Children of Poseidon: Rann Read Free Page B

good day then.
    “You sent for me?” he asked.
    For a brief instant, the mass of gleaming eyes regarded him with an expression of confusion. Her heads swivelled back to look into the darkness of her den. “Did I?”
    One of her heads concentrated on him, and the rest sank back into a state of rest, eyes closing, before they became invisible. “Yes. That’s right.” Strong, slender arms wrapped round him in a fond hug, before pushing him away.
    “Follow me.” She swam into the shadows, trailing long tentacles behind her.
    Rann changed his legs to a muscular tail and followed, adjusting his eyes to the darkness of the grotto. Cyclops shared her caves with a range of sea dwellers, and most of them had the ability to generate their own light, if they wanted to.
    She led the way into a large open cavern and stopped without warning. Rann stopped, too, before he swam into the net of her tentacles, and waited for her to explain what she wanted.
    She undulated in the water, sending small shock waves into Rann’s patient body. “Over there.” Her alert head swung to face the inner wall of the undersea cavern.
    Rann’s eyes followed it. He squinted into the murkiness.
    Cyclops had a prisoner.
    “What have you . . .?” He started to ask a question but shook his head and swam towards the figure.
    Glittering chains wound round the still form, creating a barrier between the prisoner and the world’s magic. The dull resonance told Rann they were nullsilver, the only element known to suppress magic. Where did Cyclops get this much nullsilver? And why does she have the chains in her lair at all?
    As though she read his thoughts, his mother moved forward with him. “Danger. Be careful, my son.” Her voice shook the depths. “She brought bad magic into the sea.”
    Rann wanted to ask why she still lived but guessed his mother didn’t understand why she hadn’t killed this intruder. “What is she?”
    Beneath the wrapping of chains, the emaciated body sagged. Hollow cheeks and stick-like arms suggested she hadn’t eaten for some time. Shadowy bruises surrounded one eye, and her dark hair had been cut close to her head. Scars decorated her scalp, visible through the stubble. She didn’t look dangerous.
    “Seawitch.” His mother pressed his arm, trying to tell him something. She touched the woman’s face with the palm of her hand.
    The prisoner didn’t move. Rann wondered if the weight of the chains immobilised her or if something more serious affected her.
    “Are you sure?” If his mother was right, this was the first seawitch Rann had seen in over a thousand years. He’d heard Circe still had a couple living in her Pacific home, but that might have been just a rumour. They’d become scarce after their creator, Damnamenos, had disappeared. He’d turned up nine years ago, stirred up some trouble, and gone quiet again. He wondered if Damnam had anything to do with this witch.
    It’s strange that he should return and this creature should suddenly appear. Rann glanced at his mother. “Bad magic?”
    “Death magic. Dark magic. Very dark.”
    Rann studied the prisoner.
    Dark magic? Is it possible she caused the mermaid’s death? And that of the porpoises and octopus? He wondered again why Cyclops hadn’t killed her.
    “What do you want me to do?” he asked. It didn’t do to take his mother for granted.
    “Take her away. Do whatever you have to.” She waved her arms in a shooing motion. “She might already be gone. Just a husk.”
    Rann winced. He knew what his mother meant. Sometimes the pressure of the magic within a witch’s body drove her mad and the spirit would flee the flesh, leaving an empty, but sometimes dangerous shell. A small percentage of magic users and magical beings fell prey to this malady, and Rann had learned that destroying the body solved the problem. Usually.
    In his kingdom, it was his job and not one he enjoyed, even though the bodies were empty vessels, discarded flesh. He examined the