Bandits (6 page)

Faulk looked stunned, mesmerized by the hungry, grow
l
ing creature’s slanted eyes.

Daniel yelled out to Faulk. “Kill him! Aim for the head. Do it
NOW
Faulk!”   He steered the water cruiser around the protru
d
ing rocks where the Merpins sometimes slept.

Faulk snapped out of his daze as the Merpin lunged at him. He shot it, and the Merpin fell back into the water with his sharp green teeth exposed.

This isn’t over yet.
Daniel swallowed hard.

Jade ran to the back of the boat. “There are two more in the back, but - I got them.”  

Daniel heard one scream out from her shot, it’s piercing yell surrounding them. Daniel knew the death-cry of the cre
a
ture would draw many others. He put in the command for the cruiser to release the knives on its underside, hoping that would deter more of the Merpins from climbing onto the boat for their brea
k
fast. He was rewarded with numerous screams from the Merpins that were already attached to the bottom of the water cruiser.

“Grab something! I’m out of rock territory. I’m gonna to pick up the speed. If you go over the side you’ll be breakfast,” Daniel warned before the cruiser speed increased.

The ship jerked with the pull of the engines. He nav
i
gated quickly through the rocks, careful to not hit any. The cruiser dragged a distance before the bodies of the dead Me
r
pins attached to the knives on the bottom fell and floated out to sea.

Jade backed up toward Daniel. He glanced at her and saw her eyes filled with horror.

“Crap! Get them. There are two of them …
next to
Nic
k
el!” she yelled out at Faulk.

Nickel looked up from where he sat getting more amm
u
nition out of the bags.

She aimed her darts to kill the Merpins that were quickly climbing up the back of the cruiser. Daniel pivoted to see the sickening pale and greedy sea cannibal lick its lips at the antic
i
pation of his capture of Nickel. Jade’s darts hit each Merpin in the eye, and they fell back off the ship with a loud
splash
.

Faulk shot at the three Merpins that were holding onto the back of the boat. One jumped over the edge of the boat, and its webbed feet landed easily on the deck. Its clawed fingers and scaled torso bent over and sliced through the flesh on Faulk’s arm in its attempt to take a bite out of him. Faulk roared in pain. He fired consecutively and the creature’s lifeless, bleeding body fell into the murky sea.

“Nickel? Nickel! Hold on.” Jade called out as she ran t
o
ward him.

Daniel’s gut filled with anger and fear. They’d cleared the rocks and were so close to Willows Oasis. The warmer waters should help slow the Merpins down. “
Can’t
help you! I gotta get us out of here.”

As he navigated them to safety, Daniel periodically glanced back to check on the others. “Faulk! Kill it. Jade use your poison darts with his fire.”

Jade went to her hip and grabbed her poison darts. The Merpin pulled Nickel, who fought and struggled while screa
m
ing out. Daniel’s hand slipped off the wheel as he went for his gun and the cruiser jerked.

“No! Daniel, get us out of here. I got this!” Jade yelled.

Daniel reluctantly grabbed the wheel and maneuvered just in time to evade a large rock. The cruiser lunged to the side, and Daniel held onto the wheel. Jade adjusted her stance and ran toward Nickel with darts aimed high.

Nickel screamed out as he struggled against the Merpin’s grip. It dragged his lower body over the side of the cruiser. Nickel held onto the side with fierce determination, tears of fear welling up in eyes.

Jade aimed for the Merpin’s eyes and hands with darts in both of her closed fists. One, then two darts hit their targets. The Merpin cried out when it released Nickel, and fell screaming backwards into the sea. Jade’s remaining darts flew over the edge of the cruiser with it. Nickel pulled himself up and over the side of the boat. He shook his head and stood, tears from fear streaming down his face.

Faulk fired one last shot, and the last Merpin slid down the side of the ship and into the knives that protruded from the back of the water cruiser. “It’s dragging on the boat!”  He shot the Merpin off the knife’s edge, which held him.

Daniel warned, “Make sure they’re gone. I don’t want to drag any with us to Willows Oasis. One of those things could eat us whole if it got its claws lodged in us.”  

They split up and checked the sides of the water cruiser, and spoke their confirmations of their safety.

Faulk came up to stand next to Daniel. “Man, I’m so tired I could pass out. After that - though, I don’t think I’m going to sleep for at least a week without one eye open.” Faulk shook his hands in disgust. “Those things were
freakin
’ ugly. We def
i
nitely don’t have creatures like those on Earth.”

“Get used to it. This isn’t Earth,” Daniel answered.

Jade checked on Nickel.

Nickel hastily moved her hand from his face and sat down on the deck, turning away from her. “I’m okay,” he mumbled.

Jade strolled over to Daniel and stood on the opposite side of Faulk. “So, for my first adventure, I’d say I did just fine – you know, being a
girl
and all. Don’t you think so, Daniel?”  

Daniel groaned. “Your brother’s going to kill me. When we get to your father’s trove, you’re staying there.”

Jade put her hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Not on your life. When are you going to tell me what’s going on Daniel?  I know you didn’t just come over to pick up Gabe. Something bad must’ve happened. Tell me! I have a right to know, you know. I mean, I smuggled that key out for you and everything.”  

He tensed. The thought of telling her his father had been killed, made him feel uneasy. She called his father ‘Poppy’, and his father doted on her like she was his own daughter. He knew once she found out, she’d be hard to ditch, but he also knew he could no longer keep the tragedy hidden.

Realizing he still wasn’t ready to tell her, he answered, “Leave it
.
I’ll tell you everything when we get to your father’s trove.”

He knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t give up to easy. She had fought Gabe and him for years to prove that she was just as strong and skilled in the ways of the Zukar as they were. Gabe and he had indulged her little tirades for the most part, except on those occasions where she got so obno
x
ious that they had to physically lock her in her room to keep her quiet. That didn’t last long, either, because Jade was excellent at picking all types of locking mechanisms. He knew if he told her what ha
p
pened to his father, she’d want more answers than he had.

The remaining ride was calm, and Nickel came up to stand next to Jade. “Can you let me drive?” Nickel asked in his imitation grown up voice.

Daniel smiled. “Yeah, come over and let me guide you for awhile.” He and his father had been teaching Nickel to navigate the seas of Merwin since he could walk. Daniel trusted Nickel was capable of navigating most spots. Once Nickel had a firm grip on the wheel, Daniel slowly let go.

Jade stomped her foot and then blocked Daniel’s path. “Why should I have to wait?  I want to know the situation now, Daniel.”

Daniel looked toward her with a frown. “Forget it. I’m not talking.”

She looked angrily away from Daniel. Tapping her foot, she turned a pensive look to Faulk, with a seductive flutter of her long eyelashes, and a pursing of her lips, she lowered her voice. “Faulk, you know what happened. Tell me. I’ve a right to know.” 

Faulk shook his head. “Sorry gorgeous, I have to agree with my cousin on this. Occasionally the salty dufus knows what he’s talking about. It should wait.” 

Faulk walked over to the ammunition bag and pulled out two guns. He tucked one in the back of his belted pants and put the other in his holster. Grabbing part of the torn flag on the cruiser, Faulk tied it around his wound. He rubbed his arm where the Merpin had cut him with its long hooked claw, before he sat on the seat looking outward to the back of the boat.

Daniel watched him with an upturn of his lip. He rea
l
ized Faulk’s run-in with the Merpins had left him shaken. He walked over to Faulk and stared at the gray waters behind them. “They can’t follow us here
.
The waters are too warm. It weakens them, making them prey for other sea predators.”  

Faulk replied with a relieved nod of his head as he looked at the darkest, hungriest sea he’d ever seen.

Daniel turned away from his cousin to watch Nickel steer the cruiser while Jade directed him to her father’s trove. The misty air and murky sea cleared as they broke through the calming waves of Willows Oasis. With the fog behind them, Daniel squinted with the light of the rising sun. The island’s green, sandy banks and massive willow trees came into view when Nickel steered closer.

Daniel got up from his seat and reclaimed his spot as the captain of the cruiser. “I’ll take it from here,” Daniel said to younger brother
.

Jade didn’t bother directing Daniel. She knew he had been to her family’s trove many times with Gabe. Sitting there quietly, she watched him while he navigated to her trove.

He steered in silence, wondering who murdered his f
a
ther.
I know he ticked the EBRA off with the mess up on that last job, but it wasn’t a big loss. Still, the Vipen sect needs little motivation to kill someone of another sect
.

Jade pointed to the alcove on the
island
of
Willows
, where her father’s trove lay buried. Jarred out of his thoughts, he steered the cruiser into a hidden niche several yards from the island’s edge. Huge hanging willow trees flanked the island, their long roots protruding from the ground to snake along the jagged edges of the island. The gigantic roots of the trees slinked into the green, splashing waves of the sea.

Jade led Nickel and Faulk into covering the cruiser with the hanging limbs of the willow trees. Daniel looked around at the thick curtain of branches and leaves surrounding the cruiser to make sure they were well hidden.

Faulk nodded, looking at their work. “This should be good. I can’t see out of here, and I’m sure no one can see in.”

“Yeah, it’s good.” Daniel said confidently. “Nickel go i
n
to the belly of the cruiser and get out the swim gear.” He spied Nickel shooting pipens at the hanging branches. His slingshot, shot with accuracy at each branch, and the pipen rock burned through each leaf it hit, before melting away with fire.

A look of apprehension quickly passed over Faulk’s face. “Where are we swimming to?” 

Jade secured her gear tightly. “We can only get to my f
a
ther’s trove through an underwater entrance, but it’ll take us a mile walk to get there. We haven’t been here in over a year. Ever since he started the club and his manager, Trix, got killed, he hasn’t had the time to take on any snatch jobs. So, he’s had no treasures to bring here, and no time to inspect the place.” 

Daniel held his lips firm, trying not to smile at Faulk’s discomfort. “Faulk, there are no Merpins here. They only hang out in the cool waters of the isle of Bethan at the edge of the black seas. But, these waters have Tiliquens. They’re gold, snakelike pests that sting you if they get spooked. They’re harmless, just don’t tick them off.” 

Jade nudged Faulk with her elbow and smiled at him r
e
assuringly. “We have to get to the island on the dock. If we park the boat alongside the island, a booby trap of knives will come up.”

Faulk shook his head in disbelief. “You gotta be kidding me!”

Jade smiled. “Nope.”

Nickel retu
r
ned with the wet gear and dumped it on the ground. Daniel grabbed the headgear from Nickel that they would use for breathing underwater.

Faulk tried on the goggles, and nosepiece, which fed him oxygen. “Great. This
freakin’
planet is a death-trap, not a pla
y
ground. I’m just surprised kids survive here. Earth is nothing at all like this. The only good think about this place is I don’t need an ox
y
gen injection to visit here.”  

Daniel breathed in the sweet air of Merwin, and thought back to his one visit to Earth, for the funeral of his mother. Her family insisted that his father return her home. Sometimes he missed her so much, but he always managed to p
ress
past it. He couldn’t bring her back, and now his father was with her. Grud
g
ingly, he admitted that he missed the old man too. The seeping feeling of grief threatened to spill from his chest, but he buried it away. His anger at his father’s changed ways wouldn’t let go, and now, it tightened in his chest with regret and a piercing pain of sadness. He shook his head to stave off the memories as Jade’s call to Faulk sank in
, and absently rubbed the beaded necklace his mom made him for comfort
.