Spirit of the Sea Witch

by Tara West

  “Then there is hope you can save Mari?” Alec’s words were hopeful. “Eris is going to banish her spirit to the Elements and steal her body.”

  “Is Mari your friend?” she asked.

  “Aye.”

  When her brother’s cheeks colored, she suspected Mari was more than a friend. Even more reason for her to defeat Eris. “Don’t worry, Alec.” She grabbed his hands. “I will do all I can for her.”

  “Thank you.” He took her in a fierce hug, then gestured at the dwarf and giant. “This is Grim and his daughter, Gorpat. They’ve saved my arse more times than I care to count.”

  “Thank you for keeping my brother safe.” She smiled warmly at Grim, curious as to how he’d come to be the father of a giant.

  “It was my pleasure. He’s a good lad.” Grim wiped misty eyes before glancing at his child. “Think your magic is powerful enough to heal a giant? I fear my sweet pearl may not make it....” The little man let out a strangled sob.

  Her heart clenched as Grim’s pain became hers, shrouding her with his sorrow. She walked the length of the giant, who laid supine, breathing heavily. Gorpat was covered in oozing bloody welts, each the width of a dragon’s bite. Only one creature could have inflicted such injuries: Eris’s sea serpent. She prayed Gorpat had defeated Naamaku before succumbing to her injuries.

  Start with the heart, Sindri whispered, before the poison reaches it.

  She threw a tendril of magic over Gorpat, then climbed up the rope and onto the giant’s chest.

  Gorpat’s eyes were shut, her breaths torturous. Kneeling, she placed a palm on the giant’s chest, alarmed at her slowing heartbeat.

  “I fear the poison has already spread to her heart.”

  Hurry, Neriphene urged.

  Shutting her eyes, she summoned her healing magic, traveling to that place between this world and the next, then going farther still, knowing she needed to draw on the full strength of her magic. She flew over Neriphene and Sindri toward a bright and brilliant sun, basking in its glow.

  Come back, Dianna, before you go too far, Neriphene called.

  She threw out her arms, shuddering a breath of surrender, then fell back, back, past her cousins to the mortal plane. When she awoke, she was snuggling in Gorpat’s arms, and the giant was sitting up and smiling down at her.

  “Pretty girl save Gorpat.” The giant sniffled, then smeared Dianna’s hair and arms with sticky fingers. “Gorpat like pretty girl.”

  She smiled back. “I like Gorpat, too.” She looked down at Gorpat’s arms and legs, pleased to see the welts were no more than faint scars.

  “You saved my pearl!” Grim hobbled up Gorpat’s arm, yanked Dianna down to his level with a surprisingly firm grip, and wrapped his stubby arms around her shoulders. “I owe you my life!” He sobbed into her hair.

  “No.” She pulled back, offering the dwarf a warm smile. “You’ve saved my brother many times. Now we’re even.”

  “Just like your brothers said.” Grim sniffled. “‘A good witch.’” Then he fell on his daughter’s arm. “My sweet baby pearl!” he spoke through a blubbery snort. “Dada was so worried!”

  Dianna slid down a rope of magic, right into Simeon’s embrace. Heat flamed her cheeks when she backed away.

  Simeon scowled at his hands. “You’re covered in something.”

  Dianna shrugged. “Just giant boogers.” She couldn’t help but laugh when Simeon frantically brushed his hands down his pants.

  “Alec,” Dianna said. “This is Simeon, a distant grandson of the Goddess, Kyan, and this is Tan’yi’na.” She pointed at the golden dragon. “He served Kyan when she ruled the Shifting Sands.”

  Greetings, mortal, Tan’yi’na said haughtily.

  Simeon held out a hand to her brother. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you’re alive. Your sister feared the worst.”

  Alec jerked Simeon toward him, violently shaking his hand. “I can assure you I’m well. And how well do you know my sister?”

  “Uh....” Simeon looked like a lamb at slaughter. “We’re merely friends. Good friends.”

  “That’s good to know.” Alec continued to shake Simeon’s hand, squeezing so tight, Simeon jerked back with a grunt to free himself.

  Dianna had to bite back a laugh. She’d never seen this protective side of Alec before.

  Mortals, Tan’yi’na asked, how long has this lagoon been empty?

  “Only a few moments,” Alec said. “The water rushed out unexpectedly.”

  I saw this happen a millennia ago, when Eris and Madhea were at war. The spice traders named it the ocean’s kiss, Tan’yi’na said.

  “Sounds beautiful.” Dianna shrank back when Lydra’s nostrils flared, and she let out a high-pitched wail after sniffing the air.

  Get to higher ground! Tan’yi’na boomed, snatching Simeon in his jowls and tossing him on his back before jumping into the air.

  Dianna swung onto Lydra’s back and held a hand down to her brother. “Come with us!”

  Alec stepped back as Gorpat stumbled to her feet. “I’m not leaving my friends.”

  “What in the Elements is that?” Grim stood on his daughter’s shoulder and pointed an axe at something in the distance.

  Dianna’s heart hit her stomach when Lydra lurched into the air. It took her a moment to realize a wall of water twice the height of Gorpat was barreling down on the island.

  “Monster wave!” Grim screamed.

  Oh, heavenly Elements! Alec and his friends would perish!

  Tan’yi’na flew above the clouds. Gorpat raced up the beach with Alec in her fist and Grim clinging to her hair. Dianna yanked on Lydra’s rope. “Hold, girl. We must stop it!”

  Dianna’s spirit flew to the place between two worlds and summoned the deep magic. “Stop!” Her command was a boom that rent the air like a crack of thunder. The wave froze, suspended. Magic pulsed through her fingers and her chest heaved as she struggled to push the wave back. She did not know how long she could hold it. As if sensing her distress, Lydra flew under the curved monolithic shadow of the stationary wave, blowing out a curtain of ice and solidifying the water.

  When they emerged, Dianna released her magic with a groan. As tension slowly unwound from her neck and sore muscles, she was pleased to see the wave holding steady as a giant glacier. She patted her dragon’s scales. “Good work, girl.”

  With the catastrophe momentarily averted, Dianna only had to worry about taking down the goddess who’d created it, for no mere witch could harvest such Elemental power.

  Lydra landed on a cliff overlooking the lagoon. Gorpat’s footsteps made the ground thunder beneath them as she climbed up the side of the hill.

  Alec climbed onto Gorpat’s other shoulder and let out a low whistle. “Eris must know you’re here.”

  “No, not Eris!” A shrill voice called down from atop the glacier, his profile a shadow against the setting sun. “Do you think the sea goddess is the only one who can bend the Elements to her will?”

  “Thorne?” Alec was surprised. “You’re an earth speaker?”

  Alec knew this earth speaker? She squinted at the shadowy man. Even from this distance, his golden eyes sparkled like twin suns. A misguided descendent of Kyan, no doubt.

  Dafuar and Odu have spread many seeds across this earth, Sindri said, leaving their magical roots to grow untethered and unchecked.

  And unhinged, Neriphene added wryly.

  “My goddess says I’m the most powerful earth speaker who’s ever lived.” He maniacal laughter echoed across the lagoon. “Once I finish destroying your witch sister, and Eris claims a new body, we will rule the world together.”

  Tan’yi’na flew down to them, with Simeon perched between his wings. A low chuckle reverberated from the dragon’s chest. And you believe that lying witch?

  “Do not dare blaspheme my goddess!” Thorne shrieked, a deafening crack rending the air.

  Dianna jerked back, expecting the ice wall to shatter.

  Tan’yi’n
a shook his head, a cloud of smoke blowing through his flared nostrils. Eris and Madhea have a truce. The Elementals will not let her break it.

  The earth speaker floated down to the edge of the cliff as if he rode an invisible cloud, boldly coming within striking distance of Tan’yi’na. Dianna was struck by his plain appearance. He was thin and only about a head taller than her young brother, Des, the lines framing his tapered eyes and slight peppering of gray in his cropped hair revealing he was around the age of her deceased father. ‘Twas hard to believe such a small and simple man wielded so much power.

  Thorne tilted his chin at Tan’yi’na, his lips pulled back in a snarl, revealing a mouthful of rotting teeth. “Eris killed her Elementals years ago.”

  Dianna gasped, sharing horrified looks with Tan’yi’na. “She killed her own children?”

  Thorne shrugged, then looked at her with a demonic gleam in his eyes that rivaled the meanest pixie. “They were worthless and disobedient.”

  Tan’yi’na’s chest expanded, his fire lighting his lungs with an eerie glow. He blew out the flame with a roar. The earth speaker held out a palm, his expression one of boredom as he deflected the fire. Lydra howled, releasing a curtain of ice as flames arched off the earth speaker and fanned her legs.

  “Stop this!” Dianna waved wildly at the dragons. “You cannot fight an earth speaker with Elements.”

  Both dragons backed away from Thorne, Tan’yi’na shaking icicles off his scales and Lydra stomping out fire beneath her. Simeon, clinging to Tan’yi’na’s back, shivered uncontrollably.

  Dianna climbed off Lydra and stalked up to Thorne. “Hear me now, earth speaker!” She spat the words as if they were made of venom. “I did not defeat seven powerful mages and travel all this way simply to be bested by you.”

  Thorne threw out his hands, knocking her back with a wind so powerful, she flew against her dragon with a sickening crunch. Dianna cried out, placing a hand over her cracked ribs, summoning her healing magic while straining for breath. After her bones mended, she let out a shaky exhale, then rolled up her sleeves and marched back to the earth speaker.

  Another loud crack rent the air, and water poured from a gap in the ice. Thorne’s wicked smile faded when she threw a bolt of lightning at him. He grabbed it, palming it as if he was molding clay. Then he hurled it back. She jumped when the bolt struck between her legs, cracking the earth.

  A loud snap came from the glacier, and she knew the entire structure would fall at any moment. She threw more bolts, but he captured them all and returned them.

  “What do I do?” she asked the stones.

  He is not as strong as you, Neriphene answered. Keep wearing him down.

  “I don’t have time for that!” She threw a bolt and then yelled at her friends. “Get out of here before the glacier collapses.”

  “I’m not leaving you!” Alec called. He climbed down the giant and stood behind her.

  Curse her brother! Didn’t he realize he was making her job harder?

  “Neither are we!” Simeon yelled from Tan’yi’na.

  Speak for yourself, Tan’yi’na grumbled before launching into the air despite Simeon’s protests.

  More cracks were heard. The lagoon was rapidly filling with water. She threw another bolt at the earth speaker, and he returned it with a victorious squeal. “I can do this all day!”

  Gorpat’s foot crashed down beside Thorne so suddenly, Dianna’s heart leapt into her throat. The earth beneath the giant’s foot began to buckle. She leaned down and slapped the earth speaker as if she was swatting a bug off her arm. He went careening through the air, his screams fading into nothingness, followed by the sound of a distant splash. When the hole beneath her foot widened, Gorpat backed up as a chunk of earth detached from the cliff and fell into the sea.

  “Bad man not nice to pretty friend,” Gorpat said.

  “No.” Dianna agreed. “He wasn’t. Thanks.”

  Grim balanced himself on Gorpat’s shoulder. “My pearl is as gentle as a lamb, but even lambs have their limits.”

  Dianna was grateful for those limits. She secretly hoped Gorpat’s slap had been enough to kill Thorne, though she had no time to find out. They had to make their escape before the ice wall crumbled.

  Dianna didn’t give her brother another chance to argue. She wrapped a magical rope around his waist and tossed him on Lydra’s back, then flew to a spot behind him and grabbed Lydra’s reins. “Go, girl!” she screamed. “Run, Gorpat!” she called to the giant.

  Lydra soared over the blackened landscape toward the massive puckered crater in the center of the island, Gorpat skipping behind her like a herd of wild elk on a rampage.

  When the ice broke, water rose to Gorpat’s waist, pushing the giant across the island.

  Her father climbed up on top of her head, pointing to a wooden barge being pushed by the current. “Swim to the barge, Gorpat!”

  Dianna heaved a sigh of relief when the giant pulled herself up on the barge, but her relief was short-lived when a fanged beast with slick, shimmery scales wove through the current toward them.

  Naamaku. Tan’yi’na’s growl echoed in Dianna’s head. The golden dragon soared down to Gorpat’s barge, releasing Simeon before diving for the leviathan.

  “Lydra!” Dianna cried. “We must help them.”

  Lydra flapped backward, hovering over the barge. Alec slid off the dragon, falling into Gorpat’s outstretched hand.

  Lydra flew to the side of the mountain which bubbled with lava. She landed beneath the crater, dancing as her claws landed on the molten surface. Then she plucked Dianna off her back and depositing her on the branch of a lone tree, its blackened skeleton stripped of its leaves.

  “Lydra, no!” she screamed, but her dragon had already flown off to fight Naamaku without her.

  * * *

  Eris slithered up to the girl lying supine on the stone slab. She brushed off the last remnants of snake moss; it had been used to nourish and shield the body from the Elements. She closed her eyes, running a hand down one long, lean leg. Those pretty legs would soon belong to her. She would be able to walk on land with ease, and her lovers would gladly take her to bed without looks of repulsion upon their faces. She licked her lips, thinking of that blue man waiting in a cell for her. He would not have the strength to turn her away when he looked upon her beauty.

  The ritual chamber was prepared. Eris knew she should wait for the next full moon, when the connection between this world and the Elemental world would be strongest, but she was out of time. The swirling mists had finally spoken to her, and what they revealed was troubling indeed.

  Her sister was here! She’d seen Madhea’s ice dragon deposit her on Eris’s volcano. Though the ice goddess no longer had wings, Eris would have recognized that fair face and pale blonde hair anywhere. Besides, who else but Madhea could control Lydra? Had she come to stop her from obtaining human legs? Was she the only goddess allowed to shed her immortal defects?

  When the Elements revealed the flood raging across Eris’s island, fury had nearly split her skull in two. How dare Madhea! The ice witch would pay for destroying her island home. If she had come to turn Eris to stone, as she’d done to Kyan, she was in for a surprise. Eris now had the power of a goddess stone, her niece Aletha. Though Aletha was unwilling to bend to her will, Eris’s magic was stronger. Besides, she knew Aletha harbored a grudge against the goddess who’d turned her family to stone and wouldn’t pass up the chance for vengeance. Tonight, not only would Eris get her legs, she’d trap the ice goddess, giving her complete control over the world and its people.

  Elements save them all if they didn’t bow to her. A scorned woman’s revenge burns hotter than a pyre. The vengeance of a goddess is more destructive than a thousand fires.

  * * *

  Alec’s knees cracked when a wave knocked him over, and he fell on a log. He dug his fingers into the uneven surface, clinging for his life as the barge was knocked about by more violent waves.

  The
water boiled and bubbled. Monster tails slapped the surface as the golden dragon and the sea serpent surfaced and then went under again. Lydra dove into the water like a suicidal bird. She latched onto the leviathan’s tail and launched into the sky. Alec crouched and rolled when the monsters flew above him, the leviathan’s open jowls dripping burning venom on the barge, leaving blackened holes on its deck. The vessel, such as it was, shimmied before breaking down the middle. Alec and Simeon went one direction, Gorpat and Grim going another.

  “No, friends!” Gorpat fell in the water and lunged for the barge. Her head bobbed above the surface while she tried to steer the two halves away from the fight.

  Tan’yi’na surfaced, sprouting a flaming geyser, trying to flap above the water with a torn wing. Lydra dropped her catch into the path of Tan’yi’na’s flames, but not before the leviathan bit her. Tan’yi’na lit the leviathan on fire. The sea monster writhed on the water’s surface, its green scales blackened and oozing blood.

  When the wind changed direction, Alec fanned his face, the heat from the golden dragon’s breath making him feel like he’d fallen into a flaming pit. Tan’yi’na blew more fire on the water dragon, and the leviathan let out a shriek, the rancid smell of its burning flesh causing Alec’s stomach turn over. Tan’yi’na reared back and bit the leviathan in two, its halves pouring greasy blood into the water before it sunk.

  Flopping into the water, Lydra cried out then breathed ice on the bloody wound beneath her wing. Tan’yi’na struggled to help the ice dragon keep her head above water while staying afloat himself.

  The current slowed. When Alec and Simeon hopped over to the other barge with Grim, Gorpat steered them toward the two dragons. Lydra climbed into Gorpat’s arms, wrapping her wings around the giant’s shoulders with a shudder. Then the current retreated, taking them back across the island to the volcanic center jutting above the water.

  When they reached the volcano, Gorpat helped the injured dragons move to higher ground before securing the barge to a rock. When Alec, Grim, and Simeon climbed onto the rocky soil, Alec hopped from foot to foot, wishing he had boots to protect his newly healed feet from the scalding ground. He waved to his sister, who was running down the side of the mountain toward the dragons, jumping over streams of lava with ease.