by EJ Altbacker
Tydal didn’t like resting his fins on the coral throne. It felt haughty and arrogant. Then there was the fact that whenever he did so, absolutely nothing got done because the royals grew angry by what they thought of as arrogance when he used it. They challenged him in every small way that they were able. It shouldn’t have been the case since Tydal was their chosen leader, but there it was.
“Giving it another go today, are we?” Xander asked. “Do I need to call in more of my mariners?”
“I think you have enough,” Tydal replied.
The scalloped hammerhead always looked like he was thinking deeply because of the ridges in his oddly shaped head. Tydal knew Xander was smart but he could also be rude and unhelpful because he hated being stuck in the Indi homewaters. But the hammerhead had recently saved Tydal’s life, so that was a big point in his favor.
“Try not to let them snout-bang you so much, mate. It gets boring watching you used and abused every day by this sorry lot, savvy?”
Tydal searched the hammerhead’s eyes to see if he was joking or making fun. It seemed that he was actually offering advice. Truly, Xander was a mystery.
Tydal nodded to indicate to his own First Court Shark, a port jackson named Oopret, to put the royal court in session, which he did by saying, “The Indi Shiver royal court under Minister Prime Tydal, the first of his name, is now in session. Swim forward and be heard!”
Five sharks, one from each of the royal families, came forward in a group. Usually they jostled one another for the chance to speak first. Sometimes there was a big enough fight that Tydal could simply cancel the audience, which was always a relief.
This silent grouping was new and couldn’t be good.
The tiger shark from the Taj family glanced right and left before speaking to Tydal, who hovered by—but not on—the Indi throne.
“Minister Prime, we representatives of the five royal Lines demand to know what you’re doing to free our kin from their unlawful and illegal imprisonment in the Atlantis!”
So that’s it, Tydal thought. They’re working together.
Bringing their princes and princesses back to Indi would set all of their war-mongering plans into motion, and Tydal would surely be killed. He would have to be an absolute dunce to do this so it wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m having high-level talks with Striiker, the leader of Riptide, and Graynoldus Emprex, the Seazarein, to do just that,” he lied. “When I know something for certain, you’ll be the first I inform.”
“So, you know nothing . . . for certain?” asked the spinner shark from Korak. He left a huge pause between the words nothing and certain on purpose.
On the outside Tydal remained serene. He had learned well to keep his face free of emotion, especially negative ones, in Finnivus’s royal court. “No, I didn’t say that. I know many things about that topic that are very certain, but I cannot tell you what they are at this time.”
“So you’re keeping this information to yourself?” wailed an ancient Razor Tooth princess. “I have no idea what’s become of my grandson and I’m worried sick!”
Tydal knew this wasn’t the case. The old crone and the prince hated each other. There were even rumors that she’d tried to have her grandson sent to the Sparkle Blue using an urchin king assassin.
“I know it’s been hard on you,” he told the group.
“He loves ruling over us!” cried out the Razor Tooth princess. “I bet he’ll have them put to death to stay in power!”
“That’s not true!” he shouted. Though it would solve his problems, Tydal couldn’t send those sharkkind to the Sparkle Blue like Finnivus would have done. He didn’t want to be anything like Finnivus. But Tydal’s voice was drowned out as the five royal representatives all began yelling.
The Taj shark’s voice overcame the others. “You’ve betrayed us and now are allied with Graynoldus, the very shark who sent our beloved emperor to the Sparkle Blue! You’re a traitor!”
Tydal couldn’t believe it. Beloved emperor? Each of the royal families had lost members to Finnivus’s temper. He had even eaten the heads of a few in front of the royal court while their families watched! “Are you insane?” Tydal sputtered.
Xander streaked in and rammed the Taj shark in the flank. The other four sharkkind from the royal families clammed up as the Taj royal writhed in pain. “You dare touch me?” he gasped.
POW! Xander whirled and hit the Taj shark again with a huge tail slap to the face.
“Not only do I dare touch you, I can do it anytime I want. True it’s not as fun as sending your princes to the Sparkle Blue in the battle waters, but it’ll have to do. And let me tell you another thing, the next sharkkind that mentions the beloved emperor Finnivus won’t live to say another word! You pack of krill-faced jellies savvy that?”
The group of five sharkkind collected themselves and left without another word.
Tydal swam down to Xander. “That was fantastic! I can’t believe you did that!”
The hammerhead turned and his eyes blazed. “I wouldn’t have to if you were any kind of leader! Might as well put an empty conch shell on that throne for all the good you’re doing.” With that, the scalloped hammerhead pushed past him.
“What? What did I do?” asked Tydal, bewildered.
But Xander was already gone.
GRAY HAD SET OUT FROM FATHOMIR TO THE Sific Ocean and AuzyAuzy Shiver soon after his visit with Trank at the Stingeroo Supper Club. It sounded like there was something going on in the eastern fire waters, and he had a bad feeling that Hokuu was behind it.
Gray brought Barkley and Mari along and was glad of it. When they reached the AuzyAuzy homewaters, the official welcoming ceremony was incredible. There were races and synchronized swimming displays and everyone ate course after course of delicious fish. Gray had wanted both of his friends with him because he valued their advice. But in Mari’s case, he wanted the thresher along to keep an eye on her. She hadn’t been the same after the destruction of the Riptide homewaters and he was worried about her. Here Mari seemed to be enjoying herself more than she had in a while. Shear was also around, watching Gray with his invisible finja guardians, but didn’t call attention to himself.
Gray was a little annoyed that he didn’t get to join any of the activities. Judijoan had made it clear that as the Seazarein he couldn’t be playing Tuna Roll or Capture the Golden Greenie when visiting the ancient shivers. “It’s not dignified,” the oarfish sniffed.
Apparently being dignified meant you had much less fun.
So while Barkley got to win a game of Capture the Golden Greenie for his team, Gray hovered with Kendra, the whitetip shark who was regent and who had led AuzyAuzy Shiver ever since King Lochlan died fighting Finnivus. The captain of her guard, Jaunt, was also there, though, and she was always fun.
Finally, after hours and hours of watching the ceremonial celebrations, Jaunt took Gray to the area where AuzyAuzy’s Eyes and Ears had their base of operations.
“Everything going well with you?” Gray asked Jaunt as they swam to a reef section in the homewaters.
“Sure, I reckon things have smoothed out a bit since the scrumble with Indi Shiver and Finnivus,” she answered. “A hard current that was.”
“Yeah, hard current.” That was an understatement.
“This Hokuu seems like a rotten squid carcass,” she said. “You think Leilani can help?”
“Maybe. What do you know about her?”
“Oh, she’s lovely,” Jaunt said. “We’ve been pals since we were finbiters. Don’t get out with her too much these days because the Eyes and Ears keep her close. She’s brill at what she does, is why they do that.”
“So who leads this spyfish group?” asked Gray.
“A finner named Benzo,” Jaunt said. “Everyone calls him BenzoBenzo.”
“Why�
�s that?” asked Gray.
Jaunt chuckled. “See if you can guess. Here he is now.”
The fattest blowfish Gray had ever seen swam out to meet them from underneath a shelter of intricate blue and green coral. His giant face went directly into his tapered body which had yellow and brown markings on top along with spiny knobs all over his body.
“Ah, you’re here, you’re here. It is an honor to meet you, Seazarein Graynoldus, and I greet you as the leader of AuzyAuzy Shiver’s Eyes and Ears, Eyes and Ears.”
Gray gave Jaunt a look as they both stifled a snicker. “Hail and well met, BenzoBenzo. May the currents be warm and always at your back.”
“One can only hope, but there’s distressing news for those who know how to watch and listen, watch and listen.” The blowfish waggled his fins back and forth.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” said Jaunt. “Have to check on Kendra’s guard detail. Say hi to Leilani for me. And Gray, don’t be a stranger.” The small tiger shark turned smartly and with a final tail waggle was gone.
“Ah, yes,” BenzoBenzo said. “Leilani, please attend us, attend us.”
A spinner shark came away from her conversation with a few other sharkkind and dwellers. Leilani was slender with a pointed snout. She was a bronzed gray on the top and had a short dorsal fin that was only as high as the top half of her graceful tail, which was larger on top than bottom. She beamed at Gray with her narrow, triangular teeth. “Wow! The Seazarein! I never thought I’d get to see you up close.”
BenzoBenzo rolled his eyes. “Leilani, what have I told you about meeting fins of importance?”
“Oh, right.” She dipped her cute—Gray couldn’t help but notice—snout. “I greet you, Seazarein. How may I serve the leader who represents the good and goodly fins of the Big Blue?”
“Ugh, please,” Gray told the pair. “Forget the formalities. Have you heard anything about Hokuu?”
BenzoBenzo shook his enormous head. “Un-fortunately, no. We have no verified leads, verified leads.”
Gray flicked his fins. “Your patrol went missing in the same area where there have been a series of unexplained disappearances. Have Kendra or Jaunt sent others there since the ones you reported to me?”
The blowfish shook his head. “Regent Kendra thought it too dangerous. The fire waters in that area have been curiously active, curiously active.”
Gray despaired. The fire waters were dangerous at the best of times. Maybe the missing scouts and Trank’s spies were just unlucky. “So, there isn’t anything that would lead you to believe that Hokuu might be there?”
“Nothing verified as of yet, as of yet,” BenzoBenzo said.
“What about the flashes?” asked Leilani.
The leader of the Eyes and Ears spun his stubby flippers in annoyance. “Leilani, that is unconfirmed, unconfirmed!”
“What flashes?” Gray asked, curious.
“One patrol that was scouting the territory about a mile away from where the other disappeared did report that they saw blinding flashes of color. They took a closer look but when they arrived, nothing was there,” Leilani said.
“Which is why I told the Seazarein that nothing has been verified or confirmed, verified or confirmed!” BenzoBenzo exclaimed. “That could have been anything: reflections of the moon above the chop-chop, volcanic activity, a colony of lumo jellies, glowing plankton, or even ghost shimmer. You cannot bother the Seazarein with wild theories! That’s not what we do, not what we do.”
“I’m sorry,” the spinner said, her tail drooping. “It’s just this Hokuu is a master of shar-kata, like Takiza, and I thought . . .”
BenzoBenzo sucked water into his mouth with a shooop and quadrupled his size in anger. Now the blowfish was totally round and the knobby spikes covering his body revealed themselves as long and sharp. “Leilani, be quiet! Be quiet!”
Gray cut his tail through the water. “Let her speak! And? Go on,” he told the spinner.
“It’s well known that Takiza can gather the power of the tides with his mastery of shar-kata,” she began. Leilani unconsciously swam back and forth as if she were lecturing a class. “When he does, a bright glow gathers because of this concentrated energy. The description I received from our patrol would rule out moon reflections, ghost shimmer, lumo jellies, and plankton. Volcanic activity can be that bright, but it’s almost always red, orange, or yellow. This was a bright green color, described as blinding.”
“Could you lead me and a few others to where these flashes happened?” Gray asked.
“Yes, I have complete knowledge of the fire waters as well as every other ocean,” Leilani said. “I’m also an expert on prehistores, ancient legends, landshark objects in the Big Blue, and can translate most dolph and orca whistle-click-razz dialects.”
Gray turned to BenzoBenzo. “I’m going to need to borrow her.”
The blowfish sighed, releasing the water he had gathered into his body and deflating to normal size. “I was afraid you were going to say that, going to say that.”
SNORK CHURNED HIS TAIL AS HE BALANCED THE rounded piece of coral perched on his bill. He had to constantly shift position left and right as the choppy current kept threatening to knock it off.
Takiza floated serenely off to the side but still in his vision. “Breathe,” the betta said.
“I—am—breathing,” Snork gasped.
“Breathe . . . better,” the betta emphasized.
What did that even mean? thought Snork.
Takiza had said to come with him to a huge coral reef outside the Fathomir homewaters. Snork liked being included in things. And he had never had a private conversation with the great Takiza. He was so surprised and excited he said yes without asking why.
He definitely should have asked why.
Takiza gestured with one of his delicate and colorful fins. “Toss the coral upward. While it is above your bill, cut down a single stalk of greenie and then catch the coral once more. Repeat this until I tell you otherwise.”
Snork flipped the coral up a few feet and then used his sharp bill to cleanly chop a stalk of kelp in half. He gathered the coral onto his bill. After taking a moment to balance it, he did this again.
“Faster,” Takiza said. “Speed and precision are the hallmarks of a bladefish.”
Snork kept throwing the coral above his bill and severing the nearest stalk of greenie, all the while moving forward. It was difficult.
“You . . . are not terrible at this,” Takiza remarked. “Have you ever done this particular exercise before?”
“Not—on—purpose!” Snork answered as he fought the current to keep the smooth piece of coral from falling off his flat bill. “Sometimes . . . when I didn’t do my chores . . . Dad would . . . make me do this as punishment.”
“Intriguing. Your father trained you as both a reward and punishment. Something to consider with my next apprentice, perhaps. Now, catch this second piece of coral on your bill without dropping the first,” Takiza told him before zipping away.
“What?” Snork asked.
He understood seconds later when Takiza somehow flipped a larger chunk of coral high above him. It dropped through the water toward Snork, but to the right. There was no way to catch them both unless he moved. Snork flipped the first chunk of coral upward and to the right. He caught the second as it fell, then recaught the first.
His dad always said he was pretty quick with his bill.
The weight was terrible though, and Snork thought his eyes would pop from his head.
“I did not say you should stop cutting down greenie,” Takiza remarked.
Once Snork got the two pieces of coral next to each other, he resumed cutting stalks of kelp. “This—is—hard,” he sputtered.
“That is because it is not meant to be easy.” Takiza floated above one of the chunk
s of coral as Snork adjusted his position to keep both pieces on his bill. “Your father was a bladefish. It is the only reason for you to have experience with these exercises. He was training you with the games that you played, as well as the punishments you received.”
The current died around him and Snork smoothly sliced a thicker strand of kelp. He hesitated for a moment as memories of his father flooded into his mind. Takiza somehow knew that both Snork’s father and mother were swimming the Sparkle Blue. It had happened a long time ago, before Snork met Striiker, Shell, and Mari and before they all formed Rogue Shiver with Gray and Barkley. He missed his parents so much, but he was sure that their spirits had led him to meet his very best friends in the world.
“He—he never said anything about that,” Snork said, striking at a piece of purple-greenie. “What’s a bladefish?”
Takiza’s fins billowed in all their colorful rainbow glory as he spoke. “Bladefish are a secret society of wandering warriors—sharkkind and dwellers—who swim the seven seas and right wrongs. Now, catch the third piece of coral without dropping the first or second, and of course, continue cutting greenie.” The betta zipped away and flipped another piece of coral—this one larger than the first two put together—to Snork’s left.
“Aw, krill!” Snork exclaimed as he thrust his bill up hard, launching the two pieces of coral on it to the right. But the third chunk of coral was heavier and fell too fast. It hit him right in the head . . . followed by the second, then the first. “Oww!” he cried.
“It seems there is room for improvement,” the betta said. “Your training is advanced, but incomplete. We will have to remedy this.”
“How come I’ve never heard of these bladefish?” Snork asked, shaking his aching bill from side to side and taking a much-needed breather. “I mean, how come my dad never told me?”
“As to the latter, you were too young. As to the former, I did say it was a secret society. Bladefish do not reveal themselves as bladefish. They do not seek glory.” Takiza paused, thinking for a moment. “I must correct myself. Most do not seek glory. Most simply solve whatever problem needs solving and continue on their way.”
