So here we go, the next chapter! Up later than I would have liked, but January has been a busy month for me! I turned eighteen (how scary is that?!) and received two more replies from Universities! Somehow, I've actually managed to receive an offer from this fabulous English and Creative Writing degree course at the University of London! Eep! I got a reply from Exeter, my favourite, as well, but I didn't get on to the course I wanted D: However, they did offer my a place on a different course at the Cornwall Campus! Which actually, ironically, shares facilities with the University Sapphire's mum goes to in this fic XD Fancy that? So I'm going down to have a look at that at some point! Also, I'm going on a Creative Writing holiday in St Ives next week with my friends, as the Creative Writing trip at school was cancelled. So hopefully inspiration will flow from there! If anyone wants to know anything about the area, or wants photos of something taken, let me know in a review or a PM or an email before I come back home on the 24th of February, and I'll try to find out/take photos for you! :D Anyway, on with the chapter and I hope you like it! Sorry for keeping you in suspense for so long, but I have three fics on the go at the moment, as well as a joint Death Note one, so I've been doing a bit of juggling XD

This chapter is dedicated to the fabulous Trapped In Narnia, The Big Hosepipe in the Sky and Guest. Thank you all so much for taking the time to review!

Chapter Eighteen

Blood blossoms up from the wound, drifting through the water, coiling up towards the distant surface like the coils of a translucent snake.

The knife is lodged deep in flesh, solidly wedged into the vulnerable material.

I stare with wide eyes, feeling light headed. This is not happening…this can't be happening…

Slowly, the man falls forwards, sliding off of the knife with a sickening squelch. His body falls through the water in slow motion, drifting down towards the seabed where he finally comes to rest, his hair drifting around his face.

"Sapphire…" Faro's voice is faint, but it's full of concern. He raises his head to look at me, taking in my face. "Sapphire, are you alright?"

I slowly look down at my right hand, which is still holding the knife, and manage to prise my fingers open, so that the knife falls down to join the dead Mer man lying on the sand. His eyes are open. They stare, but they see nothing, and the blood is still drifting through the water, the blood…

"Sapphire!"

My head jerks up. Faro is shaking me roughly. Thankfully it seems that he still has some strength left in him.

"Sapphire, say something!"

"F-Faro…" I manage to stammer. "You…you're hurt!"

"It's nothing." He shrugs, tossing his head proudly. "Just a scratch."

"Don't be an idiot." I'm talking to myself as well as him now. I mentally shake myself. Faro's bleeding; there's no time to shut down now. I'll lock my horror and guilt away for later. "Let me help you."

"It's nothing, I told you-"

"Shut up." I say, and the power in my own voice unnerves me. But he does as I say, falling silent more through surprise than anything else. I dive down and grab the knife I dropped, despite the small shudder that goes through me when I touch it. I begin to cut through the material of my wetsuit, until I have a long strip. The main cut is along Faro's arm. It looks jagged and painful, so I try to be gentle as I wrap the strip of wetsuit around it and tie it with a strand of kelp. There's a gash on his chest as well, his tail also, but they're both smaller, and besides, I don't know how I'd tie wetsuit around them. A bruise is blossoming on his cheek. I don't know how much blood he's lost, but he looks paler than usual.

"You're hurt as well." He says, after I've finished examining his injuries. We're sitting in the shadow of a cave by then, hopefully out of sight of any approaching figures. I've hidden the bodies and taken their weapons. If I imagined that they were rocks or something inanimate, it made it easier. Slightly.

"It's nothing serious." I shake my head

"Your throat." He insists, reaching out and gently trailing a finger along the bruises left by the first man.

"Just bruises." I say, although for a moment my throat feels strangely tight. "Nothing serious."

"I'd kill him." He says angrily, his eyes blazing. "If you hadn't already finished the job."

I somehow manage to crack a grin. "I told you I could look after myself, didn't I?"

He manages a smirk. "I think that my manly presence definitely helped."

"You weren't anywhere near me!"

"But I emit an aura of strength…"

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Come on, Faro, I totally saved your bacon there!"

He sighs, raising his hand in mock defeat. "Fine, fine; you can look after yourself. And as for my bacon, I'll have you know, Sapphire, that I am not the meat of one of your pigs."

I manage a small laugh, and he smiles weakly before suddenly reaching out and crushing me against him in a tight hug. I'm momentarily surprised, but after a moment I relax into him, resting my head against his shoulder.

"What's this in aid of?" I murmur.

"I just…um…well…I was just…anxious that something might happen to you back there. I mean, I know it wouldn't, we me around to defend you, but…um…it might have. " He mutters against the top of my head.

"Well…I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you." I manage to reply. I feel his hand brush against my shoulder. Is he stroking my hair? That's definitely new, but I kind of like it.

"Of course you don't. How would you live in a world without my abundance of charm and wit?" he says, his voice teasing. I smile again, this time with less effort. I'm glad that we're still able to hold onto some essence of normality after what just happened.

"Stay here." I say after a few more seconds. "Stay safe and out of sight."

He frowns, pulling away and looking down at me. "Wait, what? Why?"

"I'm going to find Mordowrgi."

"You think I'm going to let you swim off…without me?" he stares at me in disbelief.

"You're injured. You've lost a lot of blood. That's a deep cut, Faro. And the others are still bleeding."

"I'm fine, Sapphire!" he insists fiercely, although his grip on my arms is weak. "And come on," he tries to smile again, but his eyes are worried, "haven't we established that you need my aura of strength to protect you?"

"You have to." I say seriously, my lips not even twitching. "Faro…" I sigh. I don't want to say this to him, but I know I'm going to have to. I can't let him come with me and risk him getting killed, not when he's like this. "Faro, the way you are now…I have to be fast. And undetectable."

His eyes harden. "You think I'll slow you down? Me slow you down? I could still swim faster than you; you're still cleft."

The ugly word cuts deep and I feel my lips tighten. "Not when you're bleeding out as we talk! Stay here and don't you dare come after me! We've wasted enough time as it is, and we haven't got any left to argue!" I turn and swim out of the cave before he even has time to respond.

"Sapphire!" He's following me. I grit my teeth, going to snap something back at him…and that's when I see the dolphin.

It's the same dolphin who gave us the directions a while back, the one who heard it from the shoal of mackerel. Her name is Sawya, she told us back when we last met her. She swims over to us, butting my hand with her nose and sending a wave of communication through me.

Friend of Ingo! I thought I'd never find you! I came to help you, I did not want you to face these Mer alone…

Sister! I throw my arms around her, so glad to see her that I almost cry. I need your help, please! Faro is injured, he needs healers…could you carry him back to those who can help him?

She hesitates. But what of you, sister? Will you not come with us?

No. My voice is determined. No. I have to find my brother.

But sister-

I am not a child anymore. I have to do this myself. It has to be me.

Dad is not here anymore to sacrifice himself for us. Conor isn't here to tell me that it's alright, that he'll look after me. And Faro is injured, too weak to help me. So it's my turn to be the protector. My turn to be the older sibling. My turn to save my little brother.

"Faro." I turn to him. "Go with her. Go back and tell Brytin and the others where we are."

His eyes widen. "No! Sapphire-"

"Yes!"

He stares at me, his eyes lost, his confident, cocky front beginning to crack slightly.

"Faro, I have to save Mordowrgi. He's my brother. And if I don't, then who will?"

"We will," he whispers. "Together. Like we always do. Sapphire, come on…" But I can see in his eyes that he know I am right. He's too weak to continue.

"Go." I say gently, and reluctantly, he climbs onto Sawya's back.

"Sapphire…" he whispers again, his voice so soft I can barely hear it, and I know how hard this is for him, to be the weak one, for once, for me to be protecting him. For him not to be the one riding off into danger, but to be the one returning to the troops; the messenger, not the warrior. I can see how he hates it, but what else can I do? He'll die if he comes with me.

"Go." I say once more, before turning and beginning to swim away from him, towards one of the entrances to the labyrinth of caves, the knives I took from the dead Mer tied around me on a makeshift belt. I can feel his gaze on me, burning into my back until I vanish into the entrance of the caves and the darkness consumes me.

-x-

Black.

Pitch black.

It's as dark as those nights when there are no stars, and the moon's hidden behind a cloud, so hidden that you can't even see a glint of silver from behind the blackout curtains of the sky. These are the nights when you can hear everything, when the air's so still that you can hear each hiss of the waves, the clink of each pebble that's sucked down the shore and into the depths, the chirps of the crickets on the hot summer nights. These are the nights when even I'm too scared to venture down into the cove, because the sea is as black as the sky, reflecting the oblivion of the heavens like a colossal mirror. When you're far enough along the path and have your back to the land, you can see nothing but eternal nihility, a great, gaping void in which one small step will send you tumbling down into the blackness, only for you to found the next day with a broken neck, unless the waves suck you away out of sight and out of mind.

I move through waters so black they might as well be tar, my right arm stretched ahead, blindly groping for some kind of purchase, some indicator that I'm traveling in the right direction. If it were not for my left hand on the wall of the tunnel, I'm scared that I might have completely lost all sense of direction, but at least this way I know I'm the right way up. I can feel panic beginning to set in; an invisible hand is gripping my lungs, making it hard to breathe, my head is swimming my whole body is trembling. White hot pangs of icy fear shoot through me every few seconds and every now and then I have to stop and catch my breath, to try and calm myself down. I try not to think about what's waiting for me at the end of this tunnel and just focus on finding my way there, but it's hard. What was I thinking? How can I ever expect to get past a full grown Mer man who is called the Seabull? What am I, crazy? Why didn't I just wait for back up? Why didn't I go back with Faro, come to that? Surely they'll wouldn't really hurt Mordowrgi, would that?

They would. And you know it Sapphire. The longer you take, the more likely it is they'll kill him. You know that, don't you? Mortarow isn't exactly famed for his patience, is he?

I try to reassure myself, but the fear still thrums through me. Suddenly, my grasping left hand runs out of wall. I flail blinding in the darkness, biting my tongue to keep myself from screaming. Calm down, Sapphire. Stay calm. Remember when you were finding your way to the assembly chamber for the first time? It's the panic which causes you to get into trouble.

I try to reassure myself, but I'm so scared, more scared than I've possibly ever been before in my life. There's no assembly chamber down here, no safe haven. No Faro to guide my way, to be waiting for me at the end of the tunnel. I'm not sure, but I think I'm crying. Crying salt tears into salt water, alone and lost in the dark, consumed forever by the rock labyrinth which seems to be closing in around me. My heart is practically bursting out of my chest I'm so afraid, and I wonder to myself if someone can die from fear.

All at once, a memory drifts, unbidden into my head.

I'm six years old, gap toothed, my knees and elbows covered in scabs from slipping in the rock pools. I'm climbing down to the cove with Dad, when I reach for a handhold that crumbles beneath my fingers and I feel myself lose my footing and slip. This is the fear I felt then, the fear of nothingness, of plummeting into the unknown. One hand clings to a root while all the other can do is freewheel in the air, grasping, reaching for something that isn't there. I'm scared, I'm so scared I can hear my heart thumping in my ears. My madly waving hand snatches hold of something and I hang there, clinging to my purchase like a monkey to a tree branch, too scared to move, too scared to breath, so scared that the tears are running down my cheeks and sobs are heaving in my chest.

And then Dad's voice calling up from below me. "I'm here, Saph, I'm here. I'll catch you if you fall. But you're not going to fall, are you? You know these cliffs, Sapphire. And you can't hang there forever. Reach with your foot, your left foot. There's a rock you can support yourself on. But you've got to move Sapphire."

"I can't!" I sob, still clutching the root, my life line. "I can't Dad! I'm too scared!"

"No you're not." His voice is calm. "You're the bravest girl I know, Sapphy. You can do this."

"But I can't! I'm not brave! I'm frightened!"

"The bravest people of all, Sapphy, were those who carried on, even though they were frightened. And I know you're brave. You have to move Saph."

Dad was always right. And if he said that I was brave, then I could be brave. So slowly I edged my foot onto the rock and one movement after another, I made my way down that cliff and reached the warm golden sand below.

I open my eyes and I'm back, floating in the darkness of the cavernous tunnels. But I think I've stopped crying now. You have to move, Saph. I slowly move my left foot to the side and there I find the safe purchase of the rock. I edge back towards it and manage to follow the curve of the tunnel with my hand. I rest for a moment, recovering from my panic, and for a moment I think I hear Dad's voice in my head.

I'm here Saph. I'm here.

I begin to move again, into the blackness of the tunnels. The bravest people of all were those who carried on, even though they were frightened. And I'm the bravest girl Dad knows.

Reviews, as ever, are always very much appreciated :) xxx