Into the Abyss (9 page)

“They’re actually cousins of Olph and his kin, not whales. But there are very few of them, and they live far away—”

Gray interrupted, “We could swim there and convince them! We’ll get some maredsoo from Takiza to
speed us along, and be back in no time.” Maredsoo was a mysterious glowing greenie that grew in the Dark Blue, deep in the ocean. Eating a little gave you huge amounts of energy for long swims or even fighting. It was demon hard to get, though.

Lochlan shook his snout again. “Gray, the orcas swore to never take a side after the Battle of Silander’s End. That’s a long story and I’m tired. Just know that they will not join us. Especially in the time we have, which needs to be spent training you. Finnivus is on his way, so you need to
accept
the fact you’re the one who will be
leading
our forces!” Lochlan yelled the last part, getting the attention of both Mari and Jaunt.

Mari shook her head at Lochlan as Gray’s tail drooped. The great white was embarrassed. “You know what? We’ve done enough for today, and I’m getting cranky and tired. You’ll get the hang of it. Mari, Jaunt, talk with him.”

Lochlan swam off, probably toward his personal doctor fish to be patched up once more. The mariners training with Gray drifted off. Oh, the AuzyAuzy fins said nice things, but he could see it in their eyes that they were unsure. Truth be told, he was unsure.

“Howareya doin’, ya big beauty?” asked Jaunt in her odd, lilting accent. The way the little tiger spoke always made Gray smile. She was infectious. “Quit hanging your head like a squiddily-kelpie. You’ll be fine.”

Gray shook his head. “I’m no squiddily-kelpie, Jaunt,” he said, trying to lighten his mood. “You’re a squiddily-kelpie!”
When they first met, Jaunt had used the word
squiddily-kelpie
, and he hadn’t had the slightest idea what it meant. Now, it was a joke between them. But she still wouldn’t tell him what it was.

Mari smiled and cut her long thresher tail through the water. “You two come from the same reef in the boonie-greenie? I can barely understand either of you!”

Jaunt gave Mari a snout bump on the flank as they both laughed. “Oh, Mari, you wish you could speak extra special like Gray and me! Instead you chibber-chabber like every other biter in the wet-wet.”

Gray chuckled, even though he didn’t feel like it. He could tell this little show was to lift his spirits. But it wasn’t working. “Jaunt, you’re Loch’s fifth. Why can’t you take over and lead the mariners?”

“Because Loch wants you to do it, and I think that’s right,” she told him. “Besides, AuzyAuzy is a royal shiver. The Golden Rush have rules on who can take over.”

“That’s dumb!” he answered, slashing his tail through the water.

“Gray, you already did it once,” Mari said. “I know you think you got lucky, but the fact is, you did it.”

“There was no time to think then!” Gray’s tail drooped. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Yes, you can,” Mari disagreed. “But not with that attitude.”

“You have the knowing,” Jaunt told Gray. “You’re a
little nervous today. But those belly crabs go away right quick with a little experience, and that’s why Loch’s training you up.”

Gray sighed, exasperated. “Yes, Jaunt, my belly crabs will disappear after the
Indi armada
gets here! Oh, and I was so worried. But at least my belly crabs won’t bother me as Finnivus’s mariners are taking fins and tails from everyone I know!”

“Ya don’t have to be such a drongo about it!” she yelled back.

Gray was past his limit. “WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!” he shouted in her face before swimming away.

He knew he had hurt Jaunt’s feelings, but right now, he didn’t care. This was crazy! He wasn’t cut out to be a leader of a real shiver, much less a battle shiver! Sure, he led Rogue Shiver, but they were all friends. And there were only six of them, total. But to be in charge of the safety of a thousand sharks, all their pups, the rest of the shiver sharkkind, and the dwellers that lived in Riptide’s territory—that was too much!

“We need someone else!” Gray shouted into the water to no one. Could Takiza lead the armada? Would he even be there for the fight? Who could tell with the mysterious betta? But they needed someone else.

“Or something else,” Gray muttered to himself in a much quieter voice. He kept saying it out loud. “Something else, something else, some-
thing
else …”

That’s it!

He knew what to do. Takiza probably wouldn’t like it, but Gray was desperate. And what the little betta didn’t know wouldn’t make him mad.

Most likely, anyway.

Barkley saw Gray zooming from another secret training session. He had been hovering unseen in the tall greenie for just this opportunity. “Hey Gray!” Barkley said when he was right above him.

“
Gah
!” Gray shouted, startled. “What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

“Umm, sorry,” Barkley said. “I’m sneaky, remember? I need to talk with you for a minute.”

“I don’t have a minute!” his friend snapped.

Barkley kept pace. He was speedy for a dogfish. “Look, I want to be helpful, but being in the armada—”

Gray wheeled, and Barkley banged his snout against his rock-like side. “What? Are you too good to fight?”

“Of course I’m not too
good
to fight!” Barkley protested. “I’m too
bad
to fight!”

“Let me tell you something,” Gray shouted. “We all wish we could do something else, especially me! But sometimes you have to swim with the current that’s flowing!” And with a flick of his powerful tail, Gray was gone.

The pressure was really getting to his friend. And Lochlan didn’t seem to be getting any better. We’re in
real trouble, Barkley thought as he swam through what used to be the Razor Shiver homewaters.

The fact remained, he was a terrible mariner.

If there was only something else I could do!

Barkley had tried being a long-range scout but discovered he wasn’t strong enough. A dogfish didn’t have the endurance to swim the distances in the time necessary to bring in vital information. Blues and tigers were much more suited for that. And every fin was needed in the armada. If Riptide United’s formation was too much smaller than its foe, the Indi armada would simply overwhelm them.

So, my job is to be chum, Barkley thought. The best I can hope for is that a Black Wave mariner chokes on me. I’m worthless.

“Move aside, doggie!” said a group of Hammer Shiver mariners as they swept past. The last one gave Barkley a tail slap to the face and they all laughed.

Barkley thought most big mariners were chowderheads. They never had to swim away from a threat when they were growing up. Many of the best ones were bullies from time to time. Or always. They certainly didn’t show respect to anyone who couldn’t hold their own in a snout-to-snout fight.

And of course, they don’t have a high opinion of dogfish in particular, Barkley thought. Not many sharkkind do.

They were right in a way, though. They were mariners of Riptide United. They would be fighting on the
front lines. They were risking their lives to protect everyone else. They were
useful
.

Barkley’s tail drooped. He felt an electric charge tingle his left flank. Prime Minister Shocks was speaking to a group of refugees with Sandy by his side. Remnants of shivers attacked by Finnivus had sporadically arrived since the Battle of Riptide. But for some reason, even though the threat of Finnivus was coming closer, the numbers were growing. More and more came. And it wasn’t as if Lochlan or anyone was keeping it a secret. They told everyone that the Riptide homewaters would be attacked as sure as the tide moves. Oddly, most decided to stay in spite of this.

Perhaps they were tired of moving, or perhaps they wanted revenge, although he didn’t think the latter was the case. Barkley thought it was because Riptide was the one place in the Big Blue that offered hope. Here gathered the fins who refused to lower their snouts to that royal flipper, sharks who had actually swum out against Finnivus and bloodied his invincible armada.

Barkley let out an involuntary shiver. If they saw how he’d messed up during Striiker’s practice drills, perhaps they’d think again. But still, they came.

This new group of refugees was a small one. Barkley wondered how big their shiver had been before
they were attacked. He swam over and heard Shocks saying, “I know you have questions, but I don’t have time to answer them now. Why don’t you go feed? Follow Sandy. You look like you can all use a meal! While you do that, I’ll find you a place to call your own.” Shocks waved them away with his supple eel body.

The sharkkind refugees reluctantly moved off. Barkley could see many wore markings and tattoos, like Indi Shiver, but different. The group seemed confused at which way to go, and some were injured.

“Barkley, would you mind helping me out?” Sandy asked. She motioned that another group of refugees was coming. “Can you show them where to hunt and maybe talk to them while I help the ones coming now?”

“Sure,” he answered, feeling a sense of relief. Here was something he could actually do.

Gray always says I never stop talking, Barkley thought as he waved the mixed group over. A few of these sharkkind had green stripes on their flanks. Another half-dozen had a triangular pattern on their bellies, and one older female had an orange dot on her tail.

“Hi, I’m Barkley!” he told them. “Why don’t I take you to the hunting grounds?”

Everyone was grateful. They had been swimming
for weeks. Who knew when they had last eaten? But Barkley saw that the older shark with the orange dot on her tail didn’t react as enthusiastically as the others. He hung back and swam beside her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She had been crying. “I’m fine,” she answered, but she obviously wasn’t. “Have you seen any others from my shiver?” She waggled her tail with its distinctive orange dot marking.

“Yes, I think so,” Barkley said cautiously, and she brightened immediately. He knew that at least two of her shiver were here or he wouldn’t have dared mention it.

She came closer to him, full of eager hope. “Are they—the ones from my shiver—are they pups, or adults?”

“Why, they’re adults,” Barkley answered. It was odd, now that he thought about it. Aside from the pups in Coral, there weren’t too many from the refugee shivers. Looking at the two newest groups, he noted there were no younglings among them, either. “Why do you ask?”

The old shark grew sad once more. “Because after they attacked us, they took our pups.” She began crying and rubbed against Barkley. “They took our pups!” she wailed.

Barkley tried to comfort her as best he could, but inside, his heart turned to stone.

He would help Riptide United beat Finnivus in whatever way he could.

And if the only way is to choke one of their mariners by swimming straight down its gullet, than that’s what I’ll do, Barkley thought.

IT WAS EARLY MORNING BY THE TIME GRAY
reached the deep-water coral fields where Striiker had been training the Riptide recruits a few days before. He was well-familiar with the area.

Takiza’s Torture Pit
.

The razor sharp coral spires were still there, standing silently in the dark waters. But Gray didn’t have the same difficulty breathing he once did.

Must be Takiza’s doing, he thought. The Siamese fighting fish had worked him mercilessly at these depths since the Battle of Riptide.

But a chill crept down Gray’s spine as he drifted over the edge of the training field and saw the dark hole in the ocean called the Maw. That was where he could get the some
thing
that might give them the advantage they would need in the fight against Finnivus and his Indi armada—maredsoo!

It was Takiza who had told Gray that maredsoo only grew in the deep waters of the Maw, before sending him after some when they were about to face Finnivus and the Indi armada the first time. Takiza then swam across the ocean into the Sific and gave it to the AuzyAuzy mariners, so they could power back in time for the Battle of Riptide. Without that maredsoo, the Golden Rush wouldn’t have made it, and everyone Gray knew would have gone to the Sparkle Blue.