To Kill a God by C.S. Wilde

Chapter 28

The fateful daystarted like any other day, except for the thick fog that enveloped the shore of Tir Na Nog. Chilled droplets hung in the air, heavy and nearly suffocating, swallowing any sound.

Mera stood aboard one of the nightbringers out of the many peppering the frontline. Once Azinor came, if he came—the possibility that Mother had lied wasn’t too farfetched—she would be one of the first to face him.

Mera glanced down at her special boots, which neutralized the iron on the ship’s deck. Black and bulky, they felt surprisingly comfortable. She needed them because pure iron weakened the fae’s powers—one of the reasons why Bast’s people abhorred metal. Mera never felt that effect, but sirens were once called the sea fae, so her hart insisted on it. There was always a chance they weren’t so different after all.

Her gaze drifted to the nightbringer’s iron boards, and then to the four giant harpoons on deck; two near the quarterdeck and two near the bow.

Unlike her, Belinda refused to board the beasts that had haunted their childhood. Instead, she led a squadron of Atlantean cars, joined by Beta Three’s automatons. They gathered ahead, past the nightbringer armada, where they waited for any signs of their enemy.

Her friend’s front, along with the nightbringer fleet, should be enough to stop Azinor before he reached the mainland. Once her friends were safe, Mera would ensure that he never hurt another soul.

Tears pricked her eyes, not because she would die today, but because the thought of never seeing Bast again left a hole in her chest. Nevertheless, she had to control her emotions; she couldn’t let her feelings slip through their bond.

Clearing her throat, Mera crossed her arms, listening to the silence; the stillness before the storm.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” she told Bast, who stood next to her. He was clad in an onyx bodysuit, his silver hair up in a tight bun, and he wore boots just like hers. The leather belt around his waist carried two holsters, each with a phaser. Remarkable, considering Bast hated guns.

Desperate times, she supposed.

His clothing matched Mera’s own—she wore an officer’s black bodysuit with a silver belt around her waist. Like Bast’s, the holsters in her belt held two phasers.

“Something is definitely off, kitten.” His wings flashed to life with a loud flap, spreading behind him.

Corvus had stayed on land, leading an air battalion comprised of winged Sidhe and the occasional witch or warlock who could fly. Mera hated admitting it, but she missed the prick’s presence. The Night King could be a dick, but at least he knew how to lighten the mood.

Her attention lowered to the silver bracelet looping around her wrist. Tapping it twice, she brought it closer to her lips. “Bel, anything out of the ordinary?”

A moment of quiet followed before her friend’s voice came from the other side. “Nothing yet. Can’t see a thing with this fog. The cars underwater are registering zero movement in their sonars. Not even a little fish. It’s like we’re surveying a graveyard.”

“That’s not normal.”

“Agreed.” Her friend blew air through her lips. “I’ll let you know if we catch anything.”

Mera tapped the bracelet, shutting down the connection just as loud clangs came from the right side of the nightbringer’s hull, making the ship wobble slightly.

Something was climbing aboard.

She glanced at Bast, her worry reflected in his eyes. They faced the quarterdeck together, dropping into battle stances.

Near that part of the deck, Professor Currenter led a squad made of warlocks and sirens. He stared back at her, his lips pressed into a line as he and his team prepared to fight. Instead of his usual white bodysuit, he wore a black uniform like Mera’s. Today, he wasn’t the commissioner, and she wasn’t a queen.

They were Atlantean soldiers.

The clanging suddenly stopped, and then Beta Three jumped over the railing. The deck shuddered under Mera’s feet when he landed.

The professor’s shoulders slumped in relief, and he turned back to his squad. He addressed two newcomers—a werewolf and a human who wore iron chest plates. They looked nervous, especially compared to the stoic waterbreakers in the squad, soldiers who had already faced Azinor’s wrath when escaping Atlantea.

The automaton paced toward Mera and Bast, his steps clanging against the iron deck while water washed down his metallic frame. “The sensors are in place,” he informed them calmly.

Beta Three and his automatons had placed floating sensor orbs beyond the thick wall of fog. They spread the orbs in a line that followed most of the shore, guarding both air and water. Thanks to them, Azinor couldn’t possibly approach Tagrad without being seen.

“Well done,” Bast said, then turned to the professor, watching him through narrowed eyes. “Are you sure bringing him along was wise? Harold isn’t a spring chicken anymore. He should have stayed on land.”

Mera smiled, warmth spreading in her chest. Professor Currenter was important to her, and so he was important to Bast. “I told him the same, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, especially after what Azinor did to my uncle.”

Cocking his head left, Bast raised his brow. “I can certainly respect one’s desire for revenge. In any case, I’ll try to keep an eye on him.”

She hugged her torso, staring at the gray fog that clouded the air. “I don’t like the silence. The stillness.”

Beta Three’s metallic spine suddenly snapped straight, his neon-blue eyes blinking brightly in the mist. “Detective, the sensors have caught an alteration.”

The plates in his torso opened, revealing a blue hologram screen that displayed a combined view of every single orb. The screen showed calm waters and the sunny sky beyond the fog.

Narrowing her eyes, Mera tried to spot anything unusual, yet found nothing. “Are you sure? Switch to underwater view.”

He did. The deep blue was empty, devoid of life, but other than that, everything seemed normal. The sonars also didn’t alert them to any changes.

“Are you sure, Beta Three?”

“I cannot confirm,” he countered. “There was a reverberation.”

“Isn’t that normal?” Bast pointed to the lazy waves that made the ship wobble slightly. “Could it be a malfunction?”

The cogs under Beta Three’s neck whirred loudly when he turned to Bast. Even though his expression showed nothing and he couldn’t feel any emotions, Mera could swear he seemed offended.

“I do not malfunction.”

Her hart raised his hands in surrender. “I apologize, but Azinor has a waterdragon, and an army of automatons. Any reverberation he caused would be caught easily, no?”

Beta Three’s index finger rose, but he couldn’t argue with that.

Ignoring them, Mera closed her eyes, trying to listen to the whispers inside of her. Perhaps, they could catch something or warn her of… the droplets in the air. They thrummed against her essence in an unnatural way. Buzzing, restless.

“It’s a diversion,” she muttered, just as a beastly belch cut the air.

Mera’s blood chilled, not because the sound belonged to a waterdragon, but because it didn’t come from the horizon and the sea before them.

It came from the mainland.

The unseen beast shrieked again, followed by a distant, loud gush that could only be a plasma burst.

“Menitute,” the voices whispered.

Courage.

Bast stared in horror toward the mainland they couldn’t see, his jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. “Kura!”

“Turn the ship!” the captain yelled from the bridge, and the engines ran at full speed, veering the nightbringer. “Prepare for battle!”

The crew hurried toward the four iron harpoons on deck.

“You can’t aim at something we can’t see!” the professor shouted at them.

Not to mention, they were too far away.

Closing her eyes, Mera centered herself. Her skin warmed as her siren’s power stretched into in an endless web. It connected her to the droplets drifting in the air for miles and miles.

Her entire body shook by the giant effort, but in those seconds, Mera was the fog and the fog was Mera. Yet, she struggled to keep control.

“Ternat,” her voices whispered.

Free.

With one loud cry, she pushed the droplets away. Her magic exploded in a pulse that coursed through the web, swallowing Azinor’s spell. The gray mist dissipated in an eyeblink to reveal the shore, and then a figure flying from the mainland toward the sea. When it vomited green plasma at the ground, an emerald hellfire consumed the suburbs of Tir Na Nog.

“Fuchst ach,” Bast muttered, watching the waterdragon approach the promenade.

Phasers shot at the creature from the ground, but it dodged the attacks, almost as if it was being guided by someone. Turning to a stunned human next to her, Mera grabbed a pair of binoculars he had hanging around his neck.

She adjusted the device to see a gray-skinned male with neon-green runes tattooed over his naked chest. He rode the waterdragon’s thick neck with a wicked grin, bloodthirst and madness clear in his cruel face.

Some parts of the waterdragon’s rotting body showed its insides, like the open gash on the beast’s torso that revealed two poking ribs, but most of the creature was covered in smooth metallic plates similar to Beta Three’s. One of its eyes had an emerald hue, while the other shone a neon-blue like an automaton. Lime-green tattoos had been engraved on the metal atop the beast’s flesh, shining while they spread along its entire body.

They matched Azinor’s.

A mix of magic and technology.

That waterdragon couldn’t be Icefire; she was so certain, but her memory had to be playing tricks on her.

Bast’s attention focused on the cloud of fae rising in the distance. They jumped in the air to face the creature—a sky battalion led by Corvus.

“Kitten, I have to go.”

She nodded. “Be careful.”

Bast was torn, she felt it in their bond. He didn’t want to leave her, but when she assured him she would be fine—a lie—he shot toward the mainland.

Mera watched the beast in the distance. Something wasn’t right, she could feel it in her bones.

Azinor’s resources were at sea, so an attack from the mainland made no sense, and still, most nightbringers had already begun turning, heading toward the shore before understanding what the bigger picture might be.

“Detective,” Beta three’s monochromatic voice called out from the bow. He pointed at the horizon as she approached, and Mera lost a breath.

“Mer, are you seeing this?” Belinda’s voice came from the bracelet around her wrist.

An army of screaming sirens in moss-green bodysuits ran on the ocean’s surface. Hundreds of cars accompanied them, breaking through the water before plunging under the surface to strike.

A big explosion boomed from Mera’s left, and heat slammed against her skin as the sound of torn metal shrieked loudly. A red plasma stream had swallowed half of the ship next to hers, quickly revealing a gash on its hull. The nightbringer split in two, sinking almost immediately while what remained of its crew jumped in the water.

“He must have cloaked the automatons with his magic,” Beta Three muttered while his plates opened.

The blue screen showed thousands of machines walking on the seabed or zinging forward, propelled by their engines. Their soulless eyes shone bright red, and when their mouths opened, red beams shot out, aiming at the surface—and at Belinda’s convoy, as well as its accompanying automatons.

“For Atlantea!” Professor Currenter bellowed a war cry from the quarterdeck. Raising his phaser, he jumped ship, landing with a loud splash on the water’s surface. Lunging forward, he drew from the sea, forming sharp icicles that swirled around him. All waterbreakers on deck followed suit, dodging the red bursts that broke through the surface.

“Let’s show him what we’re made of!” Belinda’s shout came through Mera’s wristband.

She was about to join her friends when another draconic shriek pierced the air, only this time, it didn’t come from the mainland. Mera stilled, jaw dropping when her stare followed the line of water.

A second waterdragon zinged in the horizon; bigger, bulkier than the first, but equally dead. It had long spines atop its back, the skin on its wings tattered. Thin metallic patches covered the bigger holes that peppered its rotting corpse, and its emerald runes shone brightly. The creature grinned with sharp teeth, both eyes glinting a burning, neon-blue.

Icefire.

“Turn ship!” the captain ordered from behind, fear drenching his tone.

Too late.

Mera had to get to that beast, preferably before it belched waterblaze all over her friends. Pulling out her phaser, she turned to Beta Three. “Clear my path!”

“But—”

“Now!”

With a nod, he jumped overboard, and began shooting at approaching sirens from underwater.

As Icefire flew closer, Mera spotted a figure riding it. A female with russet hair and a ruby-red bodysuit.

Mother.

Jumping from the ship, Mera landed on the ocean’s surface. “With pride,” she muttered before rushing toward them.