Shattered by the Sea Lord (Lords of Atlantis Book 8)

by Starla Night

  Because the castles only radiated from one side. The city was situated on a huge canyon. From inside, a red mass rose, and tentacle twitched and squiggled. The unnatural motions set her stomach on edge.

  “Is that the kraken?” Meg asked. “Ugh. It’s freakier than I imagined.”

  “Don’t be unkind,” Angie said. “She can’t help what she is. Even if that display is a little, ah, unsettling.”

  Most of the warriors clustered around the Life Tree. The closer they got, the larger the tree itself loomed. It was like a mighty, barren oak. Its white branches stretched for the sky, and masses of Sea Opals piled around its trunk.

  And next to the kraken, it looked like a weed.

  Hopefully, it would be as hardy.

  “Well, we’re here.” Angie looked at Bex. “What next?”

  Bex looked at Dannika.

  Everyone looked at Dannika.

  “We find Ciran. He always knows what to do.” Something drew her eye to a figure floating a little apart from the others. “Ciran!”

  He beamed at her.

  And then the elderly warrior floating by the Life Tree pointed his trident at Ciran. Oh, Dannika recognized the scar. It was the king.

  Ciran bolted for them as if he’d heard the starting shot of a sprint.

  A flock of warriors darted after him.

  He had a good lead. Dannika probed herself for doubts, fears, worries—but they were gone. He looked healthy, strong, and pumped the water.

  Meg eyed the warriors bearing down on them. “How many armies did Prince Ankena say attacked Lusca and failed?”

  “Every army,” Bex said.

  “Oh. Good.”

  “But we’re going to succeed,” Dannika assured her.

  “How do you know?” Meg asked.

  “I can just feel it.” She opened her arms to accept Ciran into her shield.

  He flew at her full-force.

  One guard pulled his trident back and launched it at Ciran’s unguarded back.

  She dropped the shield at the last moment.

  Ciran tackled her and they rotated in the water.

  The trident flew harmlessly over his shoulder.

  She lifted the shield. Hers united with Angie’s and their potent bubble expanded outward. Ciran’s pursuers slammed into the white puffy shelter and flew backward, tumbling out of control. Their tridents bounced off it harmlessly.

  Dannika hugged Ciran.

  Her heart, her mind, her body filled with him. He was alive.

  “You have done it.” He pressed urgent kisses to her jaw, her cheek, her lips all while vibrating tender thanks and appreciation. “You have found your full power.”

  She had.

  Energy flowed through her arms, lighting Dannika from within, wrapping around her with certainty. The certainty she’d craved from Ciran she now made all on her own.

  “Okay, love birds, I hate to interrupt, but I’m on a timeline.” Meg rested her shoulder on Dannika’s and eyed Ciran. “Dannika said you always had a plan.”

  “I do. And you have already executed your part flawlessly.”

  Bong…ong…ng…g…

  “The last mirror stones have broken. I…” He frowned. “If you are here, who rings the bell on Sanctuary?”

  “Val.”

  “Ah. Of course.” He blinked rapidly as though mentally recalculating and then focused on Angie. “Your power is shielding? Konomelu, Itime, and Nuno need it now. They were cut off, along with two other warriors, beneath the city. As soon as we reach the young fry, you will break off, descend to find them, and extend your shield.”

  Angie pressed her fingertips together as though she’d heard a note she agreed with.

  Ciran focused on Dannika. “You shield the young fry. Meg, prepare to heal the warriors who will certainly need your services.”

  “You betcha.”

  “Bex.” He sobered. “You are powerful. I only pray to the Life Tree that you are powerful enough. When the time comes, you must push back the kraken.”

  She nodded.

  They swam toward the cowering children and unsettled warriors. Ciran entwined Dannika, and everything felt better. They were meant to swim as a pair.

  A few Luscans led by Lieutenant Orike tried to make a stand, but Dannika and Angie’s shield rolled over them like a marshmallow over scattered pebbles.

  “Wait.” Meg held up a finger as her long fins stroked steadily to keep pace with them. “Bex pushing the kraken might piss her off. Why don’t I just ask her not to hurt us?”

  Ciran blinked rapidly again. “You can do that?”

  “Why not? I’m a Disney princess, and she kind of resembles the tarantulas I’ve been putting up with ever since my kids were old enough to carry them into my hammock. I can at least try, right?”

  “Ah, yes, that would be incredible. Descend with Angie to push through these warriors.”

  Angie released Bex’s hand and took Meg’s. “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure. I hope to be back shortly. If not, I—”

  “Oh, let’s just go, Mom.” Meg tugged her hand. “They know you love us. We all know.”

  She blinked, then poked Meg in the belly. “Some of you are easier to love than others, I must admit.”

  “Please.” Meg rolled her eyes.

  Her mother grinned and descended, pulling a smaller bubble around her and Meg.

  Lieutenant Orike brandished his trident. “By the order of the king, I command you to stop.”

  “And I command you to stop commanding me.” Angie lifted her nose. “Respect your elders. Or did your king teach you nothing?”

  He whacked her shield, but his trident bounced off with an equal force and he fumbled it. The women descended through the scattered warriors.

  “Stop fighting,” Meg mouthed at them. “We’re trying to help you.”

  Dannika, Bex, and Ciran centered on the kids.

  A line of older warriors protected them.

  The king raged at the leader. “Obey me, Figuara. We have to distract the kraken.”

  The old warrior, Figuara, stood firm.

  “Lieutenant Orike.” The king searched the water and found him ascending from the fruitless altercation with Meg and Angie. “You are on the unprotected side. Kill the young fry.”

  Lieutenant Orike frowned deeply. “What?”

  “Throw their bodies in the trench. The fate of the city depends on it.”

  Lieutenant Orike rotated to face the kids.

  A warrior floating beside Hadali gripped his trident. “Do not touch my family.”

  The king growled. “Prince Lukiyo. How dare you betray me?”

  “I am sorry, Grandfather.” He faced down Lieutenant Orike. “But I cannot let you sacrifice your new recruits.”

  Lieutenant Orike shook his head. Apparently, he did have some morals after all. He turned on Figuara. “You are acting above your position, old male. Obey your king or face my wrath.”

  Figuara parried his first blow. Lieutenant Orike’s warriors rallied to him, and the battle was on.

  The king kicked forward.

  Prince Lukiyo met his trident with a clash.

  “Now,” Ciran said.

  Dannika expanded her shield around the kids. Hadali hugged Bex. She returned his hug, but her gaze rested on the fight beyond their shelter. Prince Lukiyo was stranded outside.

  The king held up his trident. “How dare you raise your trident to me? After all I have done for you?”

  Prince Lukiyo lowered his trident. “I’m sorry, Grandfather. I just couldn’t let you hurt my family.”

  “I am disappointed.”

  Bex released Hadali and darted out of the shield. She wove between the fighting warriors with lithe grace.

  Prince Lukiyo hung his head. “Please forgive me.”

  “I will.” The king lifted his trident and launched it at Prince Lukiyo’s unguarded heart.

  Bex thrust out her palm. “Stop.”

  The trident flew away from Prince Lukiyo. It w
hipped around and around and disappeared beneath the city.

  The king glared. “You. Again.”

  Lukiyo straightened. “Mom?”

  The king withdrew a jagged dagger from his arm sheath. “You have defied me for too long. First, you turned my son against me. Now, you weaken the will of my grandson.”

  “You shouldn’t have sunk my sailboat.” She dove back, keeping his gaze on her and away from the children. “Me and Ankena never would have met. You turned him against you all by yourself.”

  The king roared and slashed at her.

  She kicked back toward the abyss.

  “Grandfather, please.” The dark-haired young prince flew after him. “Don’t hurt my mom.”

  “Of all the betrayals, Lukiyo, yours hurts the worst of all.” He grabbed the prince and put a knife to Prince Lukiyo’s throat.

  Lukiyo swallowed. “Please.”

  The king’s blade pressed hard enough to draw a red line. “A Luscan never begs.”

  Uh-oh.

  A light glowed beneath them. Angie, shielding Konomelu and Itime, ascended and joined their bubble. Joyful cries filled the bubble as the children embraced their parents.

  Hadali watched the stand-still with pale fear.

  “What can we do?” Dannika vibrated to Ciran quietly.

  “This is all we can do. Prep Meg’s healing powers and pray.”

  But Meg wasn’t here. She was still below, alone and unshielded, trying to commune with a storybook creature.

  “Let my son go,” Bex said quietly.

  The bell knelled through the city once more, vibrating in a deep, penetrating call.

  The king tightened his grip. “As you destroy what I love, I will destroy what you love.”

  Meg fluttered her fins until she rose level with the Life Tree. “Okay guys, relax. I did my magic. I am a Disney princess.”

  The kraken arose.

  She was a mountain emerging from volcanic clouds, unfathomably vast like the Grand Canyon, an Easter Island statue from the perspective of an ant.

  Lieutenant Orike and Figuara stopped fighting and gaped. Dannika hugged Ciran. He hugged her back.

  The kraken’s hundreds of tentacles fanned like a great unholy starfish. Each one jerked with its own intelligence. Six long feeding tentacles caressed the seafloor. Three beaks clacked beneath her fan.

  She was a monster, hungry and free.

  “Let Lukiyo go,” Bex said. “The kraken will leave you alone.”

  “Your promise is empty. No mortal controls her!”

  “You can’t. Because we broke all your mirror stones. But Meg can.”

  “I can communicate,” Meg said. “Control is the wrong word. And I’m probably not the only one who can. You guys really have to get over your issues with brides. If the kraken’s roaming about, you’ll need somebody here twenty-four seven to remind her not to snack on anything important.”

  “Lusca will never have brides,” the king growled.

  “Join MerMatch,” Meg suggested. “Dannika will help you find your soul mate.”

  “My soul mate is gone.” He whirled to face Dannika, dragging a pale, stiff Lukiyo with him. “When I was a young prince, my ‘wise’ elders convinced my father to force her from my arms. They prevented me from going to her. She died on the surface alone.”

  Oh, no.

  “My father regretted his part in that decision,” Itime vibrated to the king.

  “I thanked him. Because I realized that exposing myself to a bride made me weak, just like in the Lusca of old, the sacred brides made our city weak. That is why none of my warriors will ever woo brides. We will swim the seas taking what we want. No soul connection will ever cloud our minds.”

  Ciran squeezed Dannika.

  Yes, she understood. If it was possible to empathize with the king, to reach him even now, this was her time.

  Dannika released Ciran and kicked out of the shield, parting the warriors to float in front of the scarred, angry, old king. “I also lost my soul mate. That devastation leaves a deep and permanent wound.”

  He focused on her. His good eye narrowed.

  “But look at what is possible from letting brides return to your city.” She pointed at the kraken quietly twitching like a disturbing mountain landscape, the shields that she and Angie had made, and the huge family of island children. “Your wound will never disappear. But it is possible to let it scar over so you can move again.”

  “You think I am injuring my warriors? No. I am saving them.” The king jutted his chin at Lieutenant Orike and the younger warriors he’d stolen and trained. “They will never know the pain I endured. They will only know anger.”

  “Anger can empower, but you have passed into destruction. And we will not let you torture your warriors anymore.” Dannika opened her palms. “There is a future for Lusca. It includes friendship with the kraken and peace with the surface.”

  His eye narrowed.

  “You are still the most feared warriors in the sea.” Ciran emerged from the shield to support Dannika. “No one will rule over Lusca. Not even the All-Council.”

  “But you have to end your war.” Dannika took Ciran’s hand. “Instead of sinking ships, you could help them out of trouble.”

  The king recoiled. “We are no brainless dolphins. We are warriors. I decide who dies. My orders are absolute. No one will ever rule over me again!”

  “Ah,” Meg winced. “Don’t shout. It upsets her.”

  One tentacle curled around the king’s castle and tore it free like a child plucks a daisy.

  The Life Tree shrieked.

  A throb of pain echoed in Dannika’s chest. She was no mer, but even she could sense the fear of the Luscan warriors soaking the ocean.

  The kraken tossed the castle across the trench. It landed on the empty field and exploded.

  Ciran tugged her back. With him, she hustled into the shield and reinforced its strength.

  “I decide,” the king shouted, immune to suffering and fear because he already marinated in those emotions constantly. “I will tear Lusca from the ground before I take orders from a female. The kraken obeys my mirror stones. Her squids are my mercenaries. I take them, I use them, and I kill them!”

  More tentacles tore at the ground, undeterred by the sharp coral and the armored spines.

  The Life Tree shrieked again. The bell echoed with alarm.

  “The time of sacred brides has passed,” the king snarled. “We take what we need. No one will stop us. I am the king!”

  The king dropped Lukiyo, turned, and raised his dagger at the kraken. “For Lusca!”

  Bex dragged Lukiyo inside the shield.

  Ancient castles collapsed around them.

  Angie opened her arms to the frantic Luscans. “Get in. Come. Hurry.”

  Everyone, friend and foe, huddled close as their world ended. Collapsed walls of the ancient castles crashed on the shield with the force of a hundred terrifying plane accidents…and then casually slid off, as the shield held up perfectly, impenetrable and safe.

  “Dannika? Ciran?” Meg clung to Itime. “I lost it. Backup plan?”

  “Summon the kraken,” Ciran said, hugging Dannika.

  “I thought I did. We did, I mean.”

  “We must ring the bell.”

  Oh.

  No time.

  Backup plan?

  “Ommmmm,” Dannika hummed.

  “Um, what are you—”

  “High G,” she said. “Ommmmm.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  Angie interrupted, matching Dannika’s tone. “Ommmmmm.”

  Meg shrugged and tried it, and a moment later, Bex chimed in. “Ommmmmmm.”

  Their tones couldn’t possibly compete with the crashing city.

  But. The kraken’s tentacles lowered. She heard something.

  Bong…ong…ng…ng…g…

  A little sharp?

  Dannika modulated her tone to match the bell. Her musical training came in handy.

&nb
sp; The kraken turned away from the city.

  Thank goodness.

  Whoah!

  Her movement caused a massive current as if an entire mountain range changed orientation. The Life Tree and remaining castles laid flat against the seafloor.

  “You will not defeat me!” the king screamed, hanging from one of its red tentacles. “I will never be defeated!”

  As an afterthought almost, the tentacle rolled up, wrapping around the king like a fist closing over a gnat.

  His shouts went silent.

  The kraken flew away.

  It was over.

  Ciran held Dannika. Her soft body melded perfectly to his. Her chest and fingertips glowed in the same shade as her corner of the shield.

  She was magnificent with her power.

  And so were the other queens.

  They ranged equidistant around the sphere, like four lights of hope in a dark ocean. The remaining warriors of the city and the young fry sheltered inside. Across the crowd, Angie nestled against Konomelu, and on the other corner, Meg snuggled in Itime’s arms. Bex glowed fiercely in front of Hadali and Prince Lukiyo, her hands up and ready to ward off any danger.

  But as the harsh current tore by them, they floated in place, untouched. For a long time after the kraken had left, they bobbed gently, alone with only each other, in the empty ocean.

  The Luscans remained quiet. Warring factions pressed too close to each other to fight. They were all united by survival.

  In time, the bedraggled Life Tree righted itself, but it had a deadly kink. One castle shakily rose. Animals, mostly smaller squids and fish, flew past their shelter.

  Dannika and Angie lowered the shield.

  The groups spread out, gaining cautious distance from each other to evaluate their new positions.

  Itime stroked Meg’s hair. “You communicated with the kraken?”

  Meg preened. “What can I say? I’ve got the Disney princess touch.”

  Dannika and the other women laughed. Bex smiled.

  The young fry hugged their parents, mothers and fathers, in a happy reunion.

  Hadali hugged Prince Lukiyo. “I missed you so much. When you turned on us, I thought…”

  Prince Lukiyo pushed him away and floated back from the families. His eyes reddened, and he swallowed hard. But most tellingly, his soul light dimmed.

  In a mer, this was extremely rare.