Hello wonderful people! Thank you so much for all of your lovely reviews! I'm sorry I've been so sparing on chapters, but I've had exams D: And I have even more exams coming up, which means this could be the last I see of you for a little while, but I'll try and update when I can. And when my mum's not turning off my internet. Boooooo! Well anyway, I'll get on with the chapter then XD There is a confrontation afoot! Not of the Les Mis kind XD

This chapter is dedicated to Gracelet, RaisingFlorida, Smoochynose and NitnatRide. Thank you all so much for your reviews!

The new cover is a photograph by Elena Kalis (text was added in by me on Polyvore). I actually just found out that Elena's beautiful photos were used on the new book covers for the series, including Stormswept! :D

Chapter Nineteen

I feel around in the darkness, examining the rock walls with my fingertips. From the feel of things, the tunnel splits into four, including the way I've come. What do I do now? Which way do I go?

"Hello?" I whisper into the darkness of the tunnel. If I was on land, I'd expect my voice to echo, but here it seems small and weedy, as if the darkness is compressing it. "Is anyone there?" I whisper again, thinking of the small glowing creatures which resided inside the tunnels to the Assembly Chamber. "Can you hear me? I need to find my brother, Mordowrgi…please…I'm a friend of Ingo…"
I wait, still cocooned in the blackness, hoping against hope that something will hear me. But the second stretch away and nothing changes, the blackness stretched on in all directions until…

A glimmer.

A glimmer of greenish light in the left hand tunnel. Slowly, more lights begin to appear, leading down the tunnel like Ariadne's thread in the labyrinth of the minotaur.

"Thank you." I whisper, unbelievable relief filling me. "Thank you so much."

They don't reply, but for a moment they shine more brightly. I begin easing myself down the passage, using the rocky floor to pull myself along. I break more than one fingernail, and my fingertips are cut and bleeding by the time I reach the end of the passage, but I've finally reached some kind of destination. The faint light of the worm-like creatures only illuminates the space a meter or so in front of me, but the water feels different. I've reached some kind of underwater grotto of gargantuan proportions. I can feel the empty space stretching out in front of me like a cavernous mouth, waiting to swallow me whole. I inhale deeply for a moment, trying to steady my nerves, and lightly rest my hand on the knife strapped to my side, although I am exceedingly reluctant to have to use it again.

"Thank you," I whisper softly to my luminous rescuers, before beginning to feel my way around the wall of the cave, pressing myself against its rough surface. A very faint glow follows me around the wall, for which I am thankful. It's slightly lighter in here than in the tunnels, and when I crane my head back and look up, I realise why; there are small hole in the roof of the cavern; not big enough to swim through, but big enough to admit light. And the reason why the cave is so dark is because the faint light trickling through the gaps is silver in colour. Moonlight. Worry suddenly flits through me. It's night time, and I left home at what, half nine in the morning? Ten? Great. Even if I do get back alive, Mum will still have been worried sick. And I'm probably going to be in a lot of trouble. And Conor will kill me. I wince, and decide to focus on the matter at hand. I'll deal with the human world if –when- I return to it.

And that's when I hear the wail.

I know that kind of wail from living with Rowan. It's a child's wail, and it speaks of misery, discontent, fear…

My sisterly urges kick in in full force and I begin to swim as fast as I can towards the noise, one hand making sure I don't stray from the wall, my legs kicking with as much power as I can muster.

"How touching."

The voice echoes around the cave, and I freeze, my eyes widening.

"No, really, it is sweet. A sister's love for her brother. Even if you are both abominations."

I feel my hand curl into a fist. "Look who's talking." I snap back, turning to try and locate the source of the voice. "You're the one kidnapping babies."

"A baby. That baby, like you, is polluting the Mer with foul, human blood."

I think I see a shadow flitting through the water to my far left, and press myself further back against the wall. "Who are you to call anyone foul? The only foul person I see here is you."

"Me?" He lets out a deep, ominous chuckle. "Says the human. How many wars did you start today, girl? How many animals did you enslave? How many oceans did pour oil into?"

"Don't you speak to me of war, and enslavement and killing!" My hands are still shaking, but more with anger than fear now. "How many Mer did you murder today, Mortarow? How many dolphins did you slaughter? How many fathers did you stab in the back?"

There is a ringing silence. I can feel the white hot rage burning inside of me like liquid fire, like lightning cracking through my veins.

"I didn't kill the dolphin." He finally says, his voice slightly subdued, and I hope that something I've said has finally hit home. "You and the Mer you fooled into following you…they gave Ervys no other choice!" It appears that my hopes are in vain. "You manipulated that dolphin into dying for you; it's your fault. Don't try and pass your sins onto me, human!" He snarls.

"Evrys is dead. And you're all hiding in caves, running scared. Your days are numbered, Mortarow. You know that sooner or later, your guerrilla tactics are going to stop working. Why don't you just give my little brother back to me, and we'll both leave, peacefully. No one's died yet, not this time. It's not too late to walk away." I try and keep my voice as steady and reasonable as possible. It's worth a try…anything's worth a try.

"Don't you try and confuse me with your human words and your counterfeit offers of peace." He hisses. "Your 'gorilla' tactics mean nothing to me. I am Mer, not one of your primal cousins!" I can practically hear his chest puffing out with pride and indignation.

The words 'Then stop acting like one and use your brain!' try to make their way out of my mouth, but I yank them back in. I have a feeling that wouldn't be a good thing to say if I want to stay alive.

"You have no idea of the extent of my power, do you?" Mortarow continues, and I can hear the smirk in his voice. "You have no idea how much influence I have. I can stretch out my hand and hurt you even once you've passed through the skin." I feel a chill run through my body. "That's right. Imagine how disappointed I was to hear that your little tumble over the cliff wasn't fatal."

The seagull. It was him! He sent the seagull to attack me!

"Why so silent?" He lets out a soft laugh, and I can sense him circling, moving in for the kill like a lion stalking a wounded antelope, a shark sniffing out blood, a minotaur moving in to gore its prey with its sharp horns before crushing it beneath its hooves. I think of the story of the minotaur that we learnt about at school; the curse of Poseidon, god of the sea, upon King Minos for not sacrificing the bull that he promised. Pasiphaë, his queen, forced by Aphrodite to fall in love with the bull, and produce the minotaur in revenge, born from hated and unnatural lust, a curse upon men. The minotaur; half man half beast. What must that be like? To have two natures within one body, both warring with one another, constant conflict. Which are you, the man or the bull? The human or the beast? Civilisation or wildness? Air or fire? Air or water? Girl or Mer? Is that what I am, to Mortarow? A curse upon the Mer?

"You would call me unnatural. You would call me an abomination. You say that I force my way into Ingo, that me and my race are full of hate and anger. But look at yourself, Mortarow. They call you the seabull. I heard a story about a creature half man, half bull, and he was born of hate and anger and curses, and so are you! Ingo is at war with herself, not because of me, because of you! Your hatred has turned you into everything that you despise; you hate those with human blood? You hate humans? If you stood beside the type of humans you describe, the only difference between the both of you would be the tail. The reason Ingo is divided is because of you, the reason Ingo is hurting is because of you! The only abomination in this cavern is you! Shyndys Ingo, goos Ingo, hag dha kas skila hy payn!"

I know now that I've gone much too far. There's a roar of rage before Mortarow slams into me, smashing me against a column of rock. Pain blazes in my cheek, and I instinctively throw a hand up to protect myself as he charges as me again. Agony explodes in my wrist as I feel something bend in a way it's no meant to bend. The pain is icily hot, so agonising that I choke on the scream which tries to escape my lungs. My head swims and for a moment, I can't breathe, can't think, can't do anything but slowly begin to sink towards the bottom of the cave. But I have to move, so I force myself to inhale, force my legs to kick, to try and get me away because the water is rushing around me as he charges once more, somewhere out in the darkness, and his eyesight is much better than mine. I am swimming blind, a sitting duck. The impact sends me smashing against the rock pillar once more, jarring my wrist and sending a gash down my leg. The pain in my arm is throbbing, twisting my stomach into knots. I wonder, absently, if you can throw up underwater. No, Sapphire. Focus! He's going to kill you! I reach down with my good hand to fumble for the knife. If he charges again, maybe I can wound him with it…

"You say that Ingo hurts?" He snarls from the blackness. "I'll make you hurt. You say that Ingo bleeds? I'll make you bleed. And you say that my hate fuels her pain? So my hate will fuel yours!"

And the water is bubbling again, churning around me as he rushes forwards once more…

"MORTAROW!"

The shout makes me jump, and obviously surprises Mortarow as the impact I'm expecting never comes. But surprise is rapidly replaced by fear as I recognise the owner of the voice.

Faro.

If we get out of this alive, I'm going to hug him, and then kill him.

"So the second abomination finally found his way here." Mortarow sneers. "Come to help your kerenza hora?"

I'm not sure what Mortatow just called me, but from his tone and Faro's growl of anger, I can guess that it was pretty rude. I squint, trying to make out what's going on, and as if they can tell what I want, tiny creatures glow more brightly. In the dim light, I can make out Faro floating a couple of metres away from the hulking form of Mortarow. Even from here I can tell that his wounds are still bad. His injured arm is shaking slightly…but his fists are clenched with anger.

"Don't you dare speak about her like that." He snarls. "And don't you dare ever lay a finger on her or Mordowrgi again."

"And what will you do if I do?" Mortarow replies, his tone mocking.

"I will kill you." Faro says, his voice deadly serious.

Slowly, I begin to make my way through the water, towards them, hoping that Mortarow won't notice. My fingers tighten around the hilt of the knife, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to use it, even to kill dad's murderer. The man before…that was one thing. Then I reacted without thinking, to save Faro. Stabbing someone in the back, however…

"You. Kill me." Mortarow's laugh is deep and booming, and it makes me shudder. "Good luck, little Mer boy. You haven't got Saldowr here to hide behind anymore. He's not going to last long, is he? An neither, from the looks of things, are you. Your death will be a great blow against that pathetic human lover. And once we send back your head, as well as the girl's, I'm sure my message will be clear. Mer and humans are not meant to mix!"

Faro moves to lash out at him, but ducks back at the last minute as Mortarow unsheathes a curved weapon which shines silver in the light of the moon. A sickle. It's edged with rust. A farmer's tool, lost to the sea years ago; how long has it been rusting down here? But the blade is still sharp, and with all that rust it'll probably give him tetanus as well, if the Mer can get that.

I want to warn him to swim away, as fast as he can. I want him to get out of here, to go anywhere, to leave now because I know that I can't watch him die. Not like Dad.

Faro…

Through the gloom, I think I see him turn his head towards me slightly, and although I'm probably imagining it, I think I see him smile.

I know.

Before I have a chance to ask him what on earth 'I know' means, there is a soft groan from behind me and I look around. My eyes widen slightly at the sight and an idea begins to form in my mind. I glance in Faro's direction once more and know that he knows what I've seen and that he's thinking the same thing. I take a deep breath, and call out before my fear of failure stops me.

"Mortarow!"

He doesn't look at me, not taking his eyes from Faro, but I see his tail twitch.

"When Ervys killed the dolphin, you were cursed. By following Ervys, by helping him spread fear and hate, by fighting for him, you caused the death Seliko just as much as he did. You cursed yourself. No wonder Ingo rejects you."

"Shut your filthy mouth, human!" He snarls, raising the sickle. He moves closer to me, but still makes sure to keep one eye on Faro. I need to make him lose it completely.

"You say that those with human blood aren't truly Mer!" I call, my voice a taunting, waving red flag. "But the reality is, you're the one polluting the Mer with your hate. You're the one who doesn't belong in Ingo. Ingo accepted me, a human. My recognition pattern is Friend of Ingo. But you're nothing but a traitor to your race. Ingo rejects you. She casts you out!"

And with a roar of fury, his control over his temper breaks and he dashes at me, flying through the water, his eyes blazing with hatred, a bull bearing down on the matador…

And that's when I move aside, revealing that the column Mortarow was smashing me against is laced with dark, ominous looking cracks. Something must have hit it once, with some force to weaken it, and Mortarow's attacks have only weakened it still. His smashes into it once more, and the rock creaks… but it doesn't fall.

I back away slowly, my heart pounding fast, as Mortarow round on me, his face battered, but still twisted with loathing. I tried to dance the dance of the matadors and I have failed.

He's going to kill me. I'm going to die. I'm going to die…

I raise the knife, but he knocks it from my hand with one swipe of his giant fist. And then his hand moves closer, the fingers open, going to curl around my throat…

"Sevel, Ingo! Difres dha flehes! Sevel hag distrui…hwans ev gans oll vy kolon."

The words resonate around the room, seeping through the water, reverberating through the cave walls, echoing through my body, coursing through the very essence of Ingo. Mortarow never reaches me, because the water wraps around him, coiling like almost like rope, before hurling him back against the pillar, smashing him into the stone. There is a rumbling roar, like the clashing of a thousand waves as the column crumbles, chunks of stone falling down from the ceiling. I curl into a ball trying to protect myself, jarring my wrist in the process, but my scream goes unheard in the cacophony of noise. And amidst the rumble of falling stone, I can hear Faro's words, his desperate voice magnified and echoing around us, pounding in my head, the words he found in his mouth when all was lost. He didn't know what to do but his mer-blood did.

Rise up, Ingo! Defend your children. Rise up and destroy…I wish it with all my heart.

Finally, I realise that the thundering noise has ceased, and that the sound I can hear is just my ears ringing and my own blood pounding in my head. I raise my head tentatively, trying to see through the water, but can't make anything out. The water is full of dust, and the little creatures' light has been extinguished. I hope they're all right, that they're just hiding. I have a lot to thank them for. The moonlight is the only thing illuminating the chamber, but before my eyes can adjust, something grabs my good arm. I yelp and swing wildly at the creature.

"Ow!"

"Faro?"

My heart floods with relief as I hear his familiar laugh.

"Well Sapphire, that certainly went out with a bang, didn't-"

He's cut off as I fling my arms around him tightly.

Are you trying to hug me or kill me? He asks. Because really, you're chocking me.

I laugh shakily and pull away slightly. "A bit of both. Didn't I tell you to leave with Sawya?"

"Yeah, well. I sent her back to fetch help without me. You really think I'd let you go off to find Mortarow without me? Couldn't have you taking all of the glory, could I?"

My mouth twitches slightly. Same old Faro. "Mortarow?" I say, trying to peer over his shoulder into the gloom.

"Flatter than a stingray." He says in a casual voice, but there's a slightly tremor to it. "Trust me, Sapphire, you don't want to look."

I begin to giggle slightly hysterically, my shoulders shaking. It's a moment before I realise that my giggles have become sobs.

Faro leans closer in the dark, examining my face. "So I finally got to see a human crying, then." He says, grinning slightly.

"Get off!" I choke. "I'm not an attraction in a zoo!"

He smiles slightly, and seems like he's about to say something before a wail interrupts us.

"Come on, Sapphire." He says, taking my uninjured hand. His own hand is shaking slightly, but I don't comment on it. "Time to find Mordowrgi."

Thank you so much for all of your reviews and support! I'm so glad that people enjoy my writing and it means so much to me when people take the time to review! Thank you all so much!

xxx