And it is red.
My scarred hand trembles as I reach out, carefully working the delicate fabric free from the jagged rock. It's a recruit's mesh vest, exactly the kind of useless, transparent uniform they issue to the light infantry. Exactly the kind they would give to the bait.
The crimson is so bright it seems to glow in the gloom. I hold it up to the faint light filtering down from above, then bring it to my face, my gills fluttering in disbelief.
It's not Vaelis.
The blood lacks the familiar notes of crushed pearls and his natural sweetness. This belongs to another recruit, another Red.
But the horrifying realization hits me with the devastating force of a collapsing trench wall.
The elders initiated the draft. They are throwing their brightest, most visible citizens into the dark to draw enemy fire. They are using Command Red.
I look toward the east. The distant shuddering of battle continues, a steady rhythm through the cold water.
Then I look down at the shell. Bolt and Pip wait inside, anxious for me to clear the snag so we can run deeper, away from the war. I could join them. I could disappear into the crushing darkness where even war drums cannot reach.
But the red silk in my shaking hand holds me fast.
You are a signal,I had told him in the quiet dark of the vent field.That there is something in the dark worth burning for.
He is out there on the continental shelf right now. He is terrified. He is desperately waiting for a monster to find him.
I can't be silent. Not about this.
My fist clenches around the vest, the delicate fabric straining against my fingers. I push off the spire, propelling myself back into the shell.
Bolt looks up from his copper cage, his blue light casting long shadows. "Are we clear to run?"
I shake my head fiercely, a sharp, violent motion that sends my hair floating around my face.
I swim directly to the copper cage, the water churning with my movement. I slam the red vest against on the ground near the heavy copper bars, the impact sending a dull vibration through the water.
Bolt recoils slightly, his blue light flaring with the sudden movement. "What is that?"
I point to the vest. My finger sweeps east, toward the distant battle. Then I turn the finger toward my own chest, a gesture of absolute certainty.
He is there.
Bolt examines the fabric, his golden eyes narrowing. I see recognition dawn in his expression. The transparent mesh of a bait uniform, the crimson color of sacrifice. His eyes lift to my face, to the murderous, feral expression that must be twisting my features.
"Your Royal?" he asks quietly, the mental words barely a whisper of static. "He is in the meat-grinder out there?"
I nod once. My hands tremble with raw adrenaline and protective fury, a storm building beneath my skin.
Bolt sighs, a long crackling exhale that sends blue sparks dancing through the water. The light in his copper cage dims, then flares white-hot, blinding with raw, terrifying power.
"Well then," Bolt's vibrating voice shifts, the cynical grumble replaced by something harder. "I suppose running deeper into the dark is boring anyway."
He unfurls his length, the copper pipes humming with a high-pitched vibration that sets my teeth on edge. The engine groans as the electrical current surges through its rusted pistons.
"You want to go back to the front lines?" he asks, his golden eyes locking onto mine, burning with an intensity that matches the crackling energy around him.
I don't nod. I grab a heavy piece of scrap metal from the floor and smash it against the hull of the shell with a dull thud that vibrates through my entire body. YES.
"Alright, alright," Bolt snaps, sending a bright shockwave through the water that makes my gills flutter. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to manually calibrate a combustion flow valve without opposable thumbs? It's a sheer nightmare. And quit that, you'll crack the shell."
A grin splits his face—terrifying, jagged, alive with pure destructive electricity. "Hold on tightly, shark. I've never driventhis thing directly into an active warzone before. Let's see what she can actually do against a shield wall."
