The young mermaid gave Mahdi a brave smile. She took his hand. “Come on, Mama,” she said. “It’s okay.”
Mahdi hurried mother and child into the tunnel. Sera followed. She was about to pull the tunnel door closed when four death riders swam into the basement.
“You, there! Stop!” one of them shouted.
“Call Captain Traho!” another yelled.
One reached for his speargun, holstered at his hip. Two more rushed at Sera. They were both holding lava torches.
Sera realized that they had only seconds in which to live or die. She needed more than canta mirus now; she needed canta malus. She didn’t hesitate. Her voice swooped into a low, dark key as she focused on the glass globes of lava set atop the torches.
Lava hot and lava bright,
Hide us from our enemy’s sight.
Bubble, leap, hiss, and burn.
Make these soldiers quickly turn.
Deadly lava, do you worst.
Through the goblin glass now burst!
Mahdi lunged for Sera just as the last note of the songspell left her lips. He pulled her into the tunnel and yanked the door closed. His quick thinking saved her life.
The explosion was instantaneous. The concussive force was so great, it shook the ground. Sera saw a blinding flash of white light in the crack under the door; she heard the impact of debris as it was flung against the iron, and the bubbling and hissing of lava.
Then she heard nothing at all.
“They’re…” she started to say.
“Yeah, they are,” Mahdi said. “No one could survive a blast like that. I doubt the safe house survived it. My gods, Sera, what was that?”
“Darksong,” Sera replied. “It’s legal if used against an enemy during wartime. I had no choice, Mahdi. It was us or them.”
“I know that. I meant you. When did you learn how to cast such a powerful frag? I know seasoned commanders who couldn’t do what you just did.”
The bloodbind, Sera thought. It gave me Neela’s skills with light and Becca’s with fire. She was about to explain her newfound powers, or try to, when shouts carried through the door.
“More death riders,” Mahdi said tensely. “Traho must’ve had extra troops outside the safe house. Time to go, everyone.”
“Thank you,” Cira’s mother said as they started off. “Thank you for coming back for us.” In the light of Sera’s lantern, her face looked pale and pinched. She was breathing heavily. “I’m Kallista, by the way.”
“Are you okay?” Sera asked.
“I’m in labor.”
“Oh, wow. Oh, boy,” Mahdi said, running his hands through his hair.
“There’s an infirmary in the new safe house. It’s not far from here. Half a league,” Sera said. “Can you make it?”
Kallista laughed weakly. “Do I have a choice?”
“Sera, you take one of her arms. I’ll take the other. Cira, you stay right on our tails,” said Mahdi.
Sera hoped they could move faster than before since they knew where they were going this time, but that wasn’t the case. The tunnels were too narrow to allow them to swim three abreast. She and Mahdi often had to turn sideways, which slowed them down. She was glad when the first fork appeared ahead of them.
Before they reached it, however, Mahdi stopped abruptly. “Hold up a minute,” he said.
“What is it?” asked Sera.
Then she heard it: the sound of voices. Closing in fast.
“They got through,” said Mahdi. “We’re going to split up at the fork. You three go right and swim as fast as you can to the safe house. I’ll go left and draw them off.”
“Mahdi, no!” Serafina said.
“Go!” he hissed. He fished a moon jelly out of Sera’s lantern to light his way, picked up a rock off the floor, then shot into the opposite tunnel. A second later, Sera heard a scraping sound. He was dragging the rock against the tunnel wall.
“Come on,” Sera said to Cira and Kallista, remembering Marco’s dire warning about not letting her back in if soldiers were on her tail. “We’ve got to swim. Fast.”
They took off up the right-hand tunnel, moving as quickly as they could. A few minutes later, Sera spotted the second turn-off. As they reached it, she heard voices again.
Mahdi’s plan hadn’t worked. The death riders weren’t following him; they were following them.
Sera took Cira by the shoulders. The child couldn’t have been more than eight. “Cira, listen to me. You’ve got to get your mom the rest of the way there, okay? You can do it. I know you can.” She explained how to get inside the safe house, then she scooped another glowing moon jelly out of her lantern and put it in Cira’s hands. “Go!” she hissed.
As Cira and her mother hurried off, Sera swam into the other tunnel. “Help!” she shouted. “We can’t find the safe house! Please! Is anyone there?”