Waterfire Saga, Book One: Deep Blue (A Waterfire Saga Novel) (9 page)

S
ERAFINA WAS CRAZED WITH FEAR.

“No!” she shouted at her uncle. “You’re wrong! You’re
wrong
!”

Vallerio’s tone softened. “Sera, the doctor’s certain it’s brillbane. He recognizes the symptoms. It only comes from one source—an arctic sculpin.”

“An arctic sculpin,” Serafina repeated woodenly. “That means—”

“—that Admiral Kolfinn has attacked us. The soldiers are wearing black uniforms—the color of Ondalina. They’re Kolfinn’s troops, I’m sure of it. This means war.”

Serafina pushed him away, skirted around the doctor, who was pressing a fresh dressing over Isabella’s wound, and sat down on the floor by her mother. She shrugged out of the costly mantle she was still wearing, balled it up, and put it under her mother’s head.

“Mom?
Mom!
Can you hear me?” she said, taking her hand. It was covered in blood.

Isabella stopped writhing. It was as if Serafina’s voice was a lifeline. She opened her eyes. Their gaze was far away. “Your songspell was so beautiful, Sera,” she said. “I didn’t get to tell you that.”

“Shh, Mom, don’t talk,” Serafina said, but Isabella ignored her.

“Everyone looks so beautiful. The room does, too, with all the anemones in bloom and the chandeliers blazing and your father and brother, don’t they look handsome?”

Serafina realized that her mother thought the Dokimí celebrations were taking place. The poison was affecting her mind.

“Why are you here, Sera? Why aren’t you dancing with Mahdi?” Isabella asked, agitated. “Why don’t I hear any music?”

“The musicians are taking a break, Mom,” Sera fibbed, in an effort to soothe her. “They’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“He loves you.”

Wow. She’s totally out of her mind,
Serafina thought.

“I glanced at him once or twice. In the Kolisseo. You should have seen his face while you were songcasting. I’m happy for you, Sera, and for Miromara. The bond between our realms will be even stronger if true love unites them.” She grimaced suddenly. “My side…something’s wrong.”

“Lie still, Mom,” said Serafina. “You have to rest now. How about we trade places for tonight? I’ll be regina, you be principessa. And my first act as monarch is to order you to bed. You are to put your fins up, listen to gossip conchs, and eat plenty of kanjaywoohoos.”

Isabella tried to smile. “Neela brought them?”

“And chillawondas, bing-bangs, janteeshaptas, and zee-zees. My chambers look like a Matali sweet shop.”

Isabella laughed, but her laughter brought on a terrible fit of coughing. Blood sprayed from her lips. She moaned piteously. Her eyes closed.

“Help her!
Please!
” Serafina whispered to the doctor.

But the doctor shook his head. “There’s very little I can do,” he said quietly.

After a few seconds, Isabella opened her eyes again. Their gaze was not far away now, but focused and sharp. She squeezed Serafina’s hand. “You are still so young, my darling. I haven’t prepared you well enough. There’s so much you still need to learn.” There was an urgency to her voice.

“Mom, stop talking. You need to be still,” Serafina said.

“No…no time,” Isabella said, her chest hitching. “Listen to me…remember what I tell you. Conte Bartolomeo is the wisest of my ministers. Vallerio will be regent, of course, until you’re eighteen, and Bartolomeo’s the only one strong enough to put your uncle in his place.” Isabella paused to catch her breath, then said, “Conte Orsino, I trust with my life. Keep a close eye on the Volnero and the di Remora. They are loyal now, but may work to undermine you if they sense an advantage elsewhere.”

“Mom, stop!” Serafina said fearfully. “You’re scaring me. I was only
joking
about being regina!”

“Sera,
listen
to me!” Isabella’s voice was fading. Serafina had to lean close to hear her. “If we are not able to fend off the attackers, you must get to the vaults. And then, if you can, go to Tsarno. To the fortress there—” She coughed again. Serafina wiped the blood from her lips with the hem of her gown.

Vallerio joined them. The doctor looked at him. “Send for the canta magus,” he said.

Serafina knew what that meant. The canta magus was summoned when a regina was dying, to sing the ancient chants that released a mer soul back to the sea. “No!” she cried. “She’s going to be all right! Make her be all right!”

“Your Grace,” the doctor said, his eyes still on Vallerio, “you must send for the canta magus
now
.”

Vallerio started to speak, but Serafina didn’t hear his words. They were drowned out by a deafening roar, a sound so big, it felt like the end of the world. The very foundations of the palace shook, sending shock waves up into the water. Serafina was knocked backward. For a few seconds, she couldn’t right herself; then, slowly, her balance came back. She looked up, still dazed, just in time to see a large chunk of the stateroom’s east wall come crashing down. Courtiers screamed as they rushed to get out of the way. Some didn’t make it and were crushed by falling stones. Others were engulfed by flames ignited by lava pouring from broken heating pipes buried inside the walls.

Janiçari swam to the breach in formation, armed and moving fast.
“Ejderha! Ejderha!”
they shouted.

No,
Serafina thought.
It’s impossible.

Grasping the side of her mother’s throne, she pulled herself up.

And then she saw it.

Ejderha.

And she screamed.

A
MASSIVE BLACKCLAW DRAGON,
her head as big as an orca, stuck her face into the gaping hole she’d made in the wall. She reached an arm through, swiping at Janiçari with foot-long talons.

The soldiers attacked the beast, but their swords and their spells were useless against the thick scales covering her body, her bronze faceplate, and the stiff frill of spikes around her neck. Mermen wearing black uniforms and goggles sat on her back in an armored howdah, controlling her with a bridle and reins.

The dragon bashed her head against the palace wall and another large chunk of it fell in.

“Stop her! Stop her!” voices screamed.

But there was no stopping her. The stateroom was deep inside the palace. The dragon had already knocked through heavy outer walls to get here. An inner wall would be nothing to her. She would be inside the room in seconds.

“Get the regina to the vaults!” Serafina heard her uncle shout. “The princesses, too! Do it
now
!”

She knew he meant the treasury vaults underneath the palace, where the realm’s gold was kept. The hallway that led to them was too narrow for a dragon, and the bronze doors enclosing them were a foot thick and heavily enchanted. Food and medical supplies had been stored within them in case of a siege.

Two Janiçari converged on Neela. Five more rushed to Isabella and tried to lift her. She screamed in pain and struggled against them.

“Mom, stop it.
Please
. You have to let them take you. You’ll be safe there,” Sera said.

Isabella shook her head. “Lift me onto my throne,” she commanded her guard. “I will not die on the floor.”

Serafina’s heart lurched at her mother’s words. “You’re
not
dying. We just have to get you to the vaults. We just have to—”

Isabella took Serafina’s face in her bloodied hands. “I’m staying here to face my attackers.
You
will go to the vaults, Sera. You are regina now, and you must not be taken.
Live
, my precious child. For me. For Miromara.” She kissed Serafina’s forehead then released her.

“No!” Serafina shrilled. “I won’t go without you. I—”

She was cut off by a rumbling crash as the dragon knocked more of the wall down. The creature pulled her head out of the hole she’d made, and dozens of soldiers, all clad in black, swam inside. Their leader pointed toward the throne.

“There they are! Seize them!” he ordered.

Arrows came through the water. Many of the Janiçari surrounding the princesses and the regina fell.

“Go!
Now!
” Isabella shouted.

“I can’t leave you!” Serafina sobbed.

Isabella’s tortured eyes sought Neela’s.
“Please…”
she said.

Neela nodded. She grabbed Serafina’s hand and yanked her away.

Isabella spotted a dagger next to the corpse of a fallen Janiçari. She conjured a vortex in the water, and sent the knife hurtling at the invaders’ leader. The dagger hit home, knocking him to the floor. His men came to his aid, but he pushed them away. “Get them!” he gurgled, drowning in his own blood. “Take the princesses to Traho!”

But Sera and Neela were already gone.

N
EELA HAD NEVER
swum so fast. She was a blur in the water, moving like a marlin, her hand gripping Serafina’s like a vise. But the mermen who’d chased them out of the stateroom were gaining on them.

Serafina, in shock, was deadweight. She was slowing Neela down.

“Come on, Sera, snap out of it!” Neela yelled. “I need you to
swim
!”

They moved through a hallway that twisted and turned. As they rounded a bend, Neela could see that it ended in a
T
.

“Which way to the vaults?” she shouted.

“To the right!” Serafina shouted back, rallying.

They turned the corner. Ahead of them, in front of the doors to the vaults, were at least thirty enemy soldiers.

Neela wheeled around and headed for the other end of the
T
, pulling Serafina after her. As they shot past the mouth of the hallway they’d just swum down, she saw the soldiers who’d chased them from the stateroom.

“There they are!” one of them yelled.

Neela sang a velo spell.

Waters blue,

Hear me cast,

Rise behind us,

Make us fast!

The water in the hall rose like a breaker, swiftly pushing the mermaids ahead of it. They’d outpaced their pursuers for the moment but still had to find a room where they could barricade themselves. Neela didn’t live here, and she didn’t know where to go. They were in another hallway now, one filled with portraits of Miromaran nobles. Neela recognized it. Suddenly, she knew where they were.

“Sera, we can make it to my room!”

Her suite was nowhere near as secure as the vaults, but it was all they had. Serafina, roused now, sped ahead and cut left. Neela was right on her tail. They swam down a narrow loggia and then through a coral archway.

Seconds later, they were at the door to Neela’s suite. But it was too late. There was no time to get it open. The soldiers had cast their own velos and had gained on them. In a desperate move, Neela cast a fragor lux spell, hoping to slow the attackers with a small light bomb.

Lava’s light,

Now attack,

Cause my enemies

To fall back!

She’d sung the spell too fast. It was weak. They were done for, she knew it.

But the spell
wasn’t
weak.

All at once, every globe in the hallway dimmed. The light from each one swirled together into a brilliant, glowing ball. It hurtled through the water, hit the ground a foot away from the soldiers, and exploded, forcing them back. Serafina swung the door open. The two mermaids raced inside and pushed it closed. Neela threw the heavy bolt in the nick of time. Just as it shot home, a body thudded against the door.

“What kind of frag spell
was
that?” Serafina asked, panting for breath.

“I don’t know,” Neela said. “I’ve never done it before.”

There was another thud. The door shuddered.

“They’re going to break it down,” Serafina said. “We can’t stay here.”

Neela swam to a window. The waters outside were thick with soldiers. “Where can we go?” she asked frantically. “They’re everywhere!”

“We could cast a prax spell and camouflage ourselves against the ceiling,” Serafina said.

“They’ll search every inch of these rooms. They’ll find us.”

A pounding started, rhythmic and loud. The invaders were battering down the door. Neela saw that it was bowing out of its frame with every blow.

“Is there anything here we can use to defend ourselves? A knife? Scissors?” Serafina asked. “I’m not going without a fight.”

Neela rushed to her vanity table and started pawing through the bottles and vials on it, looking for any kind of sharp object. And then she saw it—Yazeed’s whelk shell necklace. She’d taken it from him when she and Serafina had found him and Mahdi in the reggia.

“Sera, over here!” she said. “Hurry!”

“What is it?”

“Yaz’s transparensea pearls.”

Neela shook the pearls out of the shell. The songspell of invisibility used shadow and light and was notoriously difficult to cast. Spellbinders—highly skilled artisans—knew how to insert the spell into pearls that a mermaid could carry with her and deploy in an instant.

Neela and Serafina each held one between the palms of their hands. A second later, they were invisible.

“Come on!” Neela said, opening a window.

She couldn’t see Serafina, so she felt around in the water for her, got hold of her arm, and pushed her out through the opening. Her own tail fin had just cleared the sill when the door came crashing in.