Wrath of the Sea Queen

by Cynthia Woods

  "That will keep him safe while we locate Salma," Ben said as he followed Vin into the cave. Vin led him through the cave’s interior until they came to a room where ten armed men stood blocking their path. Ben was getting ready to rush the men barring his path to Salma when Vin’s hand pulled on his shoulder to hold him back.

  "Let me do this, Ben. That's why you brought me, and I have the pent up energy to burn right now. No need to go rushing in when I can accomplish the task safely from here. I can buy you enough time to get by them and help Salma. Be ready," Vin stated confidently as he summoned the wind to his aid. He did not have to reach far. The storm outside provided more than enough for what Vin needed, and his emotions were already pressing against his thin layer of restraint.

  "Hurry, Vin. I'm not sure why or how, but Salma received a sharp pain a moment ago." Ben's fear mounted with each second.

  Vin sent strong winds into the next room. Men and guns went flying, tumbling around the room. As he peeked carefully around the corner, Vin was able to see the few who had not yet succumbed to the wind. He focused his efforts more specifically on them. When all the men were disarmed or disabled, Vin held them back so the path was clear for Ben.

  "Ben, please hurry," Salma’s voice in Ben’s mind sounded frantic and much weaker than it had minutes ago.

  "Vin! Salma is calling again. She sounds desperate. And look how the water is rising in here. We need to move quickly. I remember how the other room flooded when we found Caeli. If Salma is trapped in there…" Ben let the thought trail off.

  "Go now, Ben. I'll be right behind you," Vin answered without taking his focus off the men in the other room.

  Ben ran into the next cavern and found Salma valiantly struggling to get free. Then he saw the cut on her shoulder. Ben was well aware of how bad that type of injury could be due to a rapid loss of blood. Yet, that was not his only concern. Salma's wrist was chained to the floor, and the water had already risen to her shoulders where she knelt. The room was like a swimming pool, and Salma was in danger of drowning if Ben could not free her quickly. He made his way down and rushed to her side.

  "Salma, I'm here. Stop struggling, Love. You're cutting your wrist and making your shoulder worse."

  Ben ripped a wide strip from the bottom of his shirt and tied it tightly around Salma's shoulder. She yelped at the pain when he pulled the knot tight, and then thanked him.

  "Ben, I can't get my wrist free. You have to listen to me. Scott was here, and he had the Book of Elements. He plans to kill Caeli and take her blood into himself. He believes that will allow him to access the book directly. We have to warn her. You have to tell Vin. And, Ben, there's something else. Scott is Chief Matthews' son." Salma was doing a decent job of keeping her panic in check under the circumstances.

  "I know. Apela actually mentioned his name during your seminar, but it didn’t register until later," Ben commented without looking up from his work on the lock. Salma filled him in on the details, but Ben could tell that she was scared and growing weaker by the minute. Not having the key to the cuffs with him, Ben had opened a small clasp on his belt buckle and pulled out two long, thin pieces of metal. He attempted to pick the lock on the handcuff beneath the water as Salma talked.

  A commotion erupted in the cavern on the other side of the wall. Vin came around the corner in a rush, but was not in time to overhear Salma's warning about the threat Scott posed to Caeli. He stopped short so that he didn't plunge into the middle of the pool of water.

  "Colonel Franks and his men are here. They left Max up at the hotel with Apela. Apparently, we leave an easy trail to follow. They are cleaning up the garbage in the other room. Are you ok, Salma?" Vin could not see her injury or the chain attached to her wrist from where he stood.

  "Salma is hurt and losing a lot of blood. That maniac chained her to the floor. Can you get this water out of my way for a minute or two? I need to get a clear look at the lock on her wrist," Ben explained with a mix of frustration, concern, and anger in his voice.

  Vin concentrated and used the wind to force the water away from Salma. It parted around her as if held back by an invisible wall and remained that way long enough to provide Ben with the visual window needed to accomplish his task.

  Ben used the strands of metal to spring the lock on the handcuff that held Salma's wrist. It only took about twenty seconds once he was able to see the locking mechanism. Salma tried to smile at him, appreciating how lucky she was that he was a cop with such useful skills. As soon as the clasp opened, Ben pulled Salma up from her knees to a standing position and into his arms. The sudden rise was too much for her after the loss of blood, and she fainted. Ben picked her up and, with a little supportive assistance from Vin, carried her toward the entrance of the cave.

  "Vin, we've got to get her some help right away."

  They met up with Colonel Franks near the front entrance of the cave where the flood waters were not yet as deep though the rain was coming down in sheets. All of Scott's men had been rounded up and were now tied up and under guard along one wall, sitting in about a foot of water. The rest of the Colonel's men, including Jeremy, were nowhere in sight. The colonel stopped them at the entrance.

  "Colonel, what's the problem? Salma needs medical attention," Vin asked.

  "The protestors are out on the beach in force. It looks like the entire lot of them. There must be over a hundred, and they are all fired up. Not even this weather could deter them. We seem to have a mob on our hands. Jeremy and the rest of my men are out there getting the situation under control before it turns into a riot. I can't let you go out there until it's safe. How badly is the doctor hurt?" The Colonel asked.

  "She was stabbed in the shoulder. It's a large wound, and she lost a lot of blood before we arrived. I was able to slow the bleeding, but not stop it. She's unconscious. Please Colonel, she needs help as soon as possible," Ben replied, his voice laden with worry.

  "Maybe I can do something. I'm a trained field medic, and I have seen more than my fair share of war wounds. I might be able to patch her up well enough to hold her over until a real doctor can look at her. May I try?" Colonel Franks offered.

  Ben nodded his agreement, and the Colonel moved to work on Salma's shoulder, grabbing a medic kit from a pack hanging on a spike on the wall nearby.

  Vin stepped outside to assess the scene on the beach. He located Jeremy and a few others trying to get the agitated crowd under control. The chaos seemed to be building. Several of the protestors even began to pull large rocks off the ridge and hurl them at the guardsmen. While the Colonel's attention was focused on Salma, Vin slipped out to offer Jeremy his assistance. As he worked his way along the ridge of the cave trying to reach Jeremy's side, Vin used his gift to push the protestors toward the road, herding them like sheep. His unannounced aid allowed Jeremy and the other guardsmen to finally begin to rein in the bedlam.

  Vin turned away from the ridge when he was about fifteen feet from the water, maintaining his confining wind around the protestors. The sooner this was under control, the sooner Salma could get the help she needed. He watched the crowd as they continued to mill about. Out of the corner of his eye, Vin spotted Scott near the back of the group. The redhead was sneaking along the outskirts of the mob's wavering position and heading toward the hotel. Vin also noticed the familiar, wrapped bundle under his arm.

  He tracked Scott's progress and began to move parallel to him, intending to intercept him before he could reach his destination. Vin called the wind and pushed Scott down the beach as he moved, closing the distance between them. Vin wanted to retrieve the Book of Elements before he enacted a slow punishment on Scott for the harm he had caused his family. Not only that, but Vin was also certain that Ben would want a hand in dishing out that retribution. Vin planned to hold Scott until Ben could join him.

  Unfortunately, fate turned against Vin yet again. One of the rocks thrown wildly by a protestor struck his unprotected forehead and sent him reeling. Oddly, Vin thought to himself
that his head seemed to be a popular target this week. He staggered backward and then fell to his knees dazed. A second protestor saw Vin fall and, spurred by the mood of the crowd, broke away from the mass to run up and hit him twice across the shoulders and lower back with a baseball bat. A third protestor joined the spontaneous attack and kicked Vin in the ribs. He fell forward and then rolled onto his back in the slushy sand so that he could see his attackers, catching sight of other feet headed in his direction as he moved. If he didn't do something to put an immediate stop to this, the attack would quickly turn brutal. Vin concentrated through his haziness, and both the man with the bat and the one who had kicked him were suddenly flung forcefully down the beach and out into the waves as if caught by a gale-force wind. The others who were approaching rapidly turned away. Scott disappeared into the crowd during the distraction.

  Vin laid on the sand waiting for the pain in his head and back to subside. As he lay there with the rain falling on him, Vin looked up at the black clouds overhead and was reminded of Caeli's dream. Both he and Salma were hurt, as Caeli had known they would be, though she had never told them the specific details of the injuries. What was happening to Caeli now? Was she being confronted with the choice she had been dreading? If so, then Vin was hurt much worse than he realized, and Salma would be teetering near the brink. One of their lives supposedly lay in the balance of Caeli’s choice. As he tried to pull himself together, Jeremy's blurry face came into view above him.

  CHAPTER 53

  Caeli tried to stay calm as she waited. In her dream, Rika always stepped out of the water after Caeli moved away from the shoreline. She did not have to wait long for the dark-haired lady to emerge. She appeared as her long-time friend, Lara, but Caeli was not deceived. Rika was in control. Lara was not herself, and Caeli's sadness for her former friend tugged at her heart.

  "Do not pity her. She chose this union in return for the friendship and favors only I could grant. You would have been wise to do the same," Rika responded to Caeli's unspoken thoughts.

  "Why have you brought me here?" Caeli asked aloud.

  "You know why; so that I can collect your payment. I upheld my end of the deal, and your payment is due."

  "What payment? I did not make any deal with you," Caeli knew what Rika wanted, but could not pinpoint how Rika was attempting to validate the bargain.

  "Come now. You are smarter than this, Caeli. You have already figured out that the boy belongs to me. I made a deal with his mother. He was supposed to return to me on his third birthday, and that is long overdue. One way or another, I will not permit him to reach another birthday outside of my care. Max was not supposed to survive the plane crash, but you interfered. I sent my collector to retrieve the child, and you interfered a second time. I would say you made a very clear choice in both instances, wouldn't you?"

  "Yes, I did. I made a choice, not a bargain."

  "And there is the matter of the aid I gave you on the plane. And then I called back my storm as you attempted to lessen its effect on the ship…oh, I see. You thought you did that all by yourself. That would have been quite an accomplishment for such an amateur. You have definitely got the potential, but you are not that good; not yet."

  Rika's condescending voice tried to undermine Caeli's confidence. There was an iota of truth behind her words. Perhaps Rika had helped. Caeli could not honestly deny it. Nonetheless, she had made no bargain with Rika.

  "Are you suggesting that my choice to help a child in need obligates me to a debt by default? Do you think that somehow you can transfer a debt that his mother might have owed you to me? That's preposterous. And, if I were to believe that you aided me, as you claim, do you find it appropriate to set terms and demand payment after volunteering your services without my knowledge? There is no contract in that arrangement either. What makes you think I will agree to pay you any sort of fee for your services? Exactly what do you believe your aid is worth?" Caeli stalled until she could devise a plan.

  "You know exactly what I want, and we will come to that in due time. But, I think we will start with your interference first. I believe the only fair trade is one child for another." Lara's voice stunned Caeli, and she took an unconscious step backward, increasing the distance between herself and Lara. Caeli understood immediately, but she would not willingly give up her second child; not Vin's remaining son.

  "You are out of your mind! I have already lost one child because of you. I am not about to lose another. You cannot have my son," Caeli stated defiantly.

  "Ah, but you have already lost him. Refusing to admit the truth will not change that fact. Despite your persistent rudeness, I am trying to do you a favor."

  "A favor? You believe that taking my child is somehow helping me? Your years in the sea have softened your mind. You're crazy!" Caeli thought Rika must really be desperate to believe that what she asked carried any measure of goodness. As long as she still lived, Caeli would fight to defend the life of her baby.

  "You will not have him! You will have to kill me first."

  "Oh, but I will. You cannot avoid your fate any more than Max can. Just like you, Max was never meant to remain in your world, but his father insists that he should stay. Since Max cannot come home to me in my current state, then I will soon come to him. I will use you to reclaim my son. Unfortunately, that will take some time, even after we are joined. Meanwhile, your son will live as I do. If you think of where this will end, it really is a favor to you; for you will not be alone as I am now."

  "You cannot do this. I will not accept your terms." Caeli was dumbfounded at the notion Rika proposed. How could Rika believe that she would agree to such an outrageous idea?

  "I really do not care whether you find my terms agreeable. They are set. You can choose to give up your child willingly or I will simply take him from you. I offer you a moment to decide which method you prefer."

  Inside, Caeli's anger grew. Outside, the sea heaved and the storm clouds gathered threateningly over the little island. Caeli could not believe that Rika had the audacity to think she could take a life with such disregard for those she affected. Caeli would not permit it, could not. She would give everything to protect her family, and even Max, who could not defend himself. However, Caeli's eyes were open. She understood that the cost of this confrontation would be high. If Rika, using Lara's form, could touch her child, Caeli might not be able to defend him. She might not be able to effectively defend herself. But, that was not going to prevent her from trying. Her anger and gift sustained her as she prepared to oppose whatever Rika might try.

  Rika slowly walked forward, closing the distance between them. Caeli backed toward a rocky outcropping, thinking to have the stone at her back. She was startled to bump into a man stepping out of the shadows. At first, unable to see him, she mistook him for the man in black. How was that possible? Caeli was certain she had destroyed him. Yet here he was, and he had managed to get behind her. Caeli was trapped between the man and Rika.

  The man grabbed Caeli's arms and held her directly in front of him, so that she was facing Rika. Caeli struggled until she heard a whisper in her ear from a familiar voice. The man remained behind her as Rika approached and extended her hand toward Caeli's stomach. When she was within range, Caeli kicked her and dove to the side. The man behind Caeli released her as she moved and lunged forward to grab hold of Lara's body.

  Rika was caught completely off guard. The part of Rika that was Lorrie assumed the man she saw to be helping her in yet another attempt to win her favor, as he had tried to do so many times in the past. Too late, Rika discovered her mistake. The man held Lorrie tightly with one arm and quickly pulled a needle from his pocket with the other. The man uncapped and plunged the needle into the side of Lorrie's neck. Within moments, her movements ceased and she went limp in his grasp.

  The rain began to increase as Caeli picked herself up. Without Rika's control, the full force of the storm would soon be unleashed. Caeli tried to calm her own chaotic emotions, hoping to reduce
her contribution to the storm's building fury. She walked over to the man holding Lorrie's unmoving body and watched cautiously as he carefully tossed the unconscious form over his broad shoulder.

  "Thank you, Maku. I'm glad you showed up. But, how did you get here? How did you even know we were here?"

  Caeli had been surprised when she heard his name and offer to help whispered in her ear. She was incredibly relieved because she was still very tired and the sharp pain in her stomach had been getting worse as Rika droned on. Rika was not causing this pain, and it remained even now.

  "Are you all right, Mrs. Harding?" Maku noticed the discomfort in her expression.

  "I don't think so, but I'm not injured. I need to get back to Vin."

  Seeing that Caeli did not appear to be seriously injured, Maku turned and headed toward the cave as he answered her questions, noting that she followed a few steps behind.

  "Follow me. To answer your question, I've known Lorrie her entire life. She, Apela, and I used to play on this island as kids, though we never entered that shelter over there. There was something about it that did not feel right. Anyway, I followed Lorrie when she left the hotel earlier," Maku began his explanation.

  "She was at the hotel?" Caeli wondered why Lorrie had been there.

  "Yes, and after what Lorrie did to Pete, I was not simply going to let her drive away. From where she began her swim, I knew she was headed out here. There are many caves and tunnels interlaced throughout the islands. You can practically walk from one side of the island to the other if you don't get lost. This cave leads to a tunnel that sits slightly below the water's surface and will take us to the lighthouse. It takes a little longer than swimming, but I did not want Lorrie to see my arrival; and both swimming and boating were out of the question due to the storm. Honestly, I don't know how Lorrie managed the swim over here."

  "Well, let's just say that Lorrie had a little help. It is strange. I have known Lorrie as Lara for many years, but I guess we can never completely know a person, can we?"