“Yeah, I think I’ll stick with the one in the sky, thanks.”
King Zale’s trident raged red in his hands. “You are quite an energy. No other Normal has shown your level of bravery in their time of delivery. Almost makes me want to dance.”
“They weep. Wah, wah, wah. Boo hoo little Normals,” cried Kathreena.
“I don’t cry easily,” I said.
“Oh, a challenge! I do love challenges,” said the king.
“Well, trying is the first step to disappointment,” I said.
“Ah, the urge to dance increases. Tell me, would you like to meet my queen?”
“I would so love to meet the woman who married you,” I said.
“Turn, my dear. Meet our latest Normal,” he said.
The throne next to him rotated, revealing a shockingly familiar face.
“Queen Tombolo?” I said, staring helplessly into the eyes of Troy’s mother.
“Didn’t suit me, did it? It was a little, I don’t know, lackluster, maybe. What do you think, doll?” she said in a silky-smooth voice.
Seeing Troy’s mother sitting stoically next to the likes of King Zale, surrounded by her evil stepchildren, made my blood boil. How could she abandon Troy and Treeva? How could she break the bond of eternal serendipity? I now understand the pain and doubt King Tombolo feels. She chose power and greed over love and family.
“Nah, it’s not lacking luster. It does have a quality to it that just didn’t fit you…what could it be? Hmm,” I said, placing a finger to my temple. “Oh, duh, I’ve got it! Class.”
“Bravo! Little doll face has a backbone. You know, I’m actually glad. All the ones before you were so soft shell. I had given up hope in finding a real little spitfire.”
“You see, Marina, power is pleasure,” said King Zale.
“And pain…pain is quite pleasurable,” the queen added as Katrina glided forward to take her stepmother’s decorated hand.
I’ve had about enough of this crap. If I’m going to die, I’m going out kicking some fancy-fin butt. Game on. “You know, I’m tired of the fake pleasantries. We all know you’re toying with me like a fish on a hook. Why don’t we just get on with things,” I said, folding my arms.
“You do not have my father’s permission to speak, Normal,” growled Kellen.
“Oh, shut it, you little possessed brat!” Surprisingly, the little twit hid behind his big brother. Wimp. “I broke your porthole and stole a red stone, very much like the one your daughter shoved into my gut.” King Zale’s eyes flashed with fury. “Oh, yes, I know all about Prehendo Animus,” I said.
The King moved uncomfortably in his throne.
Queen Zale slowly clapped her hands. “My, my. Quite the vocabulary. So, either you found a Mermish to English translation program—”
“More like Assfin to English.”
“You little smart aleck, you! Granted, it’s like you grew up in a parentless, probably toothless, rural hole, but I enjoy you nonetheless. Call me crazy.”
“Okay. Crazy-ass-merqueen.” As King Zale started dancing in circles, and Queen Zale cackled, I heard Doctor Tenly’s voice in my mind. Tell them what we know. Be crafty…hint to my presence. If all goes well…duck. “In fact,” I continued as Doctor Tenly suggested, “you’d be surprised how effective my Assfin to English program has been and how many things it taught me. Off the top of my head, I’d say there are at least, oh, one, two…six. And I’m not the only one who uses the program.”
With a flurry of boiling bubbles engulfing him, King Zale stopped his twirling. His anger exploded with the force of an atomic bomb. Raising his fiery trident and pointing it at me, he screamed, “You shall writhe!”
“ESACNE!” roared a distant voice. The bolt from King Zale’s trident stopped just shy of my nose, trapped inside a clear bubble.
All eyes traveled to the source of the voice.
“Troy,” I sighed, happy to see him in spite of myself.
“You will not hurt her,” Troy said loudly, moving to shield me from King Zale.
“You disappoint me, Deliverer. Falling in love with a Normal? Disgusting,” said King Zale, curling his lip.
“You can’t protect her, son. Besides, she’s my little dolly,” said Queen Zale.
“I’m not your son, and she’s not your toy. If you think you can get her, go on. Try me. I am a demon, after all. You want to tangle with one? Let’s get tangled.”
At his words, Troy’s mother flinched ever so slightly. King Zale glared at Troy before shifting his gaze to me. “I will give you one chance to tell me where he is.”
“Where who is?” I replied airily.
“DON’T TEST ME, NORMAL! TENLY. WHERE IS HE? TELL ME!”
“Fine, but only if we have a little info sharing session. Tell me why you bring Normals here to kill them.”
“Kill them? Why would we kill them?” Queen Zale twirled her trident, an evil grin stretching across her face.
“If you don’t kill them, then where are they? Where are my friends?”
King Zale slyly smiled. “My dear?”
“Oh, why not? Let’s bubble up this bash.”
With a smooth sweep of his trident, a large crystal and bone cage lowered from the ceiling.
“Trey! Polly! Ophelia!”
“Marina!” cried Polly, striking the twisted bones with her fists.
“Your friends are perfectly fine,” said the king.
“They’re in a cage,” I sneered.
“Kraken bone—makes for a nice, inescapable dwelling,” said the queen.
“Where are the others? Odette, Earl, the family members, and all the Normals you summoned?”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to show them, would it my dear?” he said.
“I think it’s necessary fun time,” she said. “Leelive, esir, deefundo, rewoplla.”
The instant the words left Queen Zale’s lips, the ground started trembling. Strings of bright white light darted out from every angle just above our heads, weaving and folding over us like rapidly growing ivy on a castle’s old walls. By the time it finished twisting and looping, it looked like a giant framework of thousands of tiny connections…and we were standing dead center.
“God help us,” I said, looking closely at the fine white strands.
“Don’t think He can hear you way—down—here,” said the queen.
The strands were made of humans. I clasped my hands hard over my mouth when I saw Trey’s grandfather. Next to him were Meikle’s mom, Odette, and Earl. Though their sad eyes locked on ours, following our every move, their faces looked pale, drained, worn, and pained.
“I didn’t know, Marina,” said Troy. “I swear to you.”
“They look so…dead,” I whispered.
“Ah, but they’re not, Marina,” said King Zale, fondly ogling his network of Normals. “They are very much alive.”
“They look like they’re suffering. What are you doing to them?” I yelled, Odette’s eyes widening scarily when I did.
“This is the future of my world. The human capacity to feel is your race’s greatest power, but also your greatest weakness. In order to be truly powerful, one must not fall victim to emotion. Love, fear, and sadness destroy societies. Ravenflames inject the matrix with all of our weak feelings, leaving us with only rage, hate, and a clear, crisp mind for taking control of the uncontrollable,” he said.
“Think of it as a partial lobotomy on things you’d rather not feel or remember feeling. It’s like dulling the pain without alcohol. Emotions bring you down, baby. Without them, you become a god.” Queen Zale was inches from my face, and her eyes looked as hollow as a shark’s.
“So, you force Normals to absorb all of your sob stories?” My body trembled from sorrow and increasing rage.
“Best trash compactors money couldn’t buy,” said the queen, gliding to float beside her equally deranged king.
He chuckled a moment, marveling at his work. “Very resilient, these Normals, wouldn’t you say
my dear? Although, sadly, some have exploded.”
“Well, take our most debilitating emotions and combine them with their own saga-coaster, and Normals go boom,” said the queen, mimicking an explosion. “All in all, they have an amazing crap-holding capacity.”
“Do you have any idea how potent feelings are? Messing with emotions is like messing with the fiber of the universe. You have no idea what it’s doing to them!” I said.
“Of course we do, doll face. When they pop like a big, puss-filled zit, we kind of get the picture,” she replied coolly.
“You’re both repulsive.”
“Look at you, then look at us,” said the king, flaunting his trident about. “We are calm. You are unhinged.”
“You weren’t so Zen a few minutes ago,” I retorted.
“That was sheer anger. Power. You, my dear, have anger, sorrow, and fear working through you. Weakness,” said King Zale.
“So, what, you want to hook me up to your little network here? Computer me up? Force me to suck up your feelings?”
“Hades, no. We need to test you first,” said Queen Zale with a terrifying glimmer in her eyes.
“Oh, darn, and here I forgot a number two pencil. Shoot.”
“Lucky for you, Marina, you are the test,” said King Zale. “See, Normals with certain gifts will develop their full power in their seventeenth year. We simply keep you on standby until we can determine what, if any, significant power you may have. If you don’t display a power within a year, we integrate you into our labyrinth, here.”
“But, if you do possess some extra-special goodness, we empty you of all emotion, then send you back into your society, like our very own little pigeons,” said the queen, shifting her trident from one hand to the other.
“Um, yeah, your species of potential pigeons is kind of banished from society, so how does that work exactly?”
Queen Zale rolled her eyes and threw up her hand. “Aw, where’s the fun in telling you all our mouthwatering morsels?”
“We’ve been quite liberal with our answers to your questions. Hades, we even put on a light show! Now, it’s time you reciprocate,” said the king, as Troy pushed tightly against my chest. “Where is Doctor Tenly?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you,” I sighed. “He’s off swimming with a forgetful regal tang, trying to find a disobedient clownfish.”
“YOU DARE MOCK ME!”
“Oh, I so double dare.”
“So be it.” He twirled his trident above his head and sent Troy smashing into a wall clear across the room. “Time for you to join your friends.”
A flash of purple met with a bright pink bubble over my head.
“So sorry I’m late, but I had a dreadfully busy day,” said Treeva, strutting her pink fin across the room while rolling her elegant trident over her shoulder. “How’s it going, sweets?”
“Oh, you know, the usual,” I said, very glad she stopped right in front of me.
“Howdy, Mom. Good to see you looking so…Ravenflame-ish. Not really a good look for you,” said Treeva, while her mom simply stared blankly ahead. “See you’ve bleached your fin lilac to really fit in with the clan. Bet that hurt like hell. Too bad it’s awesomely ugly.”
“Princess, so nice to see you again. You remember my son,” said King Zale, gesturing to Kyle, who looked violent yet somewhat longing. Maybe some feelings were harder than others to empty.
“Unfortunately,” replied Treeva, not missing a beat. “Impressive framework. A little morbid, but to each his own.”
“Come now, Princess, do you really think you are going to get Marina out alive with nothing but a traitorous brother and two Fairhair students?” King Zale smiled triumphantly.
“Oh, of course not,” she said with a little laugh. “I brought friends.” Dozens of translucent Merpeople passed through the palace walls, chanting war cries. “Think you know the Ashrays,” sang Treeva.
The ghostly sea beings swarmed King Zale’s guards, easily disarming them of their tridents. Soon after, we heard booming bangs, crashing thuds, and buzzing sounds in the distant halls of the palace. Loud whale and dolphin cries echoed in the distance before the beasts smashed through the doors and chaos ensued. Purple and blue flashes crisscrossed overhead; armored dolphins, orcas, and humpbacks scattered the incoming swarm of octopus and squid.
“Marina, you must get down,” shouted a tiny voice in my ear.
“Maryweather!”
“More than a fairy, I am. Water sprites unite!” she screamed, leading hundreds of part-fairy, part-merp-sprites into combat.
Everyone battled against someone or something. Troy and Kyle were engaged in a vicious war of tridents, while Treeva was in a back and forth fin-slam session with a cackling Kathreena. Benji trident-combated a resilient Kellen, and Airianna tussled with Katrina in an upper-body tangle.
King Zale, covered by water sprites and Ashrays, screamed, “CAPTURE THE NORMAL!”
Several sharp-toothed electric eels made for my head like finely thrown darts, but they had their path altered when two dolphins sliced them in half. While the madness heightened, I noticed one small area completely devoid of Ravenflames: the cage. I ran, swam, and floated as fast as I could for Trey and Polly, stopping only to roll left past an octopus, dive over a bull shark, and slide under the jaws of a great white.
“Marina!” cried Polly. “Get us out of this thing! Have you seen the mold?”
“Mold, Polly? Really?” I pulled and twisted the stubborn fish bone lock.
“Well, it is a health hazard,” she spat.
“Do the best you can, Squiggle,” said Trey, anxiously watching me work on the stubborn lock.
“Hello, Marina. I’m Ophelia Fountains. It’s very nice to meet you. My sisters are just there, attached to the network. They would gladly greet you properly, but they’re a bit, well, plugged in at the moment. Could you maybe work just a tad faster? I’m honestly not trying to rush you, but I am about to have a panic attack and would really not like for you to have your first impression of me involve sobbing, swearing, and possibly fainting,” said Ophelia. She had the kindest voice and most polished mannerisms imaginable.
“Maybe we just let her work,” said Trey.
“Really, this isn’t the time to be Miss Manners or Mr. Stay Quiet,” said Polly, rolling her eyes. “Just do what I do…scream at her until she OPENS THE DAMN LOCK! See the extra effort just then? Yelling really is quite effective.”
“You know, on second thought, just take your time. The panic is here, attacking me,” said Ophelia, keeling over into Trey’s arms.
“Come on!” I growled at the lock.
“Here!” cried Maryweather, shoving her tiny wand in the lock. The lock finally made a glorious clicking sound—Trey, Polly, and Ophelia were free.
“Let’s go!” I said, taking their hands to help pull them out.
“Not so fast, sugar face.” Queen Zale had the tip of her trident digging into the back of my head. The room grew very silent as all eyes, both human and creature, turned upon me.
“Priorities first,” said King Zale, summoning the Kraken cage to scoop up Trey, Polly, and Ophelia like a giant, bony mouth.
“No!” I cried.
“Yesssssss,” Queen Zale whispered in my ear.
“You have caused enough havoc, Normal. It’s almost time for you to join your friends. But, first, how would you like to see a skinning?” asked King Zale.
“What? No, please no. I’ll get in the cage, just please…don’t.”
“Too late, doll face. Come on, my little warmongers, it’s almost shake and bake time.”
King Zale held out his arm and, with a twisting motion, paralyzed Troy. Slowly, he reeled him closer, like a helpless little dolphin caught in a net.
Once Troy was next to me, I whispered, “This is all my fault.”
“No…it’s mine.” He could barely speak.
“Happy Birthday, doll. Now, peel him like a sardine can,” said Queen Zale.
With e
lated eyes, King Zale plunged his trident into the bottom of Troy’s fin. Troy’s scream was excruciating.
“Yee haw! Now this is some Texas size fun,” cried the queen.
“NO!” I screamed, grabbing Troy’s hand.
“ZALE!” shouted a booming voice.
From the highest point of the battered room, King Tombolo hovered, stoic and severe. Queen Zale released me and hurried back to her throne.
“Well, well, whatever brings you here, Thompson?” King Zale asked.
“You will release my son, Zarius.”
“He has failed in his duties. The consequences were very clear.”
“And so are mine,” said King Tombolo, aiming his significantly larger trident at the queen.
After a long moment, King Zale released Troy. “The girl is mine. If your boy tries to take her, we will skin him. Understood?”
“And accepted,” said King Tombolo. “Come, Troy, Treeva. This business is done.”
“I’m not leaving without Marina,” said Troy angrily, blue blood flowing from his wounded fin.
“Then I cannot help you any further,” said his father.
“You could, if you had the guts to stand up for what’s right!”
“You are on your own, my son,” said King Tombolo, swimming away.
“Coward!” Troy screamed.
Exhilaration spread like hives across King Zale’s face. “Your father is weak as ever. This is why your mother left him—she thirsts for real power,” roared King Zale. “Emotion creates wars, Marina. That’s why people fight. No emotion, no wars…just peace.”
Troy grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him, but in my anger, I resisted. “Yeah, peace in a society that is ruled, not led, by a mentally disturbed tyrant who demands things to be done his way, to live life by his rules. Citizens have to live under your thumb or bear your wrath should they dare show some independence,” I growled.
“It’s called living in an orderly, controlled fashion,” said the king.
“It’s living to feed some power hungry little punk’s ego! That’s not freedom.”
Little by little, we inched closer to the exit; Benji, Treeva, and Airianna discreetly joined us.
“What they don’t know, they don’t miss, Marina. With my framework, Ravenflames know only what I allow. They do only as I ask. My way leads to peace, to invincibility.”
FINNED (The Merworld Water Wars) Page 28
