He thought he would weaken to the point where he would not be hard enough for them to mount him. But whenever he began to grow soft, the next merfolk would simply run her fingertip underneath his shaft, and to his dismay he would stiffen once more. That part of him was sorest of all.
They simply would not let him stop, not for a single moment. And if they kept upon him like this much longer, he was not sure how long he might last.
Just now a dark blue merfolk woman with yellow-tipped fins was mounted upon him. She was not gentle, clutching his buttocks with sharp-clawed fingers, squeezing and pulling him into her with thrust after vicious thrust.
“Stop,” he said weakly, his head lolled to one side. He did not have the strength to lift it. “Please.”
The merfolk girl put her lips to his ear and laughed, chewing on the lobe. “We will stop when our hunger is sated, dragonlord,” she said, grinding her hips into him. “It has been such a long time since we had a visitor such as you, and it is so very lonely down here.”
You’re killing me, he wanted to say. But she knew that. They all did. And they simply didn’t care. They were going to use him up until there was nothing left. And then the crabs would pick apart his lifeless corpse.
Vander.
His eyes fluttered. Was that really her voice, or a product of his exhaustion-addled mind?
Hold on, the voice said, and there was no mistaking that it was Brynn’s, ringing strong in his head as if she were close. I’m coming for you. Be ready.
He tried to laugh, but a few bubbles only rose from the gills under his jaw instead. Ready? He felt as helpless as a newborn child. He would be of no use to anyone if it came to a fight. If by some miracle she were able to rescue him, he would need to be carried away. But he wanted to believe. Brynn had some spark within her, a drive he had not seen in anyone else, man or woman. And if the voice was her, then she had come this far. If anyone could save him, it would surely be her.
He felt his body shudder, betraying him as the merfolk woman squeezed yet another drop of life from him. She arched her back and pushed her bare breasts against him, letting out a shriek that felt like a needle driving through his head.
Then she let out a sigh and another laugh before untangling herself from his body. As his head hung, he watched out of the corner of his eye as her legs tucked together and fused into one, dark cobalt scales rising up to replace the skin. Her feet flattened into fins, and within seconds she was a merfolk once again.
She leaned back in to place a kiss upon his chest, then kicked her powerful tail and headed back towards the city gates.
Please, he thought. Let her be the last, if only for a short while. Let me catch my breath. Let me—
But no. His heart sank as he saw another swimming towards him, a slender green mermaid with traces of bright orange around her face and neck.
When she reached him, she pulled up, treading water. She did what countless others had been doing for what seemed like an eternity. Her tail became flesh, one tail becoming two legs.
Then she took his aching manhood in her hand and squeezed it. He hardened despite himself, letting out a low groan.
“Greetings, Lord Tanglevine,” the merfolk said. “Shall we have some fun?”
20
BRYNN
Hundreds of silver darts, each as long and as big around as a man’s arm, were swarming towards her. Jeera had already turned to flee, but Brynn realized it was too late for that. How was she going to outrun this many fish?
In the documentary she’d seen, barracuda fed on smaller fish. They didn’t attack things bigger than themselves unless they were confused. Or unless the thing was dead. They scavenged as well.
But these things weren’t even from her world. They looked exactly like barracuda, but there was no guarantee that’s what they were. They certainly weren’t acting like it.
The fish were headed for her, and their intent seemed clear enough. Where rational thought leaves off, instinct takes over. That was all she had now, facing a wall of deadly fish with jaws full of razor-sharp teeth.
Brynn held the trident up, watching as it glowed brighter, feeling a ripple of energy flow between her hand and its shaft. She began to feel all those primitive, angry minds as well.
They weren’t acting normally. Something or someone had infused them with the need to kill anything that came this way. They were a trap, a defensive roadblock for whatever lay ahead.
Brynn closed her eyes and tried to speak to them. If only two days before someone would have told her she would be submerged in an alien ocean, wielding the weapon of an ancient god, and trying to bend a mass of killer fish to her will, she would have told them they’d lost their mind.
But that’s what she was trying to do, speak to them, urge them to calm themselves. To stop.
She felt it, then. All those minds and all those bodies coming to an abrupt halt. When she opened her eyes, she could hardly believe what she saw.
The barracuda were nearly upon her, perhaps only ten or twelve feet away. And they were frozen in place like hundreds of silver bullets frozen in time.
The trident was glowing brighter than ever in her outstretched hand.
Holy shit, she thought. It worked. It really worked.
Whatever influence had transformed the fish into a killing barrier, she had somehow undone it. And if she could do that, then perhaps she could do more.
They didn’t understand her words. She realized that now. But they understood impressions and feelings. They reacted to what she wanted. So she squeezed the trident and sent out a mental image of herself as a powerful alpha, someone to be followed.
Come with me, her feelings echoed out from the tips of the spear. Follow me.
She watched in continued amazement as the fish unfroze, the school dispersing like a cloud of silver smoke. She thought she had just accidentally willed them to disband. Instead, the fish swam over, under, and around both sides to move behind her.
The swarm was now at her back, ready to follow her and carry out her will. She had an army, of sorts.
She saw Jeera swimming back towards her, shaking with fear and excitement.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“It is said the spear of the sea god can control the oceans and all living things within it,” Jeera said. “But it is also said that only one worthy may wield it.”
Brynn wanted to tell her she wasn’t sure about any of that. She certainly didn’t feel god-like, although it was hard to argue with what she had just done to the school of barracuda, or whatever they were.
All she knew was that Vander was still in terrible danger and that they may already be too late. She could feel him again, weak and fading, like a match about to flicker out.
Vander, she said, thinking as strongly as she could. There was no reply. He was too weak. She could feel it. Hold on. I’m coming for you. Be ready.
She now controlled a power she didn’t know was possible. Also, she had a friend by her side and an army at her back. If she wasn’t ready now, she never would be.
Brynn thrust the trident before her and shot through the water, with hundreds of fish and a lone dolphin behind her.
21
VANDER
The merfolk woman curled around him felt like a giant leech, sucking the very last drops of energy from his body.
Please, he thought. Stop. Just let me breathe.
He had thought this plea a hundred times in the passing hours, but only this time, finally, did his wish come true.
She stopped writhing upon him, her body becoming rigid, but not from climax. She tensed with surprise. She pushed herself away from him, and that’s when he heard it, a call like the song that had brought him here, but shrill and urgent. An alarm.
Vander lifted his weary head and at first could not make sense of what he saw. Merfolk women streamed out of the city brandishing spears and swords. He had put his faith in Brynn that she would come, but
the merfolk would not mobilize for a lone attacker. She would have had to muster an army.
He turned his head and indeed saw an army, though not the one he would have expected. Thousands of sea creatures swarmed towards the city. There were fish of all kinds, large and small. There were schools of shiny silver fish as long as his arm. He saw a group of white-bellied sharks and even a group of squid.
And there, leading this improbable charge, was Brynn. He barely recognized her. She seemed to almost be flying through the water, one arm outstretched and clutching the trident. That should have surprised him, but for some reason it did not. Also, for some reason, a dolphin swam by her side.
He began to laugh raggedly, thinking that perhaps he had finally gone mad. That was the only way to make sense of the scene before him. Still, his heart swelled at the sight of her, like some mythical goddess summoning the living things of the sea to fight at her side.
He watched, incredulous, as the two armies clashed, the water outside the city becoming a blur of frenzied, fighting bodies. He was dismayed to lose sight of Brynn. But if she were really here, and not some figment of his exhausted imagination, then she was far more powerful than he would have thought.
The sounds of battle rippled through the water. The merfolk shrieked as they swung their blades, hacking through swarms of fish only to be overcome by others. He saw a shark ram an armor-clad merfolk, stunning her, then grab hold of her arm in its jaws and rip it from her body.
Clouds of bloody red began to fill the water. Vander had been in battle more than once, but he had never seen a full-scale fight under water, and never between two such armies.
He saw something out of the corner of his eye, coming from the direction of the city. Kalypsa swam towards him, a curved pink coral dagger clutched in her hand.
She means to kill me, he thought. I am the reason for all this, and if I die, then it is all over.
But just before she reached him, he saw another flash of movement. Out of the roiling mass of battle emerged Brynn. Her clothes were torn now, a nasty slash across her right cheek, but her eyes locked on him with a fierceness that made his heart pound harder.
Brynn shot towards him, clouds of bubbles in her wake. The trident, he thought. It is giving her the power to move like that.
But as fast as she was, Kalypsa had already closed the gap. The siren queen reached Vander first, curling herself up next to him and putting the blade at his throat.
Brynn got there a second later, pulling up to stop before them. With her hair floating in the water around her head, her eyes flashing bright and furious, she had never looked more beautiful. She pointed the three tips of the trident at Kalypsa.
“You hurt him and you die,” she said.
“Why would I hurt him?” Kalypsa said, laughter in her voice. Vander felt the edge of the blade pressing into the flesh of his neck. “He’s the most wonderful pet we’ve had in a long time.” She reached out with her other hand and traced a sharp fingernail down his belly to his waist. “And the one with the most endurance.”
“Let him go,” Brynn said. “Now.”
“Wait,” Kalypsa said, as if realizing something for the first time. “You love him.” She laughed, and Vander felt the edge of the dagger biting into his neck as she did. “Oh, this is wonderful.”
Kalypsa removed the blade from his neck and drifted away from him. It worked, he thought, shocked. Her forces were suffering badly, and perhaps in the face of a strange warrior wielding a weapon of the gods, she had decided to concede.
But soon he realized he would not be so lucky.
“You wish me to let him go,” Kalypsa said. “What a fine idea.”
Her eyes glowed a bright green and Vander felt the shackles unclasp. He slid down from the rock, dropping to the ocean floor on his hands and knees. As soon as he did, he felt his body begin to recover, energy beginning to flow through him once more.
Vander pushed himself up, staggering to his feet. The shackles must have been magic, he thought. They weakened me, keeping me in human form to be used by the merfolk.
Now that he was free, he could feel his body restoring itself. But then he heard a sound, one that chilled him to the bone.
Kalypsa began to sing.
22
BRYNN
The mermaid woman had backed off of Vander. It worked, Brynn thought. She's going to let him go. But that would have been too easy. Brynn should have known better.
The woman’s eyes had flashed green, unsnapping the shackles. Brynn's heart dropped as she saw Vander crumple to the ground. She’d only ever seen him as powerful and strong. Seeing him like this made her want to cry. It also made her want to run the trident through this half-fish bitch, whoever she was.
Her skin was dark blue, and she was covered with deadly-looking black spines tipped with red. Brynn wanted to go to Vander first, to help him up and get the hell out of here. But she was happy to see that he was getting to his feet on his own.
But then the mermaid started to sing.
Vander clasped his hands over his ears, trying to shut it out. But the music resonated through everything. Brynn could feel it vibrating deep down inside, though it didn’t seem to have any effect on her.
It was having a huge effect on Vander, though.
“No!” he screamed, but it was too late. He was already transforming. His skin was becoming scaly and green, his body growing.
Oh shit, Brynn thought, swimming backwards and clutching the spear with both hands. She’s controlling him. She’s going to make him kill me.
She’d never seen him fully transform into a dragon. She had been hoping the first time would be exciting. Not like this.
His hands morphed into giant claws, his neck elongating, green fins emerging from his head and along his spine. He fell forward again on all fours, a whip-like tail growing out behind him.
Once he was fully transformed, he looked at her, no recognition in his eyes, only hate.
Brynn held the trident aloft, trying to feel for his mind, to take back control from whatever spell the song had him under. But it simply wasn’t working. She couldn’t feel him through the spear, not like the sea creatures.
Ever since she had turned the school of barracuda from enemies to friends, they had continued on the same path. Along the way, she had picked up as many stragglers as she could find, amazed at the power the trident had over every life form they encountered.
But it wasn’t working on Vander. Whether it was because he was not a native of the ocean or because he was too intelligent, she felt no power to sway his mind. She could feel what was going on in there, mostly due to the link she had established with the fabricant. And she didn’t like what she felt at all.
The song had hold of him, and it was evoking nothing but rage and hatred, directed all at her. Thankfully he wasn’t used to moving in the water as a dragon. Brynn swam backwards away from him. She glanced at the singing mermaid behind him.
She’s a siren, she thought. Just like in the myths. Only instead of luring ships onto rocks, she’s going to make him tear me to pieces.
Brynn stopped trying to influence Vander’s mind, instead using the spear to call out to another of the creatures she had brought with her. She held the trident up, feeling its power, seeing its glow. But Vander drew closer, learning very quickly how to move in the water. He had flattened his wings against his body and begun to whip his tail to generate thrust.
How is he breathing? she wondered. But as he drew closer, she saw the strange slits along the sides of his neck. She didn’t have time to wonder how they had gotten there, though. He was nearly upon her, close enough to reach out with a swipe of his claw and knock the trident from her grasp.
No, she thought. Without it she was almost certainly dead. She couldn’t move nearly as well in the water, and she could no longer command the army she’d come all this way with.
Vander grabbed her with his other claw and pushed her down, pinning her to the ocean floor. She nearly bla
cked out from the force of the blow, and now she couldn't breathe.
He loomed over her, studying her like an insect, and she could see inside his mind that he was mulling over the exact way in which he would kill her.
Then she heard the song stop. Something changed in Vander’s eyes. They softened and looked confused.
Brynn turned her head to see that the final command she had given with the trident hadn’t gone unanswered. A great gray octopus had curled its arms around the mermaid’s arms, legs, and most importantly, her throat. Her fingernails clawed at the tentacle as it squeezed ever tighter, shutting off her air supply and keeping her from singing.
Oh, thank God, Brynn thought. But as she looked up at Vander, he was shaking his head, still confused. She entered his mind, her heart sinking at what she saw. The siren’s song may have stopped, but its effects still had a hold on him.
He sat back on his haunches, lifting her up in his giant claw. The hate returned to his eyes, and he drew her towards him. She saw in his mind that he meant to bite her head off.
“Vander!” she yelled. Thankfully he stopped, looking down at her curiously.
“It’s me,” she said. “It’s Brynn.” Her only chance now was to try to reach the real him, to try to overcome his possessed mind with the memories and feelings he had for her.
“Remember how we met?” she asked. “In front of my office. I sprayed you with mace. I thought you were going to kill me.” She laughed bitterly at the thought. Back then he had come to save his world. He wouldn’t have harmed a hair on her head. And now he really was going to kill her.
She wasn’t sure if this were working or not. He was just holding her there, the scaled ridges on his brow furrowed in confusion. At least he hadn’t killed her yet.
“Pancakes,” she said. “Remember those? Cheeseburgers? Remember right before you left? We kissed.”
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