Wizards vs Aliens: The Wasa Mana Amulet

Chapter Three: Masters Of Disguise

Chapter three

"RUN!" shouted Tom Clarke, before realising the word he should have yelled was 'swim'.

Angelica took off over the reef, with Tom pursuing her to the best of his ability. Mermaids were seriously fast swimmers!

"There is no escape, wizard half-form!" bellowed Varg, perhaps this time correct. A coral reef wasn't exactly a good place for a game of hide and seek if you were the size of a human or a mermaid.

Varg chased the pair over the bed of colourful plants, past exotic fish and around rock faces. Tom grabbed Angelica's hand.

"We've got to lose him!" he told the mermaid, "Isn't there anywhere we can hide?"

Angelica scoured everywhere she could see. If Tom hadn't been so frightened, he would have been truly amazed by the sights. Below him were dazzling corals in every colour of the rainbow and around him swam fish that once he could have only beheld in a library book. It was unbelievable just how many there were! Surely there must be hundreds within viewing distance. He tried to keep away from the corals in case they were poisonous but occasionally he felt them graze his arm. Ouch! He had no idea they were that hard.

"Over there!" Angelica pointed to a thick shoal of tiny silver fish. They both plunged straight into it.

Varg noticed them disappear into the cluster, and he dove in after them. Angelica yanked Tom out, and they swam away as fast as their legs could carry them - or tail, in Angelica's case. By the time the prince had figured they weren't hiding in the shoal, they were long gone.

He floated nearer the surface to get a better look at the coral landscape, but his prey were nowhere in sight.

"Varg to Zarantulus," he said into his gauntlet, "The mermaid half-form has fled beyond my reaches. I will need assistance if I am to locate her."

"Understood," responded a female voice.

A few seconds later, there was a tremendous SPLASH! above his head as Lexi plummeted into the water, having promptly beamed off the ship.

"How is it that you arrived so quickly, dear sister?" asked a startled Varg, suspicious as to whether she had for some reason already been wearing her diving gear before he contacted her.

"A warrior is always vigilant, brother," responded the princess, checking her mask was on properly. She glanced at her arm-piece. "My oxygen supply is functioning perfectly."

"Before we attempt to form a strategy that will outwit the mermaid half-form, I need to warn you - she is accompanied by none other than Tom Clarke."

"The halfling wizard? For what purpose has he ventured into the Fijian Archipelago?" Gradually, an idea formed in Lexi's head. "The mermaid half-form must have alerted him of our strategy. Perhaps he is carrying out his own stratagem against us."

"In what way, sister?"

The princess keyed some words into her gauntlet. "According to my device, the Fijian Archipelago is a coral reef - home to many rare and exotic creatures. It is also rumoured to be the hiding place of a magical Wasa Mana amulet thought to control the powers of the merfolk..." Her eyes widened, and she gave a wicked smile as a plan materialised in her mind. "If we were to find the amulet before the wizard half-form, then the Nekross would feast on a wealth of delicious magic. Just think, brother! We have at our fingertips the key to the magic of every mermaid in the world!"

Varg chuckled darkly. "The wizard half-form must be trying to locate this object. If we were to pursue him, he will lead us straight to the amulet. Then we will beam him onto to the Zarantulus, and at last I shall witness the magic being ripped from his very bones."