by EJ Altbacker
Gray pondered everything he knew, everything he’d learned as Seazarein, before asking, “Is Hokuu on the Fifth Shiver Line?”
Barge nodded. “Now you have it. No, he is not. I believe that is the reason that Hokuu sent Bollagan and his Line to the Sparkle Blue.”
Gray nodded, understanding. “That way if he serves Drinnok, he’ll be named to the Line himself. Hokuu is using Drinnok to get into a leadership position.”
Barge turned his large flippers. “This came up when Hokuu visited last. I watched from the side and said nothing.”
Gray looked at Barge. “So if Drinnok doesn’t do what Hokuu wants then maybe Hokuu will use this Grimkahn and the frill sharks to send him to the Sparkle Blue, just like Bollagan. Even though Drinnok wants to rip my gills out, he has to be told.”
Barge stretched his head forward and nodded, which exaggerated the movement. “I believe you are right. And then of course, if Drinnok is gone, Grimkahn or Hokuu would be in charge of who gets to come and go from the Underwaters. Not that it’s such a big deal for me, but everyone should have a choice.”
Gray looked around at the ghostly glow of the lumos. There were patches of milky light with darkness filling in the rest. It was hot, but not unbearable. Still, he couldn’t allow the sharkkind and dwellers who lived in the Underwaters to be trapped here. He understood Drinnok’s feelings about this clearly now. Perhaps through that they could find a common ground and avoid another bloody war.
“It’ll take some time to get you all into the Big Blue,” Gray said. “The passage barely lets me through. But I swear, I will come for you. Somehow, you’ll all be saved.”
Barge laughed, a musical rumble. “Graynoldus, you misunderstand me. It’s the principle of the matter. It’s not being allowed to leave that’s wrong. But I don’t want to go to your Big Blue. This is my home and I love it. Besides, who would take care of my garden?”
“You mean, who would save its victims if you left?”
Barge nodded vigorously. “That too! You’ll find not everyone is so eager to leave. Sure, the young pups will want to take a look because it’s new and it will annoy their parents to no end. But I think you’ll find many will stay.”
There was a rumbling seaquake. Gray looked up toward the lumo-encrusted roof of the Underwaters and then at Barge. “But I can’t blame Drinnok or anyone else for wanting to get out of here before the roof falls down, can I?”
“Oh please,” Barge said. “There have been seaquakes for millions of years and our world remains. That is a foolish thing for anyone to say.”
“It’s so dark, though,” Gray said as he looked around. “Don’t you want to really see? I can barely see anything.”
“You’re not used to it,” Barge answered. “I’m sure that the Big Blue would be horribly bright for me. I get headaches if it’s too bright, you know.”
Gray gestured with a fin. “All the greenie and lumos are white! You should see how colorful it is in the Big Blue.”
“What are you talking about?” Barge asked, confused. “The copse of taratellan greenie you were caught in was a riot of color! There was ghost pearl and alabaster and pale matte and glowmist and everything in between.”
“Okay,” Gray replied. “I’m not here to force anyone to do anything. But like you said, I want everyone to have the choice.”
“Spoken like a wise and great Seazarein,” said Barge with a smile. “Who should gain a little weight.”
It took Gray the better part of three hours to wriggle and swim his way up the passage from the Underwaters to the Big Blue. And that was with the aid of shar-kata, which thankfully seemed to be working pretty well. He met Shear close to two hundred yards from the end of the tunnel.
“I told you to wait outside,” Gray said after he had caught up with the big tiger.
“Of course,” he said. “I was guarding your friends until five minutes ago when I heard you coming. They are waiting.”
Barkley, Takiza, Leilani, and Snork came out from their hiding places and crowded around as soon as Gray and Shear emerged from the passageway.
“Thank Tyro you’re back!” Barkley exclaimed. “You’re lucky you didn’t get yourself killed.”
“Agreed,” grumbled Takiza. “Did you find out anything useful or simply bumble about as usual?”
“I met up with an old friend named Barge. He’s a giant turtle,” Gray told everyone.
Takiza nodded. He seemed to know Barge.
“What did he say?” asked Snork. “Anything good?”
Gray frowned. “No, not good. But I have a crazy idea on how to avoid a war with Drinnok.”
“What would that be?” asked Takiza, swishing a gauzy fin.
“Talk with him,” Gray said.
“That does sound crazy,” Barkley nodded.
Shear frowned. “I don’t like it.”
“He’s right,” Leilani agreed. “Drinnok, or his guards, would eat you first and ask questions never. And then there’s Hokuu. He’d never give you the time to convince anyone.”
Gray nodded. “Yup. I need someone that Drinnok won’t think of as a threat. Someone who could track him, find him, and sneak past his giant prehistore guards without getting killed. Then convince him we don’t want a war. But there’s no one in the Big Blue who could do all those things, I guess.” By the end Gray was looking at Barkley.
“I like it,” Shear said. “I like it a lot.”
The dogfish flicked his fins, faking annoyance. “Maybe I should have kept my big mouth shut.”
“It’s dangerous, Bark,” Gray said. “Really dangerous.”
Barkley cut him off with a tail swish. “The risk is worth it. And you’re right. I am the only fin for this job. And I’m going to do it well. And that’s that.”
And so it was.
IN THE INDI SHIVER HOMEWATERS ON THE other side of the world, Tydal cringed as Xander shouted, “That Johanna fin was overheard plotting to kill you!”
“Please, calm yourself,” Tydal said. “The princess explained that it was idle talk, a joke.”
The furrows on the scalloped hammerhead’s brow deepened in disbelief. “My mariners say it wasn’t and I believe them. Besides, she’s old enough to know better. No one gets to have a laugh about sending their leader to the Sparkle Blue, savvy?”
Tydal wished there was more room to swim so he could think, but the cavern was too small. The Indi homewaters were huge, but he and Xander were in a series of interconnected and defensible caverns in the royal area of the Indi homewaters. Xander had insisted on this after the latest assassination attempt. Now, even the few Indi mariners Tydal had kept around for public relations had been dismissed. All his guards were the AuzyAuzy commander’s sharks. They were the only ones who could be trusted.
“Are you thinking or sleeping?” asked Xander, who knew well that Tydal wasn’t sleeping at all these days. When Tydal was First Court Shark, he prided himself on being able to remain stock still, at the hover, for so long that he would fade from everyone’s view. But that wasn’t possible as minister prime. Everyone looked to you for answers and there was never a day with fewer than a hundred decisions to make.
“I cannot execute a Punjaw princess for mere words!” Tydal answered. “The family would revolt. In fact, all five of the royal clans might join together and then revolt!”
“Finnivus killed a bunch of them,” Xander said. “Those same families offered to kiss his tail after each death.”
“Because he was a maniac!” Tydal yelled, bumping Xander with his snout. Not too hard, as the hammerhead was far larger, but Tydal was angry. “Finnivus would have ordered Johanna’s entire family wiped out!”
“Which is why they obeyed!” Xander answered forcefully, slapping Tydal in the belly with his tail. “They were scared of him. That’s a lesson you should lea
rn.”
“You cannot be serious,” Tydal said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You think I should put someone’s head on a feeding platter to make a point? I will never do that. I won’t be anything like Finnivus!”
“If you let her go without a fitting punishment, you’re as good as dead,” Xander said. “You know what? I’m done. The fate of the ocean is balanced on an urchin spine, and I have to play nurse shark with you. No more! You dying doesn’t bother me.”
Tydal used his tail to angrily sweep the seabed at Xander. “That’s so great to hear! It inspires me with so much confidence!”
“Don’t mistake me for your mum! I’m not here to stroke your flank.” Xander calmed himself. “Hear me out. Yesterday, you were almost killed. Again.” That was true. This last attempt, by three spinner sharks with fake Indi Shiver markings, had almost succeeded.
The evidence pointed strongly to the Punjaw family as they were in charge of the royal urchins who created the Indi Shiver tattoos. Unfortunately, there was no proof because all three assassins were sent to the Sparkle Blue before they could be questioned. Punjaw had loudly denied any involvement, but their princess Johanna had been heard laughing about how Tydal’s rule was about to be “thankfully and finally put to an end” a day before the attack.
The hammerhead flicked his fins and said, “This attempt on your life could have been random extremists, as your royals say . . .”
“Xander,” Tydal said. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Then why are you acting like one?” Xander asked. “I lost another mariner saving your yellow-and-brown hide yesterday.”
“I’m terribly sorry about that,” Tydal said, suddenly conscious of his epaulette skin.
“Sorry gets nothing for his family,” the shark told him. “He’s gone and the royals don’t respect you.”
Tydal was hurt by Xander’s words but he burst out laughing anyway. “Respect?” he gasped. “Who cares about respect? I care about doing what’s best for the shiver!”
“The two are inseparable,” Xander said. “You won’t be able to lead, to help your shiver, if the royals don’t respect you.”
Tydal fell silent.
Xander was totally right. Tydal had been trying to govern by compassion and logic because he didn’t think he was worthy, because he wasn’t born into a royal family. But the truth was that the royals would never accept him no matter what he did—because they all wanted to rule. If Tydal was going to set a new course for the shiver he had to lead. He needed everyone to respect him and the position of minister prime.
“Are ya thinking or sleeping?” asked Xander.
“I’m awake, thank you very much,” Tydal told the hammerhead. “Maybe for the first time as leader of this shiver. I need to make a royal proclamation, so everyone must be there. Will you gather the royal families?”
“What if they don’t want to come?” asked Xander.
“Then escort them there,” replied Tydal.
“With pleasure,” Xander told him. “And I thought today was going to be boring.”
“Xander,” Tydal said, stopping the AuzyAuzy shark from swimming away. “Perhaps you should bring a few more sharkkind than usual. I don’t think the royal clans are going to like what I say very much.”
Xander dipped his snout to Tydal. “Now you’re talking. I’ll get it done.”
The hammerhead swam out of the cavern yelling for his mariners.
Two hours later Tydal swam out to the coral throne at the heart of the Indi Shiver homewaters. Sunlight cut through the water and made everything around him sparkle. Tydal saw that in addition to tripling the guard in front and above the throne, Xander had also brought the rest of the AuzyAuzy mariner force. They were at a respectful attention hover and not talking and fin-slapping as they did from time to time when he held a royal audience.
Tydal aimed to set a regal tone from the start. He glided straight to the coral throne of Indi and plopped himself on it. A chorus of grumbles rippled through the royal court.
“Johanna Punjaw, come forward,” Tydal said. The throne was the Indi homewaters’ Speakers Rock. It was located in the place where the currents were the absolute best for carrying even a whisper out to the assembled royal court.
The noise from the court turned into indignant shouts: “What’s the meaning of this?” “You dare order a princess around?” “He’s not royalty!” And Johanna did not move. Tydal saw her, smirking, with the rest of the Punjaw clan hovering protectively around her.
Tydal gave a double fin flick to Xander, a signal they had worked out. The hammerhead bellowed, “QUIET! YOUR LEADER IS SPEAKING!” His commanding shout was so loud it silenced everyone.
Tydal edged forward. “Johanna Punjaw, come before me!” he announced, a bit harder this time.
The leading member of the clan swam out, a cunning old coot named Rash. He dripped disdain whenever he dealt with anyone but Finnivus himself. “The princess is too frightened to come before your imposing presence, Tydal,” Rash said, words soaked in sarcasm. “I speak for clan Punjaw. Tell me what’s bothering you. Now.” The last was an order and caused a ripple of laughter from the royals.
“What I want you to do is produce the princess so she may defend herself,” Tydal said. “She was overhead joking about my swimming the Sparkle Blue right before an assassination attempt that your clan are the main suspects in.”
“We’ve been through that, Tydal,” Rash said, not using his title of minister prime. “They were foolish words to say . . . out loud.” More laughter from the royals because of the insulting pause in front of out loud.
“Your sarcasm and disrespect have been noted,” Tydal told Rash. Anger flickered in the shark’s eyes. He didn’t like being called out. Suddenly the other royals went quiet. They became interested as Tydal continued. “Since your clan refuses to bring the princess forward to defend herself, I shall pass judgment on her, and your entire clan, solely from what I have heard from the other witnesses.”
Rash’s eyes blazed. “You pass judgment! You do not judge your betters, Tydal!”
“Silence him!” The words leapt from Tydal’s mouth and he couldn’t pull them back. Xander’s mariners speared Rash in the flank and drove him nose first into the soft seabed, but thankfully didn’t send him to the Sparkle Blue.
“How—how—dare you?” the old shark rasped.
Tydal propped himself up on the rose coral Indi throne and announced to the court, “The answer is simple enough that even a dumbo jelly like yourself should understand, but I will explain anyway. I dare because I am the minister prime and ruler of Indi Shiver!” Tydal paused. “Some of this misunderstanding is my fault. I haven’t acted like a leader. I allowed petty sharkkind like yourself, who think they are better than the others because of a family name, to dictate terms. But no longer!” Tydal swam off the throne and directed his words at the Indi Shiver sharks. At least a thousand of them had gathered, hovering outside the royal court.
“From this day forward, being born into a certain family guarantees you nothing! You’ll need to earn your position by demonstrating your loyalty to Indi Shiver. Not to a certain family, but to our noble and great shiver!”
“This is treasonous!” cried one of the sharks from clan Charavyuh.
There was grumbling and shouting. Again Xander swam forward and bellowed, “SHUT YER COD HOLES!” He then added in a quieter voice, “The minister prime isn’t done speaking.”
“There is treason here, that much is true, committed by Princess Johanna and the entire Punjaw clan!” Tydal said. “That is why I am banishing the Punjaw family. If any of their fifty-five clan members are seen in the Indi Ocean, they will be sent to the Sparkle Blue. Consider that your final warning! Captain of the guard, proceed with their banishment. Kill any who resist!”
Xander moved in with a hundred mariner
s, overwhelming the smaller royal family. This took several minutes. They screamed and cried but were pushed and bumped from the area.
There was a shocked silence in the court. Everyone stared at Tydal, who settled onto the rose coral throne. “Punjaw clan no longer exists as far as Indi Shiver is concerned. Their family name will be stricken from our history, any rights they have are voided, and their quarters are now the property of the office of minister prime. Any who think this is too harsh a punishment are welcome to swim forward and defend Punjaw. If you can convince me that I was mistaken then they can return.” Tydal leaned forward and stared at the four remaining royal families. “But if you fail to make your case then you and your families will be judged allies of the traitorous Punjaw clan and banished also!”
Suddenly no one in the Razor Tooth, Charavyuh, Korak, or Taj clans felt like defending Johanna or any Punjaw.
“I take your silence as a sign that you all completely agree that every shark in the Punjaw clan is a traitor and deserved my just punishment. Good, excellent. It is done.” Tydal looked down at the assembled royals. Those in the front were edging away and not meeting his eyes.
“Also, if any of you comes forward with information about traitorous activity anywhere in Indi Shiver, you will be rewarded. If you are accused by someone else, you must defend yourself to my satisfaction or you and your family will be banished. Failure to defend yourself will be taken as a sign of guilt and you will be banished also.”
Tydal stared at the royal families. “So, is there any other business? Are there complaints about the way I’m handling things? Everyone was so chatty a minute ago and I’m all ears. Anyone? Anything at all?” He waited, allowing the silence to stretch out. “I didn’t think so. You’re dismissed.”
And that night Tydal had his first restful sleep since he had been appointed leader of Indi Shiver.
