Chapter 18 Svenn #2
I swear it, Kae’ko responds, his voice shaking but determined.
Good. The great dragon begins to turn away, her body creating currents that rock our ships. The other six dragons move with her.
Tears stream from Rhianelle’s eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
Ksatka pauses, looking back over her shoulder. When this is over, if your kingdom survives, remember that not all dragons chose destruction today.
Rainer steps forward, drawing his sword. For a moment I tense but he doesn’t raise it in threat. Instead, he slams the blade point-first into the wet sand and drops to one knee. He bows his head in the deepest gesture of respect I’ve ever seen from him.
“We will never forget this,” he declares solemnly. “I swear it on my life, on my blood, on everything I am. Volundr will remember.”
The gesture spreads through the gathered crowd. Warriors and knights follow his lead. Swords slam into sand and wood, heads lowered in respect. Even the common folk on the shore kneel.
Thousands of people, bowing to a dragon who chose mercy over vengeance.
Ksatka’s massive head dips slightly in acknowledgment. Then her form slips beneath the waves, disappearing into depths too dark for mortal eyes to follow. The six other dragons follow. The water closes over them as if they were never there.
Kiiska lets out a howl that is pure grief, raw and terrible.
Kae’ko releases her neck but stays close, his own body trembling.
“I’m so sorry,” Rhianelle says, reaching out to touch Kiiska’s snout. “I’m so, so sorry.”
The young dragon nuzzles against her palm.
You should run, she manages to say through her grief. Get as far inland as you can. Don’t let Mother’s sacrifice be wasted.
Kiiska looks at Kae’ko. Can you amplify my voice so everyone can hear?
The young male dragon nods.
Kiiska and Kae’ko open their mouths together. Everyone away from the shore! Run for high ground now!
The command thunders across the harbor, magnified a hundredfold. It rolls through the streets of Volundr, rattling windows and making buildings shake.
Chaos erupts as the citizens of Volundr scramble to flee.
Parents grab children, dragging them away by force.
The elderly are lifted by younger neighbors, hoisted onto backs and shoulders.
People stream inland in an upward river flowing away from the shore.
Rhianelle wades through the shallow water, pulling people toward safety, her voice hoarse from shouting directions.
Horns sound across the fleet, signals relaying to shore. Warnings echo and re-echo until the whole city rings with alarm.
“They won’t make it,” Garrett says flatly, standing beside us on the exposed harbor floor. “Not all of them.”
He’s right. The mud sucks at our boots as we move toward shore. Thousands of people are running now but they’re so far from safety.
On the horizon, I see it. A white line that’s growing, approaching with impossible speed.
“How big?” Eyepatch asks quietly.
I stare at that approaching wall of water. “Bigger than the city walls.”
I watch the blood drain from his face.
Shadow explodes from me, forming portals across the pier. Dark gateways that lead to higher ground, to the upper districts, to anywhere that isn’t here.
“Guide them,” I mutter to Red and Eyepatch. “I’ll move as many as I can.”
The knights work without hesitation, understanding what needs to be done. They grab people by the arms and shove them toward the nearest portals.
“Through here! Keep moving!” Eyepatch calls out, guiding people toward the nearest gateway.
My teeth clench as I pour everything into holding the shadow paths open. People stumble through the portals, pulled by knights and sailors who understand what I’m offering.
Through one portal, through another, through a dozen at once. It takes all my concentration and my power. Coinneach and I work as one, our minds merged to handle the impossible task of holding so many doorways open.
Thirty people. Fifty. A hundred. More.
Rhianelle moves through the chaos with Rainer and Shade at her side. She lifts a small child who’s been separated from his mother, passing him to Darstan who carries him toward a portal. A woman clutches two children, frozen with fear.
“This way. Hurry.” Rhianelle guides the mother forward. They disappear through the gateway. I keep one eye on her always, tracking her silver braid through the crowd even as I hold the portals open.
But there are thousands still running.
“Get to the ships!” A sailor shouts from the pier. “All vessels, make for open water! Now!”
Panic erupts at the docks. People claw their way up rope ladders, stumbling over each other in their desperation. The crew haul people over the sides as fast as they can. A mother throws her child up to waiting arms before scrambling after.
The ships that can move leave immediately. Sails unfurl, oars bite into the shallow water. The ones too damaged from battle are abandoned, their crews leaping to sister vessels that might have a chance.
I keep creating portals. My head is splitting from the effort but I don’t stop. People are still running. Some are climbing stairs and ladders on Volundr’s tall structures in desperate rushes. Red and Eyepatch keep directing whoever they can into the dark doorways.
The sound reaches us before the wave does. A roar drowning out screams, horns, and prayers. The wave reaches the harbor mouth. It surges through the barrier wall with terrifying speed. The water rises around us, filling the harbor basin.
I won’t be able to hold the paths open for much longer, Coinneach whispers.
Cold seawater climbs from ankle to knee to waist in seconds. The current is strong, pulling at people, dragging them back toward the harbor mouth.
My portals collapse as my concentration breaks. People scream as the gateways wink out, leaving them stranded in rising water. I see a child lose their footing. A woman reaches for her husband and catches only water. An old man simply disappears beneath the surface.
The flood keeps rising.
Rhianelle wades through the rising water toward me, fighting the current with each step. Water reaches her chest but she doesn’t stop.
She grips my hand when she reaches me. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I reply, and mean it with everything I am. “Get behind me.”
I’m not ready to let her die.
Kiiska and Kae’ko create a barrier with their bodies, breaking the current’s force to give people time to reach safety.
My shadow wraps around them both, forming a shield against the rising water.
The wave breaks against my shadow shield.
Its force is tremendous, trying to tear the barrier apart.
Cracks spread through the darkness. I pour more power into it but it’s not enough.
The shield shatters.
Water crashes over us and the seadragons. The current is overwhelming, a living thing that wants to drag us all back to the sea. Its impact knocks people off their feet. I see a knight swept away, arms flailing before going under.
More tendrils shoot out from me. I pull Rhianelle tight against my side.
Rainer stumbles in the current and shadow wraps around his waist. Red and Eyepatch fight toward us but the water is too strong.
My darkness catches them both, hauling them in.
Shade moves through the water, grabbing people and pushing them toward us.
A woman clutches debris and I anchor her with shadow.
The darkness coils around everyone I can reach, keeping their heads above water as it rises higher.
The entire city is already underwater. Streets become rivers and buildings become islands. The water climbs the steps of the Grand Library and pours through its doors. Everything is swallowed by the flood.
I grab Rhianelle and pull her close as the water tries to tear her away from me.
People thrash and struggle in the drift.
Some find purchase on debris while others simply vanish beneath the churning surface.
My skin tingles slightly with a faint sensation.
But this is nothing like the agony a seadragon’s venom would cause.
Rhianelle coughs up seawater, her eyes wide with terror. “Ksatka did it.”
I nod.
She neutralized her mate’s venom. The death toll would be catastrophic if the water carried poison. But the wave remains cold and relentless. My shadow tendrils strain to hold everyone. Seawater batters us again and again. The pressure is unbearable but I don’t let go.
Before I reach my limits, the flood begins to recede. It pulls back toward the sea, dragging debris and bodies with it. The harbor floor reappears. I collapse to my knees in the muck, gasping. My head pounds. Every portal I opened carved a piece out of me.
Rhianelle kneels beside me, exhausted.
“Are you alright?” I ask her.
She can scarcely breathe but nods. Around us, survivors pull themselves from the water.
Volundr is devastated. Buildings collapsed or stripped to their foundations.
The water climbs the Grand Library’s steps and swallows its doors.
Ships that couldn’t reach open water lie scattered across the harbor.
Not even the upper district is spared. People crawl from the wreckage, coughing and calling for their loved ones.
Kiiska and Kae’ko pull themselves from the shallow waters, scales caked with mud. Kae’ko has a gash along his flank leaking dark blood.
Kaeko, Kiiska says, pressing against him. You’re hurt.
I’m fine, he rasps. We survived.
Thousands made it. Thousands more didn’t.
“At least it’s over,” Garrett says, stumbling toward us.
“No, it’s not over,” Rainer says, his face grim. “That was just the first surge. The real wave is still coming.”
The real wave?
“Tayum’s Wrath,” Rhianelle mutters in a voice so low I strain to hear it.
Rainer confirms with a nod. “It always comes in two. The first one weakens. Subsequent ones destroy.”
Fear crosses Rhianelle’s face. She must be remembering our visit to Kashran. Those water marks high in the mountains where no ocean should reach.