Chapter 30
My voice came out in as high a pitch as I could manage.
The air around me vibrated, and any crystals that tried to form from my song were shattered.
Many of the gems appeared around the creature, and each burst caused a hailstorm of shards to rain down on the thing.
Some of the fragments shot into its eyes.
The thing screamed and stumbled back, pawing at its face with its tendrils.
Marc took advantage of its momentary distraction and broke the ship free.
A few of the suckers stuck to the deck, but the sailors drew out a wide assortment of cutlasses, knives, swords, and Fidel even sported a machete, and together they hacked away at the creature, forcing it to lose its final grip.
Several tendril tips remained stuck to the deck, bleeding out black blood onto the boards.
The creature wasn’t quite done with us. It let loose a terrible roar that made me clap my hands over my ears. Even the battle-worn men winced against the shrieking cry of the beast. It swam after us, darkness in its dark eyes.
“Ship, Captain!” the sailor in the crow’s nest shouted. He stabbed a finger at our bow port side, around the bend of the island, and everyone aboard followed his direction.
A huge, white vessel loomed on the horizon. The sails weren’t as numerous, nor the ship as impressive as the Dempewolf, but I couldn’t help but turn to Ramaro with my question. “Jaeger is aboard that, isn’t he?”
Ramaro’s scaly face had a grim expression on it. “It’s his smaller ship, the Hetzmann.”
Marc grasped his hands against the railing on the wheel deck and pressed his lips tightly together. “It looks like our friends at the port tattled on us.”
Fidel studied his leader with an equally tense gaze. “How are you, Captain?”
It was then that I noticed his hands that grasped the railing shook.
He tightened his grip and stopped the quivering.
“Never mind that! Man the sails! We go straight south through the threat of cannon and the jaws of the beast!” His gaze fell on me, and he nodded at the cabin door beneath him. “Get inside.”
I stiffened my jaw and shook my head. “I want to stay out here.”
“You’ll do better to-”
“Shall we send up flares, Captain?” one of the sailors yelled at his leader as he pointed at the creature. “It’s scared off such things before.”
“Blow off as many as you can find!” Marc instructed him before turning his attention back to me. “In! Now!”
Ramaro pressed his forehead against my ankle and tried to push me toward the door. “Go on. You heard the captain.”
I pursed my lips, but allowed Ramaro to guide me toward the cabin.
Loud noises behind me made me spin around, and Ramaro stumbled forward a few steps without me.
The men had opened a crate and were throwing bright red flares at the creature.
The flaming sticks fell into the ocean or bounced off the thing.
None of them deterred its path toward us.
Its soulless eyes fell on me. I felt a terrible cold sink into my body.
“Keep moving!” Ramaro ordered me as he resumed his place against my ankle. “Come on! Move!”
I stumbled forward, a horrible thought rising in the back of my mind. Ramaro herded me into the cabin, where I stumbled into the middle of the room. My wide eyes saw nothing, and my heart thumped loudly in my chest. My blood ran cold, and the color drained from my cheeks.
Ramaro slammed the door shut. “There. That should-” He noticed me standing stiff with my back turned to him. The agama scurried up to my side and looked me over. “What’s wrong with you? You look like you just swallowed something that didn’t go down right.”
A few whispered words escaped my tight throat. “It’s me.”
Ramaro blinked at me. “What’s you?”
I pressed my fists against my chest, but that didn’t stop my body from shaking. “That thing wants me.”
He wrinkled his snout. “And how do you know that?”
“Because it keeps looking at her.” I jumped and spun around to find Marc standing a few feet in the cabin. The door stood open behind him. He shut it at my turning toward him. “That’s why the flares aren’t working. It sees something better aboard the ship.”
Ramaro scoffed. “But what would it want with her?”
Marc looked me over. “Your sea song. It must have heard your voice last night on the beach, and it’s come to take you to its nest.”
My voice came out in a shivering whisper. “And then?”
“The nest of such monsters lies far below the surface. You’ll be drowned.”
I had forgotten to breathe. My lungs felt they were about to burst. I took a long, shuddered breath before letting it out.
“What about using some of the ship’s grimspall on it?” Ramaro suggested.
Marc folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. “It’s too soaked in water. The stuff would never work.”
Ramaro studied Marc from head to foot. “I’d say outrun it, but you look about outrun already.”
A wry smile slipped onto Marc’s lips. “Even if we could outstrip the monster, Jaeger will catch up to us before I have the strength to evade him.”
I stood there, listening to their conversation with a creeping sensation in the back of my mind. There was only one thing to do, and it terrified me.
“You have to put me on a boat.”
My quiet voice didn’t break through their conversation.
“Then lead the monster to Jaeger and let him deal with it!”
“It doesn’t want him, it wants Rose.”
I balled my hands into fists at my side and stomped a foot against the floorboards. “Put me on a boat!”
That got their attention. Ramaro turned to me and wrinkled his snout. “Put you on a boat? Why?”
I hurried up to Marc and grasped his hand as I stared into his eye. “If I’m not on the boat, then everyone will be safe from that monster. If I’m not on this boat, then Jaeger won’t follow the Tempest. We both know that’s true.”
He lifted his chin and pursed his lips. “I won’t let you go.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter what we want. Everyone is in danger if I stay here. I need to leave.”
Ramaro scurried up to me. “Not alone. I’m going with you.”
I smiled down at him. “I appreciate the offer, but I have to do this alone. I’m the only one they want.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to go alone, and it isn’t practical for you to do that,” Marc argued as he grasped one of my hands in both of his. “I’m coming with you.” I opened my mouth, but he shook his head. “You won’t get very far without my magic.”
“Can’t you send the boat away while you get the Tempest out of here?” I suggested.
“The range of my magic is limited. You won’t get very far before I lose control over your boat. Fidel will handle things here, and I’ll get us as far away from them so they can get away.”
My heart sank. “But you might be killed or captured.”
A gentle smile slipped onto his lips. “I could say the same of you, and what sort of a captain would I be if I let my guest fall into such trouble alone?”
Tears sprang into my eyes. They were selfish tears of relief, of the knowledge that I wouldn’t need to face my death alone. I wiped them away and dropped my eyes to the floor. “I can’t ask you to-”
He grasped my chin between his hands and lifted my eyes back to him. “You’re not asking. I’m telling you I’m coming with you. It won’t succeed otherwise.” He turned his head far enough so his one eye fell on Ramaro. “Tell Fidel what we’re doing.”
Ramaro’s tail drooped. “But-”
“That’s an order from your captain. It might be the last one I give you, so obey it.”
Ramaro lifted his head and stiffened his lower jaw. “Aye aye, Captain.” He scuttled out of the room.
Marc turned his smile back at me and offered me his arm. “Shall we?” I hesitated, staring at his offer. He grabbed my arm and looped it around his. “There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now let’s go face two monsters and see which one wins us.”