Page 2 of Call of the Fathoms (Deep Waters #4)

Two

Fortis

F ortis waited in the depths, watching as the ships zipped overhead, illuminating the sea with great spears of light. He had come here on his own at first. Just to see what the great city of Tau would look like. And he was not disappointed.

Massive spirals sank into the depths, each of them winding around each other as though the entire city was a giant knot. There were bulbous ends where he regularly saw people, but those were uninteresting. Workers meandered about their day, slaving away as they should not for the people in power. They were not what he was here for. He was here for an opening, a weakness, a way into the city through the shield of energy that protected it.

He had not trained his entire life for this moment, only to let it slip through his fingers. No matter how long it took, he would find a way into this city.

His son floated beside him, surveying Tau with a keen eye. “Are you sure today is the right time? The ships appear to be in far greater numbers. Surely if there are more of them, then they will be more aware.”

“Yes, it is the right time, Aulax. The goddess has told me.” He took a deep breath in through his gills, tasting the scent of the city.

Metal and biting chemicals. The same scents that had covered his son when Aulax had been released from the clutches of Alpha. There was more in this city than any of them could guess. These people were using medicine, as Anya called it, to do something terrible within that twisting labyrinth.

“How can you be sure? Prophecies are difficult to read at the best of times.”

“The sea has provided me a time and a place. I will know when to enter this city because I am where the sea tells me to be.” He truly believed that, and he wished his son was more prepared to believe it as well.

Fortis had been raised in a time when the sea was revered. The gods of their people had come out of the depths more often, although these days they did not leave their home at all. So few of the younger depthstriders had trembled in the presence of the ancients deep in the abyss. His son would benefit from doing so, because Aulax was far too likely to deny that the sea was a god.

Soon enough, he would learn. The sea always contacted depthstriders in one way or another. His son would be faced with the reality that there were massive creatures somewhere in this ocean that controlled them all. And that if he closed his eyes, he could feel the connection with the same beasts that breathed with every single one of their kind.

Aulax let out a huffing breath. “I do not believe that you are meant to die this year, Father. It is foolish to seek death simply because your wife saw it long before I was even here.”

And therein lay the problem.

He should have guessed that his son was struggling with the truth of what was to come. Fortis himself had seen his father die before him when he was very young. It was a hard part of life, one that everyone had to deal with eventually. It was a unique situation for the two of them, because they both knew when and how he was going to die.

“Your mother was gifted a prophecy by the gods. It was both a warning and a detailed message so that we could all stay safe,” he replied. “I have known my place in this sea since I was a very young man. Your mother was the best vision seeker of the depthstriders. She saw many peoples’ deaths, including her own.”

And not a single one of those prophecies had been wrong. He had seen every one of those people die, exactly as she had described it. So he knew he was going to die the same way she’d claimed.

Aulax’s gills flared, and a few of his colors burst to life before he calmed them. “I do not wish for your death as you seem to.”

He should soften himself for his son. Fortis often disappeared into the connection with their gods, but right now, his son needed him.

He wasn’t always the best father. Still, he tried.

Flexing his fluke, he propelled himself toward Aulax and caught the young man in his arms. Wrestling for a moment, he managed to get his son to still so that he could actually hold on to him in a grip that was as punishing as it was comforting. “I forget you are grown sometimes. I still see you as the boy who used to tug on my tail and beg me to swim with him.”

“I fail to see how that is helpful on the topic of killing yourself.”

“I am not killing myself. I have had many years to come to terms with the fact that I will not live as long as the rest of you. I also know that my sacrifice will bring about a new age of people who will guide our own kind into a future with less fighting. It is a sacrifice I will gladly make so that your life will be easier.” He leaned back, releasing his son so that he could look him in the eyes. “Not everyone is given the chance to become a martyr. My death is the answer to all our suffering.”

“And so that means you can be reckless?”

“It means I cannot die before my time, because I already know my end.” He flicked his fin, moving back again to his post against a jutting rock, and looked toward the city. “My fate has been decided. I will not die before that time comes, and the sea will protect me to ensure that is so.”

“I still think this is a fucking stupid idea,” his son muttered.

“Fucking?” Fortis repeated dryly. “You have been spending too much time with Ace’s sister.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard one of the People of Water using achromo vernacular. Many of their people were adopting phrases as they spent more and more time with the other kind. He found it to be a disgusting practice, unfortunately they were all more than welcome to waste their time on foolish words if they wished to do so.

Another ship blasted past them, sending dust scattering up from the sea floor and obscuring his vision. This was the moment when he would antagonize them. The sea had already told him that he needed to get inside of Tau. That was where his opportunity would present itself.

He wasn’t sure what that opportunity was, though. Apparently, there were many options for him to discover. The sea was helpful, though not very clear at the best of times.

Perhaps that was what his son found so disagreeable. Aulax liked things to be black and white. He wanted to know everything and anything about a plan long before he would indulge himself in pursuing it. It was a good trait that would make him an even better warrior in his later years.

Fortis had learned long ago that opportunities always presented themselves to those who had their eyes open. His son had yet to learn that, and it would take many years still for him to learn such things.

“I am proud of you,” he said, looking back at his son one more time. It wasn’t the last time he would see Aulax, even though his son feared that it would be. Perhaps it was a good idea to give his boy something to remember him by. Even though he would return soon enough. “I always have been, you know.”

“Father—”

Leaving no more time for discussion, Fortis darted out into the sea. He took a deep breath through all four of his gills and illuminated his entire body. Every tendril that hung from his sides turned bright yellow, so vivid that it would be impossible for the achromo ships to miss him. If any did, they were a worse predator than he thought they were.

And then he stayed there. Floating in the water, and waited for the next ship to come by. When the strange, oblong shape came close, he illuminated his lights even more. He was a blinding, ethereal creature from the depths and the achromos would surely feel terror the moment they saw him.

It did not take long. The achromos in Tau were smarter than the other cities, and they were far more used to dealing with his kind. They knew how to attack his people. They knew exactly what would harm him, but that wasn’t what Fortis knew he would see happen today.

“Don’t make it easy for them, father!” Aulax called out with a haunting, whale call. “Make them hunt!”

That was exactly what he had planned on doing.

He turned at the last moment and sped through the water. His tail was larger than most of his kind, and so was his body. It took longer for him to get up to speed, and that was likely not what the achromos were expecting. Soon enough, they would realize that he was difficult to catch.

The water parted around him, easing his way so that he could go faster. Then he curved his body and dove ever deeper. Farther into the depths of the sea, where eventually he came across a massive warship that had long ago sunk. He took the achromos past this ancient vessel as a reminder of their failures. They had weapons that could harm his people, but the achromos were the species that had always fallen.

Time and time again. Their reckoning was coming. They had no idea that he would be the catalyst.

They fired their first weapon at him, white hot and searing as it bubbled through the sea. He evaded it easily enough, although it was curious that they only fired the one shot. Usually, they fired at least twenty of them all at the same time. The massive amount of bolts were far harder for his people to dodge when they covered so much space.

The warning shot was soon followed by something he had not seen before. A net.

Spears attached to the ends stretched it wide, and he realized a rope attached it to the underbelly of the ship. The sea had been correct. The humans didn’t want to kill him today. Instead, they would want to capture him.

So Tau really was another facility that experimented on his people. Good. The sea had claimed he needed to get inside of Tau, and he intended to listen. Allowing the humans to bring him in was much easier than finding a weakness in the impenetrable city.

The net missed him. It seemed they were not very good with this new weapon of theirs. Perhaps the achromos needed practice.

How hilarious it was to see them struggling. With his son’s voice in his head, he turned to look at them. He was far enough away now that he wondered if they would give up. He couldn’t have that. Fortis was having fun, and there was a point to all this.

He wasn’t so far away that he couldn’t see their silhouettes within the ship. The achromos were staring at him as well. Surprised he would turn to even look at them. With every ounce of hatred in his heart, he flicked his fluke and started toward the ship.

If he was going to be taken by their kind in any believable sense, then he needed them to feel fear. Already he could see them scrambling. There was terror in their expressions as they struggled to find the right button. Perhaps one of them wanted to send out a bolt that would surely kill him. Others were saying to send out the net. And then he was right in front of them.

He reveled in their fear. Fortis soaked it into his body even though he could not smell them through the metal. If he struck the ship at this speed, he would damage it beyond fixing. They would all sink to the bottom of the ocean where the ancients would eventually feast upon their corpses.

He looked forward to seeing what fate the sea chose for these achromos.

The water parted around him, sending him careening ever faster toward the panicking humans. He was so close he could hear them shouting when the weapon they chose fired. Closing his eyes, he let peace surround him as he waited for the sea’s judgement.

And there it was. Not the burn of a laser. The sensation of a net wrapping around his body. It twined around all of his fins, pinned his arms to his sides and sent him swinging below the ship. They needed to believe they had caught him. They needed to believe that he was just another undine they had found in the sea. Not a single one of them would believe he had allowed them to catch him.

The net twisted one of his side fins hard. He bared his teeth in a snarl, hoping that if there were cameras on the bottom of the ship that they would see his pain. He could hear them all cheering in there, celebrating that they had caught the feral creature who had nearly killed them.

Hilariously, they had no idea they were transporting a shark into their home. A shark who intended to hunt the first moment he could.

As they traveled past the shield, he saw a few flickering lights on the sea floor. He knew that was his son. Aulax was letting him know that he would return to the others and tell them that Fortis had started his mission. Soon enough, they would know that he had succeeded.

He wasn’t sure how, yet. The sea hadn’t told him that much.

Fortis allowed himself to fall into that liminal place between reality and the future. The place where the sea held his hand and guided him without fear.

These achromos were weak, basic creatures who were in a world that they were ill-equipped to handle. All he had to do was bide his time and everything would fall into place.

It always had.

He stayed quiet and did not struggle as they approached the lights of the city. Soon, he would be within those walls. Soon, they would try to break him with medicine and sharp weapons. What they did not know was that he was ready and prepared for such things. They would not break him.

He would break them.