Chapter 35

Marazza hissed as Phosphata’s wind magic whipped at his raised arms. He was beginning to feel the effects of his remaining wounds as his body consumed the last of his dogfish dinner. The concentrated gusts of wind did not gouge his skin as deeply as the softer flesh of the snake-whale, but that did not make it hurt any less, and they were starting to heal more slowly.

Another imitation beast. Another slave, as my master creates slaves. He was not about to let this faux elder beast defeat him. Not when I am so close! I am the master’s hound, and I will not fail!

Marazza did not have an overabundance of book learning, but he did have a brawler’s canny. He noticed that the spindly sky-drake preferred to fight him at range. He had observed the real thing fishing in the shallows many times. They always tackled small prey, and nothing that could fight back. The wind magic was normally reserved for predators who felt up to tackling a drake. Without its magic, it is nothing! A particularly strong gust knocked him off his feet. Still, it is not to be underestimated with its magic.

He glanced about, spotting a driftwood log longer than he was tall. Marazza’s muscles bulged as he hefted the tree, holding it directly before him. It was heavier than the faulty sword he had stolen, but that made it perfect for his hasty plan.

Marazza smirked as he advanced on Phosphata. As I thought. If I struggle to lift it, so will its magic! His legs were lashed by the wind blades, but the tree absorbed blow after blow. The log grew lighter as he advanced, but not enough, even as he drew closer to the source of the whirlwind.

A real sky drake would have abandoned the attack to flee. However, her orders had not been subtle. ‘Kill the shark’ left little room for a strategic withdrawal, and she could not move well while her leather wings were busy flapping away.

When Marazza estimated he was close enough, he shifted his load, swinging it in an arc. Half of his vision went dark as he faced the full brunt of the sky drake’s attack, but it was not enough to stop the attack. Marazza had never heard of baseball, but he wielded the remains of the log like a star player. The business end of the bludgeon caught Phosphata in the side of her head, snapping bone and spinning it nearly backwards.

The sky drake staggered back before flopping to the beach, her billowing wings only able to slow her fall.

Marazza scowled as Phosphata vanished into a wispy, golden cloud. No blood. It felt like he had been denied his due as the victor of the fight.

He had not emerged from Phosphata’s barrage unscathed, though. Each step left a bloody footprint in the wet sand, and his left eye refused to fully resolve an image. A part of him wanted to retreat into the ocean to feed and wait again.

However, his master’s last instructions echoed in his ears. I am not to return without the orca.

In his own way, Marazza was as bound by duty as Phosphata had been. This thought did not occur to Marazza; he was not the sort to draw such connections. Instead, he was focused on the human trio. Vince stood before the downed orca, ready to face Marazza again.

Good. I have worked up a powerful hunger, and that one looks tasty.

**************

“Jesus.” Murphy was not sure if he had said the word out loud or not. Watching some sort of enormous stork walk out of nothing only to get brained by some enormous baseball bat shook him. He could not see the battle from their vantage point near the forest’s edge, but the giraffe-sized drake’s head had poked over the hill, as had what he guessed was that shark thing’s club.

He studied Luis. “How the hell are you so calm about this?”

“You were KO’d when they took out those monster horses,” he said. “One little shark isn’t anything compared to that.”

Murphy shuddered, but the memory of his capture let him shift from dread to annoyance. That was familiar territory for the sheriff. “Son, did you not see that thing eat a full clip? What if it comes for us?”

Luis frowned, but shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it, so why worry about things we can’t control?”

Murphy shuddered again. Two days ago, I was at the top of the food chain on this island. Don’t expect him to understand, though.

“Guess you aren’t in on it,” said Luis. “You aren’t taking this well.”

“First off, screw you,” said Murphy. “Second, in on what?”

“All of this,” Luis said, gesturing towards the beach. The crashing waves erased the noise of whatever was happening down there. “The coverup, all of it.”

Murphy reflexively wanted to set into him about how that conspiracy stuff was all bullshit, but stopped himself.

“Afternoon!”

Murphy whirled around at the unexpected voice, his hand already going to his sidearm. He calmed down when saw a group of four middle-aged hikers coming up the path behind them. “Afternoon,” he replied.

A quick scan told him that none of the men were armed with anything except brand new hiking gear. One of them had worn sandals and socks on the hike for some ungodly reason.

Murphy’s eyes narrowed. Ugh. Mainlanders. Tech workers, probably.

The tallest man glanced between him and Luis. “Is there a problem, Officer?”

Like you wouldn’t believe. “Gonna have to ask you to turn around and go back the way you came.”

“No way!” said Sandal-Socks, rubbing his aching feet. “We came all this way to see a stupid light tower, and we’re going to see it!”

“Jerry,” said the tall man, who Murphy thought was clearly the leader. “Officer, we did come an awfully long way. What’s the matter?”

Before Murphy could reply, an echoing cry that Murphy thought was whale song split the air.

Hope that wasn’t her getting eaten. “Stranded whale,” he said. “There’s a crew down there trying to get the dumb creature free, and the whole beach is off limits.”

Sandal-Socks narrowed his eyes. “Shoot, we won’t get in their way. That sounds more interesting than the light house.”

The taller man nodded. “Yeah, the wife and kids will want some pictures of that. How about it? We promise we won’t get in their way.”

Murphy grit his teeth. “Off limits means off limits.”

One of the others pointed at Luis. “Then why’s he here? He doesn’t look like a cop.”

Luis wrapped an arm around Murphy’s shoulder. “My old buddy Phil here locked his keys in his squad car and deputized me for a ride.”

The tall man raised an eyebrow. “What, really?”

Murphy fumed, but mostly kept it off his face. “Oh yeah, silly me. Could happen to anyone, though.”

“Happens to you a lot, though,” said Luis.

Murphy’s face went red as he mentally counted down from five. Once he was composed, he continued. “Anyway, you four need to get moving.”

The tall man sighed. “Fine, but can we rest here a minute? It was a heck of a hike.”

Another keening cry echoed in the distance. “Sorry gentlemen, but it wouldn’t be a good idea. You’ll want to get far away from here. There’s some danger, you understand.”

“What kind of danger could we be in from a beached whale?” demanded tall man.

“Not at liberty to say,” said Murphy. “And it’s not your business. Now move along.”

Sandal-Socks’ own face went red. “I’m putting in a complaint with your superiors! This is completely ridiculous!”

“You do that; see who the chief believes,” said Murphy, wearing a smug grin.

The four men gave him the stink eye, but unlike everybody else Murphy had met that day, they respected the badge and did as they were told.

“This stupid island sucks, Jorge,” said Sandals-Socks as they disappeared down the path. “I told you we should’ve gone to Whidbey instead!”

Once they were out of sight, Murphy shoved Luis away. “Locked my keys in my car?”

Luis smirked at him. “You gotta admit, it was pretty funny.”

“Sure, very funny,” he muttered. He looked out towards where he knew the fight was still happening. His life was in the hands of a group of weirdos who kept knocking him out. “Again, you’re awful calm about this.”

Luis looked Murphy straight in the eye with an intensity that took the sheriff off guard. “I’ve known Vince Meyer since I was a kid. He’s never let me down once; hell, he’s bailed me out more than I like to count. He’ll figure something out.”

Chapter 36

Vince clenched his fists, feeling helpless again. He had watched the drake’s defeat play out, but had not seen any way to affect the outcome. Phosphata’s relentless assault had nearly bowled him over when he had tried to close, and he still bore a fresh cut on his right cheek for his trouble.

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“He beat it,” he said, his voice just above the whisper. “She threw a hurricane at Marazza, and he got through.”

“And that is my last summon of note.” Nanora sprang to her feet and held out her hand. She had set her staff aside to tend to Bayla, but it jumped into its mistress’ hand. “I will distract him to give you an opening.”

“Oh, no you won’t!” Vince blocked her with his free hand; he did not know what would become of Bayla’s gift if he released the Aqua Sword, and he did not care to. “What if I get you with my sword? You’re way softer than him! Let me handle it.”

“I am not going to stand by and do nothing,” said Nanora, scowling defiantly at Vince. “It is my sworn duty to protect this island and to get the Princess. I am not letting that mutant have her.”

Vince almost expected Bayla to protest, but the only note she made was another pained keen in whale song. He glanced around, looking for inspiration as Marazza had. Instead of driftwood, though, he spotted the bag he had discarded a good hundred yards down the beach. A desperate plan came together.

“You don’t have to,” he said. “Go get me my bag!”

Nanora cocked her head. “Your bag?”

Vince did not respond; Marazza was unsteady on his feet, but he was nearly upon them. Vince dashed in, his sword tracing arcs through the air as he neared the wounded shark.

The shark staggered back before the onslaught. Vince’s elation at putting the shark on his heels turned to worry as he realized that even wounded, the shark could predict his attacks. He picked up a few clean nicks along the way, but he seemed unconcerned by those. Even Vince’s enhanced strength and speed was a pale imitation of what he’d known while wearing the armor.

“You are not bad,” said Marazza. The unexpected words nearly shocked Vince into halting his assault.

Nearly. His sword’s tip met Marazza’s sensitive nose. He did not react to the pain verbally, but the way he shuddered told Vince it had been exceptionally unpleasant.

“Not bad at all,” said the shark in a shaky voice. “I have decided you are good prey after all.”

“Gee, thanks.” Vince wished again that he had taken Schneider’s offer to join the HEMA club. He knew which end of the sword was which, but he felt like Marazza was still breathing because of his inexperience.

Just as he was wondering when Marazza would finally make his move, he pierced the shark’s left forearm clean through.

“Hah! I—” Vince stopped, seeing the shark’s wicked grin. Marazza twisted around, wrenching the weapon from Vince’s grasp.

Vince saw the obvious counterattack coming, so his own left forearm blocked Marazza’s meaty fist. It was better than his face, but only just. The impact sent him staggering back, and he heard something break in there. He felt the pain faintly, but his heartbeat pounding in his ears drowned out everything else. That’ll sting later, if there is a later.

Marazza wrenched the Aqua Sword from his forearm, only for the weapon to lose its form and splash to the ground. “A pity; I could have used that.”

“Not that you need it,” said Vince.

Marazza considered his words. “I suppose not.” He rushed forward and bowled Vince over.

Vince credited his Championstrength and agility with keeping him out of the shark’s jaws. Rows of triangular teeth closed where his foot had been a moment before as he rolled out of the way.

“Hear the call of the water.” There’s nothing around me but water. Can’t I do anything with it?

Not fast enough to matter, and the wind from the rapidly closing jaws told him it was only a matter of time before his luck ran out. He threw a handful of sodden sand into Marazza’s eye, aggravating the wounded orb. Again, Marazza shuddered, withstanding the pain in relative silence.

“Vince!” Nanora stopped in midair next to him, holding out the backpack. “I got it!”

Vince was cut off by another attack before he could reply, catching Marazza’s right hook with his already wounded forearm. He was thrown back towards Bayla again. This time the adrenaline could not shield him from his agony, and he felt his teeth chip as the impact slammed them together.

He forced his eyes back open, knowing that Marazza would not be far behind. It turned out he was wrong; Nanora flitted around the shark like a gnat, skillfully staying just out of his reach. Some of her bobbing around looked almost uncanny, as she moved at near right angles a few times. Clearly not her first time fighting a monster from that thing; I feel dizzy just watching her! Blood flowed down her arm, and Vince realized she had cut herself to keep the shark’s attention off of him.

The witch shifted her gaze, and the jeweled staff lit up even as she kept up her evasive pattern. “Ureq, do what you can!”

A bizarre green lizard with a clawed tail popped out of thin air, landing on Marazza’s face. The creature’s hooked talons dug into the shark’s head, though it looked like it was carrying out Nanora’s order by holding on for dear life.

Nanora zipped over to Vince’s side, depositing the backpack. “I hope this has what you need.”

Me too. Banishing that thought, he flashed her a confident grin. “You’ll see. Keep him busy a minute longer, okay?”

“Okay?” She cocked her head in thought a moment before divining the word’s meaning and flying back into the fray.

Vince went to open the backpack, but realized that his left hand was no longer obeying his orders. Holding the backpack between his feet, he managed to unzip the bag with his good hand. He found what he was after, enclosing it in his fist.

“Vince? Is he dead yet?” Bayla was still slumped on the sand next to him in her distorted form.

“Not just yet, Princess,” he said, hopping back onto his feet. He failed to keep the frustration out of his voice. “I’m working on it.”

She rolled over, her dark eyes widening as she took in the fracas before her. “He is awfully close!”

“All part of the trap,” he replied. I hope.

She covered her mouth with her hand. “Your arm…”

“Will be fine,” he interjected. “I’ve got the best healer on the island backing me up.”

Nanora’s luck finally ran out at Marazza got a firm hold of Ureq and devoured him in a spray of golden sparks. The witch called out her summon’s name, slowing her evasion just enough that Marazza caught the blunt end of her staff. The strength that had broken Phosphata’s neck swung the staff in a wide circle, hurling her into the churning surf.

Marazza tossed aside the staff and began shuffling towards the stranded orca.

“Please,” she begged. “If it is to be you or me, I want you to flee.”

“What?” demanded Vince.

“I do not care what this trap is,” she said. “You tried your best, but you have your mother, like you said. So run!”

That burning came back at Bayla’s direct command, but this time it was not accompanied by a set of armor, or by the sense of bursting energy. Instead, he felt an overwhelming instinct to run away, the heat making it unbearable to stay in place.

What, I have to obey her? Is this what I signed up for? Not when I’m so… not when I’m so…

One foot followed the other, as if somebody else had seized control of his legs. “Bayla, stop it! Counter that order! I’ve got this!”

Bayla closed her eyes, looking almost serene. “The shark said he will take me alive. He will devour you. I order you to save yourself.”

Vince grit his teeth, struggling against his body’s motions. “He won’t stop! Just order me to charge so I can do finish this! Otherwise, what was all this for?”

Bayla hesitated. “You tried, but…”

“Order me to charge, you overgrown porpoise!” The burning stopped, and his limbs were his own again.

Bayla scowled up at him, forcing her broken body to sit up. “What? How dare you! I am no porpoise, you disrespectful—”

Vince felt the force fade from his limbs. Ignoring her, he ahead at the lumbering shark. She might order me again, so this is my chance! “Hey, Jaws! You’re so damn hungry? Eat this!”

Vince threw an intentionally sloppy right jab straight for Marazza’s mouth. Call of the water. Call of the water. The burning returned, even as he tried to order the salty spray all around him to obey his orders.

Predictably, Marazza opened its gaping maw. It was missing one tooth in three after its sustained abuse, but those were enough to come down on Vince’s arm like a guillotine.

“Vincemeyer!” The whale song underlying Bayla’s distraught cry echoed all about them.

To everyone’s shock, perhaps Vince’s most of all, his arm was not severed at the elbow. He lacked the full suit, but he had managed to summon a covering of Aqua Armor to envelop everything from the right shoulder down.

Marazza’s remaining good eye widened, though the beady eye did not communicate much emotion. Instead, he began thrashing about, trying to force his teeth through the false metal.

“Cut that out!” Vince’s superhuman right hand made quick work of the package in his right hand, spilling its contents down Marazza’s throat. Time to get out of this. He braced his feet against Marazza’s chest and pushed as hard as he could.

His arm did not budge; the shark’s jaw was designed for one-way traffic, its teeth angled to keep prey moving towards the stomach. Marazza’s fists rose, ready to pummel Vince’s unarmored flesh to paste.

Iron manacles wrapped around Marazza’s wrists from seemingly nowhere, though Vince could almost hear Bayla’s command to the water.

“Get out of there!” Bayla grunted. “I do not know how long I can hold him!”

Vince felt the pressure on him limbs again at Bayla’s direct order, but he went with it. He was still good and stuck, even as Marazza shook its head to drive the teeth deeper. He swore he could feel the points of enormous teeth on his skin, and what he could see of his armored gauntlet was beginning to ripple. Like iron. Like Bayla said; not hard like ice. Hard like iron, hard like…

Vince shot the choking shark a smug grin. Wait, who says I have to do it right? He ordered the water encasing his arm to freeze sold, and the expanding ice forced the shark’s jaws across like a jack lifting a car. It was bitterly cold against his skin, so Vince could only imagine how it felt to have a block of ice the size of his head shoved halfway down his throat.

He willed the water touching his arm to go liquid again, and he finally pulled free of Marazza’s maw. The shark’s jaws broke through the weakened ice, snapping tight like a beartrap, sending more teeth flying. Vince rolled over his broken arm twice, nearly passing out in the process. He forced himself upright, though; the fight was not done yet, even if he worried he was.

Marazza was still deathly quiet, even as he broke through Bayla’s chains. Ignoring his wounds, his tensed up, ready to charge. “You nothing of a Landman, I’m going to—”

His voice was cut off, replaced with a dry rasp. The gill slits lining his neck opened and closed furiously as he fell to his knees. They were not knees for long, merging into a tail like Bayla’s, and his pierced left arm twisted about into a triangular pectoral fin.

“What magic is this?” Marazza wheezed. His tail split back in half, but formed two sharklike fins instead of proper feet.

“The magic of conspiracy,” he said. “Nanora said that silver messed with morphic fields, and I just force fed you a month’s supply of colloidal tablets!”

Marazza did not reply as he strained to drag himself into the surf. It was slow going as the shark’s whole body was in flux, switching from moment to moment between fully shark and human limbs.

“You aren’t getting away,” growled Vince. He grabbed Marazza’s flailing left foot through Aqua Armor gloves. The liquid ran away nearly as soon as they formed into the pseudo-metal, but they lasted long enough for Vince to haul Marazza away from the water.

Marazza surprised Vince by whirling around, biting deep into Vince’s leg with his last bit of strength. It was mostly gum, but the powerful blow nearly bowled him over. Remembering how he had responded to a cut to his nose, Vince hammered the shark right between the nostrils. Marazza shuddered once before collapsing once and for all, giving a final shudder as he passed out. His body shifted one last time as his consciousness faded, going full shark.

Vince spat a mouthful of blood, and found his chomped leg was reluctant to hold his weight, as was his broken left arm. He flopped next to the unconscious fish, his chest heaving as his adrenaline ran out and the full effect of his cumulative wounds caught up with him.

“Vince!” Bayla was not in much better shape than him, but she managed to wobble over on her stomach. “You did it! He is dead.”

“Not sure about that,” he said.

“He is not,” came a voice from behind. An utterly waterlogged Nanora emerged from the waves, squeezing water out of her white and gold skirt. Her hat and mask were long gone. “I still feel the life in him, for now.”

Bayla’s eyes went cold, and she called the water to her hand. She grit her teeth, as her pain and exhaustion made the water sluggish to heed her call. “I will correct this.”

“Don’t!” cried Nanora, stumbling over to them, sloshing water from her tied sandals as she went. “He is helpless now. If we do not hurry, he will drown in the air!”

Bayla slumped over, giving up her hold on that ball of water. “I am fine giving that imposter a slow death.”

Vince levered himself up and scooted from the shark as well as he could. He looked up at Nanora. “What, does your code protect him too?”

She hesitated. “There is that, but if he dies, we will never know who sent him. There is a powerful summoner on this island, on par with an experienced witch. We cannot let her get away with this!”

Vince noticed that Nanora assumed their enemy was a woman. He wondered if that was a firm rule of summoning magic. Yet another thing I don’t know, he thought to himself as he sighed. “Bayla, you got enough magic left to keep his gills full?”

To his surprise, the malformed mermaid waved her hand, attaching a sphere of seawater to either side of his neck, and the gill slits began to open and close. The water began to circulate through the gills.

“The water has to move to be effective,” she said. “It is their weakness.”

Vince cocked his head. “I expected you to fight me on that.”

Bayla barked a harsh laugh. “This summoner has been trading my podmates’ parts. Let him lead us right to her.”

Vince nodded once. He felt like a balloon leaking air as his tense, battered body finally relaxed. Unconsciousness came easily, no matter how much Bayla objected. Guess she can’t order me to stay awake.

Still, he passed out with a sense of accomplishment, which he savored as well as he could.

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