Page 62 of The Princess of Nothing
The rocking motion swirled my stomach. I leaned forward in my chair, placing my hands on my knees.
Cedric chimed in. “Which is why we are so grateful you sailed us away, no questions asked.”
“Anything for old friends.”
I grinned on his plural. He thought of me as one too. “As you can see, our only real option is to go to Lepidus. Blaise wrote to me when I was in Berovia. He’s scared. Things are happening to him too. His kingdom. They’re being attacked. Attempts have been made to weaken him, perhaps even kill him with the Sword of Impervius.”
Cedric’s forehead wrinkled. “You left that part out.”
“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to mention it while we were running for our lives,” I said, chastising him in reply.
Aquarius tensed as the atmosphere darkened. Rain pattered overhead the cabin, followed by crashing thunder. “We’re crossing over.”
Bella stood, cautiously looking at the door. “We’ve been lucky to avoid the mer, but they always seem to be around when you’re on board.”
“There might be a reason for that,” I mentioned.
Cedric placed his hand on mine. “What?”
“The mer spared my life, twice. I don’t know why.”
Bella tossed her red, poker-straight hair over her shoulder. “I hear something.”
Silence befell the cabin, until a scream sent us all sprinting to the stairs. We climbed them, narrowly not falling out onto the deck. Catching myself on a wood rail, I sucked in a deep breath. Bella was behind me, and Cedric on Aquarius’s heels.
“NO!” Aquarius glowered across the deck as a member of his crew was dragged overboard by a mer with long talons and dark eyes. Aquarius’s sandy-brown hair blew in the wind. It now reached around his ears.
As I diverted my attention to the sea, my breath hitched. Scaly tails ripped through the surface, breaking the waves hurdling toward the ship. Steel-color scales scattered the moonlight. It was prime hunting time.
I gripped my fingers into splintered wood, peering over the edge to see the faces of the mer. I wondered once again, as I had on many occasions, why I had been spared death twice. They were unforgiving, vicious predators, so mercy was out of the question.
“Get away from there! Are you crazy?” Cedric shouted over the rain. The mer had some influence over the tides and used them to attempt to discourse ships. “You’ll be killed.”
“I have to know the truth!” I shouted back, although he didn’t understand. I knew what we needed to do. Perhaps it would be my most dangerous task yet. I had to talk to one of them.
I braced myself, grabbing my staff with both hands and splintering the ash wood in places. I curled my fingers around the bone at the top, which made up the handle. This one was more powerful than my first. It still felt unfamiliar in my hands. I’d spent little time with it before it was taken from me by Xenos. Still, I was grateful for Morgana making me a replacement. Magic wielders were hard to come by, and from what I saw in the streets of Magaelor, not everyone was so lucky to have one.
Morgana. Her face, her smile, flashed across my memory before the ugly, twisted face of a merwoman forced the thought away.
Waves lapped around the creature’s arms and torso. It didn’t have any hair, like the others. She used her talons to climb up the bow of the ship. My heart pounded as loud as the rain droplets that hammered down creating crown-shaped splashes before becoming one with the briny, dark blue.
She snarled when she reached the top. Others were not far behind. The man who’d been snatched was already under the surface, probably nearing their underwater caves by now.
I moved away from the edge, brandishing my staff. I held my breath when she reached the wood rail. Her eyes focused on mine. Her pupils were slits, illuminated by a spray of pale light.
Her breaths rattled as she struggled to make the change to breathing above water.
Closing my eyes, I was ready this time. It would require all my energy, but I couldn’t revert to using sacrificial magic, which would make easy prey of her. I’d made too many mistakes and was nervous about what the last spell would have cost me if Morgana hadn’t helped.
Channeling my ancestors, I steadied my breathing by gulping in deep, long inhales. My shaking hands calmed. As I envisioned the power of those who came before, a mosaic of purple, white, and yellow light flooded out of the top of my staff.“Obstupefacio magna!”I shouted, charging a paralyzing magic through the light.
The spell hit the creature square in the chest. She flopped onto the slippery deck, her tail batting against the panels.
I shouted a second spell I’d learned from Morgana that would bind a creature.“Alliges duplicia viventem.”I pointed my staff at the low-hanging ropes of a mast. The spell coiled around the twisted nylon and wrapped around the mermaid.
I found shouting the spell’s words aloud put more power behind the magic.
“Not too close!” I shouted as Cedric approached the creature.
