The Battle of Riptide (13 page)

“STOP!” BARKLEY WHISPERED JUST LOUD ENOUGH that the light current they crawled against would bring the warning to Onyx and no one else.

The blacktip settled onto the sandy bottom without stirring a grain of sand. For someone who didn't normally sneak around, Onyx was very good at it. Neither twitched a muscle as an Indi Shiver patrol circled around the craggy shelf marking the east boundary of the Riptide homewaters and passed above where he and Onyx hid, silent as sea wraiths.

Barkley resumed moving carefully forward through the greenie, barely a flipper length off the seabed. He shuddered to think what would happen if they were caught and dragged before Finnivus.

The dogfish knew at a young age he could swim more quietly than most. It was natural that as the bullies around the reef had gotten bigger, he'd gotten better at remaining silent and safely hidden from them. Not everyone could do this. Striiker, for example, was terrible at stalking. He was a great hunter due to his strength and size but could sneak around as well as a human splashing about in the Big Blue.

Barkley signaled for Onyx to follow. When Barkley and Gray were little, they always thought of Onyx as a humorless curmudgeon. The blacktip ordered shiver sharks this way and that. But they'd never realized that whenever Onyx
did
speak, those sharks listened because he was usually right. Now, if Barkley had to pick someone for a matter of life and death, after Gray, he would choose Onyx.

He felt a nip at his tail. Barkley knew Onyx would only do that for a good reason, so he allowed his body to go limp, the tide carrying it slightly. The blacktip eased next to him. “Stay away from Speakers Rock. It's the royal court, so there'll be even more guards.”

Barkley nodded. There was no need to answer with words, and it was dangerous to speak here. He adjusted his route accordingly. He and Onyx had formulated this plan after Takiza came to them with this insane idea—steal the imprisoned mariner prime of the Indi armada from under the emperor's snout. “And what else would you like us to do tonight?” Barkley had grumbled to himself.

They hugged the weedy bottom of a coral reef which gave them some cover.

They weren't even going to lead Whalem to safety tonight. Onyx was sure that if they tried to take him without his permission, the mariner prime would raise an alarm. Because of honor and royal etiquette—
pfah!
—Whalem would have to be asked first:
nicely
. As if you really needed a reason to
not
want your head served on a platter! But Whalem's honor wouldn't allow him to betray the emperor, even if Finnivus were insane. They had to convince him. That meant Barkley and Onyx needed to get close enough to talk with Whalem without being noticed. Yikes!

Luckily, Barkley knew every inch of these home-waters from his time as a member of Goblin Shiver. How small the problems they'd struggled with then seemed now. The dueling between Goblin and Razor seemed like pups fighting after school compared to what everyone faced today.

Another bump from Onyx. Barkley looked back, and the blacktip gestured to the left. Ah! There it was. The prison. The structure itself looked nothing like Barkley had ever seen in the Big Blue. That's because it was made by landsharks thousands of years ago. Onyx had told the story of how the prison was given to the first king of Indi Shiver by the Atlanteans. Barkley had no idea how they had gotten the thing here. Maybe a whale had carried it? Unlike most of the ancient landshark items Barkley had seen on the bottom of the ocean, this cage wasn't covered with barnacles and greenie. This object shined as if it were new.

The last twenty yards were the hardest. The constant patrols forced them to stop many times, and all Barkley could do was shut his eyes and will himself to be invisible. Finally, they reached the cage. So stealthy was their approach that Whalem didn't sense a thing until Onyx spoke.

“Mariner Prime, please be quiet and listen,” he said. To Whalem's credit, he didn't start or twitch a muscle. His eyes focused on Onyx and widened slightly. Onyx continued, “I see you still remember me after all these years.”

“Get on with it,” hissed Barkley. The mariner prime heard Barkley's voice but couldn't see him in the thick greenie he was hiding in.

“I come under a term of truce and would like you to let me speak without rousing anyone. Is that acceptable?”

There was a slight nod from the ancient tiger shark.

“Takiza asks, if we can free you, would you come with us? But not only that, he asks that you help us defeat the emperor.”

After a moment, Barkley saw an almost imperceptible shake of the old tiger's head.

Onyx didn't bother asking again, saying only, “Thank you for your time, sir.” He bobbed his head and motioned for them to leave the way they came in.

Barkley was incensed. They had come too far at too much risk to turn around with nothing. Onyx saw his anger and started to say, “Indi Shiver is very different—” but Barkley swam past and took his spot. “What are you doing? Get back here!” the blacktip urged.

Barkley shook his head. He would have his say. The mariner prime watched in silence as Barkley waited for a group of richly tattooed mariners from the armada to swim lazily past, followed by two armored
squaline
.

“If you want to lie down on the emperor's platter, that's your choice,” Barkley hissed. “But not coming with us because you think you owe crazy Finnivus your loyalty isn't honorable—it's cowardly.”

Whalem's eyes blazed, but Barkley wasn't going to leave without saying everything on his mind. “You owe that flipper nothing except a good tail slap to the face. You owe it to me and everyone else in the Big Blue to help stop him—which probably isn't possible, anyway. So your honor can be served, along with our seasoned heads, when we lose.”

Whalem whispered, “Who are you to talk to me this way, pup?”

“I'm Barkley. And no matter what you think, it isn't honorable to take the easy way out and leave us with this giant mess that you're at least partially responsible for! So once more, if we can get you out—which we probably can't—will you help us stop Finnivus?”

Barkley's throat was sore from speaking so quietly, yet with such hissing force. He couldn't believe no one had seen or heard anything, and he gratefully edged back into the greenie next to Onyx. The mariner prime seemed unmoved. If he was insulted, well, that was too bad. “Okay,
now
we can go,” Barkley told the astonished blacktip.

It was then Onyx nudged Barkley, gesturing with a fin at the Indi armada commander.

Whalem was
grinning
.

He whispered, “All right. If you can get me out, I'll help you.”

GRAY LOOKED DOWN FROM THE SHARP LEDGE into the blackness of the Maw. The pressure from these depths gave him an uncomfortable, queasy feeling. But the yawning chasm of the Maw scared Gray to his very core.

He was wearing the greenie torture harness from his practice session. The rock was in the harness, but at least right now it lay on the seabed as Gray hovered near the sand. Apparently, the rock's weight would help him swim to the bottom of the Dark Blue.

Takiza had trained him for this very task. Gray got chills thinking about it. Whether those chills were about swimming down into the Maw or about Takiza having planned for this day, Gray didn't know. He felt ashamed that Lochlan and the sharks from AuzyAuzy Shiver were swimming to protect his family and friends without him. In a way, Gray envied them. Waiting on the edge of the abyss, he discovered he would rather face the entire Indi armada than swim down into the depths of the Dark Blue.

“Shiro, I'd feel much more comfortable—”

Takiza cut Gray off. “Yes, you'd feel much more comfortable if I came with you. Perhaps I can stroke your flanks and recite a story on the way?”

“Yech!” Gray shuddered. “That image is nasty. I was going to ask if I could take the harness off for a little while. But if you do know where this glowing greenie is . . . and since you're better than I am in every way—”

“Of course, I am! Stop talking foolishness, Nulo. If I could do this, I would. But you must, and you need to succeed! Do you understand? This is the most important thing you've done in your short, pampered life! So far, anyway.”

Gray nodded as if he understood the weight of the matter, but he didn't really. Takiza was such an amazing fish. There was no way that Gray could do the incredible things the little betta could. It seemed as if Takiza were sending Gray to his death. And the fact that Takiza kept saying, “I am sorry I may be sending you to your death,” didn't help the situation at all.

“Again, you only have to say that one time,” Gray replied when Takiza repeated it again. “I'm not going to forget.”

“Then tell me again what you will do when you arrive at the seabed below,” ordered the betta.

Even though it was at least the fifteenth time Gray had repeated the instructions, he got right to it. “I will descend to the bottom of the Dark Blue—” Gray quickly corrected himself: “The bottom of this particular area of the ocean and find the glowing green kelp called maredsoo, the energy plant. When I'm there, I exchange the rock for greenie and swim back to you.”

Takiza grew cross and snapped his fins out. “Don't
exchange
anything. Load the greenie—but don't eat any—into the harness
before
you remove the rock. Your body will not remain at the bottom without the rock. So it's important to do it in the proper order—greenie first,
then
remove the stone. Remember, Nulo!”

“I will!” Gray shouted. “What are we waiting for? If you're not coming and time is so short, shouldn't I get going?”

Gray could see Takiza was about to explode but didn't care. He'd never felt so scared in his life—not even at Tuna Run facing off with Goblin. Here, waiting by the ever-black waters of the Maw, he felt cold and terrified. It was just too much!

But before Takiza could yell at him, a prehistore
horror
raised itself from the gloom below. It was nearly circular and had skin that was at once black, slimy,
and
pasty. Though it was tiny to Gray, it was three times Takiza's size and almost entirely composed of a giant mouth stuffed with bristling teeth. The razor-sharp needle teeth were so big, it was hard to see how the little monster could close its mouth without wounding itself. Gray tried to swim away but was stuck fast because of the rock inside his harness.

“Look out!” Gray shouted. “Behind you!”

Takiza turned, unconcerned. “Finally!” he snorted. “Have you no concept of time?”

“Ah, no actually,” said the prehistore fish. “Kind of dark where we live.”

“
You know this thing
?” Gray asked.

Someone said, “Hey! You better mind your mouth, or else I'm going to come over there and teach you a lesson!” But the prehistore fish's lips didn't move. In fact, this was a completely different voice. Then Gray saw there was a much tinier dweller, an even uglier fish stuck like a barnacle on the first horrible-looking fish's side. In fact, the smaller ugly fish seemed to be
feeding
on the larger one with its
fangs
.

“Oh, oh! Gross!” Gray pointed with his fin. “You have a nasty on your side! A sea tick or something! You should definitely go to a doctor fish and get that removed!”

The larger horrific-looking fish seemed put off and cocked its head to the side as it addressed Takiza. “Digging in the shallow end of the kelp bed for your apprentices these days?”

“Sadly, this is the age we live in,” Takiza said, shaking his head.

“Sea tick? Did that chowderhead just call me a sea tick?” asked the smaller fish indignantly.

“Calm down, honey,” said the larger ugly fish.

Finally Takiza made some introductions. “This is Briny and her husband, Hank, and I'll thank you to be respectful of them!” the betta said to Gray. “They are humpback anglerfish—”

“Devilfish!” yelled Hank, the small one.

Takiza looked at Briny curiously as Hank's face returned to press into her side, sucking blood like a leech. “I was under the impression it was rude to call you that.”

“It was.” Briny seemed embarrassed. “But we changed our minds. We ladies don't like talking about our humps.”

“Besides, devilfish sounds way cooler!” Hank added.

With that, Takiza turned to Gray and continued, “These
devilfish
live in the depths that you fear to swim. They will lead you to the maredsoo.”

Gray felt awful. “I'm sorry,” he said to the pair. “I—I'm not from around here.”

“We figured that out, jelly-brain!” said Hank.

Takiza shook his head in disapproval. “There is no need to race and prove yourself a bumpkin when meeting someone. They will find out soon enough. Now, lift the stone and follow them!”

“Yes, Shiro,” Gray said, feeling like a total loser. With a heave and upward thrust, the rock slowly rose from the seabed. “Thank you for not making me go alone.”

“Are you speaking again?” Takiza asked Gray. “Lift and swim!”

“He is a strong one,” said Briny. “I'll give him that.”

“That would explain the lack of brains,” Hank told her. “All the big fish are dummies.”

Gray looked to Takiza, who just grinned. “Oh, so you agree?”

“Come on, pup! We have a party to get to after this!” said Hank. He flapped his fins in annoyance but didn't remove his fangs from Briny's slimy side.

Gray looked down at the Maw's chasm. It was dark and terrifying. Gray shuddered, gave the wan sunlight coming from above one last look, and let the weight of the rock pull him down into the blackness.

As he was swallowed by the Dark Blue, Takiza yelled after him. “Make sure to come back, Nulo! Your training is not complete and you gave me your word!”

Gray gulped. He should have said something back, but the darkness had his total attention. Soon the pressure was squeezing him even more. The large rock nestled inside his harness pulled him down, down, down, so the water whooshed past his ears. It grew colder as it got darker. Chills, from the cold and Gray's anxiety, marched down his spine and settled in the pit of his stomach.

“You doing okay?” asked Hank after a time. “You look a little peaked.”

Gray wanted to throw up. A fish the color of black slime was telling him he looked unwell. And he probably did after . . . how long had they been descending? An hour? A day? He couldn't tell in this black vastness.

“Gray?” called out Briny. For the first part of the trip, Briny had held onto the harness with her teeth. Now she could easily swim by his side as the rock was pulling Gray more slowly. His teeth were chattering, so he couldn't answer right away. “Gray, can you hear me? Can I ask you a question?”

“Oh-oh, s-s-sure,” he stuttered. The pressure from the depths was making his head swim. Were they still going down?

“Don't ask him,” said Hank. “You always do this. Makes everyone uncomfortable.”

“It does not,” Briny answered.

“Least put your light on, so he can see you.”

“Oh, you're right! Where are my manners?” A little light brightened and dangled in front of Briny's jagged rows of teeth. It took a conscious effort not to swim toward the light in this darkness. Gray realized it would be very helpful for hunting in this black place.

In the light Gray could see Briny look at him self-consciously—if a fish who looked like a prehistore nightmare could seem self-conscious—before screwing up her courage. “Does my husband make my hump look fat?”

Gray caught a look of panic from Hank before saying through chattering teeth, “N-no, B-b-b-briny. I think Hank looks sl-slimming on you.”

Briny became very pleased.

Hank gave Gray a fins-up and said, “Hey, you're okay! And you'll be glad to know we're nearly halfway there already!”

“We're making very good time,” said Briny matter-of-factly.

Gray's heart began thudding in terror as if it would burst out from his chest entirely. They weren't even
halfway
there yet?