Sea Spell (Waterfire Saga #4)(88)

“I still do,” Astrid shot back.

Fury contorted Orfeo’s face. He threw a fragor lux at her. Astrid saw it coming; she rolled to one side. The stilo missed its mark, but it carved a gash into her shoulder.

“I gave you everything. Everything!” he snarled at her. “And this is how you repay me?”

“I’d hardly call a couple of black dresses everything,” Astrid drawled.

Orfeo threw another vortex. This one wound around Astrid’s tail, squeezing it cruelly. She arched her back, screaming in pain.

“Stop it!” Sera screamed, slapping her hands against the wall. “For gods’ sake, stop!”

Neela was crying. Ling was still songcasting, desperate to break through the wall.

Astrid, still on the ground, tried to crawl away from her tormentor. She pulled herself through the silt with her hands, dragging her battered tail behind her. Blood was pulsing from the gash on her shoulder. Slowly, painfully, she moved to the far end of the dome, where Orfeo had stood moments ago.

But she couldn’t get away from him. He came up behind her, grabbed a handful of her hair, and yanked her head back.

“Good-bye, you little fool,” he hissed. “I won’t make it quick. Or easy.”

Then he let go of her and started to songcast.

“No…oh, gods, no!” Sera moaned, sinking down against the water wall. She started to turn away; she couldn’t bear to watch what was going to happen.

Astrid’s head was hanging limply. Her body was still, her tail motionless.

But her hands were scrabbling madly in the silt.

What happened next happened so fast, all Sera could do was gasp.

With a wrenching cry, Astrid launched herself off the seafloor, her sword in her hands. Whirling her powerful body around, she swung the weapon through the water.

Orfeo’s eyes widened in shock. “Noooo!” he shouted, trying to deflect the blow.

But it was too late.

Astrid’s blade bit into his neck, and sliced through it.

His head fell into the silt. His body sank through the water and came to rest near it. Blood rose in a carmine plume. The dome he’d cast caved in; its waters washed over the mermaids.

Astrid had tricked him. She was hurt, but not as badly as she’d pretended. She’d baited him, making him so angry that he forgot about her sword, which had been buried. She’d let him push her all around the dome until she could get to where it lay.

Astrid threw that sword down now. She collapsed near Orfeo’s body and let out a wail that came from the depths of her soul.





SERA, IN A SPELL-SHOCKED DAZE, viewed the devastation of war all around her—Orfeo’s headless body; Astrid, on the ground sobbing; Yazeed, his tail bleeding badly; Ava crawling out from under Alítheia; Black Fins, some bruised and battered, others dead; the remains of thousands of rotters. Her fighters needed help, but she didn’t know where to begin.

“We need to get to the wounded, Sera,” Ling said. “They’re our first priority.”

“And Abbadon,” said Neela.

Sera nodded, grateful for her capable friends. The haze receded. She snapped into action.

Some of her goblin commanders were nearby. “Garstig, Mulmig, R?k,” she said, “find all the able-bodied fighters you can and have them carry the wounded to the infirmary tents.”

As the three goblins hurried off, Sera glanced at the Carceron. Becca was still there, still songcasting, but it was quiet at the gates. There was no further sign of Abbadon.

Ava swam up, and Sera turned to her. “Where is it?” she asked.

“Deep inside the prison,” Ava replied. “It knows Orfeo’s dead. It’s hiding from us.”

“Orfeo’s not dead,” Astrid said, slowly rising from the silt. “I destroyed the body he used, that’s all. He’s still here and he’s still dangerous.”

She cast waterfire, high and hot, in a circle around and above Orfeo’s remains. “His soul lives on. In there,” she said, pointing to the black pearl, covered in blood and hanging from what was left of Orfeo’s neck. “No one can touch it. He knows how to jump bodies. That’s how he’s endured for four thousand years.”

“We should throw the body, and the pearl, into the lava pond,” Ava said, shivering.

“Lava would only destroy the body,” Astrid said. “The pearl is indestructible. The waterfire will keep everyone away until we figure out what to do with it.”

Sera put a gentle hand on Astrid’s back. Astrid turned, and the two mermaids embraced each other fiercely.

“I’m sorry,” Sera whispered.

Astrid nodded, fighting to hold back tears. “It was the only way to stop him.”

“But he still meant something to you.”

“Yes, he did. He gave me my magic back. I’ll never forget it. Or him.”

When her emotion finally subsided, Astrid released Sera and hugged the others.

“Good acting job, merl,” Neela said admiringly. “You had me fooled.”

“Me, too,” Sera admitted. “I should have known you would never go over to Orfeo’s side, though. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

Astrid shook her head. “I needed you to doubt me,” she said. “The whole performance had to be convincing. If Orfeo doubted that I was on his side, I never would’ve gotten near the talismans.”