SERA, HER ELBOWS on the makeshift table in the Black Fins’ command cave, massaged her temples. A stocky merman, Antonio, the camp’s cook, floated before her. He was furious.
“The goblins are starting trouble. Again,” he complained. “They’re angry about the flatworm stew. I’ve been serving it for three days straight. I don’t have a choice; it’s all we’ve got. At breakfast, one of them said he’d cut my head off and eat that if I served stew again. You’ve got to do something.”
Sera rued the day she’d agreed to do business with Meerteufel traders. The shipments from Scaghaufen were always late and the quality poor.
“I’ll send out hunting parties, Antonio,” she said. “It will keep the goblins busy, and I’m sure they’ll bag some conger eels. You can cook those.”
Antonio nodded and thanked Sera. After he left, Sera listened to Yazeed detail problems with the plans for the infirmary she wanted built. Then Neela reported that another group of civilians had arrived that morning—refugees from Miromara—but there was nowhere to put them. A goblin came in to tell her there weren’t enough tables in the mess hall.
The Black Fins had arrived in the Kargjord two weeks ago. The goblin fighters Guldemar had promised had begun to report for duty, too. Soon they would begin military drills, and Sera would have to oversee them. Children like the mermaid Coco, and the ones who arrived daily with their refugee parents, needed a school to attend. Many needed medical attention. And then there were the daunting tasks of housing and feeding everyone.
Running a large camp was overwhelming. Before Sera could solve one problem, ten more cropped up. Operating on little food, and even less sleep, she often sent prayers to the twin gods of the tides, Trykel and Spume, asking them to turn their forces in her favor. She wondered now if they ever would.
As Sera was suggesting to the goblin—his name was Garstig—that perhaps he and his fellow soldiers could build some tables, a mermaid appeared in the cave’s entrance, accompanied by a Black Fin. She looked exhausted. Her clothing was covered in silt. She carried a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She had short brown hair. Her gray eyes darted warily. Her hands, clutching the strap of her bag, looked strong and rough.
“Why is she here?” Yaz asked the Black Fin. His eyes traveled to her bag. “Has she been searched?”
“I went through her bag. Patted her down. She doesn’t have any weapons. She says she has to see Sera. Says it’s life-or-death,” the Black Fin replied.
“I have something for her,” the mermaid said. “From Miromara. My name is Daniella. My cousin is Allegra. She’s a farmer from outside Cerulea.”
“Clear the cave,” Sera ordered.
Yaz raised an eyebrow.
“Just do it,” Sera said.
A minute later the only ones left in the cave were Sera, Yazeed, Neela, Sophia, and Daniella.
“Mahdi sent her,” Sera explained to the others. “Her cousin Allegra delivers her farm’s produce to the palace in Cerulea and receives conchs from him. Allegra has family members in the waters between Miromara and the North Sea. Each one carries the conch part of the way. Daniella was the courier for the last leg of the journey.”
Daniella nodded. “My farm’s just south of Scaghaufen,” she said, pulling a conch from her bag. She handed it to Sera.
“Thank you. You took a huge risk coming here and I’m very grateful,” Sera said. “Please eat something and rest before you return home.”
Daniella nodded and swam out of the cave.
Sera placed the conch on the table, then cast an amplo spell so that everyone could hear the message it contained.
A voice started to speak—a merman’s. He didn’t address anyone by name, nor did he give his. Names were dangerous. They could get someone killed. Sera felt a deep relief upon hearing the voice—because it meant Mahdi was alive—or at least he had been when he’d made the recording. But she felt fearful, too, because his tone was urgent and his message grim.
“My suspicions have been confirmed,” he said. “Vallerio has been plotting a move—a big one. He’s sent death riders after two of the talismans—Nyx’s ruby ring and Pyrrha’s gold coin. Soldiers left today—Tidesday—for the Mississippi; more are leaving for Cape Horn tomorrow. Mfeme’s transporting them in two of his ships. Get your operatives out of there immediately. I’ll send another message as soon as I know more. Stay safe, all of you.”
The message ended. Everyone was silent. Sera, furious, rose and swam around the cave.
“How does my uncle always know things he can’t possibly know?” she asked. “No one knows the locations of the talismans. No one but us.”
“Correction: no one knew the locations but us,” Yaz said.
“Why is Vallerio going to the Mississippi and Cape Horn?” Neela asked. “Why not the Abyss, where Sycorax’s puzzle ball is?”