Read Online Crystal Doors #2: Ocean Realm (No. 2) by Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta - Free Book Online Page B
Book: Crystal Doors #2: Ocean Realm (No. 2) by Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta
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Authors: Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta
Tags: JUV037000
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reek of decaying fish that clung to them. He fought back, desperate to get away, thinking of how he and his father had just been reunited. They couldn’t be separated again so soon.
Orpheon muttered some sort of incantation in the merlon language. His eyes glowed green. Crackling sparks flashed around him.
Suddenly remembering, Vic cried out, “Sharif! Use the summoning spell. Call your carpet.”
But the boy from Irrakesh did not hear Vic. A merlon had seized the prince by the hair and pushed his head underwater. Tiaret had never stopped fighting, even after her teaching staff was taken away. Vic thrashed, then slapped one of the merlons on the sensitive tympanic membranes that served as the aquatic creature’s ears. As the hissing merlon reared back, another came forward to grab Vic, extending claws, which dug into his arms.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the merlons pull Sharif’s head out of the water and rake their curved claws along the base of his throat, digging deep into the skin. The prince cried out. The aquatic warriors yanked Lyssandra’s head back. Gwen made a gurgling sound as the merlons also grabbed and slashed parallel lines in her throat.
Vic struggled against the pointed talons pressing into both sides at the base of his own throat. Through the searing pain that pierced his skin, he saw blood staining the calm water around them in the cove.
Then the powerful merlon abductors yanked all five of their captives under the water.
8
IT WAS THE FIRST time Gwen had ever truly believed she was going to die — whether it would be from drowning or from having her throat slashed made little difference. The merlon that dragged her under the water swam with powerful strokes. Unable to breathe, she struggled feebly, feeling the raw pain of the salt water on her torn throat, knowing she was bleeding. Trails of bubbles streamed from the gashes on her neck.
Orpheon’s glimmering green magic infused the water surrounding them. Gwen didn’t understand what was happening.
Other merlons pulled Vic, Lyssandra, Tiaret, and Sharif along. The sleek, branded sharks streaked alongside like prowling guard dogs.
They went deeper, stroking toward the rock barrier that blocked off the cove from the rest of the sea. Farther from the surface and breathable air, Gwen became frantic. The merlon held her in a vise grip. Ahead of them through the dim, turquoise water she could discern that a tunnel had been melted through the breakwater wall, forming a secret passage through which the merlons could whisk the five of them out to the open sea. But that hardly mattered. Gwen and her friends would all perish before long.
She remembered Lyssandra’s frightening dreams of merlons and drowning. It was too late now to heed the prophetic warnings.
Strangely, Gwen felt the long claw-mark gashes in her throat fizzing, bubbling . . . improving somehow. Her lungs ached. Right now her greatest need was for air. Gwen tried to endure just a minute longer as the merlons tugged their five captives through the hole in the undersea wall.
She was going to black out in a few seconds, she knew it. She hoped the merlons would surface on the other side, give her a chance to breathe. If Orpheon and the aquatic creatures simply wished to kill the five friends, this was a very complicated way to accomplish it.
But once they were all through the breakwater, instead of taking their captives up for air, the merlons followed the ocean floor as it dropped sharply away to shadowy depths. Gwen’s lungs were about to explode, and the merlons were going deeper and deeper!
The water grew cooler, darker, or maybe her vision was fading. Oddly enough, the pain from the claw wounds in her throat had subsided. Now they itched rather than burned. Her head pounded, but she couldn’t let herself pass out. It wouldn’t just be fainting, it would be dying.
She struggled for a few last moments of life while her merlon captor squeezed harder, digging
Orpheon muttered some sort of incantation in the merlon language. His eyes glowed green. Crackling sparks flashed around him.
Suddenly remembering, Vic cried out, “Sharif! Use the summoning spell. Call your carpet.”
But the boy from Irrakesh did not hear Vic. A merlon had seized the prince by the hair and pushed his head underwater. Tiaret had never stopped fighting, even after her teaching staff was taken away. Vic thrashed, then slapped one of the merlons on the sensitive tympanic membranes that served as the aquatic creature’s ears. As the hissing merlon reared back, another came forward to grab Vic, extending claws, which dug into his arms.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the merlons pull Sharif’s head out of the water and rake their curved claws along the base of his throat, digging deep into the skin. The prince cried out. The aquatic warriors yanked Lyssandra’s head back. Gwen made a gurgling sound as the merlons also grabbed and slashed parallel lines in her throat.
Vic struggled against the pointed talons pressing into both sides at the base of his own throat. Through the searing pain that pierced his skin, he saw blood staining the calm water around them in the cove.
Then the powerful merlon abductors yanked all five of their captives under the water.
8
IT WAS THE FIRST time Gwen had ever truly believed she was going to die — whether it would be from drowning or from having her throat slashed made little difference. The merlon that dragged her under the water swam with powerful strokes. Unable to breathe, she struggled feebly, feeling the raw pain of the salt water on her torn throat, knowing she was bleeding. Trails of bubbles streamed from the gashes on her neck.
Orpheon’s glimmering green magic infused the water surrounding them. Gwen didn’t understand what was happening.
Other merlons pulled Vic, Lyssandra, Tiaret, and Sharif along. The sleek, branded sharks streaked alongside like prowling guard dogs.
They went deeper, stroking toward the rock barrier that blocked off the cove from the rest of the sea. Farther from the surface and breathable air, Gwen became frantic. The merlon held her in a vise grip. Ahead of them through the dim, turquoise water she could discern that a tunnel had been melted through the breakwater wall, forming a secret passage through which the merlons could whisk the five of them out to the open sea. But that hardly mattered. Gwen and her friends would all perish before long.
She remembered Lyssandra’s frightening dreams of merlons and drowning. It was too late now to heed the prophetic warnings.
Strangely, Gwen felt the long claw-mark gashes in her throat fizzing, bubbling . . . improving somehow. Her lungs ached. Right now her greatest need was for air. Gwen tried to endure just a minute longer as the merlons tugged their five captives through the hole in the undersea wall.
She was going to black out in a few seconds, she knew it. She hoped the merlons would surface on the other side, give her a chance to breathe. If Orpheon and the aquatic creatures simply wished to kill the five friends, this was a very complicated way to accomplish it.
But once they were all through the breakwater, instead of taking their captives up for air, the merlons followed the ocean floor as it dropped sharply away to shadowy depths. Gwen’s lungs were about to explode, and the merlons were going deeper and deeper!
The water grew cooler, darker, or maybe her vision was fading. Oddly enough, the pain from the claw wounds in her throat had subsided. Now they itched rather than burned. Her head pounded, but she couldn’t let herself pass out. It wouldn’t just be fainting, it would be dying.
She struggled for a few last moments of life while her merlon captor squeezed harder, digging
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