Waterfire Saga, Book Three: Dark Tide: A Deep Blue Novel (8 page)

“They’re already inside the market hall,” she added grimly. “Escaping just got a whole lot trickier.”

And then Becca remembered something. “I have transparensea pebbles!” she whispered. “Vr
ă
ja gave them to me. We can cast them and escape!”

Becca held one out, but Astrid shook her head. “It won’t work on me,” she said.

“Of course it will. They work on everyone!” Becca insisted.

“Not me. Cast one and go, Becca. Hurry!” Astrid urged.

“No. I’m not leaving you.”

Astrid, who was peering out from under the table now, turned back to Becca. Again Becca saw a terrible sadness in her eyes.

“You
should
leave me,” Astrid said.

“Why, because
you
left
us
? Just because
you’re
a lumpsucker doesn’t mean
I
have to be one!” Becca whispered angrily.

“No! Because I can’t help you! Not in the Iele’s caves. Not here. All I can do is get you killed!” Astrid whispered back.

“What are you
talking
about? What do you—”

But Becca’s questions were cut off by more crashes as crates were upended and baskets dumped out. A farmer protested and was beaten. Becca started to shake. The death riders were swimming
through the market, getting closer with every stroke.

“What else have you got in that bag? Anything?” Astrid asked.

Becca could hear fear in her voice now. She rooted through her bag again.

“I have a vial of Moses potion…” she said.

“I have no idea what that is,” said Astrid.

“Neither do I. That’s it…no, wait! There’s this…” She pulled out a large sea urchin shell. It was packed with squid ink and sealed with kelp paste.
Vr
ă
ja had given it to her along with the transparensea pebbles and the Moses potion.

Astrid’s eyes lit up. “An ink bomb!
Perfect!
” she whispered as she took it from Becca. She peered out from under the table again. “I’m going to draw the
death riders away from the door. Stay here until the bomb goes off, no matter what you hear me say. Then cast the pearl and swim for the door. Ready?”

Becca wasn’t, but she nodded anyway.

Astrid took a deep breath. She swam out of her hiding place and along the floor. When she reached the back of the hall, she rose over the stalls.

“Hey! I surrender, okay?” she shouted. “Leave these mer alone!” Her hands were raised, but she’d tucked them behind her head to hide the ink bomb.

Becca watched from under the table, her heart in her throat, as the death riders advanced on Astrid.

“Where’s the other one?” their sergeant shouted.

“What other one?” Astrid asked, affecting a confused look.

“The other mermaid! We know she’s here!”

Astrid shifted her eyes to the ceiling. “Hurry, Becca! Swim!” she shouted.

Understanding dawned across the sergeant’s face. “She cast a transparensea pearl!” he shouted. “She’s up by the ceiling and heading for the door! Don’t let
her out!”

Becca stayed put, remembering Astrid’s instructions not to move until the bomb went off. The death riders hovering in the doorway swam toward the ceiling, spearguns drawn.

That’s when Astrid struck. She hurled the ink bomb to the floor with all her might. It exploded with a deafening bang, spreading a thick, choking cloud of squid ink through the hall.

Astrid dove to the floor and raced to the exit, streaking past Becca. Becca was on her tail instantly, following her as she zipped past stalls, crates, and frightened merfolk.

It was as dark as night inside the hall now, but the ink cloud hadn’t drifted all the way down to the ground yet. Becca could just make out where she was going. Astrid veered left, then
right, and then the doorway came into view. She put on a burst of speed and streaked through it. Becca was right behind her. She was almost out when a pair of rough hands grabbed her. She and the
death rider tumbled out of the doorway together. In her frightened state, she’d fogotten to cast the transparensea pebble.

“Where are you going? No one leaves!” he barked at her. His eyes roved over her face; they took in her red hair. “It’s
you
!” he said.

“Let me go!” Becca said, struggling to break free.

But the death rider only tightened his grip. He opened his mouth to shout for help…and never saw the punch coming.

Astrid slugged him so hard he was out before he even hit the ground.

Becca, wide-eyed, looked from the unconscious merman to Astrid, but she was already swimming back to the market hall’s doors.

“Give me a hand!” she shouted, swinging one closed.

Becca grabbed the other door and slammed it shut.

Each door had a curved iron handle on it. Astrid unbuckled the sharkskin belt she was wearing, looped it through the handles, and knotted it tightly. A split second later, both mermaids heard
thumps and yells as the death riders tried to pound their way out.

“That belt won’t hold forever,” Astrid said, backing away. “Come on, Becca, let’s go.”

Becca hesitated. This wasn’t part of her plan. Only moments ago, she’d been so angry at Astrid, she’d refused to even swim out of the village with her.

I don’t trust her,
Becca said to herself.
I don’t even
like
her. She’s difficult and rude…

…and brave,
a voice inside her countered—a voice that always pointed out things that Becca wished it wouldn’t.
She just saved you from being captured.

“Look, Becca, stay here if you want, but I’m going,” Astrid said, eyeing the doors. The pounding on the other side of them was getting louder. Villagers were starting to
gather.

“What happened?” one of them asked. “What’s going on?”

Becca gave Astrid a nod. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The two mermaids took off, streaking down the main current and into the open water, leaving the death riders behind them.

A
LEAGUE OUT OF THE VILLAGE, the flat seafloor gave way to the foothills of the Bermuda Rise, a collection of seamounts. Becca and Astrid found a
rocky overhang and swooped down to investigate it. Underneath was a spacious sea cave. Once inside, they’d be invisible to anyone swimming above.

“Wait here,” Astrid instructed Becca. She swam in first, her sword out. “All clear!” she called out after a minute.

Becca joined her and cast an illuminata spell to light the dark cave. Then she put her traveling case down, opened it, and dug inside for the sea flax blanket she’d brought with her. It
would make a good tablecloth. She snapped the blanket open and was just about to spread it out when she noticed that the cave’s floor was covered with silt.

“Astrid, would you mind cleaning the silt away?” Becca asked. “Otherwise it’ll get into our lunch.”

“Sure,” Astrid said, and she started sweeping the silt away with her tail fins.

That’s odd,
Becca thought. Most mer would toss off a quick canta prax spell to whirl the silt away. Astrid’s method was time-consuming and made the water in the cave cloudy.
When it finally cleared, Becca spread her blanket out.

Astrid dug in her pack and set out the food she’d bought. In addition to the squid eggs, she had a ripe marsh melon, oysters, and some silt cherries. Then she sat down.

Becca awkwardly pulled the water apples and crab eggs she’d bought out of her own pack and placed them on the blanket, embarrassed that they were all she had to contribute.

“Oh, wow, water apples. My favorite,” Astrid said, picking one up and biting into it.

Becca knew it wasn’t true. If they were Astrid’s favorite, she would’ve bought some. But still, it was a nice thing to say. And—coming from Astrid—a surprising
one.

“Have some squid eggs,” Astrid said, offering a clump to Becca.

Becca broke off an egg sac and popped it into her mouth. “Mmm.
So
good,” she said, sitting down across from Astrid.

“Eat tons. I bought too much and don’t want to carry it. I shouldn’t shop when I’m hungry,” said Astrid, still munching on the apple.

Becca doubted
that
was true, either. She had the feeling that Astrid knew she didn’t have much money and was being careful not to make her feel bad about it.

Becca frowned, perplexed. This considerate Astrid and the Astrid who’d risked her own safety to rescue Becca from the death riders didn’t square with the Astrid whom Becca had met in
the Iele’s caves. Becca wondered if she’d misjudged her. Well, whether she had or hadn’t, she definitely owed her a thank-you.

“Hey, Astrid…”

“Mmm?” Astrid replied, swallowing a bite of apple.

“Thanks for getting me out of the market. I’m really grateful to you.”

Astrid gave her a rueful smile. “You shouldn’t be. I nearly got you captured.”

“What do you mean?” asked Becca, puzzled.

“If it wasn’t for me, you could’ve gotten out right away. All you had to do was cast your transparensea pebble.”

Becca remembered how Astrid had refused the pebble. “I still don’t understand why you wouldn’t.”

Astrid looked away. “Like I said, they don’t work on me.” Her brusque tone was back.

“But—”

“Tell me about the Iele,” said Astrid, changing the subject. “What happened? Why aren’t you still with them?”

Becca saw that Astrid wasn’t going to answer her question, so she answered Astrid’s instead. She told her how Markus Traho and his troops had found the Iele’s cave, and that
she, Sera, Ling, Ava, and Neela had narrowly escaped by diving into a mirror that Vr
ă
ja kept in the Incantarium.

“So
that’s
how you ended up in North Atlantica so quickly,” Astrid said. “I was wondering how you caught up. It’s taken me weeks to swim this
far.”

“Vadus was a creepy place. I was scared I’d run into the mirror lord the whole time, but he must’ve been busy elsewhere. A couple of vitrina showed me a way out…after I gave
them about a thousand compliments,” Becca said, shivering at the memory of the quicksilver world.

“What about Vr
ă
ja? Did she escape, too?” Astrid asked.

“I wish I knew,” Becca replied. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about ever since I left. I hope to gods she’s all right. The others, too. I haven’t heard
anything for so long. I’ve tried to convoca them, but I haven’t had any luck. Which is really worrying. My magic’s grown stronger so I ought to be able to do it.”

Astrid had picked up an egg sac. She lowered it again. “Your magic grew stronger? Really? How?” she asked, clearly curious.

“We did a bloodbind before we escaped,” Becca explained. “Ever since, I’ve been able to understand languages I’ve never been able to speak, cast awesome
illuminatas, and do lots of other spells, too. I think it’s because I have some of the others’ blood in me now.”

“Wow. That’s really cool,” Astrid said, a wistful note in her voice.

“Yeah, it is. But if my magic’s strong enough to do a decent convoca, why can’t I reach the others? What if it’s because they can’t be reached? Because
they’ve been captured or…or worse,” Becca said, her voice fraught with concern.

“Lots of things affect songcasting, Becca. The tides. The moon. The presence or absence of whales. Everyone knows that.”

Becca nodded, unconvinced. She worried about her four friends constantly.

Astrid must’ve seen her feelings on her face, because she said, “They’re smart, Becca. Tough, too. They made it all the way to the River Olt. They can make it home.”

“You almost sound as if you like them,” Becca said, a reproachful note in her voice. She still didn’t understand why Astrid had left the Iele’s caves, and she still felt
angry about it.

“I
do
like them,” Astrid replied. “I like you, too.”

“Then why didn’t you stay with us?” Becca demanded.

“Because.”

Becca snorted. “
Because?
That’s so weak, Astrid. What’s the real reason?”

“Because I couldn’t, all right? Because things are really complicated,” Astrid said testily.

Becca held her hands up. “Okay, fine. Don’t tell me. I really don’t care.”

Only a few minutes ago she thought she might’ve misjudged Astrid. Now she saw that she hadn’t. The merl was just as obnoxious as ever.

An awkward silence descended. Becca reached for a cherry. As she did, she saw something crawling on the marsh melon.

“Ugh. Crabs. They’ve smelled the food,” she said.

A small army of the creatures had invaded the cave. Some were attacking the squid eggs. Others were carrying off a water apple. Becca scolded them, but they paid no attention. She brushed the
one crab off the melon, but a dozen more were scuttling toward the cherries.

“They’re getting everywhere!” she exclaimed, picking up the cherries. “Astrid, can you help me shoo them away?”

Astrid reached for her scabbard, took her sword out, and brandished it. “I think I’ll have some nice, fresh crabmeat with my melon,” she said loudly. The creatures
must’ve understood Mermish, for they scattered.

Again, Becca was puzzled by Astrid’s decision not to use magic.
Why didn’t she cast a commoveo spell?
she wondered as she put the cherries back down on the blanket. She
didn’t understand Astrid’s weirdness at all.