Ice Kingdom

by Tiana Warner

  The merman raised his left arm as though pushing the air, and the second head moved along the shore, the great black body curling around itself.

  With a glance around to make sure no more civilians were at risk, Reeves ran back to the road, staying low. The shoreline was ravaged, ghostly.

  “Sir, I think this is related to the mermaids,” he said, panting.

  A pause. “How do you know?”

  “One of them is out in the water. A male.”

  Over the tsunami siren, another wail pierced the air as several police cars peeled into the intersection. The officers leapt out, drawing guns and firing at once. The bullets ricocheted off the serpent’s armour with a series of clinks. It didn’t surprise Reeves that the weapons did nothing.

  “I think the merman is controlling the serpent, sir. It’s the way he’s moving.”

  As he said it, he wished it wasn’t true. He knew what this meant.

  Sure enough, after a long pause, Officer Miller said, “You know what to do, chief.”

  Reeves rubbed a hand over his forehead. The siren was starting to make his head ache.

  “Sir, Perseus isn’t ready yet.”

  “She might not be pretty, but she’s ready for duty.”

  The serpent continued to ransack the harbour. The sea demon’s plan evidently involved destroying every man-made structure along the shoreline. Bullets continued to ricochet off the creature’s armour.

  “Sir, I think our priority should be to go straight for this merman. He’s got a black crown. I think he’s their king.”

  “All the more reason! This is an act of war, Reeves. They’ve broken our treaty.”

  “He has broken our treaty.”

  “Look, California has gotten four distress calls in the last three days from ships being attacked by mermaids. This is no coincidence.”

  Reeves hurried to his truck and slid into the driver’s seat, the sirens muffled only slightly as he slammed the door. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed himself not to argue.

  Memories flashed through his mind as though thrown into the path of a lighthouse, blazing painfully for an instant and fading just as fast. Caramel skin and dark hair. Brilliant brown eyes and a warm smile that left him feeling inexplicably safe.

  He had never told anyone about her. Nights when he could not sleep found him wondering if she had even been real.

  But he had survived that day because of her.

  Miller was breathing hard on the other end of the phone. “I’m contacting the Secretary of State. Operation Perseus is launching as soon as we get the go-ahead. As far as I’m concerned, this is an act of war.”

  In the intersection, the police backed away, cast into the shadow of the advancing serpent. Reeves started the truck and threw it into reverse.

  An act of war, yes. But on whose orders? Were all merpeople to blame, or this one demon?

  If everything he’d ever been told about them was true, Reeves would have drowned during that storm. The icy sea had nearly swallowed him whole. He remembered the panic mounting as he realised, strong swimmer though he was, he could not fight the waves and get to the life buoy cast out by his yelling shipmates. When the veil of rain blocked his view of the ship, that should have been the end.

  What that mermaid had done was not an act of war.

  “Yes, sir,” he said hollowly.

  He couldn’t prove she had been real. He couldn’t prove she’d pulled him to the buoy and placed it over his head. The team had not seen it.

  But he didn’t think she’d been a hallucination. He should have drowned that day.

  He knew, of course, that mermaids had a predatory drive and an allure that scientists tried to study on a chemical level. He’d heard about the experiments. He had always wondered if the mermaid’s sweetness was a product of that allure.

  Either way, he owed her his life.

  He shook his head, forbidding himself to go there.

  Tomorrow, he would gear up with the rest of his SEAL Team several months ahead of schedule. He would push aside that memory and do what he had been training for. With his team at his back, he would retaliate against this act of terrorism for the sake of his country.

  But he would not ignore his intuition. He had spent years learning to trust that feeling. And now, more strongly than ever, it was telling him to hunt down that merman on the rock out there, and kill him.

  CHAPTER FOUR - Lysi

  Deiopea’s Promise

  The floor dropped away and blackness took its place. Countless fish rose from beyond the twilight layer as the sun disappeared. Some of them glowed, making the world below as speckled as the sky above. Other fish were invisible to the eye. Some had tentacles so long, they stretched beyond my senses.

  Meela stuck close to me.

  “They won’t hurt you,” I whispered.

  I was more concerned about the guards and black marlins on all sides.

  The further we got from Utopia, the darker Meela’s aura became. I knew what she was thinking. Adaro was probably killing humans that very moment, and we were moving further from the possibility of stopping him. I understood she was worried someone else would get to Adaro first, but I wished she would quit letting this consume her. Her every thought seemed focused on how to hunt him, kill him, destroy him. I worried what the obsession was doing to her.

  My stomach clenched, the hunger painful. How long had we been swimming? How much longer until we had to dive to get to the labour camp?

  I knew better than to say anything. On the last breach, a merman made the mistake of asking the guards if we were going to stop to sleep or eat. He got a conch shell to the face.

  The guards, on the other hand, shared the meals they’d packed along. Even the marlins received portions of shrimp and cuttlefish.

  Our pace slowed as our energy drained. Several times, I caught my eyes closing and shook my head to stay awake.

  The guards barked at us to move faster.

  “If any of you fall behind, you’ll get a beating!”

  The world above turned from black to a soft navy. We’d been swimming all night. Beside me, Meela grew limp, and I grabbed her before she could drift into anyone.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled.

  “Are you feeling okay? Hold onto me. I don’t want you drifting into the marlins.”

  “Lysi, I’m not holding onto you like a little kid.”

  “But what if you—?”

  “I’m fine!”

  She tried to pry her arm from my hand, but I held on, afraid she’d fall behind.

  Deiopea spoke, voice so quiet I nearly missed it. “The last thing my husband told me was to protect our son from Adaro. He did not know our son had been killed moments before.”

  Her eyes flicked down to my hand. I let Meela go, realising I was probably embarrassing both of us.

  “It’s terrible, what you went through,” said Meela.

  Deiopea closed her eyes and let out a puff of air. I didn’t know what to say, so I waited. After a moment her aura seemed to lighten, and she continued.

  “My son died stopping a school raid. Adaro’s soldiers were trying to take them to Utopia for military training. The children were fleeing through the back. My son stopped the army at the front door. That was where he died. His actions stalled the army long enough to give the children time to escape. We placed them into hiding.”

  “You must be proud of him,” I said.

  “Pride, adoration, love. Words are not strong enough to describe how I feel. But for a long time, I believed I had failed him and my husband. I let him die when I could have tried harder to protect him. Now I understand that sometimes you cannot protect your loved ones, no matter how hard you try. Life and death happen, and it is out of our control.”

  I said nothing. Maybe that was true, to an extent. There was a permanent ache in the back of my mind for my parents and brother. I had no idea where they were, and nothing I did could c
ontrol whether they were alive or dead, or whether I would see them again.

  But Meela was here with me. As much as I could help it, her survival would be completely under my control.

  “Adaro’s made sure everyone has lost someone they love,” said Meela.

  Deiopea regarded her sadly. “I am sorry about your brother, Meela.”

  There was that clenching feeling again. I had to tell her.

  But today was no better than yesterday or the day before. I still didn’t know where Nilus was. I still didn’t know if Meela would get to see him again, or how she would take the news, if she would break down or be angry at me.

  It’s never going to be the right moment to tell her, said a voice in my head.

  She had to know, eventually. Now was as good and bad a time as ever. What if the worst happened and I never got the chance?

  Do it now, said the voice.

  My tongue felt too fat for my mouth. Would I be able to get the words out?

  Shouts jolted me from my thoughts. Something violent was happening through the darkness ahead. Currents pulsed towards us. Bubbles, moving bodies. Something huge churned the water.

  Everyone, both captives and guards, flocked to the surface. A moment passed before I realised what they were clinging to. Huge, solid, and man-made, the long keel of a sailboat undulated through the water.

  “Mermaids, come forwards,” shouted the guards.

  There was a scuffle as every female moved ahead. Deiopea and I exchanged a glance. If they were sending mermaids first, that meant—

  “Come on! First ones to lure them get the free meal.”

  “No,” whispered Meela.

  Before I could stop her, she darted forwards.

  “Mee!”

  I chased after her. She shoved into the crowd and vanished.

  The guards’ weapons cracked against the hull. Mermen pushed the swinging keel while mermaids pulled themselves up, disappearing through the surface.

  I hurried through the crowd, searching frantically. I didn’t want Meela to see what was about to happen. Plus, if the humans had iron weapons …

  “Stop!” I heard her scream. “They haven’t done anything!”

  I spun in the direction of her voice. A merman in my path motioned upwards.

  “Want a boost?”

  I snarled. “Get out of my way.”

  He raised his hands. “Hey, if you want to pass up a free meal—”

  “Meela?!” Where was she?

  The crowd thickened, trapping me between them and the hull.

  Finally, I caught a glimpse of her at the keel, trying to stop a brunette mermaid from climbing it. I shot towards her and grabbed her arm.

  “Mee, get out of there!”

  The brunette shot us a terrified look, evidently afraid of being seen with anyone disobeying orders. She continued upwards.

  Meela pulled away. “We can’t let these attacks keep happening.”

  Someone bumped into her, and I drew her into me. We were much too close to the boat. How Meela expected to stop this from happening, I didn’t know—but she didn’t understand the risks of being so near to humans. I had to get her out of here.

  Someone screamed. A sting exploded across my skin as something made of iron plunged into the waves. The scar on my waist seared. I recoiled, bumping into others.

  “What is that?” said Meela, fearful now.

  Burning flesh met my nose. The Battle for Eriana Kwai, the assassination attempts, every terrible memory I had burst to the front of my mind. My head clouded with panic, but I kept my hold on Meela tight. We had to get away before one of us was hit.

  A gap opened below us. I dove, dragging Meela with me, but she struggled to swim back up, her attention on the crowd.

  “We can’t let them do this!”

  I pulled hard, forcing her to look at me. “Meela, you have to be careful now. You can’t trust humans anymore.”

  Everyone was shouting. Some mermaids still climbed the ship. Others tried to back away. Meela’s mouth opened and closed as though trying to get air. My insides seemed to melt with her pain.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “There’s nothing we can—”

  Something occurred to me. I glanced around, taking inventory. Even the guards swarmed the boat—only a few hanging back to keep the circling marlins under control.

  Deiopea caught my eye.

  My heart thudded faster. I grazed Meela’s arm to get her attention. She cast me a distracted glance. I nodded at the boat, and then to Deiopea.

  Meela’s expression changed as she caught on.

  The boat lurched. There was an uproar, and everyone moved in like piranhas.

  I smelled blood. Moments later, a cloud bloomed near the stern.

  Meela met my eyes, her face pleading—but we couldn’t save those people. This was so far out of my control.

  The marlins must have smelled the blood, too, because all of them began fighting their way closer. A guard swung his longblade at one but it dodged the weapon swiftly.

  In a blink, all the marlins were plunging into the frenzy, ignoring commands. The guards closed in, shouting.

  There was no time to consider.

  “Go,” I said.

  Meela, Deiopea, and I turned tails to the surface and shot downwards.

  For several moments, we swam headlong. No one called after us. The lightening sky overhead did nothing to help us hide. We kept going until blackness engulfed us.

  The current shifted. Someone was following us—but made no sound. Unless my senses were mistaken, this was the silvery mermaid and merman who’d been behind us the night before. They fled quickly, a few fathoms closer to the surface than us.

  “Bolters!” a guard shouted.

  Meela grabbed my hand. “Faster!”

  My senses picked up a flurry of activity, and we plunged, Deiopea sticking close beside us.

  The same merman shouted, “Marlins!”

  I glanced over my shoulder and a chill ran down my spine. Two marlins had broken away from the boat. They shot after the couple, a few fathoms up. The couple was weak, tired. The marlins closed in, twice as fast, twice as powerful.

  Screams broke out and blood spread through the water like a cloud. The marlins were a whirl of slashing beaks and tails. They lunged at the couple again and again.

  “Look out!” said Deiopea.

  Another marlin sped away from the boat, heading for the three of us.

  There was nowhere to hide. The water was too open. Our only option was to outswim it.

  “Are mermaids faster than marlin?” said Meela, voice high with fear.

  “Just keep going. Long strokes.”

  Despite my worry, she kept up. I didn’t need to slow my pace.

  We zigzagged, breaking apart and convening at random, trying to throw it off. The marlin was solid, streamlined, with snake-like agility. The sail on its back waved as its powerful body swung back and forth. Its focus was absolute.

  Out of nowhere, another marlin darted at us. Meela and Deiopea screamed. We scattered. For a moment, the fish didn’t seem to know who to chase. It twisted around and found the closest target, firing towards me like an iron bolt. I flipped over its dorsal fin, the rigid flesh brushing my waist. It whirled around.

  Meela was several lengths ahead. Its focus landed on Deiopea.

  Deiopea and I locked eyes over the marlin’s sail. If that fish had been the only one, she would have had time to escape. She opened her mouth—to speak, maybe—and the first marlin slammed into her side. I hadn’t felt it coming.

  The pointed beak caught her arm. Deiopea grunted and rolled away. Blood seeped from the gash.

  “Deiopea!” I shouted.

  The second marlin lunged. It struck her dead-on.

  “No,” I sobbed.

  The marlin’s beak sank into her body. Her mouth gaped, and she hung as though suspended by rope in the water.

&nb
sp; A lump rose in my throat. Meela and I had convinced her to come with us. Were we so selfish to risk Deiopea’s life?

  I wanted to say I was sorry. I wanted to take back every thought I’d had that she’d been stubborn or difficult. I wanted her to know her death meant something.

  I couldn’t get the words out.

  Before the life left her eyes, before the blood spilled from her mouth like a ribbon, she met my gaze and said, “Kori Maru.”

  I had no time to consider it. A hand grabbed my arm.

  “Come on!” said Meela.

  The marlins were closing in on Deiopea.

  With a last glance at her lifeless body, I fled with Meela.

  The marlins did not follow. Sickened, I tried not to think about them feeding on Deiopea.

  Kori Maru. I repeated the words in my mind, trying to place them.

  Meela and I kept swimming, not saying a word. The chaos faded into the distance. We were alone.

  Kori Maru. It was the name of a ship, I was sure.

  We travelled at depth, following the fastest current back northwards. Sadness overcame me—and then guilt. If Deiopea hadn’t come with us, she would still be alive—and those marlins might have gotten me or Meela instead. I hated myself for feeling relieved.

  We swam for a long time at top speed. I wanted to make certain we hadn’t been followed.

  Meela whimpered. “My lungs are going to collapse.”

  I swore. A dull pain had been growing under my own ribs for a while. I should have let Meela breach long ago.

  “All right. I think it’s safe,” I said weakly.

  We grazed the surface, taking a quick breath with each stroke.

  As I sucked life back into my lungs, I became certain Kori Maru was a shipwreck. We’d learned about hundreds of them in school. They were useful for navigating—for those who could remember all of them.

  Of course the Reinas would meet at a place like that. It was perfect. Adaro’s armies wouldn’t go near that kind of ‘human filth’.

  “They’re in a shipwreck,” I said to Meela. “Kori Maru.”

  “How do you—?”

  “Deiopea said it before she …”

  Meela looked around as though hoping to see the wreck. “Do you know where?”