Sea Spell (Waterfire Saga #4)(94)

“We did,” Neela answered.

Yazeed’s whole body sagged with relief. He hugged his sister tightly. “I was so scared that you wouldn’t make it.”

“Really, Yaz?” Neela asked, clearly touched.

Yazeed immediately backstroked. “Well, um…what I meant is, I would’ve been scared. If I wasn’t so tough and cool.”

Neela laughed.

“Please tell me Ling’s okay,” Sera said, worry in her voice.

“She is,” said Ling, swimming up to the group. Lena was helping her. “I’m really sore, but I’m okay.” She lifted the clean shirt she was wearing. Black stitches ran in a jagged line across the bottom of her rib cage. “Twenty-two,” she said. “Lena did a great job.”

Lena smiled shyly, pleased by the praise. The two giant catfish behind her purred.

Kora and two of her Askari were nearby. “That will leave a beautiful scar,” Kora said enviously. She turned to Sera. “The monster…it’s really dead?”

“It is,” Sera replied.

Kora threw her head back and uttered a piercing, joyous victory cry.

She took her coral armband—notched for every Razormouth she’d killed—and put it on Sera’s arm. “Well done, sister Askara,” she said. She touched her forehead to Sera’s, then pulled her into a tight embrace.

Sera hugged Kora back, drawing strength from the fearless warrior. “Thank you,” she finally said. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

She released Kora. Thousands of weary, battered faces were looking at her. They’d formed a semicircle in front of the Carceron.

Sera swam before them. “Abbadon is dead!” she shouted, raising her fist high into the water.

A roiling, thunderous cheer went up from the fighters. They lifted their spears and swords, and threw their helmets into the water. The cheer carried on, long and loud, for minute after minute, until Sera raised her hands for silence.

“A great evil threatened our world!” she shouted, her voice ringing out. “Because of you, that evil is no more. Mer, goblin, sea creatures, and even the humans fought together and died together for this victory. Because of your bravery and your strength, Orfeo and Abbadon have been defeated. Because of your love for the seas and the freshwaters, their creatures have been saved from destruction. You have my gratitude, my respect, and my love. We will care for our wounded, and our dead, and then, we will care for one another. Always and forever, from this day on. Miromara, Matali, Ondalina, Atlantica, Qin, and the Freshwaters, together with our goblin allies, the troll clans, and sea creatures great and small, the Praedatori and the Wave Warriors, will never forget how greed and the hunger for power nearly destroyed our world. I promise you, on my life, that I will work with leaders from all realms to ensure peace and harmony between us. Our future, and the future of our home, depends on it.”

Cheers rose once again. Fighters hugged one another, and then returned to the difficult tasks of tending the injured and collecting the bodies. As they did, Ceto Rorqual and humpbacks swam overhead. They dipped down in the water and started butting their great heads into the walls of the Carceron. The old stones creaked and groaned before giving way and crashing to the seafloor.

“It’s over,” Garstig said. “At last.”

“Almost, but not quite,” Sera said.

She turned to Ava, but Ava answered her question before Sera could ask it.

“Yes, he’s coming,” she said. “I can feel him.”

A moment later, a majestic coelacanth, his long gray body mottled with splotches of silver, swam into the clearing. A hushed, reverent silence fell over the group. Everyone bowed his or her head.

The giant fish regarded them all, then, in a voice as ancient as time itself, said, “You summoned me, Astrid Kolfinnsdottir. Where is the soul you wish to commend?”

“We have many souls to commend, great Horok,” Astrid replied. “Stolen souls who’ve longed for centuries to find refuge with you.”

“I will receive them,” Horok said.

Astrid and Neela picked up the four pouches of pearls, then swam to Horok. They placed the pouches on the seafloor before him and opened them. The pearls were glowing softly.

Horok gently took them all into his broad mouth. No matter how many disappeared into his jaws, his mouth never filled. There was room for them all.

“They’re happy now,” Ava whispered.

“There’s one more,” Astrid said.

Horok nodded. “This one has refused me for centuries, but it is finally his time to make the journey.”

Astrid swam to where Orfeo’s corpse lay. She put out the waterfire she’d cast and bent down to the body. Taking great care not to touch the black pearl, she took the leather string from around Orfeo’s neck, then carried it to Horok. Holding one end of the string, she let the pearl slide off the other. Horok caught it as it fell, then readied himself to leave.

“Horok, wait….” Astrid said.

The coelacanth stopped. He turned back to her.

“Kolfinn…I—I didn’t have the time…” Astrid said, with tears in her eyes.

Sera joined her. “My mother and father…” she said, her voice breaking. “I never got to say good-bye. I never got to tell them—”