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Salt and Blood - Chapter 51
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 11:00:08 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 50 | Table of Contents | Chapter 52 >>
1.51 - Sea Monsters
Nothing makes a pirate adventure more than battling a sea monster. I still remember my first kraken. Oh, she was a beauty. We preserved one of the tentacles to decorate the ship.
-Excerpt from ‘Unusual Tales from the Dark Seas’ by various contributors
WARNING!
Convergence core has been harvested, breaching is imminent.
Oh dear. A larger splash drowned everything out as she slammed into the ocean. The chunk of boulder absorbed the brunt of the impact but it still rocked her to the bone.
Treading water, she tried to take stock of her surroundings. Something brushed against her leg. Rose took a breath and shoved her head underwater. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers.
Everywhere she looked there were fish of all colours, shapes, and sizes. It was beautiful. That wasn’t pertinent however, because right below her was a sleek, grey beast—a shark. As she watched it turned back towards her.
Its mouth was wide open, displaying rows of razor sharp teeth. She drew Sunsplitter and prepared to fight for her life.
Something wrapped around her chest. Her guts spilled into her mouth as she was yanked from the sea. Before Rose could register what had happened she found herself in someone’s arms.
Looking up, she saw the smiling face of Nasar looking down at her. Looking down, she saw a rope lasso around her chest. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.
“Did you see Felix? He was with me but we fell in diff-” she trailed off as she spotted a soaked, shivering Felix dripping onto the deck behind Nasar.
Another splash echoed in her ears and from the reactions of the two men she wasn’t the only one. With some trepidation she read the whorl.
ERROR!
Untethered core detected, breaching interrupted.
“Before we even discuss what the hell that means, how is the ship sailing?” she asked the chef.
The last thing she’d seen before falling into the cave was the state of disrepair Liberty had been in. Yet now, it was good as new and sailing towards the middle island.
“I fixed it,” replied Nasar impassively, as though such a thing was obvious from the get go. “Now, I have a suspicion about our predicament, but we’ll need-”
The sea dropped.
In front of their eyes, the island behind the central spire started to crumble and fall into the ocean, which had begun to froth and boil like a colossal teapot. Her legs quivered as the ship smacked into the sea.
Turning around she saw the island they’d just escaped was also falling to pieces and returning to the depths. Something very, very weird was happening.
For once, Rose wished her journey could’ve been a little more… normal. Didn’t most pirates spend their time drinking and looting merchant ships and undefended towns?
Why was it that every time she set sail she stumbled into some extraordinary adventure? Then again, her explosive growth was driven by these experiences and she’d met some wonderful crewmates.
Instead of collapsing, the central island seemed to be rising from the sea, growing in height and width. In the distance, the ocean exploded and a huge cloud of water covered the horizon.
“Is that… a person?” exclaimed Felix, pointing at a little black spot shooting towards the island from the colossal splash.
As the figure grew nearer it became clear that it was in fact a person. They smashed into the island, causing a minor landslide that tumbled into the ocean.
Three massive waves were heading right for them from the huge splash, but that wasn’t all. After the man, a towering pillar rose from the ocean and into the sky.
No, it couldn’t have been a pillar. It moved. Extraordinarily fast. Like a bolt of lightning the titanic shape snapped towards the island and when it came closer Rose trembled in fear.
Thick snake-like body covered in dark green scales, vicious spines running along the length of its back, and the head of a dragon with ferocious fangs to match. The serpent turned glowing red eyes on the man as he rose to his feet.
Despite facing a beast that outsized him a thousand-to-one, the figure was undaunted. Rose caught a glimpse of blue from underneath the man’s shirt and smiled.
A booming laugh echoed across the ocean, reaching them from a mile away. Nasar rushed to the wheel and shouted at the pair as he did.
“Adjust the sails, then load the cannons. We’re heading straight for the damn serpent.”
Rose stood frozen on the edge of the deck, ignoring the man’s instructions. Her stare was trained on the man and the monster in the distance. She’d recognise her captain anywhere.
“Come at me you overgrown worm. I’ll never give your treasure back!” cackled Trent.
An ungodly roar shook the entire convergence, sending huge waves into Liberty. They buffeted the ship as it fought its way towards the central island.
Like the hammer of a deity, the looming serpent fell from the skies and slammed into the cackling pirate. Waves as tall as the walls of Highbream radiated outwards from the island and a shower of rock tore tiny holes in the sails.
Rose dodged to the side as one particularly large piece soared past her and smashed into the deck. The damage was minimal considering the sheer quantity of debris that exploded outwards from the impact, thanks to Nasar’s rather expert sailing.
She trusted in her captain’s strength, but the monstrous size of the serpent and the devastating impact of its strike made her fear for Trent. Only until the dust cleared, however.
The beast’s maw was held in place a tiny distance from the island, hovering right above it as though frozen. She cracked a smile when she saw the tiny, defiant figure of Trent holding it up with his bare hands. One on each half of the monster’s jaw, prying it open.
Even across the ocean she could hear his rebellious laughter. A deafening clap roared out, louder than thunder, as he slammed the serpent’s jaw shut. He wasn’t done with that.
A telltale blue shimmer gathered around the distant figure and flashed in an explosion that blasted the serpent’s head back. It started to fall into the ocean, but caught itself moments before the splash.
Trent’s body flashed with blue once again. He vanished from the spot and reappeared in front of the creature, pounding the top of its head with a vicious punch.
He dashed across the surface of the ocean after his prey, but it suddenly reared up and shot out of the sea, rising into the sky like the towers of Eastfel Bay. It towered taller than even the mast of Liberty, and roared in defiance at Trent.
The bestial noise didn’t hamper his charge in the slightest, but suddenly a green spike shot from the ocean and speared him from the side.
Rose cried out. “Stop gawking and fix the jib, girl,” shouted Nasar. “If you want to help him, then we need to reach the battle. Nothing can be done if the damn sail isn’t facing the right way.”
Letting her fist unclench, she realised her knuckles were white from how hard she’d been clasping them. He was right. Trent wouldn’t die right away—he even seemed to briefly have the upper hand—but she wasn’t helping by loitering on deck.
As she rushed about, adjusting the rigging and the sails in tandem with Felix, huge waves continued to rock the ship. But their efforts were not in vain. Every moment they drew closer to the unfolding clash.
Blood dripped from huge cuts along the side of the serpent’s body and from its jaw. A huge fang floated past them and Felix rushed to toss out a rope and reel it in.
“Don’t bother,” called Nasar. “It’s worthless unless it’s a treasure. And we can always loot the body later.”
The boy seemed dejected but Rose knew the chef was right. There was no tug from the tooth. And whichever blow of Trent’s that had dislodged it had also partially splintered it, removing whatever value it may have held.
A flash of blue light blinded her for half a second. Acrid smoke drifted across the deck and she stared in horror as the serpent bit down on Trent’s shoulder.
Due to the colossal size of its fangs, they pierced right through his chest. The ARM crackled and sparked as it was steadily torn away, but Trent was a tenacious bastard.
He dug his feet into the ocean, somehow, and grabbed hold of it by the fangs. What had been an insurmountable distance was closing by the second. Nasar’s next shout confirmed it.
“Go and prepare the cannons,” he roared. “Wait, do you even know how to fire the cannons?” he added a little sheepishly.
“I’ll show her,” chuckled Felix, pulling Rose into the hatch that led to the deck below.
Liberty only had one deck of guns, but given that they were only there to provide a distraction it was plenty. Pirates usually aimed to board their prey—not blow it apart. Then again, a sea monster was in a different league to some docile merchant vessel.
Felix led her to the nearest cannon. “Right, it’s simple. Just pull it back, drop the cannonball in and plunge it to the bottom. Then sprinkle on the powder, chain it to the deck wall and light the fuse,” he explained, pointing to the relevant parts of the cannon as he did.
He was about to prep the first cannon to fire when two pulses of energy blasted into the ship from opposite directions.
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