Page 7 of Trapped By Claws
Corvin swam along beneath with a lazy backstroke, keeping pace with me. "Why is such a beautiful woman out here all alone anyway? Is there anyone out here protecting you?"
I set my jaw. "I take care of myself."
That was how it had been even before Mama and I left to find Erryn, my sister. Now it was even more true.
I dragged myself along the underside of the rope. Already my arms and legs burned. At least I was strong enough now.
I glanced out toward the ship. That dark reptilian shape sliced under the ship again, gliding like a shadow. It hadn't come closer to me. Or maybe it was more that it didn't want to come closer to Corvin.
As if he guessed my thoughts, he flung a handful of water up in the air. The droplets rained down on me. One rolled into my eye, making it sting. "You realize how precarious your situation is, don't you, darling?"
Rolling my eyes, I continued, gritting my teeth. "Do you realize how annoying you are?"
More laughter followed, along with another splash. His hand made a loud slap against the water the second time.
I clutched the rope tighter, shaking my head to clear my eyes. "You're behaving like such a child!"
"Really?" He swam a little ahead of me. "You know, I'm curious about this magical rope of yours. Dwarf made, I'm assuming. That's what they generally use. They don't have a weight limit, do they?"
Grumbling, I kept crawling. This was taking so much longer than I'd expected.
Another splash sent droplets of water raining down on me. I cringed, then yelped as the rope suddenly dipped, tipping me down headfirst.
I twisted my head to see Corvin hanging on the rope in front of me, suspended by only one arm.
My eyes widened. "What are you doing?"
With a casual wink, he lowered and then lifted himself, flexing his muscles with the movement. His long, sleek eel tail remained partially submerged in the water. "Now this is remarkable. It doesn't feel like the rope is strained even a little bit."
"Get off," I growled through gritted teeth, clenching my hands and knees tighter around the rope as I hung upside down.
"The rope can easily hold us both, darling." He continued to hold himself in the air, his tail sweeping back and forth in slow strokes. Then, with a tilt of his head, he ran the claws of his free hand along the fibers of the rope. "I don't think it'd be easy to cut either."
The rope creaked a little more, though not threatening to break. But the ship was pulling ahead. I had to move faster. "No. You can't cut it. It won't work," I lied.
"Pity for me. Bonus for you." He released his hand. That same smirking smile still on his face, he plunged back down under the waters.
I quickened my pace. My hands and ankles burned against the rope, but still, I twisted around just enough to check on where he was. Corvin had become nothing more than a darkform beneath the waters. He circled down with the easy grace of an apex predator before vanishing into the shadows. Tagger paddled toward the stone island where my rope was tethered.
Another hand's length forward.
If I could keep up this pace, I'd be back aboard the ship and safe in less than ten minutes. I could last that long, right?
"I think you're moving slower now. Are you getting tired, darling?" Corvin's voice sounded a little farther ahead now.
There he was again. The smug bastard.
A tremor in the rope snapped my attention back to the island.
Tagger stood on the top of the spire, sniffing the knot. He placed one paw on it.
Was he going to climb out on the rope with me? My muscles tightened. "No, it's not safe!" Six feet was a long way to fall for such a little otter, and that one bad paw of his might make his balance quite poor.
"Oh, so you do care?" Corvin sang out. "I knew it."
"Oh, shut up!" I adjusted my grip as I forced myself forward. "I don't care." That didn't mean I wanted to see the little creature hurt. Life had enough brutality as it was.
Tagger chirped, sitting up on the edge of the pillar.
