The Mermaids Madness

underwater.
    Talia tried to stab upward, but Lirea was pressing down on her. She dragged Talia over rocks and debris until they slammed into something harder. The fallen bell. Talia braced herself against the bell and dropped the sword, reaching instead for the shaft of Lirea’s spear. She caught the end and pushed, using the spear as a lever to pry Lirea away. Her lungs were already burning from lack of air.
    Lirea fought back, and Talia shifted tactics. She drove her knee into the mermaid’s side. Lirea’s grip loosened, and Talia kicked free. She gasped for breath, stepping back to give herself space to act. She dodged another thrust of Lirea’s spear, and then the air spirits struck again, slamming her into the bell.
    Lirea was too fast in the water. She moved about like a demon, diving one way then another before Talia could react.
    Talia barely twisted out of the way of the next attack. Lirea’s spear rang off of the bell, and then one of her tails swept beneath Talia’s legs. The other tail flipped up and around her chest, pinning her arms. Lirea fell backward, dragging Talia back beneath the water and squeezing the air from her lungs.
    Talia dug her fingers between Lirea’s scales and pulled. The scales sliced her fingers, but she pulled until she felt Lirea’s skin tear. Lirea refused to give in. Talia’s vision began to sparkle, and her blood pounded in her skull. She heard shouts in the distance, and then Lirea was swimming away.
    Talia pulled herself up and tried not to vomit. On one side of the room, Danielle staggered against the wind, her glass sword clutched in both hands. Lirea had recovered her spear, but it looked as though Danielle’s enchanted blade had sheared off the point.
    The wind-driven spray made it hard to follow Danielle’s movements. She was backing away from Lirea. If Talia hadn’t been able to beat the mermaid, Danielle wouldn’t last long. “Where’s that magic, Snow?”
    Danielle jabbed her sword toward the stairs. Most of the candles had died, but Talia could just make out Snow’s body crumpled on the steps, her legs submerged in the water. She wasn’t moving.
    Danielle was trying to get past Lirea to the stairs, but Lirea clubbed her in the arm with her spear. Danielle hit the spear again, cutting it in two, and then the wind tossed her into the water.
    Lirea dropped her broken weapon and retreated up the stairs, her tails shifting into legs. She pulled her knife from her harness and grabbed Snow’s hair, yanking her head up to expose the throat.
    “Lirea!” Talia ducked behind the broken bell, taking shelter from the wind as she drew a knife from her belt and threw. The air spirits slapped it aside with ease, but it was enough to make Lirea jump.
    Talia braced herself against the wind. She pulled both knives from her forearm sheaths and threw one left-handed. Like the first, this one flew wide. But even as that blade clattered against the wall, Talia was gauging its path and throwing the next. This time, she aimed to the right, a throw that would have gone wide . . . if the wind hadn’t altered its course.
    It wasn’t a perfect throw. Not even Talia was that good. But the blade sank into Lirea’s shoulder.
    Lirea screamed and dropped her own weapon. She ripped Talia’s knife from her shoulder and flung it aside. “Stay out of my mind!”
    Talia was already wading toward the stairs. All she could see was Snow lying on the steps. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to tear Lirea apart with her bare hands.
    Lirea disappeared up the stairs, her incoherent shouts echoing throughout the tower. Talia followed into the dark room above. She leaped off of the stairs, balanced to dodge another attack, but Lirea seemed intent on escape. Her footsteps slapped against the stairs above as she fled.
    “Snow’s hurt!” Danielle shouted. “We have to get her out of here.”
    It was probably the only thing that could have broken Talia’s rage. She hesitated, then turned back.
    “What happened?” Talia asked. Now that she had stopped running, her legs threatened to give out. “Snow started to cast her spell, and—” Her voice broke.
    “The air spirits flung her against the wall.” Danielle waded through the water, searching the filth on the bottom.
    Talia knelt beside Snow. Her illusions had vanished when she lost consciousness, and Talia could see the rise and fall of Snow’s chest with each slow breath. “You said you could do this. Lirea was asleep!