Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
The sun was setting on the horizon, and giant flocks of black starlings dipped and danced across the purple-edged sky as Carys and Lachlan stood on the bow of the small river cruiser that Duncan piloted down the Ouse.
“There.” Lachlan pointed. “I see it.”
“I don’t see anything.”
Lachlan leaned close to her and bent down. She could feel his breath on her neck, and the scent of cedar and sandalwood mixed with the breeze.
“Look at where the current is moving,” he said quietly, “then look for the interruption where the—”
A massive snake with a head at least a meter wide breached the water, letting out a sharp scream and bashing its body against the wood-and-concrete embankment.
Carys nearly fell over. “Holy shit.”
“Think we all see it now,” Duncan said from behind the windshield where he was piloting the boat. “Good spotting, Lachlan.”
The massive beast dove beneath the water, and as it did, the concrete embankment that separated the land from the river collapsed and crumbled into the water.
“Get to the right!” Lachlan yelled. “It’s heading straight toward us!”
Duncan managed to move them over to the far bank, barely avoiding Sam the Sea Serpent as a massive wave hit the side of the cruiser, splashing muddy water across their legs and feet as the snake’s body undulated side to side past their boat and up the river.
Lachlan grabbed her and wrapped one arm around her waist, steadying Carys against his chest as he braced his legs wide and hung on to the side of the boat.
There were fishing lines and clotheslines wrapped around the serpent’s body, and a bright orange kayak floated up as he passed, smashed against the side of their cruiser, then sank again as Sam dove deep.
“He’s heading toward the locks,” Duncan yelled. “Carys, d’ya have a plan yet?”
Sam was larger than Carys had imagined but not as big as she’d feared. “Duncan, how many meters do you think that thing is?”
She heard Cadell in her mind before Duncan could answer.
I would estimate that the beast is around thirty meters long.
Ask Laura how long the locks are.
“I’d say it’s twenty-five, maybe thirty?” Duncan wiped his forearm over his eyes to clear them from the muddy water. “What do you want to do?”
Thirty meters long meant that old Sam was a little longer than a basketball court. In the vast Atlantic Ocean, he was in his element, but the creature was probably panicking in a river like the Ouse.
“Can you turn this thing around?”
With a quick nod, Duncan eased the wheel around and moved the boat forward, creeping into the wash of debris and waves the sea monster had churned up.
Carys saw dead fish floating in the water, and along the top of the embankment, a sleek, black cat reared back, hissing at the monster before he slunk into the bushes.
Nêrys.
“Cadell?” She could hear him in her mind, but his voice was faint.
I am near the weir with Laura. She says the locks are forty meters long.
“Forty meters,” she muttered. “If we can get it inside…”
Duncan shouted, “What are you thinking?”
“It’s turning around,” Lachlan said. “Carys, it’s heading straight for us.”
Carys looked away from the grey-walled locks and saw a white ridge of water heading straight toward them.
She felt Cadell’s panic in her mind, the intense need for his dragon form.
“It’s going to ram us.” Duncan kept his voice steady. “Lachlan?”
Before Carys realized what was happening, Lachlan spun her around, yanked a life vest over her head, and snapped the top clip just before the boat rocked to the side and Lachlan went tumbling into the water.
“Lachlan!” She screamed as she fell to the deck.
Duncan shouted something that was drowned out by the roar of the engines, and Carys braced herself as the white water roared toward them.
Something orange went flying over her head, splashing into the river as the dragging tail of the serpent spun the small cruiser into the center of the Ouse.
“Lachlan, buoy’s in the water!” Duncan yelled. “Carys, stay down!”
Nêrys, I am swimming to you.
Stay on the shore!
Nêrys, I cannot.
She heard a distant splash, and Cadell must have grabbed the attention of the serpent, because the boat stopped spinning. Duncan steadied it, then ran to the side to look for Lachlan.
“Duncan, go!” a voice called.
Carys heard Lachlan’s voice coming from a distance.
“I can swim it,” Lachlan shouted. “Get her out of the water!”
The swiftly moving current of the River Ouse caught Lachlan and snatched him away, but before he disappeared into the darkness, Carys saw him clutching the bright orange ring Duncan had thrown.
Duncan ran to the wheel, gunned the engine, and pointed the bow of the cruiser toward the dock where Carys could see Godrik and Laura waving their arms.
They were getting closer.
Closer.
Thunk.
Carys, who had been on her knees in the bow of the boat, peering into the darkness, was thrown back.
“Carys, lie down!” Duncan shouted. “Get on the—”
The bow tilted up, rocked to the side, and moments later, she felt the freezing, muddy water of the river swallow her.
She was sucked into darkness, water shot up her nose, and something grabbed her ankle, pulling her deeper into the river.
There was a roar in her ears and muffled shouting in the distance.
Just as suddenly as she’d gone under the water, she popped up, her lungs exploding as she gasped for air. She blew the water from her nose and hung on to the straps of the life vest that was keeping her afloat.
“Carys!”
She searched the darkness for the voice that called her name, but just as her vision cleared, something that felt like a rope wrapped around her ankle.
She went under the water again as high, snickering laughter surrounded her and angry caws sounded in the sky above her.
What death do you choose, daughter of Epona?
The whispering voice made Carys stop struggling. She listened and she stilled, waiting for more.
What death do you choose, daughter of two worlds? The voice was familiar. For death comes for all your kind— it was tinged with the cackle of crows —and I am guarding yours.
Carys’s lungs were on fire, but the darkness of the river was suddenly lit with an eerie blue light, and creatures emerged from the darkness.
Wide black eyes set in moonlike faces. Wide mouths as much fish as faerie. The creatures in the river grinned, revealing sharp, pointed teeth as their long, bony hands reached out and the Morrígan’s laughter echoed in her mind.
There was a crashing sound overhead; then a hand plunged down and grabbed Carys by the braid, yanking her up and out of the water with a roar.
Duncan wrapped thick arms around her as Lachlan dove underwater with his sword drawn.
“Grindylows!” Duncan shouted. “They’ve come through the gates, and they’re everywhere.” He kicked out, stretching one arm toward the shore.
Cadell was there, pulling her up by her arms and dragging her onto the grassy riverbank.
“Give me a knife, dragon!” Duncan said. “Anything you have!”
Cadell reached into his tall boot and grabbed a silver blade, flipping it toward Duncan, who caught it by the handle and dove back where Lachlan was still fighting with the water fae.
Carys lunged toward the river even as Cadell held her back. “Duncan!”
“Nêrys, the wyrm—”
“I’m not worried about the fucking sea monster!” she screamed. Neither of the men had life vests. The unearthly creatures lurking in the Ouse would kill them both.
Only Cadell held her back.
“I can hear him,” Cadell shouted. “She has possessed his mind.”
“You’re not listening!” She wrenched her body around as Cadell held her. “There are things in the water that are going to drown Duncan and Lachlan!”
“You must trust your men to battle the water fae. They are not as powerful on this side of the gate, and that dagger has a steel core.”
Carys felt hot tears on her freezing-cold cheeks, but she choked back a sob and nodded.
“Nêrys, I can hear the wyrm’s mind.” Cadell’s eyes drilled into hers. “It is confused, unhinged, and he does not know what is happening.”
“The Morrígan has… possessed it?”
“I believe so.”
Carys looked around to see a thick fog pressing around them. “What’s happening?”
“Laura created a fog to keep any humans away,” Cadell said. “Naida is trying to call friendly water fae to help us. There are some, but they are frightened and confused.”
There was a giant splash, and Carys turned. She saw Lachlan swimming toward the edge of the river, dragging Duncan under one arm.
“Bloody massive idiot.” He grunted as she and Cadell raced over to help him pull Duncan up the slope. “Nearly got himself killed.”
“Is he breathing?” Carys ran to Duncan’s side and knelt down.
Just as she reached him, Duncan started to cough and retch, spewing river water from his mouth and nose.
Carys turned him on his side, and Duncan gripped her hand as he expelled the water from his lungs.
“How did you get away?”
Lachlan had red marks around his throat and a slice on his shoulder. “Never seen grindylows in a river before.” His shirt was half gone, and it looked like there were teeth marks in his side. “Don’t care to see them again. But they can bleed, the bloody little monsters.”
As Duncan coughed and gripped her hand, she heard splashing in the water and a low thump as the serpent hit something beneath the surface. The dense fog shrouded everything from her view, but she could see the muddy water washing up like waves on the grass.
“He’s turned at the weir,” Cadell said. “But he’s not leaving. The Morrígan is telling him to keep going.”
Lachlan pulled off the remains of his shirt and used the scraps to clean his blade before he set both down on the ground. “We have to stop it from going over that dam. It’s a meter or two at most.”
Duncan was as beaten up as Lachlan and had a red slash right across his throat, but he pointed at the river. “That monster is powerful enough to go over that dam,” he rasped. “But how the bloody hell are we supposed to stop it?”