Ursula could see the outlines of the guards through the dark waters, their figures dark because of the obnoxious light shining out behind them. The army crouched behind some musty rocks, their eyes alert and steady for Atlantia's command to proceed with the plan, which was to take out the guards and send the 4 cecaelias to kill the messengers. Atlantia nodded at the 15 spearers, who spread out, killing the first guards closest to them. She nodded at Nok, Iantha, Eos, and Spyro, who took off at once, their eyes already on the 4 messengers who sped towards the kingdom.
20 guards, went down, then 7 after that. As soon as the first spearer was hit, Ursula leapt up and threw two pikes at two guards who attempted to help a messenger, who took a spear to the throat by Nok. Morgana threw a rugged spear at a guard, going into his open mouth, hitting the back of his throat, then bursting out through the back of his head. Morgana couldn't help but smile triumphantly, then ducked as a golden spear was thrown in her direction, nearly impaling her.
Ursula threw spears with all her arms, grinning as she threw them all and hit the targets. A female cried out in horror, then screamed,
"THAT WAS MY DAUGHTER! You monster, you vermin, I will-"
Ursula approached the mer, feeling annoyed and amused at her loud wails.
"No one cares. I certainly didn't, now you won't either. ", Ursula said wryly. She proceeded to slice her throat with a sharp knife, then tossed her with her daughter. Two guards lunged at her, and she killed them both in quick movement, then observed as Morgana neared a tall male mer, who screamed in horror as he saw the pile of bodies, clearly recognizing a few. He rushed towards Ursula, who gracefully turned to her right, letting him impale a female guard companion. He turned her over in shock, his face paling as blood spilled out of her pink lips. He held her close to his body, sobbing.
"My love..", he said tearfully, brushing hair out of her dead eyes, "Please forgive me..". He then proceeded to give her a rather nauseating kiss, to which Ursula cringed and then turned around to stab a male guard with blond wavy hair.
The sobbing guard turned around, to find Morgana wielding a sharp axe, to which he ducked.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? She was my family, my love, and your sea wench killed her! You will rot in he-" , the guard sobbed angrily before being cut off.
"Sorry to interrupt your speech sir, but her name is Ursula, and I'm happy to let you know that you will be joining your family in a few seconds.". Morgana chopped of his head, then rushed to help a soldier who was battling two guards.
Eli finished spearing the last guard who was big and burly. He took of his helmet to brush away hair from his eyes, leaving a bloody smear on his forehead.
Morgana nudged Ursula toward Eli, who moved toward them.
Ursula glared at Morgana through the slits in her helmet, but acknowledged Eli's existence by throwing his spear at him. He caught it easily, then said,
"Thanks love."
"No.", Ursula said.
Nok approached Atlantia, who asked,
"Did you eliminate all the messengers?"
Nok nodded, followed by the subtle, yet firm nods of Iantha, Eos, and Spyro.
"Good.", Atlantia said, then turned to give the next orders to the army. "We move to their food farms. The ten I assigned, leave now to eliminate the guards beneath the food farms."
Ten hoplites stealthily sped towards the kingdom. Atlantia turned to Ursula and said, "Go with them. When all the guards have been taken care of, I want you to return and tell me so that we may proceed. "
Ursula nodded, then took off.
At Ursula's signal, the soldiers each aimed their spears at a guard's head from the rocks, then threw, dispatching the guards silently. The soldiers at once put on the guards' helmets, then stood firm as if watching out for intruders. Ursula observed everything for a moment, then slinked off into the rocks to tell Atlantia.
"Done?" Atlantia asked promptly.
"Yes." Ursula said breathlessly.
"Good. Lets advance.". Atlantia signaled for the army to march with bubbles.
The army moved in groups of 25, making 14 trips in total, each cecaelia crawling stealthily on every arm in their disposition. As they crawled, Eli wondered aloud quietly,
"Why are the ones sent to kill the messengers always mute?"
"Because if they get captured, there is no way to get stuff out of them." Ursula said.
Eli thought about this for a second, but then wondered aloud again, "Can't they just write down the stuff?"
Ursula stifled a chuckle as Morgana explained, "We have a completely different language, Eli. We can read their things, but they cannot read ours, and we can speak their language but they cannot speak ours. "
Eli opened his mouth to speak again, but then closed it when Ursula explained,
"A smart cecaelia got a dumb mer to fall in love with her, she got him to believe that they would run away together to his kingdom and make amends and bla bla bla, but she got him to teach her how to speak and write their language. Then she told our great great grandmother, and she taught the army to speak it after the mer had taught her. Of course, the mer got killed after she stood him up in their little run-away plan. This is why you don't fall in love or trust anyone. It's safer and smarter."
Ursula noticed how uneasy Eli looked, which gave her a funny feeling in her stomach. She brushed it off as they arrived in the rocks, the feeling turning into crazy bouncing fish, filling her with anxiety and excitement.
Atlantia, Ursula, Morgana, and Agnes led the way in the tunnels, getting through the top and dislodging hard stone floors, then lifting it up to find what appeared to be a mother and a daughter screaming at each other. The four cecaelias could not help but watch. The mother raised her arm, and for a split second Ursula and Morgana were sure that the mother was going to strike the girl. Much to their surprise, the mother wrapped her arms around the daughter and kissed her head. The daughter hugged the mother, sniffling. The mother opened her mouth, but never said her words because Atlantia threw two daggers deep in their heads. Before any blood could leak out, Morgana and Ursula dragged the bodies into some closets.
Atlantia dragged two more bodies, a little male mer with a toy in his still hand, and a cookie in the other, followed by a hoplite carrying a tall mer male, his orange tail limp against his back. She set them down and instructed for them to be gagged and tied.
Atlantia turned around to face her army and said,
"The groups of 7, proceed to the nearest house and round up the mer. Your first goal is to knock them out, or at least gag them as to not make any noise. Camouflage the best you can, and start heading out toward the Empire."
Atlantia nodded at the first groups, who headed out into the next house. Ursula was in the fourth group, Morgana in the sixth, and Eli and Nok in the seventh. Atlantia was in the last group. Quickly and stealthily, 3 groups each carrying 5 mer slunk into the tunnels.
Ursula's group slunk into the servant quarters, finding a beautiful mermaid with red hair and a green tail. She looked about 14. Ursula crawled near her, staying in the dark, careful to not expose her shadow. She lunged behind the redhead, letting her inhale a powder from her hand, which she had made just before coming.
Lets see if this works. She will either die, or immediately pass out.
Ursula had needed to test it first, and thought this was the perfect opportunity. The best part was that it disintegrated, and left no trace. The mermaid's head quickly rolled back into her arms, and Ursula was about to gag her and check her pulse when she was shoved from behind. Ursula turned around to find a tall mer with long, brown hair with a sea-blue tail trying to take the mermaid from her. Annoyed, Ursula threw the mermaid on the floor and attempted to stab him in the ribs, angry when she failed to do so. He thrust a weak punch to her shoulder, as if unsure whether or not to punch her, almost looking guilty. Ursula brushed his hand off her shoulder and flicked him back with her tentacles. He groaned and was about to scream for help when Ursula landed a punch to his jaw, then stabbed his gut with dagger, driving it deep. She turned him over and put her hand on his mouth, letting him inhale the powder. She turned to collect the mermaid, but then saw a mermaid scream in horror.
"SHE'S HURT THE PRIN-" the mermaid was cut off by Ursula's sharp spear, a clean throw through her head.
Ursula popped her head out of the window to find dead guards on the edges of houses and only 4 groups left. She heard high pitched crying, which led to what looked like the nursery. Ursula slammed her hands on the infants' mouths, shutting them up. There were at least 5 of them, which Ursula took, putting them in a cloth bag she had just found.
Ursula decided that babies to raise and grow used to the pressure were more valuable than two mers.
But the mer sounded like she was going to say prince...
There was suddenly a scream, then many screams followed.
No time. I have to get out to the exit.
Ursula shot off, quick and silent. She sped out into the exit, back under the food farms, giving the bag to Nok. As went the plan, Ursula waited for all the groups to exit, then waited for Morgana after the last few groups exited.
Morgana was breathless. There were at least 100 or so guards coming after her, not hearing the guards' screams for them to return.
Idiots
Morgana felt adrenaline pour through her, resonating through the the fast whirl of bubbles she made, going faster and faster, loving the rush. Morgana evaded the spears and weapons thrown in her direction. She shot out of the tunnel, trembling with exhilaration.
As soon as Morgana exited, Ursula readied the explosion she had been making between her fingers, making it out of the water and emotion within her, pulling light and darkness from between crevices and heating it all up with her hands. The light it gave off was unnatural, it had Ursula feeling lightheaded, and made her hands shake with power. She unleashed it, making a protective shield around her, even then holding her ground from the explosion. The waves crashed against each other, the sound and sight great and powerful, like thunder.
Even from the Dark Empire, it shook the ocean floor violently, making all activity going on stop. Everybody, both young and old, turned to look at the blinding explosion of light. This quickly turned into a dark, shadowy mist, which Ursula sucked back into a ball, reversing the bomb as to not destroy the whole kingdom, because that would mean they wouldn't have a source for slaves. A sense of calm washed over Ursula, like a soft wave gently lapping at her heart and head. Ursula breathed in the dark smoky ball, inhaling its bitter-sweet scent.
Suddenly a blast of pain hit her head, and she started shaking. Ursula fell, shaking violently. Eli lunged forward and caught her, his worry hidden beneath his helmet.
Morgana looked at Ursula for a moment, then looked up.
"Spasms."
"But why?", asked Eli, the last word holding a touch of distress.
"It's an effect. This only happens with incredibly powerful bombs. A powerful cecaelia often recovers from a powerful bomb.", even as she said this, Atlantia had a hint of doubt on her face.
"She might not recover?" Eli asked, sweating terribly.
"Perhaps. Carry her to the empire." Atlantia ordered.
Eli picked up Ursula, who was shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly she went limp, and her eyes rolled back.
Eli froze in horror, desperation now clear on his face.
Macedon checked her pulse, then said,
"She's alive."
Eli's shoulder's slumped in relief as Atlantia checked her niece's temperature.
Eli hugged Ursula's small frame to himself, thinking about what Ursula would do if she were to wake up and find herself in his arms.
Probably punch me. Or hopefully pass out again.
Eli looked out into the sea, then back to the wrecked kingdom, amazed at how perfect the other side of the kingdom looked. There was not even a bit of rubble from the explosion. He looked down at Ursula.
If she finds out I carried her, she will beat me. Another bruise is better than seeing her like this, though.