Waterfire Saga, Book Three: Dark Tide: A Deep Blue Novel (18 page)

S
WIMMING WITH HER head down through the Hall of Elders, Astrid almost didn’t see Rylka and Tauno until it was too late. They had just rounded
a bend in the corridor and were coming toward her. Their heads were lowered, too; they were deep in conversation.

Astrid panicked. Tauno was the very last mer she wanted to see right now, and Rylka was a close second. Desperate to avoid them, she ducked behind one of the statues in the hall and hunched
down. Her hair plumed out around her. She twisted it together and stuffed it down the back of her vest. As they drew nearer, she made herself as small as she could, hoping they would quickly pass
by.

But they didn’t. Rylka stopped Tauno right in front of the statue Astrid was hiding behind. Astrid could see them both. Rylka was wearing her black commodora’s jacket, with its
crossed polar bear claws at the collar. She wore her dark blond hair cropped close to her head, as most Ondalinian soldiers did. Her amber eyes were piercing. Tauno’s coloring was the same as
his mother’s. Three vertical orca teeth at his collar indicated his major’s rank. He was tall and broad-shouldered. His face was broad and handsome—or it would have been, if not
for his habitual sneer.

Astrid had grown up with him. He’d been the sort of mer-boy who liked to hide an elderly merman’s glasses. Tie shells to the tail of a dogfish. Make fun of a mermaid who stuttered.
He was not the sort of merboy she was going to marry.

Rylka straightened her son’s collar now. She brushed at his jacket. “You smell like a hippokamp. There’s silt all over you,” she said disapprovingly.

“What do you expect, Rylka? I just got back from maneuvers,” Tauno said sullenly.

“The admiral himself has summoned you. At least fasten your jacket,” Rylka scolded, working a rounded piece of whalebone through a buttonhole.

“Why
did
he summon me? The messenger wouldn’t tell me.”

Rylka glanced up and down the hall, making sure they were alone, then she said, “Because he wants you to marry his daughter.”

Tauno laughed in disbelief.
“Astrid?”

“Does Kolfinn have another daughter I’m not aware of?”

“Holy, silt…you’re
serious.
” Tauno held up his hands and took a stroke backward. “Forget it, Rylka. I’m not marrying her. She’s a freaky
freakin’ freak!”

You’re quite the wordsmith, Tauno. In addition to your many other wonderful qualities,
Astrid said to herself.

“You
will
marry her,” Rylka insisted.

“I won’t. I’m out of here,” Tauno said, turning to swim back down the corridor.

Looks like my father was wrong,
Astrid thought bitterly. No one
wants me. Not even Tauno.

“Move a fin, and I’ll have your sorry tail thrown into the brig.” Rylka’s voice was quiet and low, and all the more menacing for it.

Tauno faced her. “You would, wouldn’t you? You’d lock up your own son.”

“I’d court-martial
any
soldier who disobeyed an order,” Rylka said.

“Is that what this is? I’m being
ordered
to marry Astrid? By Kolfinn?”

“Kolfinn will ask you.
I’m
the one ordering you.”

Tauno swore. He shook his head angrily.

“Stop arguing with me for five seconds and
listen,
Tauno. Things are about to change. For Ondalina. For all of us,” said Rylka.

Tauno’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Portia Volnero is traveling to the Citadel. Kolfinn will be dead by the time she arrives. She’s going to offer Ragnar a deal.”

“How do
you
know what Portia’s going to do?” Tauno asked.

“Because I’ve been in contact with her. She approached me months ago. I know the terms of her deal. She’s going to tell Ragnar that Ondalina’s attack on Miromara was an
act of war and that he must surrender. Either he accepts Lucia Volnero as the new ruler of Ondalina or Miromara obliterates our entire realm. I will advise Ragnar to accept her terms.”

Astrid stifled a gasp. Kolfinn believed Rylka was loyal to him, but she’d been secretly allying herself with Portia Volnero!

Tauno snorted. “That doesn’t sound like much of a deal.”

“For Ragnar, no,” Rylka allowed. “For you, it could be a very good deal.”

“How so?”

“Ragnar will never accept Portia’s offer. He’ll insist that Ondalina didn’t attack Miromara, and then he’ll fight because he’s his father’s son. During
the ensuing battle, he’ll be killed.”

“You don’t know that,” Tauno said.

“Yes, I do. Because I’ll see to it,” Rylka said. “Friendly fire and enemy fire can be so difficult to tell apart.”

Astrid started to tremble. She leaned against the statue to steady herself, unable to believe what she’d just heard—Rylka plotting to
murder
Ragnar, Astrid’s own
brother.

“Ragnar has no sons yet, so when he dies, Astrid will become admiral,” Rylka continued. “However, shortly after she’s sworn in, she’ll have a hunting accident. So
tragic. But everyone knows how dangerous hunting is, and you—her faithful husband—warned her to be careful
so
many times.”

Tauno’s eyes lit up. “And then
I
become admiral,” he said excitedly.

“Exactly,” Rylka purred.

A violent fury rose in Astrid. Rylka was going to murder her and Ragnar, and hand Ondalina to Portia Volnero—all to make her own son admiral! It was all she could do not to rush out and
confront them both. But she stopped herself. They weren’t finished talking and she wanted to hear everything they had to say.

“Astrid will leave behind no children—it was too early in the marriage,” Rylka continued. “And when an admiral has no heirs, the admiralship passes to a spouse, as
decreed by Ondalinian law. Then you can marry whomever you like and rule Ondalina as a vassal of Miromara,” she said, sounding quite pleased with herself.

How clever you are,
Astrid thought.
You have it all figured out, don’t you?

Tauno’s expression darkened. “I don’t like the vassal part,” he said. “Ondalina is nobody’s vassal.”

“Ondalina has no choice,” said Rylka. “If we resist, our people will be slaughtered, our cities and towns destroyed—and for what? Miromara will win in the end. We’d
be fools to decline Portia’s offer.”

You’re a fool to believe a word Portia says,
Astrid thought.

She’d seen the raided villages. She’d listened to Sera explain where the stolen merfolk had been taken—and why. And she knew that as soon as Ondalina capitulated, its mer, too,
would be herded into prison camps and forced to search for the talismans.

“Come on, Tauno,” Rylka said, patting him on the chest, “it’s time to grant Kolfinn’s dying wish.”

“Wait, Rylka…”

Rylka raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.

“How can you be so sure that Kolfinn’s dying?” Tauno asked. “He rallied before; he might do so again. Especially now that we’ve caught Desiderio. He’s the one
who sent assassins to poison Kolfinn.”

Rylka reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a tiny glass vial. Its liquid contents were an inky blue. “Somehow, I don’t think Kolfinn will rally,” she said.

“What is that?” Tauno asked.

“Poison derived from the Medusa anemone. From the beginning, Kolfinn suspected that Miromara had a hand in his poisoning. He was half right. Portia supplied the poison. The assassin,
however”—she paused to smile—“was home-grown.”

Astrid was out of her hiding place in an instant, driven by an uncontrollable rage. Her sword was in her hand.

All this time Rylka had insisted that the Miromarans had poisoned Kolfinn, but it was
she
—Kolfinn’s own commodora—who’d done it, a mermaid sworn to protect
him.

“Traitor!” Astrid shouted. “My father trusted you!” She swung the flat of her sword into Rylka’s arm as hard as she could, knocking the vial out of her hand. Astrid
lunged for it. Her fingers closed around it. “How
could
you? I just saw him. He told me you were loyal to him!” she spat, gripping the vial with one hand, keeping her sword
trained on Rylka and Tauno with the other.

“Look out, Astrid!” Rylka shouted, her eyes on the vial.

Astrid followed her gaze and saw that what she thought was a vial was actually a poisonous sea krait writhing in her fist. It bared its fangs. Instinctively, Astrid dropped the venomous creature
before it could strike.

She realized too late that it was only an illusio spell. Rylka had enchanted the vial so it would look like a deadly snake to anyone who snatched it from her. Astrid lunged for the vial, taking
her attention off Tauno for a split second. Which was all he needed.

A seasoned fighter, Tauno twisted his powerful tail around and slammed it into Astrid’s back, knocking the sword out of her hand. Before she’d even recovered from the blow he’d
grabbed her arms. She tried to break free, but Tauno shook her so hard, he dazed her.

“Good work, Tauno!” Rylka said. “Keep her there. I’m going to fetch a guard.”

“But she’ll tell them what she heard!” Tauno protested. “She’ll tell them you poisoned Kolfinn.”

“She won’t get the chance. She just said she was with her father. I’ll tell the guards that we saw her come out of his room with something in her hand. We were suspicious, so
we followed her and asked what it was. She refused to show it to us. She tried to put it in her satchel, but dropped it instead. I grabbed it and knew immediately that it was poison.”

“No!” Astrid shouted, trying to shake Tauno off.

Rylka smiled her cold killer’s smile. “I’ll have to admit I was wrong. How I hate that,” she said. “It
wasn’t
a Miromaran assassin who poisoned
Kolfinn. It was his own daughter. She fed him the Medusa venom weeks ago, but didn’t give him enough to kill him. So tonight she tried to finish the job.”

Rylka picked up the vial. As she started down the hall, bellowing for Kolfinn’s guards, Astrid once again tried to break free.

“Stop it or I’ll break your arms,” Tauno threatened.

Astrid knew she had to escape. She had to get to her father. If Rylka succeeded with her lie, the guards would lock Astrid up. And then Rylka would be free to administer the fatal dose. But
Tauno’s grip was brutal. Astrid felt like she was caught in a polar bear’s jaws.

A polar bear.

Astrid heard her father’s voice in her head. She was a child again and he was soothing her after he’d rescued her from the mother bear.

If a bear ever gets hold of you, don’t struggle, Astrid. Go limp in its jaws. Make it think you’re dead. It’ll stop shaking you and relax its grip. When it does,
you’ve got a weapon: surprise. Use it.

If surprise works on a polar bear, it’ll work on Tauno,
Astrid thought.
He’s ten times stupider.

Astrid went limp. She hung her head and pretended to cry. Tauno, used to bullying mer into submission, must’ve figured she’d given up. He relaxed his grip.

An instant later, using Tauno’s arms for leverage, Astrid pushed off the floor with her strong tail, flipped up and over in the water, and brought her tail fins crashing down on his
head.

Tauno gave a surprised grunt of pain. He let go of her. Astrid shot off down the hallway.

He bellowed for Rylka. After a few seconds, she rejoined him and they both chased after Astrid. Within moments, they’d gained on her.

“Tackle her, Tauno, and make sure she doesn’t get up again!” Rylka shouted.

Astrid put on a desperate burst of speed. Up ahead, only about ten yards away, the hallway split into three. The center part continued on to her family’s apartments. The tunnel to the left
led to the Hall of Justice, and the one on the right led to the dungeons. Two soldiers were stationed at the fork.

“Guards! Stop her!” Rylka shouted. “She tried to murder the admiral!
Stop her!
”

The guards snapped into action. They blocked the center passage, obviously thinking Astrid would make for home. She knew she had only one chance to evade capture. She feinted left. Both guards
moved to intercept her. A split second later, she swerved sharply to the right and swam down the passageway to the dungeons, her black-and-white tail a blur in the water. Astrid, fit and swift from
her trip to the River Olt, spiraled through the hallway at a dizzying speed, putting distance between herself and her pursuers.

Her heart was pounding. Her muscles were straining. Her lungs were working to pull water in and push it out again, giving her the oxygen she needed to keep moving.

She didn’t know what she would do when she got to the dungeons. All she knew was that she was swimming.

For her life.

And her father’s.

T
HE PASSAGEWAY to Ondalina’s dungeons plunged deep into the base of the Citadel.

The waters grew colder. The ice became dark and opaque. There were few lava globes to light Astrid’s way; they were too costly to be squandered on prisoners.

Astrid hoped to lose her pursuers in the dungeons’ mazelike tunnels. She and Ragnar used to swim down here on dares when they were little. They never got farther than the gate—the
guard wouldn’t let them through it. She’d looked through the bars, though, and knew that the single passageway split just beyond them. She’d been told that countless smaller
corridors—all lined with cells—snaked off the main passageways and there was an exit at the other end of the dungeons. With any luck, she could reach it before Rylka and Tauno caught up
to her.