Excerpt: The Sea Above

I am the Queen's assassin, I was born to the role. But today will be my greatest failure. Our enemies have come upon us and we are too weak to resist. Today is the day we die.

They circled in the waters high above us.

I watched them, analysing their soldiers. Looking for the weak points. It took mere moments to pick out the forty-six true warriors. Scattered amongst them were nine who had not been born for the fight. The nine were smaller and more stocky than the rest. Without the necessary grace for the underwater fight. Fifty five in total. It would be a considerable battle.

'Note the nine?' I signalled to Brinka. She narrowed her eyes, examining the shiver of women. After a few moments she nodded briefly in my direction.

'Why have they come?' she asked.

I mulled over the possible answers. They could not have been brought along to scare us, for who would be fearful of a scavenger or guardian?

'They want revenge. They want to see us suffer at their hands. They'll hold back until towards the end, when the battle is closing. Perhaps even directing their warriors during the fight. They hope to help finish us off in the final moments.'

'Then it's as we feared.' she whispered. I nodded in agreement. They would take no prisoners save one. They wanted our seas, our territory and our queen.