The Last Emprex

by EJ Altbacker

  “Definitely don’t listen to this one,” Ripper interrupted.

  The mako swished her tail back and forth. “Sure. Don’t listen. But I’m just like you, Trank. I look out for myself. And you should, too.”

  “Velenka!” shouted Barkley.

  “Let me finish!” she insisted. “When the survivors of the horde tell everyone that you didn’t flick a fin one way or the other during this war, everyone in the Big Blue will know it. You think business was bad when Finnivus took over? That’ll make what’s going to happen look like the good old days. No shark or dweller is coming to listen to music or eat with the traitorous fins that sided with the jurassics.”

  Barkley was amazed. Velenka had made an argument he would have never thought of and directed it at what Trank really cared about—his own personal power and wealth.

  But the stonefish wasn’t impressed. “Youse done?” he asked. “Sorry, dogfish. Made the swim out here for nuthin’.”

  “Yeah. What part of ‘no’ didn’t you understand the first time?” Ripper added, staring at Velenka.

  Barkley nodded. “You know I had to try.”

  The hammerhead turned to Trank. “Doggie and I have had our differences. Heck, I even thought about sending him to the Sparkle Blue once or twice. I’ve let go of that. But Velenka is something else. You better believe she could cause trouble later. Let me have her.”

  Trank studied Velenka. “She turned on me once, too. I ever tell you that?”

  “I don’t doubt it,” said Ripper.

  The mako’s huge black eyes seemed to grow even bigger. “That—that was an unfortunate decision on my part. I—I wasn’t—it wasn’t my fault.”

  “Trank,” Barkley said evenly. “We came here to talk. We came in peace.”

  The stonefish stared at Velenka, considering. “Yeah Barkley, but you’re lookin’ out for your friends. I get that. I respect that. Velenka here, she don’t look out for no one but herself. Maybe it’s time for her to swim off to the Sparkle Blue.”

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” Ripper said with a gleam in his eye.

  “Salamanca thinks that would be a grave mistake,” said a huge blue marlin. Everyone looked to the side where he, Jaunt, twenty AuzyAuzy mariners, Snork, and a huge narwhal with a giant, sharp horn hovered. The group had somehow slipped past the guards.

  Ripper shouted, “Paddletail, Dorno! Sound off!”

  The narwhal, easily the largest fin—or more correctly, flipper—glided forward. He wasn’t menacing them with his pointy tusk, but then he didn’t have to. “Your guards are alive and only their pride is hurt.”

  “Easy boys,” Trank said to the guards. “Don’t want any trouble in my place just when I got it lookin’ the way I like.” He motioned at the newcomers. “I’m Trank, the manager of this humble establishment. Might I interest youse in a serving of the finest seasoned fish the Sific has to offer?”

  “Really?” asked Salamanca. “Salamanca loves seasoned fish. How is it prepared here?”

  “Not now, you wonky drongo!” said Jaunt. “Barkley, you okay?”

  “We’re all right,” he said.

  Velenka interrupted. “No, we’re not! They want to kill me!”

  “Whoa, whoa!” said Trank. “I was only thinkin’ out loud and hadn’t made a decision. Now I have. If Gray didn’t send youse to the Sparkle Blue, who am I to do it?”

  “NO!” shouted Ripper. “We can take ’em!”

  Trank snapped his little tail, and it was louder than Barkley would have thought possible. “Ripper, you’re a good fin, but my decision is final. Let it go or it’s time for you to swim away from here.”

  The hammerhead studied the gathered force allied against him. Even the guards he was in charge of moved away. Ripper gave Trank a stiff nod. “Fine.”

  “Was what you said about Gray being trapped true?” asked the narwhal.

  “It sure is,” the stonefish said. “Those mosasaurs sent boulders bouncing down the side of the mountain and sealed everyone inside. Gotta be gettin’ stuffy in there. If you’re gonna do something, sooner is better.”

  “We got problems,” Jaunt said.

  “More problems,” Aleeyoot added.

  Trank swished his tail at the big marlin. “Salamanca, is it? You talk kinda funny.”

  “Oh, he talks funny,” Barkley said, rolling his eyes.

  The blue marlin pointed his bill at Trank and his eyes narrowed on the small dweller. “Is that so? Does the way Salamanca speaks amuse you, stonefish? Does it make you laugh?”

  Everyone went silent. Jaunt backed away. “Now you’ve gone and done it,” she said.

  “No, not like that,” Trank said. “I mean no disrespect. But the only Salamanca I ever heard of that speaks in the third person is a bladefish that swims the waters of the northern Atlantis on the Europa side.”

  Salamanca dipped his bill with a circular flourish. “Yes, that is me.”

  Trank turned to Jaunt and the narwhal. “And you’re a narwhal. Only bladefish narwhal I ever heard of is called Aleeyoot. That youse?”

  “Why do you want to know?” asked Aleeyoot.

  Trank waved his fins in a soothing manner. “AuzyAuzy and their fins are tight with Gray, so I get why they’re here. But youse bladefish? I thought youse didn’t mess with power struggles in the Big Blue, kinda like me. After all, youse didn’t come in against Finnivus.”

  Salamanca and Jaunt watched Aleeyoot as he thought this over. After a moment he said, “You’re right. We don’t usually get involved in wars between shivers. In the end, Finnivus was from the Big Blue. Cruel and evil, yes. But life would have gone on. This threat is different. We felt we had to choose a side.”

  “Some of us decided before others that it was the right thing to do,” Salamanca said with a grin.

  Trank nodded. “Very enlightening. Best of luck to youse, then.”

  Barkley turned to the relieved Velenka and everyone began to swim away.

  From behind them they heard Trank add, “And Salamanca, if youse guys end up winning, the seasoned fish is on the house.”

  CHAPTER 22

  GRAY HOVERED IN A SMALLER CAVERN WHERE he had ordered a meeting of his council. One way or another it would be their last meeting. The situation was dismal. With only a trickle of current flowing into Fathomir, they had precious little time left before everyone suffocated.

  Takiza seemed better and for that Gray was thankful. Sandy and Onyx were also there, ready to receive instructions for the shiver sharks. Striiker and his subcommanders kept to themselves. Though the constant attacks had stopped because they were sealed in, the great white’s planning for what they would do if freed did not. Tydal and Xander were also close, along with Leilani. She wasn’t a mariner but Gray valued her opinion, as he did the others. It was also a comfort to have her by his side. He had sent Judijoan to distribute what little food they had left to the hungriest pups and older fins.

  Gray didn’t need anyone to run this meeting. He would do it himself.

  “Okay, everyone,” he said in a strong voice. “Listen up.” All eyes in the cavern went to him. A year ago this would have been uncomfortable for Gray, but after so many dire situations, those feelings had passed. He was the Seazarein and he would lead. “Grimkahn has given us two choices. Stay in here and swim the Sparkle Blue or wriggle our way out of the cavern entrance to be eaten one by one. I don’t like either of those.”

  “Right on, Gray!” shouted Striiker. “Tell us how we get to bloody their snouts.”

  Gray didn’t look at Takiza but he could feel the betta’s eyes on him. “I’m going to tunnel us out the other side of the mountain using shar-kata.”

  Everyone was quiet. It wasn’t the rousing reception he was hoping for.

  Finally, Xander put it into words. “Gray, I’ve seen Hokuu and Takiza scrumble with shar-kata, fi
ring those bursts and bolts. Powerful, yeah, too right it is. But strong enough to cut through this mountain? Not a chance, mate. If the back is anything like the front entrance, it’ll be fifty or even seventy feet of solid rock. That’s impossible.”

  “That would be the case normally. But there is a way to amplify my strength many, many times,” Gray said.

  “No!” shouted Takiza. “Surely you do not mean to—”

  Gray whirled. “The Seazarein Emprex is speaking and—with all respect—you will listen.” His master quieted as Gray continued. “I can mix my life force with shar-kata to increase its power. It will not only dig through the side of Fathomir, but make a hole large enough so that we can swim whole battle fins out.”

  “Brilliant!” exclaimed Xander. “If we can keep the mariners in battle fins of a hundred we can assemble our formation right quick.”

  Striiker nodded. “It could work. We’d be on the other side from where Grimkahn’s uglies are swimming. It would take them time to stack and face us.”

  “Foolishness!” said the betta.

  “Takiza, my mind is made up.”

  Tydal gave Gray a fin flick, studying him. “I take it by Takiza’s reaction that what you’re attempting is dangerous.”

  The betta could remain quiet no longer. “Not only is it dangerous, it is idiotic!” Takiza looked at Gray and softened. “It is also very brave.”

  Gray was totally calm. He was more at ease with this decision than many others he had had to make. “Yes. It’s dangerous. But only to me.”

  “Wait, what?” asked Striiker. “What do you mean? What’ll happen to you?”

  “I’m going to free you, is what’s going to happen,” Gray answered, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

  There was a long silence. Finally Leilani asked, “Do you mean that to free us you might . . . die?”

  Gray gave his friends a tight smile.

  He heard his mother whisper “Oh, no,” and then everyone was yelling at once. Voices rang off the walls until Gray thought the cavern would collapse.

  He amplified his voice with a shar-kata boost. The cavern was small and the result was deafening. “SILENCE!” He went on in his normal voice. “This is the only current we have left to swim. Any other time Takiza would do it.” Gray looked warmly at his teacher. “But he can’t. And I don’t want him to. He’s given enough through the years. This is my job. And who knows, maybe I won’t need every bit of my life force to free us and we’ll be laughing about this later. But the fact remains, we have to get out of here and then win the fight against Grimkahn and his jurassic horde. We are out of options and I, as Seazarein Emprex, am going to do this.”

  “There must be some other way,” Leilani said, her eyes leaking tears into the water. Gray could taste them as they wafted through the space.

  Striiker hid his distress, but only barely. “What are your orders, Seazarein?”

  “I want you and Xander to get the mariners lined up, ten by ten,” Gray began. “Some of them won’t have seen this much power being used so you’ll need to tell them what to expect. It’s going to be bright and loud. Also, if the jurassics are patrolling, and they likely are, they will hear it. You should plan on only having a few minutes before Grimkahn comes at you with his entire force.”

  Gray turned to the others in the cavern. “Mom and Onyx, I want you to divide the shiver sharkkind and dwellers into smaller groups. These will swim away after the opening is made and the mariners have left. They’ll have a better chance if they leave during the confusion of the fighting. Tydal, I need you to organize everything else inside the cavern. Gather the older and less injured mariners to protect any who can’t leave, because Grimkahn might send frills in after our mariners are outside.”

  “Of course,” the brown and yellow epaulette shark said, and dipped his snout.

  “You have your orders,” Gray said. “I begin in fifteen minutes at the cavern farthest in back. Please, move with a purpose.”

  This got everyone zipping in all directions, except Leilani, who remained by his side.

  “I’m staying with you,” the spinner said.

  “No, you’re not,” Gray answered, shaking his head. “I need you to get the word out in case the worst happens. I need you to find BenzoBenzo or whoever’s in charge of the spyfish Eyes and Ears. If we fail I want them to have all the information about Grimkahn, Hokuu, and the horde that might be useful. Then maybe someone else can defeat them.”

  “Oh, Gray,” Leilani sobbed. But she couldn’t say anything else and swam off.

  Gray hovered alone in the cavern, listening to the roar of action he had set in motion.

  He felt strangely at peace. The worrying, training, and waiting were finally over.

  One way or another, everything would be decided.

  “Have I ever told you that you are my most troublesome apprentice?” asked Takiza. The little betta drifted down in front of his left eye.

  “Once or twice, Shiro,” Gray sighed. “Once or twice.”

  “Come, I will help you focus your mind for this task,” the betta told him. “You will need to be your best.”

  Gray nodded and they began.

  It wouldn’t be long now.

  CHAPTER 23

  THE RIPTIDE UNITED MARINERS WERE LINED up in squares of ten by ten, one battle fin of a hundred after another, nineteen in all. Nineteen hundred sharkkind was a large force, but there had been even more before the battle at Pax Shiver. Nearly three thousand.

  Gray hoped that Barkley could convince Trank to help, but what were the tiny poisonous dwellers going to do against huge frilled sharks and even larger mosasaurs? Maybe Jaunt was waiting to join them with AuzyAuzy forces. But how many of them had survived Grimkahn’s attack? And had Eugene Speedmeister delivered his message? Was he even alive?

  We’ll have to do this alone, Gray thought.

  “ATTEN-SHUN HOVER!” shouted Striiker. The rows of Riptide United mariners went fins up. “SPLIT RANKS!” The mariners made a space between the fifth and sixth rows, creating a path so Gray could swim to the cavern wall.

  Sharkkind tails and dorsals were urchin spine straight.

  Not a fin was out of place.

  Gray’s heart swelled with pride.

  The lumos had been told what was going on. Other small dwellers like shellbacks and turtles had carried them from the area Gray would attempt to bore through. He didn’t want to lose any innocent lives when it could be avoided. Those that remained on the cavern ceiling, walls, and pillars of volcanic rock shone brighter than Gray had ever seen. The colors were breathtaking as he began the slow swim past his fighting sharkkind to attempt the impossible.

  Tyro, give me strength, he thought.

  Gray met the eyes of the mariners that would swim out to battle Grimkahn and his horde should he succeed. They were ready to die to save the Big Blue.

  Gray would not let them down.

  If he had to use all his life force, so be it.

  “CLOSE RANKS!” bellowed Striiker when Gray passed through the formation. “FINS UP AND AT THE READY!”

  Gray reached out with his senses, falling deeper into concentration than he ever had before. He saw and felt everything: the heartbeats of the mariners, the electricity that formed the lumo lights, all things down to the tiniest wisps of moss pushed back and forth by the micro-currents that still flowed through Fathomir.

  He asked the water and the rocks forming Fathomir to allow him to use their power, just for a little while. The reception he received was a warm one, and Gray felt more connected to the Big Blue than at any time in his entire life. The energy of the waters flowed into him, making everything so very bright to his eyes. He added his own life force to this and the power inside him multiplied and blossomed.

  Gray kept the force churning and growing until he could bear no more. It crackled and popped in
the water all around him. He was glowing now, heat coming from inside him. It only happened when the amount of power you were channeling was massive.

  With a shout he released what he had gathered.

  A stream of energy poured from Gray and turned the rock it touched into sand. He moved forward, making sure the dust didn’t spread in the water and choke his mariners. He put every ounce of his will into it. Gray’s heightened senses told him exactly how much rock he would have to cut through to get outside.

  It wasn’t fifty or even seventy feet.

  It was a hundred and two.

  Too far, too far . . .

  I will not fail! he shouted inside his mind.

  The first fifty feet of rock disappeared in a flash of light.

  Then twenty more.

  Gray mixed the energy of the ocean with his life force and kept shooting it forward.

  It felt like he was on fire with twenty-five feet to go.

  Then it was twenty.

  Fifteen.

  Gray’s progress slowed.

  It took more time to move the next five feet than it had to cut through everything else.

  Ten feet of rock remained between them and the revitalizing waters of the Big Blue.

  Gray gritted his teeth, driving more and more of his life force into his effort.

  Eight feet . . .

  His sight began to dim.

  Six feet . . .

  Sparkles blipped into existence everywhere. These weren’t like the white lights that you found with shar-kata. They were colorful.

  Three feet . . .

  He had to finish! He would not allow everyone to die without a fighting chance!

  Gray took the last of his life force, transferring it into his effort to vaporize the last of the rock in front of him. He had to get through or they would die.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  There was still a foot of solid rock in front of him and he could not break it down!

  Darkness closed in. The lights around Gray grew brighter and more colorful.