The water still boiled, but I held it there, refusing to let the fire come. Greylin was right. If I lost control, I’d destroy everyone, Therin included.
By the time we joined the rest of the group, I could barely make out Therin’s form, lost in his sea of blood.
I could swear a tint of apology colored Syleen’s tone, but I didn’t have time to think about it.“It is our way. It is his way.”
Refusing to give her the acknowledgment of turning to look at her, I continued to watch as Therin was fully obscured behind the red haze.“You would sacrifice Therin because of my existence? That seems like a rather stupid choice for a species that seems to be in danger of dying off.”
I was tempted to look at her when she paused long enough that I suspected my words may have actually sunk in. Then again, maybe not.“It is the will of Moheetla, not mine own.”
God, I hated her! I felt another surge of heat pulse through me.“Well, I hope the fucker enjoys the show!”
Suddenly, both Greylin and Wrell loosened their pressure on the spears under my arms. In surprise, I looked over at Wrell as he backed away. I could barely make out his massive form through the wall of bubbles between us. Must be getting too hot to stay close. Good enough for them.
Even without them holding me back, I didn’t go to Therin. I knew they’d bring me back if I tried, possibly making us miss when the sharks showed up and we would need to help him. Plus, if I were this close to losing control, I’d be more danger to Therin than the sharks.
The water was nothing more than a solid sea of blood. Even if the sharks didn’t show up, Therin was going to die of blood loss.
The first to arrive was a three-foot-long tiger shark, which can be just as aggressive as the white, if not more. It sliced through the blood and disappeared. A few seconds passed before a gush of blackish red blossomed under the canopy of crimson. Either the shark had found Therin instantly, or Therin had achieved his first kill.
The billowing blood moved to the outside of the red cloud, revealing the limp form of the shark’s lifeless body. Relief flooded through me, lessening the broil around me. Without warning, huge jaws snapped through the dead shark, giving it a shake. Then another pair clamped on. Two massive great whites shook and ripped until the smaller tiger was severed in two. The beasts swallowed the halves after a couple more quick bites.
Then the whole sea began to boil, and it wasn’t from me. Great whites and other types of sharks began to flock to the bloodbath. Most darted through the outer circumference of the cloud, but there were a few that arrived from above. Maybe the others knew they were there, but I nearly burst into flames when one shot past me, hitting me in the side of my head with its tail fin in its rush to join the feast. Whether it didn’t notice us or thought us too inconsequential compared to the boiling blood below, I had no idea.
There were at least nine sharks, mostly great whites, in the froth below. Here and there a new dark blossom erupted. There was no way to know if Therin was killing the sharks, if they were killing each other, or if one of the blooms belonged to Therin.
Drawn by the blood, other fish darted in and out of the mêlée, adding to the confusion and the disorientation of it all. Particles of flesh billowed up like smoke out of the blood. Whether it was from the fish we’d torn for bait or from fresh kills, I couldn’t tell.
Again, without any warning, the mers darted in unison down toward the massacre. Syleen led the charge, this time with her spear cutting through the water from her outstretched hand.
I didn’t pause; I simply followed. Thankfully, instinct kicked in. If I’d stopped even for a second to watch their descent, my body probably would have refused to move. As it was, I dove into the blood mere seconds after the others.
At first, I could see nothing besides the hazy red. I might as well have been in the pitch black for all I could make out. I swiped some of the flesh bits out of my face, trying to at least clear that layer of obstacle from my vision.
Out of the haze, hundreds of teeth came flashing at me. Twisting, I dodged the snapping jaws, but one of the pectoral fins smashed into my chest, making me feel like I’d just belly flopped onto the surface of the water from a hundred feet in the air. The force sent me reeling, and I slammed into something else, shark or mer I had no idea. Whatever it was passed by as quickly as it appeared.
My fear started to give way to terror, and the water began simmering in earnest around me. I was heartbeats away from erupting into flames. My weeks practicing with Therin had taught me the warning signs. If I didn’t get a handle on things, I would be the only living creature within a quarter mile.
Feeling like I was committing suicide, I closed my eyes, focused on the boiling core inside me, and made that my center, my rock. As soon as I was sure I wasn’t going to ignite, I thought back to some of the other lessons Therin had been working on with me. I wondered if he’d known this occasion would come. I’d never actually managed to make it work, but he’d thought I’d been close. He’d said we’d work on it after we joined the other mers, but of course, then the father-and-son bonding time had ended.
Focusing again on the core of heat in my chest, I directed it out, pushing it from my center, across my shoulders and down my arms.
It would work. I could feel it. I opened my eyes. The red was darker than before. What was I supposed to do? Stay in one spot and wait? Make my way to the edges where I could see better?
Deciding I was going to be useless blind, I pushed off the sand, swimming slowly into the blood. It began to clear, still a red mass but no longer an inky haze.
This time, I saw all of him when he came at me. In that flicker of a moment, the terror left. Every ounce of fear drained away. My legs forgot they weren’t a tail and propelled me forward. I’d done this a thousand times over the centuries. This was right. This was my calling. This was the will of Moheetla.
The distance closed between us, his hundreds of jagged white teeth gorgeous against the red stain of the water. I shoved outward on the fire once more, thrust my fist into the gaping jaws, and felt his upper teeth shred the skin on my forearm. My fist shattered the cartilage of his skull, and I felt the fire rip through me.
By the time my fist exited the shark’s head, there was nothing but charred ash for the upper third of its body. The rest of its blackened form passed harmlessly by me as I shot past.
I didn’t take time to revel that all the training with Therin had worked, that I’d managed to intentionally focus all my fire into my hands. Neither did I stop to check out the wounds to my arm. There was a lot of blood, but I could feel my fingers moving as I wanted them to, so no harm done. There was no time to consider any of it. The others were fighting. I had to as well. I wanted to. I needed to.
A flash of tail darted by me. I couldn’t tell who it was, but from the shine, I knew it belonged to a mer. A midsized white followed, jaws hinged open to take in whoever was trying to escape. Again my body took over, legs working in simultaneous thrusts, driving me forward. I slammed into the shark, my fist coming down from above into the shark’s brain, and left him smoldering.
I was then able to see who the mer had been. One of the sisters. It didn’t seem like she’d even been aware she was being hunted. She was too engrossed on a shark of her own. In amazement, I watched as she took the net she’d used for the bait and flashed it forward in a bizarre lasso manner and entangled the shark. No sooner had her net closed than she thrust her spear forward into the shark’s right gills so it exited through its head. Blood poured forth in torrents, covering her from view.
“Move!”The bellow startled me enough to make me twist around to the side. Jaws snapped shut where my head had been, and then the shark zoomed past me. Greylin followed suit and let his blade fly through the water to find its mark just in front of the dorsal fin.
