The Little Selkie (retail) (25 page)

What!
Dylan stiffened in Bump and Lump’s grasp. They were going to kill Callan—they were going to kill
everyone
: Dooley, Cagney, the servants, the visiting nobles, the villagers!

Jarlath took the chest and opened it, inspecting its contents. “There’s only a dozen charms here,” he complained. “I need more men than that to take the palace.”

“There will be no palace to take. The tidal wave and accompanying storm will crush it,” the sea witch said. “You are there to make sure no one escapes. The royal family must perish, as well as everyone with them. The Ringsted government must be slaughtered. As soon as we finish destroying the Summer Palace, we move on to Glenglassera.”

“That isn’t part of our deal. You said Glenglassera would remain intact; that’s why we are killing the royal family at the Summer Palace,” Jarlath frowned.

“My orders have changed. Glenglassera is to be rubble,” the sea witch said.

“You can’t, Yseult,” Jarlath said, his face turning ruddy with anger. “If Ringsted loses Glenglassera, any other country can take us over with ease—mountain range or not.”

“Your silly country
will
be taken over, Jarlath. Did you think my superiors would give up occupation after laying waste to your government?” Yseult laughed. “Now will you back down, or do you still want in?”

Dylan’s legs almost gave out. She was in over her head.

The selkies hadn’t taken into account the human side of the storms, but even further, Dylan and her kin hadn’t bothered to wonder
why
a sea witch would suddenly have run of the country. The sea witch wasn’t doing this on a whim. She mentioned orders. There were a masterminds behind this. There was a strategy.

Based on what Dylan learned at the Summer Palace, she didn’t think the sea witch and her masters would stop with Ringsted. It was likely they attacked Ringsted because they were easier to isolate and they had an extensive fleet of ships that would be very handy for attacking other countries.

This calamity was much bigger than Dylan and much bigger than Ringsted.

Why did I ever think I could solve this on my own?
Dylan wondered as she stared at the ground.

“Will I still receive the agreed-upon amount?” Jarlath asked after several moments of silence.

“Yes.”

“Then I’m in,” Jarlath nodded.

The sea witch released a gurgling laugh. “You are a fool, Lord Jarlath. But in some ways, you are even crueler than I am. I seek to crush a country; you seek to crush your
home
.”

“So?” Jarlath snarled, puffing up like a blow fish.

The sea witch shook her head. “I will attack at sunset. See to it that you and your men are in place. I must prepare—it will take much to collapse the palace.”

“Of course,” Jarlath said.

The sea witch turned to go, but she caught sight of the selkie. “You still drag her with you?”

“Do you need her?” Jarlath asked.

“No. Do what you wish with her—kill her, imprison her, I care not. The selkies have been less of a pain since her capture—their morale is gone. After tonight, we need not fear them any more—the shed blood and lives will give me enough power to deflect them,” the sea witch said before she strolled in Dylan’s direction.

Dylan grew stiff with anger, but she forced herself to remain still as the sea witch stopped less than a foot away from her.

“Soon, I will be beyond you and your shape-shifting kin,” the sea witch spat.

Callan. She’s going to kill Callan! And Nessa, and the kind cooks, and Cagney and Dooley, and the seamstress
…a parade of humans marched through Dylan’s mind, and hatred built in the pit of her stomach. Everything Dylan had come to love over the past season would be wiped out.

“And you—youngest child of the Sea King Murron—you can do nothing to stop me,” she smiled.

Dylan roared silently and ripped herself from Bump and Lump’s grip. She threw herself at the sea witch, snarling and scrabbling like a wildcat. She pulled out a chunk of the witch’s hair and managed to half choke her before Bump and Lump recovered and pulled her off the witch.

“KILL HER!” the sea witch ordered.

“Where’s her pelt?” Jarlath shouted.

“Not here yet, sir,” a man said.

“KILL HER!” The witch shouted again.

“You said she was mine to do with what I please—throw her in the treasury!” Jarlath ordered.

The sea witch roared in anger, making Dylan’s scalp prickle. Bump and Lump dragged Dylan from her presence, hustling through the castle.

Dylan almost tripped down the steps that led to the treasury, but Lump caught her just in time.

When they reached the treasury, they pushed her inside. Bump grunted and shook his head.

“Foolish,” Lump translated.

Dylan shook out her skirts and eyed her guards. They said nothing more and left the room, closing and locking the door behind them.

Dylan tried pulling on the door and shoving against it, but it was as solid as stone. Angry, she turned to the treasury and began a systematic destruction of anything breakable. She threw golden lamps into the walls—denting them—and pushed stone statues to the floor.

Someone had brought a large barrel of water down to the treasury to save themselves the trouble of carrying a bucket for the sickly kelpie. Dylan emptied a bucket or two of water on a fur cape before she decided the bigger revenge was to the nurse the kelpie back. She emptied three fourths of the barrel on the animal—staying far out of range of the dehydrated creature.

It looked better than the last time Dylan saw it. A servant had probably been giving it more water than Jarlath prescribed.

Good,
Dylan thought savagely, throwing another bucket of water at the beast. Her arms ached, and her lungs were on fire. Dylan’s head swam as thoughts crowded her mind.
Callan. Callan!

Dylan dropped the bucket and collapsed on the cold stone floor. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed in silence. Tears rolled down her face, and Dylan mashed her fist into the floor, but nothing abated the pain in her heart.

She was going to lose. Everything. She would lose her human friends; Ringsted would fall to whatever evil the sea witch’s masters had in store, and the selkies would be hunted down and destroyed.

Cagney and Dooley were going to die, as would the royal family, everyone in the palace, and
Callan
.

No. No. No!
Dylan shouted in her mind. Dylan’s heart twisted and she gasped and struggled to see through blurry eyes. She had made so many mistakes. Would the outcome have been different if she had been more careful? If she hadn’t been caught, could Dylan and her family have ensnared the sea witch?

Miserable and enraged, Dylan looked up when the door thumped and opened.

A livid Jarlath, accompanied by several guards, strode in the room. “Wench!” Jarlath hissed, grabbing Dylan by her arm. He started to drag Dylan to her feet before he remembered she was a great deal taller than he, and pushed her back on the ground. “You do that again, and your pelt will be shreds,” Jarlath said, shaking Dylan’s sea lion skin in her face.

Dylan dully stared at the pelt.
I should have ignored the threat. I should have kept my voice and smote the sea witch and Jarlath when this all started. Swimming in the ocean as a sea lion is nothing compared to Callan’s laugh, or Cagney blushing when Dooley flirts with her,
she thought.

Jarlath either didn’t notice her apathy, or he didn’t care. He roughly folded the pelt and took a swipe at Dylan—which she ducked.

“I gave you too much freedom at the Summer Palace, but the rules have changed now. Behave yourself, and I’ll keep you as a pet, like that one,” Jarlath said, indicating to the kelpie. “Cross me again, and your pelt will be shredded. Push me after that, and I’ll have your head. Do you understand?” Jarlath said, his expression mean.

Dylan closed her eyes.

“Do you understand!” Jarlath thundered, grabbing her hair.

Dylan wriggled in his grasp and glared at him.

“Good. You will remain here until I return. Next you see me, the royal family that you cherish will be dead.” Jarlath smiled.

Dylan watched him go with narrowed eyes. As soon as the door closed behind him, she threw an already banged-up lamp at the door and screamed inaudibly.

Chapter 14

Stopping Storms

Dylan wasn’t sure how much time passed. She was in the middle of “redecorating” the treasury by hacking at a prized tapestry with one of the swords that hung on the wall when the door swung open again.

“Ahem.”

Dylan dropped the sword and spun around, her heart beating in her throat. There stood Bump and Lump. Bump was scratching his cheek with one of his daggers, and Lump took slow inventory of the methodical damage she was inflicting on Jarlath’s prizes.

Lump shrugged, and Bump pushed a pile of gold coins off a table. Lump unrolled a map of Ringsted and held it down on the cleared surface. “We are here,” he said, tapping a point on the map.

WHAM
! Bump shoved his dagger an inch into the table’s surface, pinning the spot Lump had pointed out. “The Summer Palace is here,” Lump said.

WHAM
! Bump slammed another dagger at the spot.

“In the carriage, we had to travel east to pick up a road before moving north and then finally west to get to the Summer Palace. On foot, you travel on a diagonal—here,” Lump said, tracing out a path. “Summer Palace is less than an hour’s ride that way.”

Dylan stared at her guards with wide eyes.
They’re…helping me?

Bump grunted.

“Yes. Wait five minutes while we ready a mount,” Lump said.

Dylan took a step forward.

Lump pointed to the door of the treasury. “We will leave door unlocked, but shut. Do you understand?”

Dylan nodded.

Bump pulled out his daggers, and Lump rolled up the map. They turned to leave, and Dylan scurried after them. They stopped when they realized she was following them.

Dylan paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to express thanks. After a moment, she curtseyed, hoping they would understand.

Bump grunted.

“You’re welcome. Be careful—we’ll be at the front gates,” Lump warned. He and his comrade left.

Dylan heard them thump up the stairs. She ran back to the weapons rack to swipe a sword, when the kelpie jingled his chains. Dylan twisted to look at the creature, who stared at her with glazed, white eyes.

Its breathing was quiet instead of the pained wheezes it used to utter. Dylan stared at the creature.

If she wanted to get out of Kingsgrace Castle in good time, she would need a distraction.
Do I dare?
she wondered. She hesitated a moment before grabbing a battle hammer that hung on the wall.
Yes. Even a kelpie doesn’t deserve to be chained up by a monster like Jarlath.

Dylan approached the water horse slowly, eyeing it as she sidled up to its pen. When it didn’t lunge or snarl at her, she took a chance and swung the hammer, bringing it down on one of the hinges. Two more swings, and it smashed. Dylan hit the other four hinges that held the loops of chains in place. After cracking the last one, she jumped back, scrambling for cover behind a large statue.

The kelpie reared, shrugging chains off its back. It made quick work of the wooden fence that made up its stall, splintering the wood like it was matchsticks. Dylan crept to the treasury door and opened it, hiding behind the wooden structure to make an open gateway for the kelpie to flee through.

The monster charged through the doorframe, moving oddly as it climbed the stairs. She stood at the base of the stairs until she heard splintering wood and men scream. Then she scrambled up the staircase and slipped through the castle—her path open in the trail the kelpie blazed.

The kelpie trashed the castle and sent servants and bandits running just by appearing in the hallway. With eerie intelligence, the beast navigated its way outside, jumping two stairs before making a break for the open castle gates. The animal squirmed through and disappeared into the forest, its dull black fur sinking into the shadows.

Bump and Lump watched the creature go and held onto a nervous-looking horse. Bump raised his eyebrows at Dylan, who smiled winningly.

“Brash,” Lump muttered before tossing Dylan up in the saddle. “Head northeast,” he instructed. “Good luck.”

She nodded, still feeling nervous on a horse, but desperate enough not to care. She heeled her horse into a trot. They, too, left the castle—which still clamored with alarm from the loose kelpie—and dove into the woods. Branches scratched at her arms and legs, and more than once she got a face full of leaves, but she clung to the saddle, and the horse picked its way through the woods.

Soon her behind grew sore, and her legs ached from holding on. She wanted to push the horse to go faster, but Lump said it was almost an hour’s ride. She didn’t want to exhaust the only mount she had. So, she let the horse move at a steady trot, even though her heart screamed at her to go faster.

Eventually, Dylan could feel the faint pull of the ocean—which steadied her and helped her stay in the right direction. They plowed through the forest, making it to a point where the woods opened up over a cliff, letting her see the ocean and sun and even the faint glimmers of the Summer Palace a mile or two up the shore.

I might not make it
, Dylan realized, failure roaring in her ears.
I need to get there
and
find Callan to break the stupid seal—I won’t have time!
Already, she could see the stirrings in the ocean where the sea witch was gathering the tidal wave. Dark storm clouds gathered above the area, and the ocean swirled as the sun started slipping beyond the horizon.

Thunder and lightning pealed in the storm the sea witch was working. Her horse squealed and bucked, sending her toppling from its back. It cantered off, disappearing into the woods.

No!

She ran after the horse, skidding down the hill. The horse slowed, but it didn’t stop, and soon it was out of sight. Dylan ran until her lungs burned, and her head hurt. When she couldn’t run any farther, she slumped to the ground, gasping for air. Her mind was silent with terror and fear.

After all of this, she wasn’t going to make it. Dylan curled her hands into fists and pounded the forest floor as tears of frustration blurred her vision. Her heart stopped when she heard a low, crooning sound. She raised her head. Through her burning tears, she saw a water horse—not just any water horse, but the one from Jarlath’s castle. She recognized the faint dapples on its hindquarters. It rose out of a pond like a vengeful ghost.

Dylan stared as the monster picked its way towards her and stopped in front of her. When she didn’t move, it stamped a foot and lunged at her.

Dylan jumped to her feet and scuttled backwards, waiting for the animal to attack. Instead, the kelpie twisted and looked at her with white eyes, waiting.

Slowly, with one shaking hand extended in front of her, Dylan reached out and brushed the monster’s fur. It was slick from the pond and had algae and other sediment stuck in it. Its mane was sticky when Dylan buried her hand in it. Her heart pounded, but the kelpie didn’t move.

Why isn’t it killing me? Could it mean for me to…impossible!
Dylan thought, staring at the horse.

Red light from the setting sun danced through the trees, and Dylan grimly shook her head.
I’m out of time. Unless I reach Callan I will die in the backlash of the tidal wave as well. I may as well chance it
. Without taking a moment to think of a better plan, Dylan heaved herself onto the kelpie. She flailed for a moment—half on, half off the monster. The beast could have thrown her, but it stood still until Dylan slid into place on its back. She sank deeper into its fur than she thought possible, and the fur she previously thought of as slick grabbed her like a sea current, pulling her flush against the water horse.

The kelpie made a low keening noise.

Uh-oh
, Dylan thought.
Perhaps I have made another brash deci—
all thoughts fled her mind when the kelpie lunged forward, heaving its body into a gallop.

The ride was more terrifying than anything Dylan had ever experienced—and she swam in ocean currents in the middle of storms. Riding the kelpie was much how Dylan imagined riding a sea dragon would be. All she could do was cling to the monster as it galloped with a force and power beyond any normal animal.

Twice, she was almost knocked from the kelpie by low-hanging branches, but both times the kelpie seemed to hold onto her—the same way it could drowned its victims without arms—and continued to surge forward like a typhoon.

The terrifying ride stole Dylan’s breath, and she could have screamed with relief when they left the dark forest for the orange-bathed shore. The Summer Palace was a short distance away. Dylan could see people pouring from it. On the horizon was the tidal wave, immense and tall—a work that went beyond nature. The tides sank back as more ocean water piled on the tidal wave, making it crest so high, it would hit the tallest tower of the main castle wing. Even if everyone cleared the castle they would still be wiped out. A tidal wave that big would gush a mile inland.

Some seemed to know this, for Dylan saw a circle of men standing by the beachside wing of the palace, facing their doom.

The kelpie pounded up the beach, spraying grains of sand as it charged towards the palace. Her heart in her throat, Dylan realized one of the men standing on the beach was
Callan
!

I can still do this
! she realized.
I could still make it!

“NO!” a voice howled, barely audible over the roar of the ocean and the cracks of thunder.

The kelpie raced past a group of a dozen or so men. Dylan barely had time to recognize them as Jarlath and his bandits, waiting like vultures with their protective charms to see to it that all perished.

Callan—seeing the crazed rider on the kelpie—ran towards her.

Dylan placed her hands flush against the kelpie.
Thank you
, she thought before pushing off the animal. She slid off its side, tumbling to the sandy beach with more force than she was prepared for. The kelpie didn’t stop running. Instead, it turned and charged into the ocean, water surging forward to meet it. It shrieked, and then it was gone.

Callan zipped across the sand, reaching Dylan just as she regained air in her lungs.

“Dylan! What were you thinking, you idiot!” Callan yelled, skidding to a stop.

Looking between his legs, Dylan could see Dooley and Prince Viggo in the circle of men watching the incoming tidal wave.

“You could have been killed—and now you’re going to
be
killed,” Callan said, anguish coloring his voice. Dylan managed to suck in enough air that she could sit upright. She reached up and hooked her hands on the lapels of Callan’s white waistcoat before twisting on the ground to look at the tidal wave. It was so close now it was blocking the sun. Soon, it would surge over the land and wipe out the palace.

“Dylan—” Callan started. Dylan pulled on his coat, wrenching him to the ground, and kissed him soundly. The prince was frozen in shock for a moment before he slid his arms around Dylan and cradled her close.

Light gathered around Dylan’s neck like a collar before exploding outward, wrenching the pair apart.

Callan blinked, dazed, but Dylan scrambled to her feet.

“I need your help,” Dylan said, her voice scratchy. She expected some kind of reaction and was surprised when Callan simply staggered to his feet.

“What can I do?” he asked, his face and voice calm.

Dylan pointed to Jarlath’s men, who were running across the sand, pounding in their direction. “Guard me,” she said.

“Of course,” Callan said, turning his back to her and sliding his sword out of its scabbard.

Dylan turned to meet the incoming tidal wave. It stretched almost directly above her, like a colossus. Dylan sucked in air and began trilling a note. Her voice broke, and the note fell flat. The water pushed forward, without hesitation, swallowing up the palace marina.

Dylan reached deep in her heart, feeling for her magic and every ounce of power she could muster. Thinking of Callan, Dooley, Cagney, Princess Nessa, Lord Padriac, Neil the kitchen boy, and all the others in the area who would perish if she failed, Dylan sang.

Selkie songs were wordless. They were haunting but beautiful croons and trills. This time, though, words slipped from Dylan’s tongue.

A blight upon the silver sea—

Death has rotted your shores.

Listen now to me and feel,

The path redemption offers.

Beyond all understanding, Dylan’s quiet voice echoed, tolling above the roar of the angry ocean and the screams of the terrified. Time slowed, and the wave went from an angry surge, to a slow crawl.

“No!” Jarlath shouted.

Callan backed into Dylan’s line of vision, set his shoulders and barreled into the fight.

Dylan kept on, her voice stretching high and then sweeping low in a crooning note as smooth as a lake surface.

A wretch commands, but I request,

Destroy this pact and recoil.

Destruction wrought upon naïve

Brings only darkness and ruin.