Page 27 of Dragons' Bride
“Prince Hauck,” Dane calls to where Hauck is helping a group of seamen wrangle a sail. “Might I impose on your skills with wood?" As he explains the situation to Hauck, Dane moves my hand to a different rope for support. A moment later, someone shouts an order and my original handhold moves to a different location. Dane’s calm competence is infectious and reminds me of Cyril.
"Deck there!” A seaman calls from the lookout platform. “Danger off starboard!”
I turn alongside the others and suddenly understand what made the piranha’s back away. Lapping in and out of the water is a creature that turns my insides to liquid. Nearly as large as the Phoenix itself, the thing has a long, scaled black body lined with slithering tentacles, red billowing gills, and crimson eyes. Its elongated snout resembles a crocodile's, if crocodiles had cruel looking spikes running along the head and spine. When it leaps up out of the waves, I see massive batlike wings tucked against its body and four limbs with vicious claws.
Several sailors make signs against evil, the sudden dread on the deck so palpable that even I can taste its bitter scent.
“What is that?” I whisper.
"Shadow serpent," Dane says, his face tight.
Nora tugs on my sleeve. "We should go below."
I shake my head, ordering her to go without me. I don’t know what good I can do staying on deck, but I know that I can do none if I’m not here to try.
Dane turns to Tavias, his voice low. “I will try to fight the serpent off, but Your Highnesses should be prepared to take to the skies if I am not successful.”
Tavias frowns. "I was under the impression that one dragon shifting on deck in calm seas was a grave hazard to the ship. How do you propose the four of us do so safely in the middle of an assault?"
Dane’s barely audible voice is as hard as steel. “If the serpent gets through our defenses, there will be no ship to keep safe, my prince. I do not know why the warding runes on our hull are not working, but clearly they are not. Be ready.” Without waiting for an answer, Dane turns away and raises his voice. "Load the starboard guns. Let us discourage the serpent from coming any closer."
Three gun crews rush to load the great cannons I've only seen fired in practice before. The gun captains’ shout orders, their faces grim with focus.
"Run the cartridge!"
"Shot and wad!"
"Run out the gun!" At that last bellow, the sailors strain against the ropes, heaving the cannon into position.
The shadow serpent is closing with every heartbeat, and my breath stills in my chest as I wait for the order to fire.
“Steady,” Dane calls. “Steady.”
My nerves stretch. The serpent snaps its jaws. They are so big, I imagine it could break the mast in two.
“Fire on the uproll!” Dane orders finally.
Tavias’s arms come around me as the deafening blasts of the great guns go off in unison. The acrid smell of gunpowder and the taste of smoke fills the air, ramming my lungs. The ship bucks beneath me, pressing me against the prince’s strong body.
“Reload,” Dane calls, and my heart sinks as I realize the initial shots hadn’t found their elusive target. The guns aren’t made for things that disappear beneath the ocean and then jump into the air. “Fire at will.”
The seamen rush to obey, pushing the cartridges into place with long ramrods and bringing the guns to bear. This time, the deafening blasts are staggered, each gun captain doing his best to negotiate the storm-tossed waves and the elusive beast. The ship shudders with the force of each recoil. The crew barely flinches while I jump with each belch.
Just then, a wave crests above us, showing its foamy belly before crashing onto the deck. Cold water drenches me, the salt stinging my eyes and making me temporarily blind. Only Tavias’s grip keeps me from losing my footing altogether.
"Brace for impact!"
I don’t know who the warning comes from, but the words cut through the cacophony of crashing waves and snapping sails. One arm still around me, Tavias wraps another around one of the masts just as the monstrous sea creature twists and whips its massive tail against the frigate's hull.
The impact reverberates through the ship. The Phoenix spins around like a toy. The male at the helm is thrown aside as the wheel spins. His head cracks and he does not rise again. Two more males and Quinton rush to take up the helmsman’s post, the veins in their forearms bulging as they fight to regain control.
Cyril is shaking now, exhaustion straining each line of his face. The ship rolls to the side, more and more and more. A tug of war between the dragon prince’s failing magic and the torrential waves trying to capsize us in the blue abyss.
Cyril roars and drops to his knees, as the wave that was going to tip us over flattens at the last moment. I draw a relieved breath – only to scream as the shadow serpent unleashes its tail again.
Timbers groan and the heart chillingpopof something breaking shoots through the deck.
“The main mast is coming down!” someone shouts.
