by Eric Asher
The Book of the Sea
Eric R. Asher
Also by Eric R. Asher
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The Steamborn Trilogy:
Steamborn
Steamforged
Steamsworn
The Vesik Series:
(Recommended for Ages 17+)
Days Gone Bad
Wolves and the River of Stone
Winter’s Demon
This Broken World
Destroyer Rising
Rattle the Bones
Witch Queen’s War
Forgotten Ghosts
The Book of the Ghost
The Book of the Claw
The Book of the Sea
The Book of the Staff*
The Book of the Rune*
The Book of the Sails*
The Book of the Wing*
The Book of the Blade*
The Book of the Fang*
The Book of the Reaper*
The Vesik Series Box Sets
Box Set One (Books 1-3)
Box Set Two (Books 4-6)
Box Set Three (Books 7-8)
Box Set Four: The Books of the Dead Part 1 (Coming in 2020)*
Box Set Five: The Books of the Dead Part 2 (Coming in 2020)*
Mason Dixon – Monster Hunter:
Episode One
Episode Two
Episode Three
*Want to receive an email when one of Eric’s books releases? Sign up for Eric’s mailing list.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Also by Eric R. Asher
Copyright Page
Epigraph
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Note from Eric R. Asher
Also by Eric R. Asher
About the Author
Copyright © 2019 by Eric R. Asher
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Edited by Laura Matheson
Cover typography by Indie Solutions by Murphy Rae
Cover design ©Phatpuppyart.com – Claudia McKinney
~
Find the light in the darkness.
~
CHAPTER ONE
“Are you not concerned your time may be better spent rallying the rest of your people?” Alexandra asked as she tightened the straps of Nixie’s armor. “Damian is not our only priority.”
Nixie flexed her hand and studied the back of the gauntlet she’d used to walk through the Abyss. “Every choice has a risk, Alexandra. This is no different.”
“There are other weapons besides Damian that could win the war with Nudd.” Alexandra tugged the last latch of the leg armor together at Nixie’s thigh. “Pull your hair up.”
Nixie did, carefully bundling it between her hands as she ignored Alexandra’s prods. Of course, she knew there were other weapons, but the need to save Damian had more than one aspect. He was certainly a powerful weapon against Nudd, only a fool wouldn’t be able to see that, but their love had become a symbol to her people, which meant Damian himself was now a symbol for everything she’d been trying to change among the water witches.
Alexandra patted Nixie’s hand as the silver collar slid into place. “That is not to say you should abandon him.”
“I know,” Nixie said. “I couldn’t do that even if it was the best decision for our people, but it’s not. We need to pull him back from the brink.”
Alexandra hesitated and held her tongue.
She didn’t agree, and Nixie knew it. But Nudd had wronged her for the last time. No one, nothing, would stand in the way of their empire reborn. They would have peace and solidarity among the people, or they would have a war that could end in nothing but a pyrrhic victory.
An electronic buzz echoed through the old chamber. Though Nixie’s initial reaction was to comment on how out of place the sound was, she knew it emanated from her phone.
Alexandra paused as she reached for the daggers on the table, instead opting for the small glowing screen of the phone. She frowned down at it and glanced back at Nixie. “It’s Park.”
“Put him on speaker,” Nixie said. “I want you to hear whatever he has to say.”
Alexandra slid her finger across the screen, and Park didn’t wait for a greeting.
“Nixie? Is it true? You threatened members of the United Nations?”
Alexandra’s eyebrow rose. Nixie had perhaps not told her the entire story of what had transpired in those chambers. No use glossing over it now.
“Yes. They’re moving too slowly. Is that so different than what your own politicians do?”
Park groaned, his frustration echoing around the small war room. “Yes, it’s a little bit different. When our idiot leaders threaten each other, it’s expected. When a supernatural entity, one they didn’t really believe existed until a year ago, threatens them, it’s a lot different.”
“Nudd has been a threat to them far longer than that.”
“That’s not the point,” Park said. “You can’t go around threatening world leaders and not expect some kind of reaction.”
Nixie frowned in the general direction of the phone and muttered. “Perhaps I was mildly untoward. With Nudd’s theft of the commoners’ bombs, I can see why they’d be more sensitive.” It sounded like more of an apology than she’d meant it to be. It was their very sensitivity to the fact those bombs had been stolen that Nixie had been counting on. They needed to be ready for a Fae attack, and if she was being honest with herself, some of that attack might come from her own people. There were still witches loyal to Lewena, and would be until their dying day, when they joined the previous queen in oblivion.
“What’s this thing Zola says you’re after?” Park asked.
Alexandra leaned toward the phone. “Zola? I didn’t realize Zola knew what we were after.”
A puff of static echoed around them when Park sighed. “And who else is on this line?”
“Just me,” Alexandra said, “and Nixie.”
“Can one of you tell me what it is? An Eye of Atlantis?”
“Is this a question coming from you?” Nixie asked, “Or your superiors?”
Something squeaked and clicked in the background on the phone. “We’re as secure here as we were in the underground base Aeros built for us.”
Nixie sometimes wondered at the trust Damian and the others placed in the commoner. Military or not, he was still a commoner. But it was times like this she felt she could better understand. The security in the underground base hadn’t been secure at all. They’d been infiltrated by Fae skilled in concealment and manipul
ation. The commoners would call it mind control, but it was different than that. It was a skill few beings possessed.
“It’s not a weapon,” Nixie said, and there was enough truth to that statement she felt it would hide the deception. But as with most tools of knowledge, a great many things could be used as weapons that were not meant to be.
“The Eye is only one core for the seal. It’s one of the only chances we have to save them.”
Even as the words left her mouth, she regretted the phrasing. She should’ve kept the focus on Damian. The military already knew about his loss. But they might not have known Sam and Vicky were tied to his fate. If Park caught her slip, he didn’t mention it.
“How long will you be gone?” Park asked. “You’re our strongest ally in Europe. You and the nation you lead. Is there a way we can reach you?”
Nixie looked to Alexandra. “You will not have a way of reaching me, but I will leave one of the Wasser-Münzen with Alexandra. She has authority among the undines. Reach out to her, should you have any need.”
“My Queen—” Alexandra started in protest.
Nixie held up her hand. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, Park. If all goes well, it may be only a day or two. I know that can be an eternity at a time like this.”
“And if it goes poorly?” Park asked.
Nixie grimaced. “Then it will no longer be a concern of mine. The crown will fall to another, and my people will be plunged back into chaos.”
The silence told Nixie Park hadn’t been expecting that response.
“Ask her,” a voice whispered in the background. A voice Nixie thought she recognized.
More hushed muttering sounded over the line before Park said, “Okay, okay.”
“What is it?” Nixie asked.
Park took a deep breath. “The Eye, is it in Atlantis? Is it a real place?”
“Was that Casper?” Nixie asked. She didn’t like the idea of revealing too much about the fallen city of Atlantis. She hadn’t been there in a long time, but the last time she’d laid eyes on it, only wildlife dwelled there. But Casper had old blood running through her veins. And like most Fae, Nixie favored the old families.
“It’s me,” Casper said, raising her voice before Park could respond. “I’m so sorry about Damian.”
“It’s okay.” Nixie hesitated. “And thank you. As to your question, the Eye of Atlantis is believed to still be at the center of the old city. It’s been at the bottom of the ocean for millennia. I haven’t been there in almost half that time. I’m not sure what’s left, if anything. The ocean can preserve wreckage at those depths, but there are other things that dwell in the deeps. Creatures that can swallow a city, or live within the fires of the deepest trenches.”
“But you mean it’s real?” Casper said. “Atlantis was a real place?”
Nixie exchanged a look with Alexandra.
“It always has been,” Alexandra said. “There was a time commoners lived on the rings of the city, while the undines lived in the waters between each ring.”
“Are you telling me you’re heading to the ocean floor?” Park asked, his voice rising.
“Yes,” Nixie said.
“You’re going to need to tell me more about this if you survive,” Park said.
“I will.” Nixie looked at Alexandra and then turned her gaze to the phone. “The world knows about us once more. It’s time the world learns more about the history it’s forgotten.”
“Good luck,” Casper said. “We’ll be thinking of you. Come back safe.”
“Thank you,” Nixie said. She nodded to Alexandra, and the other undine ended the call.
Alexandra picked the two gray daggers up from the shelf and walked toward her queen. Blades out, she slowly slid the deadly edge of each into their place at Nixie’s side. One fit neatly into the empty sheath at Nixie’s waist. She kneeled for the other, sliding it into the armor that protected her queen’s shin.
Nixie took a deep breath as Alexandra returned to the rack of weapons. The undine pulled one of the rarest weapons of the water witches from its home. A long slender blade, forged entirely of the gray metal of the stone daggers, whispered out of the rack where it had been stored for centuries. It was a sacred thing, and Alexandra handled it with the care due a fragile relic.
But Nixie had seen the swords of stone in battle before. There was nothing fragile about them. Unnatural durability, and the power to end the life of any water witch who crossed her path was an ability normally left to the queen and her guards. That was an unspoken law she’d already broken. She’d provided the commoners with the materials and the knowledge to strike down her own people. But if she hadn’t, Lewena might have won. Nixie certainly wouldn’t have been able to save Damian from the grasp of the old queen on the banks of the Missouri River, but Casper had. She’d taken Lewena down at a distance, with a bullet forged in the power of the stone daggers.
Nixie turned. Alexandra eased the sword’s tip into the long scabbard hanging from the left side of Nixie’s armor. Metal sang against metal until at last the silver cross-guard of the sword clicked against the scabbard’s locket.
Alexandra walked around Nixie, checking the latches of her armor, an old ritual, one the pair had repeated for each other before many battles in the past millennia. Before she could complete her second circle, the armor sealed itself at the seams. The metal created a barrier between the silver plates that glowed briefly with electric blue energy. An enemy attempting to slide a dagger into a weak joint or hinge would be met with violent resistance.
Nixie took one last deep breath before she adjusted the crown upon her head. “I still don’t like the idea of wearing this to Atlantis.”
“If you encounter anyone from our domain, they won’t see it as an aggression,” Alexandra said. “I’m sure of it.”
Nixie frowned. “I wish I had your confidence about that. We’ve left the city to the depths for centuries.”
“Not so long when you live as long as we do.” Alexandra clasped Nixie’s shoulders. “Be careful, nonetheless. Nudd has unleashed things onto this world that should never have set foot upon it again.”
Nixie closed her eyes and inclined her head. “That is why we war, my friend. When this war is done, may the days of killing die with it.”
Nixie stepped away from Alexandra and ran her finger across the phone.
The line clicked to life before she had so much as a chance to rethink the choice.
A deep voice answered, a calming presence and an odd person to call friend. “You have Hugh.”
Nixie smiled. “Wolf. I may be out of touch for a time.”
“You’ve decided to return to Atlantis?”
“I have.”
“Our first teacher is our own heart, friend. Travel safe.”
“Spare me your proverbs. You know I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for Damian.”
“Indeed,” Hugh said.
Nixie blinked. “Damn it. Tell Haka not to put up with your nonsense for too long. That boy needs to get out from under your claws.”
“You will survive this, old friend. If you fail, then Damian is truly lost. I don’t believe you’ll allow Sam and Vicky to die so easily.”
Nixie’s teeth slammed together. “Of course I won’t,” she snapped. “I was in that city when it fell. I know what Leviticus did, Hugh. The least I can do is help his student.”
“The eldritch are returning,” Hugh said. “Do not forget that. If you need to wake the guardians, do not hesitate. It would not do the world well for you to be buried at sea.”
She’d learned some of the old wolf’s tricks. Even as the anger rose inside her, the realization of what he was doing calmed her.
“Thank you,” Nixie said. “Thank you for the focus you’ve offered. I won’t forget what you’ve said.”
“It is not a time for calm,” Hugh said. “This is the time of the storm, and you must meet it with fury.”
“I will.” She hesitated. “Do me a
favor?”
“You need only ask.”
“Take your own advice. You don’t need to be the man behind the curtain.”
“I am currently the man with the death bats,” Hugh said, his voice fading slightly as he shifted on the other end of the line. “Zola has returned to the cabin. When you have the Eye, go to her. The Society of Flame has agreed to help track down the third core, but it will not be an easy journey.”
“It never is. Take care of the pack.”
“Tell Alexandra she breathes too loudly to be discreet.”
Nixie grinned when she met the other undine’s surprised gaze. The call ended, and Nixie let the screen fade to black.
Alexandra rubbed the back of her hand. “The eldritch beings are truly returning to the planes of the mortals?”
“Let us hope the worst of them stay locked in other realms, or frozen in the Abyss.” Nixie’s thoughts trailed to Damian. He was trapped there with those things, monsters out of time, out of sync with the realities they had yet to destroy. But in Damian’s form, she suspected he wouldn’t be at nearly as much risk as the creatures he might encounter, though there were stories of indestructible gods that roamed the place between worlds. She slid the Wasser-Münzen out of a leather pouch at her side and held it out to Alexandra.
“If you have need of me …” Alexandra started, but her words trailed off.
“If I do, I’ll contact you. Have one of the fairies bring you as close as they can to Castillo San Felipe del Morro. From the watchtowers, the ruins are due north, into the trench.”
“I know, my queen,” Alexandra said with a weak smile. She reached out and wrapped her hand around Nixie’s forearm.
Nixie returned the gesture, a symbol of both greeting and goodbye the wolves tended to use. It rankled the witches who still held some loyalty to the old rulers of the water witches. That in itself was enough to make Nixie and her followers adopt it in earnest.
With their grip broken, Nixie headed to the silent waterfall at the other end of the chamber. Her skin grew translucent as she stepped inside, the chill water running through her veins as though it meant to freeze her in place. But that cold would be nothing compared to the freezing depths of the trench.
