The Hunter's Pursuit

58. Tethered to the Sea

Jacob clutched the side of the crow's nest, anxiously watching the water for any sign of Viviane or Ryujin. The great beast had disappeared beneath the waves almost ten minutes ago. Only the continuous crashing of water against the ship was proof that something was happening down there.

What, he didn't know, and he was afraid to find out. Terrible roars shuddered up from the sea, filling the air with a haunting sound. His heart beat faster and faster, the longer he waited. A gust of wind plastered damp hair to his face. Jacob didn't even bother to brush it aside. He gripped the siding painfully, until he could feel the wood digging into his skin.

The waves kept churning and thunder boomed, but still, there was no sign of either beast or Mer. The crew was speaking amongst themselves below him, their voices low with fear and concern. Jacob swallowed hard, watching the water part in the Leviathan's wake.

Caspian was keeping them moving. Jacob knew he couldn't ask his cousin to stop. Whatever Viviane was doing, it was keeping Ryujin occupied, and he had to accept that they were going to use this opportunity to escape.

Jacob didn't bother calling for her. What good would it do? If she and Ryujin weren't visible, it meant they were far beneath the surface of the sea, so she probably wouldn't even hear him. Still, he found his lips parting, though he couldn't summon his voice.

Where was Viviane? What was happening down there? She wasn't dead, was she? She couldn't be. His hand clasped the shell around his neck. She couldn't be dead. He wouldn't believe it. Ryujin would be coming after them if she weren't distracted by something else. That something else had to be Viviane. She was alive. He had to believe that. She was alive. She was alive. She was alive.

Jacob didn't pull his gaze from the sea, even as they sailed further away from the place he'd last seen Viviane. He didn't climb down from the crow's nest either. If he did, he knew nothing would stop him from plunging into the sea and attempting to find her. Jacob kept watching and lifted a prayer to every Goddess he knew. Viviane had to be all right. She just had to!

•~ ❘ ✠ ❘ ~•

Viviane opened her eyes with a groan, then gasped at the face that greeted her. She was looking into foamy sea-green eyes, similar to her own. She knew those eyes. She knew that reddish-brown head, with hair almost as long as the Mer's glistening ivory tail. She recognized the thin band of waves etched across her forehead. The mark of Cantata's ordination. The Mer Queen's crown.

Queen Marilla's features remained passive as she waited for Viviane to recover herself. Finally, she extended a hand. "Ryujin will not be restrained for long. Compose yourself, Thalas. I taught you to recover quicker than this."

"I...I thought..."

The Queen grabbed her hand and Viviane broke off, her head falling back as pure magic crackled through her, purging her limbs of pain and fatigue, and clearing her mind instantly. "You summoned us. Now tell me why." Her low, thickly accented voice was just as Viviane recalled.

"I want to spare Ryujin's life, but I want to keep the land dwellers safe as well," Viviane explained. "I thought moving her eggs out here would keep her contained, but her anger is..."

"It has decayed her mind beyond compassion," the Queen finished. "She hungers for blood and the more she takes, the less she is sated."

"Yes. She's been killing senselessly for far too long."

Queen Marilla's gaze grew sorrowful. "She has killed many of our own in her wrath."

Viviane staunched the guilt that threatened to engulf her. "Is there a way we can trap her out here so that she can never return to our seas?"