Siren's Reach - Fallen Lands Book 3

Chapter twelve

On Bloodied Tides

Evelyn

The tension and suspense made the flight of the bombs overhead seem to last forever. They soared in an ever-widening pattern as they arched down toward the water, and nearly as one crashed into the cove below. I flinched as the water splashed up, but contrary to my expectations, nothing else happened.

"Uh, What the heck?" I asked, glancing over to Amélie, who seemed to be thinking the same thing, looking back to me as we both shrugged.

Right as I lifted my foot to turn around and ask Septimia what was going on, the world seemed to jump under me, and a wave of pressure like a thunderclap hammered my chest and body. With some wild windmilling of my arms, I managed to maintain my perch. The moment my feet were planted below me again, I turned and looked back into a cloud of mist to see towering geysers of water, fire, and… goblin chunks… rising out from all across the cove, only just beginning to collapse back to the water below. Powerful waves were rushing away from the staggered line of explosions, crashing into each other, and even throwing the Abyssal Star further toward us. Its trailing arms looked mangled and torn while they tried to curl away from the still burning water. It was hard to see through the mist, but it looked like the cove was nearly cut in half by fire burning under the surface in flickering hues of green, yellow, and blue. I was stunned, just staring at the unfolding image of carnage, but Mirage, already having dragged Amélie out of harms way, was beside me in a flash. Before I realized what was going on, she grabbed my hand and pulled me down behind the crenellations an instant before the wall of mist and blood washed over the fort. I blinked at her and Amélie for a moment, processing the smell of brine, goblin blood, and burning chemicals before I felt the impact of the waves below slamming into the wall.

"Are you both unharmed?"

I stared at Mirage and nodded, but I was certainly feeling a little ringing in my ears. "I didn't think it would be so bad. I should be used to it… but there was just so much blood. Why did I look?"

Amélie stepped closer and looked into my eyes for a second, "You are okay. Was it really so bad? I did not see. Mirage was too quick to pull me off the wall. Maybe I should be glad of that."

Beside us, Constance, obviously straining to channel magic through her staff as she looked out between the crenellations, said, "Best that you don't look, Lady Amélie."

I slowly nodded for a few seconds, "Yeah. Wow. Uh, I'm going to have bad dreams for a while, I think.. but I guess it's good that it worked." I cleared my throat and looked around, but Septimia was already back at the planning table and issuing orders. "Okay, I guess I better go look and see if they're forming back up."

"Not just yet, Evelyn," Mirage said in a steady tone as she placed a hand on my arm.

I could tell from her face that she'd prefer that 'not yet' to be 'not ever.' For some reason, that caught my attention, and I looked more closely. I didn't remember her ever making an expression like that before, but then I heard a familiar whirring and snapping sound and looked up to Dawn's Light. The ballista had begun to fire, though at a slower rate, one shot every few seconds. The concussive waves hit the wall a moment later, and I realized what Mirage had been worried about. It wasn't nearly as bad as before, and that made sense. The explosives of the ballista bolts were smaller and more targeted, but they were still intended to destroy the protective top layer of the Star's central disk, and that could throw shrapnel and debris in every direction. After the ninth volley, she finally dropped her hand and nodded, and I turned and hopped back up to my perch. The first thing I noticed was the worsening smell. The brine and blood were joined by the even more pervasive smell of a dumpster fire outside a seafood restaurant that someone threw a few tires into for fun. I immediately cast [Channel Wind] and pushed the foul air away from our section of the wall. Ignoring the combination of relieved sighs and barks of laughter from the soldiers around us, I took in the situation. Fires were still burning below the surface, as were goblin bodies… and parts.. on the surface. It didn't take me long to figure out what Constance was working on either, as the fire stayed in place instead of spreading with the waves toward the seawall, only becoming more uniform as an underwater trap instead.

The Abyssal star had somehow moved much closer and looked like it was going to be able to reach out and touch the wall within minutes. Fortunately, it was very distracted and flailing with the incredible damage that had already been done to its top layers. The huge main body of the thing had craters in it with fatty, rubbery chunks scattered across it's surface and even some floating away in the water below. It wasn't turning to run, but that might have to do with its rear most arms still being on fire as they swung and bled into the water behind it. I didn't know how smart it was, but it seemed to know that going in that direction was only going to result in more burning. The goblin army was not looking great. What had been thousands was still hundreds, but they were scattered and completely disorganized. They also were not making any attempt to flee, and that really surprised me. I was certain that every single one of them was at least concussed, and how they all continued to press the attack was just unnatural. Every goblin in the water, no matter how hurt or confused, still seemed to be doing their best to drunkenly swim through the maze of underwater fire toward the seawall. The longer I watched, the more disturbing the scene became. I was certain I could see some that were missing limbs still forcing themselves onward, at least one missing both legs, and I shuddered. I wasn't sure if I should be happy or not to see that they were at least grouping up to move together somewhat intelligently instead of just pushing through the fire like zombies, but I turned and hopped back down.

"There are still a few hundred left. I don't know why they're not running, but they're forming little groups. I'm going to go tell Septimia."

Mirage nodded, and Amélie took my hand to walk with me. "You look a little shaken up, Evie."

"It's just weird. I had been thinking of them like opportunistic scavengers. It creeps me out that they're insisting on pushing forward. They have to know they're all going to die. I mean, some were even still coming with torn off limbs."

"That is not normal behavior," Mirage agreed as she followed behind.

Amélie looked between the two of us and asked, "What do you think it means?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. They're not acting like mindless zombies. It's almost like compulsion or something."

We arrived back at the planning table just in time to hear Septimia confirming orders to begin firing on the survivors with ballista. She turned and nodded to us looking pleased, "Thank you for your assistance. This could have been a disaster, but now I think we will have a much easier time of things."

She might have been speaking to me, but we both knew where that praise belonged. "Yes, even I was impressed with that display of magic from Mirage. It was wonderful.. but, I noticed that the goblins are still coming. It seems very odd. They're not even trying to escape. I feel like I'm missing something."

My words seemed to finally make something click and Amélie groaned loudly, "Aw man, Evie! Why did you have to go and say that? Now the goblins are just going to have been a distraction!"

I blinked at her, "Huh? A distraction for what?"

The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I shouldn't have asked. That was just double jinxing myself. We both froze for several seconds waiting for doom to fall down on our heads before finally letting out a sigh. Of course, that was when there was a loud crash in the distance quickly followed by a chorus of screams. Amélie just stared at me with a slow, sad shake of her head. "You had to ask."

"I had to ask." I agreed with a sad huff.

We both quickly ran to the edge of the tower and looked down to see a commotion near the harbor gate. Similar to the wall, it looked like a fortification that you'd see protecting a city, but I knew from seeing it operate earlier that it only looked like a city gate above the waterline, and it was some kind of metal grate below the surface. Right now however, it was mostly closed. It was supposed to be completely closed, but the two massive sets of crab claws tearing into it seemed to be working on fixing that situation for our attackers. And they did just look like really big, spikey crabs. At least at first. They were the size of a tank, or at least how big I assumed a tank was, but the water had to be too deep for what they were doing to be possible. I could see more motion under the water too, and I knew they were piling up on top of each other, all working together to try and pry the gate open against its locks. I watched them for a few seconds and saw crossbow bolts slam into a few claws ineffectually, but that gave me a chance to understand what I was looking at. As they crawled and churned over each other, one finally breached the surface enough to get a look at it, and I realized I was only half right about it being a crab. It had a crab body, but instead of a face and claws, it was like a crab centaur, with another just as creepy and crabby body sticking up with its oversized claw arms hinged like shoulders on a mockery of a person.

Amélie was having just as much trouble with them as I was and asked, "What are those things?" with a bit of wonder in her voice.

"I have no idea." Septimia said, sounding more than a little concerned.

Amélie swung around to face her, "How is that possible? I thought you knew sea monsters better than anyone! How are we supposed to know if they're edible?"

"Amélie! Are you serious? Those things are creepy!" I nearly shouted, but she only shrugged.

"They will not look anything like that after we make crab rangoon."

Mirage stopped beside her with a light touch on her shoulder, "Amélie, remember that dungeon monsters dissolve upon defeat. Eating one isn't possible."

"A dungeon monster? Are you sure?" I asked her, and she nodded.

"Look at it's aura compared to the goblins. What do you see?"

We both turned and looked, and it didn't take long to see what she meant. The aura's looked very similar, but the sickly color of the crabtaur's aura was significantly more dull in comparison. I never realized that was something to worry about. It almost looked fake side by side. The only other dungeon monsters I'd managed to view with my spirit senses were in West Peak, and I hadn't paid enough attention to them to notice the difference, but now it was obvious.

"I didn't realize…Wait, if they're dungeon monsters, what are they doing here? Does that mean there is a dungeon somewhere near the cove, and they're spilling out? Is that a thing that can even happen?"

"No, Evelyn. While it is possible, if they were connected to an active dungeon, you would see a mana tether leading back to its origin. These must be remnants from a dungeon that has since been disrupted."

Amélie slumped in disappointment, "No rangoon, no dungeon, these crabs are worthless. I suppose we should do something about them. How did they get in here, anyway?"

I started looking below for a good place to jump down and said, "They must have been hiding on the sea floor under the goblins until they were close. I can head over there and see about putting an end to them, though I imagine if they do get that gate open, they're just going to get killed by all the monster hunters waiting for them."

"You can't go alone, Lady Evelyn," Septimia interrupted me before pausing and realizing she shouldn't give me orders. "Let me get some soldiers to escort you. And if those are dungeon monsters, they may be far more powerful than the sea monsters the ships here hunt for. Those ships aren't meant to fight from anchor and there are goblins gathering near the gate as well. They will be overwhelmed."

I nodded, "That just means I need to hurry. Don't worry, there are plenty of soldiers over there already."

"And she will not be going alone," Kira chimed in with some steel in her voice.

"Agreed," Amélie said, as if it were already settled.

The moment I opened my mouth to argue that I'd get there faster alone, Haunt licked me clear across my entire face and set me to sputtering, "Oh, dog breath! Not cool! Not cool!"

Mirage let out a short chuckle at my attempts to wipe my face and said, "Amélie, ensure their safety. I will remain here to oversee the situation below. Should it appear that you are in danger, I will come to your aid immediately."

Amélie grinned, but I asked, "Why is she the one keeping us safe? Shouldn't we all be keeping each other safe?" Everyone just stared at me for a moment, and I sighed, "Okay. Let's go."

Still feeling a little smug, Amélie led the way, jogging just ahead of the rest of us, and that was probably for the best. My jogging speed could be a little harsh for most people, and I didn't want to tire everyone out. Haunt hated running behind anyone though, and immediately he was beside Amélie happily loping along. That left plenty of space for Kira to run beside me, and she did just that. We weren't exactly moving slowly, the commotion ahead hadn't quieted at all, and the rain of crossbow bolts flying at the crabtaurs had steadily increased with little effect, so we were hurrying to make sure there was still a door to defend when we arrived.

Glancing at Kira as we ran, I said, "You've been very quiet. Is everything alright?"

"Oh," she breathed, "I'm just letting my mind accept what I'm doing. I'm fine."

I nodded, and watching where we were going, dodging between all the rushing soldiers, I said, "Thank you for coming with me, Kira."

She only nodded back, but I felt like she understood it meant a lot to me.

It was hard, but I did my best to try and see what was going on ahead of us. All along the walls, soldiers were trying to watch the fight at the gate, making it much harder for me to see past them. I could tell from the commotion ahead that, near the gate, soldiers were trying to fight something away from the walls as much as the gate itself. On the towers and fortifications nearby, any soldier who was able tried to aim their crossbows at the monsters in that direction. I did notice that everyone was doing their jobs; no one was panicking, nor was anyone rushing off to the fighting, only to leave their post unguarded. That was really impressive.

We reached the wall next to the gate just in time for a pair of sea goblins to come flying over it, one landing on the wall, and another landing on a guard and immediately beginning to claw at his helmet. Before anyone could do anything, Haunt body-checked the first goblin back over the side and into the crabs below as he lunged for the goblin on the guard, snapping his jaws shut on its head and beginning to violently shake it back and forth before tossing its broken body away like an unwanted toy.

"Don't worry! He's friendly!" I called out, though no one seemed to notice. Amélie knelt down to check on the guard before moving to the other two, who were off to the side with injuries. I, however, was inspecting the scene we'd come across. The gates were heavily damaged, the thick wooden beams having great rends torn in them, but they were still holding shut at least. Soldiers with spears were fighting off goblins trying to climb the wall while their comrades with arbalests stepped forward to fire into the crabtaurs or goblins, depending where they stood, before stepping back to reload. I took this in quickly, but I had no idea how bad things had gotten really. I wanted to know what we were dealing with, so I hopped up on a crenellation and looked down at the wall below. Almost immediately, two crude harpoons and a jet of what I hoped was just water were launched at my head, and I leapt backward to avoid them, landing near where I'd started, but at least now I knew what was going on. Goblins were climbing the walls, but not nearly as many as it could have been. I didn't think the soldiers here would have much difficulty holding them off, if only the crabtaurs weren't also here trying to tear down the gates.

"Are you alright, my lady?" Kira asked me, and I nodded.

"Yes, Kira. Just had to check. I guess I should see what I can do about these crabs."

Kira shrugged at me and then drew back her bow, a translucent arrow appearing on its string before she loosed it directly into the eyestalk of one of the crabs. The orb exploded in a milky mess, and the creature reeled, losing its precarious perch on the crabs below and tumbling back into the water.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Inspecting her work and the bolts that followed, she said, "It seems the problem is their mundane ammunition, my lady. I will try to slow them down while you work on a solution."

"On it!" I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

I saw that she had the right idea. I didn't know exactly what kind of magic her arrows were, but I could see easily enough that they were completely made of some sort of magic, and their single hit did far more than all of the bolts fired by the soldiers were doing. It wasn't that they didn't have an effect. I could tell they did. Many were punching into the armor plates, but just barely, and just as many were glancing off. My magical abilities had grown significantly since the last time I'd been in a serious battle, and I'd learned a lot more about magic. For example, my class spells and my [Sorcery] spells were entirely different categories of magic. Anyone who knew me knew that if I called out the name of ol' reliable, [Sunray], I was about to torch something with the light of the sun, and that was all I needed to do to cast the spell. Heck, now that I had the [Arcane Mind] perk, I didn't even need to call out my spells to cast them. [Sorcery], which comprised all the new magic I'd learned in the past few months, was its own thing. I had to combine runes into spell forms that I pushed magic through. In a way it was like manually using an object enchanted by [Spellcraft] only I didn't need a medium, and it was far, far more flexible. This was the kind of magic that you'd hear people using a magical chant to cast, because calling out the name of the runes made it much easier to form them in your mind and hold them while you completed your spell. The downside was the time you'd need to cast anything while in combat, or the world of pain you could put yourself into if you lost concentration and failed to complete the spell. This was the original way magic was cast on this world, and it was one of the few ways someone without a class could cast magic. At first I had thought it was cumbersome and not worth learning compared to class spells, but then Mirage explained that it was the only way she ever cast spells, and then she'd shown me exactly how fast and effective it really could be with some practice. I never questioned it again.

This was all important because my class spells outside of [Sunray] were entirely useless for this situation, and trying to use melee skills to fight giant crabs in the water sounded like a great way to get myself killed. If I used lightning in this damp environment, it would be difficult to ensure I didn't hurt anyone friendly. I carefully moved to find a place where I could see as many of the crabs as possible without exposing myself to the line of fire from the goblins below.

"Kira, Haunt, please watch my back. I will be distracted," I said while I took a moment to set my bow down beside me and take off my bag to pull out my staff.

Haunt gave a quiet growl, and Kira said, "Yes, my lady," between shots to let me know I'd been heard.

I held the staff tight in my hands. I'd rarely used it, only enough to know how to channel my spells through it. That was a skill Constance had taught me, and I think she only did so as an excuse to let me have the staff. It had belonged to Zoila and had been left in our rooms in Vigilance. As a learning tool, it had been very helpful, but I knew one day I wouldn't need it. For the time being, I watched the crabs, and I focused. In a quiet chant, I began calling out the runes I needed. The idea that I needed to chant out loud was actually my inspiration for what I'd decided to cast. As I just mentioned, I didn't actually need to chant, but one of the first things Mirage had told me when I'd shown this off was to always chant anyway. Not because it helped me, it didn't, and not because it was useful for those around me, it wasn't. It was to hide the fact that I could cast without chanting. A simple, practical deception. Once I was more practiced, I could chant things I wasn't casting while silently casting an entirely different spell to confuse enemy casters, or to hide my personal unique spells. And, in a way, that was what I was doing now. I began using [Illusion Craft] to gently shift the perception of the crabs while also chanting the mind runes to capture their attention and distract them, alter how they felt gravity and direction, and what they felt as they attacked. Forward is down I told them. Carapace feels like wood. You feel no pain, only success. At the same time, I was showing their eyes that they were in fact aiming at the door as they swung down, tearing at the things below them.

My entire plan was based on the hunch I had from the goblins swimming away from their own spilling guts to attack. It wasn't just that they wanted to attack. Something seemed to have implanted an irresistible goal in their minds. The goblins must rush the wall. The crabs must tear down the gate. And so, I showed the crabs that they were tearing down the gate, they were succeeding, and they only needed to keep going. Only, I made them think ripping and smashing downward was going forward. And.. it worked. It worked so horribly well that I almost lost my concentration and threw up. It was only a shift of a few seconds, and they began angling further and further down, until the first claw smashed in to the first carapace. Their claws didn't break the shells of their comrades immediately, but many of the shells were already cracked and stressed from the earlier explosions and the constant barrage of bolts. I couldn't look away even if I wanted to as the crabs all began tearing into those below them, pulling away jagged strips of shell, followed shortly by everything that was inside it. And those below them didn't notice. Pain was success, and it only spurred the crabs below them to attack harder, feeling victory within their grasp. I kept my chant up as I fought back the nausea and watched in horrified fascination as the churning pile of crabs began to shrink into the ever expanding pool of gore and broken shells below. The only saving grace was that when a dungeon monster lost all its hit points it quickly turned into a black dust. With my spiritual senses, I could easily see them continuing even once it was otherwise impossible to see through the water to the mess below.

I vaguely recognized that many of the goblins were trying to target me now as something shifted in their ranks, but the very few that made it onto the wall were quickly torn down by Kira and Haunt. It was only when the protective shield Amélie had put on me shattered in a bright flash that I ended my spell. The last few crabtaurs had been tearing into each other below, but I forgot about them entirely when it registered in my mind that I'd been attacked with something serious enough to take down my magical protection. I took in the scene around me and realized the stone at my feet was scorched, and several people were on the ground nearby twitching. The smell of ozone told me exactly what had happened, and I looked around searching for the lightning casting monster. It didn't take long to find her. She was in the water behind where the crabs had been, the only place she could have gotten line of sight to cast at me from. At first, I'd thought someone had fallen into the water. She was ridiculously beautiful, with bright green eyes, long dark hair and full lips… and it took a moment to process the look on her face was hate. When I saw her raise her hand and begin chanting again, I knew I'd found my attacker. I felt the lightning mana building and knew what was about to happen, so I quickly stepped to the ledge of the wall over the gate and away from anyone else while lifting my own hand to point back with a, "[Sunray!]"

I wasn't quite fast enough, and another bolt of lightning leapt from her finger to my chest, only this time with no protective spell to intercept it. I used [Lightning Control] on the incoming spell, but only enough to ensure that it grounded down away from the soldiers surrounding me. Lightning wasn't exactly something I was worried about – at least, not until after I was hit and remembered my borrowed armor. I tried hard not to think about how ruined it was going to be. My opponent had a look of vicious glee on her face at the direct hit for about the fraction of a second it took for my sunray to burn into her from chest to waist. The water around her flash boiled, her skin melted, and she shrieked as she seemed to jump out of the water, only for me to see the long serpentine body behind her. As she crashed back into the waves and I saw the fins of her tail, I understood what had attacked me. I was having a magical duel with a mermaid! A stupid grin split my face as I took her in and immediately used my spiritual senses to check her aura. When I saw she was a real mermaid and not just some lost dungeon monster, my grin grew until an involuntary giggle burbled up out of me. I noticed as the water splashed across her skin that it seemed to be healing her almost as quickly as being splashed with a wave of healing potion, and my grin fell away.

"That's cheating!" I yelled at her in dismay, but she only arched backward to swim under the water. "Oh no, you don't!" I yelled, not that she could hear me, but I was sure that she felt the energy when I immediately began casting again.

It wasn't so different from what I'd just done, attacking her sense of direction with [Illusion Craft], but this time, I began reinforcing it with [Sorcery] directly. I began with mind runes, making her feel Obsession, Anger, and Focus. I knew they caught on easily because she really was furious with me. She'd have turned around on her own even if I'd not amplified the feeling. She just might have been more cautious. Now, the spell had taken effect, and she was enraged. I felt her lose concentration on another spell the instant mine took hold, and at that moment, every goblin I could see stumbled. That's when I knew. It seemed obvious, but that was the giveaway, and I grinned and kept up my [Illusion Craft] only long enough to ensure she was actually coming my way. She didn't even notice she was charging directly toward me at first, but when her eyes snapped onto me, I could feel the hate. She opened her mouth, and as she sped up to leap out of the water at me, she screamed … nothing. My next spell had already been sung into existence around her, and she charged at me in a bubble of silence. The confusion broke her spell before she could start it, and the disorientation from that was enough to break the enraged effect my first spell had put her under. The expressions of confusion followed by dawning realization as she flew through the air at me, hands now only sort of outstretched, was something I didn't think I'd ever forget.

She recovered quickly, though, and as I reached out with open arms to catch her, she crashed down, one arm around my waist and the other wrapping over my shoulder to try and latch on. I think she aimed for my neck, but she bit into my shoulder, and to my surprise, her fangs managed to punch through my gambeson and into the flesh beneath. I gasped as much in shock as pain and stumbled as she pulled me toward the ledge with incredible strength. Her tail was still over the side of the wall, and she was trying to use as much leverage as possible to drag me into the water. Of course, she didn't realize who she'd begun this game with, and it was my turn. It was a natural reaction for me to bite her back. It was a supernatural reaction when my [Bathory's Kiss] trait activated, and my fangs slashed deep into her neck and shoulder. For obvious reasons, I'd never used the trait before, so when the blood began flowing down my throat of its own accord, filling me with strength, comfort, and pleasure in equal measure, I was just as shocked as the mermaid. It was only the painful flashbacks of the last time I was forced to drink blood that stopped me from draining her into a husk right there. She had immediately started flailing and trying to get free of me when my fangs sank in, understanding at once that I was sucking the life right out of her, and now that I was looking down at her horrified face with her blood dripping down my chin, I didn't know how to feel. I did know, however, that I wasn't letting her escape. I was certain she was the one behind this attack. There was no way I was going to let her get away to organize the monsters again.

As her arms had wrapped around me when I caught her, I'd grabbed on to her as well, and now was the time for the second part of operation "Make the Mermaid mad and drag her out of the water." She was at least as strong as me, but she was still surprised enough to squawk when my grip tightened into a bear hug, and far more so when I cheerfully said, "[Heroic Leap!]" In the blink of an eye, we were high above the wall, and before we could even begin to descend, I cast [Squall Step], blasting us straight up in a gale of wind. My [Levitation Aura] took hold, and I was happy to grab her in its effect.

"Do you surrender?" I smugly asked as I nudged her to float over the wall and let her drift away a few inches.

She frantically looked around, breathing in quick, shallow breaths, either from panic or difficulty breathing out of water, I wasn't sure, before finally growling back, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" She immediately began swinging her clawed hands at me, sending herself into an awkward tumble.

I was very careful to study her movements and how her body was shaped, but I had to try again, "Are you sure? I don't think you've hurt too many people today. The town might forgive you."

"Shut up, land meat!" she shrieked back, swinging her tail around in another attempt to hit me, but I lazily glided around it, causing her to shriek again in rage.

I felt bad. I had originally planned to just drag her up here and kill her like any other monster, but it was obvious now that wasn't what she was. She was a person. A really mean, hateful person who wanted to eat me, but a person. I was trying to figure out what else I could say to convince her to surrender when she opened her mouth and sang out several notes with such volume that it actually hurt. My ears flattened against my head as I slammed my hands over them and winced. When I looked again, she was grinning at me with a mouth full of those wicked shark teeth. I just shook my head at her in confusion until I caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked down just in time to see one of the Abyssal Star's arms crash into the wall right where I'd left Kira, Haunt, and Amélie. I didn't even know it could reach that far! I was completely stunned for several long seconds before anguish began drowning my heart. I frantically searched for them, but I couldn't see anything in the cloud of dust and sea spray. My teeth ground together as I realized I was far too late to do anything for them, and a wave of impotent rage flooded through me. Only, it wasn't impotent. Not at all.

I snapped my tear filled eyes back to the mermaid only to find her muttering an incantation. She thought she was going to use the murder of my sister and friends as a distraction. I felt something trying to worm its away into my Levitation Aura. With a snarl, I activated [Zephyr Charge] and slammed into her chest with both hands, claws fully extended. Her face froze in a portrait of surprise and pain. My claws were long enough to punch out her back and I growled as I began slowly closing my fists together. She began to convulse as my claws sliced through her as if she were made of clay, before I finally pulled my right hand out. She couldn't breathe anymore and I could see her eyes glazing over as I held her soul up in front of them.

When I bit into it, she didn't fight, and in my fury and grief, I barely noticed the flood of her memories. The endless darkness of the depths. The days basking in the shallows with more of her kind. The hunts for monsters, sailors and fishermen. Fleeing the shadow spreading across the sea swallowing everything, until she looked up into those great red eyes and … then nothing else. I shook my head, looking around for a place to land. I began using [Channel Wind] to push the dust away and ignored the explosions ringing out above the Abyssal Star behind me. As soon as I could see the wall below, I released my aura, letting the dead mermaid and myself fall. I landed more gracefully than she did, but I ignored that, and immediately began looking for my sister and friends.

"Amélie! Kira! Haunt!" I called out, but other than the soldiers yelling as they fought and a few people coughing as the dust continued to clear, no one answered me. I stared in horror at the broken and crushed debris. The solid stone wall had been smashed to near rubble for almost two feet down into its structure, and the only thing that could explain the wall continuing to stand unbroken was magic. Smears of blood and broken fragments of weapons were scattered in the mess, but I saw no bodies at all. I knew the only place they could be after what happened to the sailors caught up by the star. A weak, "no…" was all I could muster as I took a shaky step toward the broken ruins, but a hand landed on my shoulder to stop me.

"Hey, are you okay?" I spun in place to find Amélie looking at me with serious concern. "Evie, you sound panicked. What is going on? Are you hurt?"

"Amélie!" I yelled, crushing her in a hug, "I thought you were dead! Are Kira and Haunt okay?"

"We are unharmed, my lady," Kira said from not far behind Amélie, and I opened my eyes to see her and Haunt staring back. She even had my staff. "We were clear before the attack came. Lady Amélie needed help moving the wounded away from the gate after you leapt away."

I slammed into her a moment later, squeezing the air out of her before bending down to hug Haunt and ruffle his fur.

Amélie stepped back up beside me. "Evie, we should get back to the others. I think the problem here is resolved." She stopped to look at the body of the mermaid, "Well, maybe not. She looks very dead. Why did you drop her on the wall instead of into the water?"

That made me brighten a little, and I wiped the tears from my face and stood, Kira using that opportunity to begin trying to wipe my face as I replied, "She's a mermaid! Uh, maybe she looks a little more monster-y than expected, but I thought if I could get her to surrender, we could get her to teach us how to shift into mermaids!"

Amélie raised an eyebrow, "I do not think she is in any condition to surrender."

I sighed, "No, she isn't."

I looked over her body, and my shoulders slumped. The fall hadn't been particularly kind to her, but it wasn't so bad that we couldn't make out what she looked like. I always thought of mermaids like Ariel from the Disney movie, a beautiful half-woman with an elegant fishtail. This mermaid was a little more dramatic than that. Her human half was exactly as I'd expect: a beautiful young woman, or she had been before our fight, only with clawed hands and shark-like teeth. She had no gills, and I knew from our brief interaction she was warm-blooded. She didn't have a cute little seashell bra, but no one was bothering to stare at her bare chest with the bloody ruin I'd made it into. Beginning on her lower back and continuing into her tail was a large dorsal fin like a shark or dolphin, and below her belly, instead of a narrow, delicate scaled fishtail, it was more of a smooth, sleek black skin laced with striking white and green patterns covering a body that thickened into a powerful tail. Large pectoral fins began where a human's hips might have been, and the effect made her tail look much more like that of a dolphin or orca than a fish. It stretched out for at least eight feet before ending in a fluke tail instead of a vertical fin. That kind of made sense to me, seeing as she was a mammal as far as I could tell. I knelt down beside her and touched the skin of her tail. It was as smooth and sleek as it looked, though it felt kind of rubbery with any pressure. Amélie's hand joined mine a moment later and I watched her test it much the same as I had.

"It is really sad that she had to be our enemy."

I nodded, "I don't think her kind see anyone who lives on land as a person. She called me Land Meat."

Amélie snorted, "That was rude. Well, at least the goblins are disorganized now. I think the star is trying to flee, but it is all but dead. What do you want to do about the body?"

I stood up and looked around, and she was right. The star was moving away, but so slowly that it was hard to tell. The goblins didn't even seem to understand where they were or which direction was the right one to run away. "Wow. That was quick. She really must have been controlling them. I guess we can put it in my storage bag until we can bury it?"

Kira stepped up beside us, "My lady, there are a lot of bodies of the attackers to take care of. If you leave it here, the soldiers will handle it."

"She wants to study it more, " Amélie said with a grin. I shot her a look but then nodded.

"I do. I realized how unprepared I was to fight in the water. We should take learning this form seriously. Besides, turning into a mermaid sounds really neat!"

Kira sighed, "Alright. I guess I'll get the hands."

A few minutes later, we began our walk back toward the central tower fortification, with Amélie walking beside me hand in hand. With a gentle squeeze, she began to speak.

"Some of that was pretty dark, Evie. Are you doing okay?"

I watched her face for a moment, but she was being serious. "I am alright. It wasn't any worse than anything else we've seen, I guess. I mean. I'd really rather not watch an army of goblins explode into chunks again, but after that."

Amélie gave a gentle shake of her head, "That is not what I meant. I am talking about what happened with the crabs. You had them gleefully ripping each other apart, and then you giggled and chased after a mermaid as if it did not matter."

"That isn't how it happened!" I started.. but with a moment of thought, I guess it was. "Okay. It is, but saying it like that makes it sound really bad!"

The corner of her lips raised just a little. "Yes, it does, but I am only telling you what I saw, Evie."

"Yeah, well, the crabtaur thing was really bad. I didn't know how to fight them, so I thought I'd make them fight each other. I mean, they were just dungeon monsters. They weren't real. But I guess I didn't really think it through. And, it worked, I guess. It was just so horrible to watch… And that Mermaid, I don't know. It was just like I was doing my best not to watch the crabs even though I had to, and then suddenly, there was this beautiful mermaid there! It was shocking!"

"Evie, that lightning nearly killed a few people."

"Right. Sorry. I mean, It was jolting but also, she was a mermaid! I forgot about everything else for a minute! It was just so neat! But I also kind of suspected she might be the one in charge since she came after me when we kept messing up her plans."

"And then, when she would not surrender, you ate her soul." she pointed out.

I missed a step. "Yeah. I guess I did. I thought she killed you or at least hurt you really badly. I didn't think about it. I just did it."

Amélie nodded, "Evie, I know you have been through a lot. Please do not forget who you are or who you want to be. I know this was a hard situation, and what you did worked. I guess what I mean is, just think about if that is the kind of person you want to be. I am worried about you."

I sighed and we walked for several seconds in silence. Guilt felt like a weight in my stomach, and my eyes began to sting. The worst part was, it wasn't guilt about anything I'd actually done. I didn't want to do those things, but I didn't regret them. That was probably something I needed to think about, but it was true. The only thing I regretted was now seeing Amélie upset with me. "Amélie, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to upset you. I'll be more careful."

Amélie whapped me in the face with her ears as she laid her head on my shoulder for a moment, "I'm not upset with you, Evie. I love you. I already told you I was fine with you going all anti-hero, after all. I do worry that thinking 'they are just monsters' might slip into 'they are just evil people' one day, and I'm afraid for how you might feel afterward. I just want to make sure you are happy with who you are at the end of the day. I will not judge you."

I felt a lot of the stress leave me with her words, and I stopped to hug her, "Thanks, Amélie."

She smiled when she stepped back, "Come on, everyone is already waiting for us."