Descending (The Rising Series) (28 page)

Gretchen
raised her eyes toward the surface. Her heart pounded in her chest—thousands more jellyfish were descending from overhead—their tentacles hanging down like an undersea willow tree forest. Only this forest could kill.

“What’ll we do?” Her voice was weak and trembling in fear.

“Follow me,” Kyros said. They raced around the poisonous tendrils. He weaved, snaking around, avoiding pain and death. Gretchen tried to see the path ahead of him, but it looked like tentacles and jellyfish everywhere. How he found a way through all the… A searing streak of pain sliced across her forehead. She cried out and turned away from the creature. Kyros stopped and turned his head toward her.

“Don’t stop!” she shouted as she pressed her hand to her forehead.
Ignoring her, he swam back. He clamped his arms around her, and they were moving again. Kyros skirted around them as they flew through the water. The tentacles thickened in the water as the darkness deepened. Kyros grunted as Gretchen saw a flutter of blue brush over his skin. She cringed, the pain in her forehead still stinging like crazy, Kyros had to be in a tremendous amount of pain. He grunted again, slowing to a stop. Gretchen looked around. They were surrounded by blue, green, and grey tentacles fluttering like shredded strips of fabric. They sank, avoiding the poison. Her gills burned behind her ears. Venom tainted the water. She couldn’t see any way out.

Kyros
kept his arms locked around her and shot through the water at an inhuman speed. He used his own body as a barrier between her and the jellyfish, but her exposed arms brushed the tentacles. They sliced over her skin like hundreds of red-hot razorblades. Kyros’s arms loosened, dropping away from her, and she slammed into a wall.

Strong arms
grabbed her burning limbs. Pain clouded her vision, and she was having a difficult time thinking clearly. Somebody held her, and it wasn’t Kyros. She could tell by his scent.
Where was he?

“
We have two more,” she heard a voice shout in her ear. “Hurry, one of them is female.”

Perhaps she should have wondered who the men were, but she was in so much pain
that she didn’t care. Her skin felt as if it had been flayed off her arms, and she wondered if she would die from the poison. She tried to open her eyes. A tortured moan permeated the sea as her chest rumbled.
Could that sound be coming from me?

After several minutes of travel, her rescuer stopped.
Then the coolest, most soothing caress she’d ever felt brushed over her skin. She began to sob at the relief. The pain—as excruciating as it had been—vanished. She looked up into an unfamiliar Dagonian face. His dark eyes were full of pity. His wild, red hair waved like a sea anemone in the current.

She
looked around and gasped. They floated above the edge of an undersea city, nestled in a massive, deep-sea cave. Towering spires rose from the sea floor. Stone buildings stood, scattered among the spires. As they swam into the city, faces peeked curiously from windows and doorways. Gretchen looked above to see the ceiling high above. It was the largest cave she’d ever seen, large enough to keep an entire metropolis in its depths. The rocky surface of the cavern was pocked with holes. Some of the holes had round, glowing mounds that seemed to sparkle with light. The light emitted from these giant orbs made everything glow—the light settling down on the city like fairy dust.

“A mermaid,” a voice screeched
in the distance. “This one’s a live mermaid.”

Oh,
thank heavens, Sara’s okay.

The Dagonian’s eyes narrowed
as he looked Gretchen in the eye. He looked her over, his eyes lingering on her fitted dress and bare fin. “What does that make you?” His voice was course, with no sign of the pity he’d shown her before.

In that moment, Kyros was
there, facing the Dagonian—his chest smeared with green goop. That must have been what they’d used on her. But they obviously hadn’t finished applying it to Kyros. He still had bright red burns streaked across his skin.

“Get your hands off her,” Kyros growled.

“What is she?”

“She’s mine,” Kyros’s voice was so low and frightening, it even scared Gretchen.

The Dagonian let her go and backed away—obviously intimidated by Kyros. But still, he spoke again. “You have not answered my question? What is she?”

Gretchen swallowed as Kyros put his arm around her
. He didn’t answer the question.

“Bring the others here,”
another Dagonian shouted. Kyros and Gretchen were escorted forward.

“Whatever you do, don’t sing,”
Kyros whispered in Gretchen’s ear.

Gretchen locked eyes with Sara.
Sara gave a weak smile. With Xanthus at her side, she looked apprehensive, but not frightened.

“Wh
y are you here?” a Dagonian asked Xanthus. This Dagonian seemed to be the one in charge.

“
We’ve come on Triton’s errand,” Xanthus said.

“
…with a marked mermaid? And what of the other female?” the old Dagonian asked, looking at Gretchen. “She has strange clothing for a Dagonian. Looks like human clothing to me.”

“She’s not your concern,” Xanthus said.

“Not my concern? I saved your lives, even after you brought these creatures to my city.” He gestured to Sara and Gretchen. “Yet, you tell me it’s not my concern?” He looked Gretchen over from head to tail. “What is your name?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but Kyros beat her to it. “Her name is Gretchen.”

“Gretchen? That
does
sound like a human name. Looks like Triton has started breeding with humans again.” The Dagonian swam up close to Gretchen. Kyros tightened his grip.

“
So, young beauty, you’re a mermaid, aren’t you?”

“She is not your concern,” Kyros growled.

The Dagonian raised his finger, and his soldiers unsheathed their weapons. Kyros, Xanthus, and the others put their hands on their hilts but didn’t draw their weapons.

“I’ll tell you what my concern is,” the old Dagonian said. “Five warriors swim into my city, armed to the gills, surrounding
mermaids
.” He glared at Gretchen. “If that is not something to be concerned about, I don’t know what is.”

Gretchen
could see more soldiers emerging from the crumbling city. They were multiplying by the second.

“We are
hunting a third mermaid.” Kyros said. “You might have heard of her, Aella.”

“Aella?” The commander frowned. “No, I can’t say I’ve heard of her.”

The Dagonian had to be lying. According to Kyros, her mother was infamous among Dagonians.

“But there is one thing I do know
,” the Dagonian continued. “You and your mermaids are not welcome here.”

“Like I said
,” Xanthus’ eyes narrowed, “we are on King Triton’s errand.”

“And what errand would that be?”

“To hunt down and destroy Aella,” Sara said.

Gretchen was surprised Sara could speak. She was growing bolder by the day.

The look the Dagonian gave Sara could have melted rock. He snarled as he approached her. “I did not ask you,
mermaid
.”

Faster than Gretchen could blink, Xanthus had pulled out his sword and had it pointed at the Dagonian’s throat.

The Dagonian jerked back in surprise, holding his breath.

“I
f you even so much as look at my wife again, I’ll slit your throat.” His eyes burned in a fury that left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he meant every word of his threat.

The Dagonian hesitated and nodded.

“I’ll tell you what will happen,” Xanthus snarled. “You will let us search your city and not interfere. If you don’t allow it, you risk incurring the wrath of Triton.”

Gretchen
was impressed with Xanthus’s courage. They were vastly outnumbered and with Triton AWOL, his threat was merely a bluff meant to intimidate.

Word must have filtered through the city. S
oldiers flooded the streets. The commander looked at the numbers surrounding him, narrowed his eyes, and smiled. “Is that your final word?”

“Yes,” Xanthus answered.

“Well, there you go,” the commander said. “You’ve made my decision for me. You, the marked mermaid, and your Dagonians soldiers will leave. But the unmarked mermaid stays here.”

Kyros pulled Gretchen behind his back. “You will not touch her.” The words came out in a low growl.

The Dagonian commander laughed, full and loud. “How interesting. A Dagonian protects the mermaid.” He swam toward Kyros. “You want to save this vile creature?”

Kyros glared at him.

“I asked,” the commander bellowed, looking at the crowd. He turned to Kyros. “Do you want to save your mermaid?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must fight for her.”

Gretchen felt as if she’d been dropped down into an undersea gladiator movie. A massive netted dome spread out
, surrounding her. Only the net wasn’t interlaced with rope—it looked more like stone seaweed had grown and tangled into a dome big enough that it could easily swallow the coliseum in Rome twice over. Dagonians surrounded the structure, peeking their faces through the gaps to get a view of the upcoming fight.

One large soldier held her still as another forced slimy black goop in her mouth. It tasted like motor oil and made
her tongue tingle. Her whole mouth went numb. There went her voice. They dragged her across the arena to two tall, stone columns. Chains dangled from the tops. One soldier chained one of her arms to one column, while the other soldier chained her other arm to the other.

“Pity.” One soldier
frowned, looking her up and down. “She’s a pretty thing.”

“You can probably have what’s left of her.” The other soldier laughed.

“You’re so disgusting,” the first soldier said.

What’s left of her?
Gretchen didn’t even want to think what that meant.

The soldiers
swam away and exited. The sounds of cheers swelled to a deafening volume. Looked like these Dagonians loved a good slaughter. At the other side of the dome, dozens of soldiers led Kyros into the arena. The commander swam above, smiling at the throngs.

He held a conch shell to his mouth and blew. The sound filled the arena, drowning out the cheers. When it stopped, there was silence.

“Dagonians of Triangle City, we have a special treat for you today. This Dagonian and his friends came to our city accompanied by an unmarked mermaid. When I offered to take this foul creature off their hands, they refused to give her up. It seems they’ve grown attached to her.”

The crowd broke its silence to roar in disgust. “One Dagonian in particular threatened me as I tried to apprehend her. I’ve decided an opportunity like this could not pass us by. We will teach this Dagonian a lesson and kill both him and the mermaid.”

At those words, the crowd went wild, cheering and shouting.

The commander turned to Kyros and smiled. “You are about to meet our city’s crowning glory, the protector. You are welcome to try and save your mermaid, but you’ll have to save yourself first.
I give you our own Ketea, Colosso!”

The commander laughed as he and the other soldiers filed out
of an exit.

What in the world is a
Ketea?
Whatever it was, Gretchen doubted she’d like it. Large, stone doors grated as they opened on the far end of the coliseum. At first, Gretchen didn’t see a thing. Then, out of the darkness, slithered a large snake, then another, and another. There were over a dozen coming through the door. She was so focused on the creatures that she jumped when Kyros touched her. He smiled as he lifted his hand above him. What in the world did he find amusing in this situation? A sword sliced through the sea, coming straight at him. He caught it by the hilt.

“As soon as you get free,
” he said. “Go straight behind you. The others are attempting to open the doors.” He thrust the blade into the chain at her wrist and pulled back, snapping it. Then he repeated with the other.