The Last Emprex

by EJ Altbacker

  So far they had seen no sign of the evil frilled shark.

  Barkley felt absolutely useless as sharkkind died by the scores above him.

  He couldn’t help any of them!

  Though the fury of the battle drowned everything out Velenka kept her voice low. “Hokuu’s here. Close.”

  “How do you know?” asked Barkley.

  “Because he wouldn’t miss this,” she said. “I still don’t believe he and Grimkahn had an actual fight, but either way, he’s here.”

  Even if the fight had been real, Hokuu could be waiting for the perfect time to betray the mosasaur king if he won. The frill’s wound was authentic enough. Barkley watched Grimkahn roar and chop a mariner in half with his huge crocodile mouth. He seemed unstoppable.

  Suddenly Grimkahn darted off to the side and out of the immediate fight.

  Why?

  Barkley moved to get a better view.

  “What are you doing?” Velenka hissed. “Keep down!”

  Grimkahn snapped at something but the mosasaur’s body blocked Barkley’s view of what it was.

  Then Barkley saw it was Gray.

  “What is that chowderheaded fool doing?” asked Velenka when she saw.

  Gray got slapped by Grimkahn’s huge tail. He was dazed.

  “Stay here!” Barkley said and he jetted forward as fast as he could. He wouldn’t let Gray be eaten without doing something. “HEY! HEY! HEY!” was all Barkley could think to shout. Grimkahn heard and glanced his way.

  The mosasaur didn’t stop, though. He rushed at the stunned Gray, opening his lethal jaws.

  Barkley did the only thing he could think of. . . .

  He tail-finned Grimkahn in the eye.

  Barkley apparently hit his mark because the mosasaur lunged at him with a pained screech. The jurassic was amazingly quick for something so big.

  Gray slipped away into the thick of battle. He hadn’t even seen Barkley’s charge.

  But Grimkahn had.

  Now Barkley was about to get eaten, when—

  Velenka swam through Grimkahn’s mouth and out the other side!

  This distracted the mosasaur king so much that he fouled his flipper strokes and reflexively struck at Velenka. The small delay allowed Barkley time to madly swim forward. When Grimkahn bit down—missing by an urchin spine—a wave of water forced Barkley forward as the mosasaur’s huge jaws slammed behind him.

  The only reason he was alive was because of Velenka’s distraction. . . .

  Barkley tumbled into the greenie as Grimkahn resumed his pursuit of Gray.

  “Well that was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” Velenka said. She twisted and saw the tip of her tailfin was missing. It was only an inch, but still. She chuckled nervously. “They don’t get much closer than that, do they?”

  “I guess I owe you a few trust points,” Barkey said.

  “Only a few?” she asked, faking displeasure. “I just swam through Grimkahn’s mouth for you!”

  “I know you did,” Barkley said.

  “Youse was both pretty brave there,” said the familiar voice of Trank. “Stupid. But pretty brave. Maybe Gray and I were right about not sending you to the Sparkle Blue.”

  Ripper was also there, guarding Trank. The big hammerhead looked at Velenka and grunted, “Not bad. Let’s not get carried away, either.”

  Barkley couldn’t believe his eyes. “What are you two doing here?”

  “Just taking a little swim,” the stonefish said. “Gotta keep up the exercise when youse get to be my age.”

  Barkley then saw a mass of glowing . . . something. They weren’t sharks. It was like a huge clump of lumo greenie caught in the current and heading straight for the fight.

  Was Takiza up to something?

  No. They were jellyfish!

  They were different types and some of them were huge. Barkley remembered the names of a few: purple striped, moon, mauve stinger, sea nettle, and the giant lion’s mane jelly, trailing tentacles longer than even a mosasaur.

  The jellies drifted through the battle and by the reaction of those in the jurassic horde, scared the heck out of them. Striiker and their allies were able to get some space from the frilled sharks and mosasaurs and reform their mega-armada.

  Then, as quickly as they came, the jellyfish were gone.

  Barkley turned to Trank. “You did that, didn’t you? I knew you cared.”

  “Whoa! Whoa!” said Trank, circling his fins in an annoyed way. “Don’t go saying anything youse can’t take back. I was taking a swim and happened to be here when that odd thing happened. I’m on no one’s side. I do like your friends the bladefish though. They have style. And one of them saved my grandfather. Old family story, maybe I’ll tell ya sometime. Well, I gotta get back to the club. Got some fish waiting to be seasoned. See ya ’round.”

  Ripper gave Barkley a wink and left with Trank.

  Was this a dream?

  Was he swimming the Sparkle Blue inside Grimkahn’s stomach?

  Barkley couldn’t sort it out right now. His side hurt like it was covered with lava, and everyone above them began fighting again. He motioned to Velenka and they swam into the greenie to search for Hokuu once more.

  Barkley even let Velenka cover his tail.

  Gray was lucky he hadn’t been eaten. He had been pushed past the main battle when Grimkahn saw him and attacked. Stupidly, Gray didn’t think the mosasaur king was quick enough to hit him with a tail strike and he was knocked senseless for a moment.

  Barkley had saved his life and then disappeared.

  That’s something else he’ll never let me forget, thought Gray as he dodged another rush by Grimkahn. Gray had to make sure he didn’t go back into the main battle and reappeared so the mosasaur king could see and chase him instead. He had recovered enough to use shar-kata but did not have anywhere near enough power to dent Grimkahn’s armored hide. Right now Gray was swimming for his life.

  “It’s only a matter of time, pup!” the mosasaur king yelled as they paused from their exertions, both panting.

  “Call your horde off, Grimkahn,” Gray answered, keeping his distance. He could see that mariners were dying by the hundreds again after the giant jellyfish swarm had stopped the killing for a moment. The jurassic horde was inflicting huge losses once more. “You and I can fight for leadership! Or are you scared?”

  Grimkahn laughed and it sounded like a rock slide. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? But I ordered my commanders not to stop fighting for any reason. You’ll all be lunch today!” With that the mosasaur roared toward him again.

  Gray gathered power with shar-kata and mixed it with a little of his life force. He felt his heart flutter and skip a beat as fire surged inside him.

  FHWOOM!

  The blast slowed the mosasaur king.

  He stared at Gray and then began to laugh. “Pretty good, but still not enough! Hokuu thought he was going to send me to the Sparkle Blue like that, too. I wish he was around so I could kill you both at once. I told you. Nothing cuts through mosasaur hide but mosasaur teeth, and you’re no mosasaur!”

  Gray’s heart sank. There wasn’t anything he could do to injure Grimkahn.

  He barely dodged the mosasaur’s next strike.

  But he wasn’t fast enough to avoid the devastating snout ram that followed.

  Gray listed to the left, sure his ribs were broken.

  Grimkahn opened his mouth wide and snapped down on Gray.

  “NOOO!” cried Leilani when she saw Grimkahn devour Gray.

  It couldn’t be!

  Gray—the Seazarein—her friend . . . was gone.

  Striiker fought furiously, barely keeping at bay the frilled shark who was trying to skewer his head with its tail.

  Over the monster’s shoulder he saw Gray and Grimkahn fighting.
r />   Then Gray was gone.

  There’s no way, Striiker thought. Gray must have moved away with shar-kata speed and I missed it.

  But where was he?

  And why was Grimkahn howling with joy?

  Barkley blinked, hoping that his eyes were lying.

  His friend had been swallowed whole by Grimkahn.

  My friend is dead, he thought.

  Grimkahn roared in triumph, shaking the battle waters around him.

  “I’VE WON!” he cried as he gnashed his teeth back and forth.

  The chunky pup was made of tough stuff, Grimkahn would give him that.

  Even now Gray’s carcass was stuck tight in his throat.

  But something was wrong.

  There was no blood.

  Blood always gushed pleasingly in his throat when he crushed the life out of prey.

  Where was the blood?

  Gray thought he was incredibly calm given the fact that he was entirely inside Grimkahn’s mouth.

  His shield glowed with power, but it was cracking. He could feel it beginning to give way to the incredible force of the mosasaur king’s grinding teeth.

  He couldn’t dodge Grimkahn’s last attack. He had known that.

  It was then, a split second before the giant, toothy mouth closed on him, that Gray got an idea.

  It was his craziest—and maybe best—yet.

  He couldn’t beat Grimkahn with his own size and speed. The monster was too big.

  And shar-kata didn’t work against the mosasaur’s armored hide, so Gray couldn’t hurt him . . .

  . . . from the outside.

  What Gray hadn’t tried was attacking from the inside. Not totally inside since Grimkhan’s mouth wasn’t entirely closed around him, but Gray was staring down the mosasaur king’s gullet and that was close enough.

  It was all or nothing. This would work or he would be eaten.

  Gray’s shield flattened, and he could feel the dagger spikes on the roof of the monster’s mouth touch his back. He gathered power until he felt as if he would explode into a fireball and then released it.

  The pressure on his back stopped.

  Gray couldn’t hear anything from inside Grimkahn’s gullet.

  For a moment everything was silent.

  Then the mosasaur’s mouth disintegrated into charred pieces, falling to each side of Gray.

  After a moment blood gushed forth from where Grimkahn’s head used to be and the ocean around him turned red.

  The rest of the mosasaur king’s body crashed onto the seabed.

  Grimkahn was finally dead.

  CHAPTER 26

  GRAY HOPED THE DEATH OF THEIR LEADER would cause the jurassic horde to stop fighting.

  It was a false hope.

  If anything, the monsters became more enraged. Grimkahn wasn’t lying when he told Gray about his standing order to wipe them out. They would have to win this outright.

  With the addition of the Hideg Shiver sharkkind from the Arktik and at least three or four battle pods of orcas from Icingholme Shiver, the tide had turned. Frilled sharks started swimming the Sparkle Blue at a faster pace. And the bladefish were deadly against the mosasaurs. They too, were dying. But there were still at least thirty of the giants left, along with several hundred frilled sharks.

  They could have escaped if they wanted to, but instead they drove deeper into the Riptide United forces, inflicting huge casualties. Gray powered back into the melee. He rammed a frill away from an AuzyAuzy mariner and then bit the tail off another.

  Gray saw Xander die in the fighting. Another of his friends was gone. The mariners he commanded slowed for a split second, unsure what to do. The swarm of frills and three mosasaurs they battled ripped into them.

  The entire Indi and AuzyAuzy force was about to be annihilated. Gray whipped himself into the diamondhead. “To me!” he shouted. “Triple Tail Turns Up and Left!” Thankfully one of Olph’s battle dolph cousins was there to click-razz the order so everyone could hear it.

  The move swung their force over and crashed it into the weak side of this section of the jurassic horde. But the frilled sharks were quick to adjust and soon it was bloody, snout-to-snout, close combat again. Sharkkind and frills thrashed every which way, dying. One mosasaur was taken out by Salamanca. He sliced the beast’s guts out from underneath while another swordfish drove its sharp bill deep into a mosasaur’s eye socket to the brain. It sank, flippers jerking and twitching.

  But still, sharkkind all around Gray died.

  A shiver of terror crept down his spine. Even without Grimkahn the jurassic horde could win. They were driven by an almost psychotic madness to kill everyone around them.

  And we don’t have any more friends left who can show up and help, Gray thought as he avoided a wild tail strike from a frill.

  Suddenly the frilled sharks were compacted against his mariners.

  Unable to move freely, they became easier targets. Gray thought it was the orcas pushing forward, as the figures in the hazy red waters were larger than sharks.

  They were swimming upright, though, with long necks.

  They looked like prehistores but were sending frills and mosasaurs to the Sparkle Blue.

  As they got closer he saw they were giant sea dragons.

  Gray couldn’t believe it.

  Yappy’s cousins from the Dark Blue had finally arrived.

  The giant sea dragons were used to swimming where the water was thick and heavy, so in these higher depths they were lightning fast and more than a match for the frills. They were also big enough that three or four of them could take down a mosasaur.

  Still, the jurassic horde didn’t relent. They fought and died to the last.

  When it was over there was a great cheer and then silence as the survivors took in a sight no one would ever wipe from their mind. The dead and dying formed a twenty and thirty foot deep pile on the seabed.

  It was horrifying.

  Gray felt guilty when a spasm of relief washed through him.

  He was alive, the battle had been won, and the war was over.

  CHAPTER 27

  THE BODIES OF THE FALLEN HAD TO BE moved after what would forever be called the Battle of Fathomir. The honored dead of Riptide, AuzyAuzy, Indi, Vortex, Hammer, Hideg, Icingholme, and all the smaller shivers that had fought were placed in one location while the jurassics were dragged to another. Thankfully a fierce current surged through the area for three days after the battle and helped the process. Even the mosasaurs were taken far enough away—with much help from Yappy’s giant sea dragon cousins—so the living didn’t have to be reminded of their evil and smell their stink.

  Out of those piles of dead, life did spring. In short order entire new reefs were created from the bodies. They burst forth with thick greenie, corals, and whole new ecosystems.

  It was the way of the Big Blue.

  It seemed even if you swam the Sparkle Blue, you still had a job to do.

  Gray swam out to speak in front of the Fathomir home and battle waters. A hundred thousand sharkkind and dwellers waited for his words. He had sent dozens of quickfin messengers to call representatives from every shiver they could think of, with Judijoan, Leilani, and BenzoBenzo, the huge blowfish head of the AuzyAuzy Eyes and Ears, being a tremendous help there.

  Gray had already told the closest of his advisors what he would say to the gathered. That discussion, which included old friends and loved ones like his mother, Barkley, Snork, Striiker, Onyx, Jaunt, and new friends like Leilani, Tydal, Salamanca, Aleeyoot, BenzoBenzo, and Judijoan, was one of the rowdiest he had ever seen.

  They were shocked and some disagreed, but he had made up his mind.

  Gray would give up the title of Seazarein Emprex.

  When he swam to a place where everyone could see him, there was a thunderous cheer
. Gray called forth the energy of the waters to amplify his voice.

  “I am Graynoldus Rex the Seazarein Emprex of the seven seas and all the oceans,” he began, and the crowd quieted to listen. “As you might have guessed, it’s a big job. I tried to do it as well as I could. Unfortunately we had to fight two wars in the short time I’ve been in charge.”

  Someone shouted, “And you won!” This set off another rousing cheer.

  Gray waved his tail for order and the crowd quieted. “Despite the fact that we won—and it was we who won, not me—many of our friends and loved ones swam the Sparkle Blue before their time. Though it seemed that both of these wars were unavoidable, I’d like to try something different, something that may let us avoid future wars. I propose sharing the power between the shivers of the Big Blue. I want to form an assembly where shivers big and small can work together and more importantly, listen to the sharkkind, dwellers, and even those from the Underwaters and Dark Blue, so that there can be understanding between everyone. I want to stop wars before they start.”

  The crowd was hushed as they thought about this radical concept. The Five in the Line had been around since the time of Tyro. Gray was replacing it with a structure where power would be shared by many shivers. It was a big deal.

  “By banding together, this oceanwide alliance would prevent not only bloodshed but also injustices committed by shivers who decide to use the fact that they are bigger and stronger to do evil. Each shiver will choose a representative to send to Fathomir and form this assembly. Yes, there will be a leader because I’ve learned you can’t run a meeting without someone being in charge. But the leader wouldn’t make the decisions, only guide the process. The assembly will vote on what to do together.”

  Out of the Riptide armada a chant began, softly at first but then gaining strength as more and more picked up the chant. Soon the waters thundered with, “GRAY-FOR-LEADER! GRAY-FOR-LEADER! GRAY-FOR-LEADER!”

  Gray used his shar-kata and a slash of his tail to say, “NO!”