~ Chapter 12 : Converging Ripples ~

Something was happening in Atlantica.

Jeremy could feel it, though there was nothing alarming he could see just yet. He double-checked that Tip and Dash were close behind him as they weaved their way through the crowds towards the palace. Once there, he waved to the first palace guard he could find. "Excuse me! Excuse me, there's an urgent message for--"

"King Triton," the guard said suddenly. "Where is he?"

"He's still on the surface," Jeremy said, looking at Tip and Dash uncertainly. "We think so, anyway. He was there with Lady Aquata, they were seeing that Queen Ariel received the antidote."

The guard made an irritated sound. "His Majesty better return quickly, there's been news of--"

He was cut off when another guard appeared behind him, grabbing his shoulder with a burly hand. They talked urgently, and Jeremy felt more and more anxious with each second that he couldn’t get the message across. "Excuse me? Excuse me, it's about Princess Melody..."

"What happened to da Princess?" came Sebastian's voice. The trio looked up to see Sebastian swimming towards them from a nearby window. "Did da antidote work?"

"We think it did," Dash said guiltily, remembering that they hadn't really hung around to see whether it did. "But Melody's missing!"

"What, again?" Sebastian sighed heavily and knocked a claw against his forehead. "Just like her mother, that one."

"But she went after the Manta!" Tip cut in. "And they went too fast, and we lost them! King Triton told us to come back and let the guards know so that they can start looking for her!"

Sebastian's expression was pained. "We... We can't do dat, man. There's been problems here... Some big... Oh if only His Majesty would come back, we need dat trident!"

"What's going on?" Dash asked, the alarm in his voice enough for all of them.

"You better get inside the palace, man," Sebastian said. He started swimming through the big doors into the palace and waved at the three youngsters to follow him. "Today's not a good day to be outside."

Tip looked over his shoulder. "Looks okay to me. Just a little..."

"Tense?" Dash suggested.

"Tense," Tip agreed. "Hey, there's the king!"

Sure enough, King Triton had appeared in the distance, though he was swoon swamped by his guards and regular merfolk, each apparently with something to say.

Jeremy looked at Sebastian, confused. “What’s going on?”

“There’s been news dat—”

A trumpet blast cut them off. One of the guards had raised a royal trumpet up and blown a few notes loud enough to get the attention of everyone in Atlantica. King Triton swam up to him and raised his hand, just to make sure that everyone was watching him.

“People of Atlantica,” King Triton started. All voices hushed down to listen to him. “My people. As many of you are well aware, these past few years have been a delicate time for us. From the very beginning, when Poseidon himself laid his hand to the building of this city, there are those who have watched Atlantica with envious eyes. Today, those eyes are no longer satisfied with just watching.”

People started to murmur, but Triton waved them silent. “Yes, the rumours are true. Please do not panic. The royal guards will be going through the streets, please listen to their instructions.” Triton suddenly looked straight at Sebastian, who nodded.

“You three, listen up,” Sebastian said. The merboy, the penguin and the walrus looked at him. “You’ve got a mission.”

“Yay, a mission!” Tip explained.

“Tip,” Jeremy admonished. “Don’t you get it? There’s going to be an attack. On Atlantica.”

+++

It was very strange indeed, to have your body possessed and being aware of it actually being possessed. Strange and frustrating, because there was nothing that Melody could do. It wasn’t like being locked in a box and tied up – because in such circumstances there would be something to fight or push against, but in the case of being possessed by the Sorceress, it was more like a dream.

Better yet, a nightmare.

And then there was the thing of whether the Sorceress had access to Melody’s thoughts. If Melody had ever wondered about what it would be like to have someone else take over her body (which she hadn’t) she’d have thought that it would be rather crowded as the two minds vie for space in one head.

Let me go, Melody thought.

The Sorceress laughed, using Melody’s mouth. “You’re a funny one, princess,” the Sorceress said. “And no. There’s something – actually, quite a few things – that I think you’d be a most appreciative audience to.” Turning to the Manta, the Sorceress asked, “Have you double-checked the plans with the others?”

“Yes, Sorceress,” said the Manta. “They should have gathered together by now, and awaiting my signal.”

That was another thing that Melody was starting to find very disturbing. Here she was, up close and personal with a giant manta ray monster she’d only seen twice before briefly, and heard terrible stories about, and he was… Actually, not that scary.

Oh, he could be scary, that was for sure. Melody still got the shivers whenever she thought about the event at her birthday party (was that only a few days ago?) when he’d gone the distance with the scary villain appearance. But now, with the Sorceress fully in charge of her body, there was effectively no reason for the Manta to look menacing.

That lead to another train of thought that Melody didn’t want to think about just yet, because eww.

“I’m sure the princess is wondering what we are planning,” said the Sorceress.

If Melody could have nodded, she would have.

“But she will quickly understand that it’s better for her to see it herself,” the Sorceress continued. “How about right here?”

“This will do,” the Manta agreed. They swam upwards until they were on top of a large rather flat rock. The Sorceress sat down on the rock a little awkwardly – presumably it had been a long time since she’d had to use a body – and then waved teasingly at the city in the distance.

“Perfect spot, wouldn’t you say?”

From the top of the rock they were able to see the glittering lights and unnatural beauty of the underwater city, glowing as majestically as the first time that Melody had laid eyes on it. But this time that feeling of wonder and admiration was cut short by deep foreboding. Melody knew that if her mind had conscious control of her stomach, it would be turning in knots.

“Go,” the Sorceress told the Manta.

In a sweep of his wings, the Manta soared away from them, not towards the city, but downward away into the wilderness alongside it. Melody wanted to watch where he was going, but the Sorceress held her head straight towards the glowing Atlantica.

“I assure you, princess, you will never forget this,” the Sorceress said.

+++

“Order the first infantry out to the main gates,” King Triton said to his second-in-command. The captain saluted and swam off.

“Are the troops out there necessary, sire?” Sebastian asked, swimming close to his shoulder.

“Trust me, Sebastian,” Triton said.

Sebastian’s replying smile was a little sad. “Always, Your Majesty.”

“Are the children safely below?” Triton asked.

“Yes,” Sebastian said. “Dat penguin made a bit of a fuss with it, but Dash and Jeremy helped other children in well. I told Princesses Coral and Frea the emergency exit out of Atlantica, like you said, but I hope it won’t come to dat.” Sebastian stopped swimming and rested on the balcony edge, following Triton’s gaze out over the city and into the distance. The throne room balcony had the best view in all of Atlantica, but never had it had to be used as a lookout point.

“I hope so too,” Triton agreed solemnly. Then, under his breath, he added, “Poseidon, watch over us.”

There had never been attack on Atlantica for many generations. The unity of its people and ocean-wide fear of the trident had seen to that. But like any successful civilization, Atlantica had gained many enemies over the centuries, though time and time again their efforts to take the city and trident by force were thwarted.

Triton had always been grateful for that, because he knew that the true safety of his people lay in not in his hands, but the hands of his enemies. Alone, Atlantica’s enemies were easily foiled. But united, they could cause more damage than any trident could ever hope to heal. For years Triton had relied on the fact that their enemies would sooner tear each other apart out of their individual selfishness than stand together against the Atlanticans.

He’d relied on that hope for many many years.

“Do you feel that?” Triton said suddenly.

“Your Majesty?” Sebastian said, confused.

“As my dear ‘ol nan used to say, there’s something in the water,” Triton said. “It’s almost as if ocean itself is holding its breath.”

Sebastian had always been proud of his red shell, but it seemed to pale at Triton’s words. “Your Majesty…”

Leaning over the balcony, Triton shouted at the guards that could hear him: “On alert, mermen!”

“Is dat…” Sebastian trailed off.

Triton raised his trident, its glow making his leonine features resemble that of an old sea god. “Here they come.”

+++

There was this one time, quite a few years ago, when Melody’s parents took her horseback riding through the outer woodland area of their kingdom. Her father had been riding Walnut, his favourite mare, while Melody had ridden astride with her mother on her own favourite mare, Misty.

It had been a pleasant enough ride under sunlight and trees, but for the rest of her life the only thing that Melody would remember of that day were the wolves.

Melody had been too young to understand what wolves were, but the primal fear born to all creatures recognised the danger of their sharp teeth and salivating snarls. They had slunk out from the shadows of the forest undergrowth, snarling and growling an angry chorus.

As Melody watched the events unfold before her, she found herself thinking of that day, and of wolves and teeth and malicious snarling, because it was like being back there once again.

The feeling of helplessness and confusion was the same, too.

“I believe you’ve met the Sharkanians,” the Sorceress said, with her mouth.

They were there, the Sharkanians. Emperor Darga led his pack, a jewelled broadsword in his hands as they moved forward. But it wasn’t just them… There were others, too many to describe and certainly too many count. There were fins and hands and scales and claws in every imaginable combination. Some swam, some walked, some slid, but they were all looking at Atlantica with the same unbridled hunger. They came from every possible direction, surrounding Atlantica like a cloud of menace shrinking in ever closer.

“Enemies of Atlantica,” the Sorceress said, though Melody already knew that.

Wolves. Slinking. Snarling. Hungry.

+++

“We have to stay put!” Princess Coral, eldest daughter of Lady Aquata, was shouting.

“And I say that I didn’t sign on this job to be a babysitter!” Tip shouted back.

“You signed on?” Dash asked.

“C’mon… You know what I mean,” Tip said, slapping Dash’s shoulder with a flipper.

“This is the safest room in the palace, and as the eldest grandchild, I. Am. In. Charge,” Coral said, punctuating each word with a firm poke of a finger to Tip’s chest.

Jeremy started to say, “I think—”

“No offense, Jeremy, but what you think does not matter in the slightest,” Coral said. “This is a monarchy, not a democracy, and right here, right now, I am head mermaid. We stay put.”

Jeremy adjusted his hold on little Quail, another Atlantican merbaby, who had started chewing on his hair. Two other merbabies were cooing happily on Dash’s back, despite Tip’s outraged protests.

“Someone has to protect these kids, Tip,” Dash pointed out.

“You, maybe,” Tip said, “But I am a warrior. I’m needed out there. When he said we had a mission, I didn’t know he meant this!”

Dash rolled his eyes. “I’m sure King Triton and his royal merguard can handle things just fine.”

Jeremy said softly, “What about Melody? Who’s going to take care of Melody?”

At the mention of Melody’s name Coral bit her lip. “She’ll be all right… We… We can’t do anything about her right now.”

“Let me go,” said Tip, his voice gentler now. “I’m no good with kids—”

Dash started making gurgling sounds to a little blonde merbaby that had crawled on top of his head.

“—no matter what species,” Tip finished lamely.

“Okay,” Coral said suddenly. “You go.” Behind her, two other merboys, both of whom were wrestling uncooperative merbabies of their own, started to protest, but Coral cut them off with: “Only him, and only because his flippers are totally unequipped to care of our charges. We need as many of us here as possible.”

Tip grinned. “Thanks, princess.” Turning to Jeremy and Dash, he said, “I’ll do what I can to find Melody.”

“Make sure no one sees the way you come from. We must stay hidden,” Coral said firmly. She swam to the ceiling of the underground room and tugged at the hidden panel. “And if you’re caught, don’t tell anyone where we are.”

“Of course, what do you think I am?” Tip said. Swimming through the opening, he gave Coral one last salute before the princess shut the doorway hidden among the marble blocks in the floor.

Tip looked around. He was at the lowest level of the castle, consisting mostly of the royal kitchens, and he hoped that he remembered enough about the architecture of the place how to get out of there.

But it turned out to be easier than expected, because all Tip needed to do what follow the noise.

For there was a lot of it.

It was a mess of shouting, screaming, banging, hissing and growling, all coming through the half-opened exit that Tip traced down pretty easily.

“Sounds like a war out there,” Tip said to himself. He wasn’t far off.

+++

“Your time has come, Your Majesty,” an Octopan snarled, before Triton zapped him with his trident, sending him soaring off through the water. But where one Octopan was removed, a half- dozen others, many of which were of different species, took his place.

“They’re everywhere, sire!” one of the guards shouted. There was a clang where he struck a Sharkanian’s sword, and a grunt when he thrust his tail out to strike the enemy in the stomach.

“Keep the line,” Triton shouted. He tossed his trident from one hand to another, sending out another thunderbolt to strike another enemy. He could feel a warning thrum in the trident as he struck enemy after enemy after enemy – it had been so long since he’d used it in a fight that he’d almost forgotten how to space out its magic adequately.

A shadow passed overhead and Triton looked up in time to sending another lightning bolt at a sea serpent that had leapt straight at him.

There were too many of them, Triton could feel it. When the first wave came forward the main defence line had managed to take out a significant portion of them, but the ensuing waves were seemingly endless. They seemed to be driven by something stronger than just desire for the Atlantica’s treasures, because none of them seemed to mind getting hurt in the way… So they just kept on coming.

But what worried Triton more was that he couldn’t even recognise some of the enemies that were coming for them.

And they were pushing them back towards the palace. Despite their best efforts the outer gates were being breached. Grey sharkanians, dark blue octopans and the green reptilian scavengers were the largest in number, but among them were other minor Atlantican enemies that he’d seen over the years.

“Daddy!” Aquata shouted from a nearby building. She was brandishing a long coral stick as a weapon, and was methodically hitting them one by one.

“What are you doing out here? You’re supposed to barricade the palace!” Triton shouted at her, just before he ducked a spear and sent out another lightning bolt.

“I’m sorry!” Aquata shouted back. “There are so many, I had to—” She was cut off by an Atlantican guard and Sharkanian hitting the wall right next to her as they wrestled for hold off the guard’s sword. Aquata neatly thrust the coral stick into the Sharkanian’s face, causing him to yell in pain and double over. The guard smiled at Aquata and picked up his sword to continue the fight.

Aquata turned to see Triton shout to the two guards nearest to him: “Give me some room!”

The guards nodded and quickly pushed away the enemies that were most immediately around their king, giving him a small few feet of space – not much, but just enough.

Triton raised his trident, but instead of shooting out another lightning bolt, it started to glow, forming a small bubble of bright light at the farthest sharp tip. Then the bubble started to grow, slowly surrounding the trident and Triton himself, then moving on outward.

“Oh…” Aquata breathed. She quickly swam towards her father, the bubble shuddering briefly when she entered it, but still glowing bright and strong. Once next to her father, she placed her hands on a free area of the trident’s handle, flowing her own strength into the trident’s spell.

The Octopans looked at each other, having never seen such a thing before. The bubble grew more, and soon enveloped the few Atlanticans that were in the immediate area, but when an Octopan tried to follow them into the bubble, they were zapped and pushed back.

Aquata looked up at her father, whose face was a mask of concentration. She’d only seen King Triton create this protective shield once before, when the whole family (except Ariel, who had been too young at the time) had gone on a trip to the Mediterranean and they had been attacked by a group of giant jellyfish pirates who hadn’t known who they were. There had never been any cause to use the protective shield since, and it hadn’t been part of Aquata’s training as Triton’s heir.

But this sort of magic didn’t need training.

“Think about the people you care about,” Triton told her, his voice sounding distant through the magically-charged water. “It makes the shield strong.”

Aquata shut her eyes and concentrated. It was easy, and she could feel the magic sparkling through her fingertips and being absorbed by the trident.

Suddenly she felt soft fingertips touch her own. Opening her eyes, Aquata grinned when she saw that it was Arista hovering right next to her. Winking, Arista said, “I saw the shield from the palace. Figured you could use a hand. Right, daddy?”

King Triton smiled at his blonde daughter, who then placed her own hands on the trident, adding her own magic to the spell.

“Space for a few more?” said Attina, swimming up to them. Alana was right behind her, eyes darting around nervously.

“Always,” said Aquata.

The shield grew, strong and mighty, now large enough to envelop a few buildings, and steadily pushing the enemies out.

Then Adella swam up to Aquata’s side, looking nervous but determined. Biting her lip, she reached out and gripped another free area of the trident.

Surged with magic, the shield grew.

+++

On the beach, outside King Eric’s castle, Ariel was crouched over the water’s edge, her hands dipped into the cool water.

Carlotta was carefully holding Ariel by the shoulders, making sure she didn’t topple over into the sand. “Your Majesty? The antidote hasn’t even done it’s full job yet.”

“Wait,” Ariel said, her voice faint. “They need me for this. Just a few minutes.”

+++

Tip was fighting, too. He threw himself back and forth like a little cannonball of muscle, targeting anyone who looked particularly evil and distracted – the distracted criteria was so that Tip could make a clean getaway, not that he was afraid or anything.

“Hey you!” Tip shouted at a pair of reptilian-looking creatures that were attempting to break down the door of a house. “You break it, you bought it!”

One of them turned to look at him, revealing a long snout filled with ill-cared-for teeth. “Flo?” he asked.

“What, Ebb?” the other one asked irritably.

“I think the birdie said something to us,” Ebb said.

Flo turned around, revealing a more slender snout, though hers was full of delicately sharpened teeth. “Then we’ll be having stuffed turkey for dinner! Let’s get ‘im, Ebb!”

“Hey, waitaminute that’s not fair…” Tip’s protest died on his lips when he saw the growing glowing shield-bubble rise above the roofs of the nearest houses. Flo and Ebb, though their claws were out and ready, turned to look at the glowing bubble and stopped advancing towards him.

“What’s that, Flo?” Ebb asked, watching as an edge of the bubble appeared through the wall of a building close to them and continued to grow. Ebb reached out to the growing bubble.

“Don’t touch it, Ebb!” Flo protested.

Ebb was promptly zapped and thrown back away from the bubble. Tip started to laugh, but was cut off when a pair of hands darted out from the shadows behind him and clamped round his beak, dragging him into the darkness.

+++

The Manta glared at the growing magical shield. He would never admit it to the others, but this was something he hadn’t been prepared for. He’d only ever seen the trident being used for attacking, so this defensive spell was something new.

“What do we do now?” a serpentine marauder hissed through his overly sharp teeth. “We cannot penetrate the sssssssshield.”

“Wait.”

“What d’ya mean wait?”

The Manta turned his head, his pupil-less eyes looking in the direction of where he knew the Sorceress was watching the city. “Just wait.”

The magical bubble shield was half the city’s size and growing steadily, forcing more and more of its enemies out. The Atlanticans that were safe inside the bubble started to cheer, while the enemies continued to poke and prod at the bubble only to get zapped back.

The Manta’s tail swished, feeling the faint tell-tales signs of current in the water. “Right about—”

+++

Aquata didn’t even have to concentrate now. The growth of the magical shield was rolling on pure momentum, strengthened by the family’s united magic. Even her sisters, some of them whom had never even dreamed of touching the trident, were confidently adding their strength to the spell.

Aquata turned her head, watching as the shield continued to grow outward. Soon it would reach the edge of the city and then they would…

“Hey, do you feel that?” Attina asked.

“What?” Aquata asked.

Aquata brushed the edge of her tail against the sandy floor. “Oh no!” she gasped. “It’s—”

“Seaquake!” Arista screamed.

“Hold on to the trident!” Aquata ordered.

The rumble started from somewhere deep in the earth as the ground and buildings around them began to shake. Triton’s face was a mask of concentration, holding on to the spell as he tried to think of what he should do now.

Adella screamed as rocks and debris crashed down around to them. The shield was starting to waver as the debris flew back and forth, despite the extra strength Aquata could feel their father was pushing into the trident.

“My daughters,” Triton said, his voice sounding odd against the growing rumble of the seaquake. “I am so proud of you—”

“Daddy!” Alana squealed, releasing her hold of the trident to point up.

Triton looked up to see the broken piece of shell roof and rocky debris falling towards them. Making the decision for all of them, Triton broke the shield spell, twisting the trident free of his daughters’ holds to cast a lightning bolt at the falling giant shell, shattering it to pieces.

But he missed one piece of falling rock that struck him neatly between the shoulder blades.

“Daddy!”

“They’re coming back, they’re coming back!”

“Get away, you beasts!”

“Swim away!”

Triton shook his head. That had been one big rock, and he wasn’t as young as he used to be. He looked up and saw a whole row of Sharkanians and Octopans charging toward them. He shot out what lightning bolts he could, but there were too many coming too fast, and Triton was too tired.

They leapt on him, grabbing and pulling everything they could, and though Triton kept shooting bolts from the trident they were all blind shots, many of which were easily avoided.

“Get out of the way!” an Octopan shouted. The creatures clambering over Triton quickly swam out of the way, but once freed Triton was only able to look up in time to see the net fall on top of him. Octopans grabbed the four corners and tugged down, forcing the elderly merman down to the seafloor.

“Get ‘im, get ‘im!” cheered the Lobster Mobster, who was watching from on top a nearby wall.

“Yea!” da Shrimp agreed, throwing a small rock at the king.

Triton struggled against the netting, so they kicked and hit what they could, and a faint trail of dark red through the water marked where they had drawn blood.

“Daddy!” Aquata screamed, struggling through the tight grip a Sharkanian soldier had her in. “Stop it! Stop it!”

Emperor Darga waved for them to stop, as Triton had slumped against the sandy floor. “Well, well…” he murmured, his voice full of satisfaction. He reached out a hand to the trident, which, even as Triton’s energy failed, the merking had held on to.

Triton raised his head to the Sharkanian king. “Never.” Then he shut his eyes and muttered an old Atlantican incantation.

Everything turned white.

When the glow receded, the trident was gone. Immediately the Octopans and eels started poking at Triton and looking around wildly for the trident.

“Where is it?” Darga roared. “Where is the trident?”

The Manta cleared his throat softly, making his presence known in the suddenly quiet atmosphere, punctuated by by the rapidly decreasing rumble of the dying seaquake. The Atlanticans had seen their king fall and were watching in ill-concealed horror.

“Well?” Darga demanded.

“He destroyed it,” the Manta said, his voice unsurprised. Immediately the creatures started to yell and argue, but the Manta waved their protestations quiet. “King Triton believes that rather than to let the trident fall into the hands of Atlantica’s enemies it would be better if there was no trident at all, isn’t that right? A desperate measure for a desperate time. He knew there was no way to win.”

Triton looked at the Manta, his expression like steel. “Take whatever treasures you want, but—”

“You are in no position to negotiate, Your Majesty,” the Manta cut him off. “That reminds me…” Using his tail, the Manta reached out through the reinforced netting and picked the crown off Triton’s head. He dropped the crown into his upturned palm and crushed it.

Nearby, Alana started to cry.
 

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