For a moment, everyone froze. No sound. Another moment. Nothing. Then, a sailor shouted, “Look!”
I leaned over Twig’s shoulder. The water between the Disreputable Prince and another pirate frigate began to bubble. Not good.
“Twig!” I yelled, just as he dropped to avoid a hail of harpoons. I held on for dear life. What I wouldn’t give for our mental link!
The bubbling water now spread between the two frigates, and waves crashed against the hulls. Both listed perilously.
Twig winged back toward our fleet as a large spout of water shot into the air. Only it wasn’t really a spout.
An enormous transparent tentacle broke the surface and slammed into the stern of Beckett’s ship. Boards creaked, and part of the railing on the deck collapsed under the slimy limb’s weight. A dozen more tentacles broke the surface, some flailing, some aiming for the Disreputable Prince or the frigate on its other side.
“Kraken!” a terror-filled voice yelled over the sounds of the battle.
Burn me! Could it be? A creature I’d believed a myth. No one had seen a kraken in recent history. Yet the witches had summoned one forth.
A tentacle slithered up the Disreputable Prince’s mizzenmast as another crashed onto the deck, scattering pirates and coming perilously close to the sailing master and the helm. A large, misshapen head broke the water’s surface. With four elongated, watery eyes, a malformed beak, and a see-through body gleaming from the sun, it was a terror to behold. Its flailing limbs continued to attack our ship and its neighbor.
Crack! The top of our mizzenmast snapped, the tentacle and ropes the only thing keeping it from crashing to the deck.
The tingling in my bracer let me know Beckett poured more magic into the ship’s defense. No way they’d hold against that.
Her magical barrier dissolved under the kraken’s thrashing, leaving the Disreputable Prince open to attack.
Pie leapt from Beckett’s shoulder, flying directly to us. Twig met him part way, keeping out of ballista range. Pie landed on Twig’s neck, curses only a pirate would know spilling from his beak.
“At least it be no demon this time,” Pie said, once his swearing tapered off. “I plan to take them shields down. Fer that’s what that witchy light be. The foul creature won’t attack the witches, only the pirates. But I need ye to keep the beast from me ship.”
“You got it. Be careful.” I put out my fist, and he bumped it with a clawed foot.
“These picaroons won’t know what hit ’em.” He dove.
Though not as fast as Two-Toes’ seagulls, he closed the distance to the enemy galleon now closest to the Disreputable Prince and slipped through their shield like it didn’t exist. Guess it wasn’t meant to keep ghosts out, either.
Even from the clouds, I could see Beckett’s body shaking from the effort to deflect the witches’ attacks and reform her defenses. A brave pirate swung a cutlass at the closest tentacle. The blade stuck. The sailor yanked, but the tentacle raised and crashed back down on top of the man. Large yellowish suckers on the tentacles attached to the fallen pirate and blood, bits of bone—and other things I didn’t want to think about—began flowing up the transparent limb as the creature digested the man. Yeesh. Ick.
While it was busy eating, Twig attacked. A stream of fire hit the kraken in its hideous maw. It roared, its skin blistering and turning a milky white. I gagged from the stench of burned flesh and rotting fish.
The monster’s tentacles withdrew from the frigates, all aimed now at Twig’s swooping figure. The kraken had to be at least three times Twig’s size, though I’d lay a lot of gold on my dragon’s chances. Twig dodged one tentacle, singed another with his fire. The creature shrieked and sent even more arms his way. How many limbs did this creature have?
Twig zipped skyward, one tentacle catching his leg as he rose and sending us tumbling.
Times like these I thanked my lucky stars Twig wasn’t a typical dragon. His fairy wings fluttered madly, stopping our spin. He darted backward, something a normal dragon could never do. Spewing more fire, he passed over the monster again. He led the kraken away from our ship and toward the armada.
The witches tried to take advantage of Twig’s lack of attention and fired on us anew with harpoons and bolas. They missed their mark.
“Look!” The light encompassing the other armada galleons winked out on the nearest one. “Pie must have short-circuited the witches’ protection.”
Twig led the beast right toward the witches’ ship. Alarms blazed, and the spells aimed at our fleet turned toward Twig and the kraken as the ship tried to come around. The spells had more effect on the monster, since it didn’t have Twig’s magical abilities. Gashes opened on its hide, a clear gelatinous fluid seeping out. Seemed to piss it off. It howled and swung its tentacles at the ship. Breaking off from its battle with Twig, its limbs hugged the galleon, its beaklike maw snapping off the figurehead and part of the bow as it rose from the sea.
Holy hydra’s fire, the beast was huge! All its might now focused on the galleon. Should give Beckett and her crew a respite. The Disreputable Prince couldn’t back off without exposing its unguarded stern, though.
The kraken wrapped itself fully around the enemy galleon, tentacles breaking off masts and suctioning to the ship’s sides. Loud cracks followed as the galleon’s hull broke apart from the pressure.
Twig took advantage of the monster’s distraction to dive toward an enemy galleon that had come alongside the farthest ship in our fleet. Probably hoping to get behind us. The smaller sloop could outmaneuver the galleon but it just didn’t have enough firepower to actually stop it.
A fierce battle raged on the deck of the little sloop. Captain Lore swung a huge broadsword instead of the cutlass pirates typically carried. His targets weren’t human.
Shell golems. The forms appeared oddly humanlike, though they lacked eyes or a mouth. Leglike appendages carried them slowly across the deck, and they didn’t carry any swords, using their razor-like shelled arms to cut through flesh and bone. I’d never seen anything like them.
How had they boarded the sloop?
As we circled, a shell golem methodically climbed down the side of the galleon, its shells adhering to the hull, before it flung itself at the side of the sloop. It stuck.
Then began to climb.
Twig dipped low and snatched the golem from the side of the ship, dropping it into the sea. He’d grunted as his talons closed over it. I smelled the coppery tang of blood. Dammit, those shells must be sharp to cut through his hide. I patted his neck. We’d need a different plan. The crew fought valiantly, yet it took four or five pirates with cutlasses to take out a single shell golem. Lore held his own with his broadsword, though he couldn’t single-handedly cut down the creatures.
Twig couldn’t torch them without endangering the sloop. Since I’d used Scrodbun’s war hammer on their scout ship, I knew what would work. I caressed my bracer.
“Drop me on deck, Twig, then torch that galleon.”
He shook his thick dragon skull. Now was not the time to go all protector on me. I ground my teeth. Tried again.
“They need help. I know what to do. Trust me.”
Twig hovered in place for a long moment before a large, overly dramatic sigh escaped. I didn’t need our mental link to know the expletives he’d be spouting if he were in human form. Patting his neck again, I urged him to hurry.
He didn’t know it, but his faith gave me the extra courage I’d need to confront these creatures without magic. He flitted over the Ill Repute’s deck. I swung off his shoulders, landing behind a golem coming up on Captain Lore as the fierce pirate fought another. Holding out my arm, palm up, my bracer reacted, reformed.
Scrodbun’s war hammer shimmered in my fist. Rounded ends on a tarnished metal head, and a thick, long handle wrapped in well-worn leather made the weapon seem like any other. Yet, anyone who thought this weapon average would rue the day.
I didn’t have time to marvel, since a golem
was about to slice Lore in half. I ran at the creature, screaming to draw its attention. The golems were mighty but slow. Before it could fully turn, I brought the hammer down on its back.
Not only did the hammer smash through the shells, it rang, vibrating through the creature. An explosion of shells and magic threw me backwards onto the deck. I rolled, coming to my feet.
Yaaass! Sprinting toward another golem and the three pirates who were getting slowly shredded, I swung the hammer again. Like with the last, the golem blew apart, the pirates shielding their faces from the sharp points of the shells.
The fighting raged on. Between Lore’s broadsword and my hammer, we picked them off.
An explosion and large ball of flame let us know Twig successfully torched the galleon. The fire must have destroyed the ship’s magic because a moment later the remaining golems froze. The shells then suddenly fell apart, pinging against the deck as the magic that animated them vanished. The pirates cheered, though they’d taken heavy losses.
Captain Lore strode toward me and held out a hand. We clasped forearms.
“Mighty fine timing, Quinn. For a moment there, I was plumb worried. If you and that dragon of yours ever jump ships, the Ill Repute would be proud to welcome y’all on board.”
“Can I tell Beckett you said that?” I grinned.
Lore winced. “Perhaps we can keep that little invite between the two of us pirates? A gentleman’s agreement, if you will.”
We both chuckled before a loud shriek sounded over the battle. Kraken tentacles wrapped around another enemy galleon—more than half of the ships didn’t have that weird light surrounding them now—and it had towed the witches’ ship almost to the Disreputable Prince. The stern chaser was nowhere to be seen, and the creature had forced Beckett away from the stern to better defend her ship. She aimed spells at the tentacles. Harpoons fired repeatedly from both the ballista deck and the large ones midship. None slowed it down.
Twig bellowed.
I saluted. “That’s my cue. Got a sea monster to fight. Be safe, Captain.”
Lore clasped my shoulder, his gaze locked with mine. “Keep her safe. I don’t want to lose her.”
I didn’t have to ask who he meant. Seemed Beckett’s feelings weren’t so unrequited after all. I nodded, then turned and ran toward the rail, the war hammer still in my grip. I hurtled the rail. Before I came close to hitting the water, Twig swooped under me, and I sat astride his neck once again.
I whooped as we raced toward the Disreputable Prince. We dipped, skimming along the water’s surface, then up and over the creature. Twig’s claws severed one tentacle and left a large furrow in the kraken’s head.
But another tentacle shot out and wrapped itself around Twig’s tail, yanking hard. We spun backwards and crashed through the prow of a galleon before splashing into the water.
I couldn’t hold on and was swept off his back and submerged. I came to the surface, sputtering.
And the damn creature didn’t even let go. Burn me, it tried to drown Twig. Another tentacle searched for purchase on his slick scales.
Twig’s powerful jaws snapped, severing pieces, more clear gelatinous fluid oozing into the water. He blew a jet of weak fire that crisped the suckers trying to attach to him. Unfortunately, the water had extinguished most of his flame.
Where was the hammer? Storm and thunder, I’d dropped it! I dove into the darkness.
The hammer flared bright like a beacon. I swam down and clasped it as a large tentacle brushed against me, sending me spinning head over heels in the murky water.
When I recovered, I kicked toward the surface, the hammer lighting the way. I broke through the water, only to see Twig pulled under. He’d grabbed a flailing tentacle, though the other still held his tail and seemed determined to drown him.
Not on my watch. I swam to Twig and using his spikes as handholds, moved toward his tail, gripping the spike closest to the creature. I waited until Twig thrashed to the surface before striking.
The moment we broke the water, I slammed the hammer down on the kraken’s tentacle. The creature didn’t shatter like the shell golems, but the tentacle split apart like tenderized meat. It let go.
Twig’s wings unfurled and began flittering wildly, trying to raise us from the sea. I held on to his tail in a death grip as we shot straight toward the sky.
Some evil bastard fired a harpoon at us and struck Twig in the side, on the tender skin below one of his wings. He bellowed but kept rising, avoiding the tentacles that tried to re-entangle us.
Twig’s fluttering worked, and we continued upward. Another rivulet of blood ran down his scales, the scent coppery in the air.
Fucking witches. I’ll kill them all.
Twig turned his head to watch as I clambered over his spikes toward his neck. His expression seemed to say he could read my mind and agreed with me.
Before we leapt back into battle, I pointed the hammer at the kraken. The weapon did its thing. Injuries and weak spots presented themselves, scrolling through my brain.
“Ugh, of course it’s most vulnerable through its beak.” I groaned. “We need to shoot fire down its gullet. Think you can get close enough?”
Twig roared in response.
Back into the fray. We flew in close and tentacles snaked up to meet us. Twig dodged, his gossamer wings moving us in a zigzag pattern impossible for the kraken to follow. Instead of going right for the maw, he harassed it at the margins of its reach. The monster tried to move closer, but Twig retreated, away from our fleet, but also out of reach of the witches’ harpoons and nets.
The kraken, for all its size and ferocity, didn’t seem to have much self-awareness. It allowed Twig to lead it away from the Disreputable Prince, sandwiching itself between Twig and the armada.
Twig’s energy waned, his wounds beginning to affect his strength. We didn’t have a lot of time. We needed to get rid of this thing fast and then finish off the armada.
Twig breathed a stream of fire directly at the kraken. It shrieked and lashed out. Twig kept up the flames, and slowly the monster fell back toward the ships. He drove it right up against an enemy galleon, giving them no choice but to start bombarding it with spells and harpoons, even a net or two.
The kraken, now attacked on both sides, thrashed and shrieked. Tentacles slammed into the side of the galleon, pulling the prow fully under the water before it rebounded. Shell golems fell from the foredeck onto the outstretched tentacles, leaving trails of blood in their wake. But they were no match for the massive creature that smashed them against the hull or shook them off into the sea. All the while pulling the hull of the galleon slowly apart. Bonus.
The monster’s many tentacles seemed to be everywhere at once, keeping us from moving into position. Twig kept hitting it with fire, trapping it against the galleon, but there wasn’t a safe opening.
A loud crack echoed across the waves. The galleon’s hull split in two. The kraken wrapped around the submerging half. Twig still looked for an opening, but the creature disappeared under the surface, taking part of the galleon with it.
It didn’t resurface.
40
We hovered in place, waiting for the kraken to rise. No way it left. We didn’t have that kind of luck.
Bubbles spread across the water, then disappeared. Between the two opposing fleets, the water remained choppy. A bolas tipped with those sharp discs came dangerously close to Twig’s wing. We rose higher, out of harm’s way.
Both fleets exchanged heavy harpoon fire as they retreated from the path of the kraken and regrouped. Three enemy ships—two heavily armed battle galleons with a much smaller sloop between them—broke from their formation and sailed directly toward the center of our fleet. The sloop had a weird-looking nozzle on the front. Oh, damn, a fireship. They planned to torch our fleet now that our ships clustered together.
Scanning the sea, I still saw no sign of the kraken. I tapped Twig’s neck to get his attention, then pointed at the ships. He peered at them for
a moment before growling. He’d come to the same conclusion. With one more glance at the sea, he winged toward the latest threat, his speed not quite what it had been at the beginning of the battle.
I ran my hand over his neck, willing him my strength. We didn’t have the bond anymore, but I was his mate. It had to mean something.
He flitted toward the nearest enemy galleon, but they expected him. A volley of harpoons and bolas came our way, pushing us up into the clouds. Twig tried again, but every weapon on both galleons fired at us.
First, we couldn’t get close to the kraken, and now the ships held us off. Twig growled in frustration. And still the fire ship and its escorts closed with our fleet. Our ships had taken too much damage to speed away.
Captain Lore’s sloop returned ballista fire, moving into the direct path of the fire ship. Dust and ashes, was he going to try a bow-lock with the fireship? A suicide mission. Especially as the battle galleons lobbed spells and volleyed harpoons toward the little ship. The Disreputable Prince also moved to intercept the fireship, but it would be too late and only risked being caught in the destruction.
From this height, I watched barrels of oil being dumped into a long hose, connected to the nozzle on the front of the sloop. They’d spray the oil on our ships, then set it alight. Even if the oil didn’t land directly on all of our ships, the flames would be enough to damage the wooden hulls and cloth sails. We needed to dismantle that nozzle.
Twig came as close as he dared and directed a blast of flame toward the ships. It fell short. More projectiles from the galleons followed, forcing us to retreat. Twig tried again, but it was pointless. He couldn’t get close enough.
“Can you take out one of the galleons?” I shouted, to be heard. He turned his head, nodded. His eyes narrowed. He knew as well as I that even if we did so, it would be too late to go after the sloop. “Do it!”
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