The glare on the surface of the ocean blinded him for a moment, and then Ullery saw the creature clearly in the passing foam. Not natural at all. There were sarkolis crystals on the monsters’ flanks imbedded just before the dorsal fins. Idiotic placement for water flow, but no one asked a garthan’s opinion.
Just behind the fin was the vortex null where natural water magics amplified sarkolis enchantment, but some imbecile had implanted the shark’s control crystals higher up the spine at almost at the spellbreak point. Which meant the ocean would polish imperative-strength spell commands down to mere nudges with every passing wave.
Squeals above from young shakira voices revealed that the controllers had discovered that exact error.
Ullery marked the width of the island. It was all soft sand that felt steady underfoot but the edge dropped off sharply just beyond the waterline. Only about twice the diameter of Silverstreak’s length from bite to tail, it was a created island, probably on a float spell that could drop to the bottom of the sea on a word.
He ran soothing hands down each of Silverstreak’s necks rubbing out tension and encouraging her to stretch and flex. She was going to need to shark hunt for him today. Bludgeoning tail strikes and rapid sarkolis cracking bites should work if he could keep Silverstreak’s delicate inter-talon webbing protected from the razor teeth.
Dark trails followed the sharkbeasts already. The kids had enchanted the teeth to enlarge and sharpen them without considering the damage to gums and jaws.
The mouths were too large for the gullets too. These sharkbeasts wouldn’t be able to feed themselves. Some out of favor garthan would have to do it.
He shivered and Silverstreak vibrated in response. He forced himself to still and calm her anxiety. No good panicking about what might happen at the feed pits this evening when he hadn’t yet survived the afternoon.
A child, announcing himself as master of ceremonies, blew a great horn. The poorly tuned blat earned an eruption of laughter from his fellows.
A teacher of some sort confiscated the horn and restored order.
“Shakira, Multhari, and guests-welcome! The fosterlings and young ones of the House of Sidus present for you this afternoon’s entertainment. Monsters of the deep patrol a classic drake deathmatch!
“Step right up to the red palanquin if you’d like to take your turn handling a sharkbeast. We’ve colorized the sarkolis and the controllers for you so it’s easy to see which beast is yours, but if you have any doubt at all, we have a spotter next to each control.”
Rousing cheers and a flurry of nursemaided small ones hopped onto small platforms and converged on the red palanquin.
“Ask any of our garthantri servants if you need anything at all. Remember your sharkbeasts can’t breath air, so just snap at the drakes when one throws the other into the water.”
A slidercage was beginning the slow float from Sidus Proper to Arena Island. Ullery had heard of Sidus. Every handler had heard of the nightmare Sidus V line. But this cage was big even for a Sidus V, and Ullery had the sinking feeling that the long awaited Sidus VI line might be coming out for first blood.
Silverstreak’s center head let out a low moan and jerked again. She’d seen the cage coming too.
Ullery tested the tension on his straps and practiced deep breaths. If he had to go into the water, he needed to be able to match Silverstreak’s lung capacity. He’d give near anything for an air spell right now, but he’d’ve needed four of them, one for each of Silverstreak’s three heads and one of his own, for it to make any difference.
Belftus had had short-duration breather spells, but Vacus hadn’t bothered to refresh anything to do with his belt crystal. Ullery figured he might have a few gasps left on an old air spell, but if he tried to use that enchantment it might empty the accumulator too much to maintain the control spells. Silverstreak had never yet tried to take a bite out of him, but if the fight ran on long enough she’d get extremely hungry.
Ullery did his very best not to test his drake like that. He’d rather be eaten alive by something else.
The massive slidercage dragged to a stop on empty sand in the middle of the island. And Ullery the Fool finished belting himself in. However bad this got, he’d have the best survival chance on his drake’s back.
The horn sounded again, and the cage bellowed in response. Then all four sides clanged flat into the sand and the roof flew up and away to spiral high over the tops of the audience palanquins.
Ullery didn’t wait to hear the splash. He hunkered Silverstreak down and clamped his precious belt tight against her back. The cloud of dust risen from the cage opening would give him the first and only cover he’d get during this fight. He urged Silverstreak to sidle around the island, feet and tail kept carefully out of the water.
“The House of vos Sidus presents Blackfang Heartripper of their Sidus VI line! And awaiting on Arena Island, from the breeders at Belftus, we have Silverstreak Fleshrender!”
Children cheered. Some threw down pieces of cookie, inadvertently giving away Ullery’s attempt at subterfuge.
He let Silverstreak snap the sweets out of the air before they reached the sand and was rewarded with more substantial cuts of roast and sausages. Iridescent horned crests streaked down all three of his seadrake’s heads, straight to her great club of a tail. She was a lovely creature, and it wouldn’t hurt to have some of the audience on her side.
Silverstreak preened at the sky, and from out of the cloud of sand in the center of Arena Island, a massive black seadrake raised two heads and howled fury. The third head twisted back and struck cobra fast to rip its handler out of the harness straps.
Blackfang’s third head swallowed his handler’s skull. Then all three heads ripped at the corpse’s soft entrails, and gasps from the audience mixed with laughter and applause to acknowledge the fight’s first blood as Blackfang flung limbs and bits of flesh in all directions.
Ullery patted Silverstreak’s neck. A leg still encased in loose trouser cloth landed nearby. It had a shoe.
Blackfang’s sinister head paused long enough to hiss in Silverstreak’s direction. She hissed back and lifted her body high, trying to look bigger and intimidate the much larger beast.
Ullery looked into the sinister head’s eyes and was all but certain it would be impossible to intimidate the uncontrolled monster. Blackfang was operating on pure instinct now, and the sinister head returned to gnawing the body, but the dexter head curled back to watch them. With the control spell broken so abruptly, the large Sidus drake might not even have a dominant head.
Ullery took a wild chance and directed Silverstreak to do something he’d never thought he’d tell a drake to do.
Silverstreak complied instantly. She snapped her center neck forward and closed her jaws around the still dripping human leg. Ullery prayed she would obey the rest of the order too, and somehow-miraculously-she did. She arched her neck and hurled the leg in a high arc. Up, and up…Then it hit the floor of the red palanquin and splashed into the ocean. Blackfang’s dexter head had tracked the full motion. The other two heads snapped back and forth, tracking the sharkbeasts circling the spot where the stolen piece of their kill had hit the water.
The red palanquin veered back, and children clamored at the controls while sharkbeasts swarmed after the leg, some controlled and some not, fighting each other for the taste of blood in the water. That was a mistake, and all three Blackfang heads roared in chorus.