by EJ Altbacker
Barkley nodded. There was no need to answer with words, and it was dangerous to speak here. He adjusted his route accordingly. He and Onyx had formulated this plan after Takiza came to them with this insane idea—steal the imprisoned mariner prime of the Indi armada from under the emperor’s snout. “And what else would you like us to do tonight?” Barkley had grumbled to himself.
They hugged the weedy bottom of a coral reef which gave them some cover.
They weren’t even going to lead Whalem to safety tonight. Onyx was sure that if they tried to take him without his permission, the mariner prime would raise an alarm. Because of honor and royal etiquette—pfah!—Whalem would have to be asked first: nicely. As if you really needed a reason to not want your head served on a platter! But Whalem’s honor wouldn’t allow him to betray the emperor, even if Finnivus were insane. They had to convince him. That meant Barkley and Onyx needed to get close enough to talk with Whalem without being noticed. Yikes!
Luckily, Barkley knew every inch of these home-waters from his time as a member of Goblin Shiver. How small the problems they’d struggled with then seemed now. The dueling between Goblin and Razor seemed like pups fighting after school compared to what everyone faced today.
Another bump from Onyx. Barkley looked back, and the blacktip gestured to the left. Ah! There it was. The prison. The structure itself looked nothing like Barkley had ever seen in the Big Blue. That’s because it was made by landsharks thousands of years ago. Onyx had told the story of how the prison was given to the first king of Indi Shiver by the Atlanteans. Barkley had no idea how they had gotten the thing here. Maybe a whale had carried it? Unlike most of the ancient landshark items Barkley had seen on the bottom of the ocean, this cage wasn’t covered with barnacles and greenie. This object shined as if it were new.
The last twenty yards were the hardest. The constant patrols forced them to stop many times, and all Barkley could do was shut his eyes and will himself to be invisible. Finally, they reached the cage. So stealthy was their approach that Whalem didn’t sense a thing until Onyx spoke.
“Mariner Prime, please be quiet and listen,” he said. To Whalem’s credit, he didn’t start or twitch a muscle. His eyes focused on Onyx and widened slightly. Onyx continued, “I see you still remember me after all these years.”
“Get on with it,” hissed Barkley. The mariner prime heard Barkley’s voice but couldn’t see him in the thick greenie he was hiding in.
“I come under a term of truce and would like you to let me speak without rousing anyone. Is that acceptable?”
There was a slight nod from the ancient tiger shark.
“Takiza asks, if we can free you, would you come with us? But not only that, he asks that you help us defeat the emperor.”
After a moment, Barkley saw an almost imperceptible shake of the old tiger’s head.
Onyx didn’t bother asking again, saying only, “Thank you for your time, sir.” He bobbed his head and motioned for them to leave the way they came in.
Barkley was incensed. They had come too far at too much risk to turn around with nothing. Onyx saw his anger and started to say, “Indi Shiver is very different—” but Barkley swam past and took his spot. “What are you doing? Get back here!” the blacktip urged.
Barkley shook his head. He would have his say. The mariner prime watched in silence as Barkley waited for a group of richly tattooed mariners from the armada to swim lazily past, followed by two armored squaline.
“If you want to lie down on the emperor’s platter, that’s your choice,” Barkley hissed. “But not coming with us because you think you owe crazy Finnivus your loyalty isn’t honorable—it’s cowardly.”
Whalem’s eyes blazed, but Barkley wasn’t going to leave without saying everything on his mind. “You owe that flipper nothing except a good tail slap to the face. You owe it to me and everyone else in the Big Blue to help stop him—which probably isn’t possible, anyway. So your honor can be served, along with our seasoned heads, when we lose.”
Whalem whispered, “Who are you to talk to me this way, pup?”
“I’m Barkley. And no matter what you think, it isn’t honorable to take the easy way out and leave us with this giant mess that you’re at least partially responsible for! So once more, if we can get you out—which we probably can’t—will you help us stop Finnivus?”
Barkley’s throat was sore from speaking so quietly, yet with such hissing force. He couldn’t believe no one had seen or heard anything, and he gratefully edged back into the greenie next to Onyx. The mariner prime seemed unmoved. If he was insulted, well, that was too bad. “Okay, now we can go,” Barkley told the astonished blacktip.
It was then Onyx nudged Barkley, gesturing with a fin at the Indi armada commander.
Whalem was grinning.
He whispered, “All right. If you can get me out, I’ll help you.”
GRAY LOOKED DOWN FROM THE SHARP LEDGE into the blackness of the Maw. The pressure from these depths gave him an uncomfortable, queasy feeling. But the yawning chasm of the Maw scared Gray to his very core.
He was wearing the greenie torture harness from his practice session. The rock was in the harness, but at least right now it lay on the seabed as Gray hovered near the sand. Apparently, the rock’s weight would help him swim to the bottom of the Dark Blue.
Takiza had trained him for this very task. Gray got chills thinking about it. Whether those chills were about swimming down into the Maw or about Takiza having planned for this day, Gray didn’t know. He felt ashamed that Lochlan and the sharks from AuzyAuzy Shiver were swimming to protect his family and friends without him. In a way, Gray envied them. Waiting on the edge of the abyss, he discovered he would rather face the entire Indi armada than swim down into the depths of the Dark Blue.
“Shiro, I’d feel much more comfortable—”
Takiza cut Gray off. “Yes, you’d feel much more comfortable if I came with you. Perhaps I can stroke your flanks and recite a story on the way?”
“Yech!” Gray shuddered. “That image is nasty. I was going to ask if I could take the harness off for a little while. But if you do know where this glowing greenie is . . . and since you’re better than I am in every way—”
“Of course, I am! Stop talking foolishness, Nulo. If I could do this, I would. But you must, and you need to succeed! Do you understand? This is the most important thing you’ve done in your short, pampered life! So far, anyway.”
Gray nodded as if he understood the weight of the matter, but he didn’t really. Takiza was such an amazing fish. There was no way that Gray could do the incredible things the little betta could. It seemed as if Takiza were sending Gray to his death. And the fact that Takiza kept saying, “I am sorry I may be sending you to your death,” didn’t help the situation at all.
“Again, you only have to say that one time,” Gray replied when Takiza repeated it again. “I’m not going to forget.”
“Then tell me again what you will do when you arrive at the seabed below,” ordered the betta.
Even though it was at least the fifteenth time Gray had repeated the instructions, he got right to it. “I will descend to the bottom of the Dark Blue—” Gray quickly corrected himself: “The bottom of this particular area of the ocean and find the glowing green kelp called maredsoo, the energy plant. When I’m there, I exchange the rock for greenie and swim back to you.”
Takiza grew cross and snapped his fins out. “Don’t exchange anything. Load the greenie—but don’t eat any—into the harness before you remove the rock. Your body will not remain at the bottom without the rock. So it’s important to do it in the proper order—greenie first, then remove the stone. Remember, Nulo!”
“I will!” Gray shouted. “What are we waiting for? If you’re not coming and time is so short, shouldn’t I get going?”
Gray could see Takiza was
about to explode but didn’t care. He’d never felt so scared in his life—not even at Tuna Run facing off with Goblin. Here, waiting by the ever-black waters of the Maw, he felt cold and terrified. It was just too much!
But before Takiza could yell at him, a prehistore horror raised itself from the gloom below. It was nearly circular and had skin that was at once black, slimy, and pasty. Though it was tiny to Gray, it was three times Takiza’s size and almost entirely composed of a giant mouth stuffed with bristling teeth. The razor-sharp needle teeth were so big, it was hard to see how the little monster could close its mouth without wounding itself. Gray tried to swim away but was stuck fast because of the rock inside his harness.
“Look out!” Gray shouted. “Behind you!”
Takiza turned, unconcerned. “Finally!” he snorted. “Have you no concept of time?”
“Ah, no actually,” said the prehistore fish. “Kind of dark where we live.”
“You know this thing?” Gray asked.
Someone said, “Hey! You better mind your mouth, or else I’m going to come over there and teach you a lesson!” But the prehistore fish’s lips didn’t move. In fact, this was a completely different voice. Then Gray saw there was a much tinier dweller, an even uglier fish stuck like a barnacle on the first horrible-looking fish’s side. In fact, the smaller ugly fish seemed to be feeding on the larger one with its fangs.
“Oh, oh! Gross!” Gray pointed with his fin. “You have a nasty on your side! A sea tick or something! You should definitely go to a doctor fish and get that removed!”
The larger horrific-looking fish seemed put off and cocked its head to the side as it addressed Takiza. “Digging in the shallow end of the kelp bed for your apprentices these days?”
“Sadly, this is the age we live in,” Takiza said, shaking his head.
“Sea tick? Did that chowderhead just call me a sea tick?” asked the smaller fish indignantly.
“Calm down, honey,” said the larger ugly fish.
Finally Takiza made some introductions. “This is Briny and her husband, Hank, and I’ll thank you to be respectful of them!” the betta said to Gray. “They are humpback anglerfish—”
“Devilfish!” yelled Hank, the small one.
Takiza looked at Briny curiously as Hank’s face returned to press into her side, sucking blood like a leech. “I was under the impression it was rude to call you that.”
“It was.” Briny seemed embarrassed. “But we changed our minds. We ladies don’t like talking about our humps.”
“Besides, devilfish sounds way cooler!” Hank added.
With that, Takiza turned to Gray and continued, “These devilfish live in the depths that you fear to swim. They will lead you to the maredsoo.”
Gray felt awful. “I’m sorry,” he said to the pair. “I—I’m not from around here.”
“We figured that out, jelly-brain!” said Hank.
Takiza shook his head in disapproval. “There is no need to race and prove yourself a bumpkin when meeting someone. They will find out soon enough. Now, lift the stone and follow them!”
“Yes, Shiro,” Gray said, feeling like a total loser. With a heave and upward thrust, the rock slowly rose from the seabed. “Thank you for not making me go alone.”
“Are you speaking again?” Takiza asked Gray. “Lift and swim!”
“He is a strong one,” said Briny. “I’ll give him that.”
“That would explain the lack of brains,” Hank told her. “All the big fish are dummies.”
Gray looked to Takiza, who just grinned. “Oh, so you agree?”
“Come on, pup! We have a party to get to after this!” said Hank. He flapped his fins in annoyance but didn’t remove his fangs from Briny’s slimy side.
Gray looked down at the Maw’s chasm. It was dark and terrifying. Gray shuddered, gave the wan sunlight coming from above one last look, and let the weight of the rock pull him down into the blackness.
As he was swallowed by the Dark Blue, Takiza yelled after him. “Make sure to come back, Nulo! Your training is not complete and you gave me your word!”
Gray gulped. He should have said something back, but the darkness had his total attention. Soon the pressure was squeezing him even more. The large rock nestled inside his harness pulled him down, down, down, so the water whooshed past his ears. It grew colder as it got darker. Chills, from the cold and Gray’s anxiety, marched down his spine and settled in the pit of his stomach.
“You doing okay?” asked Hank after a time. “You look a little peaked.”
Gray wanted to throw up. A fish the color of black slime was telling him he looked unwell. And he probably did after . . . how long had they been descending? An hour? A day? He couldn’t tell in this black vastness.
“Gray?” called out Briny. For the first part of the trip, Briny had held onto the harness with her teeth. Now she could easily swim by his side as the rock was pulling Gray more slowly. His teeth were chattering, so he couldn’t answer right away. “Gray, can you hear me? Can I ask you a question?”
“Oh-oh, s-s-sure,” he stuttered. The pressure from the depths was making his head swim. Were they still going down?
“Don’t ask him,” said Hank. “You always do this. Makes everyone uncomfortable.”
“It does not,” Briny answered.
“Least put your light on, so he can see you.”
“Oh, you’re right! Where are my manners?” A little light brightened and dangled in front of Briny’s jagged rows of teeth. It took a conscious effort not to swim toward the light in this darkness. Gray realized it would be very helpful for hunting in this black place.
In the light Gray could see Briny look at him self-consciously—if a fish who looked like a prehistore nightmare could seem self-conscious—before screwing up her courage. “Does my husband make my hump look fat?”
Gray caught a look of panic from Hank before saying through chattering teeth, “N-no, B-b-b-briny. I think Hank looks sl-slimming on you.”
Briny became very pleased.
Hank gave Gray a fins-up and said, “Hey, you’re okay! And you’ll be glad to know we’re nearly halfway there already!”
“We’re making very good time,” said Briny matter-of-factly.
Gray’s heart began thudding in terror as if it would burst out from his chest entirely. They weren’t even halfway there yet?
THE ROYAL COURT WAS ALL IN A BUSTLE. Velenka heard that an intruder had been captured just off the western edge of the heavily patrolled Riptide homewaters. She watched Finnivus stare imperiously from his place, high above everyone on one of his blue whales. Framed by the terraced greenie behind him, the young tiger shark looked royal indeed.
Then Velenka suddenly spotted the prisoner. The battle-scarred hammerhead could be no one else:
Ripper!
So he hadn’t been killed by the armada’s advance guard as she had thought. The squaline had secured Ripper by looping an ancient chain through his mouth. The ends were attached to two other armored hammerheads, so Ripper couldn’t make a rush at the emperor. There was also some sort of device in his mouth that would prevent him from biting down all the way. The massive hammerhead didn’t struggle, allowing himself to be led down the main aisle to the foot of Finnivus’s well-guarded throne. It seemed odd for a sharkkind as proud and strong as Ripper to come so easily.
“What have we here?” asked Finnivus.
“Your Magnificence,” Tydal announced, “a prisoner caught by your armada mariners.”
Finnivus glared at his first court shark. “Obviously, Tydal. Now tell us something we don’t know.”
The brown-and-yellow epaulette shark bobbed his head. “Apologies. This hammerhead, who calls himself Ripper, says he was the first in the Line for Riptide Shiver.”
“Really?” Finniv
us mused, looking over at Velenka. “I thought we ate those flippers.”
“Ripper was Goblin’s first,” Velenka explained. “But Goblin left when your mighty armada arrived. I thought Ripper also turned tail and swam away.” There was a bloom of anger in the hammerhead’s eyes at Velenka’s words, and she was glad he was bound and chained.
“Well?” Finnivus asked Ripper. “Is that true? Are you a coward?”
The device in his mouth made it difficult to speak, but not impossible. Clearly whoever made it had given some thought for this very situation. “Lies,” the hammerhead spit. “And Goblin didn’t leave. She killed him.”
A murmur rose within the court. “I did no such thing!” yelled Velenka, voice rising. “I worshipped my leader despite his bad decisions. But he would have swum the Sparkle Blue, anyway, because Emperor Finnivus Victor Triumphant—the rightful ruler of all the Big Blue—was coming.”
Finnivus laughed his tittering laugh. “That’s true, we suppose. Should we eat him and be done with it? From the looks of him, he won’t be tasty no matter what the royal seasoners do.”
This would solve all of Velenka’s problems so she immediately agreed: “Yes, excellent idea!”
“Oh, I could give you some great advice,” Ripper told everyone. The court let out a gasp. Apparently, they weren’t used to anyone, especially a prisoner, talking so directly with their ruler.
Finnivus’s eyes blazed. He certainly felt insulted. “And what would that be?”
“Two things. First, Coral Shiver has formed a treaty with an old friend of yours, King Lochlan boola something-or-other and his AuzyAuzy Shiver. They’re gathering their forces about a day’s swim from the east side of these homewaters.”
“WHAAAT?” shouted Finnivus. “Impossible! I destroyed them! I destroyed him! That can’t be true! Commander, is it true?”
The new spinner commander who had been promoted to Whalem’s position was caught by surprise. “I—I—there’s no sign of that from the patrols.”
