Vallerio, Portia, and Lucia, defended by a dozen death riders, had tried to flee to their private apartments. There they could access the tunnels that ran under the palace and escape. Becca’s group of twenty fighters had cut them off, however, and had driven them into the stateroom.
Mahdi had joined them there. “Dude!” Yazeed had shouted, grinning. He’d almost gotten himself shot in the process. Together they’d managed to pin Vallerio, Portia, and Lucia behind the throne and keep them from reaching a doorway near it.
As the Black Fins continued to fire on the small group of soldiers defending the three, however, death rider reinforcements had come streaming in through the stateroom’s windows, forcing the Black Fins to fall back behind pillars and statues. They were still covering the exit that Vallerio, Portia, and Lucia wanted to reach, but only barely.
“If we don’t get some backup soon, they’re going to get away!” Becca shouted.
“Where are the rest of the Black Fins?” Mahdi yelled.
Before Yazeed could tell hm, a bloodcurdling roar ripped through the water, and then an immense claw ripped out a bank of windows.
“What the—” Yaz started to say.
“Blackclaws!” Neela shouted. “This is exactly what the death riders did last time! It’s how they took the palace.”
As Becca and her fellow fighters watched in horror, a massive dragon tore at the hole she’d made, widening it. She pushed her enormous snout in, then screeched in anger when she couldn’t fit her whole head through. She thumped her tail into the wall over and over again, until a large section caved in.
“We have no chance against that thing,” Neela said. “We’ve got to fall back.”
“We can’t! Lucia and her parents will get away!” Becca said.
Before anyone could venture a way to keep that from happening, there was another sound: a metallic shriek that sounded like a ship being torn in half on jagged rocks.
It came from the stateroom’s entry, and it was followed by clanking and pounding.
Becca swiveled her head, trying to see what was making the noises. Then she took a stroke backward, unable to believe her eyes.
Under the stateroom’s soaring stone arches crouched a giant bronze spider. Her black eyes glinted. Her long fangs were bared.
Seated atop the creature was a mermaid. She carried a crossbow. A sword hung from her hip. Her coppery hair, cut short, was angled over her forehead and cheekbones. Her green eyes blazed with fury.
“Holy silt! She’s alive!” Desiderio said.
“Thank the gods!” Neela said, and she turned bright blue.
“Yes!” Yaz let loose a loud, long victory cry.
Mahdi just shook his head, unable to speak.
“Go, Sera!” Becca shouted. “Take back your throne!”
THE BRONZE SPIDER REARED, shrieking a challenge at the dragon. Her rider stayed atop her, crossbow aimed.
The Blackclaw, who was inside the stateroom now, flattened her ears.
The spider shrieked again, slamming her front legs on the floor. She started toward the dragon. The Blackclaw hissed. She lowered her head and charged. The walls shook. A glass chandelier crashed down. The dragon was larger than Alítheia, and it looked as if she would crush the spider.
Mahdi found his voice. “Sera, watch out!”
But Alítheia was only feinting. Her eight eyes were glued to the dragon. As the beast closed in, the spider crouched lower, and then, when the Blackclaw was only yards away, Alítheia shot a line of filament up into the water. It hit the ceiling and stuck fast, and as it did, the spider sprang, swinging herself to the right of the dragon in a tight arc, then dropping down on her back.
Sera got off two shots immediately, killing both death riders seated in the howdah on the dragon’s back.
The dragon roared and shook herself violently, but Alítheia clung on. Using her dagger-sharp claws, she climbed up the dragon’s spine, searching for a chink in her armor. She found one where the chain mail ended and the frills around the creature’s neck began. With another shriek, she sank her fangs into the Blackclaw’s flesh.
The dragon reared, roaring. She twisted around in a frenzy, clawing at her neck, trying to get the spider off. But Alítheia had already jumped down. As the venom did its work, the dragon’s struggles slowed. With a cry, she collapsed to the floor. Alítheia, meanwhile, was headed for the throne. The death riders’ arrows bounced off her bronze body. Sera ducked down, sheltering in the dip between the spider’s thorax and abdomen where nothing could reach her.
With feet and fangs, Alítheia battled her way through, a shrieking, slashing battle machine. The Black Fins followed her.
“Get them!” Mahdi shouted, racing to the back of the throne, his speargun raised. Yazeed and Becca were hot on his tail.
But they were too late. Lucia and her parents were nowhere to be found.
“How did they escape?” Becca asked.
Yazeed swore a blue streak. “They must’ve made it to the door near the throne when Alítheia was fighting the Blackclaw.”
“We’ll find them,” Sera said.
She swam down from Alítheia’s back. Mahdi gathered her in his arms, crushing her in an embrace.