Kingdom of the Deep (12 page)

CHAPTER 21

GRAY SWAM IN SILENCE WITH TAKIZA. NO
guardians flanked them now. Gray even reached out with his senses to check if the finja were there but hidden. He felt nothing. They truly were gone.

Kaleth really meant it, thought Gray. She had Hokuu to deal with, so maybe this was the best plan. Her guardians were the best-trained sharkkind in the Big Blue. Even Finnivus's
squaline
wouldn't have stood a chance against them. Maybe Kaleth would succeed in stopping the frilled shark where Riptide had failed. Gray hoped so.

Takiza swam by his side, deep in thought. Gray waggled a fin to get his attention. “Yes? What is it now?” the betta grumped, irritated at the interruption.

“I have to talk to you about something,” Gray said, taking a deep breath. “I want you to tell me the truth.”

Takiza nodded. “You have earned the right. Ask what you will.”

Gray decided he would start with what he knew
had
to be a lie. “Did you send one of your apprentices to the Sparkle Blue?”

Takiza became more interested and turned. “You have spoken with Hokuu. When?”

Gray shook his snout side to side. “I'm asking the questions.” He went on in a softer voice, afraid of what Takiza's might say. “So . . . did you?”

“No,” Takiza began.

“Yes! I
knew
he was lying! I knew it!” The betta sighed in an odd way that Gray found unsettling. “You didn't, right? You didn't do that. Did you?”

“I did not send my Nulo to the Sparkle Blue . . . because I failed to best him in single combat.”

“You what?” Gray gasped.

“It was earlier in my life,” Takiza said. “I did not have the skills I possess today, so he was able to fend me off.”

“That's not what I mean!” Gray said, his voice rising.

Takiza shook his thin fins. “I said I would tell you the truth. That apprentice—” The betta paused, opening and closing his mouth but saying nothing for a moment. Then, for one of the few times since Gray knew him, Takiza stumbled over his words. “That apprentice—it was . . . a . . . mistake to choose him. He was—not the fin I believed. I did not want him to use my training for . . . for . . . ”

“Evil?” offered Gray.

Takiza considered. “No, not evil. More like unpredictable havoc. I could not allow that.”

“So you didn't snap his neck? You didn't kill him.”

Takiza nodded, but then added, “It was not for lack of effort, though. He was very gifted. But I believe I injured him enough to make my point. He has not been seen since and probably swims the Sparkle Blue. Now, when did you meet Hokuu?”

“I'm not done with my questions,” Gray said.

“I answered one of yours,” Takiza told him. “I will answer your second—and last—question after you respond to mine. When did you see Hokuu?”

“On the way back from the Arktik after we found the Riptide sharks. I went in with Shear and the rest of the Aquasidor guardians to chase off the mako finjas and got separated. That's when I met him. My turn.”

Takiza gave him a flat stare and swished his fins once for the second question. Gray stopped swimming and turned to hover. The betta did the same. “Ask,” he said.

“Did you kill my father?”

Takiza didn't say anything for a moment. “That is a complex question.”

Gray cut him off, whipping his tail through the water. “No, it's simple.
Did you kill my father?
”

“I must explain.”

“Answer the question!” Gray yelled.

Takiza sighed and in a quiet voice said, “Yes. Through my actions, yes.”

Gray thought he would feel rage at this answer. He had been going over this result in his mind since he was captured by Hokuu. But he didn't feel anger. He felt a deep sadness and found himself whispering, “No, no, no.” Gray gathered himself. “Did you know he was there?”

“I did
not
,” Takiza told him gently, emphasizing the word with a furious swipe of his tail. “I swear by everything I believe, Gray. As I did not know
you
were with him. I only learned that he must have been there when you came to the aid of those turtle hatchlings.”

Gray's mind went to his time with Goblin Shiver. He had gone out after patrol with a rough shark named Thrash who wanted to scare a turtle mother and her hatchlings. Gray helped the hatchlings but couldn't save the mother from Thrash. Takiza did that, giving the mean tiger a comical beating in the process.

Gray nodded. The betta swam closer. “How did you fare against Hokuu? I assume you attempted to fight him?”

“Oh, I tried. And he played with me,” Gray answered. “He played with me like Thrash would with a turtle hatchling. I hope you have a few tricks I've never seen, because you're going to need them.”

“This is most unsettling,” Takiza commented. “I was hoping his abilities had faded. Sometimes that happens with extreme age. I know this to be true.”

“Shiro, I have to ask one more question.”

The betta sliced his fins through the water, meaning no. “There have been enough questions for today.”

“Please,” Gray persisted.

The betta didn't like it but flicked a fin.

“Would you have still closed the passage if you knew we were there?”

“Yes,” Takiza answered. “I would have.”

“Then I guess you're no different from Kaleth.” And with that Gray swam away.

He didn't see Takiza's wounded look.

CHAPTER 22

TAKIZA WOULD HAVE LET MY FATHER DIE TO SEAL
the passage between the two oceans, Gray thought. Even if he knew my father was there.

The idea boggled Gray's mind. It wasn't as if he knew his father, so his anger was muted. But he was sure Takiza would have done the same thing if it had been his mother, and that
did
bother him greatly. To sacrifice anyone's mother seemed monstrous.

When did that kind of thinking stop? What about a hundred mothers? Or a thousand pups? How about ten thousand innocent sharkkind?

But there was one thought that nagged Gray. If you didn't sacrifice one fin to save everyone, weren't you sacrificing everyone anyway? It was easy for him to fume at the idea of someone sending his mother to swim the Sparkle Blue for
any
reason. But Takiza had to
actually
make the decision. He had to make that unimaginable choice. There was no good answer, was there?

Was there?

These thoughts were interrupted by shouts and the sounds of battle. On the outskirts of Fathomir, Riptide Shiver was being attacked!

Never was Gray so glad for a chance to fight someone—
anyone
—in his life. He would stop these confusing thoughts by ramming Hokuu right in his snaky head!

Gray saw Striiker fighting like a crazyfish in the center of a half drove of Riptide mariners. The great white leader had split his forces into groups of fifty and arranged them around the shiver sharks in a moving defensive screen. Gray liked the idea. It was more important to guard the weaker sharkkind, the pups and older fins, inside the perimeter. If Riptide's mariners were in one massed formation, the sneaky finja could evade them. This way a half drove of mariners were always within twenty tail strokes of an attack.

“Don't let them get away!” cried Striiker from the diamondhead of the small block formation.

Even though Gray could sense only ten mako finja, they were demon hard to spot. If you took your eyes off the renegades for even a fin flick, you would lose where they were because of their color-shifting ability. The finja would withdraw and stop moving for a moment, making themselves disappear to the untrained eye. Then they would rush in and take fins or strike at the gills of unsuspecting Riptide mariners. Gray used his ampullae and lateral line senses to follow their electrical shadows, which were among the brightest in the chaos.

He sped up to an attack sprint and blasted one attacker, taking his left fin cleanly and sending him spiraling toward the Sparkle Blue. Gray saw another mako lurking behind the diamondhead position. The finja increased his speed and descended on a path that would give him a shot at Striiker's dorsal fin.

“Striiker!” Gray shouted in warning. But the screams of the injured and dying, along with the sounds of battle, were too loud. Gray cut a wicked turn downward until he nearly skimmed the seabed, then rocketed straight up in a modified Spinner Strikes attack.

I've got to get there in time! Gray thought, gritting his teeth. Water flowed past his ears with a
fwush
as he sawed his tail back and forth to gain speed. Miraculously Gray managed to find a thin path through the battle and met the finja one tail stroke before he would have ripped Striiker's dorsal off. He blasted the shark in the underbelly, his jaws closing tight. Blood bloomed in front of Gray's eyes and he shook the instantly dead shark out of his mouth. Striiker could only react with a startled, “Whoa!”

The great white gave him the briefest of nods before resuming his own fight. The mako finja were outnumbered and losing the battle. Gray wedged himself into Striiker's ranks, taking the place of an injured mariner in front of the diamondhead. “Get out of here,” he shouted at the mariner. “You can't do any more!” There were only three mako finja left alive, and two of those were injured. Gray gestured toward their positions. “Look sharp! There, there, and there!”

“Come on, you stinking muck-suckers!” Striiker bellowed. “Let's see how you do when we know where you are!” The finja would have to turn tail or be eaten alive.

That was what
should
have happened.

“It looks like you have some fight in you after all!” said an impossibly loud and cheery voice. “How about giving me a taste?” It was Hokuu, amplifying his words with his powers.

Another half drove of mariners, these led by Mari with Snork, joined Striiker's group. They were harried by the vicious makos, who battled harder because Hokuu had shown himself. The frilled shark didn't feel the need to rush. He had proved he could rip through the Riptide mariners when they were at full strength. What were these few, distracted sharkkind going to do against him?

“Why not fight a worthier opponent, Hokuu?” asked an equally loud voice.

It was Takiza! The betta was arcing colored bolts of electricity into the water and projected a glowing nimbus around himself. It was a sight to take your breath away!

It didn't impress Hokuu much. “How many times have I told you, Nulo—never waste power in useless displays!”

The electric bolts gathered and zipped away from Takiza. They careened jaggedly through the water. The betta's control over the electricity was complete, and it divided into branches, which shocked the remaining three finja. They jerked and shuddered, then were still. The makos sank as everyone watched.

“You have said a great many things, Hokuu,” Takiza answered. “Most of it untrue as well as unwise.”

The frilled shark's eyes glowed with hatred. “You always were an impudent fish. Come, Taki, show me what you've learned since I was your master! Let's see if it keeps you alive!”

Off to the side and totally ignored, Striiker looked at Gray. “Should we help?”

As if in answer Hokuu launched his own vicious, forking bolt of electricity at them. Takiza deflected it before the energy would have roasted Gray and everyone else in the tattered Riptide formation.

“I think we stay out of the way for now,” he told the Riptide leader.

“I vote with Gray,” Snork agreed, his eyes wide.

Gray gestured to his friends with a fin. “But be ready. I'm going in for a closer look.” He descended into the greenie using a light current to tuck himself into the kelp field. Maybe in the confusion of the fight he could get close enough to attack.

Or maybe I'll be roasted alive, Gray thought. Still, he moved forward as stealthily as he could while Striiker reorganized his mauled force.

“Come, you preening puffer fish!” shouted Hokuu. “Dip your snout into the muck and call me Shiro once more! Perhaps then I'll let you live!”

Takiza did nothing. He drifted with the current as if he didn't have a care in the world. This seriously annoyed Hokuu, and secretly Gray was overjoyed. He knew better than anyone how angry Takiza could make someone!

“Okay, if that's the way you'd like to play it!” The frilled shark swam in a twisting circle, his head meeting his tail but moving ever forward. A vivid green energy grew in the water in the center of the circle. This ball of light was so bright Gray had to look away.

“Catch!” said Hokuu, and the power zoomed straight at Takiza. The betta zipped to the side so fast Gray barely saw the movement.

But the energy took its own wicked turn toward Takiza's new position. If the betta was surprised, he didn't show it. Takiza again moved in a blur and stopped right in front of Hokuu. He released his own power, blasting the frilled shark, then rocketing away.

The searing energy that Hokuu let go still trailed Takiza, though. The frilled shark yelled a strangled “Wha?” and juked away as it exploded in the water where he was a split second before with a deep
thwooom
!

Hokuu faced Takiza, waving his tail from side to side in an admonishing way. “Very sneaky, Nulo. When did you become so devious?”

“I had an excellent teacher,” Takiza replied.

Far from being angry at this insult, Hokuu laughed. “Oh, you!” he said. “Taki, I'm almost sorry to send you to the Sparkle Blue!” Faster than Gray's eye could follow, the frilled shark blurred and then flipped out his tail. Another sizzling bolt of energy, this one violet in color, shot from the end of his body.

Takiza was too slow. He avoided the worst of the detonation but was buffeted by the disturbance afterward. “You see? You'll never be my equal! You will always be Nulo!”

Then Hokuu sent four bright yellow globes of energy firing toward Takiza. These were slower than the electric ones but more powerful. The betta, noticeably slower, managed to avoid the first three. The fourth blasted a coral spire he was using for cover. The explosion shattered the coral and sent jagged pieces streaking through the water. Luckily, Takiza created a glowing shield, so he wasn't pierced by any of the razor-sharp missiles.

“Yet I am . . . still here,” Takiza said with some effort.

Hokuu rushed forward and stopped ten tail strokes in front of Takiza. This time he vomited a putrid liquid from his mouth. It came out in a thick, greenish stream. The vile projection melted Takiza's golden shield and it became smaller and smaller. Gray could feel the wrongness of the vomit. It was evil and would most certainly send Takiza to the Sparkle Blue if it touched him. The betta's power sputtered and began to fail.

Without thinking, Gray burst from cover. Hokuu was so intent on killing his master that the frill didn't notice until it was almost too late.

Almost.

“You!” Hokuu yelled as he jigged sideways and avoided Gray's snapping jaws. He grinned, but Hokuu was angry he had to stop his attack against Takiza. “I wondered when you were going to show up!” The frill flashed leftward but lost the betta, who also took the split-second distraction to disappear. Gray did a quick roll and went after the frilled shark, who avoided him easily once again. “I don't want to hurt you, so stay out of this.” Hokuu craned his snaky neck this way and that, searching for Takiza, who was nowhere to be found.

Striiker readied the Riptide mariners, drifting forward with the current. “Fins up! We're going in!”

“Let's get him!” cried Snork. Barkley, Mari, and everyone in the Riptide formation were all ready.

“Ganging up on me, eh?” Hokuu said, amplifying his voice again. “Nulo, where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he sang.

“He's here!” Gray said as he lunged again. “We all are!”

Hokuu yelled over his shoulder, “Okay, Taki, if you don't want to do this now, I can wait!” The frilled shark turned to Gray, then Striiker and his mariners. “I'll see you all later. Maybe in an hour, maybe a day. You won't know until it's too late!”

And with that Hokuu whooshed away so fast he left nothing but a stream of bubbles.

“At least we chased him away,” Gray said.

Then Takiza was with them, shaking his head. “Hokuu left because he chose to. Nothing more.”

“Why didn't you get him?” Gray asked.

“Had I attempted anything strong enough to injure Hokuu, I would have killed you,” Takiza replied.

Striiker joined them along with Barkley, Mari, and Snork. “So what are we supposed to do now? If we stay here and Kaleth won't help, we're going to get munched.”

“Can we draw them away by moving our mariners?” Mari offered, but not too forcefully.

“Splitting up isn't a good idea,” Barkley said.

The sawfish voiced everyone's worry. “What if Hokuu goes after the shiver sharks after we're gone?”

“We can't take that chance,” Gray told everyone.

“He'll follow you and leave them alone,” said a familiar voice, “if I come along.”

Everyone turned and gasped, “Velenka!”