Melody and Finn crept along the Broken Shells, retracing their swim. If it was true what Bay's message had said, that the army had passed Pramheda, that meant they couldn't be far past the border. Could they possibly reach them by nightfall, if they swam very quickly? As soon as they were past the border, they could swim fast. But they were keeping watch - keeping watch for Zafrina, Otan, Nia, or anyone for that matter.
"Finn?" Melody looked sideways at him.
"Yes, Mel?"
"What if... what if we run into her?"
"I... I don't know." Finn didn't know if she meant Zafrina or Nia, but being faced with either mermaid could be disastrous. Being faced with Nia was guaranteed death after what had happened the other night, while Zafrina, if ordered to, would attack them - she would be near impossible to apprehend. She was a physically strong mermaid, and she didn't need a metal weapon to fight - she wasn't afraid to use her teeth or nails to defend herself. But then, if she did have a weapon, that would be so much worse.
Suddenly, shadows passed across the sand around them. They leapt to the Broken Shells, looking up in fear, before they realized the shadows were too far overhead for them to be seen. Melody then realized that the shadows of three merpeople were on the surface, swimming around a roughly oval shape. The merfolk swam under and around it, and from far below, Melody could tell that they were purposefully knocking against it, and she heard laughter and mockery from one voice only. She stiffened, recognizing the sound of Ontari. What were they doing?
"What do you suppose...?" Melody saw some rock stacks nearby, going to the surface. She started towards it, curious. Finn frowned, but then, when he spotted the scene taking place on the surface, he tried to stop her.
"Melody, don't... what are you doing? Melody!" Ignoring Finn's protests, Melody used the rock stack as a cover, swimming straight upwards. Surfacing, Melody peered around the rock, while Finn emerged moments later. "Melody, we can't waste time! We have to -" Finn's mouth snapped shut, as he saw what was going on. Horror and disgust flowed through Melody as she witnessed the scene before her.
Humans crowded in a small boat - maybe they were shipwreck survivors, for their clothes were tattered and dirty. The humans, men and women, were crammed into the boat, crying out in terror as the three merfolk - all mermaids - taunted them, ramming against their precious raft, shoving and pulling it this way and that. Again, Melody noticed that the only one talking or taunting was Ontari, and it was only when she told the other two to join in that the other voices were heard. Melody's heart twisted with fear, as she realized that the other two mermaids had tell-tale mechanical movements - they moved too fast for her to see their glassy eyes.
One man stood bravely at the edge of the boat side, one of the oars in hand - he waved it threateningly at Ontari, who nimbly swam out of its reach. "Too slow, human!" She gloated, with heavy mockery. Her eyes snapped to a mermaid, who was on the other side of the boat, out of Melody's sight. "You! Do what we discussed!" The mermaid, who had a dark pink tail, seized the oar from the other side of the boat, tossing it away. The male human with the remaining oar looked frantically between the mermaids.
"Please, we're begging you all! Leave us alone, we have no quarrel with your people!" The man protested, eyes flickering from the merpeople to his human companions, who clung to one another in fear. Suddenly, Ontari shouted an order at the other mermaid. The mermaid, who moved too fast for Melody to see her face, seized the oar in his hand, yanking hard. The man went flying into the water with a screech, and a woman on the boat screamed.
"William!" She shrieked, as the mermaid who had pulled the man overboard suddenly disappeared with him under the surface at Ontari's order. Melody gasped, diving under the waves, to see the man several metres below. He thrashed against the mermaid, yelling through the water around him. His legs kicked frantically as he tried to push the mermaid away - she simply fought back, delivering a punch to his nose while dragging him further downwards.
Occasionally, she would reach behind her, where too weapon handles were seen, but her prisoner fought, stopping her from drawing her weapons. Now, the man's eyes were going pink and beginning to bulge, just like Melody's when she had almost drowned a few days ago. Unwilling to let him suffer from the same near-fate, Melody surged downwards, crashing into the mermaid who was dragging him further down. As the mermaid recoiled, Finn acted, grabbing the drowning man and pulling him toward the surface.
Melody suddenly heard a hiss of metal. She turned back toward the mermaid, not expecting to recognize her - but then her heart plunged into ice. It was Zafrina, a long scmitar in each hand for she had drawn them free from their sheaths, which were formed in a cross-shape on her back. Her mint-green tail lashed as she powered through the water, eyes blank and unrecognizing, the metal blades slashing wildly. She didn't have a clue who Melody was. Horror burned through Melody, as she realized that Bay's message was true. A tiny part of her had clung to the hope that Bay had been mistaken, but now the proof was right in front of her. Suddenly, she was brought back into reality by the sound of metal slashing through the water.
"Zafrina!" Melody protested, diving to the side to avoid the blade sweeps - one caught her upper arm, but she barely felt the pain. Zafrina launched toward Melody, smacking into her. She shoved her brutally against the rock stack, arm across her neck. Melody tried to push her away, but eighteen years of swimming in strong currents meant that Zafrina was far stronger than Melody. Zafrina then raised one scmitar, driving it toward Melody's head, but she dodged it by an inch. The blade stuck into the rock, close to her ear, trapped in a crack. With Zafrina distracted, Melody managed to slip out of her grasp. While Zafrina was pulling it free, Melody rushed forward, snatching the other scmitar from Zafrina's free hand. Finally, Zafrina pulled the jammed weapon free, and whirled around to face her cousin. She advanced, her remaining weapon glistening from the light from the surface. "What has she done to you?" Melody whispered. This wasn't Zafrina.
Without a wordless shout, Zafrina rose her remaining scmitar above her head, bringing it down, but Melody swung her blade upwards so that it was horizontal over her head, blocking Zafrina's strike. The blades sqeauled upon contact, making Melody wince, and even in her unresponsive state Zafrina's body naturally reacted with a flinch.
Meanwhile, on the surface, Finn shoved the frantic human upwards, and the humans on board dragged him to safety. Hearing the commotion, Ontari appeared from the other side. She stared at hin in shock and disbelief, before her eyes exploded into flame. "You!" Ontari declared, furiously. Her eyes blazed with complete rage. "How many times must I try to kill you?"
Ontari drew an arrow, but then a boat oar came flying through the air, smacking her in the face, for a human had swung the oar toward the hostile mermaid. Something white fell; Finn was sure she had lost a tooth. Ontari covered her face, shrieking, as blood appeared through her fingers. He took the opportunity to steal her bag of urchin spines, for Bay had encouraged them to acquire some purple ones. The third mermaid disappeared under the surface with Ontari, leaving the boat and Finn on the surface.
"Get going, all of you!" He urged, to the humans in the boat. He tried scanning the horizon for ships, but failed to see any. He recalled seeing his first human village - it wasn't the one near Atlantica, but there was a busy human coastal settlement in the west from Nia's kingdom. "There is some mainland west of here. If you keep going you should hit it in a few hours, if you don't find a ship before that." He scooped up the other oar from the water, hastily returning it to the other side of the boat, from where it had been flung away.
"Bless you, sir!" Cried a young woman, and the other humans began to cheer their gratitude. With a quick smile, having no time for anything more, Finn dived back under the surface.
Down below, he was greeted by the sight of Melody and Zafrina fighting with a scmitar each - Melody was using it to block Zafrina, who was swinging it toward her with fill intention to hurt or kill. With a surge of shock, he realized that Zafrina had been one of the merfolk attacking the humans - he'd noticed that one had been armed with two scmitars, but he hadn't realized that it was her. Melody was still blocking Zafrina's strikes with one said scmitar, but Zafrina was quickly getting the upper hand. Finn watched in shock, but then Ontari cried out.
"Serenity! Deal with them!" She declared, in a muffled voice, for her hand covered her bleeding mouth. "Zafrina! Come with me, I'm not going back on my own! We need reinforcements." Immediately, Zafrina stopped slashing her scmitar at Melody, turning and following Ontari, leaving Melody visibly gobsmacked. Within moments, Ontari and Zafrina were gone.
"Melody, are you okay?" Finn raced toward her, but then he saw Melody looking at something behind him - they hadn't been left alone.
Finn whirled round, to see a mermaid perhaps in her mid thirties. He was dismayed to see that she too was under the influence of Nia's spell. Her pale blue eyes were glassy, like Zafrina's, and she looked very unkept - she had likely been under the spell longer than Zafrina. Her ginger hair was knotted and dirty. Serenity advanced, a spear trailing from one hand.
Serenity looked vaguely familiar to Melody, for she was sure she had seen the mermaid joining in with the celebrations after the disintegration of the castle sea wall five years before. Serenity. This is another missing Atlantican - of course! Andrina said Serenity had kept her back, while grandfather was captured.
"Listen to us, Serenity..." Melody tried to get through to Serenity, but she didn't acknowledge her words. Proving irony with her name, Serenity sprang forward, waving the spear with violence, straight at Melody. Finn leapt, knocking into Serenity's side - the spear went twirling down, spinning toward the seafloor. He desperately tried to apprehend her, but the older mermaid was strong. Melody quickly lunged forwards, trying to help him.
"Melody! Go into the urchin spine bag I got off Ontari, find a purple one!" Finn struggled to complete the sentence, for Serenity was fighting free. Melody saw the bag on his knifebelt, and she hastily opened it - a sea of red and green spines filled it, and in her rush, she didn't see any purple ones. She then saw a pocket sewn into the bag, marked 'P' - 'p' for purple. But the fiddly pocket seal was hard to open. "Melody!" Shouted Finn, moments from losing his grasp. Melody realized that by the time she got the pocket open, Serenity would be free.
"It'll have to be green!" Melody seized a green urchin spine, before she jammed it into Serenity's arm. Serenity gasped, and went stiff briefly - then, just like how Ontari had in Pramheda, her eyes closed, as unconsciousness consumed her. Finn's grip loosened, as Serenity slumped in his grasp. Melody and Finn exchanged bewildered glances, shocked by the past few minutes - but there was no time for rest.
"Let's get out of here." Melody said, looking in the direction where Ontari had fled. "Ontari... and Zafrina... were getting reinforcements."
"You're right. Quick, the border's down there." With Serenity between them, they swam downwards, seeing the fearsome wall of seathorns. With a brief moment of hesitation, for they were leaving their two imprisoned friends behind, they passed over the wall and dived into the seaweed.
For the first time in days, Melody's skin stopped crawling, for she was so relieved to be out of the kingdom. Serenity lay before them, the urchin spine now black for the green substance had been absorbed into her blood. "She should be out for a few hours." Finn said, from where he was trying to catch his breath. "We should wait until we find the army, before we give her a purple spine. Then they can see what we're dealing with - until then we'll just have to keep topping her up with green spines." He then spotted the wound on Melody's upper arm. "Woah... did Zafrina do that?"
"Oh... it's nothing." Melody tried to insist, covering it with her hand.
"No, no, let me see." Finn shuffled close to her, taking her upper arm with hands so gentle it was as though she were made of glass. He examined the scratch. "It's shallow. It doesn't need anything on it - it'll heal quickly." There was a brief moment of silence. His eyes flooded with worry. "Are you okay? Seeing Zafrina that way..."
"It wasn't her." Melody said, quickly. "Not... not really. Oh, I don't know what I'm going to say to her mom, if she's with the army. Or her dad, if he's there too..."
"We'll think of something." Finn tried to add some optimism. "We'll cross that crevice when we come to it." He pressed his lips to her temple, and Melody leaned against him for a moment, before they returned to their dilemma with Serenity. "Come on. We need to make sure that she can't get away, if she wakes." Together, they - albeit reluctantly - bound Serenity with seaweed, so that she couldn't fight them should she wake. They weren't sure what would happen when Serenity woke, but since Ontari's last order had been for Serenity to fight, it was possible that Serenity would continue this when she awakened.
They then tied two pieces of seaweed on each side by each of Serenity's shoulders, so that each piece of seaweed formed a giant handle of sorts. They could carry Serenity between them, the handles on their shoulders, leaving their hands free. Melody carried Zafrina's purple bag along with the urchin spines, as well as the scmitar which she had retained after fighting Zafrina. Glancing back at the seathorn wall, the pair began to make their way back the way they came.