The Mermaids Madness

Hephyra raced about the deck.
    “That’s good enough for now.” Hephyra began tossing ropes down from the deck. The ship sat much lower in the water than before, but she appeared stable for the moment. “What are you lot waiting for? Get up here and man the pumps! The rest of you get below and secure that mess. If I sink, I swear to the gods I’ll take every last one of you with me!”
    “She still won’t be seaworthy for days,” Beatrice said. “Even with all of Hephyra’s magic.”
    “That doesn’t matter.” Lannadae bobbed in the water, her pride obvious even to Danielle. “They’ve agreed to capture us. We’re going to Hilad.”

CHAPTER 17

    T HE KELPIES RACED THROUGH THE WATER toward the black wall ahead. Some of the undine had fallen behind, unable to match the kelpies’ speed. If Danielle’s silent urgings had increased that speed, so much the better.
    “This is fun!” Snow still appeared wan and weak, but she was smiling. She lay with her feet through one of the loops of the kelpie’s harness, clinging to another loop. “Danielle, can we get a kelpie for the palace?”
    “If we do, I’m not feeding it,” Talia said.
    Danielle’s stomach clenched as they neared the coast. Even from this distance, Morveren’s song was strong enough to make her shudder. Danielle knew little of magic, but even she could hear the power in that voice. Morveren sang a chorus of anger and despair. Danielle could almost hear the individual souls Morveren was using to feed her power.
    “Anyone have any wormwax?” Snow asked. When nobody spoke, she closed her eyes and said, “I could have used a longer rest, but I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.” She began to hum a quiet harmony to Morveren’s own song.
    “By the emperor’s blood, the mermaid sails as poorly as my brother!” Varisto stared at the wreckage of Morveren’s ship. She had crashed the ship directly into the archway in the wall, all but blocking the way. The water around the shore teemed with undine.
    One of the undine broke away, hurling a spear. It bounced off of the kelpie’s thick hide, but others quickly followed. Another spear tore through a merman’s leg, and he dropped from the harness with a scream.
    “Morveren,” Snow said.
    “She’s controlling them?” Danielle guessed.
    “Nothing so crude.” Snow spoke in a broken rhythm, humming between pauses. “She’s heightening their fear and hostility. Nudging them into attacking of their own will. I can protect this small group, but I don’t have the lungs to fully counter her song.”
    “She’s turned them against us.” The mermaid who spoke wore a necklace with two oysters, a symbol that appeared to denote some kind of rank. She sang a shrill command, drawing the kelpies to a halt.
    “She’ll do worse than that, Nevidhal,” said Lannadae. “She enslaved my sister to a human soul. You saw how she’s changed. Morveren intends to rule this tribe through Lirea, and to do the same to all of us. You have a duty to protect your queen.”
    “I know my duty.” Nevidhal glanced toward the shore. “How do you mean to stop her?”
    “Do you think you can fight your way through that many?” Danielle asked, glancing down at Talia.
    Talia made a show of counting the endless swarm of undine. “Depends. Can you lend me a few more knives?”
    “I will deal with the undine.” Captain Varisto pulled himself higher on the kelpie’s body.
    “What are you doing?” Danielle asked.
    Varisto’s eyes were wide. “You think my brother was the only one given spirits to guard him? We were each bound to the empire as children. Gustan was given the spirits of the air.”
    “And you?” Snow asked.
    Varisto stripped off his shirt, revealing a jagged brown tattoo on the left side of his chest. “I was bound to the rock of the earth.” A geyser of steam shot into the sky from beyond the wall. Varisto bared his teeth. “And in this part of the country, if you crack the rock, you’ll find fire.”
    The archway began to collapse, enormous blocks of ebony stone plunging into the water and crushing Morveren’s ship. More steam rose from the water, and Danielle glimpsed orange fire flowing beneath the waves, pouring forth like syrup. The undine fled, seeking the safety of deeper water. Even Morveren’s magic couldn’t hold them here to be boiled alive.
    “That’s what happened here all those years ago, isn’t it?” Snow stared at Varisto. “One of you unleashed fire