The Elemental Trial

by J. A. Armitage

  My words seemed to sink in because Tristam let go of the guard, who swam back clutching his throat.

  “Please, sir,” I shouted to him once his color had returned to normal. “What can we do to get out of here? There must be something we can give you?”

  Tristam slammed past me, almost knocking me over as he swam to the back of the cell. “Yeah, ask him to let us out as a favor. That'll work better than my way!”

  Sophia, who'd been quiet until now, swam up next to me and fluttered her eyelashes at the male. When she spoke, her voice was different, sultry. “We'll do anything,” she purred. “And I mean anything...” She ran her hand down her body in a way that made me gulp.

  Ario, not to be outdone, came forward and tried his sexy mind trick on the guard and repeated Sophia's words, gripping the bars strategically to display his rippling muscles. Just in case the guard was into men instead of women, I guess. Behind me, I heard Orin chuckle. At least he was finding humor in the situation. “Let's all have a mer-orgy!” he whispered in my ear, and it took everything I had not to let a bubble of deranged laughter escape. I didn’t even know how mermaids had sex. I mean, with the tails.

  But it didn’t matter. The guard’s face darkened, as if the thought of fraternizing with a faerie of the land, let alone a human, disgusted him. I was surprised at his restraint, to be honest. I couldn't imagine many people would turn down the twin charms of Sophia and Ario, but he just hovered there, shaking his head at both of them.

  I wondered what I could offer him. Certainly not what the seduction twins were. If he didn't want Sophia, there was no chance he'd want me, but I did have something she didn't. Tristam had said that they valued precious metals and ancient things. Perhaps…I fished about in my pocket and pulled out the coins I'd found earlier. Something had drawn me to them—it had felt like my magic had called out to them. Maybe this was why. They were so small and insignificant, I had no clue if they would be enough, but I held one up to him. “Would this be of interest to you?”

  The guard’s eyes widened. Finally, we'd found something he could lust over. He swam forward to grab the coin from my hand, but I pulled it back. “Where did you get that?” he rumbled.

  “An ancient shipwreck. There were more where those came from. An entire chest full of treasure. You get us out of here, and I'll give you these coins and tell you where to find the rest.” I figured it wouldn’t hurt to oversell things a bit.

  “I can't get you out of here. It's impossible,” the guard croaked. There were shadowed bruises forming on his neck where Tristam's fingers had gripped.

  “There must be a way out. I can see you have keys to the cell. How about opening the door and we'll find our own way from there?” I nodded in what I hoped was an encouraging manner.

  He thought for a moment. To sweeten him up. I passed one of the silver coins to him, keeping five back.

  “You'll never escape,” he said, but his hand drifted to a pouch around his waist and pulled out the keys. “The whole of Deephold knows you are here, and none of them have any interest in letting you go.”

  He put the key in the lock, and I held my breath, wanting to scream from the suspense. Turn the key! We were so close… “The second you reach the top of this ravine, a hundred merfolk will pounce on you, and you'll only end up back in here...or worse.”

  He turned the blessed key. Hallelujah! The second the lock clicked, Phillip pushed on the barred door. It opened outwards, almost knocking the guard over.

  "What if we don't go to the surface, but swim through the ravine?" I asked as the others barrelled out of the cell behind me.

  The guard only shrugged his shoulders. “No one swims the ravine. It's not called the Abyss for nothing. You'll only die if you try. But that's your choice.”

  “We'll take our chances.”

  24

  I gave him sketchy directions to the shipwreck where I’d found the coins and hurried after the others. Orin had hung back, waiting for me.

  The Abyss was black as the night sky, but without any of the comfort of stars. Sporadically, a glowing fish swam by, or we passed a piece of algae that throbbed faintly with light. I hated this place. If I never went in an ocean again, it would be too soon. Strictly a land girl for me, from now on. At least, we’d gotten out of that cell, though.

  “Do we know where we’re going?” Molly asked in a hushed voice. It was strange, the eight of us being allies. Nothing like the threat of a slow, agonizing death in a deepwater prison to bring people together.

  “If I recall my history,” Tristam said, “the Abyss is near the neutral zone. This trench runs perpendicular to it, away from Deephold proper. If we stick to the trench, we should have only a short shot in open water to make it to safety, once we come up.”

  “Seems like they only need a short shot to kill us,” Sophia mumbled, but when Tristam shot her a look, she forced a smile. “We’ll be fine.”

  “What’s the neutral zone?” I asked. “Is that where we’ll meet Captain Kirk?” I said with a chuckle.

  No one laughed, and Phillip just rolled his eyes. No Star Trek fans? I pursed my lips. Tough crowd. “You really know nothing about faeries, do you.”

  “Enlighten me, genius,” I shot back.

  Phillip shook his head. “The neutral zone is territory between the Mer kingdom and the upper realm of Faerwild—it’s a shallow stretch of water. Both kingdoms are supposed to keep their soldiers out of it—that way there are no accidental skirmishes. Misunderstandings.”

  “If we make it there, we should be home free,” Tristam added.

  “Sounds like as good a plan as any,” Orin admitted. Well, he was downright agreeable. The jailbreak must have put him in a good mood.

  “Everyone circle up for a moment,” Ario said, and we pressed closer together. The fact that no one protested showed how much this leg had freaked us all the hell out. Ario closed his eyes, and I felt the tightness of faerie quora magic settle upon me. It made me want to scratch.

  “What’d you do?” Sophia asked.

  “It’s a spell to keep us incognito. I didn’t like what that guard said. If we’re going to be passing through, I thought we should do so without notice.”

  “An invisibility spell?” I asked hopefully. “Will it keep the merfolk from seeing us?”

  Ario shook his head. “The invisibility magic I know involves refracting light. It won’t work down here. But I doubt whatever is prowling down here uses its eyesight. This should keep us from…smelling good.”

  We all nodded. Okay.

  We swam on in silence, the cold water pressing down around us. We kind of drifted into our pairs, swimming through the channel two by two. Tristam and Sophia were swimming in front.

  Ever since I had realized the pearls might wear off, my lungs had felt tight and strained. I shook off the feeling. I was just being paranoid, psyching myself out. They wouldn’t have sent us down here with spells that would fail mid-leg. But, perhaps we’d already been down here longer than the FFR producers had anticipated. I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling a panic attack coming on.

  I felt someone take my other hand, and turned to see Orin. He squeezed. “I’ve got you. It’s going to be okay.”

  And I felt better, for a moment. But then I saw a flicker of movement in the corner of my eye. Against the dark wall, something moved.

  I squeezed Orin’s hand in a stranglehold, pointing frantically. Ario, Molly, Dulcina, and Phillip saw my frantic motion, and slowed, shying against the other rock wall of the trench. But Tristam and Sophia still swam on before us, clueless.

  I held my breath as the rock wall just…came away before my very eyes. Because what I was looking at wasn’t rock. It was just camouflaged as that. It was a massive eel, the size of a tour bus. Its eyes were tiny black orbs, little help down here in the gloom. But it had other senses. And it was big enough to swallow us in one gulp.

  The eel slipped through the water like a silent assassin, following after Tristam and Sophia, w
ho were chatting in low tones. Its bulk passed within inches of me, and I squeezed my eyes closed, struggling to stay calm. To stay still. I forced my eyes open as it passed, its tail fluttering the little motes in the water before us.

  Maybe it couldn’t see them or smell them, but it could sure as hell hear them.

  Dulcina and I exchanged a panicked glance as the eel neared Tristam and Sophia. A moment of indecision warred in me. They were both jerks who had cheated and schemed their way to the front of the pack. But they didn’t deserve to die, did they?

  Orin clamped his hand down on my mouth, and I struggled against him, elbowing him in the stomach. He let out a stream of bubbles, doubling over and releasing me. Freeing me to scream, “Look out!”

  The eel spun around with shocking speed, abandoning its prey and heading straight toward us. Crap. Orin and I darted down low, swimming with all our strength. The eel crashed into the wall above us with concussive force, sending a shower of coral and kelp over us.

  I cringed at the power of the attack but kept swimming, heading back toward the direction of Elfame, and hopefully, safety. Not that the eel would know to respect the neutral zone.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw that the eel had spun and was heading towards us again. The thing could sure as hell hear my frantic paddling and bubbling breath. It was getting closer, and I could see its mouth opening, the blackness inside total and complete.

  “Hey!” Tristam shouted from ahead of us. The eel flicked his head toward the noise.

  “We all need to stay still!” Ario shouted, from a ways back. Easy for him to say, he didn’t have a giant disgusting eel hovering two feet from him. “If it can’t see or hear us, it will go away.”

  But it was as good a plan as any. We weren’t going to be able to outrun the thing. Orin grabbed my hand, and we pressed into a little alcove of rock. The space just barely fit both of our bodies, and I had to twist my neck awkwardly to fit my head in. From here, I couldn’t see the others, just the bulk of the body of the eel as it floated, seeming to decide what move to make next.

  It apparently decided to return to the location where it had left its most recent potential snack. In other words, us. It undulated in the water, turning its muscled body so it floated down, so its head was even with our hiding place. It turned its beady eye towards us, and then its snout, swirling the water around us with its sniffing.

  Orin and I were tangled together in a knot of stiffened limbs, desperate with fright. Ever so slowly, I saw him raise one hand. He was preparing to cast a spell. I shook my head ever so slightly, catching his eye. If he cast a spell, the creature would know we were here. And we had nowhere to run.

  The eel’s nose butted against the rock above us, testing. I squeezed my eyes closed, waiting for it to bump into me and realize I felt different from the other rock, that I was spongy and edible. My pulse roared in my ears, taking over all my senses. I would never get to find Cass, to unravel the secret of her note. I would never hug my mom and dad again, or eat barbecue from Wild Willie’s, our favorite spot. I would never go for another run along Santa Monica Boulevard, stopping to watch as the sun slipped below the horizon. I would never get to kiss Orin. Damn it, why hadn’t I kissed Orin?

  I felt a little shake, and I peeled one eye open. Orin put his mouth next to my ear and whispered, “It’s gone.” The warm bubbles of his words tickled my ear as relief flooded me like a warm tide. I was so overcome with elation that I took his face in my hands and pressed my mouth to his. Orin’s lips were cold, his body stiff with surprise, but the contact filled me with heat, warming me to my core.

  Realizing what I had done, I pushed back against Orin, but he caught me around my shoulders, pulling me back toward him and kissing me again. This time, there was no surprise, and his arms surrounded me, his body molding into mine. His lips and tongue moved in a sensation so delicious that almost getting eaten by a giant eel suddenly seemed totally worth it. If it led to this.

  I heard a throat clear behind us, and we broke off our kiss. Phillip and Dulcina were floating a few feet away. “All clear,” Phillip murmured, before flipping his tail and swimming to join the others.

  Dulcina gave us a shaky smile and followed.

  I pressed my lips together to keep from grinning, turning back to Orin. He hadn’t managed to keep the smile away. It lit up his face, transforming it into something even more achingly beautiful than usual. “We better get going,” he said quietly.

  “Yep,” I added, threading my fingers through his.

  We continued through the deep, and gradually, the sea floor came up to meet us. We were clearly getting to the end of the abyss. I felt like I was floating along on the buoyed current of my and Orin’s kiss. I kept wanting to glance over at him, but I didn’t. Instead, I kept replaying it in my mind, the way the energy seemed to curl through me when we touched, the expert way his tongue flicked itself against mine…

  “Jacq, Orin,” Tristam said as he and Sophia settled into pace beside us.

  Orin and I kicked forward to join Tristam and Sophia. Tristam lowered his voice. “We’re nearing the end of the Abyss. When we get into the neutral zone, it will be game on. We need to make a break for it to finish this leg first.”

  I looked at him in disbelief. He still cared about the stupid race?

  “Agreed,” Orin said, nodding with determination. I turned my shocked look to him. We’d all almost died back there. How could anyone really think about finishing first?

  “I can see the top of the cliffs,” Tristam said. He was right. The color of the water was lightening around us, the temperature warming. The end of the cliffs that made up the abyss trench was visible above us. “Let’s get below the others, and when I signal, we swim for it with everything we’ve got, okay?”

  Orin nodded, and I huffed but gave a curt nod. We’d have a talk about priorities later.

  The four of us made our stealthy move, swimming below Phillip, Dulcina, Ario, and Molly, who were ascending towards the surface.

  Tristam held out his hand. He raised one finger...two… but he never got to three. For a golden trident streaked through the water before him, narrowly missing his head.

  “The merfolk!” Sophia cried. A horde of mermen and women were swimming towards us, shouting battle cries. It seemed our escape was not entirely unnoticed.

  25

  “Swim!” Tristam screamed as though we weren't already doing just that. Now that the water had cleared, I could see the ocean around me, and I didn't like what I saw. Directly in front of us, the sandy ocean floor rose, but as far as I could tell, it still had a long way to go until it breached the surface.

  About two hundred feet ahead, I could just barely make out a shimmering magical wall that stood imposingly before us, spanning from the sea-floor to the surface. This must be the border between the Deephold and Faerwild—the neutral zone. If we made it that far, we’d be home free.

  Hightailing it toward us from the opposite direction of the merfolk was an FFR submersible. One of our camera crew. Great, they could get the great FFR Mer-slaughter on camera.

  Tristam and Sophia were breaking away ahead of us, swimming powerfully for the shore. The four above us were swimming as fast as they could, but the merfolk were so close to them that their capture seemed inevitable. I could only watch helplessly from below as the muscled bodies of the merfolk blocked out the light. There were just so many of them.

  My lungs started burning something fierce, straining for air. Was it panic at the attack? But no, I was overcome with certainty that the magic of the pearl was failing. I looked at Orin, and he was pressing a hand to his chest, his dark eyes wild. His pearl was failing too. I had a powerful impulse to swim for the surface, but with a hundred merfolk above us, getting the hell out of Deephold had to be my top priority.

  Ario, Molly, Dulcina, and Phillip launched an all-out magical assault on the merfolk. Ario shot a bolt of purple magic at the mass of them, but either the merfolk were clever enough to deflect
it, or there were just too many of them. Phillip cast some spell that seemed to suck the water out from around some of the merfolk, which left them gasping for air. But one of the creatures must have cast a counter-spell because within seconds the liquid rushed back around them. The other contestants needed help!

  But Orin kept a firm grip on my hand, kicking towards the shore, staying low to the ground below the melee. “The Merfolk are concentrating on the other teams. If we help, they’ll do the math and realize there are two more.”

  I understood what he was telling me, but still, I could hardly face leaving them in the middle of a fight. Coward, my mind whispered. But as my lungs burned, my instinct of self-preservation won out, and I kicked forward. We didn’t have much time left.

  My lungs screamed for relief as Orin pulled me through the depths, keeping as low to the ocean floor as possible. As it was, only a couple of the merfolk had even noticed us, focussed as they were on Molly, Dulcina, Phillip, and Ario. Because I couldn’t tear my eyes away, I kept finding myself tangled in weeds and choking back sand and grit, but it was better than the alternative.

  I could only watch in horror as the events unfolded.

  The Merfolk howled in anger at the magical attack, and one of the Mer-women jabbed her spear into Ario’s gut. I was shocked by the violence of it, by the blood tinting the sea red around Ario’s doubled over form. It seemed that what started as a mission to capture was quickly turning into a slaughter.

  Orin gripped my hand harder as Dulcina, the slowest of the four, was caught by the wrist, a merman spinning her around violently. He grabbed her other wrist, pinning her hands together. She thrashed in his grasp, but he was too strong. Was he going to stab her next?

  Tristam and Sophia were close to the shimmering wall now, and Orin was intent upon pulling me through the water as my whole body had completely given up and was starving for oxygen. Ario was floating with closed eyes, and Molly and Phillip were fighting for their lives. Ben’s sub was closer, but he couldn’t interfere—which left me. And what could I do? I didn't know magic. But then on seeing Tristam's retreating form, a spark of memory hit me. I had done magic a few times before. Sitting on the roof of Hennington House, for one.