Rising

by Kelly, Holly

The fighting must have been over, given the stony silence. That could only mean one thing—Xanthus was dead.

  “Greetings, brother.” Xanthus barely heard Gael’s shout over the ringing in his ears. He emerged from the crimson cloud to find his brother with a small spear gun pointed at Sara’s temple. Xanthus caught Sara’s eye. The relief that came over her face was overwhelming. He had no idea why she was relieved, given the fact that he’d failed her.

  “Her scream packs a punch down here, doesn’t it?” Gael said. “It’s deafening, literally. I should have known what she was the moment I heard her scream before, but it wasn’t until I saw her with the sharks that I knew. And then those beasts wouldn’t let me near her.”

  Xanthus shook his head. The ringing in his ears was deafening. He could barely catch what his brother was saying. But his hearing was the least of his worries. Sara’s life hung precariously in the balance. One false move and he knew his brother wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. It would be the last thing his brother ever did, but that would be little consolation to Xanthus if Sara were dead.

  “The last time she screamed like that,” Gael said, “it took me a full two hours before the ringing stopped and my hearing returned. Thank the gods I have some ear plugs this time or I’d be having the same problem again.”

  The coppery taste of blood was thick in the water. The limbs and bodies of three dozen dead soldiers floated around them in a haze of red. Xanthus had killed nearly all of them. Sara’s high, wailing scream had driven the rest of them off. But that didn’t make any difference in the end. Xanthus had no choice but to submit to his brother. His mind was working hard to figure out how to get her out of this. Right now, nothing was coming to mind.

  If the counsel were honorable, he could tell them what and who Sara was. Honor would demand they turn her over to her father. But the counsel was less than honorable when it came to the Mer. Their hatred ran deep. Telling them Sara was a mermaid would end very badly. The council would be safe from Triton’s wrath if he and Sara were both dead. Dead men tell no tales. Yet, if he held his tongue, they would be sent to Panthon Prison to await execution. It would be hell, but at least they would be alive. And while he lived, there was always a chance of escape. Xanthus had never thought so before, but then he’d never been so highly motivated.

  “Lead. Brother, you…” Gael spoke too softly for Xanthus to catch every word.

  Xanthus shook his head in confusion.

  “Oh for the love of…” Gael shouted, “P-a-n-t-h-o-n P-r-i-s-o-n.” He enunciated both words loudly and gestured in the direction of the prison. Xanthus understood and nodded. With a lump in his throat, he led them on to their doom. Gael followed, dragging Sara along, his hand clamped over her mouth and the point of the harpoon digging into her temple.

  Gael didn’t give Xanthus any window of opportunity for escape. Gael was very careful not to loosen his grip or turn his attention from his prisoner. Xanthus knew as long as his brother kept her in close peril, he would have no choice but submit.

  On their way to the prison, they were met by other soldiers who surrounded them. One look at Sara’s blue eyes and the shouts of outrage began. Xanthus looked up and saw Kyros among the men. His friend was white with shock. Xanthus saw him speak with a guard, who was snarling in anger. Kyros shook his head in disbelief. He gave Xanthus a desperate look. He didn’t move for several long minutes. With a sigh, he swam towards Xanthus’s home.

  If only Xanthus could have given Kyros a message. But they were not alone. He couldn’t chance it.

  The scene unfolded in horror before him. Word spread quickly that a half-human had been captured. Crowds gathered, lining the road to Panthon Prison. The Dagonians shouted, taunted, and hurled out threats. It took all of Xanthus’s control not to retaliate. The only thing he could be thankful for in this situation was the fact that Sara didn’t understand the sick and horrific threats they were shouting. But she could see the anger, and she looked terrified.

  Sara kept darting desperate glances over to him. He was her only hope. And he couldn’t help her. Despair slammed into him and he could scarcely breathe.

  ***

  Sara smelled the prison long before she saw it. The stench overwhelmed her. The only thing she could compare it to would be the carnival latrines she’d seen as a child. Add to that oozing, rotted meat and multiply it times a thousand and it might come close to the smell.

  Sara’s eyes widened when she saw the prison. It was enormous, dark, and foreboding. She’d never seen such a stark structure in her life. Wooden spikes stuck out of the ground like porcupine quills surrounding the outer perimeter of the prison. Skulls balanced on many of the sharp points. One of them was obscured by frenzied fish. Sara was sure that she wouldn’t want to see what was in the midst of the ravaging fish. She doubted it would be pretty.

  “Scary, isn’t it? Just wait ‘til you get inside.” Gael’s whispered voice chilled her as they approached the terrifying prison.

  “Sara, when I remove my hand from your mouth, you will not scream. If you do, Xanthus will die. If you try to contact anyone outside of the prison, try to escape the prison, or do anything at all to displease me, Xanthus dies. Do you understand? His life is in your hands. You decide if his head is the next one impaled on these spikes.”

  Sara began to tremble as the full weight of their situation sunk in. She kept her eyes on Xanthus. He looked calm, like he had everything under control. Maybe he had a plan for their escape. She just hoped the plan didn’t end up getting him killed.

  The guards moved to open the heavy entrance doors. Inside, the dark hallway gaped open like the entrance to hell. Sara sobbed as they entered. She could see Xanthus’s calm façade burn away. He struggled against the guards when they led him away from her. He snarled angry, desperate words.

  A guard answered with his own rage as he struck him across the face and shouted at him.

  Sara gasped as the cruel guard slammed the blunt handle of his spear into Xanthus’s back. She wanted to scream at the guard to tell them not to hurt Xanthus. But she remembered, all too well, what Gael had threatened and held her tongue.

  “I wouldn’t cause any trouble, if I were you.” Gael sneered as he spoke to Xanthus. “If you give them any difficulty at all, or if there happens to be any commotion anywhere around you, the guards will alert the warden and he’ll kill the half-human immediately.”

  Sara felt the last shreds of hope peel away with those words.

  As soon as Xanthus was gone, Gael pulled Sara up so they were nose to nose. “Enjoy your last day alive, human. Mark my words. You will die soon and I will be the one to deliver the fatal blow. You will yet die by my hand, mermaid,” Gael said, and then shoved her into the hands of the guard.

  Sara’s mind flickered to a thought. Wasn’t Xanthus supposed to take her punishment? She clenched her mouth shut, unwilling to remind them and risk Xanthus receiving her punishment. He would probably die anyway for all the soldiers he killed today. And if he died, she wouldn’t want to live. She’d welcome death.

  A moaning cry escaped her lips as she trembled in fear. Xanthus had told her of the danger she’d face if she were found. But she’d never really thought it possible. Things like this just didn’t happen to good, American girls. But here she was, living a reality worse than her most terrifying nightmares.

  Sara looked around at the dark, rocky hallway. Green algae swayed like dead, rotting fingers pointing her toward her death.

  The guard pulled her along, avoiding her gaze. She had no idea where she was going or what would happen to her. Were they going to torture her before she was executed? She hoped not. She hoped she lived long enough to escape, and even more, she hoped they wouldn’t harm Xanthus. Of all the things they could do, that would be the worst.

  They snaked their way through winding hallways. The guard stopped as he came upon a door guarded by one small soldier. Well, he was small for a Dagonian. The guard holding her arm spoke to the other guard, who nodded, left fo
r a moment, and then brought back a chain with shackles. He snapped one of the shackles around her fin and then pushed her through the door. A blast of putrid air hit her face as she fell. Her body hit the dry, silted ground several feet below. She coughed as she breathed in the dust her fall had stirred.

  The guard remained within the wall of water as his hand reached inside to clamp the other end of the shackle to an iron ring mounted to the wall. Then he shut the door. Sara was chained to the wall inside a dry cell. She lifted her hands off the floor to see them caked with mud. A giggle escaped her lips. So this is the torture they had planned for her? Tears streamed down her face as her giggles turned to sobs.

  A familiar voice called out from within the room. “Well, look who’s come to join us.”

  Xanthus’s blood pulsed in his throat as the guards led him deep into Panthon Prison. The water seemed to thicken and darken. The cells were packed with inmates. Each wore the same expression—a mixture of shock and elation. Half of the criminals here had been brought in by Xanthus. He’d never dreamed he would one day be a prisoner alongside them.

  “Oran… Ry…” His voice growled low. “The female is not what she seems. I am giving you fair warning. If you find yourself on the wrong side of this, you will assure your death. And it won’t be delivered by me, but by someone infinitely more powerful. But if you help me, you will not go unrewarded.”

  “Shut up, prisoner,” Ry said, poking the point of his harpoon at Xanthus’s back, drawing blood.

  Rage and despair nearly overcame Xanthus when they reached the deepest prison cells or ‘the belly of the beast’ as they called it. The cells here were small, so small that a Dagonian couldn’t swim, couldn’t even move. Each cell was a living coffin. Whether you were put in head first or tail first would determine how much you suffered here.

  Tail first—you would still be able to catch the occasional fish that swam close to the bars of your cell. Head first—you had no chance. You’d waste away and die a slow death. Some of the Dagonians down here were nothing more than skin and bones. Their near immortality allowed them to live quite a long while despite their emaciated conditions, but each moment was wrought with a hunger so fierce they were soon driven mad.

  Xanthus heard the wailing of other prisoners. He’d always hated this part of the prison. The endless suffering, the way each Dagonian, no matter how strong-willed, succumbed to the misery here was difficult to witness. No one who had been here for any length of time could escape the madness. He knew Sara’s only hope was for him to convince one of the guards to help them.

  “I will give you one final warning, honorable guards.” Xanthus spoke low. “Don’t listen to my father, brother, or the counsel on this one. They are wrong, clinging to twisted beliefs. In this case, it will lead to a great number of deaths and suffering for us Dagonians. You don’t know who it is you hold in this prison. Help her and you’ll find protection, but harm her in any way and there will be no mercy.”

  Oran turned to Ry. “Maybe we should listen to him. Xanthus has always proven honorable before.”

  “Are you siding with a cur lover?” Ry shouted and curled his lips in disgust.

  “But he said she isn’t what she seems. I think we should believe him.”

  “Well, I think you may need to be taken before the counsel yourself. You know the punishment for disobeying a counsel order.”

  Oh yeah. Oran’s life as a soldier would be over.

  “You’re right,” Oran relented. “He’s got to be lying.”

  “I know I’m right. This pathetic Dagonian has decided to side with the human murderers. He deserves our worst.”

  Xanthus didn’t like the sound of that. But he’d reached Oran on some level. It might not take much to push the soldier into helping him.

  Ry opened a cell that had recently had its bars replaced. They looked shiny and strong. There would be no breaking out of this.

  Xanthus resisted the urge to try to reason more with the guards. He didn’t want to appear desperate, despite feeling just that. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and gave them a hard look that promised retribution. Oran took one look at his face and quickly turned away.

  “In the cell,” Ry said.

  Xanthus began to back his way in.

  “No. You go in head first.”

  “You really want to do that?” Xanthus sneered. “The counsel might be angry if I’m not alive to answer for the many soldiers I killed this day. But hey, it’s your life.”

  Doubt clouded Ry’s eyes for a brief moment and then it was gone. “If you’re that important to them, they’ll ask for you long before your life expires. Now move.”

  Xanthus inched his way into the dark, stony cell. He felt as if he were entering his own coffin. Perhaps he was. His mind raced. Should he have continued to fight after Sara was captured, regardless of whether or not they survived? Death may have been a better option. He hoped not, but at this moment, he had serious doubts. As bad as he found his own situation, he was tormented not knowing what was happening to her. The guards were not known for their gentleness, but so help him, if they laid a hand on her, he’d send them all to Tartarus to answer to Hades, or better yet, he’d send them to her father.

  With that thought, a light switched on in Xanthus’s head. A smile spread across his face. There was hope after all. Once the guards were gone, he spoke the words that would bring him unimaginable pain.

  Sara’s eyes widened as they rose from the ground and rested on the last person she expected to see deep under the ocean’s surface.

  Slink.

  He was flanked once again by Ettie and Tane. “No,” she said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “Dreams do come true.” Slink ignored her question. His smile widened, showing blackened teeth. His body looked more emaciated than ever.

  “How’s your boyfriend?” Slink chuckled. “It looks like he’s doing a great job protecting you.”

  “Shut up, Slink.” The deep, baritone voice caught her attention. She looked toward the opposite end of the long, narrow cell. A blond, tanned man strode toward them. His skin was dusted with white (salt maybe). Her defenses rose. There was something familiar about this man.

  He sauntered over to her. “Sorry about Slink. I think his mother dropped him on his head when he was a baby.”

  The stranger put his hand out to shake hers. She kept her hand to herself, not willing to trust this prisoner yet.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t bite. I can’t vouch for those three.” His head jerked back towards Slink, Ettie, and Tane. “My name’s Josh, Josh Talbot.”

  Sara’s jaw dropped. “You’re the famous deep sea diver. The one that was lost in a diving accident.”

  Josh barked out a laugh. “You heard about that? It was no accident. I made the greatest discovery of this century, this millennium, probably of all time. Too bad you merpeople don’t want to be discovered. Nice to meet one that speaks English.”

  “They aren’t merpeople. They call themselves Dagonians.”

  Josh raised his eyebrow. “They?”

  She ignored his question and looked around, inspecting the cell. It was not overly large, about ten feet wide and twenty feet long. The stone walls were layered in algae. Iron rings were bolted in the wall about every six feet. The floor was bare silt, except for a few rocks, a bowl of dirty water, and a couple of fish bones. The opposite wall was not made of stone, but was a wall of water. Sara couldn’t see much except blue water, grey silt, and a school of silver fish.

  “Who cares what they call themselves,” Slink said. “They’re all worthless. They think they can keep us down here. We’re Americans. We have rights. These things don’t feed us. They give us dirty water to drink; there are no beds, no bathroom, and no hope of leaving. And she’s one of them. She’s the reason we’re here in the first place. I say we rip off her arms and have ourselves some seafood. What do you think, Ettie? Tane? You think you’re strong enough to do it?”

  Ettie moved fo
rward. “Oh, yeah. I could do it.”

  “No one touches her without going through me,” Josh said.

  “Back off, Talbot. She has it coming,” Slink said.

  “You idiots don’t realize.” Josh shook his head. “She’s not like us. She can escape if we help her. Then, if we do, then just maybe she’ll help us get out of here too. Dudes, there are hundreds of feet of water between freedom and us. And as good a swimmer as I am, there’s no way I could make it to the surface. I’m not seeing any better option, are you?”

  “I can’t leave,” Sara said.

  Josh turned to her. “Sure you can. That lock doesn’t look too complicated. I know I could spring it.”

  “You don’t understand. They have my husband here. If I escape, they’ll kill him.”

  “Well, shoot.” Josh plopped down, cross-legged in the sand. “You know, keeping my famously optimistic attitude has not been easy down here.”

  “Join the club,” Sara said, eying Slink and his friends. They had strolled away and were whispering enthusiastically amongst themselves, planning something. Slink put his arm around Tane’s shoulder. It was then she noticed Slink’s hand was shaking. Drug withdrawals. That wouldn’t put him into a very reasonable frame of mind.

  “Okay.” Slink slipped his arm away from Tane and strolled over to Josh.

  Josh stood and Slink sneered at him. “Now that we know she won’t help us, we’re back to my original plan. And don’t try to stop us, Talbot. We out number…” Josh’s elbow slammed against Slink’s nose. Blood exploded from his face as he bent forward. “Augh. What’s wrong with you?”

  Ettie and Tane came at Josh from opposite sides. Josh stepped back and Tane’s fist hit Ettie in the forehead. From there, it was an all-out brawl between the three of them. Fists flew, kicks landed, and spittled grunts peppered the sand with blood.

  What Sara didn’t see until it was too late, was Slink coming up behind Josh with a rock in his hand. She shouted out just in time for Josh to turn around and get slammed in the face with it. He fell unconscious to the floor, blood running from a gash in his forehead.