Chapter 20 #2
I careen down and suck in a final breath before I’m pulled under.
Yellow eyes appear in front of me. I’m listening.
Let me live, and I’ll get you out of these chains.
A tentacle yanks at the metal holding him down, but the chain doesn’t budge. I’ve tried everything to release myself, and you think you can do it? He pulls me closer. You’re nothing without your power.
Take me to where it’s fixed to the bottom.
His eyes narrow. I don’t take orders from you.
I level him with a glare equally as menacing, and I swear he rolls his eyes.
Fine, he says.
He lowers me to the lake bed. My vision strains against the lack of light and I search the muck, fanning my hands for the base of the chains. My palms brushes metal and I grab hold.
My head and ears throb from the pressure, and I blindly follow the path, searching for a weak spot.
There has to be a break in it, or a latch of some sort where they locked him in.
There has to be. Otherwise, we’re both dead.
I grapple each link, running my fingers over the weld holding them together. Nothing.
I need air.
He huffs. You’re lucky I’m known for playing with my meals.
He lifts me, but my foot catches on a link. It pierces my boot, shredding through skin and muscle, and I swallow the scream.
Wait!
He pauses. I pull my foot free and trace over the metal. My head swims from lack of oxygen and blood loss and thousands of gallons of water above me. My finger finds a rough, serrated break in the chain.
Get me to my sword. Now!
Sunlight races closer and closer. I throw a hand over my mouth and another over my nose as they threaten to inhale water. The kraken whips me from the lake and lets go. I soar through the air and slam into the ground, feet away from my sword.
Groaning, I push onto my elbows and find Kressa, unconscious and slumped against the stone barricade. My breath stutters, and I stare at her chest. Time slows to a stop, the cheers and screams above nothing but a hushed whisper.
Her chest rises.
I shudder a breath. Alive. She’s alive.
Standing, I grab my blade from the mud and sprint back toward the lake, wind whipping at my face. Screams fill the arena as countless tentacles burst from the water and taste the air, coiling back like an asp.
I smirk. Show off.
I didn’t earn my reputation from humility.
A single tentacle whips toward me. I tuck my sword against my side, careful not to cut him as he wraps it around my middle, lifts me high in the air, and plunges me into the depths.
Take me to the same spot.
So bossy.
Sinking through the abyss, I clutch my sword. If it slips undetected, there’s no hope for either of us. He delivers me at the chain and I fumble the links, finding the weak one.
When I count to three, pull as hard as you can, I say.
He grunts.
One.
Carefully, I slide my sword through the narrow, rusted gap. My hands quiver, oxygen quickly depleting.
Two.
I brace myself against his tentacle, and he presses back, steadying me. My throat closes up.
Three!
The chain goes taut and I throw my entire weight onto the sword. The kraken screeches, blood pouring into the water.
It doesn’t budge.
Pull harder!
My muscles twitch, but I keep my grip firm on the sword. He sinks as far as the chain allows, and his exhausted, luminescent eyes peer through the muck.
I’m getting you out of here, I promise.
His tentacle falters, but he gathers his strength and presses each of his long arms against the lake bed. I grip the handle. My fingers shake, heart palpitating. I clench my jaw against the imminent implosion of my lungs.
Thank you, princess.
His tentacles push off the floor, and he shoots up. The chain goes rigid, and I put everything I have on the handle, the blade bending beneath my weight.
A pop echoes through the water, and the sword slips from my hands. The kraken roars, his tentacle falling from my waist. I sink, weightlessly, into the depths.
My lungs can’t stand another moment.
I’ll never feel the ocean spray against my face—never feel the ocean churn beneath my feet or the untethered bliss of sailing stormy waters with my crew.
I’ll never step foot on The Twelfth Night again.
I bump against the sandy floor. My mouth opens and I inhale a lungful of water.
A tentacle sweeps through the water, across the sun rays, and snakes under my arms, gingerly wrapping around my middle.
My head breaks the surface, and I cough out water as the kraken lays me on the shore, letting my head loll to the side.
He screeches and scrambles to the lakeshore, hooking his tentacles over the edge of the arena wall.
Screams burst through the air as he clambers over the barricade, tossing people out of his way.
He drops to the other side and climbs the hill toward the ocean, his sheer size a sight to behold.
The greatest, fiercest creature of the sea. Pausing at the top, he turns and sinks into a low bow.
Thank you, Your Highness.
A canon blasts, piercing the air.
My lips tilt, and the world goes black.