“What’s the damage?” Zollin shouted to Mansel.
“I think we’re okay for the moment,” his friend said as he hurried over to Zollin. “We lost a few men when the dragon hit the mast, but we’ve got the fires under control. Is it coming back?”
“Yes,” Zollin said, “and it’s not alone.”
The dragon was flying toward the front of the ship but angling to make a strafing pass. Zollin shrugged off the blanket and ran toward the far side of the ship, pushing out a hurried magical shield to protect the ship, but the dragon was moving too fast. He blocked part of the fiery bombardment, but another portion slipped past his defenses and boiled over the ship. The fire was so hot it ignited the wooden hull almost instantly. Zollin and the crew threw water onto the fire. Zollin used his magic, which was beginning to crack through his containment field. He could feel the heat growing painful to his body, but he sloshed ocean water against the burning ship anyway. He could kill himself if he pushed his magic too hard, but he also knew that everyone would die if the ship burned.
They had just gotten the worst of the fire extinguished when the dragon appeared again. This time the beast was approaching from the rear, swerving back and forth so that Zollin couldn’t tell which side of the ship it would attack.
“I can’t protect both sides of the ship,” he shouted to Mansel. “Keep the crew here and I’ll do what I can on the far side.”
Mansel just nodded as Zollin ran for the far side of the ship. It wasn’t a long distance, but the deck was littered with bits of wood, rope, and even the bodies of some of the fallen sailors. It was also soaked with water, which made the crossing treacherous. Zollin was watching where he was going and didn’t see the massive tentacles that shot out of the water and snagged the dragon’s tail, but everyone on board heard the roar.
Very few creatures could match Bartoom in size and strength, but the kraken was even larger. The dragon’s wings flapped uselessly as the sea monster’s tentacle held tight to its tail. Zollin cast a quick glance out at the dragon. It was difficult to see what was happening, but then the dragon craned its long neck down and blew a bright plume of fire down at the thick tentacle that was holding it. The sea monster recoiled from the fire, but before the dragon could escape another tentacle wrapped around its neck.
Zollin ran for the smallest of the ship’s jolly boats. It wasn’t much larger than a skiff, easily manned by just one person.
“Where are you going?” Mansel shouted at him.
“I’ve got to lead that kraken away from the ship.”
“Are you insane?”
“You saw what it did in Lorye,” Zollin shouted.
“Well then I’m going with you,” Mansel insisted.
“No, I’ll have to levitate back, and I’m not sure I can carry us both. You help get the ship moving.”
“What? How am I suppose to do that?”
Zollin closed his eyes and focused on the fire inside him. He needed several moments to rebuild his personal defenses, but he didn’t have time for that. He reached out with his magic and took hold of the nearest mast, which was floating in the water nearby. It took Zollin a moment to remove the rigging, and in the meantime the dragon had sunk its razor sharp teeth into the kraken’s tentacle.
Zollin lifted the mast out of the water, causing fiery pain to shoot into his stomach and chest, as if he were being stabbed by red-hot pokers. Still, even with the pain causing sweat to break out all over his body and his physical strength starting to lag, he set the mast on the wooden stump sticking up from the deck of the ship. Then he used his magic to fuse the wood together before he slumped into the jolly boat.
“Eustice!” Mansel bellowed.
The mute servant was almost as white as a sheet. He’d seen terrible things in the tower of the Torr. Offendorl was a cruel man who had no qualms about making people suffer, but seeing the dragon attacked by a sea monster was almost too much for the eunuch.
“I need a bottle of wine right now,” Mansel snarled.
Eustice bolted away and Mansel turned to the captain of the ship, who was staring up at the mast in disbelief. Two of the three crossbeams were still in place, but the top of the mast had been snapped off. Still, it would be enough to get the ship moving.
“What are you staring at,” Mansel shouted. “Get your sails up and get this ship moving, you fool, or we’ll all be killed.”
“What?” the captain sputtered angrily. Then he realized that Mansel was right.
“Man the braces!” he shouted. “Get new sail on that mast, men, before we’re broken to bits by the kraken.”
The sailors ran to their tasks, some shimmying up the mast to help with the rigging. Others disappeared below to carry up the heavy canvas replacement sails. Most ships carried extra sails and even spare masts in case of an emergency, but without Zollin’s help it would have taken hours to remove the butt of the old mast and install the new one. They didn’t have time for that-not if they were going to escape the kraken.
The dragon seemed to have the same idea, but after freeing itself from the second tentacle it was swatted by a third. This time the sea monster seemed less inclined to pull the beast down under the water. Instead, it focused on knocking the dragon out of the sky. The first blow stunned the dragon, but the second cracked several of its ribs. The dragon roared hatefully and turned its attention on fighting rather than fleeing the monster.
The dragon landed on the surface of the water, floating like a swan. Then it plunged its head under the surface, snapping its massive jaws at the tentacles that reached up for it. Its wings were useless in the water, but its tail moved like a sea snake and propelled the dragon out of the way of the larger tentacles that would have injured the beast. Finally, after several frantic moments, the dragon sensed a lull in the kraken’s attack. It flapped its massive wings and rose straight up into the night sky.
When the dragon finally reached a height it felt safe at, it turned for the shore and flew slowly away. Zollin had felt the boat he was in swing out over the water. It had been attached to a small hoist that hadn’t been blown overboard by his magic. Then Mansel was towering over Zollin with his sword in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Mansel cut the ropes holding the boat with one mighty swing of his sword and the boat fell down to the water.
“Here, drink this,” Mansel said, tossing Zollin the bottle of wine.
Mansel sat down on the wooden bench and lay his sword beside him. Then he pulled out the boat’s oars and set them into the their cradles. He leaned forward, then pulled the oars hard, straining his back and propping his feet on the bench in front of him so he could push back with his legs. The small boat rocked with the waves, but moved quickly away from the ship. Zollin pulled himself up into a sitting position. He was relieved not to have to row the boat. His arms and legs were shaking and it was taking all his strength not to curl up into a ball just to deal with the pain.
He drank some of the wine, not tasting it, just hoping it would give him the strength he needed to get himself and Mansel back to the ship when the time came.
“Any particular direction you want to go?” Mansel asked.
“Out to sea,” Zollin said between gulps of wine. “Take us further out to sea.”
“You got it,” Mansel said.
The big warrior strained against the oars. It was too dark to see what was happening to the dragon, but he could see the sailors scurrying around the ship. He wondered briefly what it would be like to die at sea. He thought of Nycoll in her little house. She was waiting for Mansel to return, but he would probably be lost at sea, just like her husband. That thought made him sad, but Mansel knew he didn’t really have a choice. He couldn’t let Zollin go out to face the sea monster alone. If that meant he died, then so be it.