Fire (The Mermaid Legacy - Book 2) (23 page)

She did, but not before letting me know that she was highly irritated with my response.

I hovered in the middle of The Haven and called the Oceanids who were to shoot the arrows into Ferengren to line up around the edges.

I swam up to their height.

“I don’t want any arrows going into The Haven, so just draw your bows and fire every ten seconds.”

I sank a bit lower and gave the order for the dress run. Three arrows whistled past me, narrowly missing me as I shot for the surface and out of range.

I couldn’t tell which Oceanid the arrows had come from and as I hovered over them trying to calm my nerves Dad rushed up to where I was.

“Who did that?”

“I don’t know, it must have been a miscommunication.”

“Or someone was trying to get rid of you.”

I hadn’t thought about that but it was a possibility I hadn’t considered as yet.

Next all of the Oceanids were lined up around the circumference of The Haven and I began to shout the words we’d all learned for the different talents.

For the practice I started with disguise, watching with satisfaction as they all disappeared as I watched.

The next word I shouted was for poison. As they began to produce poison in their hands I started to feel a little light-headed.

Pushing the sensation aside as simply a reaction to a night of disturbed sleep I next ordered them to communicate with the ocean life, the Zmija, the dolphins. They did so with great enjoyment, laughing as they understood their fellow inhabitants of the sea. My ligh- headedness continued, accompanied now with nausea.

Next I instructed them to form balls of energy in the palms of their hands. It seemed to take them a little longer to access this talent and as I watched them one by one forming the energy in their hands, black spots began to dance in front of my eyes and my vision grew blurry. I found I didn’t have the energy to swim any more and simply allowed the current to move me in any direction.

I faintly heard Dad yelling for the Oceanids to stop as he raced to me, desperately asking me questions, shaking my sagging body before screaming for Maya to come and help him.

I heard Maya telling Dad from a great distance away that I was too weak for her to heal me without it endangering her own health.

“Is there nothing else we can do?” I recognised the grief and panic in Dad’s voice and I wanted to tell him not to be sad, I wanted to tell him that they had to go on without me.

The loudest voice of all of them was Mitra.

What happened?

I don’t know
, I thought dreamily, feeling faintly irritated that she should be so loud in my head.

NO!

Mitra’s bellowing scream filled the water and my mind as I watched her massive form darken the water above me. She dove into The Haven before swooping beneath my now limp body.

As soon as my skin touched hers I began to regain strength, able, at last, to give the order for the Oceanids to stop. I drooped over Mitra as Dad, Maya, Pelagius and at least another dozen Oceanids crowded around me.

It took a long time for me to have the energy to sit and talk to them.

“What happened?” Dad demanded, his fear making him angry.

“I don’t know…”

“Did you feel odd before this?” Maya asked.

I nodded, explaining how faint and nauseous I’d felt as the Oceanids had drawn on different talents.

“She isn’t strong enough to share that much with everyone,” Maya murmured.

Dad ran his hands through his hair, looking at me with a mixture of relief and grief on his face.

I managed to leave Mitra, still feeling exhausted but much better as Aoi motioned Dad and meinto the council room.

“The attack can’t go ahead,” Dad told me as soon as we were within the privacy of the room.

I felt the blood rush from my face.

“Dad, we have to…”

“I won’t risk losing you, Alex, you nearly died and that was just a training exercise. Can you imagine what would have happened if that had been in open battle and you were trying to fight?” He shook his head. “It’s too much.”

“Dad, Merrick and all the Oceanids are relying on us, we can’t just walk away.”

Aoi shook his head. “I don’t see how we can go ahead without accessing your talents, Alexandra. It’s risky enough that all the Oceanids are going after Neith, but to do so without additional talents, that is simply suicide.”

“I’ll be stronger next time,” I told them desperately.

Neither of them would listen and Maya slipped into the room a few moments later insisting I needed to sleep.

“Don’t tell them,” I asked Dad and Aoi, “not yet, just give me some time to think of a solution.”

They both looked at me with such pity that tears welled in my eyes because in that pity was our defeat.

“Please?”

They both nodded and I allowed Maya to lead me to my capsule.

I was asleep within seconds of closing my eyes, a deep, bone-aching exhaustion sucking me into a mercifully dreamless sleep.

I woke at dusk with a mental nudge from Mitra. I lay in the confines of my capsule desperately trying to work out how we could still beat Neith without my talents.

I began to sob quietly as I faced the reality of the situation: I was unable to empower my army enough to beat Neith. He had won and Merrick…my heart twisted in my chest as I closed my eyes against the horror of the death I knew he’d face.

“I’m so sorry,” I sobbed, “I failed you…”

You are weak
. Mitra’s abrupt and irritatingly obvious statement filled my mind.

Yes I know, Mitra, that is why we can’t win
.

No, you are weak, but I am strong
.

Immediately I remembered the strength that had filled me as soon as she touched me.

Thank you
, I told her with all of the warmth I could muster as I struggled out of my capsule and raced to find Dad and Aoi.

We were back in the white confines of the council room.

“I can do this if I’m on Mitra,” I told them, wanting to pop with excitement. “As soon as her skin touched mine I began to get stronger…I
am
too weak to share my talents with the pod on my own, but with her I can do it.”

“It’s too much of a risk, Alex,” Dad said immediately.

“Dad, it’s at least a risk we can manage.”

He shook his head and I took both of his hands in mine. “Dad, you told me I wouldn’t be able to control everything about this battle, that I should just do what was in front of me, well this is a solution to the problem. Mitra will be there for me – for us – and she will enable me to share my talents with the pod.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Dad, if we test it and it doesn’t work, I’ll admit defeat, but I can’t give in knowing there is a possibility this might still work, knowing that I didn’t do
everything
in my power to rescue Merrick and Takimu and every innocent child that has been taken by Neith.”

Dad dropped his head for a few moments before finally agreeing to another test.

“Not at The Haven,” Aoi told us firmly. “I know of a place not too far from here which has a similar structure but is deep enough for the Zmija to practise without wrecking our home again.”

When we announced the plan for another rehearsal there was some muttered resistance which was quickly quashed by Aoi and Dad.

“When do we attack?” many of them asked.

I knew it was a risk to tell them, but they needed time to prepare themselves mentally too.

“During the Full Moon Festival.”

There was a surprised gasp from many of them.

“But that festival is sacred.” Lyr spoke up.

“Yes, and that is why we are going to use it to ensure that Oceanids have the freedom to celebrate it in the future,” I replied, squashing all arguments instantly.

The group eventually dispersed and as I slipped into my capsule that evening hope of success warred angrily with the failures of the day.

I woke before the light could slowly seep into the water turning it a misty grey. Smearing the green and turquoise paste all over my skin and wriggling into my battle gear my chest heaved out vast streams of bubbles as I tried to control my panic.

Soon I will be re-united with Merrick
, I told myself.

The thought was meant to be a comforting one, but instead I fought hard to keep a handle on the panic that threatened to overwhelm me, because so much lay between now and then. If the second practice round didn’t work out, I’d never see him again, I’d never feel his arms around me, his lips on mine…

It might have only been a few hours before the battle of Ferengren, but in that time I could quite possibly lose everyone I loved and wind up dead myself.

Mitra?
I thought, needing some encouragement.

She didn’t answer me but I felt her questioning awareness.

I’m scared
, I admitted.

To my surprise I felt a sharp mental jolt.

You are the Queen
, she replied.
No place for fear
.

“Thanks,” I muttered as I wriggled out of my capsule, snatching my Mizrak from where it was buried in the rock walls, and heading down to the arena which was still empty.

I drifted in the centre of the arena, waiting for the rest of the pod to join me.

And as I waited I imagined for a moment that Merrick was with me. I imagined what he would say to me.

They were words of encouragement, words of belief, and they helped me to contain the fear that threatened to overcome me, because at last we were going to be rescuing him and in just a few hours I would see his wonderful face again…I just hoped he was still alive.

The first to arrive at the arena was Pelagius.

He smiled when he saw me there and came to stand beside me.

“You will conquer more than just Neith in the coming battle, Alexandra, Defender of Men, you will conquer your own fear and you will prove to everyone that you are their rightful leader.”

I smiled tightly at him, struggling to contain the tension that had my neck and back tight with anticipation. I dreaded the start of the battle and yet I also craved it. If only the practice went well I would be assured of Aoi and Dad’s commitment to follow me to Ferengren.

Once the rest of the Oceanids had joined us in the arena we all went outside and surrounded The Haven.

“I want you to practise the sequence here one last time before we move to the bigger practice ground.” I told them.

Mitra and another thirty Zmija formed a ring around its perimeter and at a signal they all swam to just below the surface, behaving far better than they had the day before. Once there I began to say the words that we’d all practised, each word being passed around the circumference of The Haven until it reached me again.

The Oceanids in charge of the harpoons and underwater bows stood ready and shouted the order to fire at the right intervals, their weapons hanging loosely at their sides as they ran through the drill.

The words for the talents were repeated again and the Oceanids spoke through which talents would be used.

I watched all of it anxiously, trying to picture the devastation that would be unleashed on Ferengren and how we would get Merrick, the children and Takimu and his group out alive. I rubbed my eyes, pushing at the worry that seemed to hound me constantly.

“Are you all right?” Dad asked quietly.

I shrugged. “I’m not worrying about anything new, Dad, I just…it’s just such a fine balance between annihilating Neith and anyone who attacks us and saving the innocents caught in the middle. I don’t want the children at Ferengren to be hurt and I want to get Takimu and Cyan out alive and, well…”

“And you want to rescue Merrick,” he finished for me.

I nodded, afraid that if I spoke I’d cry.

We were quiet for a few moments, watching as the Oceanids around us practised the drill.

“I keep wracking my brains to try to figure out if there is something more I can do, something I haven’t thought of that will make this all go away, some way to placate Neith and rescue all of them, without fighting…”

“There isn’t,” he replied simply.

I sighed and closed my eyes briefly at the finality of his words because I’d known from the moment Neith took Merrick that it would come to this. As long as my heart carried on beating I would defend humanity against Neith’s kind of anarchy and protect Oceanids from his madness.

I opened my eyes. “OK, let’s go to the practice grounds and try this thing out properly,” I said.

Aoi explained that while it was mostly deserted with very little animal life it was also completely exposed and visible from the air.

“We’ll have to go there this evening just after dusk, that way any human flying machine will be unable to see us.”

The terror for Merrick’s safety threatened to consume me as the day stretched ahead of us. The moment I stopped working towards his rescue I felt panicky.

Dad seemed to understand this about me and suggested we spend the day checking the technical elements for the battle.

Pelagius approached me as I was rechecking the harpoons and bows and arrows.

“Those will be of little use to you in trembling uncertain hands,” he said as he watched me pick up yet another bow and check the tightness of the string.

I looked up at him, waiting for him to get to the point as he eventually did.

“Your people need you today, Alexandra. Men’s hearts fail before the battle, not in it. Give them something to do – they are as anxious as you are.”

“There isn’t anything to do.”

“Then make something up, perhaps this is the perfect time for you to talk to them. To encourage them, to give them hope and strength.”

“I can only give them what I have, Pelagius, and I have very little of either of those right now.”

He shook his head. “You cannot afford to show them that Alexandra. You must be confident even if you don’t feel it.”

“What do I say to them?”

“It doesn’t really matter, just go and speak to them, find out what they are afraid of and give them hope that their fears are unfounded.”

I nodded and asked Aoi to send word to everyone to come to the arena in battle gear.