Meanwhile, in the tower…
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Chapter 13: Attack of the Sharks
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"That is pretty bad," Rydia admitted once she'd heard the entire story about what was going on.
"We know. Do you think that Leviathan can help us?" Cecil asked.
"If he couldn't I'd be surprised," Rydia said, and walked to the door. "I'll call on him by the water; so he won't have to travel so far," She explained. She stopped, turned back to the group and said, "Rosa, Edge, if you could both come with me?"
"Of course," Edge said cheerily, speaking for the first time. He jumped up from his chair and caught up with Rydia on the front step.
Rosa got up too and said, "You know where I'll be," to Cecil and Kain before going out the door and closing it behind her.
Angel, meanwhile, was in the kitchen getting a glass of water. The elder was still drinking that strange smelling tea, and, somehow, it was getting on Angel's nerves.
It's just tea, She thought, trying to calm herself. Why are you so worried about tea?
"What is that, anyway?" She asked.
"It's nothing that you should be concerned with," The elder dismissed.
"I wanna try it," Angel insisted, pouring the water out of her cup and seizing the teapot before the elder could stop her.
"Give me that back!" The elder demanded, calling the attention of the two men in the main room. Angel ignored this order and poured the tea into her cup. She raised the cup to her lips
Why would a tea small so salty? Shewondered, and took a big sip.
She chocked and spat the tea out on the kitchen floor, coughing all the while. "This is sea water!" She cried, not quite believing the salty taste on her tongue. "Why are you drinking sea water?" She demanded.
"Well… Uh… Er…" The elder mumbled, his eyes darting all about the place. He backed away from Angel, only to knock his elbow into his mug on the counter. The cup fell off the counter and shattered on the floor. To everyone's surprise, the content was a reddish-brown color; not blue-green like normal sea water.
"What else is it?" Kain inquired suspiciously.
"It's nothing! I swear!" The elder insisted.
"Don't lie; tell us what's going on," Cecil demanded.
"Never! I've done nothing wrong," The elder defended.
"That statement seemed like an oxymoron to me," Angel noted to her father and uncle.
"Tell us what you're hiding, elder," Cecil said forcefully, drawing his sword. Kain and Angel followed suit.
"Tell us now," Kain added.
"I'll fight first," The elder stated, his palms beginning to glitter with a lightning spell.
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At the edge of the sea (which was iridescent green now), Rydia stood casting the summon-spell for Leviathan, flanked by Rosa and Edge. The summoner was a bit surprised: it took quite a bit of energy out of her now to cast a summons. When she finished, she felt like she'd just shed 50 pounds of lead from her shoulders. The feeling of Rosa's heal-spell was a welcome relief.
"He should be here soon," She assured her companions, breathing deeply.
"Are you alright, Rydia?" Rosa asked. "You look a little pale," She noted.
"No, I'm fine. I'm just a bit tired; surely you of all people can understand," Rydia said, with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"No, she's right, honey," Edge said, "You do look a little pale. Maybe you should go back inside."
"You're both just being paranoid. I'm fine; if you want to blame something, blame the baby," Rydia insisted.
"Well allow me to be paranoid; not many people get to have their killed wives resurrected," Edge pointed out.
"Well the call's been sent out; I have to wait for Leviathan now," Rydia explained. "Someone help me sit down," She requested. Rosa and Edge helped Rydia ease herself onto the dry, grass-specked sand to wait, all of them eager to see Leviathan and get his help.
Rosa suddenly went stiff and her eyes went glassy with deep concentration. "What is it, Rosa? What do you see?" Edge asked. Rosa didn't answer right away; once she came out of her stupor, she stood up.
"I've got to go back to the tower: the others are in trouble. You two stay here and wait for Leviathan," She directed, and ran for the tower, not allowing time for either Edge or Rydia to ask questions.
"I hope it's not too serious," Rydia murmured.
"I'm sure it's not, dear," Edge assured her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I wouldn't worry about it."
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When Rosa opened the door to the tower and walked inside, she heard loud snarling and yelling from the kitchen. She ran to the door and looked in. The sight she was greeted with made her shriek: a shark with two legs instead of a tail was battling Cecil, Kain and Angel.
Though Rosa had cried out, no one paid her any notice. The shark was quick and his teeth were barred, threatening to bite (and probably kill) anyone who looked away from battle. The shark, however, was severely threatened himself: the humans were all very good with the weapons they had, and two of them were paladins. One look away could have been a fatal mistake to anyone.
Rosa ran back to the living room and grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows from their spot by the stairs, ready to help her family slay the shark. She was about to go back to the kitchen but then she felt another vibe, beckoning her up the stairs and to what she thought was the third door down the hall. She didn't understand it, and she wanted to fight the shark, but the vibe was far too strong for her to ignore. She followed it up the stairs, an arrow notched in her bow in case another shark awaited her on the second story.
She found no more sharks behind the door that called to her: the room, as it was, was a completely normal bedroom. And judging by the way it was decorated, Rosa assumed that the room belonged to Porom. The only furniture was a bed, a desk, a chair, and a dresser. The bed looked like it hadn't been made in a while. The desk and dresser were covered in several layers of paper, books, pens and ink wells, and on top of that was a thin layer of dust.
It looks like Porom hasn't been here in a while, Rosa thought, noting the dust. I didn't know that she was such a messy person, She added, factoring in the clutter on the desk and dresser and the unmade bed. But none of that makes sense: Porom is one of the most organized people I've ever met. And why wouldn't she come in her own room long enough for all that dust to accumulate?
Looking to the back wall of the room, Rosa also saw a door of dark brown wood with a brass knob. A new vibe told her to go to the door and open it. The white mage broke out in a clammy sweat; she was nervous about what she would find behind that door. Nonetheless, she approached the door and slowly opened the door……
It turned out to be a closet, and, other than several dresses and a few mage's robes that definitely belonged to Porom, it was empty. Rosa even went through the clothes hanging there, but found nothing. She got down on her knees and scanned the floor; here she turned out a piece of paper with a note scribbled on it:
Help me! I'm hiding in the study! Find Telu to find other answers!
Rosa knew the elder's handwriting well enough to know that he'd written it. But the elder couldn't have been in the study: Cecil and Angel had been in the study not one hour ago, and the elder would have made himself known when they walked in if he was there.
The snarling downstairs stopped suddenly, leaving the house strangely quiet.
"Rosa!" Cecil called to her. "Come down here, quick!"
"I'm coming!" Rosa yelled back, going back to the door with the elder's note in her hand.
When she walked back into the kitchen, the shark was lying on the floor, bleeding blue blood on the tiles. Angel's sword was covered in the sticky blue liquid all the way up to the hilt, meaning that she must have dealt the killing blow. The shark's gills still rippled, struggling to get air; he was still alive, despite the deep cut down his side that must have been Angel's doing.
"Who are you?" Kain demanded, asking the question that weighted on everyone's minds.
"I am… king Mammoth," The shark gasped in a gravely, strained voice. "You'll… never… find what you're looking for: they'll never come… back……"
The shark was still. Not one thing about him moved.
"What did he mean by that?" Angel wondered aloud. There was a long, unnerving silence as everyone realized the answer to Angel's question: Palom, Porom and Sefi were in danger.
"Someone go check on Rydia. Find out how far away Leviathan is now," Cecil instructed.
"I'll be back," Angel said and ran for the door. It closed with a slam and Rosa held up the note she'd found.
"This was in Porom's room," She said, handing it to Cecil. He read it quickly and passed it to Kain.
"He wasn't in the study; Angel and I would have found him if he was," Cecil pointed out.
"Exactly," Rosa said.
"Does anyone know who Telu is?" Kain asked.
"I'd like to know where the elder is now," Cecil stated, thinking that he wouldn't like the answer.
"What do we do with him?" Kain asked, pointing to the dead shark on the floor.
"We clean it up," Cecil said with a shrug. "What else is there to do with him?"
"Let's get started then," Rosa said, casting float on the carcass and pointing to the door.
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Beneath the water, Palom, Porom and Sefi were traveling toward the shark kingdom, accompanied by Trivia the dolphin guard. Trivia had many scary stories to tell the humans about Telu, the shark queen. Telu had given Trivia most of the scars on her side when they were both children, and she had been looking for her revenge ever since. Telu had been a cruel and ruthless creature as a child, and as a queen she was 15 times worse. Princess Jaggra was no better than her mother, and it looked like she was following in her mother's fins.
"They have a king too. King Mammoth, the Smaller-than-Most," Trivia explained, "But he's been away recently; we think he might have something to do with king Conch's disappearance."
"It certainly sounds plausible," Porom said.
"But for right now, we're after the crazy queen and her daughter," Palom said cheerily. "I can't wait for them to taste my lightning spell," He added.
"I certainly hope you aren't getting you're hopes too high with that spell of yours," Trivia warned. "This is going to be hard, even with your spells."
"Well it will be a heck of a lot easier with me," Palom said proudly. Porom smacked Palom's head.
"Don't be so vain," Porom scolded.
"Someone's coming this way," Sefi announced, pointing to a large dark colored object coming towards them.
"Shark," Trivia said bluntly. "Everyone brace yourselves."
The shark was swimming closer with an alarming speed. He stopped in front of them and eyed them suspiciously with his beady and hollow black eyes. He was of average size, with a blue-black head and back and an underside that was so white next to his top that it was almost painful to look at.
"So then, what's this? A dolphin and three land-walkers in our territory?" He asked, grinning evilly and showing all of his white-yellow teeth.
"Absolutely!" Trivia said proudly. "We must speak with that slug who you call queen, concerning her daughter's questionable behavior," She stated as matter-of-factly as a school councilor.
"Ha! What business do you have with the way our lovely young princess is growing up? She will be twice the queen her mother is one day," The shark said, sounding very proud of the way that Jaggra was being raised.
"That is exactly what we were here to discuss with Telu. Your 'lovely young princess' attacked and nearly killed one of our calves and these two mages," She said, nodding at Palom and Porom. "There's an agreement between our two reefs that we'll stay away from here if you'll stay away from us, and Jaggra broke that pact. So, here I am."
"And so are we," Palom added.
The shark snorted at him and asked, "What do the matters of the sea concern a prince like you? Shouldn't you be upstairs, conjuring up fire and ice and the like in your palms, or something?"
"We're here to find out what has happened to King Conch," Porom explained stoutly.
"And we all know that you must have something to do with it," Sefi put in.
"Oh… So that's what this is all about. Queen Telu always did blame you dolphins for the poison; not keeping up with what you owe to the Great King, causing the rest of us pain… And some of us a smorgasbord, hehehehe," The shark laughed.
The water around Palom started bubbling with heat, and his palms flickered with tiny lightning bolts. Porom put a restraining hand on her brother's shoulder and whispered, "Calm down. There's no point in losing energy on this clump of seaweed." Palom reluctantly realized that his sister was right and the water stopped bubbling.
"The queen will be interested in this; come and meet her," The shark teased.
"We're all right behind you," Trivia stated. The shark grinned again and swam away, clearly meaning for everyone to follow him.
Everyone was close behind him when he abruptly spun around and Sefi found her face so close to his that he could have bitten it off. "And what of you?" He demanded. "You've barely spoken a word. Are you mute?" He asked, meaning to insult her.
"A word," Sefi said casually. "Huh?" The shark asked, confused. "You said I haven't spoken a word, so I spoke 'a word'. Are you satisfied that I'm not a mute now?" Sefi explained.
"Sassiness won't get you anywhere where you're going. You're lucky I don't bite that lovely purple head of yours off right now. You watch your mouth from now on." The shark warned and turned away to lead the party onward.
"He's right, you know," Porom whispered to Sefi. "Being smart with these sharks could mean death; maybe for all of us."
"But the sharks will respect you if you show that you're not intimidated easily. Startled, fine; but if you show signs of being dominated easily they will overpower you," Trivia said. "Keep that edge about you; that could come in awful handy later. But listen to what the mage says and don't be too saucy or they'll be insulted and lash out at you," She advised.
"So don't be too quiet, like Porom, and they'll respect you enough to leave you be for a while," Palom ventured, earning a menacing glare from Porom.
"But if you're too loud, like Palom, they'll eat you alive," She added. Palom just grinned maddeningly at his sister and didn't seem to be upset by the remark at all.
"Something like that," Trivia agreed. "This one here seems to have some idea of when to use sharp words, soft words, and when to be silent all together," She said, pointing her fin at Sefi, who blushed a little bit. "Let's try and follow her speaking patterns, alright?"
"Not too loud, not to quiet; nobody's insulted and nobody's moved to use us for doormats. I like it," Palom agreed. "If Sefi speaks, I'll speak too," He said.
"Me too," Porom added.
Sefi felt embarrassed. No one had ever really followed her every move except for when she'd taught Red to fly the airship two months earlier. But at least they would be alright for a while if they did as she did.
But I should be doing what they're doing! I'm the youngest person here! Palom and Porom are both 20 and we don't even know how old Trivia is (though one gets the impression that she's even older than dad). I'm just 14! She thought.
This is wrong. Fun and a bit exciting, but too offbeat for me to handle.
Offbeat… That's how Angel and I used to describe ourselves, She remembered. Offbeat didn't matter to us before, because that was what we were: offbeat. So, if this is such a strange position to be in why is it bothering me? It wouldn't have bothered me before---
Our excursion, two months ago… I've changed since then. I've grown up somewhere between now and Mount Ordeals, She realized. And didn't I want to be a leader in the first place? I'm the shining example now; what perfect practice!
She didn't mind playing follow-the-leader so much anymore.
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On the island, the Baronians were all outside on the beach, relaying their shark adventure to Edge and Rydia.
"Do you think Leviathan can answer our questions?" Angel asked Rydia.
"I'm sure that he can; he is lord of the sea," The summoner assured the paladin.
"And what's going to happen to the kids?" Kain asked nervously.
Rydia hesitated before admitting that she didn't know what Leviathan would be wiling to do to help them. "The poison, the sharks, and the missing dolphin king: that's an awful lot he has to do; for non-summoners and even for me," She explained. "I don't know how much I can talk him into doing for us after the really important things." She could already hear Leviathan's voice yelling at them about the kids: Your kids, your problem! What does it matter to me if they live or die?
He would say it, and he would mean it. I hope he helps them, Rydia thought.
About 36 quiet minutes later (at which point the water was changing back to pink), the water began to stir and the ground rumbled.
"What was that?" Rosa asked, thinking that she already knew the answer.
"It's Leviathan; finally," Rydia confirmed, standing back up with Edge's help.
Completely without warning, giant sea serpent rose from the water only a quarter of a mile from the shore and bellowed so loud that the whole ocean probably could have heard it. The monster's scales were a light blue, almost the same color of the sky (he would have disappeared into the blue sky if it wasn't for the cloud bank behind him, which still seemed to promise rain). He vanished in a sudden whirl of mist, which quickly evolved into a tornado-like funnel that began spinning rapidly toward the beach. Everyone backed away from where they'd been, giving the twister room to land. When it made contact with the sand, the twister blew sand and water everywhere, spraying everyone with wet sand and drenching them with sea spray.
The funnel evaporated as quickly as it had appeared and in its place stood a little old man in a brown cloak and a wooden staff that stood above his head His head was bald, but he had a long brown beard. His face was weathered with time, and his skin was tan with wise-looking brown eyes.
Is it just me or does everything about this guy seem brown? Angel wondered.
"Leviathan! At last, you're here! Where have you been?" Rydia cried and ran up to Leviathan, kneeling down to embrace him.
"Rydia, my dear! It's so good to see you again. I do apologize for being so late, but when I got your call I went to Eblan and didn't find you there. When I searched your call more carefully I found it had been sent from around here so I had to backtrack a bit; got lost in my own silly ocean. Silly me," The old man explained.
"That's Leviathan?" Angel quietly asked her parents.
"Don't sound so shocked," Cecil advised. "Many summons can shape shift like that. They come in summon form, but when they need to hang around or interact with people, they transform into something completely different," He explained.
"Aha! Look who it is!" Leviathan said, directing his gaze at Cecil, Rosa and Kain. "You're all looking well I see. 14 years has been far too long. I didn't know you had a daughter," He said, looking kindly at Angel (who blushed and looked away)
"Yes, yes, yes, you remember them, and that's Cecil and Rosa's oldest daughter, Angel; I really do wish that you would be serious for a moment," Rydia complained.
"What? I was just trying to be social," Leviathan stated.
"I understand that, master, but when I called you I said that there was an emergency and three kids are down there trying to resolve it. We need your help," Rydia reminded the summons.
"Well, seeing as you're all here, I assume that it has something to do with those dolphins and the water problem they've created," Leviathan said, sounding disgusted with the dolphins. "They haven't paid their tribute in weeks."
"A question," Kain said, raising his hand up a little bit. "Why exactly can't anyone but the king get this alleged boulder from this one place for that cave?"
"So you know the story," Leviathan said vaguely. "It's no ordinary boulder, you see. The boulder I request is made of a certain mineral; it's only found in the oceans, and only around this area. It's very lightweight; anyone could pick up one of those boulders. We need that mineral to power the sun of the underworld, Magma.
"I would get it myself, but I cannot touch it in its unrefined state. So I have the dolphin king deliver it to a cave where one of my minions retrieves it for us, brings it to a workshop where it is refined, and then I can handle it. The idea of all of this (the underworld, sun, etcetera) is just so far beyond the dolphins, that I had to make up the poison so that they wouldn't ask questions. I thought I was saving them some heartbreak," Leviathan explained rather sadly.
"So where did the poison come from if you made it up?" Rosa asked.
"That, I do not know. In her bad moods, Asura sometimes tells me that it would be funny to actually make that poison and set out on the ocean if the tribute ever does go unpaid. But I care for the oceans: I could never do anything of that nature to deliberately hurt it or any of its inhabitants," Leviathan explained.
"We think the sharks might have something to do with it," Cecil offered. "One of them, he called himself king Mammoth, has been posing as the elder of this island for an unknown period of time. We, Kain, Angel and myself, slew him earlier today," He explained.
"Ah… He would be the Shark King," Leviathan answered. "Funny though," He mused, "His name was Mammoth, and yet he's smaller than most sharks; even the shark princess is a bit bigger than he now."
"A Shark Princess?" Angel asked, wondering suddenly if underwater creatures went so far as to have even dukes and duchesses.
"Oh yes," Leviathan assured her, nodding his head. "She's called Jaggra; which I believe means 'wild' in the common tongue. Vicious creature to come across, if I'm correct," He added.
"Did you happen to pass wherever it is that these sharks live?" Rydia asked, sounding hopeful but worried.
"I passed near there," Leviathan said. "Their 'kingdom' is a cluster of sunken ships, nearly 20 miles out, where those rocks jut out of the water," He said, pointing at a bunch of small gray spikes far out in the west.
"Is it possible that they've taken our helpers?" Angel asked, forgetting that Leviathan didn't know about Palom, Porom and Sefi yet.
"You sent people down there?" Leviathan asked, puzzled.
"We sent two mages and our second daughter, Sefi, to help the dolphins while we came up with a plan," Rosa explained.
"Breath plant?" Leviathan inquired, receiving a confirming nod from the queen.
"Amazing; not many dolphins trust people enough to offer them breath plant. It's considered a high honor by the dolphins for a human to receive the breath plant," Leviathan explained.
"But they were desperate for help," Kain said rather loudly. "The herald they sent spent all last night and half of this morning trying to get someone to notice it; the shark-who was masquerading as the elder-told us not to pay attention to it (not surprisingly, now that we know the truth), but we finally talked him into seeing about it. The dolphin asked two mages, Palom and Porom, to come and help and they agreed. So the dolphin left and came back with some of the breath plant for them. There was still some left over, so Angel's twin, Sefi, decided to tag along," He explained, turning blue from saying so much in only three breaths.
"Hm," Leviathan said, trying to hide how amusing he'd found Kain's speech. "I see. In that case, if they've been discovered, I'd say it's a distinct possibility," He said, and told them something like what Artiria had said to Sefi about how the various sea creatures react to things.
I should have gone with Sefi, Angel thought bitterly when Leviathan finished speaking. She's probably in trouble, and I could have helped! What was wrong with me?
You did the right thing, Cecil assured her, using telepathy (another ability Angel had gained). If you weren't here, we wouldn't have thought to call Rydia; you were the one who got curious enough to try that 'tea' the shark was drinking. Kain, your mother and I never would have done any of that. They can all take care of themselves. They'll be fine, He told her, hoping that this knowledge would comfort her.
Angel sighed heavily, realizing that he was right. Thanks, daddy, She said. I'd still like to know what's going on down there, though.
Leviathan will take care of all that. He's Lord of the Sea, remember? Cecil reminded her. Speak of the devil, he's talking again.
"I'll see what I can do about King Conch," Leviathan assured everyone. "The sharks might have him too. The sharks bow to three things: their royalty, bigger sharks, and me. If I ask them, they won't lie to me. Any captives they have will be freed," He promised. He nodded to the party (he bowed to Rydia) and walked back to the water's edge. He stopped as his feet touched the water and bet down to pick up something limp and shiny from the foam. He eyed it and looked back at everyone.
"Leftover breath plant," He named it. The Baronians suddenly remembered how Sefi had divided her portion of breath plant in half and offered one half to Angel. Angel had refused to come, so Sefi had left that half on the beach. No one had given it a second thought.
Edge and Rydia marveled at it; it was among the strangest plants they'd ever seen (and they'd both seen some interesting plants in their time). Leviathan handed the silvery plant to Edge and said, "Make yourself useful and hold this. I sense that someone will need it before the day is out. The tide is coming in; I must go to the Shark Kingdom and find out what is going on."
Once again he transformed into a cyclone of mist and wet sand, which spiraled off into the deep water. Once out far enough, the great water serpent leaped from the twister's center and dove into the water. Water splashed everywhere, leaving a crater in the water for only a few seconds as water rushed to fill it. A large wave enveloped a good bit of the small beach soon after, making everyone scurry out of the way.
Leviathan was gone.
"Wow," Angel whispered.
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Whew! Eight pages worth! I think that's the longest chapter this story's had so far!
Goshness, this was a fun chapter to write. I've kinda made a lot of this story up a I went down the road; just sat down and saw where it went as I wrote it (I had the first part of the story mapped out from the start!). I think it's going pretty well, but if y'all think it could be better, please tell me. I always appreciate ideas.
I once again apologize for the delay in updating. The baby's been a bit of a hassle, but it's going well. He's soooo cute! I wish you guys could see him (I'm 14 and I have a month old baby brother; who knew?).
I guess that's about all I have to say. Onto the next chapter, where thing will be wrapping up shortly. Bye!