Sea Spell (Waterfire Saga #4)(64)

And then it did.

“Great Neria,” she whispered, stunned. “It’s them.”

“Sera, what do you see?” Fossegrim called up to her.

She released the iron bars and swam down. “Fossegrim, we’ve got to get out here.”

“Do you know what’s happening?” he asked, reaching for her hand.

Sera nodded. “I do,” she said, helping the old merman up. “The battle for Cerulea has begun.”





“THIS IS NOT WISE, Serafina,” Fossegrim cautioned breathlessly. “You should stay in the spider’s den. At least wait to see how the Black Fins fare before you venture into the fray. What happens if Vallerio bests them and you’re taken?”

“I can’t do that, Fossegrim,” Sera said. “This is my fight. I need to be with my Black Fins, win or lose.”

Sera and Fossegrim were hurrying down a tunnel that led from Alítheia’s lair to the palace’s dungeons. The spider was leading the way, her bronze feet crunching the bones that littered the floor.

“Alítheia, if there’s an exit, why haven’t you ever used it?” Sera asked.

“Because the tunnel narrowsss asss it getsss clossse to the palace,” the spider had explained. “Alítheia isss too big. Ssshe hasss tried to fit through. Many timesss.”

Even though she was frantic to join her fighters, Sera heard the sadness in the spider’s voice, and her heart hurt at the thought of the lonely creature futilely trying to squeeze through the tapering tunnel.

As the three continued down the passage, Fossegrim asked, “What happens when we arrive at the dungeons? How will we evade the guards?”

“That shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Sera replied. “With Cerulea under attack, most of the guards won’t be at their posts.”

“How do you know that?”

Sera smiled grimly. “I know my uncle. I know how he thinks. He’ll have ordered most of the guards to leave the dungeon to defend the palace. Fossegrim, you said you were in the dungeons for quite some time. Who was with you?”

“Political prisoners.”

“Criminals, too?”

“No,” he replied with a bitter laugh. “The criminals are all in the palace, not the dungeons. Why do you ask?”

“I’m going to need some help. I might be able to unlock Alítheia’s grille, but I’ll never be able to lift it by myself.”

Fossegrim’s eyes lit up. “Do you have a plan?”

“I do. I’ll tell you all about it when we get out of here.”

The tunnel started to narrow, then it abruptly angled toward a thin doorway.

“There are the dungeonsss,” the spider said, pointing ahead. “Alítheia can go no farther.”

“Thank you for getting us here, Alítheia,” said Sera. “Thank you for listening to me, for trusting me. As soon as I can, I’ll come back for you.”

The anarachna looked away. Sera could tell that she didn’t believe her. She swam up, so that she was level with the spider’s eyes.

“Alítheia, look at me,” she said, taking the creature’s face in her hands. “Wait for me by the grille. I will come for you. I swear on my crown that I’ll set you free.”

“You mussst win back that crown before you can sssweear upon it,” the spider said solemnly, delicately touching a claw to Sera’s cheek. “And Lucia will not let you. Ssshhe is very ssstrong.”

“Love is stronger,” Sera said. “And love will win, Alítheia.”

“Once, perhapsss. But not now. In thisss realm, evil hasss vanquissshed love.”

Another huge explosion rocked the stone tunnel. A chunk of the ceiling fell to the floor, narrowly missing Sera and sending up a cloud of silt.

“Go, Ssserafina,” the spider said.

“Alítheia—”

“Go. Before you are crussshed.”

Sera nodded. She hurried Fossegrim through the doorway, then followed him.

Alítheia watched them go, blinking her many eyes. Then, her head low, she turned and made her way back to her den.





SERA CAMOED HERSELF to blend in with the dungeon’s floor and swam low until she reached a window. Then she raised herself slightly to look through it.

It was the guards’ room, hollowed into the rock. Its front wall was made of thick, shatterproof glass that allowed the guards to see out into the corridor.

Just as she’d thought, only a skeleton crew was on duty. There were three guards total, one slim, two brawny, talking among themselves.

“If this place starts to cave in, I’m gone,” one said. “I’m not going to be here when the ceiling crashes down.”

“What about the prisoners?” the second guard asked.

“They can fend for themselves. No one cares if they live or die anyway.”

Sera cased the room, making note of where the keys to the cells were kept, and the weapons. As she returned to Fossegrim, another explosion rocked the palace. The creaks and groans that followed, and the spidery cracks that appeared in the walls, upset the prisoners. Sera could hear them calling to one another from their cells.

“What’s happening?”