by Marcy Lynn
Her heart didn’t slow down until the man had been safely pulled back to his perch. Power of perception drew Derek’s attention to her then. She’d been watching to make sure he didn’t fall too. His face changed just a little bit with a hint of a smile when he saw her, dipping down a bit and then pulling back up to flex his arms. Her own face blossomed into a smile of its own as she shook her head at him showing off.
“Don’t encourage him.” Caspin said dryly. She grinned looking over her right shoulder at him, his eyes still trained in the direction they’d been.
“You’re able to see that far out the corner of your eyes?”
“It’s a trick I learned over the years.”
“That’s very useful.” She commented impressed.
Derek had the rope in one hand now, still watching her. His free hand lifted up to wag a finger at her, than tap his ear only to point to Caspin after. She laughed. He’d just told her not to listen to Caspin. She remembered this game from when they were children. After seeing a man whom couldn’t hear use his hands to talk, they’d used it to tease her sisters or tell each other secrets when others were around.
She shrugged her shoulders then pointed to herself followed by tapping her ear and then pointed to him. Elanor had said, ’Who should I listen to then, you?’ He answered her with a confirming nod of his head.
Elanor laughed and shook her head no.
She heard Caspin give a chuckle at that as well. She found herself impressed again at his ability to pay attention to the sea and understand their hand signals.
Derek stopped playing the game when they needed him to move up and help secure the rope. Little by little the sail was reattached to the mast and rig. It was just about midday when they neared the end of the task. Her stomach grumbled and she realized she’d missed breakfast.
A sharp whistle from Caspin drew her attention to him. Derek having heard it as well, turned towards. She glanced back and forth as Caspin jerked his head for Derek to come over. She watched Derek climb down, jumping the last few feet and jogging up. There didn’t seem to be anything to be alarmed about. No ships as far as she could see.
As a matter of fact, it occurred to her that she hadn’t heard anyone talk of other ships at all.
“It’s back. To the right.” Caspin said when Derek joined them. Her gaze drifted over the right side squinting a few times after not seeing anything. Perhaps she should just resign to the fact that she was terrible spotting anything on the water.
“It’s still not breaking far enough up for me to tell if it’s a whale or a bunch of dolphins, Cas.” Derek said.
“I’ve never seen a whale or dolphins do that before.” Caspin said doubtfully. Derek gestured to her to join him. When she did, he pointed out in the direction that whatever they were looking at was in. Still, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her.
“I don’t see anything.” She said truthfully. He pointed again, this time she ducked her head under his arm to look exactly where he pointed. “I am sorry… I don’t know what you are looking at.”
“It’s gone under again.”
“Just like before it’s following us on the same side all the way up the line.” Caspin said.
“You’ve seen it before?” Elanor asked.
“When we left the island to go north, we saw something moving parallel with the ship. Now it’s there again, same place.” Derek explained. She stared again, thinking about what he said. An uneasy feeling bubbled up; strong enough for her to speak it.
“Don’t cross the path of it.” She warned.
“What do you mean?” Derek asked. “Do you know what it is?”
“No, but I was just thinking. Most animals I’ve seen that do that- are protecting something. Like it’s territory. I don’t think you want to cross its path.” She reasoned.
“She’s right.” Caspin agreed. “It’s guarding something or hunting. I didn’t think of it until she pointed it out. I’ve seen it far right and then surface back further out of the corner of my eye. Same line each time.” She tried to spot the shape which again turned into a useless gesture.
“Well it’s gone again, hasn’t come back up. So we’ll keep on our heading and an eye open.” Derek said. “Let me know when we get close.”
“Get close to what?” Elanor asked.
“We have to cross its path to get home.” Caspin answered first. She opened her mouth to warn them again, but Derek spoke up. “No choice. We have to go that way to get home. It didn’t bother us when we came out. No reason to believe it will going in.” He said.
She still had a bad feeling about that. Though voicing it again would only be nagging. They’d sailed these waters many times and knew it better than her. Though she couldn’t see anything her senses were acting in a strange way. It made her look out over the rail one more time, maybe if she…
“Why don’t you go get yourself something to eat. Maybe have a nap. That was an early start this morning.” He kissed her on the temple, pushing in the direction of the stair. She didn’t argue but tossed a dirty look at him for kissing her.
“Thank you for allowing me stand up here, Caspin.” Elanor felt as though she were getting to see the real man who had acted like an odd chaperone on the other ship. Admittedly, she liked him. Leaving them to their work she took the stair down to the quarter deck and the door to the cabin. Timing blessed, Steppe carrying the tray of food arrived just as Elanor did. She opened the door for him. The wind had really pushed her around up on the stern deck. She sank into one of the chairs at the table feeling pretty weathered.
“I’m sorry about yesterday, Steppe. I hope you didn’t get into too much trouble because of me.”
“I wasn’t thinking yesterday Miss, um, Elanor. I got no more punishment then I deserve.” She nodded to his answer. Apparently he didn’t want to talk about what the punishment was. She bit into a piece of biscuit. “Are you allowed to sit with me?” She asked.
“I shouldn’t. The work gets doubled every time a sail goes loose. I’ll come back for the tray later.”
The ship rocked as his hand touched the door knob.
Elanor stood up, her heart pounding. “Did a ship just come along side us?”
“Couldn’t have, I was just out there.” He moved to open the door again just as they were both tossed first to the left and then the right. Shouting erupted from outside the door. Elanor urged Steppe to hurry and open it.
“Stay here Miss!” He said before rushing out.
Men ran past the door to go down to the lower decks. More men ran past to go back up the stern deck.
They all seemed to be looking over the railing- looking for something. Elanor could hear shouting from all directions. Her mind couldn’t understand what would having made them rock like that.
A ship this size!
She’d heard of rogue waves before but they usually washed onto the deck didn’t they? Everything seemed dry that was in sight.
Letting her eyes drift around she spotted something on the deck a short distance away from her. There was a path of water across the width of the ship.
She frowned in growing uneasiness. She’d never heard of a wave moving over a specific area of the ship before. Another rock of the ship knocked her out of the doorway back into the room onto her backside. Scrambling to her feet, she raced to the door only to stop short.
“Sweet mother of earth.” She gasped.
A furious roar answered her. A large head with two finned horns crowned its head, its many teeth sharp and the size of her middle finger snarled at her. Directly in front of her in fact. A shift of it’s teal and marbled white smooth skinned body sent sprays of water from it. The dragon seemed to tremble with fury. Elanor had never seen a water dragon before. She’d never seen any type of dragon before, though, she knew they existed once upon a time in this realm. They’d all gone hiding from all, including from the casters. But here was one, plain as day. The front of its body followed by the long finned tale slipped up onto the quarte
r deck fiercely making her stumble back again. It very well could be the last thing she saw as fiercely it bared down on her.
Icy fear twisted around Elanor’s heart.
As though it talked to her through its mouth, she could hear its thoughts, though broken, pierced her brain with ferocity. “You! You. You, them, come. You. You. You help, them, hurt. You. You, them, threaten. You. You. You hurt.” Elanor choked back a cry, frightened and putting her hands up defensively to back away. She’d read about another fifth generation witch that had been able to speak through thoughts. Mind casting. It never had been something she’d tried.
How did it send it’s message to her?
The mind casting broken and interrupted. Invasive. Did it intend to hurt her? She had never heard of people who were set upon by an angry dragon and lived to tell about it in any magical realm. In fact, she’d never heard about anyone in a story with a dragon having a happy ending in this realm. Color drained from her face as the great beast made another threatening launch towards her.
Chapter twelve
Panic, shouting and complete terror came from all directions.
But all that Elanor saw and heard was the dragon moving steadily up the deck towards her. She didn’t dare to move into the cabin. Though instinct told her to run and hide, logic told her the beast would tear the door frame apart to get in there after her.
She edged her way towards the right side of the quarter deck. The dragon gave a warning growl deep in its throat while it watched her. Elanor stopped too. Reflective milky white eyes with a black focused pupil held an eerily intelligent look as the dragon stared. Elanor pressed to the wooden wall behind her, hands and back flat against it. The dragon began to move again towards her.
Its great long body curling and uncurling it’s long tail muscles helped it along the deck like a snake. The dragon’s skin appeared to be very smooth glistening in the sunshine. But she knew from her Grandmother’s teachings that though it looked as though it were smooth; it actually was made up of hundreds of thousands of tiny hard scales layered together.
Dragon’s were well armed.
She also knew it almost impossible to penetrate so a sword would be useless against it. But Derek didn’t know that and he raced down the steps with one. The dragon shifted its eyes to him letting out another growl. Its red forked tongue darted into the air in his direction. Elanor edged again towards the right while it became distracted with smelling the air. She tried to put more distance between it and herself.
In a thrust of rippling muscles it cut her off.
Elanor stopped, letting out a scream as teeth snapped not more than a few inches from her body. She could smell the fishy rancid breath as it blew over her. Her cheek pressed against the rough wood behind her. Head tilted to the side as she pressed her eyes closed.
Elanor prayed to the Goddess, Mother of all, for help and protection. At this point she prayed hard for any of the Gods or Goddesses to hear her and help.
She knew magic should be used in this instance. It would be the only way to ward off the beast without getting seriously hurt or someone dying. But she couldn’t with the crew watching. What would she use even if she dared? She hadn’t practiced any real magic for two years now.
“What is that?” Shouted one of the frighten crew. “It’s going to eat her!”
The shouts came from all around. Some stood perched high in the sails, other braver crew men stood half up the quarter deck. All Elanor could hear though were the warning growls. It hadn’t done anything yet but flick its tongue at her. She could feel anger, a sense of betrayal and beneath that lay sadness coming from the mind casting the dragon gave off in waves.
With that sadness- a feeling of desperation?
Could that be her own feelings clouding the unsteady connection she had with the animal? She’d never really tried to thought cast before. Speaking to someone within her mind had seemed invasive to her. And perhaps a little tricky to figure out. There wasn’t anyone to teach her or her sisters about being an elemental witch. It had been something each generation had to develop on their own. With her eyes closed, Elanor tried to ground herself and gain some composure.
Think of something!
Her eyes flew open when the dragon gave another warning growl. Derek had edged closer, his sword still pulled. The dragon did not like that.
“Derek, please don’t take another step, you‘re making her angry.”
“Her? It’s female? Of course it‘s female!”
“Don’t get to close to it, Captain!” Steppe shouted from the deck above them.
The dragon lifted its head letting out another roar. Steppe dove back, hitting the deck with his arms crossing over his head. Derek took the distraction and moved up beside Elanor. The dragon snapped its teeth again, narrowly missing them.
“We have to kill it.”
“You can’t.” She whispered.
“This is no time to give me that all life matters speech-”
“No! You don’t understand. The skin, it’s made to protect them. Look at its body, Derek.” Her book of shadows had her family’s recordings in it. Spells and history that had been passed down from generation to generation. She wished she had it in her hand right now to maybe give her a clue what to do next. But Goddess help her, she couldn’t remember a single thing about dragons except they were fiercely protective of their territories and hard to kill.
If she were honest, Elanor didn’t want to kill it. Dragons had been plentiful hundreds of years before in this realm. But they had withdrawn from the seekers as the others had in a star light protected realm away from this one.
To kill it, though she were frighten, seemed a genuine tragedy. Something that the star seekers would do and not a caster. She had a part of both in her but neither part seemed to be helping her at all to come up with a solution.
She had slowly calmed enough to realize the dragon wasn’t biting at them. It had threatened three times now, but no contact.
Her mind raced suddenly. It didn’t attack. Just threats.
“She must want something.”
“Like what?”
“You don’t usually see them, right? I mean most people don‘t even believe they are real anymore because of it… so why now?” She gave him a side glance.
“How do you know it’s a female?”
“I don’t know. I…wait, what does that matter?” She didn’t want the distraction of explaining to him about the fact that she wasn’t just a pagan or a witch, but a elemental witch. And Elanor could felt the rage focused on her from the dragon but it hadn’t thought cast again. Water dragons were the only specie of dragon to be able to thought cast like water witches. She remembered something! Water developed paths for energy to be receptive and connective. The dragon’s thoughts were anger driven, towards her mostly.
She’d never even been this far south, never seen a dragon, and never done anything to harm this creature in the least. But the long teal serpent seemed determined that she pay for whatever had happened. Derek put his sword out in an effort to ward the animal away. That only proved to make her move to the side and snap at them from an angle.
“Stop it!” She cried as it snapped closer, losing the train of thought she’d been on.
“We’ve got to do something! What do you know about sea monsters, Love?”
“She’s not a monster. She…”
Elanor felt her heart pound in her chest. She’d heard stories told of men who’d sacrificed maiden to appease dragon’s before. But she didn’t think it were true, they didn‘t really do that did they? Is that why it focused so much on her?
“We need to figure out what the hell it’s doing on my ship.” He turned to Elanor and asked again. “What does it want?” The dragon equally getting frustrated weaved in front of them.
“Sea monsters collect treasure!” Came a shout from the sails.
“Yes! They like pearls and gold.” Shouted a man excitedly. “My sword has a pearl and gold handle.” The s
ound of a sword being drawn made Elanor panic.
“No! Don’t-” She cried. But the man had already given the sword a toss. It clanked on the quarter deck a few feet from the dragon. The movement to strike had been so quick the sudden jolt of the ship took everyone by surprise. The ship rocked sideways and then righted. Elanor and Derek were knocked to their knees as a coil of the dragon’s body slammed them against the wall at the same time.
The dragon’s roar of outrage mingled with the shouts of the crew knocked loose from their hiding spots up in the sails. As Elanor had imagined, the dragon didn’t care for the sword or the pearl and gold that glittered in the sun. It dragged its clawed feet over the top of it leaving deep lines in the planked deck. It gave another warning, lifting its head to roar again and again.
“I think she’s really pissed now, Elanor. Get ready to move.” Derek said helping Elanor to her feet.
“If I move, the dragon will tear this ship apart.” She said.
“I don’t care. If it comes back at us, you’re going into the cabin.” He said. His hand moved to her shoulder as the dragon twisted its head, suddenly slamming its tail against the open door blocking it. Large eyes regarded Derek, defiantly, daring him.
“It can understand what I’m saying?!” Derek exclaimed.
It had reacted to his words. There had been no mistaking it.
“What do you want?” She asked with desperation. If it could understand English, she had to try to speak out loud.
“Have you gone mad, Miss? You’re going to make it toss this ship sideways again!” A shout from the sails. A chorus of agreement shouted from different areas. The dragon turned its head towards them, roaring. Derek moved out with his sword still drawn, walking forward.