The Mermaids Madness

the center. There must have been other buildings, now completely wiped away by fire and magic. All that remained was rippled black rock, leading to the crumbled ruins of the wall. In some places the wall still rose high enough to block her view, but most was little more than broken blocks of stone.
    Even here the steam scalded her skin. Danielle wondered how many undine had been caught by Varisto’s fires, not to mention the fish and other sea creatures. She could see crabs scrambling over the rock, but many more would have perished the moment the fire poured from the rock.
    Once they crossed through the broken wall, Danielle spotted Morveren hovering outside of Lirea’s tower. Her air spirits kicked up swirls of dirt and rock as they held her aloft. On the ground, Morveren’s transformed undine surrounded the tower with weapons ready.
    A spear flew from the tower window, but the air spirits knocked it aside.
    “You don’t understand,” Morveren shouted. She clutched the cup with Gustan’s spirit in her hands. “You’re dying, Lirea! Let me save you!”
    “I can reach the tower.” Talia hadn’t taken her eyes from the undine standing guard. “Once I start climbing, can you stop them from putting one of those spears up my—”
    “It will be our pleasure,” said Varisto.
    Danielle joined him, following a curved path that would hopefully draw the undine away from Talia. “Snow, we can keep the undine busy, but you’ll have to deal with Morveren.”
    Snow was still pale, but she smiled as she plucked the largest mirror from her choker. “Mirror, mirror, in my hand. Drag that mermaid back to land.”
    Morveren squawked as she fell. Her air spirits raced to catch her, slowing her drop, but she still hit hard enough to knock the breath from her chest.
    “You realize we’re badly outnumbered,” Varisto commented, readying his ax. He took up position in front of Danielle as Morveren’s undine ran toward them.
    Talia had already split away from the others, running along the edge of the moat toward the tower. A few of the undine turned to follow, while the rest continued toward what they perceived as the greater threat.
    A silver blur buzzed past Danielle, catching one of the undine in the shoulder. He fell, tripping another. Snow grinned and threw a second of her steel snowflakes. This one took a mermaid in the arm. It also came awfully close to taking out Danielle’s earlobe.
    “Do you mind?” Danielle asked.
    “Sorry,” Snow said. “My vision still isn’t quite right.”
    She turned to Morveren, who had risen from the ground and begun to sing. Snow countered the melody, but this close even the dissonance of their songs was physically painful, like a knife scraping along Danielle’s bones.
    “She used most of her power to get here,” Snow said. “But she’s still stronger than I remember.”
    “Strong enough to beat you?” Danielle asked.
    Snow rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”
    Varisto settled into a low stance, ax ready. “Stay behind me, Princess. I’ll protect you and your friend for as long as I can.”
    Danielle raised an eyebrow. A silent request brought the crabs skittering toward the approaching undine. Morveren had spread scales over the bodies of her warriors for protection, but those scales ended at the ankles. The first undine yelled as he fell, a large crab clinging to his toes. Another followed, and more crabs swarmed onto the bodies. Soon more than half of Morveren’s undine were busy stomping and stabbing Danielle’s reinforcements.
    “Thank you for the kind offer of protection, Your Highness.” Danielle stepped forward and raised her sword. Varisto merely grunted.
    The first of the undine threw her spear as she ran. Danielle ducked, barely recovering fast enough to parry a downward slash by a second mermaid. Danielle grabbed her sword near the tip, using both hands to brace the weapon as the mermaid pressed down. The enchanted glass wouldn’t cut Danielle, but even so she was no match for the mermaid’s greater strength. Varisto stepped sideways and struck the mermaid’s shoulder with the butt of his ax before turning away to intercept another attack.
    “How much time do you need?” Danielle asked, cutting the mermaid’s spear in half.
    “A week would be nice,” Snow said, her voice tight.
    Danielle stomped her foot, feinting at a merman. They were strong, but as Talia always said, footwork was key to fighting. The undine had possessed feet for less than a