious with her.

Thanh and Allentia swam up beside us.

“They are from Ferengren,” he whispered as we watched the Oceanids melt away into the water.

“How can you tell?”

“They are all wearing the same type of clothing as those Oceanids you defeated yesterday.”

We waited another half an hour before we began to make our way back to The Haven. I was still in shock at the brutality of the whole thing. First the humans’ uncaring treatment of the whales, then Mitra’s wild and uncontrollable actions, and finally the Oceanids of Ferengren, their glee at the drowning men’s panic…the images would forever be burned into my mind.

“Why did you attack the boat?” Thanh asked me conversationally on the way back.

“I didn’t,” I replied firmly.

“But you threw an energy ball at that ship, you
sank
the ship with an energy ball… right?

I shook my head. “No, Mitra did that, believe me.”

“Zmija can’t do that, Alexandra.”

“You were the one who told me that Zmija can access their rider’s talents…I tried to stop her…”

He was quiet for a little while, obviously thinking.

“The two of you together are dangerous,” he said eventually, “very dangerous, which is good news for The Haven.”

I was so shaken by what I’d just been made part of, I couldn’t disagree with him, but didn’t want to express the fear that had come with this revelation because I’d had no control whatsoever.

I glanced behind us at the other Zmija and was surprised to see them in the formation I’d asked Mitra to create on the way to the boat. In the centre swam five sperm whales.

I was furious with Mitra. She refused to express any type of remorse for the murders of the men and didn’t seem to care that she’d made me part of such an atrocity too.

You can’t just access my talents like that whenever someone is annoying you, I resent that you made me part of those men’s murders
.

We are one whole and they kill too many
, she replied in her clipped and focused foreign way.

I wondered what Aoi would say to our little escapade, sure he’d insist we leave the Zmija behind now that they had shown themselves to be completely unreliable.

We are one whole. I will fight with you, Alexandra, Defender of the Ocean
.

“Thanks,” I muttered under my breath. “After the stunt you just pulled you might be the only one.”

I thought I felt her chuckle beneath me.

The Oceanids’ reaction to Mitra’s antics was very different to what I’d imagined it would be Instead of being horrified at the death of the whales and then the sinking of the ship and the subsequent murder of the humans, they were more in awe of me than ever.

When I’d finally managed to get hold of Thanh again within the privacy of The Haven I’d told him my worries of working with such an unpredictable creature as Mitra.

“Unpredictable or equal?”

“She’s volatile.”

“Sounds to me like she’s pretty smart and an incredible leader. You could learn a thing or two from her.”

“She’s an animal…”

“No more so than you or I, and you’d do well to remember that the next time you go out with her. Were you upset by what the humans were doing to the whales?”

“Yes! Horrified.”

“She picked up on that and took your anger as permission to act. If you want to be more in control of her actions you’ll have to learn to control your emotions and thoughts better when you’re around her.”