Page 7 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
The ground trembled fiercely, jagged cracks splintering beneath our feet in every direction. I nearly lost my balance, thrown out of equilibrium.
“To the ship!” Zahara ordered and took off.
The market streets erupted. Villagers fled in a tide of terror, pushing their way to the center of the island. Screams tore through my ears, sound slicing through the air far easier than in the sea.
I bolted clumsily, driven by adrenaline, but still fumbling with novelty. An uplift in the ground snagged my foot, and I was hurled across the gravel, each topple jarring my sore bones. Steps thundered around. Villagers rammed into me, unintentionally shoving me back down.
Where is Calvin?I thought, but in the midst of terror, he disappeared.
Zahara backtracked, searching frantically in the crowd as if she lost her only prized possession until she spotted me.
Would I ever mean more to her than just my service?
“Let’s go, water-girl! The Oricaan are coming!” the pirate yelled through the hoards of people.
The villagers cleared, battering their way through the narrow streets.
And that’s when I noticed what pulled itself through the faults in the land. Gilded, giant claws clasped the rim of thefissure and hauled its body from beneath the ground. Another followed suit, their animal-like bodies melded out of glinting gold and towering over the harbor—over the screaming, pleading villagers.
All that’s holy.
I had never seen anything like it. The first gilded creature lifted one of its fisted claws above its feline-shaped head and brought it down crashing before the scurrying crowd. The island shook with the impact, chunks hurling, many crushing the people. Blood pooled beneath the boulders, the crunching of bone audible through the distance. The beings that survived trembled in a clustered group, clinging to their loved ones as prayers pierced the sky.
Steady arms gripped under my shoulders, pulling me to my feet. Calvin.
No. No, no, no.This was all wrong.
“Run!” he screamed, pulling my arm toward the harbor docks.
Damn the consequences. I should have died hours prior, but I’d rot before I ran.
I lunged out of Calvin’s grip like a living weapon, blade within my palm, and took off toward the charging Oricaans.
“To the water!” I thundered across the battlefield. Shuffling through the humans, I screamed over and over, shoving them backward toward the ocean.
The water will bring them solace,a gentle voice floated in my mind, repeating the words in haste. If it proved to be wrong, I’d never forgive myself, but I trusted it.
The crowd, at first confused by my blubbering hysterics, moved at my bidding and changed their escape route toward the sea.I raced backward with them, heart thundering as the Oricaan beasts lessened the distance between us.
I skidded to a halt meters away from the safety of the waves, blood running cold as a child’s distant wail blasted forthlike a storm-forged call at my back. A young girl, no older than five, cowered in the streets before the gilded beasts as everyone splashed into the shallow ocean.
The creature stomped its giant limbs forward, her shrill cries amplifying and vibrating with the Oricaan’s impact. They echoed like a dagger to my gut.
My vision blurred between memory and reality, like watching a vision from behind a frosted glass window. Lashes whipped into the back of a silver-haired merfolk child’s tail—mytail. Tiny screams echoed through the void around me, like the young girl that needed me before the Oricaan beast. The memory wasmy ownresurfacing, but it dissipated quickly, leaving behind only the phantom pain that shocked through my calves.
Our cries were the same… except it seemed as ifIhad no one to save me. Butshedoes.
I turned, teeth gritted, and charged back with ravenous vengeance for my own memory and for the slain beneath the boulder. Dirt kicked up in my wake, uneasy steps fueled by adrenaline as they quickened.
The Oricaan ascended its daggered foot over the child, a massive shadow casting over us both. Right when it surged downward, I scooped the girl within my arms and lunged out of its trajectory. The beast’s hit shattered the ground at our backs, throwing us both forward. I caught myself narrowly, an arm pushing us both back vertical, but I forced my legs toward the sea with the child in tow.
Calvin, Jun, and Zahara waded knee deep many meters before us, watching in horror as the Oricaan chased behind.
The land raged behind us, the golden creatures gaining at our backs, and with the added weight of the girl, I couldn’t run any faster. I threw a quick, wary look over my shoulder, and my attention caught just behind the head of the gilded beast. An armored male weaved his arms through the air like a conductor leading a monstrous symphony. With every sharp flick of hiswrist, the creature moved, not with instinct, but with obedience, as if bound to his will by unseen strings.
The scent of salt and water wafted through my nose before my feet splashed into it, instant relief filling my chest, but it wasn’t enough for me. I wanted revenge.
“Give her to me,” Zahara demanded at the ocean’s edge where she guided the inhabitants, her arms extended in a panic. The child whimpered at the handoff, but Zahara did not hesitate and took off neck deep into the sea.
