Chapter 98: Nereida’s Voyage
The darkness was worse beneath the waves. Nereida let the water sooth her worries as she sang softly to the dolphins. They were a wild pod, and had never heard a siren want their attention before. But as she sang her plan, urging them to drown any human they found, any demon, they chattered excitedly. One of them, the head of the pod, nudged her, almost like a cat scent-marking. She gently stroked the dolphin's head.
“Ocean, we will do your bidding.” She understood the dolphin's chit-chat noises as clearly as if the dolphin had spoken.
“Ocean's daughter, not the Ocean.”
“If you say so.” There was amusement in the dolphin's tone. Nereida forced her worry about that comment away.
Once the dolphins were ready, and Kana reported that the demon ships were drifting closer, Nereida ordered the attack. The dolphins squealed in delight. Kana and her husband had tools from Dymion's carpenters, things normally used for repairing ships. They made nicks in the hull, small at first, but with their magic they sung ice into the small nicks and cracks, widening them. The dolphins, primarily acting as a distraction, were being fired upon. Nereida did her best to keep them safe, warning them when she saw a cannon being aimed toward the ocean.
Trying to manage the dolphins and breath the water and dodge cannon fire was exhausting. She wanted, so badly, to surface, to see if Aella was coming. Two ships was a lot for them to deal with, with only two sirens actually attacking. These dolphins had not been trained by sirens on how to scuttle ships, and they struggled much more to cause damage.
And then the harpoons began. They missed the dolphins with the first volley, but it was enough to spike the fear of the animals. Nereida lifted her voice in a wordless song again, trying to calm them. Kana and her husband began to sing as well, though it was to let Nereida know they had been successful. The first boat was taking on water. They could move to the next. The demons wouldn't know until it was too late. Nereida paused to acknowledge them.
In that breath, everything changed.
Another volley of harpoons came. One sliced through the water and embedded itself into Nereida's leg. The pain was blinding and immediate. She screamed in agony. The water burned her lungs, and she could no longer concentrate on breathing it. She heard and saw the dolphins scattering. The water rushed past her as she was pulled from the water. She could not think or feel anything except the blinding pain. Suddenly she was on the deck of the ship. Someone kicked her, and she vomited up sea water.
“Siren.” She felt someone pressing on her back. She couldn't lift her head for the pain. “Call off your pets, Siren.” She tried to answer but was in too much pain. She gasped, breathing hard.
“Can it speak?” a male voice asked.
“Bind its wounds, it can't be sold if it's dead.” She wanted to fight, wanted to call up the ice and kill them. But she could hardly catch her breath, so singing was impossible. There were at least twenty of them on deck. She couldn't do it. Not alone.
Rough hands grabbed her, pulling a dirty, stinking canvas bag over her head. She felt a coarse rope pulled across her skin as her arms were roughly forced behind her. Someone jostled the harpoon and she whimpered. A meaty hand struck her face and she tumbled roughly to the ground.
“Does it need to be able to walk again?” came a voice. It was weirdly echoing. Everything was.
“No.” She struggled against the hands holding her, blinded and panicked. Then, pain exploded from her leg and she slipped into unconsciousness.
When she awoke, the sounds of the ocean had faded. Everything hurt. She tasted copper in her mouth. It was dark, so dark she couldn't see anything. She could hear the shouts of men outside. She was tied to a chair now, the ropes tight and cutting into her hands. The smell of blood and sweat hung heavy in the air.
“Siren,” said a calm voice. It was a new voice, a soft tenor. He lit a candle near her face, the sudden light making her flinch. “Tell me, are you their queen?” The demon that came into the light was like none she had ever seen. Those blessed with shadow powers often looked truly frightening, with horns of bone growing from their heads and unnaturally white skin. This one, while his skin was alabaster white, had no horns but large black eyes too large for his head. It gave him an impish look, as his mouth stretched into a smile, revealing fangs not unlike hers.
“I'm no queen,” she replied, finding her voice. She was hoarse from screaming. “I won't give you anything.” She heard cannon fire outside and her heart lurched. Had she done enough?”
“No?” He titled his head to the side and blinked at her slowly. “Not even to save your own life?” Her heart hammered in her chest, but she put on her best courtier's mask, neutral, bored.
“I will give you nothing, demon.”
“A shame, that.” He leaned in close, so close their noses touched, and it took all her strength to not shudder at the touch. “We just came for what's ours, you know. A shadow-blooded somewhere on the other ship. Curious, isn't it, that you didn't attack the other one? Curiouser still, pet, that the fish moved their attack to a second ship instead of ensuring we went down. And even more curious is that the ship we were chasing, the ship that looked like it needed repairs, suddenly sped towards us as if they had coordinated the attack. Did they capture one of your young, Siren? What would you pay to see your child again?” She stared at him, cool, impassive, even as her heart beat so hard she could hear it in her ears. His breath stank of spoiled fish.
She let herself feel the pain in her leg, trying to ignore his words. His eyes seemed to change, as if they were sucking the light from the room as he looked her over with a curious expression.
“Oh my stars,” he breathed. Then he laughed. There was no humour in his tone, only something malicious and cruel. “Oh do you know what you are? Or are you trapped?”
“You have me tied up,” she replied dryly. “There's not much more trapped than that.” He snickered.
“Oh, pet, that's not what I mean and you know it.” he scampered back, disappearing into the darkness for a moment. She held still, kept her mask in place. No weakness before the demons.
After a moment, he returned into the candlelight. He no longer looked pleased with himself, but instead had a more somber demeanour. It was dark, and sloshed about in the clear glass.
“Do you know, pet, what this is?” he asked, holding the vial up near his eye and blinking at it.
“Ink?” He laughed again, his somberness disappearing as fast as it had appeared. Her children had better control over their emotions than this strange, owlish man. The urge to kick him increased every time he called her pet.
Outside, she could hear someone screaming that they were taking on water. She did not grin, did not react.
“Oh, pet, we are running out of time. Sad, that. I was hoping to play with you longer. Call off the attack, pet.”
“No.”
“Ah, well then, straight to it then.” He reached for a dropper. “This is precious, more precious than gold. I usually only need a drop per eye, but you, my new little pet, I think we will start with three drops to your wound. It will bind you to us, and then you will do as we demand.”
“What is it?” she asked. “Some kind of poison?”
“Oh, no, nothing so mundane.” He smiled, and patted her on the head like she was a child. She wanted to break her nose, but bound as she was, that wasn't possible. Worse, her leg had stopped hurting. That was a bad sign. She spared her leg a glance and realized they had tied the dressing too tight. If she didn't get it off soon, she would lose the leg! “It is the blood of the Shadow Dragon himself, gathered in holy ceremony so that I may better See the Stars.”
Rage that was not her own roared to life in her, so loud she could not think or feel. She would see this creature bleeding on the floor! She snarled, not quite herself, and the man danced back, laughing.
“Oh, there you are!” He sounded positively gleeful, which only fed her rage. She felt a pressure building, as if she were a dam holding back a flood.
“Relent.” The command was not spoken, but she felt it in her heart. Outside, the waves began to pick up, rocking the ship and bringing chaos outside. She struggled for control, knowing that if she let the Ocean dragon out, that all the ships would be in danger. “They hurt my son.” At the second, very clear set of words in her mind, she broke. She looked at the demon.
“You chose this,” she warned, suddenly calm. And then she closed her eyes, and did as the Ocean Dragon commanded.
She relented.
She felt the change come upon her, and the last thing she became aware of as her consciousness slipped into darkness, was the scream and then gurgle of the demon who thought he could capture the Ocean.