The Echidna's Scale (Alchemy's Apprentice) by Jeffrey Quyle Read Free Book Online Page B

call for your merman friend,” the dolphin suggested.
    “Kreewhite!” Marco called aloud in the air, then he put his face in the water and called as well, in both the human language and then in the language of the dolphins.
    “Kreewhite, my arnelli!” Marco shouted again.
    “Who calls?” came a faint voice from off in the distance, the storm making it impossible to judge how close.
    “Kreewhite, it’s me, Marco!  My friends and I need shelter from the storm,” Marco answered, hoping his voice penetrated the sound of the rain and the waves.
    Moments later a shape rushed at him from out of the dark, and Kreewhite grabbed him in a hug as Porenn screamed in surprise at the sudden appearance of the merboy.
    “What are you doing here?” Kreewhite asked.
    “The dolphins were taking us across the sea, and the storm came along, so we started to look for a safe place to wait,” Marco explained.
    “Come into our village,” Kreewhite said.  He placed his head underwater and had a conversation with the dolphins.
    “We’re going to the mermen’s village to get out of the storm,” Marco shouted to his two companions, as the dolphins started following Kreewhite through the dark waters.
    The dolphins suddenly made a sharp veer to the left, then after ten seconds came back to the right, and suddenly the wind and the waves diminished dramatically in the dark, leaving only the rain as an indicator of the storm around them.  The dolphins went on, and stopped after another minute.
    “This is shallow water,” Marco’s dolphin told him, just as Kreewhite appeared. 
    “You can climb up on land here, Marco.  There’s a beach just ahead,” their host pointed to a slightly pale patch close by.  “And you can find shelter in the trees.  Our wise man says the storm will pass before sunset tomorrow.”
    Marco and the humans ran up onto the sandy beach, then entered the trees beyond.  The three of them huddled together in a soggy pile beneath a heavy bush that gave minimal protection from the rain.  They fell asleep fitfully, and then awoke when gray light penetrated through the canopy overhead at the arrival of dawn.
    Marco awoke first, fittingly, as he lay on the top of the pile.  He was lying partially on top of Glaze, who in turn was crushing Porenn beneath himself.  Marco cautiously stood up, and awoke the other two in the process, so that they opened their eyes and saw him standing above them in the misty light, as the rain temporarily lightened to drizzle.
    Porenn turned her head and saw that Glaze’s face was just inches from her own, and she blushed.  “We should get up,” she spoke to her companion, then sighed in relief as he stood up.  He offered her his hand and assisted her to her feet.
    Together the three of them walked through the darkness under the trees to the lighter area to the west, where the beach opened up, and they stopped walking and stood looking in astonishment at the once-in-a-lifetime scene that was displayed before them.
    The beach led down to a well-sheltered cove, one that was only two hundred yards across, and well protected from the sea by a spit of sandy land that held scrubby bushes on low sand dunes.    Within the circular waters of the cove, a large number of structures were built.  There were clearly homes – houses just as much as any village of houses would have been identifiable had they been on land.
    Yet these houses were built in the water.  Their walls erupted from the surface of the cove and rose only a few truncated feet before their roofs provided protection from the elements overhead.  They were built in a semicircle around the perimeter of the cove, absent on the seaward side, and their doors all faced towards the center of the cove.
    “What is this place, Marco?” Glaze asked.
    “This is a village of the merpeople.  My friend Kreewhite lives here,” Marco answered.
    “Have you been here before?  You really know mermaids?” Porenn asked in