Oceans Call

Chapter 25: Invasion

"It will be okay." And I believed the words I told him. "Let's go."

The humans had started entering Trocien, but it would stop today.

I had the ocean carry us to Trocien, allowing us to get there faster than we would've on our own. The fog in my mind thickened slightly; I needed to pace myself. I was losing my strength little by little and I didn't know how much I would need.

I was surprised at the amount of destruction I saw upon our arrival. Giant battle subs shot concentrated fire at the palace and other main buildings. Chunks of stone and plaster drifted through the water. The submarines were immense, at least ninety feet long. Black metal plates covered their bodies and their rudders shredded the water. I stopped in my tracks. 

"Melody, come on. We need to find your father; he sent me to get you."

"One second." I took hold of the ocean and shot a current towards the sub, knocking it back into a massive stone pillar. The ships headlights blinked, but remained flashing. I rolled my eyes and sent a stronger current this time, crushing the ship against the rock.

Connor grabbed my hand. "Come on!"

His touch made me jump and I looked at the broken submarine one last time before leaving. Had Ryu been right in saying I would become a monster? I'd just killed humans - the people I lived among for most of my life - and hadn't even flinched.

Connor tugged me towards a group of Undines a few meters away from the palace. "Melody!" Eriladar exclaimed, eyes settling on me.

"Is everyone safe?" I asked, thinking guiltily of the sub I'd mercilessly destroyed. 

"Yes, for now at least," he said. "But their ships are enormous, and they have weapons, deadly weapons. I've gathered the soldiers, but there's little they can do against the human forces." A missile launched the castle and time seemed to stop. The castle fell in slow motion, dust clouding the water.

Good thing I have my sword and locket on me. And my anklet.

"Mother! She can help us..." I trailed off, remembering with a start my mother's fate. My hands curled into fists. "We need to rally our allies," I said instead. "Feales forces, anyone. We're going to need all the help we can get. I'm going to study the ships and see if they have a weakness."

Eriladar grabbed my arm. "They don't. We checked. Steel plates cover every inch of the thing... Except-"

"The propellers!" We exclaimed at the same time. 

"If we can clog them, the ships won't be able to move. I think they can still resurface and sink though." I paused. I'd taken a course on engineering for extra credit and we'd done a unit on subs and other naval vessels. I pushed the water from a spot of sand and used a dagger to draw in it. I drug the stick through the sand until I'd drawn a rough diagram of the submarine. "In order to sink a sub, you need negative buoyancy." I thought for a moment, racking my mind for the information I needed. "We need to fill the air tanks with water. If we can find out where they're kept, we can puncture them and fill them, sinking the ship. Since most subs have emergency air available, you'll need to find it and eliminate it too."

"Let's pray this works," Connor said. "Do know where the tanks are generally kept?"

I bit my lip. "They're probably towards the back of the vessel. If you hit it's rear or crush it, you should damage the tanks and the ship should sink. I wish there was a way in the subs, then we could gain control and take them out with their own guns."

"We might be able to," Connor said. "Is there a way out? Like an escape hatch?"

"Yes on the top, but I don't think you'll be able to get in. And my facts might not be completely correct - we didn't study these models in my course."