Crown of Coral and Pearl

The guards were waiting for orders from Ceren, but I climbed up beside them and took the boy from their hands. “Go now,” I whispered to the page. “Leave the castle and go home to your family before anyone realizes you’re missing.”

His eyes widened, but he nodded and scrambled off the rocks. I set down the knife and pulled off my gown to more gasps. My shift only fell to my knees, but I needed to move freely. I studied the lake for a moment, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd. The water would be cold, but at least I’d be able to see with the light from the glowworms. I’d need to stay away from the shadows. As I peered over the edge, the finned back of the creature sailed past again. It had to be twenty feet long, bigger than the great man-eating sharks that lived farther out to sea.

Ceren looked horrified, but Talin held him back. Fear coursed through my veins like it had the day of the incident, when I’d thought I might lose Zadie. But fear could be useful. It could be turned into strength. I grabbed the knife, nodded at Talin once, took the largest breath my lungs could hold, and jumped.

* * *

As the frigid water closed over my head, I opened my eyes to take in my surroundings. Here, the lake was about twenty feet deep. From what I’d seen of the beast, it looked more fish than lizard, but if it had created the tunnels down here, it had to be able to breathe on land as well as in the water. I kept my back pressed against the rock and the knife in front of me as I searched for the creature.

When I broke the surface several minutes later to take another breath, I felt something brush against my feet. “Look out,” Talin shouted, and I dived back down to see the creature’s white tail disappearing into a crevice on the other side of the lake.

The head appeared a moment later from another crevice. So that was Salandrin’s lair. My first impression of the beast was that it was similar to the giant cave salamander, with thick white flesh and short legs ending in clawed feet. But the head was longer and more tapered, like a moray eel, and when it opened its mouth, I saw dozens of razor-sharp, cone-shaped teeth. It swam past me, back into the shadows. I counted three sets of legs, though the hind legs were small, probably vestigial.

I’d also noticed that it had tiny red eyes, like the salamander. If I had to guess, the creature was blind.

But it knew I was here. It had sensed me when I went to the surface for air. It could likely feel the vibrations in the water. I moved away from the wall, just a few feet, and the creature came rushing out of the shadows, its mouth wide-open. The water around me began to surge forward, as though I was caught in a tide. Salandrin was sucking me into its maw.

I reached back for the rocks and grabbed hold, wedging my fingers as far into a crack as I could, but the force of the suction was incredibly strong. My head was inches from the surface and I was running out of air, but if I let go, I’d be sucked right in.

Instead, I put the sheath of the knife in between my teeth and turned to grab the rock with my other arm, rising just long enough to fill my lungs. When I went back under, the creature was swimming past. I grabbed the knife and slashed at the last stumpy leg, slicing it clean off. Salandrin writhed in agony, and dark blood filled the water instantly, blinding me.

When it cleared, the monster was gone.

Most likely it had gone back to its lair. I didn’t want to play its cat-and-mouse game; waiting was just making me colder, and I was risking hypothermia the longer I stayed in the water. If I was going to die, far better to get it over with quickly. So I took another breath, propelled myself off the rocks, and swam directly toward the crevice.

The head emerged when I was still only halfway across the lake. I dived toward the bottom, where a crop of stalagmites thrust up into the water like an underground forest. I pulled myself down between them just as the monster swam past, using its strong forelegs to reach for me. The claws met stone and Salandrin shot forward, circling back around for another pass.

Now my choices were greatly diminished. I had only three or four minutes of air with my adrenaline pumping this much, and the moment I went to the surface, the beast would come. In open water, I was as good as dead.

Go for the eyes, Talin had said. He was right. It didn’t matter that the creature wasn’t using its eyes to hunt me. The eyes were the gateway to the brain, and if I stabbed deep enough, the monster would die.

As it passed overhead again, I reached up and took hold of one of the clawed feet on the second pair of legs. The talons dug into my flesh, but I held on with all my strength as the creature writhed in the water. It turned to snap at me, but I was too far back for it to reach me. I stabbed the knife into the thick flesh of its side and let go of the talon, my own blood mingling with the monster’s. Wedging my fingers into the soft flesh, I withdrew the knife and stabbed again. Hand over hand, I made my way toward its head.

Salandrin thrashed harder, and I nearly lost my grip on the knife. There was blood everywhere from the multiple stab wounds, and my air supply was getting too low. I fought the pain in my lungs as I made my slow progress along the creature’s back. When it stopped wriggling, I briefly wondered if I’d managed to draw enough blood to kill it, but then it shot forward so suddenly I would have been ripped off had I not grabbed hold of its spiny dorsal fin just in time.

I looked up and realized it was heading back toward its lair. I didn’t want to end up in the crevice with the beast, where I would be blind in the dark. It could be much deeper than it looked, and if I got myself trapped in there, I’d drown.

I was almost at the neck—I had to make my move now. With all my strength, I surged forward and drove the knife deep into the soft spot where the neck met the head. The pain disoriented the creature for a moment, and it slammed into the wall next to the crevice, pinning me against the rock. The monster’s body tensed and I involuntarily screamed as its ribs burst through its flesh, narrowly missing me. It was a horrifying defense mechanism, but it was undeniably effective.

I was out of air. I was trapped between two of Salandrin’s ribs, which were as sharp as daggers and three times as long. And I’d dropped the knife.

The ribs retracted suddenly, and before I could think, the monster shot into its lair. I didn’t know how long I had, so I pushed up toward the surface, gasping for breath to fill my burning lungs.

My frantic eyes found Talin’s, just a few feet away. He reached out for me. Then searing pain shot through my leg as Salandrin grabbed me and pulled me back below the surface. I was caught in the monster’s jaws, its teeth clamped tight around my right leg. I expected it to open its mouth and suck me in right there, but instead it circled the lake until I was again out of air and faint from blood loss.

It came close enough to the surface once that I was able to take a breath before it went back down. It was toying with me, torturing me—killing me slowly instead of eating me right away.

As it passed in front of the crowd gathered on the shore, I lifted myself up enough for what I was sure was my last breath. And then I saw Talin’s hand, reaching out for me once again. I reached for him, too, but instead of flesh, my hand met metal, and as the creature dived, I realized I had a knife in my hand.

Without thinking, I twisted around until my torso was lined up with the beast’s eye, and then I plunged the knife into the eyeball with all my strength, elbow-deep in blood and mush, too numb to even feel what I was doing. The jaws released instantly, and my hands slipped free of the knife. I kicked toward the surface with my uninjured leg and felt a strong arm gripping mine before my terror exploded into blackness.



      24



I woke in my chambers. I had no idea how much time had passed or who had tended to me, but my injured hand and leg were bound in soft white bandages. There was no pain, and I suspected I had probably healed already.

I sat up and reached for the pitcher of water on my nightstand. Ceren was asleep in a chair that must have been brought in while I was unconscious, but when I set the pitcher back down, his gray eyes flashed open, immediately finding me.

“You’re awake.” He rose and came to the edge of my bed.

I recoiled when he reached for my hand, hurrying to cover myself with the blankets. “What are you doing here, my lord? Where’s Ebb?”

“Your maid was exhausted from keeping watch over you all night and day. I told her to go get some rest.”

I knew my injuries were extensive, but I hadn’t realized the damage was that serious. “I’ve been unconscious an entire day?”

“A little more. I’ll send for the doctor to change your bandages.”

I shook my head and tried to keep the panic out of my voice. “Please, don’t.”

His brows knitted together. “Why not?”