P.C. Cast - Goddess of the Sea

Andras was standing unnaturally still and straight. His mouth was stretched impossibly wide by a horrible shriek of rage.

"No!" The voice no longer made any pretense of belonging to the knight. "Not her! You were not to harm her! "

Andras fell to his knees, his body writhing grotesquely like there were hundreds of worms beneath his skin. Then, with a ripping sound a liquid cloud of darkness vomited from his mouth. It shimmered and pooled in hideous wetness and seemed to crawl toward the surf. When it touched the water the darkness shifted and reformed, drawing substance from the saltwater. With a roar, Sarpedon rose, fully formed and glistening with power.

He faced the humans, swollen with anger and disdain.

"Puny creatures. You dare to harm a child of Lir! Know that your fate has been sealed."

Sarpedon swirled one massive hand into the water next to him until it boiled and seethed with activity. In horror, the humans watched as a many-tentacled monster erupted from the sea. It engulfed the shrieking body of a monk who had drifted too close to the sea, and in one motion snapped his spine and hurled his lifeless body against the cliff. Then it turned its awful attention to the knight. Preparing for battle, Sir Andras planted his feet and brandished his sword. Shouting, his squires scrambled to reach his side.

Suddenly, a wall of flesh obscured CC's view of the battle, and Sarpedon towered above them.

"The game is ended, Undine. It is time you took your rightful place as my mate." Sarpedon's voice was deceptively calm.

CC felt light-headed. Dylan still held her within his arms, and CC noted with detached curiosity that the water surrounding them was tainted scarlet. That must be my blood, the thought played slowly through her mind and she struggled against the urge to close her eyes and sink beneath the waves.

"Stay away from her, Sarpedon," Dylan spoke with iron in his voice. He shifted his grip on CC so that he placed his body protectively between Sarpedon and the mermaid.

Sarpedon's laugher was a roar. "Does the son of a human believe he can stand against the power of the gods?"

Blinking to clear the bright spots from her vision, CC forced herself to move to Dylan's side.

"He and I stand together against you, Sarpedon. And when Lir gets here tonight he will stand with us, too." CC's voice surprised her by sounding strong and clear.

Sarpedon's lip curled in a sneer. "Oh, I seem to remember there was a message sent to our father. Tragic that the little dolphin messenger met with such an untimely end, before she could relay the Earth goddess's request. But, no matter. I was gracious enough to answer for our father. So you see that I stand ready to render judgment in his stead."

A tremor of fear passed through CC. "No. You can't."

The enormous merman moved closer to them. "You have been wrong about many things, Undine. And you are wrong yet again."

A scream from the beach interrupted them. Sarpedon turned, laughing evilly as the creature he had called to the surface squeezed the life out of the squire who had grabbed CC.

"See how I punish those who would do you harm?" Sarpedon said.

"Make it stop," CC cried. Her voice was hoarse with emotion.

Sarpedon's eyes widened in surprise. "But they would have killed you. Why would you ask to spare them?"

"Because to use your power like this is wrong."

"It is justice," Sarpedon scoffed.

"It's not justice—it's vengeance. Vengeance meted out by a creature bloated with his own imagined importance. You are a disgusting toad. I loathe you, and I will never belong to you."

Sarpedon seemed to swell with rage. "Never is a very long time. Perhaps you will change your mind when you see your pathetic human friend in my grasp." The merman shouted a command in a garbled language that CC was shocked to realize she could understand.

"Kill the old one!”

Instantly the sea monster snaked out a tentacle around Isabel's neck, but the amulet of the goddess sparked and glowed, causing the creature's grip to falter. As the old woman tried to scramble out of reach, Sarpedon shouted another command, and the monster wrapped a tentacle around her ankle. Isabel lost her balance and fell hard onto the sand. The creature began to pull her toward the water.

"No!" CC screamed.

"Never, you said!" Sarpedon bellowed. "We shall see how long never is as you watch your lover and your friend die!"

Sarpedon closed his hand around a froth of wave and instantly it solidified into the foam-colored blade of a stiletto. The huge merman lunged forward and CC struggled painfully not to slide under the surface as Dylan lost his protective hold on her and surged forward to meet the giant. The two mermen met with a sound that cracked and reverberated like thunder.

"Undine!" Isabel's voice was a sob of terror. The sea creature appeared to be toying with the old woman as it slowly pulled her to the edge of the water where its beak-shaped head glistened with daggerlike teeth. The remaining squire and Sir Andras sent arrow after arrow into its pulsating body, but the creature seemed impervious to their weapons.

The sound of wailing came from the cliff, and CC glanced up. Lynelle, Bronwyn and Gwenyth were clinging to each other and crying with terror. Around them milled several of the monks. Some of them were on their knees praying, but most of them stood in impotent silence. There was no sign of Abbot William.

Dylan hissed in pain, and CC's eyes snapped back to her lover as Sarpedon's blade sliced a trail down the muscles of his chest.

"That is just a taste of what is to come, son of a human. My Undine will watch as I carve you into pieces," Sarpedon said.

Dylan circled him warily. When he spoke his voice was calm. "You may kill me, Sarpedon, but you will not win her love. She will loathe you forever."

Sarpedon's laughter was sharp. "An eternity is a long time. She will forget you."

An eternity. The words echoed within CC's mind. It was Dylan's promise to her. And there was only one way she wanted to spend eternity—next to Dylan's side.

Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she beat against the water with powerful strokes of her tail, so that she rose up, lifting her entire torso from the waves.

I am the daughter of a goddess, she told herself, and I claim my birthright. With a voice that filled the morning air, she called to her mother.

"Gaea! Your daughter needs you! Help me, Mother!"

Then, using the sea magic that sang within her true mermaid body, CC reached out and cupped some of the bubblelike foam that surrounded her.

"Make me a weapon," she commanded the waters. Instantly, the handle of a knife formed against her palm. Her blade wasn't the color of foam—it was the crimson of her newly shed blood.

"Dylan!" she called to her lover, and both mermen paused in their battle to turn to her. "Catch," she said and tossed him the dagger.

Dylan caught the knife deftly and sent her a tight smile of thanks. Then his attention shifted back to Sarpedon.

"That will not help you," Sarpedon snarled, and they continued circling each other, blades flashing in the morning light.

CC felt the change in the air the moment before the goddess materialized. She strode from the foliage at the base of the cliff. Her anger was terrible; the air around her crackled and sparked with it. The knight and the squire dropped their weapons and cringed before her on the beach. She spared no glance for them. Her attention was riveted on the sea monster that had dragged Isabel to within inches of its gaping maw.

The goddess stretched out her hand and in a burst of green light a leaf-colored spear appeared. Gaea plucked it from the air and hurled it straight into the monster's open mouth. The force of the spear was so great that it traveled through the creature's body and exploded out the rear of it, followed by a slick fountain of blood and entrails.