by Raymond Cain
One of the Azuran crewman stepped forward, a burly man in leather armor wielding a bone-handled greataxe in both hands. “He won’t shoot, Cap’n. Look at ‘im. He ain’t no warrior. He’s never killed nobody.”
Tasker cringed from the words, and Flynn suspected his brother’s reaction was related to the Azuran’s grammar, not the accusation.
Tasker nodded, apparently conceding the point. “Your crewman is right. I haven’t killed anyone before. But, unfortunately for him,” he turned Stingray on the axe-wielder and fired a bolt into the man’s neck, killing him instantly, “I don’t really like people. Especially ones with bad grammar.”
Flynn’s mouth dropped open.
By the time the pirate’s body hit the deck, Tasker had already removed a bolt from a belt loop and shoved it in the end of Stingray’s barrel. By the time anyone could react to the death of the Azuran crewman, Stingray was once again loaded, ready, and aimed at Theoric’s head.
Theoric laughed, causing a tremor in his blade that spilled another warm trickle of blood down Flynn’s neck. “This is your brother, is it not?” Theoric asked Flynn, articulating his words carefully as though intimidated by Tasker’s previous statement. “Your family is just full of surprises. That’s fine. I have a few surprises of my own.”
Flynn did not know what the Azuran was talking about until a dark gray eel swam up behind Tasker, lines of blue electricity crackling along its body. The crackling energy created by the ship masked the sizzling sounds the eel made in the water.
“Tasker, behind you!” Flynn shouted.
It was too late. Tasker moved quickly but the eel was faster. It darted out of the water and buried its fangs into the back of Tasker’s neck, paralyzing him. Tasker’s body stiffened, maintaining the twisted position he had when he looked behind him. He remained at the edge of The Dragon, propped up between two of the bony prominences surrounding the main deck. The only part of him that still moved were his eyes, and they were wide with fear. Flynn’s heart sank.
Theoric signaled for two broad-shouldered men to come up and hold Flynn’s arms. As he struggled, Theoric approached Tasker. Flynn struggled to break free from the Azurans but the muscular men were far stronger than he was. Theoric casually removed Tasker’s breathing helm, revealing the tangle of black, messy hair beneath. He tossed the helm overboard and it splashed into the dense blue water. He pried Stingray out of his hands and tossed that into the depths as well.
“Don’t kill him,” Flynn said. He knew that any plea he made to the pirate captain would fall on deaf ears, but he was desperate.
“I won’t,” Theoric replied. The pirate put a gloved hand up to his crown and looked around at the battling sea creatures below. A thirty-foot-long whale shark was headed toward the battle but Theoric focused on it, narrowing his eyes in concentration. The red and blue crystals in his crown flickered. “I’ll get that shark to do it instead.”
Theoric shoved Tasker off the ship and Flynn’s eyes widened in horror as his brother floated into the depths. Tasker’s body was still frozen in a half-twisted position and bubbles trailed from his mouth as he drifted into the depths. The swimming boots Tasker wore protected him from the pressure but without a breathing helm, he would be dead in moments.
Or sooner. The whale shark veered away from a group of human soldiers and turned toward Tasker instead. The yellow lines and spots on its back made it visible a great distance away as it headed for Flynn’s helpless brother. Theoric smiled broadly and the whale shark mirrored the motion, pulling its lips back and revealing hundreds of teeth. Human body parts dangled from the bloody teeth, remnants of the men it killed that day.
“NOOOOOO!” Flynn yelled.
Flynn pulled an arm free from one of the two men holding him and he punched the second Azuran using his free hand. The blow stunned the pirate enough for Flynn to free his other arm and punch the first Azuran in the face. Both pirates were stunned for only a second, but that was enough time for Flynn to shove them back into the other crew members.
The remaining Azurans were coming for him but Flynn sprinted across the deck. He leapt over the short bone wall and dove into the navy-blue water after his brother. With a whale shark speeding toward them, Flynn had no idea how he would save his brother, or himself, but he had to try.
The whale shark was closing fast and Flynn swam harder than ever before. He reached Tasker first and took a deep breath before giving his brother the breathing helm. Flynn swam in front of his brother, offering himself as a sacrifice to the twenty-ton shark. It seemed to accept the offer, opening its massive mouth as it headed straight for him.
Flynn took some comfort in the fact that at least his brother would not be suffocating when they died. He closed his eyes and hoped it would be over quickly.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Flynn shut his eyes and waited for the end, but it didn’t come. After the longest few seconds of his life, he popped open an eye to see why he was still alive. The shark halted its charge and looked at him as if surprised, and it shook its head as if confused.
The whale shark swam around Flynn and his brother in a playful manner. Its strange behavior made no sense until he noticed familiar scarring along its belly. It was the same shark he rescued from Titus and his cronies. Flynn traced his fingers along its gray skin, and the shark nudged him with its huge, pointed snout.
“You remember me, don’t you?” he said, relieved.
Speaking those words released most of his remaining air and Flynn took back his breathing helm from his brother—just long enough to take a deep breath—and then put it back on Tasker’s head. Flynn grabbed onto the whale shark’s dorsal fin with one hand when it came near, and grabbed Tasker’s collar with the other hand.
The shark took the two of them for a ride. Tasker’s Searunner was floating nearby and Flynn released his grip when the creature brought them near the vessel. He opened the hatch doors and crammed his brother inside behind the chair.
Flynn settled into the pilot’s chair and got strapped in. Tasker looked extremely uncomfortable folded into the small area behind the seat but, fortunately, he was too paralyzed to complain. Flynn pushed the acceleration lever forward and headed for Theoric’s ship. The pirates were cruising ahead, bringing their deathly ship closer to Seahaven to get a better view of its imminent destruction.
The battle raged on and the leviathan resumed its advance on Seahaven. The entire fleet of human warships buzzed around the behemoth but their weapons were not effective against its thick, dense hide. Spears brought down one of the lusca but the other one continued wreaking havoc with its tentacles. Thousands of soldiers, wizards, and engineers stabbed, cast spells, and fired their weapons at an impressive force of sharks, squids, barracudas, and rakuns. The water was dark with blood from a dozen different species.
Peering through the transparent floor, Flynn discovered the Searunner’s launch tubes were empty. He reasoned Tasker must have used them before reaching Theoric’s ship. With nothing to fire, there would be no attacking Theoric from a distance. Flynn would have to deal with the Azuran face to face.
Flynn flew up to the rib cage hull of the Dragon and opened the hatch doors. A rope of electricity leapt from a rib bone and struck the Searunner. A jolt passed through him, making his brown hair stand on end, but it did no real damage. Knowing Tasker would not need the breathing helm inside the Searunner, Flynn donned it and pulled himself out of the craft.
“Wish me luck, Tasker,” Flynn said, looking down at the crystal ship as it drifted away.
He grabbed onto a massive rib bone and scurried up toward the main deck. Crackling purple energy poured out from the heart of the ship and Flynn repeatedly suffered jolts that made every muscle in his body clench.
A large bolt struck Flynn in the side and his muscles clenched so hard that it almost shattered bone. Overcome with pain, Flynn gasped, releasing a mouthful of air. It felt like his arms and chest were on fire. When he could finally open his hands, his fingers
hurt from clenching so hard. It felt like a stab wound in his side and he smelled burnt meat, but he did not check the wound.
Resuming his climb, Flynn fought to maintain his grip on a rib bone covered in a film of foul-smelling gore. He wrapped his arms around the rib instead, and tried not to gag from the stench of rotting meat. Before long, he made his way to the upper deck.
After pulling himself up to the wall of bony prominences surrounding the deck, Flynn entered the airy atmosphere. It reeked of death and it was all he could do to prevent himself from giving away his position by gagging. He positioned himself behind the crew as they stared at the commotion ahead. He followed their gaze to the leviathan; its circular mouth was latched onto Seahaven’s dome and drawing magic from it. The damage it caused was already evident—the bright blue glow from the dome was pale in the section surrounding the creature’s mouth.
With their attention averted, Flynn would have one chance to take the crown from Theoric and leap overboard. If he could use it to force the leviathan to go elsewhere, that might save his city. He would likely drown afterward but that would be a small price to pay for saving his people.
There was no time to waste. After stretching out his aching fingers, Flynn ran across the bone deck toward the unsuspecting crew. He pushed his way past a few unsuspecting crewmen and leapt at Theoric. He collided with the pirate captain but his reaching hands failed to grasp the crown. It flew off Theoric’s head and landed on the deck, rolling out of Flynn’s reach.
Theoric punched Flynn in the side of the head and kneed him in the stomach, knocking him onto the deck. Flynn rolled up to his feet and scrambled for the crown but Theoric tackled him before he could reach it. Flynn struck the deck first, and his breathing helm smashed into a pile of glittering crystal fragments.
The Azuran crew were about to rush in, but Theoric stood up and gestured for them to back away. He looked at Flynn, shaking his head. “You’re a persistent one, Flynn. Do you really think you can defeat me?”
“No,” Flynn said with a mischievous smile, “but I think my dad can.”
Flynn lifted a bag of gems he’d taken from the pirate’s coat while they wrestled. He knew the gem containing his father’s soul was inside and Theoric’s eyes widened.
“Dad,” Flynn called into the bag, “kill this Azuran bastard. Kill all of them.”
Theoric’s eyes widened in shock. Flynn’s eyes widened in joy.
Galyn’s eyes sparkled with life for the first time. “My pleasure,” the man said with an eager smile.
Galyn whipped out his longsword from his scabbard and slashed upward so fast, it severed the arm and head of the Azuran standing nearest him. His second swipe cut down two more Azurans before they had time to clear their swords from their scabbards. The pirate standing behind his recently slain colleagues drew his sword but Galyn swept it aside and stabbed forward in the same motion, impaling the man in the heart. Four crewmen slumped to the deck, lifeless.
Two of the projectiles that Flynn fired from the Searunner still protruded from the deck. He pulled one of them out and hurled the javelin-like weapon at Theoric. The pirate captain grabbed one of his crewmen and pulled the Azuran into the missile’s path, impaling the man in the back.
“Such loyalty,” Flynn said, echoing what Terrak said in his vision. Theoric looked at Flynn, curiously.
Flynn removed the second projectile and readied it for another throw. As Galyn fought off the men in front of him, one of the other pirates was moving into a flanking position. Flynn hurled the weapon, impaling the pirate before he could stab Galyn from behind. The pirate dropped his sword and pulled out the missile, releasing a gush of blood. The Azuran became even more pale than before and crumpled to the deck.
“You probably shouldn’t have done that,” Flynn commented, picking up the fallen pirate’s sword.
Side-by-side with his father for the first time in months, the two of them fought the remainder of the dwindling crew. With Flynn’s mediocre skills, he was fighting defensively most of the time but Galyn tore into their ranks like a frenzied berserker. At some point during the battle, Galyn acquired a second sword and although he sustained wounds to his stomach, his legs, and both shoulders, he pressed on fearlessly.
Theoric unsheathed his jewelled swords and re-entered the battle. Flynn lunged forward with a sword thrust toward the pirate’s mid-section but Theoric swept it away and delivered a front kick that smashed Flynn in the face. Flynn staggered back and Theoric stepped forward, seizing the opportunity. He swept Flynn’s sword away and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backward and falling hard to the deck.
Galyn killed the last two crewmen with a single slashing attack that took out both their throats, leaving only Theoric to face him. The pirate lunged at Galyn, scoring a minor wound in his side, and pressed on with a flurry of slashes and thrusts that no ordinary swordsman could have survived. Galyn’s blades parried Theoric’s cutlasses so many times that Flynn could barely make out the attacks. Both men were badly injured during the assault and the flurry ended with all four blades getting locked together. Theoric shifted his stance, creating enough leverage to smash Galyn in the face with one of his hilts, stunning him for an instant.
But an instant was all the time Theoric needed.
Theoric thrust a jewelled cutlass deep into Galyn’s chest and its bloody tip protruded out the back. To Flynn, it felt as though the blade pierced his own heart. Galyn fell to his knees, and Flynn’s world shattered. As his father’s life ebbed away, part of Flynn died with him.
Burning with rage, Flynn charged Theoric. He launched a series of slashing attacks that put Theoric on his heels. But even in his weakened state, Theoric was still the deadlier swordsman. The pirate pressed forward and took the offensive, delivering a deadly series of slashing attacks that forced Flynn to back away. Flynn feinted with a thrust toward Theoric’s chest, then tackled the pirate to the ground in much the same way that he had while fighting the student to earn his right to attend the Citadel. He smashed Theoric’s sword hand on the floor, knocking the weapon from the man’s grip.
As Theoric’s sword went skittering across the deck, Flynn fought his way onto the pirate in a mounted position. The pirate punched Flynn hard in the face, but he didn’t feel it. He felt only anger and revenge. He rained punches down on the pirate, but Theoric managed to block and cover up, preventing most of the damage.
Remembering the vision where Theoric’s rib was pulled out by the demon, Flynn pretended to go for pirate’s face but he punched the Azuran in the ribs instead. The feint worked and Theoric cradled his injured side, moaning in pain. Flynn punched the Azuran again and again in the side until Theoric rolled over and pushed Flynn off him. The two of them got back to their feet.
Theoric gasped for breath and cradled one arm protectively against his side. The wound in his shoulder must have reopened because fresh blood was leaking from the sleeve of his coat, and a sheet of blood soaked the man’s shirt below his wounded side. Injured and exhausted, Theoric was barely able to stand. Flynn’s eyes flared in fury and anticipation.
The Emperor Crown lay at Theoric’s feet and he picked it up. Flynn expected Theoric to don the crown but the pirate shocked him by tossing it overboard instead. It splashed into the navy-blue water, its red and blue jewels glittering as it sank.
Theoric gasped between sentences as he spoke. “I don’t need it to make the leviathan destroy Seahaven, Flynn. Its own hunger is driving it to feed on the dome. So, you have a choice—you can either try to kill me, or you can go for the crown and stop the leviathan from destroying your city. Which is more important to you?”
Flynn hesitated. He knew he had to save his people but the thought of letting Theoric go was unbearable.
“Decide quick,” Theoric continued. “The crown is falling fast and you can’t hold your breath for long.”
Theoric was right. Flynn’s breathing helm was destroyed and if he wanted to reach the Emperor Crown, he would have to dive
after it right away. Theoric was defenseless and Flynn would never have another opportunity like this to avenge his parents, but he would have to let the pirate go free to save his people. And if he did save them, he would almost certainly drown.
Ultimately, there was only one decision he could make. He took in the biggest breath he could and dove overboard. Goosebumps rose on his skin as he splashed into the sea but he didn’t feel the cold. The Emperor Crown was far below him, its jewels shining in the dark blue water, and he swam hard to catch up to it. Each kick of his swimming boots sent him speeding through the depths.
Sharks, eels, and jellyfish were all around him but without Theoric dominating them, they were no longer attacking humans. Flynn glanced toward Seahaven and, unfortunately, Theoric’s claim about the leviathan was correct. The creature remained latched onto the dome. Hunger drove it to keep feeding on the barrier’s magic. Time was running out.
The crown was almost within reach and Flynn kicked harder to catch up to it. His body ached for air. He knew he only had a few moments before he would drown, but it was a small price to pay to save his people.
With one final swimming stroke, Flynn reached the crown. He pulled it onto his head and a tidal wave of memories and sensory information from the creatures around him poured into his thoughts. It felt like his mind exploded into little pieces and were placed in the heads of thousands of fish. Each one provided him with thoughts, fears, emotions, and memories.
Starved of air, Flynn’s body jerked from oxygen deprivation. He spat out a mouthful of seawater and focused on the task at hand, sifting through the various minds in search of the one he wanted. In time, he found himself inside the mind of the leviathan. He assumed it was a simple creature driven by hunger, but its mind was a vast expanse with millennia of memories. It was like being inside the mind of a god.