Shattered by the Sea Lord - Starla Night Page 0,70
“When I give the command, Dannika will raise her shield and everyone else will amplify it. Understand?”
The women focused.
“Now.”
They fumbled but got a shield around them, including Dannika. She smiled. Her soul light glowed.
A weight lifted off Ciran’s chest. They would succeed today, at least enough to go to the echo point and start everything in motion.
With every successful command the women completed, their confidence bloomed. Konomelu traded a pleased look with Itime, but a wrinkle of stress still ringed his orange-threaded eyes. He worried about his bride.
Nuno left the young fry and flew to the males. “Dad, when you go to the echo point to summon the Atlantis army, I want to go too.”
Konomelu’s brows descended. “No.”
“They can barely make their fins, and I’m a warrior.”
“In training.”
“Only because I’m always here. I can do this. You have to take me.”
“You have a duty to protect the young fry.”
Nuno glared. “Orike was right. You’ll never let me become a warrior. You’ll always keep me in shallow waters.”
Konomelu’s nostrils flared and he snarled. “A warrior knows his duty. A warrior obeys his commander. Your task is to distract the patrol and you have abandoned it. How can I take you on the most dangerous journey of your life if you cannot perform your duty?”
Nuno’s eyes reddened and he swallowed hard, then flew furiously back to the trainees, shouted at them to start a new race—to chase after him—and flew at the lattice.
Hadali and Tulu chased him, and the rest of the young fry scrambled.
The patrol in the deep ocean swam closer.
Nuno zoomed to the nearest patrolling warrior, shifted to toes, and kicked. His feet hit the lattice near the warrior’s head. The bleached coral creaked. The warrior rotated to face him.
Nuno dove into the shallow end of the reef.
The young fry wheeled and followed.
Ciran’s unease grew.
Itime joined them, giving the women a break. “Bex and Dannika are strong. Meg’s power seems weak in comparison. But her soul burns as bright if not brighter.”
“And Angie cannot use her power at all.” Konomelu crossed his arms. “Why?”
The warriors debated the differences. All the women had bright souls. The Life Tree of Sanctuary was strange and stunted, but the Life Tree of Atlantis was small and young.
“Perhaps our elixir is more potent,” Ciran said. “Balim makes it with a modern method using something called an Instant Pot.”
“Then why Bex is so strong?” Konomelu asked.
The women had floated closer to listen, and Dannika’s eyes widened. “Oh, actually, Bex drank that elixir, too. Hadali poured the last of Val’s bottled elixir into her cup and she drank it by accident.”
Bex shrugged. “Oops.”
Could that be the difference?
Nuno left the young fry in the shallows and swam along the lattice again. “Jelly-for-brains! Squid-lover! Nudibranch-licker! Shark-chum!”
But something was wrong.
The muscled, armed, tattooed warriors paced him on the outside. When Nuno switched directions, a different warrior paced him the opposite way.
Ciran had been taught the same method to hunt cornered prey.
And a warrior in shallow water against a beach was the definition of cornered.
Why were they treating Nuno as prey?
Nuno vibrated insults at the warriors. The patrol sneered right back.
Was this normal?
Each captured the other’s full attention.
“They hunt us like cornered fish,” Konomelu grumbled. “Nuno! Swim in-shore.”
Nuno slashed his coral knife at the patrolling warrior. “Enter my domain and I will end you.”
“You think to scratch me with that little toy?” The patrolling warrior sniggered. “It would not even penetrate my scales.”
“I sharpened it myself!”
The patrolling warrior laughed and glanced back at the two other patrollers ranged behind him. “That is even more reason.”
The trio laughed.
“Oh yeah?” Nuno kicked up to the lattice and reached through to slash at the male’s arm. “Feel this!”
The patrolling warrior darted forward and grabbed Nuno’s arm.
Nuno shouted in rage and fright.
They yanked him against the coral.
“Nuno!” Konomelu shouted.
This was not normal.
The hole was too small to fit Nuno through. But the patrol yanked him hard, twice, to try. He cried again.
“Nuno?” Meg whimpered. “Nuno…”
Squid surged in the water and rushed toward Meg. Ciran arched over the horde and kicked hard.
“Nuno!” Konomelu fought his way through the squids.
“Call them off.” Itime dove and shoved the creatures away. “Meg.”
Another Luscan darted through a bigger hole and entered the reef. The first warrior released Nuno’s arm. The second dragged him, dazed but struggling, through the larger hole and into the ocean where the first warrior grappled his other arm and forced him away.
It happened in instants.
Nuno was being kidnapped!
Ciran’s heart spiked in his chest. He was unarmed.