The Tainted Web (The Godhunter, Book 7) (9 page)

“
Yes, High King,” Guirmean nodded, “we are saddened by our Queen's betrayal and hope that our actions will show that the entire House of Water is not corrupt.”

“
It has indeed,” the High King said gravely. “Be at ease that none of the House of Water shall be held responsible for the actions of Dubheasa and Kael. I'll send word to the other parties that our search is over,” the King turned and gestured to some fey who nodded and ran off in different directions. “Now, where is the traitor?”

Chapter Nine

Dubheasa was in deep water.

Unfortunately for me, that statement was quite literal. She'd gone out into open sea and was taking cover in a coral reef about four hundred yards from the layered cities of Under and Water. It had been suggested that I remain behind but the hell with that. She'd tried to kill me and had stolen my jewelry. I'm not even sure what pissed me off more but the bitch was going down and I was going to have a hand in it.

I activated my hale stone with a light exhale, along with everyone else who couldn't breathe underwater, as I waited for my turn at the transport tubes in the center of the Under city palace. We were in the main room, where you'd normally expect a grand staircase to be but there were a collection of glass tubes hanging down from the ceiling instead. The large space was otherwise empty of furniture, though the walls boasted intricate tapestries and portraits of fey in gold frames. One wall had a large framed mirror, replicating the image of our motley army filling the room and ascending up the tubes. It brought home to me the magnitude of what we were there to do and I frowned at my own reflection.

We were going to kill a Faerie Queen.

I'd killed gods, powerful beings who'd been alive centuries and sometimes even, millennia, but this felt different to me. Something in my bones, or maybe in my magic, was telling me that this was momentous, an act unheard of although very necessary. I was suddenly uneasy, not because of the prospect of killing a Queen, but because I had the strangest feeling that I was being maneuvered, used as a tool to rid Faerie of a bad monarch.

I shook off the feeling and stepped directly under one of the tubes, as I'd seen the sidhe in front of me do. It slid down around me, all the way to the floor where it formed a seal, and started filling with water. I panicked a little at first but soon it became evident that there was a thin layer of air surrounding my body like a second skin, which allowed me to breathe easily. I let out the breath I was holding and floated up the shaft more confidently.

Once at the top, I swam out into a large room. The walls were the same white as the lower castle, adorned with mounted weapons and paintings sealed in glass cases. The only furniture were woven hammocks hanging from the ceiling. They moved eerily in the currents, their thick green fibers expanding and contracting like they were breathing. Fey lights floated around the algae-encrusted ceiling, illuminating the empty room.

I waited for my men to come up the tubes and then we swam out of the palace, passing numerous rooms, all brightly lit with the combination of glowing algae and fey lights, and adorned with woven furniture that were attached to either floor, ceiling, or walls to keep them from drifting away. Fish darted through them,  some curious enough to approach us but most just peered warily from nooks and crannies. The floor was covered with pristine sand, alive with scurrying crustaceans and crawling sea creatures. Fronds and chunks of coral made bright patches of color along the edges of the walls, some pieces even trailing out into the path, but I guess it didn't really matter, the floor in those halls was probably rarely used.

Outside the palace, our troops were assembling, a little overkill for pursuing two fey but at this point, no one wanted to be left behind. I turned around and got my first view of the underwater palace. It was as lovely as the Queen herself, the very same color as her skin, a soft of shining mother-of-pearl. It looked delicate, too fragile to be able to stand above water, with thin spires that twisted up towards the surface and swayed gracefully in the currents, like a dancing mermaid. The only stationary part of the castle was its main body but even that seemed alive in the water, dancing in the light of numerous faerie lights and surrounded by schools of brightly colored fish which swam in and out of open windows like children playing peek-a-boo.

I gaped at the alien beauty of the palace, knowing it would haunt me for years, a spot of brightness in the terrifying underwater landscape. My artist's eye couldn't get enough of the elegant structure, how it spiraled and curved its way through the water, how it was completely devoid of unnecessary stairs to mar its perfect sheen, or the way it was adorned by massive pearls set into the silky walls in dizzying patterns. But I wasn't there for sightseeing, so I turned away and headed over to the front of the army with the other royalty.

When everyone had made it up into Water city, we headed out, Guirmean and Luag leading us confidently, their strong movements propelling them through the water so quickly that the High King had to call them back and ask them to proceed at a more sedate pace. We followed them over the city of Water, and for a moment I felt like I was flying, looking down at a village of humans, as my ancestors had once done in dragon form. I blinked and the sensation passed, allowing me to take note of the city we were swimming over.

Paths were unnecessary in Water, so the city was even more random than the one below it. There was space between houses but that was it, they were just kind of scattered about, stretching out into the dark sea, like a broken necklace. Just as below, the houses were made of green stone and were covered in patches of the glowing algae. They were also full of water fey who had fled at the sight of us, locking themselves in their homes like those in Under. I was glad for it. The less innocents out in the open, the better. Just in case Dubheasa had an ace up her sleeve.

We swam to the city's edge and continued on over an amazing coral reef teeming with life. Fishes competed with eels, crabs, and several things I couldn't name, for spots in the brilliantly colored coral. The glow of the city faded and soon we were in dark water, unable to see anything around us anymore. Guirmean and Luag stopped, waving their arms about to keep stationary as they began to sing. The water around them seemed to pulse with the magic of it and their song rolled by me in a delicate series of lilting notes that echoed hollow in my ears, like opera inside a conch shell. In moments we were being accompanied by a school of brightly glowing fish.

I smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. It was hard enough for me to be in the ocean but to swim through it in the dark was almost unbearable. The fish saved me from that horror, darting around and through our party, stopping here and there to investigate the odd fey that shouldn't be in their kingdom. I laughed as one of them approached me, it big blue eyes focused on me as it angled its wide, flat body to see me better. The sound of my laughter startled it, making it pull back a little before coming even closer and bumping into my coating of air.

“I didn't think we'd be able to speak,” I said to Odin, who swam close to me, on my right.

“
I don't think our voices travel very far,” he replied and was right, his voice was severely muted. “But it appears that the air encasing us allows for it.”

“
Groovy,” I smiled and held my hand out to the curious fish. It bumped it with its head and swam away.

Then a high pitch sound had us all stopping and looking toward Guirmean in confusion. He pointed back behind us and gestured that we should all move more firmly together. Then he and Luag swam above and behind us, holding their arms straight out to their sides as they focused on something that was approaching quickly.

I swallowed back a scream as an enormous creature emerged from the dark. Huge glowing eyes were what was visible first, then the wide, pointed face and gaping jaws. It had slick gray skin, shimmering with scales in the light of the fish who were now hiding amongst us.

The mouth on the creature was so large, it could have fit two buses side by side inside it and its teeth were as wide as oak trees. They looked rather sharp too. A spiked fin crested its head like a mohawk, trailing back over its long back and tapering over its tail. Ruffling out from its cheeks was a fringe of tentacles, each one seeming to be prehensile and with a will of its own. They spread around it, almost blocking the muscular shoulders and wide chest that seemed better suited to godzilla than an ocean monster.

It stopped before the two water fey, its hind quarters coming up beneath it and its tail swishing around to steady itself. It let out a screech of sound that rocked the water and sent us all to bobbing. Yet the fey stood firm and their hands shifted forward as they began to emit a putrid green glow.

The creature backed up, its arms flapping forward, showing previously hidden membranes that connected them to its side. It gave another response of sorts, which although it seemed angry, was a lot less antagonistic than the first. It turned around slowly and swam away.

“What the fuck was that?” I hissed at Arach, who, like the rest of my men, was pressed in close to me.

“
That was a maenach,” Arach hadn't taken his eyes from where it had disappeared into the dark. He didn't look scared though, he looked excited. “I'd never thought to see one,” he smiled. “It was magnificent, was it not?”

“
Magnificent,” I gave a nervous laugh. “Sure, in an apocalyptic, terrified, screaming kind of way.”

“
There are very few of them left, Vervain,” he finally looked over at me with soft eyes. “For us to have seen one together is a good sign. A blessing from Faerie herself.”

“
Yeah, cause we're still alive and not being digested,” I grumbled. Leave it to a dragon to think spotting a monster the size of an island was fortuitous.

“
The kelpie alone could have turned him away,” Arach scoffed. “Guirmean just didn't want him to have all the glory. There was never any danger.”

“
If you say so,” I looked over at my other men and they seemed to agree with me... because they weren't insane.

By the time we'd finished our little chat, Guirmean and Luag were back to leading us into the cold dark. And it was cold. I wished someone had warned me to wear layers. Even with the air aura, I could feel the chill pressing in. Yet as soon as I thought it, I warmed, the glow of dragon eyes seeming to fill me.

Right, forgot about me being a dragon-sidhe and all.

Then we stopped and I swam forward to join the royalty and the two fishmen, er, water fey. They pointed to a cave opening, barely visible beyond a waving spray of coral. The High King nodded and started to swim forward. I shot out beside him, there was no way I was going to be left out now.

I felt my men close in behind me and we followed the High King, along with the Kings of Air and Earth, into the coral cave. It was dark for the first few feet but then a light became slowly visible, growing brighter the further in we went. Finally, we found them, lounging in a bed of seaweed, the kelpie's arms around the Queen. I should have known he was her lover, people do stupid things for love all the time.

They both shot up when they saw us and we all swam forward to meet them. Dubheasa was in full mermaid glory, her long tail swishing and shimmering beneath her. King Cian started toward her but I stopped him with a hand on his arm and he nodded, making an
after you
gesture.

“
You're a fool,” the words popped into my head and I was horrified to realize it was Dubheasa using some kind of telepathy. “You should have let your betters handle me. Now I'll truly kill you.”

“
Well you didn't do such a good job the first time,” I smirked as I felt my hands shift into claws. “What makes you think you'll fare any better now?”

“
Because now, I have this,” she held up her hand and my ring glinted on her finger. “I can replay this fight, over and over, until I win.”

I felt my jaw drop open. Fuck, could she really do that? And if she could, why hadn't she already gone back in time and killed me right the first time? No, she was bluffing. The High King said you could only observe the past, not alter it. She really thought I was an idiot.

“That doesn't belong to you,” I narrowed my gaze on her. “And you have no right to its magic.”

She seemed to blanch a little. “I have more right to it than you,” she looked over my shoulder with a concerned frown before focusing back on me, but I knew better than to let myself be distracted. “You're not fey enough to wear this. If you were, you'd be dead.”

“Huh,” an idea popped into my head and I held back from attacking her. “Let's see who the ring wants then.”

“
What?” Was that a note of panic in her voice.

“
Ring of Remembrance,” I called to it. “I've come for you, as I promised. The woman who holds you now is my enemy but I offer you the freedom to choose. You may stay with her if you will but if not, I would like you back. Do what you feel is just and choose now.”

Before Dubheasa could shoot another greasy word into my brain, she disappeared, simply vanished, and the ring fell to the floor of the coral cave with a heavy drop.