Chapter 13
i leap to the side, grabbing the blade, and surge up with it held in my fist. The creature shrieks then sniffs the air, eyes darting back and forth.
‘Where are you?’ it says, voice like the hideous grating of claws on granite. ‘Where have you gone?’
Is it … blind? Can this creature not see me?
I wave my arm, keeping the blade poised for attack, but the creature crouches, still sniffing the air.
Its joints are all turned inwards, like an inverted spider with an almost human face, yet it seems bleached of sunlight, as though it lives in the depths of the sea.
I rake my memories for any mention of a being such as this and only find one answer.
Mermaid.
Not quite fish, not quite phantom squid, and not quite siren either. A creature that dwells in the deepest parts of the ocean, where even the light fails to filter down. It doesn’t need sight because its other senses –
It snaps its head to me. ‘Found you.’
– are excellent.
Vaulting over the table, it misses me by inches, cursing and scrambling like a spider over the floor.
I scoop up the treasure box and turn just as the creature barrels into me, jaws gnashing.
I fend it off with the blade, swiping at its chest, and it shrieks, cowering back.
Breathing deeply, panic blooming inside me, I look to see if I can make it to the door.
I hear a thump outside, more footsteps in the corridor, then a gasp of horror before another creature shrieks in glee.
There is more than one mermaid aboard and, from the sound of the footsteps, at least two other contenders are seeking treasure elsewhere on the ship. I have to escape while I can.
‘Evil human, nasty, all of you,’ the creature says, drawing my focus to it as its pale eyes rake back and forth. Black blood clots across its chest where I swiped out with my blade, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed the creature down. In fact, the wound has already clotted.
I don’t dare talk, barely dare to breathe, as it sniffs the air, searching again for me.
Carefully, one tread at a time, I wend my way back to the door, blade outstretched in my shaking fist. I need to time this right, when I cannot hear the others in the narrow corridor outside. When I can safely make a dash for it.
‘You think there aren’t more out there, waiting?’ the mermaid taunts. ‘They brought us all to the arena, lured us with meat and blood … but you’re fresher; I can smell it. Human, and yet … not entirely.’
‘What you can scent in my blood will be the death of you if you cross me again,’ I hiss, reaching the door.
The mermaid lunges, but I’m faster. When it’s a handbreadth away, when I can smell its foul breath, I strike.
My blade crunches past rows of teeth, through bone and blood and flesh, lodging in the back of its skull with a dull thud.
It twitches horribly, its dark blood oozing down my arm as I lower it to the ground and pull its carcass loose from the blade.
Tremors racking my limbs, I blink quickly, gathering myself, and wipe the blade down my thigh.
The creature’s blood still clings to my arm and I suppress a shudder, opening the door.
I leave it alone, dead and hungry, and rush back through the ship on nimble feet.
I hear others still onboard, but manage to avoid them.
If there are more of those creatures in the water, I need to return to Kell.
He is without a weapon, a perfect target.
At the side of the ship, I find Sember and Heath panting, covered in blood. Sember wipes a hand over her forehead and I see two mermaids floating behind her in the water. Dead. ‘You found treasure?’
‘I did,’ I say, quickly opening the treasure chest tucked under my arm.
Releasing the clasp, I find a string of pearls and a brooch, glittering with gems. I toss the treasure box to her with the brooch inside and she catches it deftly, tucking it under her own arm.
Then I wind the pearls round my wrist, tying them off securely. ‘Just creature or human as well?’
‘Creature blood,’ she breathes as Heath ducks, an arrow flying to embed itself in the wood behind his head. ‘I smell like a fish market.’
‘But the other contenders are not going to like losing,’ Heath adds. ‘We need to leave. Carefully.’
I stride forward, ducking down beside the entrance, and try not to look too closely at the two dead mermaids floating on the eddying waves.
The contenders from the Spines are nocking arrows, crouched on a rock, waiting for us to escape.
And the others … they’re either engaged in their own battles or searching for treasure in the bowels of the ship.
I bite my lip, searching swiftly for Kell, and relief floods me as I catch sight of him still clinging to the rocks on the opposite wall of the arena. Somehow, he hasn’t been hunted. Yet.
‘Fey and Soturi are close by, there are more creatures in the water and at least three of the others fighting,’ I rattle off quickly, turning to Sember and Heath. ‘I’ll cover you both. You get back to your circle.’
They glance at each other. ‘And what about you?’ Sember asks.
I pinch my lips together, then smile. ‘I keep my word; I save myself. Get to your circle and claim your victory. I’ll get to my circle just after you. You can’t liberate Agnes if you’re dead now, can you?’
Without waiting for their answer, I bolt over the side of the ship and dive into the waiting water.
Beneath the surface, there are eyes everywhere.
Pale, glowing, waiting. I catch a glint of scales, of a huge, yawning maw, before the waves churn and I lose sight of it.
But in that moment, in that glimpse, I piece together what it is, what they have dragged here from the sea for the crowd’s entertainment.
The morgawr.
Sea serpent, hunter of humans. It is the cursed creature on every sailor’s tongue.
They whisper of this monster with haunted eyes, this creature of the Southern Ocean, where no ship dares sail any more.
I grit my teeth, cursing the ruling council for their arrogance, their stupidity in bringing it into the heart of Arnhem. The morgawr is death.
All it wants is to feast.
Those pale eyes reappear, rearranged like a scatter of dice, like points of reference on an ever-changing map.
It’s hungry, but I’m too fast to be caught.
Darting like a fish, like the siren I am, I pierce the water like a needle, finding the rock I seek.
Emerging, I grip an ankle, raking it towards me with a hissing breath.
Soturi, the male contender from the Spines yells out, but my blade is already at his throat.
‘You’ve already lost out on first place. Lower the bows and get back to your circle or you’ll be food for the morgawr.’
Fey blinks down at us, calculating their odds if she doesn’t do as I say, then carefully drops her bow.
I catch a flash at her throat and see she has found a piece of treasure, a necklace.
She must have been trying to pick a few of us off to better their odds in the future Trials instead of claiming just this one as a victory.
‘The morgawr? You’re certain? They brought that here? ’
I glance up at her, then back at Soturi before jerking my chin. ‘Leave now, don’t shoot the Skylan contenders and I’ll swim with you. Deal?’
Fey spits on the ground in frustration but says, ‘Deal.’
I cover them, swimming with my gaze locked on those scattered eyes, searching for the flash of scales, for the telltale sign of the true monster and its jaws.
They reach the rocky side of the arena and I don’t wait for them to pull themselves up.
Scanning the waves, I see Sember and Heath, just a short length from their circle.
But my relief is short-lived as the sea grows still around them.
I haul in a breath, ready to scream a warning, when the morgawr crashes to the surface, revealing a dark, fanged mouth, slitted eyes, onyx scales, a huge and towering body.
It eyes its prey. But Sember merely turns, as Heath hauls himself out of the water, and stares down the monster as though it is nothing to her.
And smiles.
Between blinks, the spear she holds is a pole and she thrusts it up as the creature’s jaw snaps down to meet her, wedging its mouth open.
I blink again, knowing I must have imagined how the spear of silver seemed to grow and twist in her hand …
but she’s already reached the rock, tossed the ornate box into Heath’s waiting hands and now she’s scaling the side of the arena, hand over fist, to stand beside him in their circle. Victorious.
The morgawr thrashes back and forth, knocking against the sides of the arena and I’m dimly aware of the crowd’s roar, of the churn of the water, as the monster’s tail bucks and smacks the waves.
I take advantage of the chaos and dive, length after length, sliding through the water, heart on fire in my chest. I reach out with my fingertips as I streak past all those pale, watchful eyes, making for the circle.
Then the water sucks me back, a giant crack vibrating through my bones, and I realise the morgawr has snapped that silver pole in two, freeing its jaw, and, worse, its teeth. I swim towards the surface, heart thundering in my chest. Turning back, I find only death.
‘Mira!’ Kell cries, holding out his hand to me, already waiting in our circle, terror limning his features. I throw myself forward, soaring through the water, and find the rock, the rough surface, then Kell’s hand gripping mine as he heaves me up and out of the water.
I fall, dripping wet, into the circle as fangs snap above our heads, stopped by some mighty force protecting the circle, before they can close round us.
‘Oh shit,’ I hiss, scrambling to my feet.
Above us, the morgawr’s jaws drip with blood.
It unleashes a ferocious roar, then slithers under the surface of the water.
I sink back down and press my hands into the solid rock beneath me, closing my eyes until my crashing pulse begins to calm.
I was just seconds away from being its next meal.
‘Did you find any treasure? Are we through?’ Kell asks, crouching beside me.
I nod, holding out my wrist, the pearls clustered in a glowing ring.
‘We’re through. The Skylan contenders won the Trial.
We kept our end of the deal with them. And we are alive,’ I breathe, finally looking up at the crowd, hearing their shouts and screams, the pummelling of voices assaulting my senses. ‘That’s all that matters.’