The only way to stop Silvari was to become her.
“I am not alone,” Quarie whispered to herself.
She focused all her energy on the necklace that she wore. It filled her with a great sense of power. She could feel the strands of energy from everyone around her, and instead of severing the ties to Silvari, she began to pluck and hold them.
Quarie could sense the vastness of the oceans with greater clarity than ever before. The world’s seas were much larger and far-reaching than she had ever imagined. From the frozen ice caps to the balmy tropics and everywhere in between lay water, and power. She drew on it, sucking every drop of energy away from Silvari.
And there, before her, was that gateway. Quarie could sense it now, could hear it. She understood it. All she had to do was to finish Silvari's work. To draw all that energy from the Isyre. Together, she knew, they could open the door. Together, they could find what lay behind it. Together they could be all the greater.
“That's it, water witch. Open the gateway. Do you know what is on the other side? It is life itself. Whoever crosses it will hold the power of the world in their hands. They can do anything, control everything. They will rule the world, all its people, across all of the oceans. They say that beyond that door is the power to bring back life from death.”
The words washed over her. Life from death. She could restore her home, restore the homelands of the Isyre. It was in her grasp. Quarie could bring back her parents.
“You are not alone, child.” Anura stepped up to one side of Quarie.
“You never have to be,” rasped Zuke as he came to stand on her other side.
The other Isyre who she had freed were standing up, joining hands so that they formed a circle around her. But Quarie still wrestled with Silvari, still held threads to many of the entranced Isyre. It was then that she realized what she had to do.
She lifted off the necklace and crushed it to the ground, breaking the shells into pieces, returning them to the sand. From somewhere, a sliver of fire crossed the air and caught what was left of the cord that held it together and turned it to ash.
The power of the captives flowed back to Silvari with her magical artifacts still intact. Silvari smiled. “Now they are all mine”
Quarie took a step back, and joined hands with the others who had been freed. Together they knit a tidal wave of energy that severed the remaining ties.
Silvari screamed as the threads of magic melted from her grasp.
The glyph and the gateway began to fade.
“It's over, Silvari,” said Zuke as he pushed himself to standing.
She whirled on him. “Traitor.”
Silvari began to chant, casting some kind of spell Quarie could not decipher. It wasn't water energy this time.
Zuke stumbled backwards.
The volcano rumbled, knocking everyone to the ground with its shaking.
It was Silvari's doing, encouraging an earthquake. One that would cause the volcano to fully erupt and could generate a true tsunami. Just to prove its point, another rock exploded, followed by a new flow of lava, larger and faster than before.
“Zuke, I need your help,” Quarie said.
“She's impervious to fire. I already tried.”
“Trust me.” She summoned a small stream of water. It flowed across the beach, and encircled Silvari's feet. “Do you remember the lightning from the plains?”
They exchanged a look. Zuke's eyes were haunted, but he nodded and took her hand. Quarie called the rain. Zuke took a deep breath.
“Now,” he said.
Zuke's fire energy jolted through Quarie's clouds and became lightning. From water he drew fire and aimed it for Silvari.
The face of his old lover was twisted in a sneer of desperation and greed as she tried to summon an evil form of magic to destroy the Isyre and Quarie.
He closed his eyes as his stormfire struck, as fire and electricity zapped through the water at her feet and through her form.
Then she was gone.
In the distance, the prow of the burning ship tilted upwards as it took on water and prepared to sink forever into its depths.
Zuke looked around at the beach, filled with the Isyre who appeared to have just awoken from a long night's sleep.
The glyph was gone, but the volcano was still awakening. No amount of magic could stop it now.
“We need a way off the island,” he said. “Quickly.”
Quarie nodded, then waived to the rest of the Isyre. Men and women ran for the shores and dove into the waves, disappearing like fish beneath the water.
She took his hand. “Don't worry. I will protect you if you trust me.”
Chapter 18
Quarie held tight to Zuke’s hand and guided him through the waves to the shore. It wasn’t that he couldn’t swim at all. But his style was more of a romping puppy frolicking in the water rather than a dolphin gliding sleekly through the waves.
Despite all that, she was able to get them both back to the beach at her cove before nearly collapsing onto the sand in exhaustion. Zuke sat close beside her, looking equally exhausted but in no hurry to leave.
All around them, the freed Isyre emerged from the water until the beach. Quarie held her breath until the last few arrived, including Anura. Everyone looked the worse for their captivity, the enchantment, and the lengthy swim.
The group embraced each other and the night air was filled with voices and greetings between old friends and kin. Their laughter turned to cheers and then to song. She recognized the tune as something her father used to sing when she was a child. She knew the melody, but not the words, so she hummed along. Anura draped a frail arm around Quarie’s shoulders.
Zuke watched and listened for a spell, transfixed. She was sure that he was memorizing the details of the reunion, but he looked so very out of place.
Suddenly, he stood upright and began to walk up and down the area, collecting driftwood and seaweed. While the Isyre sang to the sea and to the stars of their thanksgiving for having lived through such an ordeal, Zuke built an enormous bonfire.
Quarie slipped away from Anura and joined Zuke next to his blaze and its warmth.
“To say that I am sorry is not nearly enough,” he said.
“We couldn’t have escaped without you.” She touched his shoulder.
He pulled away. “You wouldn’t have been in danger without me.”
Quarie snorted. “Without you, Mulavi would have found me on the plains.”
“And you had nothing to do with how Silvari kidnapped me from my home,” said Anura as she came to stand by the fire. “Or the rest of them. I don’t know who you are, magic man, but I know that you helped to save us.”
Zuke looked to Quarie, and then to Anura, and then to the other Isyre who had begun to join them at the bonfire. “I don’t belong here.”
Anura shot him a look. “You should stay. We would like to hear the story of how you came to meet my granddaughter and to bring her to rescue us. But tomorrow. It is late, and we all must sleep now.”
Zuke opened his mouth and then closed it again.
Between Zuke’s fire and the remains of Quarie’s old cave-carved home, the people of the Isyre settled in to sleep. They took turns setting watch, in case Silvari’s pirates survived to come ashore.
In the morning, Quarie could not find Zuke. One of the men told her that he had left at first light on foot. She wanted to go after him, but Anura convinced her to stay and help organize the people. They set about in groups to organize the cove into a tidy camp. A small group went off to fish and another followed a trail that Quarie pointed out where she used to gather fruits and seeds as a girl.
That night, as they all dined on some fresh caught fish roasted with leaves and herbs, Quarie began to tell her the story of her adventures since Raksha had arrived.
It was Quarie who began to answer. “Illista and I were hiding with the Waki among the people of the Ken Segra.”
Anura nodded. “And who is this Illista?”
/> Quarie gave her grandmother a look. “You didn’t know? Illista is my little sister. The two of us fled from Zabewah’s hunters together.”
Anura sputtered. “Two? There are two of you?”
“Yes. She is younger. And she has our water magic.”
“Perhaps you should start at the beginning,” Zuke suggested, his voice carrying across the air as he hiked down the bluffs toward the group.
Quarie jumped to her feet and raced to meet him, with a smile on her face that she couldn’t quite contain. “I thought you left.”
“I did. I brought you some supplies. The horse is still up there,” he waived toward the top. “I couldn’t convince the beast to make the hike down with me.”
Quarie grinned. “Some of us can go fetch your things. And there is a path that might allow the wagon down, but you will have to wait for the low tide in the morning.”
He nodded. “I can bring the rest and then leave again on the following tide.”
Quarie frowned.
“You should stay,” said Anura.
He shook his head. “Zabewah will be hunting me. I am a danger to you all.”
Quarie took his hand gently in his. “Zabewah is hunting us all. We are stronger together than we are apart.”
He entwined his fingers with her.
“Please stay with me,” she asked. “You never need to be alone either.”
He stepped closer, so that they stood only a breath apart. “Do you promise?”
She nodded.
Zuke didn’t see how the rest of the Isyre men and women grinned as they pretended to look away from the couple. Quarie couldn’t hear the soft happy sign from Anura as he leaned in close towards Quarie.
Neither of them had ever felt electricity quite like they did as they kissed for the first time, with their toes in the sand and the fiery glow of the setting sun behind them.
The End
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed meeting Quarie and Zuke and dipping your toes in their world in Seize the Storm. If you would like to know how this story begins and learn more about Illista and Joral's adventures, please check out Call the Rain, available wherever eBooks are sold. Please follow me on Facebook and my blog to hear about upcoming book releases and specials, in this series as well as my others. www.kristilea.com
Racing the Clock: A Bonds of Madness Novella
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Racing the Clock © 2020 Catherine Banks
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Chapter 1
“You will seduce the prince and convince him to give you his soul. If you fail, you will give me your soul for eternity,” Sacha said. Her tentacles spread out beneath her as she smiled broadly, with nothing but greed glowing in her eyes.
The underwater cave tunnel we floated into was lit by the bioluminescent algae Sacha had planted when she first confiscated the cave from the sirens who had previously inhabited it. The tunnel opened to an enormous cave with a huge angler fish trapped at the top, encased in a sticky spider silk cage, so it’s esca could illuminate the entire cave. She also had several Ctenophora in small cages along the walls to provide additional lighting.
I always felt bad for the imprisoned creatures, but I could do nothing for them. If I freed them, she would just capture them, kill them brutally, and then find new ones to replace them.
If the sea had dictionaries like the human world, Sacha’s picture would be used as an example for evil.
She expected me to fail, but if I did succeed, she still won. No matter what happened, she gained a soul. Mine or the prince’s.
I would find a way to outsmart her. I would find a way to free myself from the stupid contract I had made with her.
“Morgane, you will not fail me. Do you understand?”
I met Sacha’s black eyes and nodded. “Yes, Sea Witch.”
She smiled, revealing serrated teeth, much like a shark’s. “Good. Now, I’m going to give you the ability to turn into a human with those ugly two legs, to make it easier for you to seduce the prince. From what I hear, he’s rather reclusive, but I’m going to get you into the castle and find you a situation that will put you right in front of him. With your beauty, he won’t be able to resist.”
She wasn’t wrong. I had been blessed by the gods with beauty…literally. Amphitrite and Athena had stood over me and given me beauty and brains as blessings, to pay tribute to my family who had been murdered during a godly dispute.
Unfortunately, those brains had not saved me from making a desperate bargain with the sea witch. I only had myself to blame for that idiocy.
“I will not fail,” I promised her.
She smirked. “Now, this might hurt a bit.”
A bit was an understatement and she knew it.
I screamed until I lost my voice and continued to silently scream for hours until she finished her spell.
Sacha left me on the floor of the cave, my body one huge, bloody bruise.
I floated in and out of consciousness until she woke me the following day with a new outfit.
“Put this on once you reach the surface,” she instructed me. “Flip will escort you to the beach.”
Flip was her pet shark that was more zombie than shark by now. She had reanimated him so many times that I wasn’t sure if anything of the original shark still remained.
“Yes, Sea Witch,” I agreed, floating upright and fighting against the nauseous feeling that threatened to cause me to vomit what little was in my stomach.
“You are going to do something heroic and the prince will be indebted to you,” Sacha explained.
“What? What am I supposed to do that is heroic?” I asked, my head still spinning slightly.
“You are going to save a child from drowning right in front of the prince,” Sacha said, an evil gleam in her eye.
I knew what she meant, Flip was going to be transformed to look like a child and I would pretend to save him.
I nodded. “I understand.”
“I’m going to give you money so you can buy clothes and supplies while there. I want you to make the prince think you are a visiting royal from a far away land. That you ran away from home because they wanted you to marry a boorish prince who struck you. Got that?”
“What name will I go by?” I asked. “What kingdom am I from?”
She smiled. “Those are the questions I expected you to ask. Good. You’re paying attention and alert. You will use your real name and say you escaped Rascalia. The moment anyone hears that name, they will picture their enemy kingdom and envision how barbaric it is there.”
Her power was truly terrifying.
I’d heard there was another sea witch, on the other side of the world, who was even more powerful than her.
I prayed I never crossed paths with that one.
“You are truly powerful,” I whispered and shuddered, not bothering to hide how much that upset me because she loved being complimented on her power.
As expected, she preened her thick hair and her tentacles curled a bit at the tips. “Yes, yes. Well, enough about me. Let me finish packing your bag and then send you on your way. We must get you there in time to steal his heart and soul before the stupid Princess of Cecilm
a shows up.”
Cecilma? I’d never heard of such a place.
She swam out of the cave and I let myself sink to the ground, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths.
Everything would be alright.
I just had to find this prince, pretend to save Flip, convince him to fall in love with me, convince him to give his soul to me, and then trade his soul for mine.
Easy.
Super easy.
So easy.
It was so easy I could do it with my eyes closed.
A grin spread as I lay, eyes closed, and tried to imagine what this prince looked like.
Hopefully, he wasn’t completely hideous and super fat.
I knew many princes ended up getting really fat because they gorged on food all the time.
I had to hope this one had some decorum.
And wasn’t an egotistical, pompous, well-bred idiot.
I could hope, right?
Flip nudged my arm with his snout.
“No,” I whispered.
He nudged me again.
“Look, I’ll be out of your way soon enough. Just let me rest. I don’t want to meet the prince with bags beneath my eyes,” I said, still not opening my eyes.
Flip spun above me and then nestled in at my side.
I would never tell Sacha, but I loved Flip. He was a stupid, vicious undead shark, but he had moments like this where I almost thought he had a soul.
I set my hand on his side and stroked him. “It will all be over soon,” I whispered.
I wasn’t sure who I was reassuring in that moment, though. Flip or myself?
Chapter 2
“To transform into a human, just close your eyes and picture those hideous legs. I’ve put a dress inside your pack that you can change into once you’re on shore,” Sacha explained.
I nodded.
“Flip, be convincing, alright? We need the prince to believe you’re drowning and that the only reason you were saved is because of Morgane. I will send a few others to catch the prince’s and nearby passersby attention, but the rest is up to you two.”
Mermaidia: A Limited Edition Anthology Page 9
