Page 30 of From the Myths of Kings

“Thank you all for making these arrangements,” Hasana said gratefully from the head of the table. “I believe the heist will go off without a hitch and?” her voice cut off as the cabin jerked abruptly under their feet. The ship lurched to the side as a particularly steep wave crashed over the deck. Saoirse lost her balance and careened across the captain’s quarters as the floor tilted.

“Hel’s teeth!” Neia cursed, grasping hold of the table as the ship leaned to a sharp angle. Loose papers and quills went sliding across the floorboards. Glass ink pots shattered, sending sprays of dark liquid across the cabin. The swinging lantern broke from the ceiling and smashed onto the floor. The cabin was suddenly drenched in darkness as swiftly as a candle snuffed out.

The hull groaned as the ship pitched to the opposite side, accompanied by a guttural shriek of thunder that rumbled through Saoirse’s bones. She pushed herself to her knees and crawled over to a built-in shelf, heaving herself upright as the ship continued to thrash on the waves like a fish caught on a line. A piece of glass from the shattered lantern bit into her palm. She stumbled over to the rain-slicked windows and peered out. Another deafening bellow of thunder reverberated through the ship as she watched the ocean swell outside.

Saoirse’s stomach dropped.

That wasn’t thunder.

Through the curtain of heavy rain, she could make out a dark shape under the swollen waves. She caught sight of a scaled tail snaking through the water, as thick as one of their masts and armored with spikes that could cleave through the hull’s wood like a knife through soft butter.

“We’re under attack!” She screamed over the storm. “There’s something out there!”

Hasana gasped from where she huddled in the corner of the cabin, her luminous brown eyes wide with fear. Neia surged toward the window with her hand already gripping the hilt of her sword.

“Titans.” Her voice came out in a whisper as she watched the tail vanish under the waves. Neia straightened and lifted her chin, slipping on the commander’s armor of stalwart confidence as easily as fastening a cloak to her shoulders.

“Get Hasana to the galleys below deck,” Neia ordered coolly, turning toward Noora. “Take him too.” She jerked her head toward Tezrus, who crouched in the corner of the cabin. His ghostly-white eyes gleamed with terror. “Adresin and Rymir, prepare the cannons and make sure every soldier is armed. Saoirse, come with me.”

In a dream-like state, Saoirse followed Neia out of the captain’s quarters, bracing herself against the corridor as the ship continued to lurch back and forth. Her heart thundered violently in her chest. Was this one of Selussa’s beasts? What could their small merchant ship do against a titanic sea monster? There were only four cannons aboard. It wasn’t a vessel of war designed for battle on the high seas. They’d chosen the ship for its speed and stealth, not for its militant capacity.

It was pure chaos on the main deck. A torrent of rain battered the ship and the wind howled like a harpy from the Underworld. Cold rain stung Saoirse’s cheeks as she sprinted to the ship’s railing. She squinted through the deluge, bracing herself as a huge tidal wave crested the taffrail and sloshed across the deck, soaking her to the bone. From somewhere below the ship, the unseen monster slammed into the hull and the entire ship lurched to the side. She fought to stay upright as loose barrels and crates careened down the quarterdeck and nearly collided into her.

When the crashing waves momentarily receded, ship hands fought to lash down anything loose and rebel soldiers swarmed the deck, armed with bows and longswords. Any bowstrings that weren’t oiled or waxed against the rain would be useless. Then again, she wasn’t sure how much good a tiny arrow would be against a thickly-armored sea creature that dwarfed their small ship.

Saoirse spared a glance over the railing again and her stomach dropped to her toes. A bolt of lightning sputtered against the storm-choked sky and briefly illuminated the beast lurking below the waves. The creature was massive. Its dark form was hidden beneath the churning sea, but its vague outline spread out below the ship like a veritable landmass. She could make out the suggestion of curling tentacles snaking through the water. And suddenly, a set of wide jaws were diving upward out of the darkness like a nightmare come to life.

Saoirse hurled herself backward as the beast broke the surface of the ocean with a roar that nearly deafened her. The colossal creature rose out of the water, stretching level with the central mast. She’d never seen anything like it in the Maeral Sea. It looked like a great serpent, limbless save for the tentacles that sprouted out of its scaled body like roots from a tree. Its serpentine body looped in and out of the ocean like a thick rope. Its face?if one could even call it that?was split by a wide jaw that unhinged to reveal rows of gleaming teeth that could break steel. Black eyes were sunken in its skull, too small for its impossibly large head. Saoirse instinctually knew the slimy beast was ancient, kept imprisoned in the Fretum for Titans knew how long until Selussa had released it from its archaic prison and set it upon the sea to wreak havoc.

From somewhere behind Saoirse, a volley of arrows was loosed. Most of them fell before they could strike the beast as the wind tore them from the air, but a handful embedded into the beast’s thick scales. They looked like inconsequential splinters against the monster’s armored hide. Neia yelled orders over the storm, readying her soldiers for another strike. But before more arrows could be released, the beast’s writhing tentacles snapped forward and wrapped around anything they could find on the deck, including screaming people. Saoirse ducked as one tentacle shot toward her, barely missing the bone-like hook that jutted out of the limb. She unsheathed her sword and hacked at the groping tentacle before it could find purchase in her flesh. Black blood spurted out of the flailing limb as the tentacle slid back over the railing and disappeared into the waves.

Saoirse’s feet were knocked out from under her as something hit her from behind. She pushed to her feet and watched as the beast yanked a Tellusun soldier down the deck, two hooked tentacles wrapped around the flailing woman’s legs. She tore at the deck as it yanked her down the length of the ship, her fingernails slipping against the soaked wood. The woman braced her feet on the taffrail and planted her sword into the deck as a last-ditch effort to stay aboard, screaming as the monster pulled her backward. Its hooked tentacles dug into her legs, lashing down to the bone.

Saoirse ran to the woman and started cutting through the tentacles. The black blood that sprayed across her face was quickly washed away by another tidal wave that surged over the ship. Another tentacle shot out and Saoirse spun away, but not before it grazed her shoulder. She bit back a scream as she felt the hook slice clean through her skin like a needle puncturing fabric. It dove for her again and she blocked the attack, hacking the tentacle in half. The beast made no cry of pain as the severed limbs flopped lifelessly to the deck.

Saoirse tried to help the Tellusun woman to her feet, but her legs were torn to shreds, bright crimson pooling on the deck through her tattered linen trousers. Saoirse resorted to dragging her limp body to the hold’s entrance where Hasana would be able to treat her below deck. All around them, rebel soldiers fought off writhing tentacles, some more successfully than others. Crates exploded into splinters as the beast crushed anything in its path. Torn riggings swayed from the masts as its twisting limbs ripped through the tangle of ropes.

Saoirse finally made it to the hatch that led down to the hold and threw open the wooden door. A steady flow of blood leaked from the unconscious Tellusun soldier and stained the wet deck. Noora suddenly appeared on the staircase and pulled the injured woman from Saoirse’s shoulders. If Noora was horrified by the soldier’s mangled legs, she didn’t show it as she hauled her down the stairs without looking back. Golden light faintly emanated from the descending corridor, evidence of Hasana’s healing magic as more injured were collected from the deck and sent below. Saoirse slammed the hatch door closed and turned back to the carnage.

The crack of cannon fire reverberated through the ship, mirroring the peal of thunder that rumbled from the sky. The sea monster bellowed as the cannonball struck its serpentine abdomen, a spine-chilling shriek that drowned out the torrential downpour. The scent of searing flesh and pungent smoke permeated the deck as another cannonball was fired. The attack merely enraged the ancient monster further. It swung its great head toward the ship with a sickening lurch, unhinging its dreadful jaw. To Saoirse’s horror, it thrust its head forward like a predatory eel and closed its teeth around a Terradrin soldier, plucking him right from the deck and diving back into the water in a flash. As the beast hurled itself back into the ocean, the force of its descent caused the waves to spill over the main deck, washing several hapless soldiers over the side, their screams faint on the wind.

Cold dread burned in Saoirse’s chest. With the monster below sea level, they wouldn’t be able to attack it with cannon fire. The vulnerable underside of the hull was exposed.

They were utterly helpless.

“What’s our next move?” Adresin came bounding up from below deck, his white hair plastered to his skull as the rain continued to beat down in spades. “There’s no use in cannon fire if the beast strikes from below.”

Neia breathed heavily. Her cool composure showed cracks as she scanned the gore smeared on the deck, wide eyes taking in the pieces of tentacles twitching in pools of blood. The reality of their situation was as bleak as the storm clouds rolling overhead. She turned to Saoirse. “How do your Torqen soldiers combat such sea monsters?”

“I’ve never faced anything like this before. This must be one of the cursed beasts Selussa freed from the Fretum. I’ve only ever fought against giant squids or sharks. There’s nothing we can do if we remain above water.”

“Hel’s teeth,” Neia breathed. “So much for Sune’s diversion. Our only chance is to flee at this point. This ship wasn’t made for combat, but we might be able to increase our speed.” It was an outlandish plan and they all knew it. With the wind tearing across the deck and the riggings in shambles, they wouldn’t be moving any time soon.

Saoirse didn’t have a chance to reply. Something wrapped around her foot and flung her across the deck. The wind was knocked from her lungs as her back hit the main mast. Within seconds, she flew over the edge of the railing before she could process that a tentacle had coiled around her leg.

Suddenly she was in the water.

She choked on the sea as it flooded her lungs, her instincts telling her to breathe. Disoriented, she tumbled through the churning waves for what seemed like years. The sea had always felt like an old friend, but these waves felt strange and hostile. She fought to get her bearings. She was being pulled through the water at an alarming speed, hurtling toward a dark form unspooling in the darkness. She spared a glance upward and watched as a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky and silhouetted the bobbing ship above. It looked so small from down here, fraught and insignificant against the fathomless ocean.

---