Flamboyant Kill
Chapter twenty-eight
Finn rushed toward his wife as soon as her feet hit the deck. He assessed her in the darkness to ensure she was all right, then reached for her waist. She spun away from him, but not before he could snag his dagger off her belt.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” she asked indignantly.
Finn held up the blade and spun it.
“While it looks lovely at your hip, I think it will find better use in my hand when facing an enemy.”
She scowled and pulled one of her other daggers out of the scabbard. Before she could reply with a no doubt scathing insult, the captain shouted across the deck.
“Keep your wits about you! These creatures are shifty and slick.” He pulled a sword off a rack near the door to the captain’s cabin. “Kelwin will try to shoot it, but even if he hits it, might not stop it completely.”
Finn studied the waters in the darkness. He’d been trained by his father to maneuver in low visibility, but still he couldn’t make out what warranted the captain’s distress. He wondered if the young boy was mistaken.
The door near the captain opened, and Castien stalked out with his sword drawn.
Wren emerged shortly after him, a coat drawn over her nightgown and dagger in hand.
The one that matched that which Finn carried.
Castien and Finn had possessed the blades since they were young boys, but Castien gifted the blade to Wren a few years ago.
Finn surveyed the ship’s deck. Petals stood on the quarterdeck, balancing a battle axe on his shoulder. Castien, Wren, and the captain were on the main deck, while Finn and Lucianna stood on the forecastle deck. Kelwin, of course, was in the crow’s nest. Finn’s brows furrowed.
“Where’s Cora?” he yelled.
“She ran below deck as soon as Kelwin mentioned the beast,” Petals shouted in reply.
“Cora is not a fighter,” Lucianna explained from a few paces away where she was studying the waters for signs of life. “It’s good she hid.”
A whistling sound pierced the air. Finn looked up in time to see metal arching over the waves. A garbled, crackling roar followed.
“Injured but incoming, Captain!” Kelwin shouted from the crow’s nest.
The young boy knocked another harpoon in the crossbow with ease that indicated practice.
He took a ready stance, his head following a target Finn himself could not make out.
The boy let out the roar of a young cub, and another metal arrow whistled through the air, but this time no responding sound came from the creature. Kelwin must have missed.
“Do we know what we’re dealing with?” Finn directed his question to the captain, who stood near the port side of the ship on the main deck.
The question was barely out of his mouth when a flailing mass of muddy flesh propelled itself onto the deck.
The length of a man and circumference of three, it was no small being.
Cas slashed at the creature’s circular maw while the captain flanked the creature and hacked at its wriggling back, a harpoon protruding just above his chosen spot of attack.
Whatever it was, it was resilient and strong. The captain jumped over the beast’s whipping tail, narrowly avoiding the spikes that protruded from the appendage. Meanwhile, Castien guided Wren with one hand behind him and fought the creature with the other.
Discontent to stand idly by any longer, Finn jumped the stairs and ran toward the monstrosity.
It reared back, letting out a crackling hiss.
He dropped to his knees and slid beneath it, slicing at the exposed flesh of its throat.
Oily green blood rained down. Finn rolled out from below the creature before it could slam down on him.
It thumped against the deck, still writhing and snapping in Castien and Wren’s direction, though seriously injured.
“Now would be a good time for that axe of yours, Mr. Petals,” Kaiden called out.
The brute sprung into action, rushing down the stairs with his weapon held high. He slammed it down and severed the creature’s head. Finn wiped foul blood off his cheek with an unsoiled part of his sleeve.
“Well done, Petals,” he commended.
“You as well, sir,” Petals replied with a reserved smile.
“Is everyone all right?” the captain asked as he looked about the ship.
“I am unscathed, despite the amount of teeth in that Tides-cursed thing’s mouth,” Wren said with wide eyes. “Did it—were they spinning?”
The captain nodded. “Aye.” He grabbed the head of the monster and held it up for all to inspect. Kaiden was strong, but his hand dipped with the weight of it. Lucianna crossed over to where the group now gathered.
“What is it?” she asked, wonder in her voice.
The head loosely resembled a snake, but it was more bulbous than any serpent Finn had ever seen. And instead of two protruding fangs it had a circular mouth with rows of jagged teeth. Its eyes, now permanently open, were a cloudy purple, and its slick skin was the color of soil.
“A vermi,” Kaiden answered. “Nasty little buggers.”
“Little?” Lucianna questioned.
Finn stifled a chuckle at her tone.
“Compared to what’s hiding out there, yes, this is small,” the captain replied grimly. “We made quick work of it, which is good. The worst thing about creatures like this is the damage they can do to ships if you don’t kill them fast enough.”
He walked to the side of the ship and dropped the head over.
“Help me with the body, Petals?” he requested before squatting down beside the cylindrical base.
Petals nodded and bent down across from him. At the count of three, they heaved, then carried the mass of oozing flesh and threw it overboard.
Beside Finn, Lucianna wrinkled her nose.
“You look and smell disgusting.”
He laughed with the others.
“You should be thanking me. I saved you from this fate.”
She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have put myself in a position to get sprayed. You wanted a flamboyant kill, so this is your penance.”
A smirk twisted his lips.
“Is that your way of saying I was impressive?”
“If you want to impress me, you’re going to have to try harder than that,” she replied.
He grinned. “Noted.”
His smile dimmed slightly when he regarded his clothes, though. The smell was starting to linger rather unpleasantly in his nostrils. He needed to rinse off and get out of these garments.
“Given what just came out of the Tides, I don’t suppose taking a quick dip to rinse off is a viable option,” he said wryly.
“Clean water is stored in barrels in the galley,” Kaiden said as he wiped his soiled hands on his trousers. “Be conservative with your use.”
Finn dipped his chin in gratitude, then headed for the stairs that would lead below deck. He stopped by the crew’s quarters first to get a change of clothes from his trunk. Cora blinked up at him from where she was huddled in a corner, a lantern next to her bare feet.
“Is it dead?” she asked.
“Yes, and its body disposed of.”
She huffed.
“I would have liked the opportunity to study its remains.”
“Oh, well, there’s some blood and guts still on the deck?”
Her eyes lit up and she scrambled to her feet.
“That will do. I’m sure the chemistry of its blood alone is fascinating.”
Finn shrugged but didn’t try to dim the alchemist’s odd enthusiasm.
“All I know is it smells terrible, and is probably going to stain one of my favorite sailing shirts.” He grimaced as he pulled the sludge-covered fabric away from his torso.
“Green!” Cora exclaimed. “Most intriguing. I must study it while it’s fresh. Pardon me.”
Finn stepped to the side so the woman could pass, then resumed his task of retrieving his belongings.
Clothing secured, he took Cora’s lantern and made the trek down another floor into the galley.
Wooden barrels and crates filled most of the space, aside from a small area that was designated to prepare food.
His shirt made a splat sound as he dropped it onto the floor.
Thankfully, his pants weren’t overly soiled.
There were a few speckles of blood, but not enough to warrant changing.
Not when there was risk of further battle.
They would need to be conservative in all areas until they reached Grimhaven, for they did not have the luxury of maids to do washing or vast amounts of space for excess clothing.
Finn filled a bucket halfway with water, taking a long drink before locating a rag and dipping it inside the cool liquid.
He scrubbed the cloth over his face. It was in this moment that he heard the creak of the staircase.
He lowered the scrap of fabric to find his wife staring at him. Or rather, his abdomen.
“I’m a little tired, but if you ask nicely, I might be inclined to put on a show for you,” he said with a smirk. “You’re afforded such privileges, being that you’re my wife.”
“Go jump off the ship,” she grumbled.
Finn couldn’t make out the color of her face in such dim lighting, but he hoped she was blushing.
“If I did that, who would save you from sea monsters?”
“Oh please, I could have easily killed that monster and left half the mess.” She crossed the room and snatched a mop out of the corner. “A mess I now have to clean up.”
“You had ample opportunity to kill it, and you didn’t,” he pointed out.
She gripped the mop like a weapon.
“I was assessing the situation,” she gritted out.
“Slowly,” he added. “And you heard the captain. We had to kill it fast.”
Lucianna stalked over to him, eyes flashing with anger.
“There are benefits to not rushing headlong into danger.”
Finn shrugged his bare shoulders.
“Detriments, too. Like damaged ship parts or hurt people.”
“Ugh,” she huffed, and turned away from him. “What does it matter, anyway? The creature is dead. Everyone is safe.” She started toward the stairs.
“Mm, but there’s always room to improve, isn’t there?”
He echoed the sentiments she had thrown at him after their first mission together. She paused for a breath, then stomped up the stairs without a reply.
Finn heaved a sigh and wrung out the now-dirty cloth, feeling not unlike the scrap of fabric. Used up and worn out.