Page 106 of Beneath the Haunting Sea

The wind wrapped around her and she caught the sudden aroma of roses and fire,deep earth and sweet rain. “What is that?”

“The Tree,” said the Whale. “We are very close.”

Two days later, Talia saw it.

At first it was nothing but a tiny white scar in the distance, rising out of the sea, but it still made her heart pound and her mouth go dry. The Immortal Tree, formed at the beginning of all things—it wasreal.

The Tree’s scent grew wilder and stronger as the Whale swamcloser, until Talia felt almost drunk with it. She had to remind herself to breathe, in and out, in and out.

Wen flew lower in the sky, just a few feet above her; she could feel the rush of air from his wings and looked up to find him watching her. She wished again that he was safe at home, far away from here. Far away from her.

But his presence gave her courage.

The Tree loomed near, bone-whitein the sun, its leafless branches clawing some forty feet up into the sky. Talia could feel its strength, and the immensity of its age. Its trunk was nicked with countless scars, and she held tight to the leather knapsack, wondering which one her splinter had come from.

Strong sorrow gripped her. The Tree wasn’t meant to be here, stripped of its glory and original purpose. This was all wrong.

And then she saw the serpents, lunging toward her through the sea, their bodies rising and falling in sinuous arcs, fins flashing green.

“Don’t be afraid,” came the Whale’s steady voice beneath her.

The serpents slammed into his side and one of them sprang up at her, roaring, its mouth open wide, its teeth as long as spearheads. She screamed and tried to kick at it, but the serpent latched ontoher leg, biting deep. White-hot agony burst behind her eyes.

She scrabbled in the knapsack, seizing hold of the Star-light. “Let go!” she cried through gritted teeth. “By the power of the Star I command you to let me go!”

The serpent shrank away, teeth ripping out of her leg, and she screamed again, the pain unbearable.

And then Wen was there, in a rush of white wings, diving straight at theserpent. The sea-snake turned on him, lunging with its knife-blade teeth.

“Wen!” Talia shrieked, but he jerked himself up into the air—just missing the serpent’s jaws.

The serpents turned to the Whale, leaping at him, tearing at his skin. The Whale rammed his body sideways and shook them back into the sea. “Go, daughter of Endain. It is time.”

She leapt into the water, the knapsack slappingagainst her hip, and swam toward the Tree.

Behind her, the Whale bellowed in anger and pain, the serpents screeched with the noise of a thousand tormented souls.

But she couldn’t turn back.

Wen’s claws dug into her shoulder, sudden and sharp, and his wings whirred as he half-lifted her out of the sea.

“Wen!” she cried, trying to wrench out of his grasp. “You have to let me go. You have tolet me do this!”

The waves crashed hard and cold over both of them. He didn’t let go.

She looked back at the Whale and the serpents, who were locked in an impossible battle, the serpents sinking their shining teeth into the Whale’s sides, the Whale violently twisting his great body and shaking them off, lashing them hard with his tail. The Whale was strong but the serpents were lithe, comingat him from every side.

The Whale’s bellowing cries and the serpents’ screams echoed all around her until it seemed the world would crack in half because of the noise.

And then the Whale started singing.

He sang as the serpents wailed and flung themselves at him with renewed fury.

He sang as they stripped away his flesh and the sea ran red with his blood.

His voice overpowered theirs, buthe was not winning the battle.

“Whale!” Talia screamed, tears running down her face.

---