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--DRAMATIS PERSONAE—
Red Tide, Enchantress of the 3rd Renown, The Reef, ready to make music
Beyond Reach, Trident Master of the 3rd Renown, The Reef, not actually his name
Turtle Jaw, Quill of The Reef, in a bit of trouble with his boss
Cuda Bite, Skulker of the 1st Renown, The Reef, not enamored with this whole plan
Salt Wall, Berserker of the 2nd Renown, The Reef, doesn’t mind the odds
A pod of Coralline Elite led by the queen’s personal bodyguard, Most Loyal Spear
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23 New Summer, 61 AW.
An unremarkable beach on the North Continent
277 days until the next Granting.
Beyond Reach had been wrong about one thing. The pod of Coralline Elite emerged from the water less than an hour later. Barely enough time for the four champions and their Quill to put together a strategy. As plans went, Red Tide knew, it wasn’t much of one. Perhaps enough of a surprise to even the numbers some. But after that, it would be a fight.
A bloody fight, by the look of things.
The Coralline Elite stalked up the beach in a tight formation. There were eleven in total. Each of them wore bodysuits of dark blue deep-silk augmented with wards for speed, plus armored fins of razor-sharp sea glass at their forearms and shins. The wards on their deep-silk were dim, which meant they’d overdrawn the arcane energy imbued there chasing down the champions. Red Tide didn’t see any protective wards weaved into the suits. That was one advantage the champions would have, at least. The Coralline Elite were outfitted to cut through water and strike while submerged. They weren’t armored to survive a land battle.
Still, there were six armed with javelins and four who shouldered harpoon-flingers. Leading them, just as Beyond Reach had predicted, was Most Loyal Spear. He was an impressive specimen, rigid of posture and hard of body. The sides of his head were shaved and he styled his braids in a pile that resembled a shark’s fin. He carried two spears–each shorter than the javelins his pod wielded—but connected by a length of chain. For the moment, Most Loyal Spear kept the chain slung across the back of his neck, the handles of his twin weapons bouncing against his broad chest.
They were lucky not to have met this pod out in the water. The Coralline Elite were the queen’s personal enforcement arm. They were responsible for bringing justice to oca’em pods that ranged too far from The Reef, into waters that might disturb the queen’s pathetic peace with the land-walkers. They were also charged with crushing any opposition that might bubble up against the queen herself. It had been a pod of Coralline Elite that arrested Red Tide after the untimely immolation of the fool merchant captain Juseph Grice-Russi. She told herself that it was the burns on her back that kept her from fighting them off, but in truth Red Tide knew it would’ve been a losing battle against the synchronized blood-letting of the highly trained pod.
“I respect what you can do,” Beyond Reach murmured to Red Tide as they watched the Coralline Elite’s methodical approach. “I respect what you’ve done.”
“What?” Red Tide replied, blinking. “This some kind of deathbed confession?”
“I don’t intend to die here, and I suspect the same of you,” Beyond Reach continued. “But these others… have you considered that we might have a better chance of survival on the island with stronger partners?”
Red Tide gritted her teeth and said nothing. This pompous fool and his machinations would have to wait until the present business was over.
The champions had done some rearranging while they awaited their hunters. They’d positioned the open clamshell caches between some stacks of driftwood, creating a natural-looking barricade. Turtle Jaw and Salt Wall knelt behind one clamshell while Red Tide and the suddenly chatty Beyond Reach crouched behind the other. They stood up as one as the Coralline Elite drew nearer, looking as if they’d been in the process of rummaging through the chests. They wanted to give off an aura of unpreparedness, and had wanted cover in case the Coralline greeted them with harpoons. Fortunately, it seemed like Most Loyal Spear intended to talk first.
Meanwhile, Cuda Bite sat to the side of the driftwood, bleeding from a freshly punched nose, his hands tied with rope. He wiggled and whined.
“You hit me too hard,” he said to Salt Wall, a whistle in his breathing.
“Shut up,” the berserker replied.
The sun was high but behind clouds, creating milky shadows across the beach. The wind picked up and Red Tide smelled sweat and salt. At a raised fist from Most Loyal Spear, the Coralline Elite stopped thirty yards away, fanning out, javelins in front of harpooners. Red Tide hugged her harp against her stomach.
“Is that you, Most Loyal Spear?” Turtle Jaw shouted in greeting. “What are you doing out here?”
“I could ask you the same question, warden,” came Most Loyal Spear’s gravelly reply. “Except, I already know the answer.”
“You do?”
“Rebellion,” said Most Loyal Spear. “Insurrection.”
Turtle Jaw chuckled. “Grave charges. But I’ve only brought our party here in an attempt to earn them Ink.” The warden’s gaze left Most Loyal Spear and flitted over the rest of the pod. “Who could begrudge the Reef’s champions an improved chance at survival?”
Stony expressions greeted Turtle Jaw’s words. They wouldn’t find any defectors amongst this pod. Still, Red Tide scanned the expressions of the spearmen and harpooners, searching for weakness. She felt the tickle of the Ink on her chest as [Awareness+] heightened her senses, drawing her gaze to a younger spearmen on Most Loyal Spear’s left. His hands trembled ever so slightly on his weapon. Red Tide caught his eye and slowly smiled. The weakest of the bunch. He would do.
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“Do not play games with me, warden,” Most Loyal Spear said. “You know the boundaries of your role as Quill. You were not to leave the Grotto.”
“What’s the point of sending four year after year if we don’t even give them a chance?” Turtle Jaw asked. “Would you send your pod to a slaughter without any training?”
“Irrelevant,” Most Loyal Spear replied. “These are arguments you should have put before the queen.”
“I did,” Turtle Jaw snapped. “She doesn’t listen.”
“Neither do you. I was with you in the palace on the day Throne Gazer was entrusted to your custody, warden. Do you not recall that conversation? You were given specific instructions that Throne Gazer was not to be selected as a champion. The queen forbade it. Do you deny this further insubordination?”
Red Tide cocked her head. “Did he say Throne Gazer?”
“Indeed,” Beyond Reach replied. “He names me.”
Red Tide turned to stare at the trident master beside her and she sensed Cuda Bite doing the same. Of course Beyond Reach’s naming song would’ve been light on details. He hadn’t shared his true name with them, nor the anchors chained to it.
Throne Gazer. Now, even spoken in the air instead of sung, that was a name which meant something to Red Tide. The Queen of the Coralline Throne had no offspring of her own, but she did have a sister called Deep Dweller and that sea witch had raised a single son. There had been rumors about the boy, probably started by Deep Dweller herself. He was a special one. Born into portentous waters or some other prophetic nonsense that Deep Dweller read in the milking of squid. Her special child had been groomed by Deep Dweller to lead the Reef into renewed prosperity.
Of course, the Queen of the Coralline Throne had disagreed with her sister’s prophecies.
When was the coup? Four years back? Red Tide’s own father had gotten swept up in it, arrested by the Coralline Elite, and executed. Deep Dweller and her chosen one had failed miserably, although Red Tide remembered the coup fondly because at least it had loosed her from her father.
And now, the wannabe king stood next to her. Beyond Reach. Throne Gazer. One and the same.
Red Tide laughed incredulously. “Throne Gazer,” she gasped, “unbelievable.”
The man beside her squared his shoulders. “He tells the truth of it. I am the promised king.”
“The living laughingstock!” Red Tide wiped the back of her hand across her eyes, barely controlling her laughter. “Throne Gazer! You’re a fucking joke!”
Throne Gazer tensed. “A pod of Coralline Elite sent to hunt me down would suggest otherwise.”
“Actually, I would agree with the outlaw,” intoned Most Loyal Spear. “The queen is burdened by sentiment for her wayward nephew. She has fond memories of bouncing you upon her knee. And so, I have been dispatched to return you home alive.”
“I am not going back,” Throne Gazer replied. “And I’ll remember the faces of all who stand against me.”
“You will return, bloodied and chastened,” Most Loyal Spear said with the tired patience of a court tutor. “As for you other three, your survival is optional. You will be allowed to keep your Ink. You may fight for your freedom at the Granting as agreed, but you will wait for that opportunity within the safety of the Grotto. Should you choose not to return peacefully, you will be killed.”
Cuda Bite chose that moment to stagger to his feet, snorting blood out of his nose. “Sir, I just went where the warden told me to go. Only today did their nefarious plans become clear. They beat me and bound me when I wouldn’t agree to lay an ambush for you.”
Snarling, Red Tide kicked sand in Cuda Bite’s direction, but the narrow-boned skulker raised his bound hands to ward her off. He scampered further down the beach, entering the empty space between the Reef’s champions and the Coralline Elite.
Most Loyal Spear made a noise of disgust, then nodded to one of his spearmen. “Check him.”
As the spearman started toward Cuda Bite, Turtle Jaw spoke up. “What about me? Am I to return to face the queen’s judgement?”
“No,” Most Loyal Spear replied. “You will die here, warden. I have been given leave to choose your level of suffering.”
“I hope you savor that rare taste of independence,” Turtle Jaw said. “But what happens after? Do you know how it works when a Quill dies?”
“The queen herself will assume the responsibility.”
Turtle Jaw held up a finger. “If I die, the gods choose my replacement. They shall peer into the hearts of our people and decide who best represents them. Is the queen confident that will be her?”
Most Loyal Spear rolled his shoulders. “If your successor proves unsuitable, I will visit them next.”
While the two men spoke, Red Tide eyed Most Loyal Spear’s throat. He was marked with the same dolphin symbol as the rest of them, yet the Ink there appeared to pulse. She wondered if Most Loyal Spear knew how his tattoo looked ripe and ready to burst. She nudged Beyond—ah, Throne Gazer.
“You see his neck, your grace?” Red Tide murmured.
In answer, Throne Gazer exhaled sharply through his nose. She took that to mean he was still offended and wouldn’t engage with her, but she saw how he sized up Most Loyal Spear.
“A rich prize,” Red Tide said with a smirk.
Meanwhile, the spearman had finished thoroughly searching Cuda Bite and found no weapons on him. After checking his bonds, he grabbed the skulker roughly by the shoulder and shoved him in the direction of the Coralline Elite. Cuda Bite stumbled through the line of spearmen. One of the harpooners grabbed and held him by the back of his neck.
Red Tide chose that moment to pluck the first notes on her harp. The [Hypnotic Object] Ink on her chest felt warmly encouraging. All eyes were pulled toward her.
“The ge’oca blessed me,” Red Tide said, and her words carried almost like sea song, invoking images of the holy leviathan that lurked in the depths. “They praised me for my vengeance, and they sent you here as my reward.”
The Coralline Elite shifted uneasily as Red Tide’s fingers danced across the strings. Most Loyal Spear cocked his head like he was trying shake water out of his ear. “What is this?” he grunted.
“Your Ink overflows, Most Loyal Spear,” Red Tide continued, her voice like a thundercloud, her harp’s notes like raindrops. “The gods have made you a prize for us. Would you thwart their will? Would you obey your queen if it meant denying the sea itself?”
Some of the spearmen glanced sidelong at their leader, surely noticing the juicy throb of the Ink on his neck. They readjusted their grips on their weapons and shuffled their feet. Red Tide had their attention. She made them doubt. She made them slow to react.
“Silence her,” Most Loyal Spear said. “Quickly.”
Cuda Bite spotted his opening. He reached for [Hidden Blade] and his dagger manifested in his two bound hands. Without warning, Cuda Bite stabbed the blade into the sternum of the harpooner holding him. He let the blade hang there for a moment, releasing it, so that he could swiftly rake his bonds across the edge and cut himself free, catching the dagger as it slipped from the dying harpooner’s chest.
Stunned, the harpooner pulled the trigger on his flinger, impaling the spearman in front of him.
Another harpooner screamed and pivoted to aim her weapon at Cuda Bite. Less than three feet separated them when she pulled the trigger.
Cuda Bite disappeared, falling into the shadow cast by one of the spearmen. The harpoon meant for him instead buried itself in the cheek of another spearman. Using [Shadow Step], Cuda Bite popped loose from the shadow of the confused woman who’d fired upon him, stabbing her three times in the back before one of her fellows took a run at him.
Red Tide smiled. The little skulker was deliciously lethal. His chaos was fierce while her music made the Elite confused and lethargic.
Cuda Bite darted around a spear thrust meant to gut him, then dove headfirst for another harpooner’s shadow.
Instead of disappearing, though, he landed on his face in the sand with a high-pitched grunt.
“Once?” he shouted. “My fucking Ink only works once?”
If not for the languid melody flowing from Red Tide’s fingers, Cuda Bite would’ve been skewered from multiple directions. With three of their number already down, the rest of the Elite were only now shaking out of their trance and entering their fighting positions. Red Tide kept her eyes locked on the spearman she’d chosen, the one her [Awareness+] had identified as the weakest.
“Don’t let them hurt my friend,” Red Tide whispered, and her words were carried by the music straight into the spearman’s ears.
Red Tide’s spearman flung himself backwards, directly into a javelin that had been meant for Cuda Bite. The Elite who’d rammed his weapon into his compatriot’s stomach shouted in dismay. Cuda Bite used the opportunity to lunge to his feet and sprint back toward the others.
“I did my part!” he screamed. “Now save my ass!”
Bellowing, Salt Wall rumbled out to meet the spearmen who chased Cuda Bite, her hook beckoning them forward.
Distracted by Cuda Bite’s escape, Red Tide didn’t see which of the harpooners fired at her, finally obeying Most Loyal Spear’s command to shut her up. She received no warning from the trident master standing next to her.
The harpoon struck Red Tide just below her left breast and knocked her off her feet.
Her harp bounced from her grasp.
For a moment, there was quiet. Then screaming and the clashing of metal.
The battle truly started with Red Tide on her back.
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