by EJ Altbacker
Gray and Lochlan hovered with the current in the training area, their gills opening and closing in short bursts as they struggled to catch their breaths.
“Aw, come on, Takiza, no one can keep up with us,” Gray panted.
The little betta stared haughtily from his position above their heads. “What was that, Nulo? Did you once again embarrass yourself by speaking?”
Gray ducked his head and addressed Takiza by his honorific. “What I meant was, Shiro, that I think Lochlan and I are pretty good. Maybe you could say something nice to us every once in a while.” Shiro was a word that meant master and teacher, while Nulo meant student and, according to Takiza, nothing.
“Now you’ve gone and done it,” Lochlan whispered. “You’re on your own.” The golden great white moved away as the betta gave Gray a steely gaze.
“Never have truer words been spoken, Nulo. You think you are good. Which is why you should never think!” Takiza zipped around, somehow creating some sort of disturbance with his gauzy fins and his mastery of Shar-kata, which caused Gray to tumble and roll in place. He was about to vomit up the fat haddock he’d eaten earlier when Takiza finally stopped. Gray listed to the side as he tried to regain a sense of which direction was up and down.
The betta fish appeared in front of his left eye. “When Nulos think, it only leads to trouble!”
Lochlan laughed. “That was fin-tastic, Takiza. Especially when it’s not me!”
“Really, fin-tastic?” Gray asked.
Takiza regarded the golden great white. “Oh? You find my lesson humorous? Do I amuse you? Perhaps you are laughing at me?”
Lochlan stopped grinning at once. “Wait, now. I didn’t say that, Takiza.”
“I’m pretty sure he did, Shiro,” Gray added immediately.
“Not helping.” Lochlan retorted. “And I will get you for that.”
Takiza swam closer, his billowing fins rippling with the slow tide. For a tiny Siamese fighting fish, he could strike fear into even the largest shark’s heart. “Perhaps I was born into the Big Blue solely to be your court jester, King Lochlan. Indeed, perhaps I am no more than a clown fish, to flit through the water for your amusement. Please, tell me if this is so, and I shall begin flitting at once.”
Lochlan bobbed his head deeply and more than once. “No, Shiro. What I meant to say is that you are wise beyond your years. Wise and also strikingly handsome. Have you lost weight? My overall point was that you should be commended for putting up with our many, many, almost uncountable, deficiencies.”
Takiza looked at Gray and cracked the slightest of grins. “See? Wisdom. That is why he is the rightful King of the Sific.”
Just then, Whalem came tearing through the water. The old tiger shark slid to a halt, panting heavily. He had refused all suggestions to go to the royal doctor fish for treatment, saying that nothing could change the currents of old age. “I’ve just received word from our advance scouts that the Black Wave is preparing to leave the Indi Ocean!”
“So it begins,” Takiza said quietly.
“Did your scouts see the size of their force?” asked Lochlan, concern etching his face.
Whalem paused. “They will have more than two thousand mariners.”
“Two thousand?!” Gray gasped. “Even if we get Hammer and Vortex Shivers to join with us, we’ll barely have half that!”
“I can gather another hundred from the Sific,” Lochlan said thoughtfully. “We’ll still be down, but it’s not hopeless.”
“What of their leadership? Who is the mariner prime?” asked Takiza.
Whalem ground his teeth together in frustration, making an audible scraping noise. “I was hoping for a pup from their Line, but Finnivus has chosen well this time. He’s promoted my best commander.”
“So we can’t count on him making mistakes,” Lochlan muttered. “We need Grinder and Silversun’s forces.”
“Maybe we should swim away while we have the chance,” Gray said, his stomach roiling with anxiety.
“Evil must be met and defeated,” Takiza said, shaking his filmy fins.
“He’s right, Gray,” Lochlan added. “To swim and hide won’t be an option.”
Gray nodded. They would have to be ready. Finnivus and his Black Wave were coming to destroy them all.
“This is just nuts!” muttered Barkley as their formation wheeled and moved forward in the cold dark waters next to the Maw. Gray named it Takiza’s Torture Pit after he’d been trained regularly there by the little betta.
Now it’s our turn, Barkley thought. Stupid Striiker! He was doing this to act like a hard-shell drill instructor. But they were getting better, Barkley had to admit. His big, hotheaded friend was actually good at this.
“Come on!” Striiker yelled after their formation’s shape became disorganized. “I make one thing different, like this new depth, and you’ve all turned into crying sea cows! Is it because you’re scared of the dark? Do I need to get mama to rub your flank and tell you a story? Do it again!”
Barkley longed to be back at Riptide. His first experience living there had been a horror. But that was under the bullying rule of Goblin and his Line. Now that Gray was in charge, Barkley found that he loved the Riptide homewaters. The ancient place with its colorful terraced greenie and wide open spaces felt homey and inviting. Sure, not as many dwellers swam there now that the impending doom of Finnivus’s armada was coming to smash them, but Barkley still loved the place. He even found that he shared one thing with the now-deceased Goblin. He felt that the Riptide homewaters were worth defending. With their lives, if necessary.
Let’s just hope it’s not necessary, Barkley thought.
“What are you doing, dog-breath?” yelled Striiker, somehow right next to him.
“Umm, nothing?”
Stupid! I let my mind wander! Barkley yelled inside his head.
“Oh, it wasn’t nothing, doggie!” roared the great white. “You were daydreaming!”
Barkley stammered, “I—umm—”
“That wasn’t a question!” Striiker shouted in his ear, causing Barkley to wince. “I can tell you were dreamin’ of a nice, fat fish for dinner. Of hovering in a warm, cozy current while you ate it! Tell me I’m wrong, doggie!”
He actually had been thinking of that earlier. Had Striiker developed some sort of mind-reading powers recently? No, no, I’m just woozy from the pressure in this place, he thought.
“What do you have to say for yourself, doggie?” In his capacity of drill instructor, Striiker insulted everyone, but Barkley thought that as a dog shark, or dogfish, he got a little extra. He tried not to take it personally, but this rankled. No one seemed to respect dogfish.
Wisely, Barkley didn’t mouth off. The entire group had learned that if anyone said anything, Striiker would add another hour to their training. He stuck to his attention hover, eyes forward, mouth closed.
The great white grunted and swam to his position in front of the formation. “Okay, back to it! This time with feeling!”
The group roared, “Yes, sir!” and began shifting formation as Striiker called out the commands.
Barkley sighed. Only two hours to go.
GRAY GULPED DOWN HIS THIRD FISH OF the night. “You should try the sea trout with hot seasoning.”
Lochlan had insisted that Gray take a night off to stop worrying about Finnivus. Of course Gray didn’t want to. There had to be something to do to prepare. But after a while it was Mari who convinced him that nothing more could be done right now. If Finnivus was moving toward them, it would still take the Black Wave several weeks—even at top speed—to reach them. “And worrying about something that you can’t do anything about is pointless,” she told him.
The preparations for the invasion were in the capable fins of Lochlan, Whalem, Quickeyes, and many others. No matter how hard it was, Gray would relax tonight. He would get to spend some time with Mari, just the two of them.
But that was before Barkley overheard and invited himself along.
At first Gray thought that Barkley tagging along would be awkward but soon realized he was relieved to have his friend there. Although he would have liked to be alone with Mari, Gray realized he didn’t know the first thing to say when that happened. With Barkley, there were no pauses in the conversation. The dogfish always had something to say.
The three of them gathered at Slaggernacks by one of the many flattened stones, which were the prime spots to eat and watch the musical entertainments. The seasoned fish was brought over by the dwellers, usually turtles or large crabs. The meals were “dumb” fish, not thinking ones. Good fins in the Big Blue all knew the rule: Silver or brown, gulp it down. Fish of color, find another.
Mari seemed to be enjoying her fish, a fat salmon. It was kind of an introductory meal that Slaggernacks served for those who hadn’t tried seasoned fish. The meals were prepared by stuffing the fish with different types of greenie gathered from the Big Blue. Gray heard that some of their spices came from all the way on the other side of the world, traveling by migrating whales to get here. He wasn’t certain that was true, but it sure made for a good story during the meal. And the fish were delicious.
“I don’t see why catching regular fresh fish has gone out of style,” Barkley put forth as he took another tentative bite of his own salmon.
“It hasn’t. It’s just different,” Mari replied.
“I guess,” Barkley said. “But it seems weird for a shark to pay for fish. I tell you, that Gafin must be some kind of genius.”
When you came to Slaggernacks, you had to bring more than one fresh fish in payment for what you ate, usually three or four for every one ordered. Some fish were valued even higher, sometimes seven or eight to one. This way the place had a steady supply of fish and the dwellers who worked there didn’t have to hunt and worry about where their next meal was coming from. Barkley was right, though. Gafin, the mysterious owner of Slaggernacks and also, supposedly, king of the urchins and poisonous dwellers, was a genius.
“Barkley, are you going to be grumpy all night, or only part of it?” Gray teased.
“No, no. It’s great that we’re out together, and I do like the music. I said right away I was good with coming here.”
“Yes, right away,” echoed Mari, giving Barkley a weird look. Hmm.
The band started up. Entertainment was another thing Slaggernacks provided to attract customers. They organized musical groups to play while the diners enjoyed their seasoned fish. Of course whales had been singing since Tyro created the Big Blue. They were the ones who taught everyone else how to do that. But now many different dwellers banded together, which was how the word band came to mean a musical group. At first it was mostly older dwellers who found it hard to hunt for their meals and who formed bands. But now you would just as likely find much younger fins and dwellers doing the singing. And these days, since you could become famous, many weird dweller combinations had formed groups. Between the music and the food, the whole Slaggernacks scene combined into an odd and enjoyable experience.
And tonight the band was great. They called themselves Wild Current and had a whale and several huge sunfish singing, along with two dolphins providing back-up vocals with their clicks, razzes, and whistles. From their position in front of Slaggernacks’s various caves and coves, the current brought their music right into the place. It was fantastic!
“Look who it is,” said a gravelly voice. “Youse fins enjoying your night?”
Gray, his mouth full, turned as Trank the stonefish floated into view. If Gafin had a Line of replacement leaders like sharkkind did, Trank would be the first in his Line. Barkley and Mari weren’t very fond of Trank, as poisonous dwellers like stonefish had a bad reputation in general. They were often accused of threatening other dwellers with their deadly toxins to get what they wanted.
“Just listening to the band and eating some fish,” Gray answered.
“Have youse tried the volcano sauce? Hot, hot!”
“That’s a little too much for me,” Gray said. He had made the mistake of trying the lava sauce last week. It made his mouth feel like he’d eaten actual lava. He wouldn’t be doing that again.
“Big fin like youse shouldn’t be afraid of adding a little spice to your life,” Trank replied.
“I’m surprised you have time to chat,” Barkley said with a smile. “Aren’t there any crimes you need to commit?”
Mari looked mortified. “There’s no call for that, Barkley.”
“Youse bet your life there isn’t,” Trank huffed. “And if youse insult me again in my place, youse will be betting your life.”
“Don’t you mean Gafin’s place?” asked Barkley, genuinely curious.
Trank’s fins circled a bit faster. “Yeah, yeah. That’s what I mean. But insult me again—”
Gray interrupted before things escalated. “Hey, everyone calm down.”
“I agree,” added Mari. “Trank, this fish is delicious.”
“Thanks,” grunted Trank. “We have a new seasoner—cuttlefish named Bozenka. He’s a wizard of flavor, that one.”
“A wizard of flavor?” Barkley asked incredulously. “What the heck is a—”
“Hold on!” urged Trank. “Something’s not right. Something’s—”
Gray felt a jangling buzz through every nerve in his body. He rocketed toward the ceiling a split second before Barkley yelled, “LOOK OUT!”
Two makos appeared from nowhere and charged Gray, ignoring his friends in their single-minded rush at him. Instincts and lightning-quick reflexes saved him from being immediately sent to the Sparkle Blue. As it was, one mako barely missed his gills. Barkley managed to rise and jostle the second mako’s tail, spoiling its strike on Gray’s left pectoral fin.
Slaggernacks exploded into a riot, sharks and dwellers tearing off in every direction. “Flashnboomer! Flashnboomer!” yelled Trank as he disappeared into the sandy bottom of Slaggernacks. It must have been some pre-arranged signal because a number of blue ringed octos and lionfish were suddenly among them, stinging the makos with their deadly venoms. In the cramped space of the cavern, it was impossible to do any real defensive moves. That was probably why the pair chose to make their move here. But since the attackers hadn’t caught Gray by total surprise, the two much smaller makos were now at a disadvantage.
Gray did a Bull Shark Rush at the closest shark, smashing him against a razor sharp coral wall. The second mako was distracted by the poisonous dwellers, particularly the lionfish that finned him in the soft of his gums as he opened his mouth to charge. Mari rammed that mako in the side, as did Barkley from above. The combined forces of the two blows knocked the attacking shark senseless, and the poisonous dwellers swarmed, stinging so many times that the mako jerked and spasmed.
“Gray!” shouted Mari. “Are you okay?”
Gray kept his bulk pressing against the shark he had trapped. “I think so. Check on the one I have here, Barkley!” His voice cracked a little from the adrenaline coursing through him. The dogfish ducked into the tight space between Gray and the ceiling.
“Move away,” Barkley instructed.
Gray did and saw that the mako had been speared by pointed rods of coral in three different places, including through the gills. His coloring was odd; not black on top and white on the bottom like usual, but dark bluish everywhere. It was the very shade of the water that would make him almost invisible for this time of night. Because of the mako’s injuries, though, he wasn’t long for the Big Blue.
“Why did you do this?” Gray asked, almost shouting.
“I was hired,” the shark said. “Nothing personal.” Slowly, his coloring changed from its weird bluish all over to the regular mako hide with black on the top and white on the bottom.
“Did you see that?” Mari whispered in wonder. “How did he do that?”
The group looked over, and the other mako did the exact same thing as his gills stopped moving.
“Because,” Trank said as he swam up from his hiding place. “He’s an
assassin.”
“I thought you were in charge of those,” Barkley said. When Trank gave him a look, the dogfish added, “I mean, if you were in charge of those.”
The stonefish nodded. “If Gafin had assassins, they would be dwellers. There was a rumor of assassin sharkkind long ago, but I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. I do know it would be verrry expensive.” He nodded at Gray. “In a way, youse should be flattered.”
“Who sent you?” Barkley asked urgently as the mako’s gills struggled to pump his last breaths. “You’re dying, so you might as well tell us.”
“You already know.”
“Finnivus!” breathed Mari, nervously switching her tail back and forth.
“Well, it didn’t work,” Gray said to the dying shark. “You two are done!”
The mako worked his jaws back and forth, close to death. He spit up a gob of blood as the light faded from his eyes. “Who—who said there were only two of us?”
GRAY STARED AT THE BODY OF THE MAKO assassin. For a moment he was shocked numb. Then he realized what the mako had meant—they were after Lochlan, too!
“Back to Riptide!” he shouted to Barkley and Mari as he roared from Slaggernacks. He was a good distance ahead of them on the high-speed swim to the homewaters, so he was the first to hear the commotion coming from there. A feeling cold as ice froze his insides, but he accelerated to an attacking sprint, leaving Barkley and Mari further behind.
“Look out! Here they come again!” shouted an AuzyAuzy mariner.
“Where?” Gray shouted. “What direction?”
A squad of mariners charged him. They thought he was the attacker!
AuzyAuzy tiger shark Jaunt skidded in front of him. “Ease off, you wonky drongos! Doncha see it’s Gray? Swim the perimeter and look sharpish!” The AuzyAuzy sharks did as they were told.
“Jaunt, what happened?” Gray asked as Barkley and Mari joined them.
