by WB McKay
The wind subsided, and it was my chance. I took to the air and winged my way up to land on the beast's head, well away from the mouth. It took a bit of searching to find a spot where I felt comfortable shifting back to my human form, and even longer to find a lull in the constant motion where I wouldn't be tossed aside when I no longer had talons to grip with.
Finally, the beast calmed, making a cooing noise that sounded strangely gentle. That had to be Enid's song taking effect. I shifted to my human form and grabbed onto a ridge of flesh to steady myself. I hadn't allowed myself to think too much about what I was planning. My death light was still not something I was comfortable using. It felt wrong to be able to snuff a life with so little effort. But I had to end this before one of the pirates got in a lucky shot and they won the Golden Fleece. As good as I was at my job, I didn't want to have to take the Fleece from the pirates if they made their way through the same trials my team had and somehow beat us. It would not be an easy fight.
I let go of the kraken and released my tight hold on my death light. It sprang eagerly to life in the palm of my hand, a beautiful glow striated with colors. It looked harmless, but it was death to any who touched it. I willed it to move into the kraken with a quick, decisive wave of my hand.
Rather than disappearing into the beast's mottled brown flesh, there was a ripple effect like a pebble hitting a pond. The death light dispersed above the kraken until it simply disappeared.
"Damn it!" I shouted. Shielded. They didn't want some fae like me to bring a quick end to the battle by using death magic. I threw a few more balls of death at the shield to be certain, but all of them disappeared without causing the kraken to so much as twitch.
I was contemplating my next move when it decided to shudder… hard. I was tossed like a ragdoll and sunk deep into the murky water. My breath had been knocked out of me and I had to struggle not to pull in a lungful of water.
My arms and legs flailed, but the kraken's limbs were doing the same. I was no match for the current the kraken's struggle created. Small plumes of blood dissipated in the wake of at least three tentacles crashing around me. I hoped the blood wasn't from Art or Enid. My vision grew dark, not that there was much to see in the first place. I hoped my team was giving it hell.
There was a strike to my back that felt like being hit with a bag of bricks.
My head breached the surface and I coughed up at least a gallon of water. I guess I wasn't as successful at keeping it out as I thought I'd been.
Art bobbed into view next to me and let out a rough sea lion bark.
"I'm fine," I said in between coughing fits.
He barked a couple more times. I waved him off and swam to the edge of the pool. Art dived into the water and jetted away in a blur of flippers. Tentacles lashed out at him and he dodged them effortlessly. I thought my eyes might have been damaged when a giant shape swam past him and slammed into a tentacle. The shape was sleek and powerful and came away with a large hunk of kraken in its mouth. Shark. Huge fucking shark!
I climbed out of the water and took a few steps back before I fully processed what had happened. The shark had ignored Art and attacked the kraken.
I leaned forward to watch the scene unfolding in the clear water while I caught my breath. Several more sharks had joined the first and they harried the kraken from different directions.
I struggled to make sense of the sharks' actions until I heard the difference in the song echoing through the arena. It had shifted from a lullaby to something more ominous. Enid had changed her tune. The soothing song hadn't been making much change in the kraken's behavior, so she'd switched to offense.
She was attacking the kraken with sharks. She was on my team, and still, it scared me a little.
I surveyed the rest of the battle. Everyone else was working tirelessly to beat back the disturbing tentacles of the kraken, but it wasn't going well. Owen was attempting to burn tentacle after tentacle, but his efforts were being undone by Saya's ice powers. Or maybe it was the other way around. The snake shifter was nowhere to be seen. The wind in the arena seemed conflicted, indicating the wind manipulator had no idea what to do. I scanned the area looking for Ava and found her peering out from behind a huge pillar. I joined her.
"This isn't looking good," said Ava, without preamble.
"Nothing we're doing is making a dent," I agreed. "Are your friends seeing any weaknesses?"
"They're working on it. The sharks are churning up a lot of blood in the water, so it's hard to tell what's going on down there. Up top, nothing is happening except people getting injured." She scanned the various platforms and pointed to one near the top of the arena. "The snake shifter is unconscious up there. I'm not sure where Tara is. She moves like a spider. It's creepy." That was something coming from Ava. "Owen's left leg was crushed by the kraken. Not sure how bad it is, but he's limping." Ava ran a hand through her hair and it came out coated in blood.
"Turn around," I said, placing my hands on her shoulder to direct her body where I wanted her. "Let me take a look." I needed a plan for the fight. I was thinking it through, and examining Ava's injury, and not letting myself get carried away with worry for Owen. If he was in serious trouble, Ava would have said so. He was her brother.
"I caught a glancing blow from a tentacle. Must have been one of the spines." I gently probed her head until she winced. Her dark hair made it difficult to find the cut. I brushed away another matted chunk and gasped before I could think better of it. She was gushing blood from a long cut on the back of her head.
"This isn't working."
"What's going on back there?" asked Ava, her voice a little wobbly.
I probed the wound and let out a sigh, which elicited a whimper from Ava. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're going to be fine. It's not deep. Just bleeding a lot like head wounds do." I grabbed her hand and placed it over the cut. "Just hold here with a good amount of pressure."
"What's not working, then?" Ava asked.
"This fight. Our methods. Nothing is doing a damn thing." I turned to survey the battle and watched Tara fall through the air with her sword clutched in both hands. She let out a battle cry as she fell and buried her sword in the kraken's head, barely missing its eye. The kraken let out a screech and flung her aside, but didn't miss a beat with its flailing tentacles. "Its skin is so thick. That sword probably felt like a paper cut."
"I know," said Ava. "My friends have been attacking, they have it surrounded, but the kraken isn't responding to them." Ghosts couldn't pick up a sword and stab someone--as far as I knew--but when they were in the mood, they could invoke a serious case of the cold chills. It made me flinch. When Patricia was particularly annoyed with me, it made me want to crawl out of my skin to get away. Patricia had assured me it could be far more unpleasant. Reacting like that during a battle would be a big disadvantage.
"That would have been great if it had worked," I said.
"If two of them come together the kraken will twinge. We're still working to be of more help, but I doubt it will be enough to turn the tides." She looked at me expectantly, like I didn't already feel the pressure. "Ending it quick didn't work. We need a new plan."
"I'm working on it."
Tara climbed out of the water and did her creepy spider crawl up to a platform the kraken wasn't paying attention to at the moment. She flopped down and I could see her chest heaving. "Probably won't work, but I'm going to give it a shot. Stay here."
While the wind was focused on another part of the arena, I shifted and flew to the platform where Tara rested. She was one huge bruise. A large cut over her left eye made a trail of blood down her face. Still, she reacted to the threat of my presence immediately. She drew her sword and spun to her feet, but didn't bother swinging at me. That was smart because she was unlikely to get me in my crow form.
I shifted back to my human form and drew Epic from his scabbard on my back. I didn't attack either. "I didn't come here to fight you. I came to talk."
"You really think th
e middle of squidpocalypse is the best time to have a chat?"
That caught me off guard. "That sounds like something I would say."
"Fascinating." Her eyes swept the area for more potential threats. Finding none, they settled back on me. "What do you want?"
"This isn't working," I said. "If we keep going this way, we're all going to die."
"Speak for yourself, bird lady. I ain't got any plans to die today."
I snorted. "You think death cares about your plans?"
While I was waiting for her to show some sign I wasn't wasting my time, the ice fae was hurled across the arena and crashed into a wall. Immediately after, Enid was tossed from the water and landed much the same way. Each of us watched our fallen comrades while trying not to let our guards down to the other.
It took several seconds for Enid to start moving again, during which, one of the sharks changed course and swam after Art. Saya, the ice fae, took even longer to come around.
"We're going to die," I repeated. "Give me thirty seconds."
Tara turned her full attention back to me when Saya finally stood. "You've got fifteen."
I could do better than that. I could explain in five words. "We have to work together."
Tara's raucous laughter was just about what I had expected for a response. "Work together? Then who gets the Fleece?"
"At this rate, nobody is getting the Fleece. It's only going to be rewarded when that thing dies. If we keep waiting, it's going to take us out one by one, making the odds of anybody killing it even worse." I kept a close eye on Saya while they shook their head and stumbled behind a platform to recover. I really hoped they didn't die; my plan hinged on their magic. "Unless you know how to kill it on your own right now, this is our only chance."
Enid had found her way back into the water and got the sharks back under control. I'd lost track of Art. I had to believe he'd made it away from the sharks safely.
"What's your plan?" Tara asked, making me glad I'd come up with one before approaching her. "And it better be good."
"It's half-baked at best," I said, giving her a wide grin. "But cookie dough is delicious even when it's raw."
Tara shook her head and pointed at me with her sword. "You are one strange bird, running around battle all naked and making plans with your enemies."
My grin grew even larger. "I appreciate the compliment. Now, here's the plan."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Battle has a funny way of making everything urgent. Calling a several minute timeout never feels possible, but it was exactly what we did. We needed several minutes to coordinate our scattered teams. The pirates fought about it, but not for long. None of us wanted to die, and all of us seemed to know it was a strong possibility. When the arguments were over, it took a few minutes of experimentation with everyone's magic to see if my plan held any weight. I was a new, patient, plan-making Sophie. It was a lot scarier than diving right in.
Art and the pirate selkie, Sylvia, took position in their human forms on the highest platform in the arena. They, along with Saya, the ice fae, and Niko, the wind guy with the gills, were the linchpins of the plan. The rest of us were in charge of setting up their play.
"Ava, Enid, we're ready for you," I called to the women. They were now both hiding where Ava had previously taken shelter. "Make the bastard move."
I couldn't see it happen myself, since I couldn't see ghosts, but right about then a crew of ghosts were gathered around one side of the pool, waiting to attack as a group. The kraken had proven mildly susceptible to the ghosts spread out around it. Now we'd see how it handled a concentrated attack of the heebee jeebees.
Ava raised an arm straight up. I watched the kraken as it seemed to watch me. Its bulbous head looked easily poppable. How could it be so hard to kill? Just when I'd given up hope for the ghosts having any effect, Ava whistled. In one big move the kraken jumped. The force of its quick movement was enough to cause a tidal wave. Water rushed over the edge of the pool, cold and fierce as it shoved against my whole team. I glanced around to check on them; everyone was transfixed by the beast, desperate to see my plan work. Please, let it work.
The kraken wasn't willing to give up easily. It fought against the ghosts. It slung its heavy limbs around their position, but finding nothing to swat away, was forced to back up to escape the sensation. Reluctantly, it gave a little ground.
Seeing her cue, Enid opened her mouth and sang with the strength of the sea behind her, urging the kraken to move to the opposite end of the pool where the two selkies were stationed.
With the stick behind it, and the carrot in front, the kraken moved right where we needed it.
My heart raced with the terror of hope. Was this working?
Julian passed me several spears he'd collected from the weapons racks around the arena. The snake shifter had returned to consciousness just in time to be useful. Tara took her own share of the spears and looked to me for the signal.
With everyone in place, it was time to annoy a kraken.
I hurled my first spear and stuck it right in the monster's eye. As a distraction, it worked perfectly. As a survival tactic, not so much. The kraken used one tentacle to pull out the offending spear while another hit the ground where I'd been standing with enough force to shatter the concrete. Shards of it hit me in the ass while I raced to get away.
"Down!" shouted Ava.
I wasted no time dropping to the ground. I hit hard, scraping my hands and knees. My hair whipped around my face as a tentacle the size of a locomotive flew inches above me.
A large presence appeared beside me radiating heat. I brushed my hair out of my face and smiled up at Owen. "You're supposed to be on the other side of the pool," I chided.
His response was to gently pick me up with one of his giant claws and deposit me on my feet. Then he knelt and lowered his head.
I hesitated for only a second before deciding to accept the invitation. I gathered my fallen spears and scrambled onto his back at the base of his serpentine neck. "We ride!"
Owen launched into the air with less power than he usually did. When he'd been flying earlier, his left leg hung lower than his right. Injured or not, he flew like a bullet, diving between tentacles and swiping the talons of his good foot at the kraken's head. I let out a whoop and lobbed a spear that went wide. When this was over, I needed to make time to practice fighting from the back of a dragon.
We circled around, passing Art and Sylvia's platform. "Get ready!" I shouted.
We made one more pass at the kraken's head. Owen took glancing blows from two tentacles. The impact nearly tossed me from his back, but I didn't miss the view as his gout of flame struck true, hitting the kraken right in its ugly beak. We may have been looking rough, but now the kraken was, too. Its face was tender with burns and gashes. Progress, but we needed more.
It was time for us to get out of the way. Owen's wings pounded against the wind, rushing us up above the action where we could watch the battle play out below. Halfway up, I waved and shouted to Saya and Niko. "Now!"
They ran to the edge of the pool and Saya leapt up high over the water; their icy form glinted in the sun. Before they had a chance to fall, a blast of air shot up directly below them, holding them in place.
Niko's brow furrowed in concentration. He said he used his air power to fly all the time, but holding someone else aloft was more difficult. Saya crossed their arms into an X. That was the signal.
Art and Sylvia didn't miss a beat. The selkies came together and blasted a jet of water three feet wide toward the kraken, aimed to soar over Saya's head. As the colossal column of water passed over Saya, it transformed into a solid spike of thick ice, beautiful as any weapon I'd seen.
The ice spear flew true. It slammed cleanly into the weakened head of the kraken, and for one brief second, the world held its breath with shock. The shriek that followed was nearly a match to my magically boosted wail. Orange blood gushed out around the icy spear as tentacles tugged at the protruding weapon.
Without warning, Owen dropped from the sky like a rock. My arms flailed over my head as I lost my hold on him. Without another option, I shifted to crow and glided on the wind, unable to pull my eyes from Owen's plummeting form. He didn't look hurt, he didn't look unconscious, he was… Then my brain caught up. Owen's wings were tucked in. He wasn't falling. The kraken's tentacles flailed in undirected rage, and Owen dived right into the middle of them.
Owen ignored the obstacles in his path and slammed into the blunt end of the ice spear with the force of a meteor, shoving the weapon fully into the kraken's bulbous head. He tumbled over its body and landed hard on the concrete beyond.
All the tentacles around the arena fell limp. The kraken was dead.
"Did we win?" the pirate selkie asked.
The arena was quiet.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The kraken's body disappeared in a flash of golden light. When my eyes readjusted, they found the wispy wraith hovering over the water. This time, he held a bundle of golden fabric.
The Fleece.
Slowly, as if giving everyone time to gather, the wraith floated down to the edge of the pool. As a whole, we were beaten and bloodied. I surveyed the injuries. Owen had resumed his human form and leaned on Art's shoulder to keep the weight off his wounded leg. Art's shirt was wrapped around a bloody gash on his arm. Enid was one big bruise from her collision with the wall. Ava's head had stopped bleeding, but her hair was matted with blood and her eyes had a strange distance that made me worry about a concussion. I retrieved my wet suit and wrapped it around a cut on my arm that I didn't remember receiving.