Cathal reached back to help the others out and into a large dining hall, which was dark and luckily empty. His helmet was streaked with soot, though his light was still shining from it.

  “Have you ever been here before?” Talbert asked while getting to his feet and looking around at the large empty room.

  Jayse nodded. “I have, but not in years. It was a lot more crowded then. Where is everyone?”

  Cathal leaned against a long table, one of many for the soldiers and nobles berthed here. He kept his voice low as he let his eyes slowly take in the space. “If I had to guess, I’d say on the way to Anchor Home, to join the search for your wife. Silly them.” Cathal tilted his head.

  Jayse looked at his friend. “You think she’s here?”

  “The only sub docked in the moon pool was a small special forces unit, smaller even than the one that attacked us. Just the kind I’d use for covert work like an abduction.”

  “And in so doing, create an excuse to make war on the True Grannusians,” Jayse added. Not for the first time, he thought of how much this could cost his people. What a fine distraction it was.

  Cathal nodded. “Or at least bully them.”

  “It won’t go well. You must know that?” Talbert asked.

  Before Jayse could answer, he heard a door swing open and voices approaching.

  “Shut your lights off. Get back!” Cathal warned, pushing the others up against the wall, behind the fireplace. He ducked beneath the nearest table as two men dressed in simple white servants’ clothing entered, pushing a cart in front of them. The door they’d come through led to a kitchen where the lights were brighter. Their glow carved like a blade across the floor. On the cart were several covered dishes, and the smell of fresh food wafted into the air as they passed.

  The servants didn’t notice the fire had gone down, or the men hiding in the shadows, watching them. They moved with hurried steps, passing out into the corridor.

  “Come on,” Cathal said, going after them.

  Jayse sniffed, feeling his stomach grumble. “Someone is about to have a nice meal.”

  Cathal tiptoed to the door. “Probably your cousin. Maybe your wife too. I’d say it's well past time for a family reunion.” His pistol in hand, he opened it a crack and looked out into a vast corridor. “It's clear,” he said, stepping into the brighter lights. Seeing each other and how tattered their gear had become, Jayse whispered, “So much for our disguises.”

  Cathal shrugged, examined Talbert, and said, “Stay behind us if we run into anyone.” He touched one of the rips that revealed the Naiad’s grey skin before turning and creeping forward. He added over his shoulder to Jayse, “And you try working on being more positive.”

  Burying his annoyance, Jayse laughed to himself as he shook his head, realizing how much Cathal enjoyed being here. They were in jeopardy, and he loved it, thrived on it. ‘Be more like Cathal,’ he told himself. It was an old mantra he often said while they were training together. With a long sigh, he settled his nerves.

  CHAPTER 14

  Deep's Blade was a fortress built for armies, not for aesthetics. The trappings of royalty flags and decorations claimed from the sea hung in the corridors. Talbert reached up and touched the skull of a young sea dragon. He took his hand away, following Jayse and Cathal.

  The three men couldn’t hear the dinner cart move on oiled wheels, barely making a sound, but it was easy enough to follow the smell and the voices ahead. They reached a corner and peered around, piling together, all trying to look. Cathal pushed the others back to keep from being spotted.

  Not far away, two guards stood outside a large, heavy door. The cart disappeared inside, and the guards returned to their boring watch, leaning back against the wall. They were deep inside a fortress meant to be impregnable, neither expecting trouble.

  “How do we get past them?” Jayse asked.

  “Trickery of course. Stay here,” Cathal said. He was gone before they could ask what he meant.

  He stepped out, leaving Talbert and Jayse behind, looking at each other, wondering what he was up to. Cathal’s pistol was in its holster, and he was holding his arm as if it were hurt. “Hey, can you guys give me a hand? I had an accident in the sub bay. There’s no one else in this damn place,” he called to the guards.

  The soldiers wore helmets, covering their faces and dry-land uniforms. Both turned and looked, while Cathal plopped against the wall. “I’m really messed up, guys. Get me to the medical unit. Please,” he said desperately.

  One started toward Cathal, while the other stayed behind. Cathal threw himself to the floor, falling like a ton of bricks. Letting out a groan as he went still. That finally got both men to come forward and check on him.

  ‘Hell of a performance, he missed his calling,’ Jayse thought as he pointed his pistol, ready to order the men to drop their weapons. Neither guard bothered to look around the corner as they hurried over to check on him. They didn’t see Talbert close in from behind. Pushing past Jayse, the Naiad didn’t make a sound as he fell on the guards like a force of nature. Jayse almost reached out to stop him, but instead he pointed the pistol away and watched in shock at the man’s speed and strength.

  A lifetime of swimming and living deep in the ocean, under increased pressure, meant Naiads were naturally stronger than most humans. Talbert grabbed the guards by their collars and pulled them back around the corner. He put each man in a headlock and squeezed around their throats, dragging them up the corridor, where no one would hear.

  With a violent wrench of a single long arm, he snapped one man’s neck. The other grabbed his belt, trying to fight his fate and battle free, but Talbert shoved him down hard to the floor, first with his arm, then with his foot. He lifted his leg once and brought it down on the man’s spine, crushing his back. The guard stopped struggling.

  Jayse stared, open-mouthed, as Cathal got up and hurried over. “That was brutal,” he said, looking at the two bodies.

  “You didn’t have to─” Jayse started, but he stopped, watching Talbert take his helmet off and drop it to the floor.

  His dark eyes burned with rage as he stared at the bodies. “Do you think these were the men who killed my son?”

  Searching the distance, making sure no one was coming, Cathal said, “I doubt it. I think they were just guards.”

  “Common soldiers,” Jayse added, trying to watch his tone.

  Talbert squeezed his fists. “My son wasn’t even a soldier, just a boy.”

  Jayse and Cathal’s eyes met, both thinking the same thing; They’d been soldiers once too. They’d stood posts just like these two. “Understood.” Cathal nodded. “Let’s get these guys out of the hall before anyone notices.” He bent down, picked up a body, and dragged him toward the nearest door.

  Out of sight, Cathal started stripping the man of his uniform. “Same plan, new gear,” he said to Jayse, who dragged the other one.

  One after the other, they realized Talbert hadn’t come with them. Bent over, Jayse pointed back. “I don’t think we have time for that.” He grabbed Cathal’s shoulder, and they hurried around the corner.

  “I thought the girl would be the tough one,” Cathal said as they rushed down the hallway. They saw the Naiad about to kick the door in. Cathal hurried to him and grabbed his arm. He whispered, “Woah, big guy! Let’s take a breath.”

  Talbert threw the arm off and pulled back, ready to go through, but then he noticed Jayse. The prince ignored the Naiad, going past him and leaning into the door. He pressed his ear against it and put his finger to his lips, shushing the other two like children. He showed no fear of Talbert as he listened, hearing the person he’d come for.

  There were several voices inside, and as thick as the door was, he recognized his wife’s above the others. “You would ruin my family,” she said in desperation.

  A few people laughed at her, but then someone answered above the others in a satisfied tone, “You don’t even deny it. Imagine, imagine what your husband would say. Imagine the scandal.” Jayse assumed this was his father’s cousin, the Duke Takia, though he’d only met the man a few times.

  “You bastard,” Daoine snarled.

  Another voice spoke. Jayse wasn’t sure who it was, but he sounded familiar, an elite accent that made him think the speaker wasn’t from this territory. The stranger said, “If it wasn’t for the spy. Losing him was the only reason we moved ahead with all this. I mean, it was going to happen anyway. It’s what the gods demand. Still, it’s a shame, wasting an asset is never good. I blame Ascari.”

  “What spy?” Daoine demanded.

  The duke spoke again, “Your doctor, of course. You really should pay your medical staff more. They hold so many secrets, and poverty makes them easy to influence. He reported every detail of your pregnancy to my allies and myself. That’s how we learned your family’s little secret.”

  Jayse felt Talbert press in behind him. He’d calmed down a bit or was at least willing to be patient.

  “But why this? Why take me?” Daoine asked.

  The stranger’s voice explained, “Leverage, of course. We needed to keep you and your unborn child safe. Starting a war isn’t easy. It would happen no matter what, trust me; the high chief wanted it as much as we do. He just needed to be nudged, is all. And we wanted to make certain he didn’t do anything drastic.”

  Jayse’s eyes met Cathal’s, who had leaned into the door as well. Until then, they thought the high chief had been behind everything, but he was being manipulated too.

  The scraping of a chair on the floor as it was pushed back echoed out, followed by the tap of footsteps. Jayse was about to pull back, then he realized it was Takia pacing as he spoke. “The volcanism project, my life’s work, has been slowed at every step. The fish-heads haven’t openly attacked us, but they don’t have to, not when the ocean and everything in it is their weapon. Accidents happen. Creatures we’ve never seen before rise from the depths to harass us.”

  “You’re risking everything. A peace that’s lasted generations,” Daoine said.

  “I’m putting us in a war that was already happening. Your father is weak. He sits on a throne he doesn’t deserve, while the Grannusian send dirty half breeds to spy on us, a people the gods say shouldn’t exist,” the duke insisted.

  “My lord, I doubt that boy was a spy,” a gruff voice said.

  “Maybe not, but he still had his uses.” Duke Takia agreed with a little laugh. Jayse and Cathal looked back at Talbert, wondering if he was assuming the same thing. He was. The Naiad’s face darkened as he backed up and took a deep breath. Jayse and Cathal barely had time to move as he drove his foot forward.

  The doors exploded in, nearly coming off the hinges. “Murders!” Talbert screamed.

  Inside, two men sat at a long, elegantly set table with Jayse’s wife in between. Plates and serving dishes loaded with an elaborate meal—breads and meat, fruits, and vegetables—were displayed before them. The duke was obviously showing off for Daoine, putting out a meal rarely seen in the north. He stood just behind her chair, leaning over. As Talbert burst in, he stood back and froze, rooted to the ground with shock.

  The servants with their carts were on the opposite side of the room, in the middle of refilling one of the men’s wineglasses. Further behind them, by another exit, were two armed guards. None reacted fast enough to stop the outraged Naiad.

  Talbert came forward with all the strength and force of an ocean storm. He never reached for his flechette pistol. With it, he could’ve executed most in that room. Instead, he pulled a large, ceremonial knife, like his son’s. The duke, Jayse’s cousin, had the misfortune of being the first in his path.

  Talbert roared, and Takia’s eyes went wide as the blade came down, hacking like an axe into his shoulder where his neck attached. Talbert had such strength that the blade carved deep into the duke’s chest. It passed through his fine clothing and jewelry, his veins and arteries, not stopping until it reached his still-beating heart.

  Jayse looked into the room. His wife's eyes fell on him, but his helmet hid his face. The way she started to her feet made him wonder if she recognized him. More than likely, she was only backing away from the outraged Naiad.

  When they kidnapped her, she’d been in her nightgown but now, she wore traditional Northern garb, tailored for her pregnancy. They were warm breeches and a robe-like top, trimmed in the fur of a beast that hunted the ice sheets. Jayse saw the man sitting next to her, and he put a face with the stranger’s voice. He’d met him a few days before; this was Lord Beleeze, the Tamerlane envoy.

  Beleeze hurried to his feet and grabbed Daoine’s arm as he backed away. Her pregnant belly bounced against the table as he dragged her behind him. At first, it would be easy to think he was saving her from the outraged Naiad, but as he purposefully kept her between them, Jayse realized that wasn’t his goal. He was intent on keeping her as a prisoner or as a shield if need be.

  Talbert barely had time to dive beneath the table, knocking chairs out of his way as the guards put their rifles to their shoulders and fired. The duke’s body hit the ground as the table and walls exploded with bullets ripping into the carefully prepared meal and the tastefully decorated room.

  Using the doorway for cover, Cathal returned fire. The flechettes struck one of the guards in the chest, casting him back, but failing to pierce his armor with a killing blow. Jayse tried to fire at the other guard, but Beleeze and his wife crossed in front, ducking low, forcing the guard to hold his fire. Jayse watched them go out the far door, following the servants who’d already made their escape.

  The last man at the table, Commander Skellis, wore no armor, but a dark, unmarked military uniform. He got up and grabbed cutlery from the table, a large carving knife meant for the meat. With practiced skill, he slung it at Talbert, whose head peeked out while the fire was interrupted. “Die, you monster!” he shouted as the knife lodged in Talbert’s shoulder.

  Skellis grabbed a second knife and leapt across the table, coming for the Naiad who murdered his lord. Talbert got his arm above his head before the second blade could drive into his neck. His knee on the ground, he tried to get up and defend himself.

  “Sir, move!” one of the guards called, trying to get a bead on Talbert. Cathal took the moment to move across the floor. He stayed low, beneath the table, crawling like a bear, right over Duke Takia’s body while Jayse fired from the doorway. The small darts went high, missing the soldiers but distracting them long enough for Cathal to close the distance. He came up with his dive knife in hand, shoving the short rifle to the side and burying the blade in the guard's armpit, finding soft flesh where there was no armor plating.

  The guard tried pushing him away, but Cathal had the strength and training of a grappler. Tripping the man, he tossed the guard aside and kicked his rifle clear. The second guard turned to fire, but Cathal was too fast. Throwing all his weight into this second man, grabbing the rifle, he pulled it forward and performed a hip toss.

  Jayse looked at his friend, then at Talbert, who’d gotten to his feet. He tried to choose which one needed his help more. Remembering how easily Talbert had killed two soldiers outside, and seeing he had only a single opponent, he ran to Cathal while his eyes stayed on the door his wife had been dragged through.

  The first guard Cathal attacked was still on the floor, bleeding from his side and looking for his rifle. Jayse could’ve passed him by and been after Daoine, but he didn’t know how long Cathal’s furious attack would keep these two at bay, and he couldn’t abandon his friend.

  The closest guard found his weapon, but before his fingers could close on the grip, Jayse stepped on his hand. “Don’t,” he said, standing over the man, pointing the flechette pistol just below his helmet. The guard didn’t listen. He reached for Jayse’s hand, forcing the prince to pull the trigger. The little bards went through the man’s palm and into the side of his neck, where the armor was thinnest. Ripping through the soft flesh of his throat, they buried themselves in the floor on the other side.

  “Dammit!” Jayse watched the man try to cover the wound. Seeing him bleed out was a stomach-churning sight. The guard writhed and collapsed. Resisting the urge to throw the weapon away, Jayse cursed again, screaming at the dying man, “Why did you do that?” In his years of military service, in his entire life, he’d never been forced to take a human life.

  Aside from his grandfather dying in a soft bed, before this adventure, he’d never seen anyone die, not like this, with violence upon violence. He looked at Cathal. His friend had ducked down behind the other guard. He had him in a rear chokehold, his thick arm just below the guard’s helmet, squeezing tight. “Go.” Cathal motioned with his head toward the door.

  Jayse bit his lip and nodded, trying to shake off what he’d done, then he reminded himself why he was here. These people had taken his wife. ‘They’d started this,’ he thought, following Beleeze into a back hall.

  CHAPTER 15

  Moments before Talbert crashed through the door, Commander Skellis looked at his duke. He’d served Takia his entire adult life. He knew he was a man of vision, a true northerner like himself. People were different up here. They lived above the cold ocean, through long winters with creatures hunting the depths below them, creatures that the Grannusians claimed they didn’t control. It meant that northern men, like Skellis and Takia, always needed to pay attention and think of survival. There was a saying, ‘Even the thickest ice could give way.’

  As the duke carried on, flaunting victory before Princess Daoine and the envoy from Uppsala, Skellis sipped his wine and let his guard slip, reveling in the joy of a job well done. In the south, the high chief was calling on all the tribes, calling on a council of war. They’d finally put those fish-heads in their place. In his lifetime, Skellis would see islands rise from the sea where real people could make their homes.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11