“I can’t see. I can’t see!” My-re yelled in panic. Pain shot throughout her forehead after sliding into the Nightie’s wooden railing.
“You have blood in your eyes,” said the calming voice of Sheila Greywand. “Give me that canteen.”
My-re felt water pour over her face and then it was wiped away with a rough cloth. Her body ached, her ears rang, and her mouth was dry. She then felt Sheila get up and said, “Don’t leave.”
“We are still under threat,” Sheila replied and pressed a container of water and the wet cloth in her hands. “Stay and recover your strength.”
Attempting to rise, My-re’s head instantly pounded, like a dwarf beating out an imperfection in a stubborn piece of metal. She sat back down and touched her head. It was sore and her hair wet and matted. However, it wasn’t the water. It had the smell of iron; blood.
“It’s moving the rudder again!” called out the nearby voice of Ssskah the tuxedo colored were-cat.
“Hold the wheel steady!” bellowed the distant voice of Captain Phetmolgue.
Using the water and cloth, My-re washed her eyes again, and licked the water from her lips. She started to see blurry shapes and the morning sun stung. She sneezed twice from the brightness. After several moments, forms started to focus. She was sitting at the aft section of the Nightie.
“Draw the creature from the depths!” Sheila called out as she went to the side of the railing. Her elite guard of Primus warrior followed her lead and began banging on the side of the ship with their weapons. Several called out colorful slurs to the water below.
The additional noise caused My-re to close her eyes tight. Now, a Shewish giant had arrived, pushed the dwarf aside, and used a maul to beat on her brain. She then heard and felt the boat’s hull scraping against something.
“We’re hitting a sand barge!” Captain Phetmolgue called out from the bow of the Nightie. “Two degrees port!”
More scraping. It felt like the Nightie was slowing.
“Two degrees port!”
“By the nine hells, I’m trying! The cursed thing still has a hold of the rudder!” Ssskah yelled back.
Pulling herself to her feet and pushing through the pain, My-re moved towards the navigation wheel. Her stomach churned with nausea and her legs cramped and threaten to fail her. She grabbed two of the wooden spokes. Straining alongside Ssskah, the wheel made two degrees.
“Maintain course! The channel to the Suicide Gate is getting narrower!” Captain Phetmolgue shouted.
My-re glanced out to sea. In the distance, she saw a thick, curved rectangular wooden beam sticking up through the water. Likely part of the craft that attempted the Suicide Gate years earlier. She then noticed the constant resistance from the wheel went slack. She and Ssskah eyes met with realization.
“It let go of the rudder!” Ssskah called out. “It’s moving!”
The elite Primus guard quickly backed away from the railing and formed defensive circles. Sheila and Tim the Enchanter each watched one side of the craft. The Lord Protector rowers below maintained rhythm. My-re used the beam in the distance as a marker on how fast they were traveling.
“Whatever happens, don’t leave this wheel,” Ssskah said looking straight into My-re’s eyes. “This thing isn’t dumb. It’s planning something.”
Nodding, My-re watched for the creature’s attack as she rubbed her tender forehead. She glance to see the Nightie’s progress towards her landmark, but the beam sticking out of the water was gone. She looked behind her to see if they had already passed it, but it wasn’t there either. “Did you see a wooden beam-“
The resistance in the navigation wheel returned. The force greater than before. The spokes were moving. One degree…two degrees. My-re and Ssskah pulled the opposite direction. Three degrees.
“Four degrees port!” Captain Phetmolgue cried in panic. “Now!”
“We can’t stop it!” Ssskah yelled back.
The hull scraped against sand. The ship turned to the right.
“Brace yourselves!” Ssskah called out.
The Nightie rammed into a sand barge. The crew flew forwards onto the deck. My-re and Ssskah stumbled, but held onto the navigation wheel’s spokes. The prior resistance was gone again.
“By the nine hells! We’re beached!” Ssskah cursed.
“Reverse course?” My-re asked.
“How!? We’ll have to try…” Ssskah’s voice trailed off.
Silence swept through the crew as something stirred under the hull. My-re felt vibrations through the wooden deck.
Thud. Thud. Thud. CRACK!
“Breach!”
Screams emanated from the lower deck.
The Lord Protectors rowers scrambled up from below in panic, like ants swarming from an ant hill filling with water.
“It’s down there!” Rao said as fast as humanly possible pointing his scimitar towards the stairs downward. “It’s inside!”
“Describe it,” Sheila Greywand said.
“I don’t know. I just caught a glimpse, but it was big. It was like slime, but not like a blob. It was almost transparent, but with a blood red tint, and had a column-like shape. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Rao said. “However, its mouth. Its mouth is something I’ll revisit in my nightmares. Circular, void of anything human, with serrated teeth all around. Its purpose clear.”
Sheila and her guard cautiously approached the stairs going below deck, her wand pointed out to its fullest.
Tim the Enchanter followed Sheila and said, “I’m warning you. If you miss, I doubt the hull will withstand the blast.”
Pausing for a moment, Sheila backed away from the entrance and lowered her wand. “Agreed. Form a phalanx!”
The Lord Protectors from Primus and the Tayahya arena scrambled across the deck. Their feet pounded on the wood as they formed a tight group of sword, spear, and shield.
My-re stayed near Ssskah and Captain Phetmolgue who joined them at the navigation wheel. Silence encompassed the upper deck of the Nightie. However, the same couldn’t be said of below. The creatures was in the hull of the ship. They could hear it sloshing around back and forth. The occasional snapping of wood echoed below.
“What’s going on down there?” Ssskah questioned.
“It’s tearing up my ship is what the cursed creature is doing,” Captain Phetmolgue answered through gritted teeth.
“It’s doing something,” My-re said. She then looked to the grouping of Lord Protectors, Tim the Enchanter and Sheila Greywand. They were all bunched up in the tight phalanx formation. Another piece of wood snapped from below deck. The floor of the main deck shifted slightly. “It knows where you are!”
Realization sprung to Sheila’s face. “Protectors! Clear out now—“
Shelia was cut off as the morning air wailed, wood squealed, splintered, and snapped. The floor gave way. The lamentation of the Lord Protectors gave voice to their desperation as they fell to into the hull below. Shelia Greywand among them. The sea churned, as the Nightie groaned and started to list to its side. My-re grabbed the wheel to steady herself. Multiple screams emanated from below deck.
“Sheila is lost!” came a panicked cry.
“What do we do!?” came another.
“Run away!” Tim the Enchanter shouted as he and the few remaining Lord Protectors above deck retreated in a mad panic to the aft section of the Nightie.
Battle cries along with ringing of weapons strikes emanated from below. Within a minute, these quickly turned to screams of panic and agony; then slowly silence.
Several heartbeats passed with no further movement.
Stairs below deck creaked and the remaining Lord Protectors gripped their weapons and went into a defensive stance.
Rao, and a dozen or more wounded warriors emerged from below. He supported Sheila Greywand as she limped across what was left of the upper deck. The Grey Wand gripped in her hand.
“We forced it back through the hole. It retreated to the depths and the uninjured are guarding the opening, but were taking on water,” Rao said. “I don’t know if we even hurt it.”
“Abandon ship?” Ssskah asked as her tone quaked with apprehension.
“I’m staying with the Nightie,” Captain Phetmolgue said and opened a nearby crate bolted to the deck. Inside were two thick wooden rods, and a spear head grooved on both sides. He took each piece and locked them into place with a resounding ‘click’. Once assembled, the upper third of the gigantic long spear was made of thick metal to parry blows.
“We need to get Sheila and everyone out of here,” Ssskah said.
“The Rirorni never back down from a fight,” Rao said and gripped his scimitar tighter.
My-re watched the wounded warriors begin to sit around the navigation wheel, knowing each would fight to the last. The ship appeared doomed, the creature had the advantage, and no one would know what happened on the Lake of Mists if they lost. Sheila was the best person on the Isle of the Eye that could defeat the beast. She looked to the water and the far shore. It was within swimming distance. Maybe shallow enough for them to actually run the last part of the way. However, Sheila’s leg was hurt and doubted her ability to swim it. Her drowning would serve no purpose. There had to be another way. Think My-re, think! She then noticed Sheila looking at her.
“I never liked the indignity of getting saturated with water,” Sheila said weakly. “I will stay.”
Tim the Enchanter looked nervous as he pointed his staff towards the gaping hole that was the main deck of the Nightie.
My-re then recalled her encounter with Tim the Enchanter on the shore prior to rowing Sheila to the ship, instead of using his incantation. She had an idea. Sheila might not like it, but she didn’t care. “Tim, teleport Sheila to shore. Get her out of here.”
“Right!” Tim beamed with a new purpose. He reached for Lady Greywand.
Sheila clamored, “No! The wand will not teleport—“
Tim and Sheila disappeared in a puff of smoke.
“Why in the nine hells did you tell Tim to do that!?” Rao yelled. “We needed her!”
“I went with my gut.”
As the smoke cleared, the Grey Wand remained hovering, then dropped. My-re reached to retrieve it. The wand moved slightly and then seemed to roll across the slanted deck on its own.
Watching it move, My-re cursed in the Rirorni native language of Rathiri, which roughly translated to ‘blessed fertilizer’. She chased after the wand. It sped up. She wasn’t going to reach it. The wand went over the side. She saw it hit the water, sink, and disappear into the depths. For a moment she contemplated letting it go. However, guilt overwhelmed her as she was technically the cause of the situation. She didn’t want to have to explain how she was responsible for losing one of the most powerful artifacts in all of Alastari. Cursing, she breathed in deep and dove over the side of the Nightie. She pushed herself through the water and saw the blurred form of the sinking wand. She stretched for it, but noticed something deeper. The distorted form of a gigantic mouth with serrated teeth rose from below.
It was coming.