“Good-bye, my friend.”
Billy could not think of anything to say back. But he was determined not to die without a fight. He clenched the Dagger of Flame even tighter in his fist, and prepared to attack.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
In Which Billy meets a Foe, and issues a Challenge…
“Stop!”
Billy didn’t recognize the voice. It was strong, and bright, and true. It was….
It was him.
The sea creatures that were flowing like quicksilver toward him and Artemaeus faltered. The single word seemed to hit them like a physical assault. Several of the larger marine animals – a pair of sharks and a killer whale – shook their heads as though confused, and then began to snap voraciously at one another.
But the respite was short-lived. The rest of the fish and sea creatures stopped, but only for a moment. Then they resumed their forward rush, a mad dash of life that would surely crush Billy and the whale under sheer weight.
Again, however, the voice spoke. And again, Billy barely recognized it as coming from himself.
“Touch me not,” he screamed, feeling himself once again reverting to that strange speech pattern that had gripped him before. “I come not for thee, but for thy mistress. I claim right of passage, by the laws of the deep and in the name of the White King.” He swung the Dagger of Flame in a devastating circle that left another thousand sea creatures floating motionless. “I am the Seeker! And I shall not be turned away!”
The fish stopped again, and this time they seemed to be looking at one another in confusion. Even Artemaeus was gazing at him with something approaching fear, and wondered what was happening to him. He had felt himself guided in times past, when he was speaking the Message of the White King, and when wielding Excalibur. But this was something else. Something more. He wasn’t just being guided, he was changing. He felt like he had been wearing a costume for his whole life, and now, somehow, pieces of it were falling away, revealing what was inside. But he could not see his true self. Not yet. Not enough of the old Billy had dissipated. Not enough to permit him to see clearly.
But what had fallen away was his fear. He looked at the gathered minions of the deep, and knew with sudden certainty that if he had to fight, he would sell his life dearly. He would not weep, or wail, or regret. He would fight. He was the Seeker, and he would not be denied!
A grating sound pulled his thoughts away. It was the coral mountain. It was pulling apart, a fissure opening at its base like the drawing back of a curtain from a window. The crack widened, growing larger, and larger, big enough for a plane, or for Artemaeus himself to swim through without difficulty.
But they were not going in, Billy realized. No, something was coming out. A familiar figure, though also changed somehow.
It was Blue. The mermaid swam through the opening with regal bearing. Her tail, made of tiny corals and the bones of miniscule sea creatures, flashed in the ethereal glow of the jellyfish that hung far above. Her hair, green as sea kelp, floated about her in a thick mane that obscured her body from neck to waist. Her skin was also green, and seemed as though it was lightly scaled, glinting subtly in the light. She smiled, and Billy saw that her teeth were still as those of a shark: pointed and fierce. Billy felt terror start to claw at him, and realized that the courage that had gripped him was not there in the face of Blue. He had met a being powerful enough to merit his fear.
Billy gasped, then, as he noticed her eyes. When he had last been in this realm, and last spoken to Blue, her eyes had been flawless orbs of deepest blue, the color of a perfect, untouched ocean. No pupils marred the even tone, no whites could be seen. They were blue marbles, glinting and devoid of human feeling, existing as windows to the mysteries of the Deep.
Now, though, her eyes had changed. They were still blue, but he could also see traces of gold in them. Lines of silver and specks of brass. The sight was jarring somehow. Wrong. Impure.
At her side was another familiar sight: the Sword of Earth, Excalibur. One of the weapons that Billy was prophesied to find. And find it he had, though he had given it to the mermaid after that.
“Who dares to counter the commands of Blue?” demanded the mermaid. As Billy had remembered, her voice carried the song that he had come to associate with the Deep. But her voice, like her eyes, had changed somewhat. It was more ragged, with a harsh edge to it. And when Billy looked closely, he saw that her tail was different, too. When he had seen it last it had been made of living coral, with tiny fishes and anemones living in and around it. Now, the coral that made up part of Blue’s body was bleached white. No life existed in it, it was a dead thing. Billy was reminded of the hideous vision of the Death’s Head Moth, an Imbued Object invented by Eva Black, an insect made of tiny bones that spread death to whatever it touched.
Blue, however, was no mere moth. She was perhaps the most powerful being Billy had ever met.
“Well?” she demanded again. “I have given orders that this creature,” she continued, pointing at Artemaeus with Excalibur, “is no longer welcome in the realm of Blue. So how has he come here? What has happened to you all? What –”
Blue stopped speaking suddenly, as she caught sight of Billy. She frowned, as though confused.
“True it is, and true it will be,” she murmured. “The Messenger has come, and the Seeker comes into his own. The end is near, though far from close.” Then her face relaxed. “Blue knows you,” she said, though her voice was still uncertain.
Billy swam forward. He didn’t know what had happened between Artemaeus and Blue, but he didn’t want the whale getting any more hurt because of him.
“I’m Billy,” he said. “Billy Jones, you saved me once.”
“Billy Jones?” said Blue. “Is that true? True as Blue?” Again she seemed uncertain. “I think not. And yet it is. True it is, and true it is not. But Billy does not lie.” Then she hissed suddenly, her pointed teeth bared in a grimace of rage. “How dare you!” she screamed. “How dare you bring that thing here!”
Blue pointed with Excalibur, and Billy thought for a moment that she was gesturing at Artemaeus again. Then he realized that that wasn’t it. No, she was pointing at the Dagger of Flame that he still held in his right hand.
“How dare you bring Flame to the Blue!” She gestured with Excalibur, and screamed, “Take it! Take it from him!” to the marine life that still swum nearby.
Billy raised the dagger automatically. “Touch me not,” he said, “or the sea will writhe with the bodies of the dead.”
Blue stared at Billy. “Can it be? Is it you? True?”
Billy still had no idea what she was talking about. He was Billy. Just Billy Jones, and that was all. Wasn’t he?
“What have you come here for?” asked the mermaid suddenly. “What do you seek of Blue and the Deep?”
“Blue,” said Billy, reverting again to his normal voice patterns. “What are you doing? What’s going on with the oceans?”
“With the oceans?” Blue looked genuinely concerned for a moment. Then she smiled. “Ah, with the Deep Rising,” she said. “With the waves.”
“Yes,” said Billy.
“Too long have the air breathers cast their filth into Blue,” said the mermaid. “Too long have they wasted our seas, and polluted our oceans with their recklessness. Too long have they killed our subjects,” she added, gesturing to the thousands of fish all around them, “and made us hunted and afraid. No longer!” She shook her fist in the water, the rage she clearly felt almost palpable around her. “No longer shall the air breathers corrupt the Blue and the Deep.”
“Why are you doing this?” Billy pleaded. “Why now?” But he knew the answer. He had guessed it before; it was the reason he had come here in the first place. “It’s Excalibur, isn’t it?” he said.
Blue held the sword protectively, as though cradling a babe in her arms. “Blue knows not what you mean. This is Blue’s sword. It was not, then it was, then it was not again, but destined to return to Blue.”<
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“Blue, it isn’t your sword,” insisted Billy. “It’s the sword of the White King. It’s the Sword of Earth.”
“We know that, Billy Jones,” snapped the mermaid. “It is a piece of Earth, fallen to the Deep. And it gives us power. Yes, it does.” She purred, but the sound was deadly, like a great cat sighing contentedly after a meal of torn flesh and bone.
Billy looked at the Dagger of Flame. When he held it, he could not be harmed by Fire. And that was why, he guessed, Mrs. Russet’s spell and the spell of the other Earth Powers had not been able to stop the waves: because Blue held the Sword of Earth, no Brown Power could stand against her. Earth could hold back Water, he guessed, just as Water could quench Fire. There was balance in the Elements. But when Blue held Excalibur, she was supreme over one of her perceived enemies.
Still, it seemed wrong. Blue didn’t seem vengeful last time he had seen her. Covetous of earthly treasures, yes. Strange and alien, definitely. Dangerous in many respects, for certain. But she had also seemed calm. A thing of power like the sea, but possessed of no more ill will than a wave that crashes wildly against a beach. She was a creature of chaos, and this plan to destroy Earth seemed one that was both out of character and too controlled for Blue.
“Blue,” he said, “why are you doing this?”
“Blue has already told Billy Jones.”
“I don’t believe it,” he said. “Why now? Why attack Earth itself? Where has this anger come from?” And then he suddenly knew. “Blue,” he said. “You have to give me back the sword.”
“Never!” snarled the mermaid. “The sword is of Blue.”
“It’s not, though,” insisted Billy. “It’s not meant to be down here. It’s a thing of Earth. Not a thing of the Deep. Not a thing of Blue.”
“It’s mine!”
“And it’s killing you!”
As soon as the words left his lips, Billy knew that they were true. “Can’t you see that it’s not meant for you to own?” he demanded. “Look at your eyes… they’re turning gold, and silver, and brown: colors of Earth. Your tail is dying. You’re becoming corrupted by the power of the sword!”
Blue looked at herself. At the sword.
“Don’t believe him,” said a voice from within the coralline tower behind Blue. There was a flash of motion from deep within the shadows under the coral mountain, and then Billy cringed. It was Mordrecai, the Darksider who had tried to capture Billy and Mrs. Russet when he had been at school. The Darksider smiled beatifically, his blonde hair surrounding him like an aura of grace. But Billy could sense the evil in the man’s gaze.
“He’s trying to get you to give up your treasures, can’t you see that?” purred Mordrecai.
“I’m not!” said Billy. “Blue, you have to listen to me. You have to give up the sword. It will kill you!”
“It won’t kill you. It will make you supreme,” said the Darksider. “You have known for too long that Earth is the natural enemy of Water. You must know that this boy is here to stop you from taking what you are meant to take.”
“Blue,” said Billy pleadingly, “don’t believe him. He’s a Darksider. He’s after the sword. He wants you to die, so that he can take it from you.” Then another thought struck him. Serba, a creature of Fire incarnate, had held the Dagger of Flame. The Sword of Earth had been locked into the Diamond Dais, the Heart of Earth. And now, Billy realized, he was floating not just underwater, but at the heart of the Deep. He looked at Blue with realization. “You don’t just have the sword, do you?” he said. “You have one of the other weapons.” He looked at Mordrecai again. “That’s why he came here in the first place, to find the other weapon. Then when he realized he couldn’t get it from you, he convinced you to start using the sword in the hopes that you would die, and he could take both weapons from you!”
Billy saw a flash of anger in Mordrecai’s eyes, and knew he was right. It made sense. If not even the scabbard that had held Excalibur could be removed from its owner, how much harder would it be to take away the sword itself? So the only way to remove it would be if Blue either gave it up willingly… or died.
“He’s a liar,” screamed Mordrecai. The Darksider must have convinced Blue to change him in the same way she had changed Billy, or else there was no way the man could have survived in this place. But his voice held none of the music that Billy’s voice did when he was underwater. The sound was violent and harsh as the sound of a crashing wave.
“I’m not lying,” said Billy.
“He’s brought the Dagger of Flame with him,” said Mordrecai. “Right here, in the center of your kingdom!”
“Stop!” said Blue, holding up a taloned hand. She looked at Billy, then at Mordrecai. “Blue will not be a party to this family squabble.” She looked at Billy. “You have been a guest of Blue, Billy Jones. And it is for that reason that I offer you safe passage out of this place.” She turned to Artemaeus. “And you, air breather,” she spat. “You, too, may leave this place, though never to return.”
“Blue,” interrupted Billy. “What happened to you? Artemaeus is the Oldest of the Old Ones. Why banish him?”
The whale uttered a short burst of song, and Billy felt like the leviathan was agreeing with him.
Blue’s lip curled in derision. “Ask not of Blue. Artemaeus was once our friend, it is true. But he has sided with the creatures of Earth. He is no longer our servant, or our trusted friend.” She clenched her fist, and held it in front of her face. “This is the time of Blue,” she said. “The time for us to return to our former glory, to take back the treasures above, to make the Earth a thing beneath our tails, instead of something over our heads. Artemaeus counciled us against this plan, and so he has been banished.” She leveled the sword at the whale, and the creature bellowed suddenly. Billy now knew what had happened to his face, for though Blue held Excalibur far away from Artemaeus, still cuts appeared on the whale’s body, massive furrows that bled freely into the water around it.
The sharks nearby smelled the blood and went crazy, attacking one another, and several even veered toward Artemaeus as though to attack him. But Billy held out the Dagger of Flame and they veered off at the last moment.
“Stop this, stop it!” he shouted. “You’re killing him.”
“As all must die who breathe the air,” said Blue. “As all must perish who fight against the will of Blue.”
She turned her back on Billy. “Now leave,” she said over her shoulder. “You are special, Billy Jones. You may live among the Blue, though we do not wish to see your face again. For the sake of your father, and your father’s father, you are granted safe passage hence. But return to never more.”
Mordrecai smirked at Billy. And though Billy held the Dagger of Flame, he also knew that the Darksider was immensely powerful, and he had no idea if he could fight the man. Besides, what would that accomplish? It wasn’t as though killing Mordrecai would give him any kind of sway over Blue. Or would make him be in charge of….
Billy smiled. There was an idea glimmering in his mind. The faintest sense of a plan.
“Blue!” he shouted.
The mermaid turned, and he could see rage in her flecked eyes. “You try our patience, Billy Jones. And Blue and the Deep are not to be trifled with.”
Billy held up the Dagger of Flame. “I Challenge you,” he said.
The sharks that had been tearing at one another suddenly stopped. Indeed, everything stopped. The very water itself seemed to grow still in the aftermath of that statement.
Billy waited, every muscle in his body clenched. He knew that in the world of the Powers, there were six Councilors, one representing each Element. And to ascend to the Council seat, a challenger had to defeat the current Councilor in life and death battle for supremacy. Billy had seen one such Challenge match, between Fulgora and another man called Napalm for the Red Throne.
Blue was not a Councilor, he knew. She was not even human. But she was certainly a creature of Power, and so he thought – he hoped – that she
might be bound by some of the same rules that the Powers had to live by.
The mermaid slowly turned back to him. Her eyes were dim, like a gray sea in a storm. “You… Challenge me?” she repeated.
Billy caught Artemaeus’ eye. The whale shook his head. Don’t do it, he was clearly saying.
And Billy had to agree with that assessment. He had seen Blue devastate the Darksiders in a matter of minutes, had seen her stand up to their combined might without batting an eye. So what could he do?
Blue shook her head. “Blue does not follow the rules of humanity,” she said finally. “There is no reason for Blue to accept your Challenge. Nothing to gain for Blue, and no chance for Billy to win.”
Billy had one last thought. He knew that Blue loved treasure. The inside of her castle of coral was coated with rare gems, precious artifacts and priceless objects of art that had been lost at sea. And she had done a great favor for Billy once in return for his giving Excalibur to her. So perhaps he could tempt her again.
“Too afraid?” he said with a haughtiness he did not feel. Indeed, his insides were clenched tight as a drum within him. He felt vaguely nauseated, and hoped he knew what he was doing. Although why he should hope that, when he hadn’t known what he was doing at any time in his entire life previous, was beyond him.
“Blue has nothing to fear,” said the mermaid.
“No. Just the loss of your kingdom,” said Billy.
Blue laughed. “The realm of the Deep does not work like that, Billy Jones. There would be no ascension for you, even were you to best me. Which you could not. For Blue does not merely have power. Blue is Power. As eternal as the seas, as deep as the oceans. Power cannot be destroyed, nor can it be defeated.”
“But there is something you could win,” said Billy. He held out the Dagger of Flame. “You know you can’t take this from me,” he said. “Not while I’m alive. But you want it, don’t you.” Blue’s eyes narrowed, and he could see a familiar look of interest on her face. “You do want it,” Billy pressed. “You have the Sword of Earth. You have one of the other weapons. The spear? The armor?” He looked at the Dagger of Flame. “How much more powerful would you be if you held this as well?”
Billy: Seeker of Powers (The Billy Saga) Page 10
