John Ringo - Emerald Sea

“Oh, God, Herzer,” Elayna said, sitting up and blowing water from her lungs. “We can come on land, but it’s not comfortable.”

“I don’t really give a rat’s ass,” Herzer said, tiredly. “Get your pretty little tail up on land and make room for Herman and his people.”

Between Herzer, Edmund and what Herzer had come to think of as the mer-leaders — Jason, Pete, Antja and Bill — they got the mer up and out of the inlet as the delphinos started to fight their way over the bar.

They had far more trouble with it than the mer. The delphino bodies were ill suited for crossing the spit — they were purely marine creatures — and in the interval the tide had fallen still farther, making the water over the bar barely the depth of their bodies. But with some assistance from Herzer and Bast they all made it into the inlet. The water in the inlet was deep enough that they weren’t going to have to support their weight, which was the important part. And if they and the mer had hard going getting into the inlet, so would the ixchitl and the orcas, if the latter ever showed up.

But even after getting everyone in the inlet the work wasn’t done.

“Jason,” Edmund said. “We’re going to have to post sentries, about one person in four. They’ll take two hour shifts. One of the command group is going to have to be awake at all times as well.”

“Okay,” Jason said, wearily. “I’ll go start finding people.”

“General,” Herzer said, “I want to go check the back of the inlet.”

“That’s the banks back there, Herzer,” Pete said. “None of the ixchitl can make it through the banks, even at high tide. And it won’t start flooding for a couple of hours.”

“Fine, Pete,” Herzer said. “But you don’t make assumptions. We need to watch that as well as the land . There’s nothing saying that they won’t have help from landsmen and if we get attacked by orcs we’re all up shit’s creek.”

“Do it,” Edmund said. “Joanna.”

“General?” the dragon said. For the first time in Herzer’s experience she actually looked ragged, her wings hanging slightly limp.

“Go hunt with the wyverns. Keep an eye out for enemies. Try to bring something back if you can find enough, but get yourselves fed.”

Herzer walked to the back of the inlet as the dragons waded into the water to hunt. From the spit of land at the back of the inlet he could see far out over the banks in the dying light. The water on the north side was deeper than at the entrance but he could see that it shoaled out quickly and large areas of the banks were already exposed to the dropping tide. Ixchitl probably couldn’t make their way through that, but better safe than sorry. He waded into the warm waters of the inlet, noting that the breeze was turning colder as the sun set, and hunted up Herman.

The leader of the delphinos was floating at the edge of his pod, dropping below the surface from time to time until his pectorals hit the bottom then floating back up to breathe.

“Herman,” Herzer said as the leader resurfaced.

“Herzer man,” the delphino squeaked. “Safe are?”

“I’d like a couple of delphinos awake in shifts, posted near the inlet on the north. Probably nothing can come across the banks, but we shouldn’t take ‘probably’ for an answer right now.”

“Will,” the delphino said, dropping below the surface and clicking his sonar. A couple of the delphino males, clicking irritably, moved to the north and stationed themselves by the entrance.

“I’ll get someone to tell them when to find relief,” Herzer said. “I’d suggest you get some sleep.”

“Hungry,” Herman replied. “Pod hungry.”

“Hopefully the dragons will bring something back,” was all Herzer said.

He waded wearily ashore and found that Bast had, somehow, gotten a fire started.

“Get some water,” Edmund said, pointing at one of the barrels that had had its end opened. “No more than a liter; we need most of it for the dragons.”

Herzer dipped out a cup of water and drank it carefully, avoiding slopping any despite his thirst. He had been in sun and salt water all day and his body felt like a drooping plant. The water seemed like the finest wine and he felt refreshed with just one cup but he carefully drained another; he knew he needed it.

“There’s some mackerel left,” Edmund said. “But until the dragons get back I don’t want to share it out.”

“I found some conch,” Pete said. He had already extracted the snail from the shells and was now cutting the foot of the mollusc into slices. “Wish I had some lemon. It’s pretty good marinated in lemon juice.”

“I’ll just toast mine if you don’t mind,” Herzer said, accepting one of the slices and going up into the brush to find a stick. He returned with four of them and managed to whittle a point that would penetrate the rock-hard flesh. He held it over the fire, turning it carefully, until the flesh became limp, then pulled it out, nibbling at it before it even cooled.

“Bleck,” he said, struggling with the rubbery flesh. “I never thought I’d eat anything worse than monkey on a stick.”

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Antja said.

“Field rations,” Edmund said, struggling with his own conch. “Dried and pressed meat, basically.”

“But I’d kill for a handful of parched corn about now,” Herzer added.

“Wine-baked venison,” Bast said.

“Stalled ox,” Edmund added with a chuckle. “With the meat red at the bone.”

“Trigger fish in wine and cream sauce,” Pete added. He hadn’t bothered to cook his conch and it was already gone.

“How about grilled grouper?” Joanna said from the edge of the fire. The voice was muffled because she held one the size of Bast’s torso in her mouth.

“Nothing that big should be able to move that quietly,” Jason said as Chauncey dropped a smaller grouper by Herzer.

“We’re going to have to share this with the delphinos,” Herzer said as Edmund started to gut the fish.

“Donal is taking them the largest,” Joanna said. “And I’m ready to collapse.”

“Lie in the entrance, if you don’t mind,” Edmund said. “You’re not going to get too cold?”

“No, I’m fine,” the dragon said, then yawned hugely. “But ready to sleep. And when the time comes, you owe me one of those stalled oxen, barbecued. With sauce.”

“Will do,” Edmund chuckled.

“See ya,” the dragon said, moving out of the firelight.

The wyverns had already backed up against the cliff and were nodding off to sleep. Herzer realized he could barely keep his eyes open but he waited for the fish to cook, nodding from time to time. Many of the mer hadn’t had that much discipline, or hunger, Elayna included, and were sprawled on the sands asleep.

When the fish was cooked he took portions and went among the mer, waking them up and forcing them to eat. Many of them protested that they weren’t hungry but he made sure that they all were eating before going back to his, small, portion.

“A liter of water and, what? Two hundred grams of grouper? This is like the Dying Time.”

“No,” Edmund said. “More water then.” He popped his own morsel of grouper into his mouth and swallowed it nearly whole. “I’m for bed.”

“I’ll take first watch,” Herzer said.

“No, I will,” Bast said. “But you’re going to lie down here beside me.”

Herzer soon found himself in a pile of bodies as the mer and landsmen huddled together for warmth against the cold wind. Herzer, Edmund, Bast, Elayna, Antja, Jason and Pete were all there. He realized that it wasn’t just warm, it was comfortably warm, and that was the last thing he remembered. Except a memory of gnawing hunger through the night.