Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue (A Waterfire Saga Novel) (17 page)

“I
’D
KILL
FOR A BING-BANG RIGHT NOW.”

“When would you
not
kill for a bing-bang, Neels?” Serafina asked.

The mermaids were swimming across a sandy shoal. It was early evening. They’d left Radneva two days ago and had been on the move ever since, stopping only to sleep at night. They’d sang velo spells to speed them along at first, but stopped when they realized that velos, difficult enough to cast in salt water, required even more magic in freshwater. Using back currents, they’d worked their way north, up the coast of Bulgaria toward Romania and the mouth of the D
u
n
ă
rea
.

“A chillawonda would be nice, too. Or a zee-zee. Gods, I’d
love
a zee-zee. I’d like a cup of sargassa tea, too. Clean clothes. Pretty hair combs. A massage. A soft bed. And a crisp, blue water apple,” Neela said.

“Here, have some shriveled-up reef olives and stale walrus cheese instead,” Serafina said, handing her the bag of food they’d bought at the Radneva market.

“Olives and cheese
again
?”

“It’s all we have left. We better hope we hit a village soon.”

“We will. Aquaba’s at the mouth of the D
u
n
ă
rea
,” Ling said. “I’m sure we’re close.”

It had been hard going on the currents, riding them—and sometimes fighting them—to get to where they were now. Neela was tired, dirty, hungry, and longing for home and its comforts. And though they were getting closer to the D
u
n
ă
rea
, they still had leagues to go to reach the Olt.

“Did we go west around that sandbar off Burgas? Or East?” Serafina asked, looking around. She was holding a kelp parchment map in her hand. It belonged to Ling.

“West. Definitely west,” Ling said. “That was the shortcut we took. Remember?”

Ling was a good navigator. She’d led the way out of Radneva to a back current and had found them a roomy cave to hole up in for their first night together. They’d avoided death riders and bounty hunters, and at Ling’s urging, had changed the color of their hair and clothing with illusio spells. The only problem was that an illusio, like any spell, eventually wore off. Maintaining it took effort and energy—energy that was going into the constant swimming they were doing. Ling was always reminding them to
recast it. Neela was grateful when night fell and she could revert
to her true appearance. She knew that she and Sera would have to
come up with more permanent solutions, but that would require another village, where they could buy some clothes
.

It felt strange to Neela to be three instead of two, and she wasn’t always comfortable around Ling, as the merl could be blunt. She also had a disconcerting way of abruptly stopping a conversation to listen to a passing shoal of blennies, or interrupting it to say something like, “Have you ever noticed the amazing overlap of sibilant clickatives in Dolpheen and Porpoisha?” Neela never really knew if Ling was listening to her or to a sea creature that happened to be swimming by.

Ling was smart and tough, though, and she’d saved them from being captured. She was also the one who knew the route to the River Olt, so Neela had no choice but to accept her.

The three mermaids had talked as they’d made their way north. Serafina and Neela had shared their backgrounds, and Ling had told them that she was from a large clan, most of whom lived in her village.

“Actually, we
are
the village,” she’d said with a laugh. “Every house contains a relative of mine.”

“How big is your family?” Neela had asked.

“My extended family? There are over five hundred of us. My immediate family—my mother, sisters, and brothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins—we’re fifty-three. Maybe fifty-four by now. One of my aunts…” She paused, listening, then said, “The size of the sea horse lexicon is incredible, don’t you think?”

“Oh, totally,” Neela had replied.

“So, as I was saying, one of my aunts was expecting when I left.”

“And you all live in one house?” Serafina had asked.

“A very big house,” Ling had said, her smile fading. “All of us but my father. We lost him a year ago. He went out to explore in the Great Abyss, as he loved to do, and he didn’t come back. My mother has barely said two words since he disappeared.”

“I’m so sorry, Ling,” Serafina had said.

“What happened?” Neela had asked.

“I don’t know,” Ling had replied. “The entire village searched for him. For days and days. But he was never found. Maybe he went too deep and something attacked him. Or maybe he blacked out. All I know is that I miss him.”

“It must’ve been hard for your mother to let you go so far away from her,” Serafina had said. “Especially after losing your father.”

“She didn’t
exactly
let me go. In fact, she didn’t want me to. But the legend of the Iele is very strong in my culture. My grandmother, Wen, is also our clan’s shaman. She’s very wise and a keeper of the clan’s traditions. When I told her my dream, she said I must go. So I went. And here I am,” she said. “I’ve been on the currents for two months. A few days ago, I started to think I was crazy for coming. And then I met you two—”

“—and now you
know
you are,” Neela had joked.

But Ling hadn’t laughed. “—and I knew I
wasn’t
. The things you told me about the attack and Traho, the fact that we’ve all had the same dream…the Iele are real. We’ve been called for a reason.”

“Yes, we have. But what is it? That’s the big, scary question,” Sera had said. And then she and Ling, still poring over the map, continued across the shoal.

Neela watched them go, then reluctantly followed, knowing that every stroke they took brought them closer to the answer.

“I don’t like it,” Ling said now, her hands on her hips.

They’d come to the edge of the shoal. It dropped away steeply to a broad seabed that was flat and open and planted with water apples, but all the trees were bare.

“It’s too open. We can be seen.”

“We have no choice,” Serafina said. “According to Ling’s map, we can’t go west toward the coast because the shoals are too high. We’d have to surface near gogg beaches. And we can’t go east into deep water. The current’s too strong there. It’ll push us off course.”

“Let’s make it quick, then,” she said.

The three mermaids set off. They followed the current into the seabed and made their way across it, attuned to movement, listening for the sound of voices or the swish of fins.

Neela kept looking behind them as they swam, expecting to see death riders crest the shoal at any second, but they didn’t. She was just beginning to think they might make it through unnoticed when she heard Ling say, “Uh-oh.”

Directly in their path was a merman holding a hoe. Its edge gleamed sharply, even in the evening light.

Neela looked left and right and saw several other mermen emerge from behind the trees, carrying scythes and pitchforks. They were ragged and thin, and their mouths were set in hard lines. “They don’t seem too pleased to see us,” she said.

“No, they don’t,” Serafina said.

“Get ready,” Ling said. “On my signal, swim straight up.”

“What if they follow us?” Neela asked.

“Hopefully we can lose them. They look like they don’t have much stamina for a chase. Okay, ready? One, two…”

Suddenly the merman with the hoe lowered it and bowed his head. “Long live Serafina, principessa di Miromara!” he shouted.

One by one, the others followed his example. They made fists of their right hands, struck their chests, then saluted.

“Hail, Serafina, principessa di Miromara!”

“Long live the Merrovingia!”

“Death to the tyrant Traho!”

Neela glanced at Sera. The illusio spell she’d cast had worn off again.

The merman holding the hoe swam up to them. He bowed and told them his name was Konstantin. “Forgive us, Principessa. At first we didn’t know who you were. There are death riders in these waters.”

Serafina turned in a circle, looking at all those gathered around her. As she did, the other mermen approached. They took her hand and kissed it. They called on the gods to favor her. They told her their stories in voices that were halting and emotional.

“I was away visiting relatives. When I returned, the village was empty. It’s the next one over. They were gone, all gone…”

“They came at night…”

“Where did they go?”

“Why, Principessa,
why
did they take my family?”

“Help us find them. Help us, please.”

Serafina, Neela, and Ling learned that the death riders had taken nearly everyone in their village. They’d left only a handful of mermen to work the orchards for them.

“They say your uncle escaped, Principessa. That he’s raising an army of Kobold goblins in the north. Is it true? Have you any word from him?” Konstantin asked hopefully.

Serafina shook her head. “No. Nothing.”

“And Regina Isabella?”

Neela saw her friend’s eyes darken with pain at the mention of her mother.

“I’m hoping she’s still alive, but I don’t know for sure. We’re on our own, I’m afraid. We’re traveling to seek help against the evil in our waters,” Sera replied.

Konstantin nodded, trying to hide his disappointment. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a single cowrie, and gave it to Serafina.

“I can’t take that,” she protested.

Konstantin didn’t listen to her. Neither did the others. They gave her what they had. A few keel worms bundled up in a kelp frond—someone’s only meal for the day. A precious silver drupe. Three small water apples hidden from the death riders. A handful of sand nuts.

Serafina looked at the gifts pressed into her hands, from mermen who had
nothing
, and swallowed hard. Neela knew she was swallowing her tears. She also knew that Sera didn’t want to take their last few coins or scraps of food, but to refuse would wound them.

“Thank you,” Serafina said, her voice quavering. “Thank you all. I promise, I
swear
to you, that I will do everything I can to help you. If my mother is still alive, and my uncle, I’ll find them and tell them what’s happened to you. They’ll find your people, I know they will.”

Cheers went up. Serafina thanked the farmers again, said good-bye, and then she, Neela, and Ling resumed their journey. As they swam, Neela noticed that Serafina was strangely quiet.

“What’s wrong?” she asked her.

“They bowed to me. They hugged me and kissed me. And I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve any of it.”

“You gave them something they needed,” Neela said. “You gave them hope.”

Serafina shook her head. “I gave them empty promises, that’s all.”

Ling turned to her. “Hey, Serafina?” she said, an edge to her voice. “Those mermen back there? They weren’t cheering for your uncle. Or your mother. They were cheering for
you
.”

“It’s a sign of respect for the crown, that’s all,” Serafina said.

A large shoal of shad passed overhead, blotting out the sun. The sudden darkness seemed ominous to Neela. It added to the tension building between Sera and Ling.

Ling took a deep breath, then said, “It’s all wishful thinking, Serafina. You know that, right? What people are saying about your uncle being in the north, I mean. He was in the palace when it fell. Your mother, too. That much we know. The rest is only hearsay. Another thing we know is that your mother was very badly wounded. You told me so yourself. She might not have survived—”

“Don’t,” Serafina said brokenly.

“I
have
to,” Ling said. “Omnivoxas speak all languages. My grandfather was one too, and he told me that with the gift of language comes a responsibility to speak not only words, but truth. Right now, we’ve only got one goal—to get to the Iele. But what happens afterward? When the witches tell us whatever it is they want to tell us? Are you going to hide out with them forever? Everywhere we go in this realm, your realm, people are suffering. They need hope. They need a leader.”

“They have a leader,” Serafina said angrily.

“Serafina, you have to face the—”

“You’re
wrong.
She’s alive. I know she is!” Serafina shouted.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Serafina was the one who broke it. “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough few days,” she said. “There’s a shoal above us. I’m going to join it. See you in a few.”

“You’re going shoaling?
You?
That’s so stupid only Yazeed would do it!” Neela said. “We’re near the mouth of a major river. There’s a harbor. With boats. And goggs. This is
not
a good idea.”

But it was too late. Serafina was already swimming away.

“Cerulea has fallen. Villages are being gutted. If she doesn’t lead Miromara, all of Miromara will fall,” Ling said. “Once that happens, what’s to stop Traho from taking Qin? Matali? The other waters?”