Emergence

Emergence

Chapter 1

The invasion began subtly, insidiously. An infinitesimal build-up - the proverbial drop in the ocean. For a long, long time nobody noticed what was going on. Looking back, it was clear things began around the same time as the Treaty, so there were nearly two millennia to spot the signs. But when looking at something close to home, it’s hard to see.

Or perhaps the people chose not to see.

Because sometimes that’s easier.

“This is a total waste of time,” my cousin announced, flicking his fingers at the vials we were filling. “We’ve been pratting about with this rubbish survey of yours for weeks and I’m done. You can do the rest yourself.”

“No way!” I made a grab for his arm. “You promised to help.”

His lip curled as he shook me off and flicked his fins. “Yeah? Well I’m sick of risking my health among all this silt and muck and your mysterious particles. If you’re right, then we’re doing a great job of poisoning ourselves and quite honestly I’d rather stay put in Espedaelia playing prince charming.”

“I thought you hated the idea of being a prince.”

“Right.” He smirked, waggling his eyebrows. "And wrong.”

I rolled my eyes.

“It’s not the charming bit that’s the problem. I lurve all the adoring looks–” Here he struck a pose which almost made me snort with laughter. “But honestly, the tedious rules, the regulations, the expectations, the–”

“Yes alright, I get it.”

He flicked my nose before I could stop him. “Course you do. Little Miss Responsibility herself.”

I shoved him away.

“Anyway, I’ve had enough. You can keep up your pointless research if you like, I’m off.”

“Yuliveg!” My yell was lost in a flurry of bubbles as he swirled his tail in my face and vanished into the frothy water. “Come back here.”

Of course he ignored me.

Inwardly, I seethed, dumped my vial pack on the seabed and scooted after him. His trail led away from the desolate section we were researching towards the reef where giant anemones and spider crabs hung out. Not to mention the myriad fish species. Okay, so it was more enticing here than sampling mud amongst a load of dead things, but I had less than a week to gather evidence and right now I wasn’t sure I had enough to back up my theory.

“Knew you couldn’t resist following!”

“S’talis!” I jumped as Yuliveg pounced on me from behind a shelf. “Watch out, you idiot.” Grabbing his wrist, I pulled him away from the fragile corals, frowning as fragments drifted off into the current. I watched them go, something about their movement catching my attention. “That’s odd.”

“What?” He spun in a lazy roll, eyes closed, letting his hair drift around his shoulders. “Spotted an alien at last?”

I ignored that. “The vibrations.” My skin tingled with the sensation. “Can’t you feel them?”

“Can’t say I do. Oh, chill out, Freya. You’ve become a real bore since you started all this thesis stuff.”

“I have not! Seriously, Yuliveg, there’s something wrong.”

He wafted his arms through the water. “Yeah, yeah. It’s conspiracy this, conspiracy that. We’re all gonna die.”

My fingers itched to spit magic at him but instead I turned towards the strange, discordant beats. “Stay here if you like, I’m going to find out what it is.”

Without waiting to see if he followed, I swam along the shelf, trying to identify the pulses which grew stronger and increasingly erratic. I had no idea what might be causing them, but the further I went, the more twitchy I felt. The end of the reef came in sight: soon I’d be entering a forbidden zone - where humans were active. My scalp prickled with apprehension. This was dangerous territory. At all costs, I mustn’t let myself be seen.

“Boo.”

I nearly screamed. “Damn you, Yuliveg, stop creeping up on me.”

“Well if you don’t want me around to help–”

“Just shut up. I’m thinking it could be human swimmers making this racket, and you know what they say about humans. No way can we risk getting caught.”

“I’d blast them if they tried.”

I stared at him, shocked. “We can’t use magic on them.”

“Don’t see why not. I’m not letting myself be tortured.”

The vibrations suddenly increased in intensity and, despite my racing pulse, drew me onwards. Yuliveg dawdled by my side, muttering. My fingers tingled with the urge to blast him into silence or defend myself from whatever lay ahead, or both, so I clenched my fists to avoid accidental sparks.

Not far now to the prohibited area. My heart thumped too quickly as I approached it, and even my mer-eyes struggled to penetrate the gloom.

“Forget it,” Yuliveg said, catching my wrist. “You know it’s forbidden and there’s no point risking being discovered.”

“We could use dissimulation.”

He laughed. “Like you’ve mastered it have you?”

I smirked back. “Almost, yes.”

He stared, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, well I practice, don’t I.”

Turning my back, I eased around the next rock and gasped in dismay. The vibrations came not from a human, but from a creature caught in human debris. Through a blur of suspended particles I made out its thrashing tail and snapping teeth, the silver sleekness of its body. A thresher shark.

“Ins Jerek, it’s a shark.”

Yuliveg slid next to me. “Well that’s a goner, isn’t it.”

I watched as it bucked and flailed, its beautiful, perfectly adapted body hopelessly entangled in a human fishing net. Its slender tail, as long as its body, thrashed from side to side, while the fear in its huge round eye made my blood flare, my fingers itch.

“I’m going to rescue it.”

“Don’t be stupid, Freya, it’ll kill you.”

“No. It won’t.”

“Have you seen what they can do with their tails?”

Shaking my head, I drew closer. The shark flailed frantically, every movement cutting the ropes deeper into its skin. Its pain streaked through the water to me and I knew it couldn’t breathe effectively: stuck, constrained, surrounded by filth, it was dying.

I reached for my pack only to remember I’d left it behind - with my knife inside. Typical. Well, maybe I could disentangle the thresher without it.

“You go round the far side,” I instructed Yuliveg, as I edged towards the shark. “See if you can get hold of that netting from behind.”

Its eye bored into me as I closed in. “It’s okay,” I whispered soothingly, though I knew it didn’t understand me. “I’m going to help you.”

Unfortunately, the sound of my voice sent it into a frenzy of tail whipping. I jerked backwards, narrowly avoiding being slapped, and decided to approach its head, but every time I reached out towards the netting, its lethal teeth lunged at my arm.

“Yuliveg, where’ve you gone?” I hissed.

“To a safe distance.” His voice came from the side, and I risked a glance. He was several yards away and retreating.

“What? Come and help!”

“You’re doing just fine.”

I growled in frustration and turned back to the thresher, looking for a better angle. Spotting a loose strand of rope around its dorsal fin, I rose higher, grasped the end of it, and pulled. Mistake. Despite the knots, the shark’s tail slashed over its body and clobbered the side of my head, sending me reeling. For a second black and red filled my eyes, my body rolling over and over before my vision cleared.

I stared round, yelling for help, but Yuliveg was nowhere in sight. By now, the shark’s panic had forced the netting so deep it was buried in its flesh.

What could I do? The rope was so tight I’d never prise it free. An insistent thought grew at the back of my mind and my amulet pulsed in time with my rapid heartbeat. A frisson of anticipation shot down my spine: I was going to have to use magic.

It was a risk, against the rules, but there was no way I was leaving the creature to die.

I bit down on my lower lip. The chances were I’d hit the shark not the rope. But I had to try.

Where was an accessible strand? I needed a clean cut, but didn’t want to risk choosing a rope that would free that tail too soon. My gaze fell on the section of net round its pectoral fin. That one.

Screwing up my face in concentration, I summoned my magic. I could do this. With my mind focused on the strand of rope, I let the fizz of power build in my amulet, feeling its heat grow and expand through my belly until it spilled across my chest and rushed down my arms towards my fingertips.

As the first sparks erupted, I thrust my hands forwards, releasing a stream of emerald light, but just as the pulse landed, the shark spasmed and the magic missed its mark. With a sickly sizzle it seared the shark’s skin on its side. The creature squirmed in agony and my innards liquified.

S’talis!

At the sight of burnt black flesh, oxygen deficiency hit; I battled the dizziness that coursed through me. I was supposed to be helping, not harming, damn it. I should get in there with another shot, but I’d never been good with blood and it took me several seconds to control my rising gore.

The shark’s tail struck me across the ribs, bruising the flesh and sending me spinning once more, though not as vigorously as before. I knew if I didn’t act soon it wouldn’t last much longer.

“Get a grip, you d’obit idiot,” I cursed my incompetence. “Try again.”

I got closer, within the range of that flicking tail, but with a new idea. Instead of trying to sever each strand, if I could just grab onto that section of net that hung loose below the shark’s body, I could send magic up each rope and disintegrate it from within.

Dropping under its belly I made a lunge for the rope, but the shark thrashed away from me, churning the silt into an even deadlier mix. Again I lunged, again I missed. And again. I wheezed as particles filtered through my gills, my clarity of thought and vision fading. I had to get higher, into fresher water. There was only one way this was going to end unless I could hurry.

Throwing caution to the tide, I rose above the murky sludge, waited for a lull in the thrashing, focused once more on the flapping squares of netting, gave a mighty flick and shot forwards. My tail curled around the shark’s flank and my hands fastened on the net, magic spurting from my fingers. It sprang in tongues of light along the net, branching sideways at each knot until the shark was ringed in pulsing green. I clung on. Power drained from my body but I didn't let go. We bucked together, my tendons screaming for me to give up. The shark recoiled in pain, its death throes nearly throwing me; I closed my eyes in desperation, and willed the rope to burn.

Suddenly the magic fizzled out; the flickering, flame-like tendrils scurried back up my arms then died away. I was left with limp strands in my hand, and my plan in tatters.

Without warning, trembling hit.

Gasping, I curled into a ball, hitting the floor light-headed and nauseous, my mind screaming disbelief. This couldn’t be happening. It was like my magic was completely gone. Empty. Drained. I knew my ability to use it wasn’t fully formed, but this weakness was crazy. I should have been able to produce far more than this.

Around me the water calmed, and I knew the shark had died otherwise it would have swum away. My shoulders sagged. All that effort for nothing. Maybe worse than nothing. What if I’d so exhausted myself I couldn’t recharge? I’d been stupid as ever. . .

Why did I always fail?

My mind free-floated.

What was that?

A faint movement to my side, a flow of blood-laden water. It drifted into my nostrils, sharp and sour. I unfurled slightly and opened my eyes. To my amazement, the shark’s fins shivered with life. The sight made my heart leap and brought a half-smile to my lips. It was moving! Perhaps it would make it after all.

A shudder wracked the shark’s body; its mouth opened and closed. From my prone position I could do no more than stare as it turned, slowly circled then loomed over me. I was confused, for thrashers aren’t predators of merpeople, yet all I could focus on were the two rows of teeth coming my way.

Mouth wide, it made for my head. I waited, frozen, expecting to feel the piercing bite of its teeth and die. Thoughts of my father flashed through my brain, his familiar, lined face warm with pride, hope and love that would turn to anguish at the news of my death. After losing my mother, how would he cope without me? The Sagistra would be proved right after all: girls were not equal to the challenges of leadership.

No, no no! I had to prove I was as capable as any boy - manifestly capable - capable enough to be his successor. Impotent fury bubbled up in my chest, and to my joy the emotion brought a flicker of magic into life. At the same moment I realised the shark wasn’t attacking me, and at the back of its mouth was a tangle of blue. Understanding dawned: the net which bound its body had gone, but more clogged its throat.

To remove it I would have to reach inside that mouth.

My arms felt like they belonged to an old merwoman, my breath was constricted, but determination grew in my brain and with it, my power. I cudgelled my limbs into movement, stretched deep into the shark’s mouth and grasped the rope. At once, the thresher began to shake its head from side to side, twisting itself over and over, and before I had time to see if my magic would work again, the net pulled free. I sank back in exhaustion, rope in hand, as the creature flicked its tail, thankfully missing me.

“You’re welcome,” I murmured, as it swam two full circuits around me, its body undulating its thanks before it headed away and was lost in the murk. Through fading consciousness I smiled with satisfaction, but couldn’t stop the rope drifting from my fingers.