Chapter 34:
Blood in the Water

"Oh, Auklet, you're such a dear!" Queen Coral cooed at her youngest daughter. Anemone seemed annoyed that she wasn't the center of their mother's attention anymore, but Coral was so preoccupied with Auklet that she didn't notice. She hadn't let Auklet out of her sight since she'd hatched; like with Anemone, she had her newest daughter attached to her with a harness.

Whirlpool seemed even more annoyed by Coral's display of affection than Anemone. Those two Animus are my key to the throne, he thought bitterly. We don't need another Queen ruling over the Sea. Five millennia has been long enough. It's time for a King to rule over everything in the Sea, not another Queen. My spell on your elder daughter will make sure of that, because she can't help but follow my every command. You don't even realize the potential of animus, or that I am one thanks to your daughter's willingness to practice with her magic. Your daughter will kill you with her magic then bestow the right to your throne upon me. I will be better for your kingdom than any Queen. It's such a shame you had Orca's statue destroyed. I could have used it to make sure I keep the throne for decades to come. If none of your heirs can survive, there'd be nobody to steal it from me.

Coral looked over to Whirlpool. "You're rather silent today," she said suspiciously. "What are you brooding about now?"

"Your eldest daughter," he said. "Besides Anemone." Anemone frowned at him. "And how much of a failure she was when I tried teaching her Aquatic. I am glad she left, and took Riptide with her. We don't need anymore failures in m—your kingdom."

Coral narrowed her eyes at him. What do you me your kingdom? I know you were about to say "my kingdom"? You are definitely plotting something. She lashed her tail, which still had the Narwhal tusk tied around it, ferociously.

"Your Majesty," said a SeaWing messenger called Snapper. "I apologize for my intrusion, but this letter just arrived from the Ice Kingdom. It is from Queen Glacier. She marked it as urgent, so I brought it to you immediately when I was sorting your mail." When she walked past Whirlpool, she felt a chill run down her spine. Why is it I get these chills whenever I get near Whirlpool lately? she wondered.

"Thank you, Snapper."

Once Snapper left the royal chamber, Coral ripped open the envelope and began to read. No greeting? she thought. It must be very serious if Queen Glacier didn't start it off with a greeting.

"You must keep your 'allies' under control in the future. This is the second time Princess Blister has attacked my kingdom, and she didn't leave this time. She's dead. She gave me no choice."

Coral gulped and tears flowed down her face. "Oh my. B-Blister's dead? And why would she have attacked Queen Glacier's palace twice? I always thought she was a kind dragon."

"You haven't heard the rumors about her then, Your Majesty," said Whirlpool. "That she has a tower filled with everything she's ever killed, stuffed and preserved, and that she keeps the heads of dragons she killed in the war outside her stronghold to frighten off potential thieves wanting to steal the Royal SandWing treasure. But I suppose it does not matter anymore, seeing as how she's dead." Good riddance, too. Dragons like her deserve to die.

Coral seemed to ignore him as she resumed reading the letter.

"Queen Battlewinner of the NightWings is dead, too. The NightWings have sworn their allegiance to Queen Glory of the RainWings, as a part of a deal with my tribe to spare them."

"Queen Glory?" Whirlpool gasped.

"Isn't Glory the RainWing who is one of my daughter's friends?" Coral questioned.

"Yes, I believe so. It's hard to believe she became a Queen so fast. They were here what, a month and a half ago?"

"Yes. But I'm not surprised. Glory seemed like a smart dragon. I believe she'd make a grand Queen for the RainWings. They needed one to restore their standing among the other tribes. They used to be a grand tribe, but that was before I was born. My mother used to tell stories about when the RainWings weren't lazy and useless." She glanced back down at the letter. "Hmm. That seems to be all Queen Glacier wrote." She then looked back to Whirlpool. "Whirlpool," she said.

"Yes?"

"I have been thinking," she went on. "You have served me well for years and I appreciate you for that, but I have come to the decision that it is time to replace you. I had seen the way you behaved around Anemone before, most recently when you said 'You are my key to the throne' to Anemone the day Tsunami returned, and I could let that slide because I know you'd never be able to kill me. I'd rip you wide open before you got the chance to strike me and you know it." He glared at her. "But I cannot let your 'bonding' with my daughters go on any longer. I have seen the way you've begun acting ever since Auklet was born. I will not condone any dragon your age showing apparent romantic feelings towards my daughters. Get out of my palace at once, take your things, and leave the Bay of a Thousand Scales immediately. I never want to see your scummy talons in my kingdom again. I will kill you myself if you ever return."

Whirlpool snapped. He lunged at Queen Coral with a blade crafted from a whale's rib bone—where he had hidden it all this time, she couldn't determine. Anemone and Auklet screamed with terror as their mother jumped out of her throne; blood spurted across the floor.

"MOTHER!" they cried. "No!"

"Do not worry," Coral groaned. "He did not score a deep wound. Just a slash across my shoulder. He will pay for this!" she roared, and lunged back at her ex-advisor. "You will not leave this room, except in pieces and stuffed in a body bag. Nobody will be able to tell you apart from sushi when they have to clean up your corpse."

"NO!" Whirlpool roared. "I will have your daughters! They are animus, they are my key to taking your throne! They trust me! They know I can sympathize with them being animus, for I am one as well."

"What?!" Coral gasped. "And you never told me." Does this mean he has lost his soul? she wondered, feeling a coursing terror in her veins. I may actually have to kill him. Then, more confidently, she thought, So be it. Anything to protect my daughters and my kingdom. We do not need a soulless dragon living in my kingdom, let alone ruling it.

"Say goodbye to your daughters! They will be my subjects now!" Whirlpool suddenly tackled Queen Coral to the ground without realizing it would have fatal consequences. Anemone and Auklet had hidden behind their mother's throne so they did not see what happened. Blood dripped down Coral's narwhal tusk-tipped tail as it pierced through Whirlpool's soft underbelly.

"I told you that you'd never lay another talon on them," Coral said. She stood up slowly and removed the Narwhal tusk from his belly.

"I…will have my…rev…" Whirlpool's head dropped on the throne room floor with a thud. He was gone.

Queen Coral turned her attention to her hiding daughters. "It is safe now, dears. But do not come out yet. You do not need to see what happened. I will come for you once my chamber has been cleaned up."

When she turned away from them, Coral realized how much she was shaking.

"What got into him?" Commander Shark asked.

"The same thing that got into Prince Albatross in ancient times," Queen Coral answered.

"Just what are you saying?" asked Princess Moray.

"Whirlpool was an animus who wasn't careful with how much he used his magic and what he used it for. He'd lost his soul. He wanted to kill me and claim the throne for himself, to be a King that ruled the entire sea with Auklet or Anemone as his future queen."

"Scumbag," Shark hissed.

"I never did like him," said Moray. "You should have killed him years ago. I'd always had a bad feeling in my heart about him. I suppose I was right all along, given what transpired here." She paused. "There, all fixed," she said as she finished stitching the gash on her aunt's arm. "I suppose. Healing arts isn't exactly my area of expertise."

"It will do," Coral sighed. She suddenly looked sad, but not about Whirlpool, or even Blister anymore. "I just wish I could know how Tsunami is doing. Why hasn't she written to me? When she left with her friends, she said she would. I hope she is alright out there. I warned her how dangerous the world can be before they left. If something ever happened to Tsunami, I don't know what I would do. I've barely gotten to know her yet."

Commander Shark approached his sister. "Maybe it's not too late to switch sides in the war? Clearly Blister wasn't the sort of dragon we thought she was. She had a darker side she never told any of us about."

"Yes, I suppose you are right," Coral sighed. "It seems my daughter and her friends have sided with Queen Glacier and Blaze in the war. It would be wrong for us to continue fighting with their enemies when Blister's army has no commander now and the NightWings have sided with Queen Glory." She glanced back at Anemone and Auklet, who were peeking out from behind her throne even though she had told them not to. "I still can't believe that the real Blister wasn't the kind dragon we thought she was for the past twenty years. She never acted like…well, how Queen Glacier said she did in her letter. It would explain why Tsunami seemed uncomfortable around Blister when she and I were discussing Aquamarine's punishment." Coral's heart ached to think about Aquamarine, her last daughter to be killed by Orca's animus-touched statute; it had only been a month-and-a-half since Aquamarine's death. She hadn't really gotten over it yet, nor had she forgotten about Aquamarine's burial several yards from the royal palace, next to the burial spot reserved for King Gill if they can ever retrieve his body from Scarlet's palace.

"Your Majesty?" Shark questioned as Coral darted towards the exit of the throne room suddenly without ordering Anemone and Auklet to follow her.

"I must write back to Queen Glacier immediately," she answered him, knowing what he'd wanted to ask. "And then I must get in contact with Queen Glory. Watch over my daughters," she added, looking from Shark to Moray. "I will return within the hour."