Chapter 78:

  The scream rang through the air just as Nereida stepped onto the deck. She knew it was Ael, though had not ever heard her wife make such a terrible sound. She went running as fast as she dared, even as the ship rocked in the waves. She ran past her wife, seeing only horror and paralyzing fear on the Admiral’s thin face. Someone had gone overboard. She did not stop to think, and leapt off the ship in only her shift and trousers.

  Away from the isnd, the water had not had time to heat up, and so the shock of cold was intense. Nereida let her magic take hold, and saw bubbles beneath her. She dove down, fighting current and waves. She heard a song too, a song of attack. She began to sing as well, as loud and strong as she could manage as she fought the ocean to get to the crew who had been thrown overboard.

  “Stop! Please! Mercy!” She repeated the three words, not having any spare attention to transte anything else. Again and again, she pleaded with the other sirens, hoping, praying that they would heed her.

  There was just enough light as they cleared the ship’s shadow to see who had fallen in. Her daughter was the one sinking deeper, the frightened girl struggling to swim, swimming the wrong way in her panic. Nereida reached her just as she found herself surrounded by three sirens. These ones were nearly naked, their bodies covered in tattoos. They pointed their spears at her.

  “Surrender,” was the song that reached.

  “She’s my daughter,” Nereida sang. “Let me save her, then I will. I swear.” She could not hide her desperation, and they let her swim to Epelda. The girl was still struggling, making it dangerous, but Nereida would not let her daughter drown. She managed to grab the back of Epelda’s shirt, dragging her up until she broke water next to the rescue buoy that had been thrown to them. She heard Epelda’s terrified gasp and then she was pulled back under by two sets of strong hands. She did not fight them, watching as Epelda clung to the buoy.

  Back in the depths, Nereida tread water as best she could. There were six of them, all of them looking feral. All six had spears with three points.

  “What trickery is that?” The singer was a woman in her te thirties. Her hair was a dark blue, pulled back in a braid that floated behind her. She motioned angrily to the submerged fg.

  “No trickery,” Nereida sang. “I am Dolphin’s Revenge, we sail under this fg with permission.” One of the men swam toward her, getting far too close for her liking. His feet were webbed and ft, letting him swim much easier than she could. He snaked his arm around her, pulling her against him. She didn’t fight, though every instinct inside her screamed to hit him, to fight, before they pulled her deeper. Instead she made herself like ice; hard, unforgiving and cold. She looked at the man who held her as if he were nothing more than dirt. They began gesturing to each other, a hand-nguage like the sylph’s nguage, but clearly designed to be used beneath the water. She waited, head held high, as if she were taking court.

  “We know your song, Dolphin’s Revenge. But your ship is not welcome here. We reject the council.”

  “Why?” she asked. She smiled at them, letting herself crack through the ice she projected to reveal her own feral side. She made her smile too wide, showed too many teeth, an expression that would convince most humans that she was a monster. “Perhaps,” Nereida continued, not receiving an answer from her captors, “it is because they let children drown for countless generations. Or perhaps it is because they meddle in lives without expnation or warning. Or perhaps it is because they expect folks to obey, to stay in their pce, and they punish you when you don’t, unless it benefits them?” There was a beat of silence, and then ughter. The singer ughed until she nearly dropped her spear, the others ughing along as well, though not as hard.

  “Feisty,” the song twisted in appreciation, and the man holding her finally let her go. The speaker swam closer, used the ft of her bde to lift Nereida’s chin so that the princess was forced to look into the other siren’s eyes. Nereida managed to control her fear, keeping the tremble at bay. “Tell us, full truth, why you need our isnd, Feisty One.” The other siren smiled, her own teeth long and wicked-looking. “If you don’t tell us the truth, Feisty One, you will pay in blood and bone.”

  “I’m here to fulfil a request by the Great Dragon of Earth.” She squared her shoulders, trying to project her royal bearing. It was much more difficult beneath the waves. Her song was met with ughter, from all but the singer. The singer’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and she pulled Nereida forward. She let go of the spear, holding the bde to her neck. Nereida did not dare to breathe, she simply floated, letting the water keep her safe.

  “Truth or you die,” the song was angry, the waves above them churning in response to the tone.

  “The gods are waking, the Great Dragons need bodies. Earth needs a mountain.” She wished they were speaking, and not singing. There were nuances lost because of her ck of proficiency. She wanted to tell them more, to get these angry sirens on her side, because the alternative seemed terribly violent. The ughter had stopped, and the others were watching her with hard eyes. She felt alone, vulnerable. The singer’s fingers dug painfully into her arm. There was a moment that Nereida feared the woman would kill her, but the aggression leaked out of the woman and she slowly let go, swimming backwards.

  “Where does your husband hail from?” the singer demanded.

  “My wife is Moon-blooded,” Nereida replied. One of the others began filing about with their hands, the singer responding in kind before she turned to Nereida.

  “Are you properly wed?” Nereida felt the blood rush to her head.

  “I am.” She held her head up. She thought back to that night, about Ael whispering her "need" to be bitten. Had it been Ael, or the Moon, protecting them? When she heard someone singing about her neck and arms bearing no scars, Nereida smiled again, letting herself be feral, be monstrous. “The mark is on my right thigh, where only she has permission to touch.” She heard a murmur of appreciation, a call for someone to check her story.

  The cacophony of songs died when the singer lifted her hand.

  “I must see,” she told Nereida. “But I will give you your modesty and order my men back.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “Then you must re-marry your wife for us to see. Properly. Neck, left arm, either will do, in full view of us.” Nereida clenched her teeth. She couldn’t do that to Ael, couldn’t risk killing her wife. Not when the only stake was her modesty. She breathed in slowly, feeling the water, letting it fill her lungs. The salty taste was strangely comforting.

  “Accepted. Only you. If the others try to peek I will gouge out their eyes.” She pitched her song louder so that the five other sirens could hear her. Two of the men chortled, as if they did not believe her, but the two women and one of the men swam back. She heard a song on the waves, a warning from one of the other women. She drowned her nd-bound husband and smiled as he died. Nereida pasted another feral grin on her face, hearing that, though the memory threatened to drown her in emotions she could not afford. The remaining two men swam back.

  Slowly, Nereida shook off her trousers. Doing so underwater was difficult, but she refused the help offered by the other siren. She would not be touched. The offer had been made with a kind undertone, but Nereida was unwilling to look weak. The other woman swam close, her face closer to Nereida’s bare legs than the princess was comfortable with, but she squashed her feelings, focused on the warriors that waited silently.

  “Human teeth have marked her,” the siren sang, swimming back to give Nereida more room. “She is who she cims, is cimed, her marriage sacred.”

  The matter of her marriage closed, Nereida dressed herself again, her expression hard.

  “You have the answers you seek. Let my ship pass.”

  “We will guide you to where you must go,” the singer said. “So that you need not repeat this as you encounter more patrols.”

  “More?” she echoed. “These waters were supposed to be abandoned.”

  “Toadies of the council meet their end as fast as any ship,” the woman replied with an indifferent shrug, “unless they chose to join us.”

  “Who are you?” Nereida asked.

  “We are the tribe they wanted to bury. We are the Dolphins.” The woman grinned. “You, sister, are one of us.”

  The princess was allowed to return to the ship, though she burned with questions, she knew her wife was likely beside herself. She swam to the surface, the air burning as she purged the water from her lungs. She found a buoy and grabbed it. Her arms burned with exhaustion. She wanted to lie down and sleep. She felt the rope be pulled, and she held tight as they hoisted her back to the ship. She was shivering with cold or exhaustion, she was not sure which. Someone threw a bnket over her. She heard Ael’s voice, soothing with its strength.

  “War or Diplomacy, love?”

  “Diplomacy.” She pulled the bnket tight. It was thick wool, smelled of fish but it kept the chill from the wind off her. She swallowed and looked at the worried faces gathered around. Epelda was sitting nearby, covered in a simir bnket as Jules held her. He was pale, tear-tracks on his face. He made eye contact with her across the gathered crowd. He looked stricken, and she realized the young man had heard everything. “We have an escort, Ael… follow them to the isnd. They will keep other patrols off of us.” She looked at Ael as she spoke, finding strength in her beloved’s eyes.

  The crew on deck burst into action at Ael’s orders, some shouted, some blown on her whistle. Nereida squeezed her wife’s hand and told her to do what must be done, before she headed across the deck to Jules and Epelda. She threw her arms around the young woman, who sobbed into her shoulder, unable to articute her own fear. Epelda's normally pale skin was even paler now, and she trembled like a leaf.

  “Sh, darling girl. You did so well.” Nereida kissed the top of the girl’s head. Jules started to pull back, but Nereida held her free hand toward him. He took the offered hand, letting her squeeze his hand. “You did too.” She cmped down on the urge to call him “son”. She did not want either of them to think she would force their bond further than it was.

  “Do you hate us?” he asked softly. She shook her head.

  “Not you, Jules. Not most of the sirens I have met. The people of the water have mostly been good to me. But the Council? They deserve my hate.” Her tone hardened. “They want me on this path. I would have fled it if not for Ael. But I understand their hatred.” She sighed. “Did you know they were here?”

  “No, ma’am. I… I thought these waters were abandoned, cursed.”

  “Not cursed, just a hunting ground.” She sighed. “I will see if peace can be brokered, but… if these are the children given to the dolphins, they have reason to hate as they do.” She paused, worry crashing into her. “Can you find Kana and Basiano? Tell them what is happening. Let Kana be prepared if they are angry, or let her, Basiano and the baby hide below deck, so that the sirens don’t learn of them. I can’t guess how they will respond to a child given a better chance.”

  “I will make sure everyone is safe,” Jules promised. He leaned in and kissed Epelda on the cheek. “Swimming lessons when we dock next,” he added timidly. She nodded, leaning up to kiss his nose. They both blushed when they realized that Nereida was still paying attention, but she pretended to have not noticed their sweet moment.

  Slowly, the ship followed the wild sirens deeper into their territory. Nereida, after changing into dry clothing, stood with her wife, listening to the songs of sirens that led them. Her own story echoed across the waters, the melody sometimes sad, sometimes angry, and strangely triumphant. Chosen. That was the title they bestowed on her. She grimaced, hating it. Jules reported success, that Kana, her husband, Basiano and the baby were all secreted away into Dymion’s garden. Dymion had come on deck, a strange smile on his face. He moved with more grace than the gnome usually had, the stiffness from years at sea banished from his limbs. The Great Dragon was in control.

  It took the rest of the day to get within sight of the isnd. Once it was spotted, the singer from earlier broke the waves. She looked quite tired.

  “Drop your anchor,” she sang. “We will return in the morning for your party. Only six may set foot upon the shore.” Nereida sang back her understanding. She watched the woman go back beneath the waves. The water here was alive with songs, conversations echoing around pleasantly, though the song that spoke of who Nereida was echoed loudly over the other songs. Ael came up behind her, staring out at the ocean. A jet of water shot up near the ship, as a pod of dolphins swam up. There were several pods out in the shallows, interacting with the sirens in the water. The setting sun made the water sparkle almost magically, like fire was kissing the water. Nereida felt her wife’s hand on the small of her back. Quietly, Nereida expined what the singer had told her.

  “So we’re heading to shore tomorrow?” Ael asked with a slight sigh.

  “We don’t have to.”

  “Love, they aren’t going to let us on nd without you.” Ael kissed her cheek. “And if you think that I will let you walk into a trap alone, you’ve got another thing coming.”

  “Maybe it’s not a trap?” The words felt false even as she uttered them, but Nereida hoped that she was wrong.

  “If it is not a trap, love, I will let you tie me to the mast,” Ael replied softly, her tone low and husky. Nereida ughed. Now that would be a sight.