Beside him, Kethril rolled over on his belly and vomited a bellyful of seawater. “Oh, mercy,” he groaned. “I’m too old for this.”
Ulin heard a deep growl behind him and turned his head. “I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that much longer,” he said.
Kethril lifted his eyes and saw the creature crouched on the rocks on the far side of their very tiny island. “Oh-”
His last word was drowned in the roar of a large and very angry sea lion.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Don’t move,” Kethril whispered to Ulin. “Don’t draw its attention.”
“I think we already have it,” Ulin replied. He obeyed, though, and remained motionless on the wet rock, staring at the sea lion. “Look at it! The poor creature is half dead.”
“We’re going to be dead if it decides to eat us.”
Ulin barely listened. He realized, looking at the sea creature, that it was as much a prisoner as they. Sea lions were ferocious and difficult to deal with, and from the old wounds and puncture marks on the animal’s face and sides, it had put up quite a fight before it was captured and dragged to this cave. The lion half of its body looked matted and thin; the mane was tangled and streaked with dried blood. The fish half of its body had dried from exposure to the air and had lost its golden gleam. The skin was cracked, oozing, and probably very painful. It snarled at them again, revealing a set of powerful fangs.
“I wonder why it doesn’t move,” Kethril said, his eyes still on the beast.
Ulin craned his head a little higher and saw a metal fetter around the sea lion’s tail. “It’s chained to the rock.”
A sudden startled exclamation burst from Kethril, and he yanked his bare feet away from the water. Ignoring his own order to remain still, he scrambled higher up the rocks.
“Those brutes!” he cursed. He cradled his foot and examined the bloody gash on his heel where one of the ghagglers had stabbed him with a spear. The sea-slig swam away, sneering at him.
On the opposite side, the sea lion bellowed in similar pain and pulled away from the water. It raised its heavy head and roared in defiance.
“They seem to be provoking a fight between us and the sea lion,” Ulin said.
“Winner to eat the loser and then be fed to those sharks,” Kethril commented bitterly. “I don’t like those odds.”
Ulin made no reply. He could see the sharks cruising through the water around the rocky island. Ghagglers often kept sharks in their lairs as guardians, scrap disposals, and deterrents for would-be escapees. He knew with a certainty no one would win a confrontation on this island. Sea lions hated sharks with a passion and often went out of their way to kill one, but this poor creature would not stand a chance in this grotto, and neither would he or Lucy’s father.
He was given no more time to ponder the situation. A large ghaggler reared out of the water near the sea lion and gave it a vicious jab in the tail with its trident. The wounded sea lion roared. Maddened with pain and fury, it turned on the first and easiest creatures it could see. It charged toward Kethril and Ulin, its claws unsheathed and the chain flapping behind it. It was only then that Ulin saw that the chain was actually fastened to a rock in the middle of the island, not near the water as he guessed. There was nothing to stop the sea lion’s attack, nothing to slow it down. His hand went instinctively to his waist where his sword usually hung and found nothing but a scrap of a loincloth.
“Kethril, move!” Ulin shouted. “Move! Split up!”
The older man scrambled to his feet. He and Ulin stood side by side for a heartbeat while the huge beast lumbered toward them, its small ears flattened on its head, its teeth bared. Around them, the sea-sligs hissed and whistled and threw rocks at the stranded men. At the last moment, when the sea lion’s claws reached for their bodies, the two men fled in opposite directions, leaving the sea lion to leap on empty air.
Confused, it roared and swung its head to the left and right, trying to catch their scent, then it lunged after the warm, metallic smell of blood.
Kethril bellowed in fear and tried to run to the far edge of the island over the rough rock, but pain lanced up his leg from his lacerated foot, and he stumbled and fell.
Turning around, Ulin saw the sea lion go after Lucy’s father. Quick as thought, he scrambled after the lion, grabbed the loose chain attached to its tail, wrapped it around a boulder, then he dug in his heels and braced himself for the impact.
The sea lion hit the end of the chain like a charging bull. The force of its sudden stop nearly ripped the chain from Ulin’s hands. It dragged him and the boulder a short distance before the sea lion collapsed on the ground only a few inches from Kethril’s bleeding foot. The force of its fall knocked the air from its lungs and for a few minutes it lay still, trying to breathe.
Kethril wasted no time getting to his feet and out of the lion’s reach. He crawled around the gasping beast and made his way back to Ulin. “Our odds are not improving,” he commented dryly as he fought to stand upright. “I’d start a book on this fight and cover all bets made on us.”
“Optimistic, aren’t you?” Ulin grunted. He wrapped the chain around the boulder again and kept a sharp eye on the lion. It could attack again at any moment.
The older man tried to smile. “I live by the numbers, not philosophies, boy.”
A sudden commotion in the middle of the lake distracted the ghagglers from their sport. Streams of bubbles erupted all around the island until the water appeared to be boiling, and the sharks vanished. Screeching and jabbing their weapons, all but the youngest sea-sligs dived into the seething water.
“What is it?” Ulin asked, but Kethril had no answer.
The sea lion lay quietly and stared at the water as if mesmerized. Perhaps its stunning crash to the rocks had knocked the fight out of it.
Slowly and silently, Ulin dropped the chain and motioned Kethril to follow him. They made their way to the edge of the rocks farthest from the sea lion and stood back to back to await their fate. Without warning, the bubbles stopped and the waters gradually stilled. A tense silence filled the dimly lit cavern while, one by one, the ghagglers slid back into the depths of the cave and disappeared. Before long Ulin, Kethril, and the sea lion were alone in the dim cavern.
Ulin rubbed his aching temples and was about to sit down when the bubbles burst out again. This time they were stained red and were swiftly followed by a seething, struggling force of ghagglers. The sea-sligs fought ferociously against an enemy that followed the sea-creatures up from the depths and into the waters of the lake with equal ferocity and determination.
Kethril stiffened. “I may have to change those bets. We have a new player in the game.”
“What?” Ulin demanded.
The gambler winked and pointed. “Sea elves,” he said.
Great day in the morning! Ulin thought. Sea elves-the ghagglers worst enemy, a race of sea people sworn to the total destruction of the merciless, bloodthirsty sea-sligs.
The thought had barely registered in his mind when he saw a familiar shapely figure climb out of the water and come toward them at a nimble run. Her lovely face shone with relief, and her sea-green eyes glowed with joy. She threw her arms out with the obvious intent of hugging someone, and Ulin steadied himself for her embrace. She raced right past him and into Kethril’s arms.
“Oh, Father, you’re safe!” the sirine squealed.
Ulin’s eyes bulged. “Father?” he repeated, astounded down to his toes. Lucy was going to love this.
Kethril looked over her graceful blue-green shoulder at Ulin and gave a small shrug. “Her mother is a stunner.”
“But, but …” Ulin protested. “She looks older than twenty.” This just didn’t seem right.