Young Warriors Read Online Free PDF Page A

webbed and taloned finger.
    â€œThe stone? You want this?”
    She cocked her head and stared, then nodded once.
    â€œIf I give it to you, will you swear to take me back to my ship?”
    Again that slow nod.
    Fare reached for the chain to draw the stone over his head. There was a crackle like lightning, a flash and burning pain. He screamed, and sank helplessly. A hand reached down and drew him up. He and the mermaid stared at one another.
    The mermaid sighed. “You help,” she said, resignation in her lovely voice.
    Fare shuddered. “What do you want me to do?”
    What indeed?
Neesha wondered. This was madness! One mermaid warrior and one human boy against an island full of pirates and Creesi murderers. All because she
thought
it was what the magestone wanted.
    All right, I know the magestone wants it.
    Neesha pointed to the stone. “This help you. Give you breath below.”
    He looked at her uncomprehendingly.
    Holding her hand above the water, she said, “Breathe.” Then, with her hand, she mimicked diving. “Breathe, no fear.”
    â€œEasy for you to say,” he muttered.
    Neesha ducked beneath the surface, stretching her senses. Finding what she sought, she called a pod of the cousins to her, and soon she and the human were in the midst of a chittering, rollicking throng of dolphins. Neesha explained what she wanted and gained their delighted consent. Mischief of any kind was always to their taste.
    Fare tightened his grip on the mermaid. The frolicking pod looked somewhat alarming in the dark.
    â€œThey help,” she said to him. “You hold here.” She guided his hand to a dolphin’s sturdy fin. “Put . . .” She made a flickering gesture with two fingers.
    â€œLegs?” he asked.
    â€œOver.” She reached down and tugged his leg over the cousin’s body. “They take us.”
    â€œWhat—” he began. But the dolphins were off, and he was underwater and unable to ask
“What do we do when we
get there?”
    As they neared the island prison of the mage, Neesha emptied the pool of her mind, listening for other voices.
    To her amazement, there weren’t many Creesi near the island—perhaps ten in all, widely scattered. Fear grabbed her; they must have gone a-raiding in force, and here she was, miles from where she should be.
    Neesha forced her mind back to the problem at hand.
Ten is more than enough to be a problem. . . .
She probed deeper. Most were sleeping—over half in drugged dreams, she found to her relief—while four kept watch. Those who watched didn’t converse and she sensed anger and deep bitterness attached to their private thoughts.
    Only four. Maybe this could be done.
    There was a taint in the water that the cousins found disturbing, and so did she; it was at once oily and bitter.
    Moving carefully toward the wakeful guards, Neesha found that she was also approaching the source of the awful taint that soured the water. They came to a massive rock and she clung to it, gazing through the moonlit waters. At last she spied her quarry, four brawny mermen with heavy bronze tridents and nets weighted with lead sinkers around their waists.
    Doable,
she insisted to herself. Then she studied the area as she’d been taught. The Creesi floated before the mouth of a cave, and the seabed before it had been cleared of all cover. Only the cliff face itself could give them a chance to get close without being seen, but even that was feeble cover. The magestone was proving astonishingly potent, but it couldn’t make them invisible.
    Neesha considered. First she must rid herself temporarily of this clumsy human. So far, the outflow of rancid water had disguised her presence, but the thrashing progress of her companion was bound to attract notice.
    Pressing his hands to the rock that sheltered them, she leaned close and said into his ear, “Stay.”
    He looked at her, then nodded. Relieved,