The Glimmering Sea

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Armida and Rinaldo had but minutes to exchange details of the previous evening's happenings. These many moments of coming together with and being pulled apart from Rinaldo were torture each time, a dance that would soon stop. One way or another.

Luck had been with them the previous day. The evening of the Masquerade, when Paolo had already been moved, and Stavlakis' attention was focused on his transport, Rinaldo had entered the print shop and opened the cell to release half of the captive mermen. While the other half were still laboring for Stavlakis at a hidden location, the freed mermen were to shepherd Paolo from Venice to their homecaves in Marea.

Matteo had done Rinaldo a great kindness. With the chaos on the Molo, Matteo had picked up Rinaldo, quietly deposited him at the Punte de Sale, and then returned to the Piazzetta. No one knew what he had guessed at, but Rinaldo did not think he'd seen Paolo closely, or any of the mermen for that matter. He perceived Rinaldo's difficulty and helped him. It was his nature.

Now came a perilous undertaking: following the remaining mermen to wherever Stavlakis took them. It was a brutal sacrifice to expect of the last mermen. Stavlakis would be furious to learn he'd lost half his captives and would be on alert.

Armida's tears were stopped by Stavlakis' preparations to depart his shop. "There he is. I must transform. Will you wait to see me as a mermaid one last time?"

"Dive, Armida! Do not delay! I stand here as you follow your destiny."

When Armida surfaced, Rinaldo held out his hand, but he was too far. His arm dropped slowly, like a feather falling to the ground. She searched for his mindpath but found emptiness.

≈I love you always.≈

With a glance back at Venice, Armida dove after the boat with the mermen aboard.

The amber-toned wooden boat had been painted with the St. Mark's Lion. The mermaid carvings on the gunwale infuriated her with their audacity and inaccuracy. Split tails. Frog legs. Fangs. Terrans had troubled imaginations when it came to the sea. They made all into monstrosities.

They left la Laguna and traveled northeast, staying near the coast. The wind favored the boat, filling its sails, and Armida struggled to keep pace. Her many weeks in Terran form, along with regular immersions to maintain her ability to morph, had reduced her strength. She wondered what threats kept the Mareans on the boat. Fear over what might happen to Paolo or their fellow captives because they did not know of their escape? Surely Torquato had informed them to prepare. But prepare for what?

When facing the unknown, the adaptable will succeed.

The northern Adriatico should be colder. Armida labored in the rising temperature that felt wrong to her—the sea hotter, heavier, dirtier. She could not block the horror. Dead coral. The empty shells of sea snails and crabs littered the lifeless seafloor. The water bit her with acidity. Her gills strained to filter a foreign substance she had not identified.

A numb silence frightened her. The lifesounds of the sea were absent.

But the eerie quiet soon changed with a thundering roar. The world felt like it was trying to break apart. The seabed shuddered and the shock waves rocked Armida. She shot to the surface, sure the boat had capsized.

Torquato and the others rolled from side to side as waves tossed the boat. Stavlakis' men wrestled with the sails and eventually guided the boat to a small pier where two additional ships were moored. Waiting Terrans scooped the contents of large buckets into smaller ones. As the mermen, who had remained in their Terran forms, stumbled onto the dock, they scrabbled for the small buckets and filled their mouths. Each wore a collar with a rope attached.