Yazeed called for weapons to be readied again. “Sera, get down off Clio,” he ordered. “Take cover behind Alítheia.”
Sera remembered how brave her mother had been during the invasion of Cerulea, even after she’d been shot. She’d ripped the arrow out of her side, and then dared her attacker to finish his work.
“No, Yaz, I won’t turn tail,” Sera said. “Lucia’s nothing but a cowardly assassin, just like her father. I’ll fight, together with everyone else.”
The whalesong grew louder and more urgent. And then a new sound rose above their music, a war cry, shrill and bloodcurdling.
“Take aim!” Yazeed ordered.
“No, Yazeed! Wait!” Neela cried. “Don’t shoot!”
And then to everyone’s surprise, Neela answered the war cry with one of her own.
A chorus of victory whoops floated down to the Black Fins. And then a figure, strong and regal, swam down under the whales. Her fins spiked out around her like a lionfish’s. She was surrounded by a cadre of warriors, their powerful bodies decorated with coral armbands and beaded breastplates.
“Kora!” Neela shouted. She raced up to meet the warrior princess. “Salamu kubwa, Malkia!” she called out in Kandinian mer. Greetings, great queen!
The two mermaids embraced. Then Kora put Neela in a headlock—a Kandinian sign of affection. Neela greeted Kora’s guard—the Askari—and then escorted them down to meet Sera and the others.
“Serafina, Regina di Miromara, may I present Kora, the Malkia of Kandina,” she said.
The two queens bowed to each other. “I, my Askari, and warriors from across my realm have come to fight with our sister Askara,” Kora said, nodding at Neela. “She helped free my people from a terrible prison camp. We will now put an end to the one behind such an evil, and his monster, too. We will swim with you to the Carceron.”
Ling elbowed Neela. “Sister Askara, huh?” she said, under her breath. “Whoa.”
“Neels, you’re a badwrasse!” Becca whispered. “Who knew?”
“Everybody but you two, apparently,” Neela replied airily.
“Malkia Kora, the Black Fins and I are honored to have you and your fighters at our side. Thank you for joining us,” said Sera.
“Ceto Rorqual, a mighty humpback, and his clan will join you, too,” Kora said.
“Humpbacks? Will they be all right in Antarctic waters?” Sera asked, concerned.
“The Rorqual have very strong magic. They can insulate themselves against the cold.”
Sera called a greeting and a thank-you to Ceto. He acknowledged her with a swipe of his mighty tail.
“There are more, Regina,” Kora said.
“More whales?” Sera asked, confused.
“More fighters.”
“From Kandina…” Sera said.
Kora shook her head, smiling. “From everywhere. We saw a cloud of silt rising behind us. Two Askari swam back to investigate. The cloud was raised by a horde of mer, goblins, seaweed trolls, and sand trolls. They’re all coming to fight with you. To save their home from Abbadon.”
A lump rose in Sera’s throat. When she could speak again, she said, “We’d better get out of this canyon, then. So we can make camp for the night and give the newcomers something to eat.”
Sera gave the signal, and the Black Fins started moving again. Kora and her fighters fell in with them. She and Yazeed started to talk. Lena swam alongside, shy and awkward, but fiercely loyal, too.
Sera looked at them, deeply touched that Lena and Kora had joined the Black Fins, and that more fighters were on the way. The knowledge heartened her, but it also deepened the dread gnawing at her.
Ling picked up on it. “Hey, Sera, what’s wrong?” she asked, pulling next to her on her own hippokamp.
“We’re going to reach the Carceron soon, and I still have no idea how to defeat Abbadon.”
Ling frowned. “You know, you had a serious confidence issue when I first met you. On our way to the River Olt. I thought you’d gotten over it, but maybe not.”
“Confidence issue?” Sera sputtered. “Ling, Abbadon isn’t, like, a self-esteem problem. It’s a big, bad, vicious, bloodthirsty monster with twenty hands!”
“Vr?ja summoned us for a reason. She believed we’d find a way to do this. Together,” Ling said. “You have to believe that, too, Sera. It’s not all on you to defeat Abbadon. It’s on us.”
Sera nodded. She took Ling’s hand and squeezed it. There had to be a way to defeat the monster. To spare Ling, and all these brave, trusting fighters from certain death. Sera desperately hoped they could figure it out.
Before it was too late.
THE STORM THAT RAGED across the Weddell Plain was like a vengeful spirit. Swirling deepwater vortexes, caused by warring warm and cold currents, howled down savagely on the Black Fins, threatening to throw them off course. Sediment whirled in the water, making it hard to see.
Sera, a scarf wrapped around her head, led a frightened Clio by her reins. It was impossible to ride in this weather. She squinted into the churning waters, trying to see more than a few yards ahead.