Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1)(39)

“That sometimes we must fight a greater evil with a lesser one. The waters of the world are in the greatest peril. We have had some success in the courts of the terragoggs against the worst offenders, but not enough. So we rob robbers to further our cause. I am more than happy to relieve Tajdar, and all like him, of their ill-gotten gains if it saves one species from being fished to extinction, one more garbage lake from materializing in the Pacific Ocean, or one magnificent shark from being murdered for its fins.”

“Who are the Praedatori?” Neela asked.

“That I cannot tell you. Their identities are kept secret to protect them. Faces, bodies, voices—they’re all disguised by powerful songspells. They come from all swims of life and they pledge themselves to the defense of the earth’s waters.” His expression grew solemn. “It is not a pledge to be taken lightly. The risks they face are enormous. Many are killed in the line of duty. In this day and age, friends of the water have many enemies. Just last week, two of my soldiers died sabotaging a seal cull. I grieved for them as I would my own children.” Sorrow filled his eyes and anger filled his voice. “We have not yet recovered from that loss, and now we face this…this butchery in Miromara.”

At the mention of her realm, Serafina’s fins prickled again.

“Duca Armando, why are we here?” she asked, unable to contain her fears any longer. “You say the Praedatori exist to fight the terragoggs, but the attack in Miromara was made by mer, so why are you involving yourself? This is not the Praedatori’s fight.”

“Oh, but it is,” the duca said.

“But it was Ondalina who attacked us. The arrow that wounded my mother was tipped with poison from an Arctic sculpin. The uniforms the attackers wore were black—Admiral Kolfinn’s color. They were mermen, Duca Armando, not humans,” Serafina said.

“You saw what Kolfinn wanted you to see,” the duca said. “He had help.”

“From whom?” Serafina asked, frightened by the thought of another mer realm aligning with Ondalina. “Atlantica? Qin?”

“No, my child. From a terragogg. The very worst of his kind. Rafe Iaoro Mfeme.”





“IT CAN’T BE,” Serafina said, stunned. “The terragoggs have never been able to find us, or our cities. We have spells to keep them away; we have sentries and soldiers.”

She was practically babbling with fear. She wouldn’t accept what the duca was saying. Couldn’t accept it. For millennia, only magic had protected the mer from marauding terragoggs. Humans couldn’t break the protective spells the mer cast, but other mer could. Is that what Kolfinn was doing?

“If the terragoggs can get to us, they’ll destroy us,” she continued. “Duca Armando, there’s no way that Ondalina would be in league with the terragoggs. Even Kolfinn couldn’t commit such a betrayal. No mer leader could.”

“Think, Principessa,” the duca urged her. “Where did the attackers come from?”

Serafina cast her mind back to the Kolisseo. She could see it all so clearly, as if it had happened only minutes ago. She saw her mother wounded. Her father killed. And thousands of troops descending on the city.

The answer hit her like a rogue wave. “From above,” she said. “Mfeme transported them. In the hold of a trawler.”

The duca nodded. “Three, to be exact. The Bedrie?r, the Sagi-shi, and the Svikari. They were all sighted in Miromaran waters the day of the attack.”

“But that makes no sense,” Neela said. “How could he transport them? The attackers were mer. They can’t just walk up a gangplank.”

“We think he filled the holds of his trawlers with salt water, then lifted the troops aboard in enormous nets. Weaponry was loaded the same way. The sea dragons followed the ships.”

“What was his price?” Serafina asked bitterly. “Mfeme gave Kolfinn speed and stealth. What did Kolfinn give him?”

“Information, we believe,” the duca replied. “Most likely the whereabouts of tuna, cod, and swordfish shoals. Shark. Krill. Seal breeding grounds. Mfeme plunders the sea for any creature of value.”

“But Duca Armando,” Neela said, “why would Kolfinn want to attack Miromara?”

“Dissatisfaction with the terms of the peace treaty between the two realms. Ondalina still resents losing the War of Reykjanes Ridge.”

At that moment, a door opened and a small, stout woman walked in carrying a tray. Spooked, the mermaids dove again.

Armando calmed them when they resurfaced. “This is Filomena, my cook,” he explained.

Filomena set her tray down at the top of the steps. She looked at the mermaids, at Serafina in particular, then turned to the duca and spoke rapidly in Italian.

“Sì, sì,” he said sadly.

“Ah, la povera piccina!” she said, dabbing at her eyes with her apron.

Sera understood Italian, but Filomena spoke so fast, the duca had to translate.

“She asked me if you were Isabella’s daughter. She says you have her manner. Isabella is a great favorite of hers,” he explained.

“My mother comes here?” Serafina asked. “That can’t be. It’s forbidden.”

“Good leaders know when to follow rules and when to break them,” the duca said. “She comes to find out about the doings of the terragoggs and how they might affect her realm.”