Crystal Doors #2: Ocean Realm (No. 2) (20 page)

The graceful swimming creature stroked closer, wafting along, and Vic could make out the figures of Sharif and Tiaret on its back. “Lyssandra’s probably on her way,” he said.

“Unless she’s escaping on her own.” Gwen nodded soberly. “By freeing the anemonites from the merlons, Lyssandra has probably done more to protect Elantya than any of us.”

When the huge jhanta approached the sunken wreck, Gwen and Vic emerged from a wide hole in the hull. Sharif and Tiaret waved. The jhanta circled, bringing its passengers close, and the two finally dismounted, letting go and swimming for themselves.

Sharif hovered in front of the giant manta creature, stroking its snub-smooth head. The prince from Irrakesh said, “You have done all we could ask of you. And you do not belong in captivity. Go now. Be free. We will get the rest of the way home by ourselves.”

“If we can elude capture.” Tiaret swam warily, keeping watch.

“Yup, that’s an important part of the plan,” Vic agreed.

Giving the creature one last caress, Sharif urged the great jhanta on its way. The graceful beast nudged him in the chest, languorously circled the Golden Walrus, then struck off toward deeper water and freedom. After the large jhanta had dwindled into the dim distance, the four friends ducked inside the hulk of the sunken ship to prepare for their final escape.

Together, the apprentices kept watch through cracks in the waterlogged hull. They were dismayed to see torpedo-shaped shadows cross the water. Prowling sharks circled the wreck as if sniffing, hunting for prey. Their prominent brand marks told Vic that these weren’t wild sharks.

After a minute, the gray predators swam away, only to be replaced moments later by two large sea serpents.

So far, the merlons hadn’t guessed where the companions had fled, and Vic wanted to keep it that way.

“So now how do we get out of here?” he said in a quiet voice. “Lyssandra’ll never make it through that blockade of searchers.”

Tiaret watched the open water. Beside her, Sharif was clearly forlorn after having sent the “flying” jhanta away. Another friend gone, just like Piri, just like his brother.

“When the time is right,” Tiaret said, “we must make our escape.”

22

CONSIDERING THE EXPLOSIONS AND the blazing spilled lavaja, it was no wonder the merlons went into a frenzy chasing after the instigators. When Vic and Gwen bolted after their outrageous sabotage, and Sharif and Tiaret wrecked operations at the fiery fissures, the merlons raced after them all.

They had not expected Lyssandra and the freed anemonites to stay so close to their former prison. Quiet and watchful, she waited for the right moment.

With their intense mental powers and their detailed planning abilities, the jellyfish-brains had envisioned several scenarios for the grand escape. Most had ended in utter failure — the anemonites were practical, after all — but when they spotted the opportunity, they immediately launched their “Plan B.”

The jellyfish-brains had communicated with Lyssandra what they planned to do. They knew that with or without swim frills, the anemonites who did not have kraega steeds could never move faster than hunting merlons. They needed some sort of advantage. Because their vast intellect was a terrible weapon that Azric and the merlon king had abused, they were determined to disperse and take themselves out of King Barak’s control.

For a long time, the anemonites had intentionally corrupted their work and delayed their experiments. Lyssandra admired them for their brave deception, but that had not been good enough. Now, however, Azric monitored their work closely, and General Blackfrill had demonstrated that he was willing to kill some of them to force the others to cooperate.

Despite the difficulties and danger, escape was their best option.

Now, as Lyssandra helped them, she understood — as did all of the fleeing creatures — that they had made their minds up to die before they could be captured and used again by the merlon king or the dark sage Azric.

So some of the scuttling jellyfish-brains had taken the freed kraega steeds and, using their pseudopods to grasp the creatures’ exoskeletons, jetted away in various directions with remarkable speed. But there weren’t enough kraegas to carry even half of them.

Two dozen of the remaining anemonites floated down the currents, out past the segregated reef outcropping where they had been forced to perform calculations and spells. Lyssandra saw them puttering along, squeezing water through their membranes, flailing their clipped frills, moving faster than merlons probably thought they could go. Throughout their captivity, the anemonites had made themselves appear weak, confused, unable to complete their work. Therefore, the merlons underestimated them, just as they had underestimated the five human apprentices.

The dozens of swimming anemonites did not try to go far. Familiar with the area, the anemonites hid in cracks, crannies, and holes in the rocks along the reef and the ocean bed. A few settled down on the silty bottom of the ocean and quickly squirmed and twitched until they burrowed themselves into the soft sea bottom. Within seconds they vanished entirely. While the merlons hunted far and wide for their jellyfish scientists, these would creep away at their leisure.

Lyssandra ducked into a small patch of waving seaweed to hide. Several anemonites on kraega steeds clustered around her. This was the riskiest group, the ones following her. “We will send scouts,” said one of the anemonite scientists. “We will watch over you.”

Lyssandra tried to take reassurance. “I need to meet my friends at the wreck of the Golden Walrus.”

“Too dangerous,” said a few of the anemonites in unison. “Too far to go. Too many chances to be captured.”

Though it pained her, Lyssandra knew the jellyfish-brains were right. “Then I need to get back to Elantya. We freed you from the merlons, but it is vital that we reach the island, where we can work to help defend the people.”

“Not just the people,” one anemonite said, “but this whole world. The merlons and Azric have wrought great destruction already, and that is only the beginning.”

From the underwater city of Oo’regl, many scouts, sharks, and sea serpents had been dispatched for the widespread pursuit. Lyssandra hoped that the other kraegas with their anemonite riders had gotten away. She and her small group of jellyfish scientists clung to their lobster steeds and gradually moved from hiding place to hiding place. First they ducked among rocks, then rested for nearly an hour in a marvelous array of dense fan coral. The water around them slowly became dark and inky with the fall of night far above.

Lyssandra was amazed that they had managed to make it so far. Though she was constantly worried about the safety of her friends, she could think of no spell, no telepathic potential that was great enough to let her sense what was happening to Vic, Gwen, Sharif, and Tiaret.

Peering through the murky water, Lyssandra could see the glow of the underwater capital in the distance, and flickers of light like elongated sparks, as merlons attached glowing eels to long poles and continued to search for the escaped anemonites and humans. She and her unusual companions hid and waited. Lyssandra leaned against the nearest large kraega, stroking its long antennae.

“Have no fear,” one of the anemonites said. “We will see you safely to Elantya.”

23

HUDDLING INSIDE THE OLD wreck, the friends waited for hours in the shadows, hoping Lyssandra would make her way to the waterlogged ship. They watched merlons pass time and again as they continued to hunt for the escaped humans. Eventually, the apprentices knew they couldn’t wait any longer. Though her companions had made it this far, Gwen knew they were not yet safe.

“What is taking Lyssandra so long?” Vic asked for the tenth time in five minutes. “She knows to come here, if she can.”

“Maybe the plan with the anemonites changed,” Gwen said. “I hope she’s not hurt.”

“I would not underestimate her,” Tiaret said.

“Oh, I’d never do that,” Vic said. “Worry, maybe — underestimate, never.”

“Nevertheless, we must make our move soon,” Sharif pointed out. With so many sharks, merlons, eels, and sea serpents passing by, their hiding place could not remain secret for long. “We can be cornered here too easily — and at least one of us must reach Elantya.”

Tiaret strained at one of the broken planks of the Walrus’s interior, ripping loose a spear-sized splinter. “We should arm ourselves. Sooner or later, we will have to fight. I intend to be prepared.”

Scavenging among the tilted decks of the Golden Walrus, they stripped out some debris that could be used to defend against their underwater enemies. Gwen found a sharp metal pin as long as her arm that had been used to keep a winch from unwinding. Vic used long iron nails embedded in a plank to create a makeshift spiked club. Tiaret took a jagged shard of crystal from a broken porthole and used strands of doolya seaweed to lash it to the end of her wooden spear.

Vic nodded his approval. “Nice MacGyvering.”

Gwen tried not to count the minutes. She peered out, scanning carefully in all directions, but saw no prowling sea creatures, no enemy merlons. High above them, closer to the surface, she could see a wilderness of waving wild seaweed that would give them shelter. A perfect place to hide. Gwen remembered the broad thickets of doolya not too far from the island realm.

“It’s going to be night soon, and the water will grow dark. I think we should risk it.”

“Yes, I am tired of hiding,” Tiaret said.

“Well, that’s it then.” Vic rushed toward the hull opening. “We make a dash for the seaweed forest, then make our way back home, step by step.”

Gwen kept watching for their lost friend, very worried about her. “Lyssandra said she’d get to Elantya alone, if she couldn’t meet us here.”

“Now that she has freed the anemonites,” Sharif said, grimly changed by what he had been through, “I would not be surprised if they saved her in return.”

“I will go first.” Tiaret clutched her crystal-tipped spear and darted out of the sunken ship. She stroked powerfully upward, kicking with her feet. The girl from Afirik no longer had any difficulty swimming. Impulsively, Vic bolted after her.

Sharif looked at Gwen, then glanced longingly up into the water. “I used my summoning spell days ago to call my flying carpet, but it never arrived. The special rune did not work. I have lost Piri, and my carpet, and now my friend the jhanta.”

“But you haven’t lost us.” Gwen put a hand on his arm to reassure him. “And the best thing we can do right now is get back to Elantya and warn them what the merlons intend to do. Think of how many lives we can save.”

Sharif nodded and the two swam out after their friends under slanted beams of late-afternoon sunlight.

Once they left the shipwreck, Gwen felt very exposed in the open water. At least they wouldn’t leave any footprints or telltale signs of their passage. She wondered if the branded sharks might be able to detect a faint scent of their prey in the water. So far, they hadn’t seemed to, but the thought was enough to make her kick and stroke harder toward the dubious shelter of the doolya forest. They had to get away!

She looked all around, uneasy that a group of aquatic predators might be after them even now. As they continued to swim higher and higher, she saw sleek gray shapes far below, skimming the ocean floor like a wolf pack, and then a much larger sinuous form, a golden sea serpent. She could just make out the figure of a merlon — Blackfrill — driving it along in pursuit. The merlon general shouted, gesturing upward.

“They’ve spotted us!” They all knew they couldn’t fight Blackfrill, not to mention the sea serpent or the group of sharks.

With their targets in sight, the sharks shot upward as if fired from cannons. Vic looked down in a panic. “Anybody have other ideas?”

“Into the seaweed forest,” Tiaret called. “Hurry!”

Gwen wasted no more energy looking back at her pursuers, while she and Sharif struggled to catch up with their two companions.

The snaking strands of leathery weed formed a sort of camouflage net. Colorful fish darted in and out of the doolya, nibbling on the variegated green vegetation.

Gwen was surprised by how fast they plunged in and got lost among the waving stalks. A long, slimy leaf slapped against her cheek like the tongue of an amorous cow. She pushed the strands aside, holding onto some of the softballsized bladders that kept the doolya afloat. Within a few seconds, they were swallowed up by the maze.

Gwen had a hard time following even Sharif, who was right in front of her, scrambling after Tiaret and Vic. The four of them spread out, thrashing deeper into the dense thicket of undulating weed. She didn’t know how Blackfrill or the sharks could give chase in here, but she didn’t believe for a moment that they were safe. It was still a long way to Elantya, and freedom.

The taste-smell of the water around her was strange, full of iodine and vegetation. Maybe the doolya itself would muddle the sharks’ keen sense of smell and blur any faint lingering scent the humans left in the water.

The glittering gold-orange light streaming down from the surface grew dimmer, and she realized it must be sunset up above. Soon they would be winding through the sea forest in complete darkness. Unfortunately, the deep purple shadows would probably hinder the four friends more than their aquatic pursuers.