33. Vera
Vera
Thwack.
My sword cleaved through one of the tentacles, spraying blue into the air. Blood oozed from the severed end as it rolled across the planks and landed at Odessa’s feet. The other half flailed back into the water with a splash that sent the ship rocking again.
“Man the cannons!” Starke shouted from the helm. Two crewmembers bolted for the cannons on the main deck. One slipped and slammed into the rail, right as another tentacle came crashing down on top of him.
Suddenly, the tentacle exploded into leather skin and blue blood. The captain from the Veridian Empire, Rossa, emerged from the remains. Entrails splattered his clothes, and smoke issued from the end of a hand cannon clutched in his grip. He shook ash out of his gray beard as he approached.
“Never thought I’d get to use one o’ these,” he said with a grunt. “Who summoned the kraken?”
I stared at him. “The what?”
He gestured with his weapon to the creature, and I ducked to avoid getting whacked in the head. “The kraken, girl. Where’d it come from?”
“What the Fates is a kraken?” Tessa asked as she lunged for another tentacle with her twin daggers.
“A monster o’ the deep,” Rossa growled. “Three stories long, and nearly a dozen limbs that can bring a ship straight to the bottom o’ the ocean.”
I swallowed hard. “I thought that was just a story. A myth.”
“You best start believin’ in those myths, Miss Duma.” Rossa cocked his hand cannon. “Yer in one.”
The sea on our starboard side surged, and another tentacle curled around the boat. Suckers locked onto the hull with a sickening squelch, making the ship tilt sharply. I staggered into Everett, who braced me with his good arm.
“Steady, Songbird,” he murmured. His chest heaved against mine, and for a moment, all I could feel was his strong arm pressed into me and the water rolling from his sharp jaw to my cheek. I swallowed thickly and forced myself away.
Lightning flared, and I saw that lighthouse again, tall and narrow in the distance. But this time, it wasn’t alone. Just beyond, almost too far to see, loomed another vessel with indistinguishable sails, heading straight for the lighthouse.
Mortep. He was here, and we were running out of time.
“Starke, do you see that?” I shouted, pointing to the ship in the distance. He nodded grimly. “That has to be Mortep. He’s going to beat us to it if we can’t get rid of this kraken.”
“What do you think we’re trying to do?” he called back.
“If we get closer to that lighthouse, maybe we can run it aground!”
Starke raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, and us with it!”
“Well, what other plan do you have?”
“How about, shoot it?” As soon as Starke spoke, a cannon fired. The blast split the air, and the cannonball vanished into the waves. A second later, the kraken’s bulbous head broke the surface.
It was massive. Larger than what the dark shadows had made it out to be.
A huge dome of slick, dark red flesh rose between tentacles, eyes shining as they locked onto the ship.
Another cannon fired, and this one struck it dead center.
The kraken shrieked, water exploding around it as it reared back.
The tentacles around the ship loosened ever so slightly.
“Again!” Starke roared, then looked at me and huffed. “You better be right about this, V. Karye, get the storm jib up. Lenny, aim for that light.” He pointed to the lighthouse.
Two more shots rang out from the starboard side.
One went wide, and the second struck a tentacle.
Blue blood erupted from the flayed flesh and streamed down around us.
A tentacle next to one of the cannons lashed out blindly, wrapping around the gunner’s waist and yanking him from the deck.
His screams were swallowed by the black waves below.
A gust of wind rocked the ship, and with the storm sails now in place, we were dragged even closer to the lighthouse, moving faster than the enemy ship across the way.
Lenny wrangled the wheel. Another tentacle smashed near the helm and missed him by inches, but knocked off a lantern from its hook.
It shattered on the ground, emitting sparks that caught several planks on fire.
When the fire licked against one of the suckers, the kraken recoiled with a hiss.
An idea struck me. I grabbed another lantern and broke the glass against a post, exposing the flame.
Grabbing a splintered pole that wasn’t soaking wet, I lit the end in the fire.
One of the tentacles raised high in the air, readying to crash down on Everett.
Before it could, I jumped forward and thrust my makeshift torch into the underside of its flesh.
It instantly jerked back, then aimed for me.
But with another swipe of my flames, a hiss echoed from beneath the waves, and the tentacle retreated.
I waved my torch at the nearest limb and caught it on fire.
The blaze quickly spread up the dark red, leathery flesh.
The kraken screamed, thrashing violently as steam billowed from its skin.
Rossa came charging forward with his hand cannon. The flailing limb crashed into the deck and swept the captain off his feet. He threw his weapon, grappling for a rope, but he wasn’t fast enough.
“Rossa!” Everett yelled, lunging for him. Captain Rossa’s body went flying off the side of the ship, deep into the dark waters and out of sight.
Tessa and Kieran called after him, nearly falling overboard trying to find him in the waves. I couldn’t catch my breath. One second he was there, and the next…gone.
All of a sudden, the remaining tentacles disappeared. The ship surged forward, free from the kraken’s hold.
“Now!” Starke commanded. “All sails!”
The crew scrambled for the lines. Momentum carried us toward the lighthouse at an alarming speed.
But the kraken wasn’t done. Two limbs surged up from beneath the bow, wrapping around it with enough force to slow its movement.
A tremendous crack rang out, and I watched in horror as the front of the ship ripped off.
In my distraction, another tentacle surged up from the wreckage and sent me sprawling. I hit the ground hard, stars bursting behind my eyes. Something slimy wrapped around my ankle. I barely had time to scream before it dragged me backward.
My fingers reached for loose planks, broken poles, anything to grab, but I was sliding too quickly.
The skin on my stomach burned from rubbing against the wood.
A second tentacle latched onto my arm, and I tried to yank out of its hold.
In my jarring motion, something shook free from the pocket of my leather jacket.
The phoenix crest. The pendant at the end of the chain swung into the red tentacle, and the kraken emitted another ear-splintering shriek. Golden light burst from the crest, casting a circular glow into the darkness.
The kraken released me and slunk back into the churning water. I scrambled to the nearest rail, searching for any sign of the sea monster, but it was gone. No menacing silhouette, no bulbous head, no tentacles clawing at the hull. It was as if the pendant had scared it off.
Chest heaving, my gaze landed farther ahead, to the other ship growing steadily nearer. Between the two of us stood a small island, not even half a mile wide, with a single ancient, stone lighthouse in the center. An anticipation I couldn’t quite place built inside of me.
Something on the banks caught my attention. A figure stood at the shoreline: a slender, feminine silhouette, with waves of hair cascading in the wind. When I blinked, she dove straight into the water, disappearing from sight in a trail of silver starlight.
Something about it felt…off. An uncomfortable needling in the back of my mind told me to look away. Starke walked up beside me, and I gestured toward it. “Starke, did you see—Starke? Starke!”
He ignored me. His boots sloshed through the wet deck, eyes transfixed on the water, as one foot mounted the rail. I reached for his shoulder to pull him back. “Starke, what are you doing?”
He shook me off, blue eyes glassy and face slack. Without pausing, he launched himself off the side of the ship.