The Last Emprex (2 page)

“WE ARE CUT OFF, MY FRIENDS,” SAID
Silversun, the leader of Vortex Shiver. He was a port jackson shark with a blocky head and a mottled, dark brown hide. He was also the smartest sharkkind that Grinder knew. With them was Kendra, the leader of AuzyAuzy Shiver, who had come to their aid earlier with a force of five hundred sharkkind. Their numbers had dwindled rapidly in the fighting. Kendra herself was badly wounded with a deep frilled shark bite below her right fin.

It didn't look like she would survive the battle.

It seemed none of them would.

Grinder gnashed his teeth in frustration. Silversun was totally right. There was no escape. Years ago he would have never asked a port jackson for advice, or any other shark for that matter. Grinder was the leader of Hammer Shiver, the largest force of hammerheads in the Sific Ocean, maybe in the entire wet world. Asking advice was for weaklings. Or so he used to think.

Was I stupid, Grinder thought.

“Nevertheless, we have to face the facts,” said Kendra. “This will not go our way.” She swirled her long tail with its characteristic white tip. Kendra, Grinder, and Silversun were leaders of the most powerful shivers in the Sific Ocean. A few years ago, if any of their forces had met, there would have been blood. Now, because of the prehistore threat from the Underwaters, they were close allies.

No, it was more than that.

They were friends.

Not that their friendship was making much of a difference at this moment. They were losing badly.

Grinder yelled at one of his subcommanders. “Fix our midsection, Slasher! We're Hammer Shiver, and we're not going down without a fight!”

“Yes, sir!” the shark told him. Slasher began barking orders, shoring up the center of their diamond formation. They had used a pyramid before and were blasted for that effort. Would this formation work better against Grimkahn and his horde of giant mosasaurs and evil-quick frilled sharks?

Grinder's heart sank because he knew the answer.

No. It would not.

“I wish Jaunt was here with the rest of our mariners,” Kendra said. Jaunt was Kendra's second-in-command, but she was off on the other side of AuzyAuzy territory battling a splinter force of Grimkahn's horde.

“It wouldn't make a difference,” Silversun said in a low voice.

“Why haven't they finished us off already?” Grinder asked. “They broke away from their last attack after smashing our formation to pieces.”

Silversun flicked his paddle tail back and forth before he answered. “They're taking our measure, I think.”

It made sense. The jurassic dwellers from the Underwaters were powerful to begin with, but now they had learned to swim in formation. They had probably been practicing during their absence. The huge mosasaurs, most fifty and sixty feet long with large crocodile mouths, could destroy a battle fin of a hundred sharks by themselves. There were also frilled sharks, or frills, which were twenty and thirty feet long. These eel-like frills were wickedly agile and plugged the holes between the mosasaurs to protect them—all this while launching deadly attacks with their own spiked tails.

Over the last three months this horde had gone on a rampage through the Sific. Grinder, Kendra, and Silversun weren't going to hover idly by and do nothing, and negotiations were pointless. Grimkahn wanted to rule the ocean and would destroy anything in his path. After the jurassic horde tore through AuzyAuzy Shiver's territory, they had come to Hammer and Vortex Shiver waters.

There was nothing to do but fight.

If only Gray and the others at Fathomir were here, then perhaps they might have a chance. Gray was the Seazarein Emprex of the seven seas. He alone could bring together all the shivers and then maybe, just maybe, they would have a chance. But there was no way to get word to Gray in time. Grimkahn's horde had appeared out of nowhere.

“They're playing with us,” Grinder spat.

“Yes,” Kendra said. “And they're gaining valuable information about what to expect when they attack Gray and his forces.” She winced because of her wound. It was an effort for her to even speak.

“So Grimkahn will glide through the waters, taking out the largest shivers one by one,” Grinder growled.

Silversun nodded, becoming thoughtful. “And the Seazarein doesn't know that formation fighting is useless against the horde. He'll need a new way to beat them.”

“Let's focus on this battle first,” Grinder said. He saw a scout tear back to his commander, who gave the mariners a signal to get ready. All snapped into attention hover.

“It's time,” Kendra told them.

At least they had the current at their tails. That would help a little. “I should get back to the diamondhead,” Grinder told them. He had been chosen to lead the combined force.

The diamondhead was a position near the top and in the middle of a formation. Grinder's commands would be relayed by battle dolphins when the fight began. The mariners were well trained and their moves were second nature when in their own shiver formations. But AuzyAuzy, Hammer, and Vortex had mixed their sharks, putting them in levels; heavy sharkkind below for a base, the quicker ones above to ride the currents down. It had been done this way for thousands of years. But the sharks from each of the three shivers hadn't been in battle together; they hadn't trained as a whole. Even though their numbers were advantageous, this larger armada wasn't able to turn as fast or switch shape. It was a distinct drawback against the horde.

Silversun blocked Grinder and Kendra and gave them a nervous grin. “I think I should take diamondhead.”

“Are you crazy?” he asked.

Kendra nodded at the port jackson. “Silversun, we admire your courage, but . . . but . . . ”

“Yes, I know. I'm not a fighter,” he answered. “But you need to take all the mariners who are unhurt and swim away.”

“Swim away? Never!” said Grinder.

“I know you think it's cowardly, but you have to save what's left of our mariners and get to Fathomir. Tell Gray what's happened. And figure out a way to beat Grimkahn.”

Kendra straightened, gathering her ebbing strength. “It's a good idea, but I should do it.”

Grinder shook his head and gnashed his teeth again and again. “No! Anyone who stays will be slaughtered.”

“Then
everyone
will die for nothing!” Kendra said, slashing her tail through the water for emphasis.

“I'll do it,” Silversun insisted. “I don't have the endurance to make the swim to Fathomir.”

“In this condition, neither do I!” Kendra said, rolling to show her deep and ragged wound. Blood flowed freely from it. Kendra looked Silversun in the eye. “Maybe there's a way we could do this together.”

Grinder felt tears welling in his eyes and whispered, “No, no, no . . .”

“Safe journey, old friend,” the port jackson told him.

Grinder steadied himself. He wouldn't be a blubbering fool in front of the two. “Bite somebody for me, will you?”

“We will.” Kendra nodded.

Grinder hesitated for a moment. It would be the last time he would see the Vortex and AuzyAuzy Shiver leaders. The last time he would see his friends. “You're the bravest sharks I've ever known,” he told them. Then, as Silversun and Kendra rushed Grimkahn and his horde, Grinder took the mariners that were able and drove them toward Fathomir as he wept.

Hokuu felt a thrill as he and the mariners sped toward the pitiful defenders. He couldn't believe it when Grimkahn had ordered the last attack stopped. Apparently the mosasaur king was still stung by his lack of victory during what the other side was calling the Battle of the Spine. Gray, that fat oaf of a pup, with a pitifully small group of sharkkind, had managed to find himself a strategic position on the Atlantis Spine where the current was shriekingly fast to buy time and had then used the Tuna Run and its millions of bluefin to pound the jurassics into defeat.

The pup was lucky.

Today Grimkahn wanted to see what the defenders would try next against the immense power of his horde. The mosasaur king was counting the days until he could eat the Seazarein's beating heart. That was a goal Hokuu and Grimkahn had in common.

Grimkahn, all the mosasaurs, and every frilled shark had been trapped in a pocket ocean for millions of years and, thanks to Hokuu, they were finally free. After their initial battle against Gray, their force had retreated to the Underwaters to regroup and train. Now they numbered a thousand frilled sharks and nearly a hundred mosasaurs. There used to be other jurassic dwellers: pliosaurs, elasmosaurs, plesiosaurs, and on and on. But these dwellers were impatient. They wanted to reap the benefits of the Big Blue without contributing to the fight. Grimkahn made the only logical decision and sent the troublemakers to the Sparkle Blue. He couldn't have dissension nipping at his massive tail, now could he?

The strengthened Sixth Shiver, the true name of the horde, destroyed everything that it faced. Now that he had reinforcements, Grimkahn wanted to devour every major shiver that might later ally with Gray.

And what a rush it was to fight with the jurassic horde!

The blood! The death! The shrieking cries of agony!

It was glorious!

Hokuu swam to the side of the main block formation. The very notion of jurassics lining up in a formation was revolutionary. Grimkahn had gotten the idea from facing Gray's forces and AuzyAuzy Shiver before that. Before this, jurassics had never even attempted formation fighting. They usually traveled and fought alone. If there were five of them together in a family pod, no group of fins in the Underwaters would dare attack them.

But here, sharkkind did fight them. And they did it in formation.

Puny and small though they were, the sharks of the Big Blue were also cunning and well trained. They had inflicted unacceptable losses on Grimkahn's forces. So the mosasaur king had adopted a simple block shape. At first it didn't work. The mosasaurs were so big that the smaller mariners in the enemy formations could still get close and hurt them. Then the frilled sharks filled those gaps. It hadn't been Hokuu's idea, but he took credit as soon as it started working. With the ultraquick and agile frills to protect the mosasaurs, the horde, as the jurassic armada had taken to calling itself, became invincible.

They had even sent groups of fifty frills and five mosasaurs to other oceans. The objective of these so-called fifty-fives was to search out and destroy all the shivers they could find. They brought terror and confusion to every expanse of the Big Blue.

Hokuu adjusted his position so he could watch the initial clash from a safe distance. Then, once the opposing mariners tried to move a battle fin in their crumbling defense, he would blast those sharks with his shar-kata. Gathering power from the water was not as rewarding as sucking the life force from living things, but Hokuu couldn't do that in the confusion of a battle. That only worked when the subjects were still.

He could see the defenders clearly now. They came forward, straight ahead.