Kingdom of the Deep

by EJ Altbacker

  Mari didn’t believe it was a coincidence. That was too much of a fluke.

  “Velenka,” she whispered to herself, scraping her teeth back and forth. The sleek, blacker-than-black mako was involved. But how? And why? Mari didn’t have a clue. Now that she was done deploying the ghostfins and had checked with Striiker—currently the leader of Riptide Shiver since Gray had been made Aquasidor—she was determined to find out.

  Mari thought Striiker would be pleased to be made leader. He had been, for a minute. But when everyone began looking to him for answers, it made him grumpy. Be careful what you wish for, Mari thought as she swam around the last bend before entering the prison cavern.

  “Halt!” cried one of the two shiver shark guards in the chamber. “Identify yourself!”

  “Mari, first in the Line of Riptide Shiver,” she replied, slowing herself so she glided into the cavern in a non-threatening way. She was pleased to see that the two ghostfins she had placed inside were waiting in a high position above the lava tube’s exit, perfect for striking an intruder’s dorsal fin or tail.

  The guard came to attention hover and dipped his snout. “I knew it was you, Mari, but you said—”

  “You did well,” Mari told the shiver shark, a small hammerhead. “Don’t trust your eyes. They can be fooled. The voice is harder, so always make them answer you. If they don’t—”

  “We attack,” the guard said, gesturing to the two members of the ghostfins.

  Velenka sarcastically slapped her tail on the smooth wall of her cell as Mari came into view. Even though there were five times the number of lumos in the prison cavern than before, the mako was still hard to spot.

  “Playing big tough mariner today, Mari?” she asked. “Such a fun game for a pup! Can I play, too? I have lots of free time.”

  The young hammerhead glared at Velenka, about to lose his temper.

  “Take a break,” Mari told him. “I need to talk with the prisoner.” The guard gave her a stiff head bob and swam up the lava tube with his partner. “You too.” She motioned at the pair of ghostfins.

  “We don’t need a break,” said the more senior of the two. He was looking out for her, Mari knew.

  She gave them a more vigorous tail waggle this time. “Stay in the tube if you like, but give us some privacy.”

  The two ghostfins didn’t like it but swam a quick half circle from their position and left the cavern.

  “Seems like a lot of trouble to speak with little ol’ me,” Velenka mused.

  Mari gave her a level gaze. “Much less trouble than sending four of our mariners to the Sparkle Blue last night to speak to you, though.”

  Velenka hesitated for a split second before asking, “What are you rambling about?”

  The mako kept her face neutral as Mari pressed, “It must have been hard for you, being at the mercy of that crazyfish Finnivus.”

  Velenka rolled her big, black eyes. “Please. You didn’t listen when I told you that, and now you believe me?”

  “It must have been tough, knowing that a misplaced word or chuckle could get your head on the emperor’s seasoning platter.”

  “And?” Velenka asked. She seemed bored.

  “And I’d hate for you to make that mistake again.”

  Velenka’s needle teeth glittered in the colorful murk created by the anemones and lumos on the cavern walls. “What is it that you think you know?”

  Mari paused to gather her thoughts. This wasn’t going well. She knew from her time in Goblin Shiver that Velenka was one of the few fish in the sea that could make her feel stupid. There was no way she would win a battle of devious wits with the mako. Mari would have to tell the truth and hope for the best.

  “I have no proof of anything, but something is going on. And I think it involves you.”

  Velenka nodded, not expecting this straightforward approach. It wasn’t something she herself would have done. “Well, you’re wrong,” she answered.

  Mari continued, “Gray didn’t execute you even though you joined with one of the most evil fins the Big Blue has ever seen.”

  “When you say things like that, it shows how little you know about history,” the mako said. “What about Kaangeson? How about Larvip the Life Ender? Or Oort the Unmentionable in Silander’s court? Why, on any given day he—”

  “Yes, yes!” Mari yelled, drowning out Velenka before she could tell the entire disgusting story. “We had four guards sent to the Sparkle Blue last night for no apparent reason. Tell me why, Velenka. Help me see you’ve learned your lesson about telling good from bad.” Mari swam closer to the whalebone bars and stared at the mako. “Are allies of Finnivus trying to free you to help in another bloody war? Do you really want a dark current like that flowing through the Big Blue again?”

  “Finnivus is dead,” Velenka replied. “No one is rushing forward to avenge him. You’re flinching at shadows, Mari. Now, if we’re done, it’s time for my beauty nap.” The mako turned away and wouldn’t say anything else.

  Mari left the prison cavern and went up the lava tube. The stifling feeling of the prison cavern seemed to coat her skin even when she reached the brightness of the Riptide homewaters. Something was going on, and she had no idea what. She would have to tell Striiker about her suspicions, even if they were thinner than the thinnest urchin spine.

  CHAPTER 6

  TAKIZA HAD MET GRAY, BARKLEY, AND THE Aquasidor guardians as they were returning to Fathomir from the Arktik. When he saw the betta, Gray thought he was going to be yelled at for not solving the dispute. But when Takiza heard that the negotiation would continue, he wasn’t mad. “That is time they will not be fighting,” he said. “Perhaps a solution will present itself.”

  It turned out that Kaleth had another mission for Gray and Takiza would be coming along. The betta thought it best that Barkley return to Fathomir with a few of the finja while he and Gray swam to the South Sific to manage a new dispute, this one between AuzyAuzy and Hammer Shivers. Gray knew the leaders, Kendra and Grinder, having fought with them in the war against Finnivus. How could they be fighting each other already?

  Is this my life now? Gray wondered. Swimming from one end of the Big Blue to the other, trying to calm disputes before they become bloody? It was an important job, for sure. But soon after they arrived, Gray wished he wasn’t the one doing it.

  Gray’s head began to throb as the negotiation groups on both sides—with him in the middle—swam to the disputed area. It was always the same points, over and over. He wished his old friend Lochlan, the king of AuzyAuzy who had died fighting Finnivus’s forces, was here, but that was impossible. AuzyAuzy’s homewaters had still not fully recovered from the Indi armada’s horrible attack, but there were signs of progress. New greenie bloomed, and the AuzyAuzy dwellers were repairing the torn and broken coral.

  AuzyAuzy and Hammer’s argument centered on feeding grounds, of course. Almost everything did when you got to the heart of the matter. Even if it were a personal dispute where one leader was insulted or assaulted, the payment demanded was more hunting territory. Gray wondered what would happen if one day there weren’t enough fish. What then? It didn’t help that the landsharks were doing their best to sweep the ocean clean of fish and shellheads. What if the humans really got the knack of hunting the deeper waters? Gray shivered at the thought and hoped he would never find out.

  In this case the disagreement centered on a long-forgotten stretch of ocean that lay unclaimed between AuzyAuzy and Hammer Shivers near what they called the fire waters. The reason this territory went unclaimed was because in the times of Lochlan’s father’s father, there had been a huge volcanic eruption. For decades the area seethed with choking sulfur and was death for any sharkkind that swam in it for more than a few minutes. So gradually, over the years, both shivers stopped sending patrols and scouts there. The price was too high, and there wer
e no rewards.

  But sometime in the last ten years, the toxic brew boiling from the cracks in the seabed had stopped spouting in this area. A Hammer scout, wounded in battle and far off course, had drifted into the area and what she saw amazed her. It was incredible!

  The silt and volcanic sludge that blew up from deep under the ocean floor was ultra-fertile. It caused everything to grow at a furious rate. The greenie fields were towering! The coral fields giant! And it was beautiful! The colors were amazing: vivid blues, yellows, oranges, greens, and reds. Coral lattices grew so fast they sometimes drifted away with the gentle current. And where there were coral and kelp, there were small fish and shellheads. And where there were small fish and shellheads, bigger fish came to hunt. Now this forgotten area had one of the richest food supplies in the entire southern Sific.

  And both Kendra and Grinder wanted it.

  Already their patrols had skirmished twice, resulting in three shiver sharks dying. Gray couldn’t believe the friendship between the two shivers had deteriorated so quickly. Just weeks ago AuzyAuzy and Hammer Shivers were allies against Indi’s Black Wave armada. Now here they were on the brink of war because of something they didn’t even know existed a year ago! It was terrible.

  Gray took in the striking expanse of vivid color that both Kendra and Grinder wanted for their shivers. It was beautiful. He would have loved to glide past the delicate coral reefs, so newly formed, and bask in the warm, gentle currents. Of course, none of that was possible because no one was allowed to swim there due to the thick heads of the parties involved. And it didn’t look like anyone was going to be.

  Ever.

  Takiza could usually be counted on to chime in with advice, or at least an insult, but had remained silent the entire time. He was content to let Gray twist in the current as both parties argued.

  “I’ve already told you,” said Grinder, the battle- scarred hammerhead leader of Hammer Shiver. “We won’t give up the red greenie field without getting at least two of the coral reefs!”

  “Those reefs are gigantic, and they’re closer to our territory than yours!” replied Kendra, her voice rising. Gray was sure that Kendra would be a great regent and leader for AuzyAuzy, but he had never seen this side of her. The whitetip had become so rigid in her views. Maybe it would serve her as a leader, but he liked the old Kendra a lot better.

  “If you want one of those reefs, then give us the valley—”

  Grinder cut Kendra off with a slashing tail stroke, shaking his massive hammer head from side to side. “Why don’t you just ask me to pull out my lower jaw and give that to you? Because you have a better chance of getting my lower jaw in this deal than our valley!”

  “It’s not your valley,” Kendra replied in clipped tones. “We have ancient urchin maps and the valley is clearly included in our territory.”

  “Ya know where you can stick those urchin maps?”

  “Stop!” Gray told them. “It’s plain you two are never going to agree on how to divide this new territory. And it is new territory because no one claimed it for so long.”

  “Doesn’t mean a thing,” said Grinder.

  “I agree, with reservations,” said Kendra. “I believe that the Seazarein, and you as her representative, will make a wise decision so that what you say may mean something.” Jaunt, an AuzyAuzy mariner and Gray’s good friend from the battle against Finnivus, seemed embarrassed at Kendra’s words, switching her tail back and forth as she looked the other way.

  What happened to you, Kendra? Gray thought.

  “The Seazarein will make a wise decision,” he told them. “And since I represent her, I will tell you what it is soon. Very, very . . . soon.”

  “Any idea when?” asked Grinder.

  “Are you hard of hearing? Soon!” said Jaunt, coming to Gray’s defense. Kendra quieted the small tiger.

  “Right. Soon,” Gray answered. “Let’s all hover in silence for a moment. She can sometimes speak to me by a, um, mind . . . link. But everyone has to be quiet.”

  Gray saw Takiza roll his eyes. The betta knew he had absolutely no answer. How could you divide something that neither party wanted to divide? It seemed the only way Gray could solve this dispute was to give the territory to both Grinder and Kendra . . . .

  That was it!

  “Okay, the mind link worked. I have a solution, and if you disobey it, the might of the Seazarein’s finja guardians and allies will make you wish you hadn’t.”

  “You’re threatening me?” Grinder sputtered. “We fought flank to flank!”

  “Of course not,” Gray replied. “What I’m telling you is that whatever side the Seazarein wants to win will win. Simple as that.”

  “So join me!” the hammerhead leader shouted. “I fought with you! Bled with you.”

  “So did I!” Kendra said, as she glanced at Grinder. “And if I remember, you came into the fight after we did! So if Gray’s taking anyone’s side, it would be AuzyAuzy’s, where he swam diamondhead with our mariners in the victorious battle against Finnivus! Isn’t that right, Gray? You haven’t forgotten that, have you?”

  “I will never forget either of those sacrifices! But what I think now is that the Seazarein claims this territory as her own!” Gray yelled. This got their attention.

  “WHAAAAT?” cried both Kendra and Grinder as one, the first time they had done anything together in months.

  “AND! AND!” Gray shouted over both sharks, quieting them. “Since the disputed area is what the Seazarein likes to call a protectorate of her merciful and wise leadership, she’ll need someone to protect this new territory.”

  “And who might that be?” asked Grinder, giving him a hard stare.

  “You—” Gray began.

  “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” shouted Grinder, switching his tail back and forth victoriously.

  Kendra was quiet, waiting. She would be a good leader, Gray saw. “Let me finish, Grinder. It will be you and Hammer Shiver for one month, then Kendra and AuzyAuzy the next. This simple pattern continues until Tyro swims up and tells you that it’s different. Understood?”

  Grinder grumbled, thinking it over. “So, the Seazarein keeps her snout outta our business as long as we play nice. Well, I’m not happy.”

  “Neither am I,” agreed Kendra. “In fact, I’m as unhappy, if not more so, than Grinder.

  “And that’s how you know it’s a fair deal,” Gray said. “Both of you hate it. So what should I tell Kaleth? Do we have a deal? Or do we have a war?”

  “Fine,” Grinder answered. “Been enough blood in the water this year to last a lifetime.”

  “I agree with the deal. And Grinder,” said Kendra. “There’s been too much war. Well done, Gray. Well done.”

  Jaunt nodded. “It’s square an’ fair, all right.”

  “I propose a victory hunt for you,” Gray told them. “And after the new moon, neither side should ever meet in the Seazarein’s protectorate. Ever.”

  “Yeah, yeah, we gotcha,” Grinder said. “Don’t make ya come back. We’re not stupid, ya know.”

  “We just do a very good imitation of stupid,” Kendra added.

  Grinder roared. “Very good imitation of stupid! That’s rich!”

  “All right!” added Jaunt. “Let’s cut the chibber-chabber and catch some fish!” And the sharks went off, friends and allies once more. When they were gone, Gray exhaled, long and slow.

  Crisis averted.

  Takiza nodded. “It seems you are not completely hopeless.”

  The betta was smiling when he said it, and that made Gray feel good. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t the worst Aquasidor the Big Blue had ever seen.

  CHAPTER 7

  VELENKA WAS STARTLED FROM HER DOZE BY THE shouts of mariners far above in the Riptide homewaters.

  “Can you be qu
iet? I’m trying to sleep!” she yelled into the thin portal that gave her a small, circular view of the Big Blue. She did it out of frustration, really. The distance up the narrow opening was so great that there was no way anyone would hear. But if they were going to keep her locked up in a cell, the least they could let her do was nap, she thought. Velenka looked at the guards, who were suddenly alert. “Tell them to shut it,” she ordered.

  “I’ll get right on that,” the larger one said sarcastically. He was about to continue when there was an explosion that sounded like a volcano had blown up underneath the Riptide homewaters. It shook the walls of the cavern. After the noise died down to a rumble, the lead ghostfin told the others, “Move! Up the tube!”

  Velenka slammed her tail against the whalebone bars of her cell to get their attention. “Let me out!”

  But the guards were gone. Velenka tried to get a look at what was happening through the largest portal. It kept darkening and lightening, very fast. That meant many sharkkind were swimming in front of the hole. She strained to listen and faintly heard one voice over the others. “Get into formation! This is not a drill! Whatever went down there has to come out!”

  Velenka knew that the voice belonged to Striiker, the great white who used to be in charge of training the Riptide armada. He was leader now that Gray was gone.

  What was he talking about?

  Went down where?

  She turned to the cavern’s entrance. Does Striiker mean down here? she wondered.

  In answer the bodies of the ghostfins and guards thudded onto the rock floor. There weren’t any bite marks, but all were surely swimming the Sparkle Blue.

  Close behind their bodies, Hokuu entered the cavern. The frilled shark smiled a devious smile. “My dear Velenka, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. I told you I was coming. Did you forget?”

  “H-H-Hokuu?” she stammered.