return. Where was he? Surely the sharks didn’t eat him, or did they know what he was doing? Had one of the urchins gotten to Titan and told him of the king’s real plans? Lilliana put her head in her hands. She didn’t want to lose another friend today.
“Hey, you’ve got one sneaking out of your pants,” whispered a familiar voice.
Lilliana looked up and saw Spike’s bright eyes behind several purple spines. How had he managed to get three of the things?
“I thought you were going to be a shark snack,” Lilliana said.
“Naw, puffers make sharks sick, remember?”
Lilliana laughed and wiped her eyes. “Give me those things before they give you a stomachache,” she said. Lilliana put the urchins in her pocket. Seven of the urchins were now pricking her skin through her pantaloons. Lilliana saw a flash of light and purple from above and looked up at the rock behind her. There was an urchin crawling over the edge of the boulder.
“I told you it was getting out of your pocket,” said Spike. Just then they heard loud voices from the cave. They pushed against each other to peek through the crack in the rocks. Lilliana was glad the puffer was next to her. Her heart was still beating wildly and she fanned her gills.
In the light from the cave they saw shadows and could hear arguing.
“I told you they would all be asleep,” spoke a familiar voice. Lance. Lilliana’s heart skipped a beat. He made it here alive.
“Where are the guards?” a shark growled.
“They’re by the castle. The mermen are supposed to guard this cave,” Lance said.
“The urchins said there were always two sailfish guarding the cave.”
“You believe them over me? Urchins? Truly they just saw me swimming around the cave. I love to eat those delicious purple things and I’m sure I looked like two fish to the urchins. In fact I wouldn’t mind snacking on one of them now.” Lance quickly reached down and crunched on one of the spiny purple things before it could scurry out of reach.
“Stop that!” the shark said and he smacked Lance in the head with his tail. “Those urchins are for His Darkness and not for eating, especially not by sail-scum like you.”
Lance put his sail and his tail down and he looked almost as injured as he had in the cell.
“Show me the path to the town and the one to the castle. After we capture all the royal subjects we’ll need to know the way to your king,” the shark snickered. “If you’re really good, I might even let you have a cookie.” Lilliana shivered at the remark and she saw Lance sag his shoulders even more. The cookie-cutter shark would set the others into a frenzy of bloodlust if he cut Lance here.
Lance lowered his voice and whispered to the shark. Lilliana sat back down with her back to the cave, and looked at her pocket of urchins. Lance took care of one urchin, which left two, plus the one that escaped her pocket. There were no more sounds from the cave so Lilliana looked down. There was nothing at the entrance and the cave had become dark again. The water still swished with the tails of the king’s army. All were waiting patiently for the king’s command to attack.
Spike spotted another urchin headed for the castle path. He swooped down over the creature, grabbed it in his mouth and brought it back to Lilliana. She looked at the cave, waiting for the shadows to move. Another urchin was moving towards the cave entrance, and this one had something bright on its back. Was that a glow worm? No! It was her crystal. The creature had taken it from her pocket and was taking it to the sharks. If they knew that she had made it back to the king then they would suspect a trap.
“Get that urchin!” she whispered harshly to Spike.
Spike flipped over the rocks, down the path and picked up the urchin in his teeth. He looked up at Lilliana with the creature hanging out of his mouth by a spine and winked at her. A tiger shark rushed out of the cave and snapped Spike’s tail in his teeth. The shark flipped the little fish hard against the entrance to the cave and Spike fell limply to the ground in a small heap. The urchin was in pieces and the crystal lay next to Spike’s head.
Out swam another shark large enough to block most of the cave and Lilliana caught her gills. It was Titan. He turned and addressed those still in the cave.
“Darkness has come to Star Shadow and that darkness is me. Let’s show these wimpy fish and air-gulpers what real power is and we shall make this sea our own. Kill who you can and eat what you like. Follow me!”
Sharks began pouring out of the cave. Lilliana looked over to the king and she saw his head and fins in the air, silently holding back his troops. The clearing quickly filled with sharks of all shapes and sizes. The sharks turned toward the village path. Their eyes glowed with bloodlust and their teeth gnashed together like rocks against metal. They merged into a line as they entered the narrow path that led to the harmless families and schools of small fish. The king’s head went up just a bit and his golden crown glowed like the sun.
“Now!” the king said and thunder rumbled from the rocks. The water rippled in pulses and the sailfish swarmed over the top of the rocks cutting off dorsal fins to immobilize their enemies. The swords flashed against sharp teeth in the dim light. The water began to fill with red and Lilliana could see little as the fish thrashed in the whirlpool that had once been a clearing.
The churning began to slow and Lilliana’s stomach sank as she heard the wicked laughter rise from below.
“You’ll have to use more than swords if you want to defeat me Nereus!” Titan said. He rose over the clearing and Lilliana saw torn and battered fish lying on the sand below. Broken swords and torn sails were lying with smaller sharks on the floor. There were still dozens of the huge sharks swimming and circling. Their eyes were glazed and red and their teeth had bits of the battle still in them. Titan roared and lunged forward, and his team of sharks followed.
The dolphins rose and rushed at the sharks. Teeth clashed against teeth and fins clashed against flukes. Every time a shark would try to break through to the king, a group of dolphins would attack in formation. They would beat the shark’s snout, punch his eyes, flip him, and hit a spot behind his skull to immobilize him. The sharks had mighty strength, but the dolphins had discipline. Several sharks rushed towards the line of dolphins only to be defeated again and again. Great white sharks rose up out of the cave. Lilliana gasped. She had not seen these sharks before. They were as big as Titan and just as evil. They bared their teeth and formed an arrow. The giant sharks attacked the dolphins with their teeth and their tails. Never had Lilliana seen creatures so big move so fast.
The great white sharks surrounded Nereus and Doris. Titan swam from behind them and the sharks parted letting Titan swim just in front of the king and queen. The circles of light above their heads still shone, but not as brightly.
“Where is your precious Morning Star now?” Titan said. The circle of sharks laughed. “It looks like Star Shadow has become Shark Shadow. That sounds about right to me. It’s time to give me your kingdom. Admit that there is no mighty star, surrender to me and I might let some of your citizens live.”
“I will never bow down to evil,” the king said, lifting his head.
Titan laughed. “Show him how to bow, Judas.” A huge shark swam up above the group and dove down fast slamming into the king’s head. King Nereus fell to the floor of the ocean, his body limp and blood flowing from his ear hole. Queen Doris rushed to his side and nudged him with her snout.
“You will never see the star’s light,” she said to the shark looking up from her husband’s side. “Though all those with you will have a choice to make, you will only have darkness.” As she spoke those words a rumbling came from the mouth of the cave. It sounded like the cavalry in Atlantis, but that couldn’t be right. Everyone stared as the lights from the cave came on and then the water was filled with glow worms. Through the light came Spectrum charging like thunder through the bright cloud of worms. He stopped at the entrance for a mo
ment until his eyes landed on Titan and the king.
“It can’t be,” a shark whispered.
“I know he was dead,” another one whispered.
Spectrum lowered his head and charged at the shark, half-swimming, half-galloping across the field. Titan’s eyes grew large and he bared his teeth.
“Stop that horse!” he ordered to the other sharks. They paused and hesitantly swam towards Spectrum. The horse tossed his head and looked them in the eye. Several sharks turned tail and swam away, deserting their cause. Spectrum swam above and thundered down on the two closest sharks, his hooves beating in their heads. As they dropped to the floor, Titan faced Spectrum.
“You cannot take away my victory!” Titan yelled and he snarled as he lashed his teeth at Spectrum. The horse backed to the side and Titan turned around to come at him again. This time the shark aimed for the horse’s heart. His teeth missed their mark, but they closed around Spectrum’s front hooves.
“No!” shouted Lilliana swimming out of her hiding place. Titan swung the horse around by his legs and he flew through the water and landed in front of the cave. Spectrum lay on his side breathing hard with his front legs barely attached. Lilliana looked down and spotted the crystal between her horse and Spike. It was still glowing. Was the Morning Star was still with