Lothyda
Chapter fifty-three
Shadow crawled across the deck. Lucianna scrambled to her feet, grabbing her weapons belt from where it lay beside her. Her husband’s head tipped back, his expression slack with terrified shock as shade fell upon him. Lucianna spun around. A scream caught in her throat at the sight.
A massive writhing entity of darkness ascended from the deep.
Water poured off its inky black flesh and splashed onto the boat as it towered over the ship.
Dozens of colorless eyes blinked in unison atop a bulbous head.
Its maw opened—resembling an underground tunnel for how it absorbed all the light around it—and a bloodcurdling screech pierced the air. The hairs on Lucianna’s neck stood up.
“Do not let it grab hold of you!” the captain shouted as he slid onto the deck next to the crew, sword aloft. “If its talons sink into you, you’re as good as dead.”
Lucianna’s heart pounded. She looked at her husband.
He turned and ran toward the quarterdeck, his bare feet slapping against the wood.
As soon as he moved, one of the creature’s spiked appendages emerged and swiped across the deck.
Lucianna dropped to her stomach. A scream of terror joined the sound of the creature’s tentacle slapping against the hull of the boat.
When Lucianna had pushed back up to her feet, her husband had rejoined them. He tossed a long sword to Castien, holding one for himself. The prince caught it and began assessing the creature. It seemed the lothyda did not move fast, but it was powerful and large enough to make it difficult to kill.
Lucianna quickly buckled her belt around her waist and pulled out one of her daggers.
“Cora, Wren, get to the captain’s quarters!” Castien commanded.
“No, I’m not leaving you,” Wren cried. The princess was half bent over, watching the monster with fear painted across her delicate features.
Cora started to crawl across the deck. Petals blocked her from view of the creature, battle axe in hand. The beast swung again, this time from the opposite direction. Lucianna dropped to the deck, then popped up faster than the first time.
“You must,” Castien insisted.
“I can still fight,” she protested. “Finn, get me my sword.”
Finnick looked between Castien and Wren, his expression torn.
The lothyda let out a crackling roar. Lucianna’s gaze snapped from the trio to the monster.
A harpoon stuck out of one of its white eyes.
The creature whipped back and forth. One of its limbs slammed into a nearby cluster of rocks and chipped off bits of obsidian.
Kelwin nocked another metal arrow from atop the crow’s nest.
“Don’t make him lose you!” Finnick yelled over the primal screeches.
Wren faltered but didn’t have time to reply as the ship rocked violently to one side. Lucianna cried out as she was knocked into the side of the boat, then hit by Wren who’d collided with her.
“Wren, please,” Castien begged as he crawled to his wife. “I cannot think with the two of you in harm’s way.”
Two? Lucianna’s brow furrowed. Did he mean Finnick? But he wasn’t sending him away.
Castien helped Wren to her feet. Tears streamed down her face, but she nodded. The prince set his wife at his back and guarded her retreat. Lucianna pushed up to stand. A few paces away, Finnick did the same. He met her gaze, then nodded as if to indicate he was okay. She returned the gesture.
“Petals, when it swings, take your axe to the tentacle,” Kaiden shouted as the creature lifted a slimy appendage from the indigo waters.
Lucianna’s chest rose and fell as she tried to clear her mind and be productive.
She whipped her head in every direction, taking in the state of their crew.
Finnick’s expression was devoid of any of the fear she had witnessed before.
Now there was only steely determination about him.
The same could be said of Petals, who stood at the ready, waiting to meet the creature blow for blow.
Castien—having secured his wife’s protection—was focused on the creature, his gaze flicking about.
The lothyda swung.
Lucianna dropped down and watched as Petals met the creature with the blade of his weapon.
He stumbled at the impact but managed to keep his footing while hacking a sizable chunk out of the lothyda.
Blood as red as the sky above them sprayed from the wound.
Unfortunately, the tentacle was still functional, and it slithered back beneath the boat.
Once more, the Maralyn rocked, sending Lucianna to her knees.
It must have had more than the two arms it presented, and was using the others to capsize the ship. Water splashed over onto the deck.
“Kelwin!” The captain screamed as the boy was slung out of the crow’s nest. Lucianna’s heart stopped.
She slipped as she desperately tried to regain her footing.
Time slowed as Kelwin tumbled down. Castien slid into view and dropped his sword in time to catch the young man.
The both of them hit the deck hard enough to make Lucianna wince, but her empathetic pain was replaced by relief when they managed to stand.
Castien grabbed his sword off the ground in time for the creature to swing again. He bent backward, the creature almost grazing him but not quite. Kelwin dropped to his knees beside him, curled over his abdomen. The captain rushed toward him in alarm.
“We need to get closer!” Castien shouted. “Someone must lodge a blade into where the tentacle is attached to stop the attacks.”
Lucianna saw the merit of his plan. Her gaze went up to the rigging. It was dangerous, but she could make it across while the monster was distracted and catch it off guard.
Heart racing, she ran for the shroud. The boat tipped right as she reached it.
She held onto the rope with burning hands.
As soon as there was a brief moment of stability, she set her foot on the ladder.
Only to be ripped away by her waist. She screamed, thinking for a moment the creature had gotten ahold of her.
“It’s me!” Finn shouted as he set her down and spun her toward him.
“Why?” was the only word she could manage with the adrenaline flooding her veins.
“I’m not letting you plummet to your death. I shouldn’t let you fight at all.”
Let her? She shoved his hands away from her hips with a growl and turned to grab for the shroud, but Finnick snagged her wrist.
“Lucianna, please, don’t get yourself killed for being stubborn,” he begged.
She yanked away and glared at him but quickly softened when she saw the look in his eyes. It was the same one he’d given her up in the sails when he’d saved her from falling.
He didn’t want to take her choice away; he wanted to protect her.
The realization made her lips part. But the words she was searching for died as the Maralyn turned at a dramatic angle.
Finnick attempted to grasp Lucianna’s arm, but his fingers slipped over her slick skin.
She fell and didn’t stop falling. There was nothing to grab onto.
Her head cracked against some unseen force.
And everything went dark.