49
The kraken was enormous. Its dark tentacles were plated with a crab-like shell that ridged menacingly over its entire body. Its horned head dripped with more tentacles, hiding a razor-sharp maw of fangs. Valine couldn’t see it, but she knew beneath the water, the beast had a beak crusted with serrated teeth as long as her forearm.
It lashed against the Tempest again, shattering the foremast, sending sails tumbling to the sea. A man on the ropes shrieked into the turbulent waters. Valine clawed the deck, gaining purchase on anything she could, shoving Sarim away from the brunt of the attack. The starboard side was being chewed away, exposing more and more of the ship and its hold.
People were screaming and racing in varying directions, away from splintering wood and shrapnel. Ropes and nets swayed precariously over them as aethermancers directed all their magic at the kraken, doing everything in their power to push it away. Hydromancers joined the fray, attempting to submerge the monster beneath the waves. The ship shifted, unsteady, and Valine grappled for a rail. Without the direction of the mages, the ship was a disorganized shitshow. The captain, departing his cabin, was shouting orders as his crew was ejected into the sea in increasing numbers.
The kraken swiped the deck, sending men and an aethermancer into the ocean with a crunch of bone. Valine virtually dove down the stairs to avoid the next blow, feeling the current of air stir her hair as she fell to the main deck. A second thump beside her reassured her that Sarim was still onboard.
Cannon fire erupted around them. Puffs of smoke tainted the air as the creature shrieked against the weapons. It struck with precision, spearing towards the cannons and tearing a man from the gunport, taking the weapon with him.
Valine froze as she stared up in terror at the gigantic sea beast. It was more than double the size of a sand serpent, possibly even four times as large. She didn’t know if she had enough magic to take it on and survive, but they were fucked if she didn’t try. The last time she encountered a beast of the patrons Alastair had saved her, but now, Alastair was weeks away and oceans apart, and she had no hope of reaching him.
Steeling herself, Valine lashed out with her magic, spreading her arms wide as she turned her fingers into claws and created as many tethers as she could handle, finding them and hooking in. She could feel death surrounding her, death bleeding into the tethers as those she chose were doomed by the kraken. Sarim figured out what she was doing and removed his Veritasium Medallion, allowing her to use him. She tethered to Sarim, and it was the strongest one she had created—both from his strength and the bond of camaraderie between them securing it. He’d taken to removing his medallion around her.
She bolted across the main deck, dodging bodies and collapsed masts. Empty sails littered the path, and still, she continued running, launching herself at the stairs of the fore deck. Valine felt the tethers trailing her like smoke, the black magic like the lines of a spider’s web, each life snared and stuck to hers. She ascended the stairs and spun, watching the destruction the beast was wreaking.
Valine caught sight of Freyja on the remains of the quarter deck, straining her magic as she attempted to undo all the damage the kraken was creating. Exertion was plain on her face as time seemed to rewind, shattered sails mending, masts re-erected, planks replaced—the entire ship rebuilding. Freyja was sweating, her face flushed as her hands continued to shape and direct. She met Valine’s face from directly across the decks, teeth gritted.
She reached across the ship with her magic, creating one last tether with Freyja, and she was shocked when they connected. She saw the ghost of Freyja’s magic. It was a blur around everything she touched. Freyja’s eyes widened as Valine’s magic was revealed to her, and she followed the black smoke of Valine’s necromancy, gaze darting along each and every tether Valine had linked to herself like some macabre web.
The women met eyes once again and Valine lifted her hands above her head, drawing as much necromancy from the death surrounding them, from the essence of her soul, from the doom and peril, and gathered it into a massive orb. It grew like a boiling dark sun, encompassing her arms, bigger and bigger. Freyja watched it grow, stunned as she continued weaving her ruinmancy, guiding the opposite of her gift to save their lives.
Valine groaned and sweated as the pressure became immense, her arms aching with the strain of holding so much power. She watched it almost in slow motion as one of the tentacles came down directly between Valine and Freyja, threatening to rip the ship in two.
Freyja screamed as she focused all her magic on repairing the titanic tear, furiously weaving her magic from keel to hold to berth to deck. At the very same moment, Valine let loose an identical howl, launching all her summoned magic at the kraken.
It hit squarely on its horned head, scattering over the shell and down its tentacles ripping through it like a disease. The darkness of her magic bled through as it shrieked a daemonic sound, something more unnatural than any reptilian screech the sand serpents had released.
The kraken tossed itself backward, tentacles flying into the air as it crashed into the sea, screeching and splashing. It hit the water, its violent red eyes fading as it stared Valine down. As it disengaged from the ship, the hooks slowly tore into the boards as it slipped beneath the waves.
Freyja scrambled to repair the damage as the beast created it, and Valine dropped to her knees as the ruinmancer took over as the day’s savior. Head swimming, Valine swayed and toppled to the deck, watching the world spin and blur as Sarim raced towards her, a second figure in tow behind him. Valine realized with a start that it was Malik, a line of blood crossing his brow. Deliriously, she reached out for the king, wanting to wipe away the blood there.
Malik caught her hand as she reached, her mind slow, like slogging through syrup. “Did you tether?” he demanded.
She nodded but must not have done a good job because Malik repeated his question, this time a little more shrill with panic.
“She did,” Freyja answered for her, suddenly at her side with Malik and Sarim. “I saw it.”
“You saw it?” Sarim asked, gravitating towards her.
Freyja swallowed, wood and smoke in her hair, fine scrapes and slashes of blood all over her. “When she tethered to me, I could see her magic. I could see all the threads of her magic connecting her to a dozen people.” Her eyes flashed to Valine, the necromancer blinking away fog and confusion. “I’ve never seen so much power before. It was terrifying.”
Malik squeezed Valine’s hand tighter. “Are you still with us?”
She nodded, this time more successfully. “Yes, I’m not nearly as drained as I was…last time.”
Malik helped her into a sitting position, and her head wavered as she adjusted. Closing her eyes against the sway, she also reached out with her magic, seeking. She plunged beneath the waves, letting her smoke torrent down into the depths. With a net, she plundered the deep, dark sea and felt a responding twinge. Her eyes flew open, and panic lit within her.
“There’s another one below us.”
As she threw out her tethers, plunging into the survivors, she felt the kraken barreling for the surface. For the hull of the boat. Terror tore through her as she gathered as much necromancy as possible before she powered it through the ship and into the ocean below. She felt when the necromancy made contact, the beast stutter-stopping in the waves as it speared through its brain and through the beak below. It floated, losing motion, ending in shock and death. Her hands were claws to the deck as she felt the life leak from the beast, her own life wavering as she slumped to the side.
Sarim and Malik caught her, guiding her safely back into position. She looked at the two of them, at the tethers that she’d flung into them, ones only she—and the still tethered Freyja—could see. She blinked in realization, shock grounding her.
Valine had arrowed through Malik’s tattooed Veritasium Medallion, breaking through the ward and tethered the Adraalian King to her.
Tentatively, she reached out, following the web of her tether to him, her mouth in a small O of surprise. She glanced at Freyja whose eyes were also wide, shock pure and unaltered on her face. She could see her magic and how it had broken through a Veritasium Medallion. It should not have been able to do so.
“Do you see this?” Valine asked Freyja.
“I do,” the ruinmancer managed, dropping to a knee beside her.
“What?” Malik asked, brows drawn together.
Valine continued reaching, pushing open the button at the top of his shirt. The tattooed medallion was still there, but a piece of it was broken. One of the lines of the maze shattered. In the center of the maze was Valine’s necromancy, undulating like shadows and into his heart.
“I tethered you,” she whispered.
“That’s not possible,” he told her in dismay, but even so, he looked down, and due to his secret psychomancy, he saw her tether.
“I assure you, it is,” Freyja informed him succinctly.
Valine had broken one of the fifteen Veritasium Medallions in existence. Malik’s, though crushed and tattooed, should have been just as strong as a whole medallion. Her magic was unnatural, intense, and dangerous. Nothing should be able to break a Veritasium Medallion but another Veritasium Medallion. They were relics of the patrons; they were no creation made from man. But the evidence was staring her in the face, only further affirming Malik’s theory.
She was a child of Mrithun. Her father was the Patron of Death.
It was the only explanation.
“We need answers,” Malik said stiffly.
It was an understatement.