Princess Master 3, page 21
“Yes,” Ariana answered in a grim tone. “It looks like a gigantic field of those things we fought back by the sandfalls. Those… plants with the horrible black faces.”
“Ugh,” I groaned as I remembered how those teen hooligans were transformed into the things of nightmares. “But maybe that’s the answer we’re looking for, so I suppose we need to get closer. Last time they tried to attack us, but these seem fairly rooted in place, I suppose. We just need to avoid that nasty venom…”
“Alright, I’m going to bring the chariot down,” Ariana said, and she pursed her mouth into a determined line. “I know this may not be fun, but we need to help our citizens, right?”
“That’s right!” Jessamine agreed, and she flashed the mermaid a bright, reassuring smile. “I completely agree with what we’re doing, even if it’s creepy.”
Ariana parked the chariot about fifty feet away from the field of polyps. Something told me I should get out the amulet just in case, so I pulled it out of the chest. Then, we all got out and stared at the nasty creatures. They were in a variety of shapes and sizes, and their glowing lavender tentacles generated their own spooky light as they wiggled around in the water. The black holes they had instead of faces were as horrific as ever, and the way that hundreds of the things were lined up in rows reminded me of a graveyard.
“Here goes nothing,” Ariana gulped. “What do you think we should try first?”
“Well, last time when we were dealing with these things, Jessamine used your voice and it transformed them,” Cienna reminded us. “Jessamine, do you want to try to sing and see what happens?”
“Of course, although Joe needs to figure out what to do with himself,” the dark-haired princess replied with a grin.
“I know that,” I laughed, and I poked Jessamine in the side. “I’ll put Genie’s Wrath away and plug my ears, and once we see what happens, we’ll come up with what to do next.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Ariana said with a nod. “I agree, singing is probably the first thing we should try.”
I’d been holding Genie’s Wrath in the event a dangerous situation arose, but I put it back on my belt for the time being. I hated doing that, but plugging my ears and maintaining my composure still seemed like a better option than being totally hypnotized with my sword in hand. It occurred to me maybe Jessamine could fashion me some sort of ear plugs, but it didn’t seem like something I had time to explain to her right now.
So, I stuck a finger into each ear, and Jessamine began to sing in Ariana’s voice. As usual, a slight wave of dizziness washed over me, and my eyes wanted to roll back into my head. I jammed my fingers even harder inside my ears, took a deep breath, and tried to focus on what was in front of me.
As my raven-haired wife sang in the mermaid’s soprano, nothing seemed to be happening to the polyps, and all I could do was watch as the princesses looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
“Jessamine, sing louder,” Cienna suggested in a muffled tone, and I prepared for another wave of dizziness to wash over me as the raven-haired beauty increased the volume of her voice.
And then, suddenly, the polyps in front of me started to transform.
As I watched, they changed into the bodies of mermaids and mermen and floated up into the water above the seafloor. The merpeople looked around in shock at each other and back down at the field of polyps, and I wasn’t sure they remembered what had happened to them.
As Jessamine sang, more and more merpeople were released from the horrible spell, and luckily, they didn’t seem to be hypnotized by the song. Some of the smallest polyps had been young children and babies, and I saw them crying as they rose up into the water. I wasn’t sure how best to help them, but then I saw grownups grab the small bodies and pull them close. Then I saw what looked like family members calling out to one another and embracing, and I felt a wave of happiness wash over me.
The merpeople were starting to notice us standing at the edge of the field, and they elbowed one another and whispered into each other’s ears. I could tell at least some of them recognized Ariana as part of the royal family, and when I looked over at the redhead, I could see the slightly terrified look she always got when she was anticipating having to address her people.
“Jessamine, stop singing for a moment,” I said, and when the raven-haired beauty paused in her song, I took my fingers out of my ears.
“This is beautiful,” Cienna breathed, and I saw she was actually blinking back tears. “They’re all free now, and it’s so amazing.”
“Joe, you asked me to stop,” Jessamine said as she looked at me with a puzzled expression. “What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to make sure Ariana was alright,” I explained before I turned to my redheaded wife. “Ariana, are you okay?”
“Y-Yes,” the red-haired mermaid stuttered, but she was wringing her hands over and over again. “This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever s-seen, but I don’t know what to say to them. We still haven’t defeated Eudora, and I can’t promise she won’t capture them all over again.”
“Sometimes the best thing you can offer your people is hope,” Jessamine suggested with a kind smile. “You are their princess. Just tell them they’re safe now, and everything’s going to be okay. It’s pretty much true, because they are free again, and we’re going to kill Eudora as soon we can.”
“O-Okay,” Ariana sighed, and she looked up at the group of merpeople who were approaching her. “I can do this.”
“You always can,” I reassured her. “Should we finish releasing the polyps, though? I know I asked you to stop singing, Jessamine, but I just wanted to check in on Ariana. Maybe the sooner we get this whole thing over with, the better.”
“Yes, I agree.” Jessamine nodded resolutely. “The spell is difficult, but I can keep going for a while. Joe, please cover your ears again.”
The dark-haired princess began to sing, and as much as I longed to listen to her ethereal voice, I forced myself to plug my ears once again. More and more merpeople floated up into the water, and I silently cheered when I thought we were going to succeed in liberating all of them.
Then Jessamine abruptly stopped singing again and poked me in the side.
“What’s up?” I asked her as I dropped my hands. “Things seem to be going really well.”
But then I heard the sound of terrified shrieking, and I whirled in its direction.
“I don’t think we’re done here yet,” Jessamine said, and she gestured out into the dim field. “Joe, I’m not exactly sure what those things are, but they aren’t merpeople.”
As I squinted into the murky water, I caught sight of something way larger than a person. Whatever it was swam in circles, and the screams were coming from the same direction.
“Shit, Joe, I think there are two of them!” Cienna yelled, and when my eyes finally made sense of the scene in front of me, I realized the forms I hadn’t been able to make out were two stingrays at least half the size of Ariana’s chariot, with tails as long as their bodies.
And they were heading right for us.
Chapter 12
As the stingrays shot across the field, they swung their tails back and forth and slammed the merpeople through the water like baseballs. The arms and tails of the mermaids and mermen who got hit became locked in place, and they drifted back down through the water. I saw their faces were now frozen in masks of terror, and I shuddered when I realized they’d been instantly paralyzed by the stingrays’ tails.
Once the stingrays got closer, I got a better look at their appearance. They had to be at least six feet long and four feet wide, and they were approximately the same shape as stingrays I’d seen in aquariums back home. Their triangular heads came to a point at the front of their roughly hexagonal bodies, but the rest of them were like nothing I’d ever seen before. They were covered in scales that reminded me of an armadillo, and they appeared to be a bright, gleaming silver in the ghostly green light. Their tails, which were approximately the same length as their bodies, were also silver, and they ended in red tips.
“Cienna, you know what to do,” I shouted in a grim voice.
“Got it, Joe!” the blonde called back, and she froze time for all four of us. I was always grateful for Cienna’s assists at the beginning of battles because they gave me and the princesses a moment to stop and strategize.
My wives and I stared at the merpeople’s terrified expressions, and I realized we were all practically panting from adrenaline.
“Ariana, we could probably use a bubble,” I gasped, and the redhead looked down and focused for a moment. Then I saw the water around us swirl in the pattern of an invisible sphere, and I knew we were safe.
“Okay, that’s done,” Ariana sighed. “I suspect this is one of Eudora’s traps. I think she knew somehow we would come rescue the polyps, and that the singing would also release these monsters.”
“I think you’re right,” I said and nodded. “This definitely doesn’t seem to be an accident.”
“I’m going to release time again because we’re in the bubble,” Cienna told us. “I want to make sure I’m strong enough to use my powers when we really need them.”
“Yeah, that should be fine,” I assured my blonde wife, and the sea roared into motion again around us.
One of the huge stingrays caught us in its sights, and it started to swim directly toward the shield Ariana had put up. Even though I knew we were protected, it was still unnerving to see the giant creature swimming right at us. When it was still several feet away, it swung its tail in our direction, and we all flinched. I felt the appendage hit the edge of Ariana’s barrier, and, to my shock, it actually seemed to shake the protective shield. The waves inside the invisible wall rocked us, and Jessamine was actually thrown to her knees.
“Shit!” Cienna shouted as she grabbed her dark-haired sister-wife’s hand. “That’s new. Do you think her minions are getting stronger?”
“It’s a distinct possibility.” Ariana nodded, and she bit her lip. “Joe, what do you think we should do?”
“Well, we can always try singing to them,” I suggested. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do because it put me at a disadvantage when I got so easily hypnotized. On the other hand, singing had worked on Morgar, Eudora’s strongest minion to date, and it had freed all the merpeople from the field.
“We could try the singing spell from within the shield,” Ariana suggested. “I know that hasn’t worked in the past, but we’ve all gotten at least a little stronger lately.”
“I’m up for it,” Jessamine said, and her dark eyes glittered with determination. “I hate it when you have to cover your ears, though, Joe.”
“Me, too,” I said with a frown. “I’m going to have you make me something called ear plugs once things are safe again.”
I’d brandished my sword when we’d first seen the stingrays, but I slid it back into its scabbard now and plugged my ears. When Jessamine began to sing, it seemed like I was able to resist it a little better this time, since I didn’t feel as immediately dizzy, which was a relief. I looked out at the monsters, but they were still moving just as much as they had been before. As they swerved in aggressive motions through the water, they were definitely ganging up on us, and every time one of their tails hit the bubble, I felt slightly seasick.
“I don’t think it’s working,” Cienna sighed, and Jessamine stopped singing.
“I know,” my dark-haired wife moaned. “This is terrible.”
“We can test if singing works when the shield is down,” I suggested to my wives as I took my fingers out of my ears. “But we’re going to need to do this very strategically. First, Cienna, you’re going to need to freeze time so we’re temporarily safe with the bubble not in place. Next, Ariana removes the shield. Finally, Jessamine, you’re going to sing. If the stingrays are like Morgar, they should drift down to the ground.”
“Okay, Joe.” Ariana nodded at me. “I hate not having the barrier up, but I trust you.”
“Everyone ready?” Cienna asked. “I know what my part of the plan is: keep time frozen as long as possible.”
“You’ll do great!” I flashed her what I hoped was a reassuring grin. “Let’s do this.”
Cienna closed her sapphire eyes to focus for a moment, and everything stopped around us.
“My turn,” Ariana said with a grimace, and then the shield around us dissolved into nothing. “Okay, the bubble is down.”
I jammed my fingers into my ears, and Jessamine began to sing. However, the huge, silver stingrays remained frozen in place just a few feet away from our bodies.
“Yeah, that’s not doing it, either,” I sighed.
After Ariana put up her shield again, one of the stingrays slammed into us particularly hard. It was incredibly disturbing to watch its tail’s glowing red tip pause just inches from my face, and I hoped we could take care of these bastards sooner rather than later.
Cienna was clearly jolted hard by the blow, because time flashed back into motion. and before I could blink, a ray had swerved toward Jessamine. I dove in front of her, and before I knew it, I’d been hit by one of the stingray’s tails and was pushed to the ocean floor. The blow stung my chest where it had hit my bare skin, but I was more worried about the princesses.
“Shit, what happened to the barrier?” I screamed. Cienna immediately froze time again, and I swam as quickly as I could to my dark-haired wife’s side. “Jessamine! Jessamine, are you alright?”
“Oh, my gods,” Cienna gasped. “The ray jolted the bubble, and I lost control of my spell. Joe, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I reassured her, though I couldn’t help but rub the sore spot on my chest for a moment. “No harm, no foul.”
“I know I had something to do with it, too,” Ariana sighed, and she tugged on a strand of her red hair. “I couldn’t hold the barrier when we got hit that hard.”
“It’s neither of your faults, but in any case, we need to get away from here. While time is stopped again, let’s swim as far away as we can.”
We swam about a hundred yards away from our previous position, and then we stopped to catch our breaths. I looked over at Cienna, and I saw she had a faraway look on her face. I tapped her on the shoulder, and when she glanced over at me, I looked her in the eyes and furrowed my brow in an unspoken question.
“Joe, I guess I’m just a little annoyed I lost my concentration,” Cienna said as she wrung her hands. “The spell just… slipped out of my fingers. I know we’re supposed to be stronger now, but that blow fucked me up.”
“Cienna, I’m totally fine, look at me!” Jessamine held out her hands and smiled. “Like Joe said, everything worked out for the best.”
“Listen, you can’t lose confidence,” I tried to reassure my blonde wife. “We’re going to figure this out!”
“O-Okay, I suppose I’m going to put my shield up again,” Ariana told us. “I just don’t feel safe, even all the way out here.”
“Great plan.” I nodded. “We’ll be a lot more secure with the bubble in place.”
“Yeah, I guess everything is going to be alright,” Cienna sighed, and she stared off for a moment at the huge stingrays, which were frozen off in the distance. “I still can’t believe that happened, but I’m not going to complain about it anymore.”
“Cienna, it’s okay,” I told the blonde as I grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. “I’m totally fine.”
“You do have a mark on your chest from where the stingray hit you with its tail,” Cienna replied, and she gently stroked the skin next to the red spot. “Does it hurt?”
“No, I’m fine!” I reassured her. “You all worry too much about me.”
“Hey, something just popped into my head,” Jessamine said, and she looked around at us with wide eyes. “We haven’t tried healing anything using the necklace in a while, so what if we tested it on Joe’s wound??”
“Yes, we could try,” Ariana said, and she pursed her lips in thought. “It will be an interesting test of the necklace’s strength.”
I pulled the rock out of my pocket and handed it to Jessamine, who then performed her transformation spell. Ariana bent down over my chest and held the gem in her fingers, and then colorful sparks passed through my field of vision as the mermaid held the jewel to my injury.
Suddenly, the painful spot on my body disappeared.
“Hey, I think it worked!” I told my mermaid wife as I took the amulet back and put it into my pocket, and I gently bumped her with my elbow. “Ariana, that was awesome!”
“That was pretty cool, but I think my spell is fading,” Cienna growled. “I guess it lasted a lot longer this time…”
“It definitely did,” I reassured her, and then I held up Genie’s Wrath as I watched the stingrays approaching us from a distance. “Ariana, let down your bubble for a minute. I’m going to blast these motherfuckers from here.”
I held out Genie’s Wrath, and after I focused for just a brief moment, a blast of purple sparks bigger than ever before shot out of the golden sword toward the closest stingray, which was still at least a couple hundred feet away. The bolt made contact with its back, and I saw sparks ricochet off its hide, but the shot appeared to have only cracked the beast’s scaly armor. I saw silver scales float out into the water, but it didn’t stop the monster in its tracks.
I was able to repeat the move almost immediately, though, and when the blast hit the beast’s back this time, a larger silver chunk fell onto the seafloor in a shower of violet sparks. I feared I was only pissing the animals off, however, because they seemed to be swimming even faster in our direction.
I thought I had one good shot left in the sword, and I aimed Genie’s Wrath at the other stingray. This time, though, the beast briefly exposed its belly as it was swimming, and the purple sparks from the sword managed to hit the underside of the monster. I saw a cloud of dark blood float out of the wound, and I realized I’d managed to injure the creature. Then I thought back to my favorite video games, where every single enemy had some sort of weakness if you searched for it long enough, and I silently cheered.
