Chapter 40 #3
There were too many people I cared about aboard the Shadowtide.
Zevrial’s eyes locked with mine across the main deck. With the briefest glimpse, time stopped.
A whirlwind of emotion passed through me in that frozen moment. I wanted to feel his kiss again, and so much more. Help him on his mad crusade to find out what happened to his parents. Hear him laugh as he teased me. Rattle him until an apology fell out.
Our fight seemed so petty now, so trivial.
I wanted to tell him how I felt.
My heart vaulted into my throat.
Were these feelings mine or his? I didn’t know.
I knew I wasn’t ready to let go. Not yet.
I had to do more damage to the Kraken than Zevrial was doing, and draw its attention away from him. Away from Henrik, Sarina, and Corra. Away from everyone else on the Arc who I’d come to care about.
Rearing back with all my strength, I hurled my harpoon at it. The harpoon hit the side of the Kraken, but it didn’t phase it. Its one good remaining eye didn’t even flicker in my direction.
It was already turning toward Zevrial, as he fired another bark-tipped arrow into its side.
There had to be something I could do that would distract it.
There is.
I ran, boots slipping on the bloody pool where the severed tentacle lay. I stumbled and fell.
A Sanguir who’d been attracted to the puddle lunged at me.
I was unarmed.
No, you’re not.
Yanked my gifted dagger from my belt, I held it up just in time to impale the creature. It let out a heinous squeal as it died, flailing on the end of the blade. I ripped its carcass off the blade where it dangled like a profane kabob.
Sliding to my knees, I scrambled up to keep running. The prow was drifting further away from the Arc with every second.
My legs pumped and I lunged over the injured side of the Arc.
My feet found the edges of the prow, palms slamming down on the opposite side as I fought for balance.
My injured hand wailed at the impact. Miasma sloshed beneath the wreckage of the prow, mere inches below.
The ruined chunk of Arc had enough room for me to stand.
A few feet further out, the Sanguirs were concentrating on the Arc and the wealth of blood aboard it.
The Kraken was focusing there too, but not for long.
This close, Perception showed me that the miasma wasn’t darker. It was so dense with creatures, thousands, millions of creatures, squirming within it that it appeared black. How many of those were Sanguir?
Or worse.
There wasn’t time to worry about them.
From this angle, I could see the profile of the Kraken. Two thirds of its tentacles were still beneath the miasma, not even in use yet.
I still had one glyph I hadn’t activated.
Please don’t let this kill me.
Taking a deep breath, I called for the Sun, holding my bloodied hands out in front of me.
Warmth bathed me. Radiant heat suffused every pore, as sunlight lanced through the darkness like a knife. The light blasted the side of the Kraken with an ear splitting hiss.
A comforting euphoria stole my senses. Every small abuse I’d sustained during the battle was washed away in an indulgent drowning pleasure. There was no pain, no doubt, no regrets or worries. Everything was sublime and perfect and light.
Joy and contentment buoyed up from within, bubbling out of me as laughter.
Nothing felt this good. Nothing could ever feel this good again.
The rapturous melody of the Sun wove itself around me, ensnaring me. And I was lost.
I drifted in the void of power and bliss, my surroundings fading away.
I could stay here forever.
Something intruded on the alluring pleasure cocooning me. Fear.
I was afraid, but why? Nothing could hurt me here, nothing even existed beyond this limitless, timeless song.
The anxiety was persistent, digging its claws into my chest and squeezing. It was growing stronger. Something was wrong.
I clung to the sedating warmth that spilled out from inside me in all directions. I didn’t want to leave. Here I was safe, accepted. This was home. This was where I belonged.
No. It isn’t.
The stray thought crawled to the surface of the sea of pleasure, and it made me doubt. I had forgotten something vital.
I resisted the pull of the Sun’s song, trying to remember why I was using its deadly power in the first place.
I’d lost something precious. Something I’d never be able to get back.
I didn’t want to lose anything more precious.
I let the power go.
Agony.
The pain was indescribably immense, all consuming.
My limbs flopped uselessly beneath me, cut like limbs on a broken doll. I hit the wood hard, head bouncing.
Miasma lapped at the edges of the prow, inches from my face.
Every nerve was incinerated. It hurt to breathe. To blink. To think.
I screamed, or at least I tried to scream, but nothing came out besides a hoarse wheeze. I couldn’t even vocalize around the extreme anguish. It was so acute that I blacked out.
The last thing I saw was the Kraken, floating above the miasma, its lacerated tentacles limp and its blistered body unrecognizable under the halo of a mad rainbow.