The Battle of Riptide (8 page)

THE CURRENT FLOWED BRISKLY ACROSS THE battle waters, which were very clear today. Whalem gave the orders for the armada to make the last of its preparations. Indi's mariners were massed on the south side of the Riptide territory. Apparently, the leader here had renamed the ancient shiver after himself, but that didn't matter. According to Indi Shiver, these were the Riptide homewaters. The terraced area, full of different single-colored greenie, was in the distance with Riptide Shiver sharks in a loose battle formation in front of that. Whalem could see their mariners were nervous, fins flicking and tails swishing. His stomach turned, sensing another oncoming slaughter. There was no glory in this. None at all.

Whalem noticed the industrious court shark Tydal making his own preparations in the floating royal court. Whalem disliked the court with all its pomp and vanity, but after this victory Finnivus could rightly call himself emperor of the seven seas. The arrogant tiger would want an elaborate ceremony, of course, hence Tydal's activity.

The past year was wearing on Whalem. Seeing Finnivus grow more capricious and cruel with each victory sickened his stomach. He hoped his nausea was due to the slightly different fish of the Atlantis, but doubted it. Maybe, just maybe, after Finnivus conquered everything he would calm down and rule well. Whalem felt a wave of despair as a small voice inside him whispered, “That won't happen. He'll become a monster.”

“Why the long faces?” Finnivus boomed.

Whalem snapped to attention at his position by the lantern fish signaler and was relieved to find he wasn't the focus of the king's attention. It was a couple of young sharks from the Line. “This is my day! Everyone should be as happy, but never happier, than us!” Finnivus laughed his grating, high-pitched, and ridiculous laugh.

A couple of the younglings had asked Finnivus if
they
could command the armada for the final battle instead of Whalem, but they were denied. That was the reason for their sour mood. Whalem didn't actually care and took the insulting request in stride. He could have asked for single combat as was his right, but he had tired of all the blood being spilled. The more Whalem thought about the request, the more he realized it was a carefully laid trap. He was fifty summers older than the pups who'd challenged him. Victory would have been no sure thing, even with his combat experience. In any case, Finnivus was superstitious and insisted that everything stay the same.

Of course, the new royal herald would be the first to approach the other shiver. Finnivus cackled as the poor shark made what would in all likelihood be his last few tail strokes across the empty expanse between the mighty Indi armada and its pitiful opponents. Riptide had barely a hundred sharkkind.

Finnivus motioned at the herald with a fin and told the court, “He's going to say that their leader has to admit he is a jelly-brained turtle next to my glorious magnificence! Ha!” More high-pitched laughing.

Whalem, in his position off to the side, could not hear the herald as he delivered the message and waited for what he knew was certain death. Heralds weren't allowed to defend themselves. Their job was to wait for a reply. That the reply could be—today more than ever—a bite to the gills was beside the point.

Curiously, the mako leader of Riptide Shiver listened to everything and didn't attack the herald, which would have undoubtedly begun the battle. Indeed, she—the leader looked female even from this distance—seemed to be answering. After a moment, the herald swam back toward the king's court!

What was this?

“Tydal!” shouted Finnivus. “Why aren't we fighting? Why is there no killing?” The king adjusted himself on one of his blue whales.

“I'm—I'm not sure, Your Magnificence,” the epaulette shark stammered. Tydal's fins seemed to move in opposite directions and with crossed purposes.

“Find out this instant!” Finnivus yelled.

Tydal swam as fast as he could from his position in the court to the approaching herald. Whalem followed. He could signal his lantern fish and have the Indi armada in action at a moment's notice, but he wanted to hear this.

“I greet you, First Court Fish—” the herald began. The official greeting between them would last far too long and Tydal knew it.

“Forget all that!” the epaulette whispered urgently. “What's happening?”

“She agreed.”

“By Tyro's tail, make sense!” Tydal urged, his own tail twitching as if he were being shocked by an eel.

“Their leader wants me to deliver a message to the king that she'll do everything he demands,” the herald told him.

Whalem's heart leapt. Could the day end with
none
of his mariners swimming the Sparkle Blue? It seemed too good to be true. Tydal was caught open-mouthed, gills pumping spastically. All he could do was ask, “Really?”

“What's happening, Tydal?” shouted Finnivus from his throne. “We grow agitated and not amused!”

A split-second decision was needed. In the deadly world of royal mood swings, it could mean Tydal's life. “Deliver the message,” he heard the court shark say.

This was about to get interesting. Tydal took his place in the court as the herald explained. It was for the king's ears only, so no one else could hear. Heralds were taught this skill; they could speak loudly enough for thousands to hear, or quietly enough so only one would, even in a crowd.

After listening, Finnivus laughed with glee, bouncing himself on the back of the blue whale underneath him. For once, Whalem thought, the ridiculous laugh was the most welcome sound in all the Big Blue. “Excellent! Bring their leader to me this instant!”

The commander of the
squaline
ordered the king's personal guards to form a defensive line. Another complement of mariners circled above the king, protecting his dorsal. These armored guards were faster than all but a few unarmored sharks, which was why they'd been chosen for this duty.

The prisoner swam up slowly, pressed flank to flank between two massive great white
squaline
, so she couldn't streak into an attack. The mako leader of Riptide Shiver was beautiful, there was no denying that.

“I'm honored to hover in the presence of the wise and mighty Finnivus Victor,” she said, loud enough for everyone in the royal court to hear. “I'll happily swim to the Sparkle Blue today because I've met the greatest shark in all the oceans and seas!” She smiled and showed her thin and pointed teeth in a friendly way.

“And what do they call you?” asked Finnivus.

“My name is Velenka, Your Magnificence.”

Finnivus smiled at the court, which hung on his every word. “She certainly is well-mannered for an uncultured fish.” He tittered at his own joke, immediately joined by everyone else.

Velenka then said, “Your Majesty's laugh is a most beautiful music.”

Whalem's opinion of the Riptide leader changed immediately. This shark
was
a threat, but not to him or Finnivus. She was a threat to anyone in court who would fight for rank with her.

One youngling in the Line realized this immediately, too. “Make her wish come true, Majesty!” he yelled. “Feast on her! The leader of the last ancient shiver in the Big Blue would make a fitting meal to announce the age of
Emperor
Finnivus!”

Finnivus preened for the mako and made a show of thinking about this. But Whalem knew she was too beautiful and too interesting for the king to resist. Finnivus clicked his notched teeth together. “I really should eat you. If there isn't going to be a battle for my amusement, then I should have you for dinner to celebrate. My fourth is right about that.”

“An emperor does what he wants,” Velenka said calmly. “In the end his word is law, no matter what anyone else thinks.”

Whalem almost shook his head in amazement. What an answer! Now if Finnivus were to order the mako's death, it would seem based on someone else's advice, which would make him look weak.

Amazingly, he seemed even more interested. “But surely blood must be spilled on our glorious day!” Finnivus replied. “What would you have me do?”

Whalem almost spun around in surprise. Finnivus was asking someone else for an opinion!

The mako performed a graceful bow and cast her eyes downward. It was as if she'd been born at court. “Emperor, Riptide Shiver is no more. Every sharkkind formerly a part of it is yours to do with as you wish.”

“Oh, I'd like to destroy every one of your puny mariners, but undoubtedly Whalem would feel terrible about it.” The gathered court fins laughed. Finnivus continued, “But you've been so charming, it would be a shame to eat you. How about your Line? Will you feast on them with me and prove your loyalty?”

The sunlight caught Velenka's pitch-black upper half, and a rainbow reflected from it. “They are as loyal to me as I will be to you, Emperor. My Line would be honored to sacrifice themselves for your celebration.”

“Then come, let's go for a swim while the royal seasoners do their work, then. You can show me around my newest homewaters.”

“I am honored,” she told Finnivus.

Whalem swam off, as his part in the day was over. And honored or not, there was a good deal of screaming when it became clear to the sharkkind in the Riptide Line what was in store for them.

VELENKA SWAM THROUGH THE RIPTIDE homewaters at the flank of the soon-to-be emperor of the Big Blue. He was at least five or six seasons younger than she was. Velenka could only dream of having the power he was born into. The way was now clear for him to impose his will on all the seven seas. She knew there was a whale of a difference between a regular shiver and a royal shiver, and she struggled to remember her lessons on the subject. She adjusted her position so that her snout wouldn't surpass the tiger's front flipper. Position and appearances were
everything
in a royal court.
That
she did remember.

“I see that this shiver did a little seascaping,” Finnivus told her. “It's nothing like my, umm,
our
homewaters, but it's the best we've seen in the Atlantis.”

Velenka almost laughed at the pup king's mistakes using the royal
we
. But laughing wouldn't have been wise. Velenka escorted him through the Riptide homewaters proper, and he wasn't entirely disdainful, especially after he saw the terraced greenie gardens with their bright, bright colors.

“Not terrible,” he commented.

Velenka risked a sidelong peek at the tiger. Was Finnivus a conqueror supreme? Or a spoiled brat who'd gotten lucky?

“I can't take credit for the terraces,” she told him. “I was only leader for a few days before you arrived.”

“Really? How did that happen?”

That was an open question. A very
smart
open question. Finnivus hadn't offered a clue about what he was thinking, or what he might like her to say. The sleek tattooed tiger shark was much sharper than Goblin, that was for sure.

“Our leader went missing,” Velenka said, keeping her fins perfectly still. She didn't want to seem nervous. “Either he saw your armada and swam away in fright, or . . . he died of a jellyfish sting. There are different rumors.”

Finnivus laughed. The high-pitched chortle was almost comical. “He died of a jellyfish sting just before I would have eaten him? Not likely! He ran and hid like a little turtle hatchling!”

“If he
was
sent to the Sparkle Blue by a jelly, maybe the drifters also want you to be their emperor.”

Finnivus fell silent. For a moment Velenka thought that she had overplayed, but then he laughed. “Oh, that's too good!” he chortled. “
Drifters
wanting me to be emperor! You have a keen wit!”

The laughter spread to the surrounding court sharks, which once again reminded Velenka they weren't alone. Of course, royalty should have a retinue, but this was ridiculous. There were at least twenty-five sharkkind constantly within three or four tail strokes of Finnivus at all times. Plus, his personal guard was there, coated in metallic skin. They swam so quietly, it was a miracle to hear them at all. And a mere tail's length away was the first court shark, a brown-and-yellow epaulette. Velenka ignored him completely as did everyone else. Then there were the young sharkkind of the Line who eyed her balefully. There were also many other sharks and dwellers whose jobs and names she didn't know. Velenka would learn everything about them as if her life depended on it.

Which was undoubtedly truer than she knew.

“Yes, yes,” Finnivus said to himself as he looked around at the colorful greenie bordering the ancient Speakers Rock at the center of the Riptide homewaters. “This place is the most worthy we've seen. Tydal, my ceremony shall be here. Make the preparations. And do tell us when our meal is ready.”

The epaulette shark bobbed his head. “At once, Magnificence!” Tydal did an eel-quick turn and vanished. Finnivus gave her a grin. “He's good at what he does.”

“Oh, I'm sure he is, Your Majesty,” Velenka said. “I'd only expect the most gifted sharkkind to be allowed near you.”

“Yes, you'd
expect
that,” he said, casting a sidelong glance at an older tiger shark with intricate tattoos. Velenka wondered if she, too, would have to get tattoos. They didn't look half bad. The black wave pattern was quite striking, but the ones the royalty wore were even better. Finnivus continued, “But sometimes you don't have a choice in the matter.”

The shark in question seemed to be the mariner prime who led the battle armada. The young sharkkind in the Line joined with their king to laugh at this not-so-private joke. The older tiger, obviously not someone to be trifled with, acted as if he hadn't heard anything.

“You have proved yourself most interesting,” Finnivus commented. Velenka bobbed her head and cast her eyes downward as she had seen the court shark do. How she hated scraping before anyone, even royalty. “I want you in court for my coronation ceremony.”

Velenka acted flustered even though this was what she'd been hoping for secretly. “I—I don't know what to say, Your Majesty. Such an honor! You're such a kind and compassionate ruler to a poor fin you've just conquered!”

Finnivus preened as if Velenka was stroking his underbelly. In a way, she was. It didn't matter. She needed to stay close to the pup if she were to survive.

“We are kind and compassionate to all who, umm,
we
rule.”

Even more rewarding to Velenka than the invitation was the look of absolute horror on the sharks of the Line's faces. One female spinner shark even gnashed her teeth.

Velenka started when the court shark Tydal announced, “Dinner is served, Your Majesty,” right behind her. Apparently, the little muck-sucker could sneak around with the best of them.

“Ah, excellent,” Finnivus said. “Lead us, Tydal.”

They swam back to Speakers Rock in front of the terraces of colored greenie. Already, Velenka could see that the dwellers in Indi Shiver were decorating the area in their colors for the coronation.

In all the excitement Velenka had forgotten that they would be dining on her Line. Some of it, anyway. Ripper, the battle-scarred hammerhead and the first of Goblin Shiver, hadn't returned from a long-range patrol. Maybe he'd been killed by an Indi patrol. Ripper was a lucky one, then. At least he died in battle.

Velenka looked at the faces of her ex-shivermates arranged on a rock disc carried on the backs of four sea turtles. To not eat would be counted against her. The young sharks of Indi's court certainly thought so. They dug in with Finnivus but kept looking over, eagerly waiting for Velenka to say she couldn't join them.

“Not hungry?” asked Finnivus. This was another test, of course. The young tiger was devious, all right.

“Nonsense, Your Majesty,” she told Finnivus loudly enough for everyone to hear. “I'm starving!”

Halfway through the meal, Velenka discovered it wasn't so bad. In fact, Streak was kind of tasty.