“Out of my way!” Sphaera shouted at the baby horse spirit as he staggered down the furrow right in front of her.
Then she took a closer look at him. His head hung low, saltwater streamed off his soggy mane, and so many gashes crisscrossed his withers that he looked more red than gold. There was a bundle of wet cotton slung over his back. Spoils of war? Why would you bother retrieving cotton? Then the bundle groaned.
Sphaera recoiled at the sight of bluish skin, eyes so bloodshot that the whites were solid red, and lips peeled back in a rictus. “Is that you, mage?”
The mage croaked something. Sphaera couldn’t understand a word, not that she wanted to.
“Get out of my way, fox, or I’ll blow you out of the way,” said the baby horse spirit tiredly.
Sphaera heard the panicky clamor of the villagers back on the beach. They weren’t coming to help, not any time soon, and probably not ever. “Rosefinches! You and you, help them. The rest of you are with me.” Magnanimous empress that she was, she deviated from her path to curve around the baby horse spirit and kept running.
She could see them now. The mini dragon was attacking the oystragon, trying to force him to release the human girl, who was in bad shape, and Lady Piri’s representative, who was in even worse shape.
Then Lady Piri’s representative whispered something. It was so soft and so choked that even Sphaera’s spirit hearing couldn’t make it out. But the oystragon flinched. The mini dragon punched him straight in the throat.
Sphaera laughed. What a delightful fight! It was like being back in the Wilds, watching her courtiers vie for her praise!
“Mistress, shall we continue?” asked one of her handmaidens, and she recalled where she was and why.
“Freshen my appearance,” she commanded.
The rosefinches fluttered about her, tucking loose wisps of hair back in place and straightening her skirts. She wafted her tails a few times, fluffing out her fur. Perfect.
It was even more perfect because the oystragon had stopped fighting. “Truce,” he was saying to Lady Piri’s representative. “How do you know any of this? Who are you? What are you? What liege do you serve?”
Ah. And here was the perfect moment. Sphaera glided forward, careful not to stumble over any bits of coral. “The greatest liege of all!” she cried, pitching her voice so any spirits in the vicinity and possibly even the humans on the beach could hear. She raised an arm – not too fast, not too slow, angled so the wind swept back her long sleeve – and pointed a single elegant forefinger at the oystragon. “Captain White Lip! I am Sphaera Algarum, Empress of all Serica! Unhand them at once!”
There. Inside, she applauded herself for striking the perfect pose. Now the oystragon would release Lady Piri’s representative and the human girl, fall to his knobby knees, and prostrate himself. Lady Piri’s representative would be so awed that she would report back to her lady, and in no time, the Great Lady Herself would summon Sphaera for an audience! Sphaera would glide in serenely and humbly, and the Great Lady would offer her rewards and riches untold, but Sphaera would lower her eyes and murmur that she wanted for nothing but to be of use to Her Ladyship, and then the Great Lady would drop her own eyes in awe and respect and offer Sphaera a place by her side –
“There is no empress of Serica,” came the oystragon’s coarse voice. He was denying it! Denying her! Before she could find the proper words to express her outrage, he added, “I don’t know whom you serve or what you’re playing it, but I am here on direct orders from the Dragon King of the Western Sea.”
Sphaera was so indignant that she nearly stamped one foot, which would have spoiled both her regal image as well as her slipper. “And I am here on direct orders from the greatest fox of all! The Empire will rise again. Decide now whether you will rise along with it or be crushed underfoot like the oyster you are!”
He made no move to let either the girl or the sparrow go. Oh dear. Rulers could not be seen to be disobeyed. It destroyed the mystique that their word was absolute. It was Lady Piri’s representative who had told her that, and Sphaera had dutifully written it down in her notebook. She was botching it! Right in front of the one person who was reporting all her actions back to the Great Lady! Quick – what else had she written down that might salvage this situation?
As she racked her brains for a dignified way to consult her notebook, Lady Piri’s representative completed her humiliation. Taking over, she coldly and savagely threatened the oystragon, Whatever you think of foxes and empires, that girl serves the Director of Reincarnation. Kill her, and you doom yourself and your loved ones. Let her go.
Cowed, the oystragon agreed. While Sphaera fought not to turn as red as a Temple pillar, he let go of the human girl. She nearly fell. Sphaera was so discombobulated that she didn’t even think of ordering her handmaidens to attend to the girl until the crane caught her.
“See to her!” she snapped.
The rosefinches started cooing over the girl. Useless birds who couldn’t take the initiative.
The oystragon’s sneer caught her ear. “You serve that meddling, dangerous, self-proclaimed empress fox.”
Why, that jumped-up oyster! Sphaera whirled back – right in time to see his claws clench around Lady Piri’s representative. Bones crunched. The sparrow went still and deformed.
The human girl unleashed a wail that she looked too injured to be capable of. “Pip! No! You monster!” She tried to run forward, but the rosefinches blocked her.
Sphaera stared, frozen, unable to process the scene. The sparrow’s neck drooped. Her feet stuck out stiffly from the oystragon’s fist. Her chest had been crushed. That was – that was the Great Lady’s representative. She was dead. Dead. How was Sphaera going to explain this? What was the Great Lady going to do to her?
Because if Lady Piri had been known for anything, it had been her utter lack of mercy.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“What have you done?!” she shrieked at the oystragon. “Do you know who that was? You’ve killed us all!”
Forgetting all about the graceful loops of her hair, the delicate silks on her body, she launched herself at the oystragon. He tried to jump aside, but he was bleeding and battered and about as agile as the oyster from which he had transformed, and she landed on top of him. Coral snapped beneath him. Rocks flew. Claws leaped out of her fingertips, and she gashed every part of him she could reach. Bright green blood splattered her face and chest, but she hardly noticed. She raked her claws across his snout and throat, wedged them between the plates under his chin and ripped one, then another clean off his oozing flesh, and then savaged him with her teeth.
He bellowed and pummeled her sides with his fists, including the one still clenching the corpse of Lady Piri’s representative.
“Idiot!” she shrieked. “You’ve killed us all! Do you know what she’s going to do to us?!”
“Who?! What are you talking about?!”
A long, scaly body inserted itself between Sphaera and the oystragon. The mini dragon looped himself around her waist and hauled her off the oystragon. “That’s enough. We will have many more problems if you kill him.”
“Let me go! Let me go! He killed her! He killed – ”
“Yes, I know. But she’s already dead, so killing him won’t bring her back.”
“That’s not the point! Unhand me!”
Still gripping the body of Lady Piri’s representative, the oystragon crawled for the wall of water. Sphaera lunged against the mini dragon’s coils, but all of a sudden, they were a lot wider and stronger. His voice came from much higher overhead. “Let him go. You’ve done enough.”
The crane added, She would not want you to jeopardize all her plans.
“Why you – how dare you talk to me like – ” Then Sphaera hesitated. Would the Great Lady truly not want her avenge the death of her vassal?
Again, she racked her brains for anything in her notebook that might help. Lady Piri was practical. All of her sayings were practical. And if slaying that wretched oystragon would jeopardize her plans, that would make it impractical. Which meant that, maybe, it would be acceptable to let him go?
While she pondered, the oystragon scrambled into the water and swam away in a cloud of green blood. Sphaera sighed and stopped fighting. After a moment, the dragon loosened his coils. With a quiet, “Change,” he returned to his usual size.
She spun and glared at both him and the crane. “When the Great Lady comes looking for her representative, you’re responsible for explaining why we let her death go unavenged.”
The dragon didn’t look nearly as intimidated as he should have.
The crane grimaced. Don’t worry. She’s not going to require any kind of explanation at all.
----------------------------------------
“What’s wrong with you Wessst Ssserican ssspirits?!” Bobo bellowed through a mouthful of jellyfish tentacles.
Burning pain erupted everywhere the stingers touched. The jellyfish contracted its boxy bell in an attempt to jet away, but Bobo hung on even as blisters sprouted and popped inside her mouth. A few tentacles broke off, and Bobo spat them out.
“We were jussst playing in the sssea! Sssince when did playing in the sssea count as an invasssion?!”
“You’re part of that dragon king’s army!” shouted the jellyfish. For such a delicate-looking creature, he had a surprisingly deep voice. “Since when did breaching our borders with an army count as ‘playing in the sea’?”
Stinging tentacles lashed Bobo’s body, bound her tight, and started to reel her in. Bobo thrashed and bit at whatever she could reach.
“We’re not an army!” she yelled back before she realized that, actually, they kind of were. Especially if you counted Steelfang and his wolves. But they weren’t Den’s army! This was exactly what Den had been afraid of. This was exactly why he hadn’t come into the water to play with them – wait.
Her long body froze as the thought hit her. That was right. Den hadn’t come into the water with them. Because he knew that coming into the water without permission would count as a breach of the Western Sea border. He hadn’t crossed the line of the surf until – when? What was the timeline?
The stingers sizzled on her scales, leaving long, melted burns all over her body, but she hardly noticed. She was thinking harder than she’d ever thought.
“No!” she cried in triumph. “No! That’s all wrong! You’re wrong! You attacked firssst! It’s the only reassson Den came into the water! To help us!”
“No! Captain White Lip ordered us to hold the line while he and the octopi and cuttlefish drove back the invaders.”
“I’m telling you, it wasn’t an invasssion! We jussst wanted to play in the water! The humans in Flying Fisssh Village sssaid it would be okay to play in the water after their fissshing ssseassson ended.” How could she convince him that they’d meant no harm? “They’re not part of your fief either. Ssso why is it okay for them to be in the water but not us?”
The tentacles went slack, although they didn’t unwrap from around her. At least she’d made the jellyfish stop to think. Good.
“Where I come from, we live right next to a river. Black Sssand Creek. The Dragon King there lets us ssswim and fisssh in his river. We don’t need ssspecial permisssion.” Well, from the tales that Floridiana told, King Yulus was a particularly good-natured and generous dragon. But the Dragon King of the Western Sea seemed to treat the villagers here the same way, so Bobo couldn’t understand why he’d suddenly gotten angry and sent his guards to attack.
When the jellyfish spoke again, his voice had lost some of its certainty. “You’re not residents of Flying Fish Village.”
“We’re ssstaying with them. We’re their guesssts. Alssso, if you didn’t want us in the water, you could have jussst told us ssso. We’d have left.”
“Well. Well. Look, this is all above my pay grade. Why don’t I bring you to Captain White Lip so you can explain it all to him?”
“Sssure! Let’s go talk to him! Where is he?”
The jellyfish’s bell pulsed as he looked around. “He should be that way – ”
A dark grey form barreled towards them, surrounded by a cloud of green blood and octopi and cuttlefish who were missing arms.
“Captain White Lip!” called the jellyfish, jetting towards them as fast as he could expand and contract his bell. “Sir! I think you should hear what this snake has to say – ”
“Leave her! Back to the Crystal Palace at once!” snapped the oystragon.
At least, she thought it was the oystragon. He was missing half of the plates on his neck and belly, exposing raw flesh. It was pretty gruesome.
“Sir?” asked the jellyfish, confused.
“You heard me! We must report back to His Majesty at once!”
Oh. Well. That had gone more smoothly than Bobo could have hoped. She didn’t even need to say a word to convince the captain. She took stock of her injuries. Those melted welts went so deep that she wasn’t sure that any number of molts would ever erase them completely. And could she still swim? She moved her tail experimentally. Her scales crunched. Pieces of them chipped off, and she hissed in pain.
Then she caught a glimpse of the oystragon’s hand. His claws gripped a small, feathery object the size of –
Forgetting her melted scales, the burns inside her mouth and throat, Bobo swam closer. No, no, no. It couldn’t be.
But it was.
Clenched in the oystragon’s fist was the soggy corpse of a sparrow. Of not just any sparrow. Of Rosie.
“Nooooooooo! You killed her! You killed my friend! Monssster! Monssster!”
Bobo launched herself at the oystragon, but jellyfish tentacles and cuttlefish arms wrapped around her like bands of steel. Without a backward glance, the oystragon swam deep into the ocean.
“Let me go!” she shrieked. “Monsssters! Let me go!”
She writhed and bit at the tentacles and arms, but every time she broke the grip of one, more bound her tight.
Right before her eyes, she watched the oystragon disappear into the cold, dark depths of the Western Sea, taking the body of her friend with him.
“Let me go, let me go, why can’t you let me go?”
Her shouts turned into sobs as it truly hit her that Rosie had died again. She was gone again. Where was she going to reincarnate this time? What would she reincarnate as this time? How many lives would it take her to find her way back?
Bobo barely noticed as the tentacles and arms fell away from her and the currents buffeted her from the guard force’s passage. She flung her tail over her eyes and coiled up into a ball and wept.