Wrath of the Dragon, page 18
“There isn’t,” Cyra said. “The lands are trapped by the desert.”
“I told them that,” the mermaid sighed. “But they were determined to see for themselves. They are my younger sisters, so they still have a naive hope for the future.”
She combed her black hair with her gray fingers and hummed to herself as her tail twitched.
“We’ll be on our way, then,” I said. “I hope your sisters come back soon.”
“Are you trying to cross the river?” the mermaid asked.
“Yes,” Cyra said. “Is there a bridge nearby?”
My stomach twisted as the mermaid smiled again, and I knew in my gut that there was something wrong. The black-haired woman stared at Cyra as I eyed her up and down, and I noticed her fingernails were stained with a dark maroon substance.
It could easily be the blood of river creatures, but even if it wasn’t, I knew at that moment we should leave. My intuition hadn’t been wrong yet, and I could sense there was something off with the hollow-eyed mermaid.
“You cannot cross the river,” the mermaid murmured. Her voice was suddenly much deeper than before, and her tail started to smack against the riverbank to make a loud thud.
“Let’s go,” I said as I grabbed Cyra’s hand and spun us around to walk the other way.
Even if we had to find somewhere to leap over the river, I knew it would be a safer bet than staying with the fish-woman.
Before we could take more than two steps, another mermaid leapt out from the water and landed on the bank in front of us. She had the same unsettling black eyes as the first woman, but her hair was seaweed-green, and her tail was a murky red.
“Hello, travelers,” she sang with a wave. “Are you trying to cross the river?”
I pulled my dagger out as I stared at the woman, and Cyra spun around so she was facing the first one.
Unfortunately, her pickaxe was stowed away in my bag, and I slowly moved to slip my free hand inside to pull it out.
“The river is not for you to cross,” the red-tailed woman said. “If you do wish to cross, then you need to pay the toll.”
“Let’s just go,” I hissed to Cyra. “If we double back into the trees, we can find a way around.”
“We will not let you cross the river,” the first woman called. “We will follow you and find you wherever you try to cross. We will not allow it.”
I stared into the hollow eyes of the mermaid in front of me, and I had a feeling the first woman had lied. There were plenty more of them in this black river. Her sisters were probably just waiting for their turn to jump up onto the banks and surround us.
“What is the toll?” I asked through gritted teeth. “I don’t want any trouble here.”
“We will allow you to cross if you pay.” The red-tailed mermaid smiled. “You are such a handsome traveler, and we would hate to spill your blood into the water.”
“You’re not spilling any blood,” Cyra spat. “What is it you want?”
“We want another sister,” the green-tailed woman said in an eerily sweet tone. Then her gaze zeroed in on the angel beside me. “You would look so pretty with a tail. We can get one to match your lovely hair.”
“I don’t want a tail,” Cyra scoffed. “I don’t want to be a mermaid. Now, just let us pass, and nobody will get hurt.”
The mermaids hit their tails against the bank, and the black water beside us began to bubble.
“I’m going to fly over,” Cyra hissed over my shoulder. “I can distract them, and you run. We’ll find another way over. There must be a bridge, they’re just trying to scare us.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I muttered.
“I can do it,” Cyra said. “Just start running as soon as I get over to the other side!”
The angel suddenly soared into the air, and the mermaids screamed as her maroon feathers were revealed. Then Cyra flew over the black water, but she stopped mid-air and started to flail. It was like she had been caught in an invisible net, and she swung her arms and legs but stayed stuck in the same spot over the river. Her maroon wings flapped wildly to free herself, but she didn’t go anywhere.
“Ryan!” she yelled. “I’m trapped!”
“Are you hurt?” I yelled.
“No,” the angel cried. “But I can’t move anywhere!”
The mermaids shrieked with laughter and clapped as they watched the trapped angel.
“We caught a new sister!” they screamed together. “She will look so pretty when we cut her legs off!”
“What the fuck!” I yelled as I dove at the red-tailed mermaid. “Let her out of there!”
I grabbed the woman by the throat and held my dagger up to her face. She froze as her black eyes stared at the blade, and her tail stopped moving. Her gray skin was clammy and cold, and I heard a splash behind me as the other woman dove into the water.
“Take your hands off our sister!” multiple voices called out, and I looked over to see six mermaids had half-emerged from the river.
Their creepy gray torsos poked out of the glittering blackness, and their hollow eyes stared at me. I kept my fist around the mermaid’s neck as I watched them, and Cyra continued to thrash around in the invisible trap while I tried to decide how the hell we were gonna get out of this one.
“We will let you pass,” the black-haired mermaid hissed. “When we cut down our new sister and pull her down to the depths.”
“We only want to make her pretty,” a green-haired woman sang. “She’ll be so pretty when we give her a tail.”
Every hair on my body stood on end at their eerie words, and anger rushed through me like a hurricane as I watched my trapped angel flail helplessly above the black waters.
“I will kill her,” I spat as I tightened my hold on the fish-woman in my hand. The mermaid gasped and tried to cry out, and her clammy hands tugged on my arm, but I refused to let up. “If you don’t let my friend go, I’ll slice her pretty face into shreds.”
“We don’t care,” the black-haired woman cackled. “We have a new sister to replace her with. There are always new sisters to find. Cut her face if you want to. We will use her tail for our new family member.”
Suddenly, one of the mermaids in the lake leapt upward like a creepy dolphin and grabbed something in the air. It must have broken the invisible net, because Cyra was suddenly able to stretch her wings out fully.
She didn’t get a chance to fly away, though. All six of the mermaids in the water dove upward and grabbed her ankles. Then they pulled the angel down, and my heart leapt into my throat.
“Cyra!” I yelled, and I slammed my dagger into my hostage’s tail, tore a gaping wound down the center of it, and twisted the blade to tear the fin off the bottom.
I left her shrieking on the shore as I pulled off my cloak and bag and threw them across the river with all the strength I could muster. Then I did the same with my boots before I jumped into the black river.
The air was filled with shrieks as I dove into the cold water. The mermaid on the bank was bleeding out as she writhed around, but my only focus was Cyra. I knew the water weakened her, and she was flying for her life as she struggled against the mermaids. There were three holding each of her legs, and they howled with laughter and malice as they pulled her down.
“Get away from her!” I shouted as I swam toward them. “Let go, you fuckers!”
The mermaids ignored me as they pulled Cyra closer to the water, but it didn’t matter. I was closing in on them now, and I leapt toward the closest one with my dagger clutched in hand.
Then I grabbed her skinny shoulders, plunged my blade right between her shoulder blades, and watched the blue blood erupt from her back. She dropped from Cyra’s leg as she screamed, but I just dug the knife in further, and then I dragged the blade down to tear the skin of her back open.
When I yanked it back out, the mermaid fell limp, and she sank down into the black depths while I reached for the next fish-tailed woman.
“Don’t let go of her!” the black-haired mermaid screamed. “Swim away from the man!”
The mermaids all began to swim up the river, but I lunged at the closest one and threw myself onto her gray body. She screeched and thrashed in the waters, but I clung onto her slippery body as the group slowed down again.
“Leave her behind,” the black-haired one hissed. “Do not let go of the angel for anything.”
“No!” the mermaid I held screeched and tried to stay with the group. “I am part of the sisterhood! You cannot leave me here--”
I sliced at the woman’s arm before she could finish pleading, and she howled as she released Cyra’s foot. Then I slammed the dagger down into her chest as she spun around, and her hollow eyes somehow seemed to turn even darker.
She flailed as she tried to claw at my face, and I shoved her as hard as I could as her chest wound bled into the river. The mermaid made a horrific gurgling noise as she sank, and the others didn’t even glance her way.
These bitches were ruthless, but they had no idea who they were fucking with. I’d made a promise to Cyra, and I’d do absolutely anything to keep her safe.
And Cyra still had one mermaid clinging to her right foot and three on her left.
The one on the right had curly green hair, and her arms looked more muscular than all the others. Cyra was just barely managing to keep herself above the water, but the more wet her legs got from the mermaids, the weaker her flying became. Her cheeks were flushed red with effort as she flapped her maroon feathers, and she grunted as she tried to shake her legs free.
“Keep flying!” I yelled. “Try and get to the bag!”
Cyra looked over to see my satchel right by the riverbank. The handle of the pickaxe stuck out of the top, and she tried to change direction as she flew toward the grass. The mermaids screamed as the angel fought to redirect them, and I went for the green-haired one.
They didn’t seem to be paying attention to me. It was like unless it was them specifically I was attacking, they couldn’t be bothered, and their selfishness was working in my favor.
None of the others gave the green-haired mermaid any warning as I launched myself through the water at her. Then she swung her arm around at me as I finally reached her, and her fist almost smashed into my face, but I dove to the side.
“Get away from me,” she spat, and she used her tail to splash so much that a wave of black water went flying over me.
I spluttered as the river water poured into my eyes and mouth, and I shook my head to dislodge it from my ears. I rubbed my eyes harshly as I tried to regain my sight, and I was horrified to see that the mermaids had started to drag Cyra further down the river.
The angel was fighting for her life and thrashed violently at her attackers, but she didn’t have the upper-hand.
Battling fish-women in the water was kicking my own ass, too, and I suddenly realized I might not be able to keep up with the mermaids much longer.
We had to finish this fast.
“Ryan!” Cyra screamed. “I can’t get to the bag!”
I knew she needed to be armed if we had any chance, and I started to swim as fast as I could to the other side of the river. As I reached the bank, I leapt halfway onto the bank and grabbed my bag as I held the dagger hilt in my mouth. My forearms gripped the wet grass as I pulled the pickaxe out, and then I dove back into the water.
The mermaids were cackling horrifically, and I held a weapon in each hand as I tried to swim back to them. It was cumbersome as fuck, and my muscles burned in the effort to propel myself this way, but I couldn’t give up now. Cyra had slowed them down as she tried to change direction with her flying, and it was clear that was seriously pissing off the women, even if she still couldn’t break free.
“Hold still!” one of them snarled. “We are going to help you become beautiful! Stop fighting!”
“You can keep your wings,” the green-haired mermaid sang. “After we’ve cut them off, you can put them in our cave.”
“Let go of me, you slimy bitches!” Cyra spat. “I’m not becoming one of you!”
She slammed her hand down onto the head of the black-haired mermaid and gripped her skull tight. The river woman screeched as her scalp burned, but the mermaid beside her grabbed Cyra’s wrist.
The angel’s hand was yanked away to reveal a fresh bald spot on the black-haired mermaid’s head, and smoke and steam billowed up into the air.
“You burned me!” the mermaid screamed. “You are no sister of mine! I will kill you! Drag her down, sisters! Take her to the depths of the river and tie her up to drown!”
I swam faster than I ever had before as the mermaids clawed at Cyra.
I didn’t want to throw the pickaxe at the angel because that could obviously end very badly if she didn’t catch it properly, so all I could do was kick through the water and try not to lose my hold on the weapons.
The mermaids seemed to have gone into some kind of speed overdrive, though, in an attempt to get away from me. They were constantly out of my reach, and my body had started to freeze up from the chilly water.
But I had to save Cyra.
“Sisters!” the bald mermaid screamed. “Take her to the whirlpool!”
The mermaids cackled with laughter, and they all suddenly started to hit their tails violently in the water at once to send a tidal wave in my direction. Then the dark water crashed over me and went down my throat as I struggled against the sudden current.
My kicking and thrashing was enough to stay afloat, but the river stung my eyes and burned in my lungs. I was disoriented in the darkness and the cold water, and when I cleared my eyes, I saw the mermaids had managed to get a fair distance ahead of me.
I knew there was no way I could outswim them at this point. I swam over to the bank instead and hauled myself out onto the grass, and water soaked the ground as I began to run. My wet feet hammered along the bank, and as I ran I could see where the mermaids were headed.
There was a huge black waterfall in the distance, and right before it there was a massive whirlpool that spun quickly with the sparkling river.
“Fuck,” I hissed, but I managed to catch up with the mermaids.
I didn’t waste any time forming a plan, I just followed my gut and launched myself right into the pile of swimming women. As I leapt, I held the pickaxe up, and Cyra just managed to grab it as I tumbled into the water.
Then I fell into the mass of screaming mermaids and felt their sharp nails scratching at my skin as I plunged under the surface. I stabbed one of the women right in the stomach, and she gurgled as blue blood poured out of her mouth. She let go of Cyra’s leg as she slipped down into the darkness, and as I resurfaced again, I found only three mermaids left.
Cyra swung her pickaxe down right into the head of the mermaid she had burned. The pointed blade made a sickening crunch as it pierced the woman’s head, and her black eyes somehow looked even more hollow as she immediately stopped moving. Her clammy hands flopped down from Cyra’s leg, and the black-haired mermaid sank down into the depths as her blood spread throughout the water.
“Nice one!” I yelled.
There were only two left, one on each foot. As confident as I was that we could kill them, I was also aware of how close the mermaids had gotten to the whirlpool. I could hear the crash of water as we neared the spinning, watery abyss, and I grabbed at the green-haired mermaid on Cyra’s left foot.
The angel focused on the gray-haired woman on her right, and she swung her pickaxe down, but the mermaid managed to grab the handle. As they wrestled for the weapon, I got hold of the green-haired woman’s arm and raised my dagger.
She snarled as she swung her hand at my face, and her long nails scratched my cheek. Then I brought the dagger down and plunged the black blade into her neck. She swung her tail up to meet me and tried to hit my legs, but I pushed the dagger further into her throat, and she quickly stopped fighting. All she could do was make a raspy noise as I pulled my weapon out, and she made one last feeble attempt to swing for me before she started to sink. Her body was quickly swallowed by the black river, and I spun around to face the last mermaid.
The gray-haired woman still had a hold of Cyra’s pickaxe and gave a sudden violent pull to bring the angel down to the river. The mermaid screeched as she managed to grab Cyra’s neck, and then she slammed the angel down into the water.
“Cyra!” I yelled as I dove at the mermaid.
We were so close to the whirlpool that I could feel the current pulling at my legs, but I grabbed Cyra’s waist and pulled her so her head was back above water. My heart felt like it stopped as the drenched angel went limp in my arms, and her hands fell uselessly to her sides. Her eyes were closed, and her maroon wings stayed spread open as I tried to hold onto her. Then the mermaid cackled, but before she could raise the pickaxe, I plunged my dagger right into her fucking face.
Fury and adrenaline coursed through me as the final mermaid stopped moving, and with a twist of my blade, one of her black eyeballs fell out of its socket and into the water. It quickly got swept up into the whirling current, and the mermaid’s body followed after as I pulled my dagger back.
“Fishy bitches,” I growled, and relief swept through me as I realized no more mermaids were arriving.
We’d finally finished them.
The whirlpool was strong, though, and I had to use every ounce of my strength to swim away from it as I held Cyra in my arms. I put my dagger in my mouth as I began to head for the riverbank and tried to see past Cyra’s spread wings.
I couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not while we were still in the water, but she had to be. Cyra had told me angels couldn’t be killed by mortals, but she’d gotten so submerged in the water. She had also told me once how damaging that was to a fire angel, so what if she had been under for too long?
I forced those thoughts from my head as I reached the banks and threw my dagger up first. Then I used one hand to pull myself up and slid Cyra up onto the grass with me.
The angel laid still as I placed her down, and when I rolled her on her side and opened her mouth, some black water fell from her lips and nose. Her pulse was weak, but it was still there, so I laid her flat again and leaned down as I pinched her nostrils tightly. I placed my mouth on hers and started to blow air into her, and I blew four times and sat up.
