Nicci nodded. “But I don’t know what it does or how to trigger it. I am missing the key. Richard thinks I will understand what I’m supposed to do.”
“Given time, I might be able to decipher it. I have some familiarity with constructed spells.”
“As do I, but so far this has baffled me.”
Nathan turned the bone box back and forth in his hand, then handed it back to her. “We can work on the puzzle together, but if Richard says this is all you need, then I’m sure you are up to the task. Meanwhile, we have other ways to fight the enemy.” He gazed ahead of them across the dark sea. “As soon as we find those serpent ships.”
*
For the next few days, Nicci and Nathan augmented the southerly winds, which doubled the speed of the Chaser. Jared’s crew kept a sharp lookout for the raider fleet, but the ocean remained quiet. Nicci and Nathan scrutinized Richard’s complex constructed spell, but came up empty-handed.
By the third day, the crew aboard the ship became anxious, and the captain’s aloof demeanor grew tense. To burn off their restlessness, Lila and Bannon sparred across the deck, while Nathan stared toward the watery horizon.
Nicci stepped up to him. “I’m anxious to find the Norukai, but every mile we go without encountering them means they are that much farther away. Serrimundi and Tanimura have extra time to build their defenses.”
“Sweet Sea Mother, we’re ready to fight!” Bannon said, resting his sword tip on the deck. “Right now.”
The shirtless lookout dangled from high on the mainmast. He called out, “Smooth water ahead, Captain! Mirror water!” The crew suddenly became energized, and the captain grinned with anticipation.
Nicci followed the lookout’s urgently pointing hand, where an unusual and unnatural smooth patch of water looked like glass. “What does it mean, Captain?”
“That’s a sure sign a kraken is just below the surface!” He barked orders to the crew while he himself ran to the captain’s wheel, altering course. “We can’t miss an opportunity like this. It’s right in front of us.” His chest swelled as he inhaled a deep breath. “It’s time we remembered we’re krakeners!”
The crew gathered ropes, harpoons, and weighted nets, moving with the efficiency of long practice. Excited, they shifted their weapons from one hand to another and flexed their muscles.
As the Chaser approached the oddly smooth water, a smooth green tentacle broke the surface and curled upward, then sank again, cresting barely a ripple. The kraken hunters howled out a challenge. One overeager man hurled his harpoon, which fell far short, and he promptly reeled in the rope hand over hand to get his weapon back.
The tentacle was smooth and covered with slime, mottled with leopard spots. Another tentacle glided out of the water, and then four more tentacles arose, each one covered with suckers. Their movements were languid, as if the creature were merely stretching in the ocean air.
“Will it attack?” Nathan asked.
The crew laughed at the suggestion, and Jared rolled his eyes. “Krakens are docile beasts that graze on seaweed. They squirm a lot when you kill them, but they’re not the monsters people think they are.”
As the Chaser closed in, the crew gathered at the rail, cocking their arms and readying their harpoons. Other crew members held ropes and nets. It was a coordinated effort, as if they were soldiers about to go into battle.
“I count seven tentacles,” Bannon said. “How many does a kraken have?”
Jared waved his hand. “However many it likes, and the more tentacles they have, the more meat we can harvest.”
“We’re in range, Captain!” the lookout called.
The sailors needed no more encouragement. Like archers launching a volley of arrows, they hurled their harpoons into the glassy water. Seven of the jagged spears splashed uselessly in the sea, while four sank into tentacles.
The thing was like a spider startled in the center of its web. One of the laughing sailors wrapped his rope around his waist, and the kraken’s reflexive jerk nearly pulled him overboard, but two of the man’s friends grabbed him in time and pulled him back.
More harpoons struck as the Chaser closed the distance. The sailors pulled on the ropes, while the struggling kraken yanked back. The ship’s hull strained and creaked against the monster’s mighty tug. Two of the new armor sheets popped loose with a clang.
A forest of tentacles flailed upward, dripping slime. As it rose to the surface, Nicci could see that the kraken’s body core was a sphere with a hard shell like a crab’s, and the tentacles extended outward like the spokes of a wheel. Several harpoons struck the shell and bounced off.
One tentacle quested forward, trying to grasp the people on deck. Bannon ducked as the sucker-rimmed tip barely missed him. Nathan chuckled, but didn’t notice a second tentacle that slashed sideways. The rubbery arm caught him a resounding blow and sent him sprawling. He smashed against a large crate and cracked his head, leaving him stunned. The wizard’s long white hair was matted with kraken slime as well as a blossom of blood.
Bannon hurried over to help. Nathan groaned and picked himself up, pressing a palm to his head. “I assure you I’m all right. Just a little rattled.” He struggled to his hands and knees on the deck, barely conscious. “I think I’ll rest a bit.”
The tentacles writhed around the ship, and the hunters continued to disable their prey. They hacked off any appendages that came close, leaving the creature with several stumps.
Jared grinned at Nicci. “Feel free to use your gift, Sorceress. Couldn’t you stop its heart with a blast of magic?”
“I would not wish to deprive you of your amusement,” Nicci said in a dry voice. “I will save my magic for fighting the real enemy.”
The harpoon hooks embedded themselves in the rubbery hide. The sailors strained against the ropes, pulling the wounded beast closer to the Chaser. They lashed the ends around stanchions, holding the kraken in place. It struggled in its death throes, flailing amputated tentacles. The crew would soon haul the carcass aboard and spend hours butchering it and storing the meat.
Suddenly, the kraken jerked hard and vanished beneath the surface, straining the ropes and the hooks as it submerged.
“It’s getting away!” one of the sailors bellowed.
/> “That’s not possible,” Jared said. “Something is pulling it down!”
The men doubled up to haul harder on the ropes, but the kraken was dragged under as if caught in a tug of war. “There’s something deep underwater.”
Bannon held his sword, looking over the side, with Lila beside him ready to fight. Nathan huddled on deck, groaning as he held his bleeding head.
Jared ordered, “More harpoons! I don’t want to lose our prize!”
The hunters grabbed spears, but the kraken sank out of view with an even sharper jerk. Harpoon hooks tore free, ripping out chunks of the slimy hide. Ropes snapped and spun loose of the stanchions. A gush of blood blossomed around the submerged kraken, and the mirror water began to churn. The crew cried out in unison as the waves exploded.
The frilled head of an enormous sea serpent rose up, as large as a dinghy and as fearsome as a dragon. Its giant jaws clamped down on the squirming kraken, and tentacles flopped about like worms in its mouth. When the sea serpent crunched down on the armored body core, green fluid spurted out.
Bannon backed away, bumping into Lila. “It’s the serpent god!”
Lila drew her short sword and stood next to him, ready to fight. “Perhaps King Grieve sent it here.”
The monster opened its jaws, tossed the dying kraken up into the air, then gulped the morsel down before turning its slitted eyes down toward the Chaser.
The krakener crew scrambled about, but they had no place to hide.
The monster flared its spiked frills and let out a bellowing hiss. The spray drenched everyone on the ship, and the lookout tumbled from his perch on the mast, barely catching himself on a rigging rope.
“I’ve fought dragons before,” Nicci said, looking up at the enormous sea serpent. “This is no different.”
Nathan struggled to his feet, bleeding from the blow to his head. “I’ll offer what assistance I can, Sorceress.”
