The Faerie Curses

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Water Runs Red

"SILENCE!" The Protector roared. Her golden tail flapped back and forth in the current as her teeth flashed menacingly. "We must accept the truth; the sprites are here. And they are coming." She met the eyes of every mermaid straight on. "We are still the guardians of The Summer Scepter, are we not? I did not sacrifice everything for that object just to have it taken away from our cowardly hands." She pointed fiercely at the golden scepter in Glen's grip. "Do you all see that? Do you all feel its power?" A few mermaids nodded gently, their heads bobbing. The Protector took a measured breath, but her gaze was still intense. "We must fight for our survival on this very dawn. If we die, if we all fail, our Faerie Realm will be destroyed." She swallowed hard, and I knew that she was thinking of the elf Andrion. "And everyone we care about will also perish in a dark war."

The tension filled silence simmered between The Protector and her sisters, weighing down on each of their shoulders. Slowly, like watching the sun rise, the faces of the mermaids began to strengthen. The Protector continued.

"We are the sirens of legend, my sisters. A single note from our lips will capsize the mightiest ship." A couple mermaids began to gradually smile at the thought. "We must use our voices, our songs, our fists, anything to take down the enemy. If any of you are afraid, that is alright." The Protector paused for a moment. "We are all afraid in trying times like these. But we must accept the fear and fight." Her voice rose, belting out into the masses of mermaids. "WILL YOU FIGHT, MY SISTERS? WILL YOU FIGHT FOR WHAT IS YOURS?"

All at once, a deafening cheer shook the cavern. The cave itself seemed to shift as the mermaids screeched with pride, their voices merging together to form a massive war cry. I shared a look with Glen and Diandre.

"Damn," Glen mouthed, staring in awe at The Protector. "Our armies need to recruit her."

The mermaids punched their fists into the air, and The Protector turned to us with a triumphant smile. She twirled her trident in her hands.

"Now we are ready." the mermaid said, gazing at her sisters proudly. She raised an eyebrow at us. "Are you?"

Boom boom, boom boom.

The drumbeats were much louder now, almost as if they were in the very room we were in. Diandre stiffened visibly beside me.

"I really don't think that it matters if we're ready." He replied bitterly. "The sprites are already upon us."

I followed his gaze towards the ceiling of the cavern and my mouth fell open. Thousands of gleaming eyes were staring down at us from the jagged cracks in the rock ceiling. An army of sprites were above us.

"Look out!" I screamed in warning, but it was too late.

Boom boom, boom boom.

As the last drumbeat faded, the sprites broke through the ceiling of the underwater cavern. Rocks and bodies sank down on top of the crowd of mermaids, and I cried out as boulders tumbled straight down at me. Diandre grasped my hand, his grip tight in mine, and pulled me close against him. With a gasp, I realized that he was shielding me. His body curled around mine, sheltering me from the plummeting debris. Diandre was protecting me, but the rocks would surely kill him. I saw that his eyes were squeezed shut as rocks slammed into the floor around us. Debris rained onto the floor, and I heard mermaids' screams as rocks fell on top of them. The shadowy bodies of the sprites were falling down from the ceiling as well. Their cackles filled the water as they took the mermaids by surprise, killing them under the cover of the murkiness.

For a moment of wild fear, Diandre held me against him. We didn't breathe, our fingers interlocked. I closed my eyes as a boulder dislodged itself from the top of the cavern and sank through the water directly upon us. I waited for a heartbeat, Diandre's arms sheltered around me I cracked an eye open in frightened curiosity. We hadn't been crushed yet. Why hadn't we been crushed yet?