“By the nine hells! It was inside of her!”
“It’s growing!”
“Run away!” A splash followed.
“For the love of the gods, pull her back! Pull her back!”
My‑re felt two people dragging her under the arms across the wooden deck of the Nightie. Her limbs were completely numb, but her insides were turning inside out. Her stomach twisted and uncontrollably heaved.
“Don’t let her choke! Turn her on her side!” yelled Rao's voice. “My‑re, can you hear me? Open your eyes!”
“Lady Greywand! Look out!”
My‑re heard the muffled voices and screams of panic and pain. Her consciousness sped down a tunnel and slammed into reality. She felt her heart hammering inside her chest. The pinpricks of a thousand-thousand needles raced from her chest to the top of her head and the tip of her toes. Her right hand muscles ached. It still gripped the Gray Wand. The lids of her eyes snapped open, and she took in everything instantly. The Lake of Mists’ monster, an Elkarrish, a ten-foot column of blood-red gelatin, slithered across the deck. Four tentacles whipped back and forth, knocking Lord Protectors out of the way. A group of elite Primus warriors supported the limp form of Lady Greywand and carried her from the creature.
“For the Empire!” Rao shouted, wielding his scimitar, and charged the back of the Elkarrish.
A tentacle blurred forward, stabbing suddenly with blinding speed. It struck Rao in the chest. The force of the attack threw him backward into the air and he landed hard on the deck. He lay still. His eyes stared at nothing.
Another tentacle lunged forward, thrusting with incredible speed and accuracy. It wrapped around the leg of a Primus warrior and, like a rag doll, flung him out into the water. Lord Protectors charged the Elkarrish from different directions. Each one was quickly cut down and swept aside like wheat before a sickle.
The Elkarrish moved after the retreating Primus warriors and the unconscious Lady Greywand. Its tentacles whipped back and forth as if to slash its foes to ribbons. They knocked weapons, shields, and protectors aside like they were nothing. The creature’s frame bubbled inside with excitement. The middle of its body split painfully, like dry skin, and a gigantic, circular mouth birthed through the opening. Serrated teeth jutted around the circumference. It could swallow a person whole. The gargling sound of what seemed like merriment came from it, but laughing wasn’t its biological purpose.
The listing Nightie’s wood creaked, and the entire boat moved and righted itself, not entirely on its own accord. A movement appeared out of the corner of My‑re’s eyes. Something gargantuan. Slowly turning her head, behind the ship rose a colossal crab, Grumpy. Rounded, the albino creature could easily support the length of the Nightie on its back. Two titanic pincers, which could snap the ship in two, sprouted from the front side of its shell. One dug in the sand and freed the vessel, while the other had righted it. Two eye stalks moved independently of each other. One turned to the water, and the other seemed to watch My‑re. She then realized it wasn’t her, but it stared at the Gray Wand.
“By all that is unholy in the nine hells. How are we going to stop that thing?” Captain Phetmolge questioned as he leaned heavily on his gigantic long spear. His eyes were completely bloodshot, and bandages wrapped his head with stains of blood from his ears.
“I don’t know,” My‑re said under her breath.
“Blast it with the Grey Wand before it gets to Sheila,” Ssskah said.
“I don’t have time to explain. It doesn’t work like that,” My‑re replied. “But I have an idea. Listen.”
***
The elite Primus guard surrounded the unconscious form of Lady Greywand at the opposite end of the ship at the bow. They couldn’t retreat. Four of them formed a tight, defensive sword and shield stance around her while the others charged and were easily batted aside by the advancing Elkarrish.
Looming over the last four defenders, the Elkarrish’s tentacles leaped forward suddenly from a high guard overhead! One wrapped around each of the Primus guard’s necks, followed by a sickening snap. It peeled them away like a banana and flung their bodies aside. The creature's frame continued to bubble with glee. The four tentacles slithered around Lady Greywand’s ankles and wrists, pulling them tight. It lifted her into the air.
Like a trophy, it displayed her unconscious form to the remaining crew of the Nightie. In a liquid-sounding voice, like someone gargling phlegm, the Elkarrish said, “This is the best Alastari can muster? Your childlike race is pathetic. The most powerful sorceress in an age rendered helpless in a single blow and moments from death. There is not one among you worthy of being in my presence.”
“Let Sheila go!” My‑re shouted from the aft section of the ship.
The Elkarrish’s teeth ground against one another in irritation. It then gargled, “The Blood Games Champion of Valamantis. For a rodent, you have a very high will. Clever, how you expelled me and still lived through my departure. A condition I plan to alter.”
“Let her go, and I’ll give you the Grey Wand,” My‑re said, walking toward the creature, followed by Captain Phetmolge and Ssskah.
Chuckling in amusement, the Elkarrish said, “Not only am I going to rip the four appendages from this sorceress, I’m going to beat each of you to death with her limbs.”
“I’ll break the Grey Wand,” My‑re replied and began to bend it. A slight sound of wood cracking followed.
“Hold!” The creature stopped slithering in its tracks. It lowered Lady Greywand but kept its tentacles around her wrists and ankles. “I will spare this female in exchange for the Grey Wand.”
“And the rest of the crew of the Nightie,” My‑re bargained.
“What remains, agreed,” The Elkarrish said, dropping Sheila hard to the deck.
“Now, your word,” My‑re demanded.
The inner frame of the Elkarrish bubbled with agitation. “My word, child.”
“Go get Lady Greywand,” My‑re said and motioned. Captain Phetmolge and Ssskah advanced but pressed themselves against the railing as they passed behind the creature.
The Elkarrish advanced toward My‑re. It pushed aside the bodies of the Lord Protectors lying on the deck. Whether they were alive or dead, she did not know. Backing up toward the aft of the ship to the railing, she ran out of room.
“Give me the wand, child,” the Elkarrish demanded. Its four tentacles slinked toward her.
My‑re braced herself and pointed the Gray Wand at the creature. A bright beam hit and lit its body. The Elkarrish shuddered back but realized only normal light struck it.
Streams of bubbles in apparent amusement rumbled within its frame. Its mouth chuckled unnaturally. “Pitiful, but your species did teach me one thing. The power of a lie. Not only am I going to kill each and every living thing on this ship, I’m going to take the pleasure of eating you whole and relish the thought of you being digested inside.”
My‑re continued to shine the wand’s light on the creature. She couldn’t retreat anywhere. Heat raced through her body. Sweat droplets fell.
“It amuses me your child-like mind has no idea how the wand works.”
“I have some idea,” My‑re replied. “Now!”
A gigantic spearhead plunged into the back of the Elkarrish. The entire frame of the creature bubbled rapidly as if in pain. “Foolish humans, your weapon cannot kill me.”
“Perhaps, but I bet she can,” My‑re said as she glanced out to sea.
The Nightie rocked, and Grumpy’s two eyestalks narrowed on the glowing form of the Elkarrish from the Grey Wand.
“Lift!” My‑re yelled.
Captain Phetmolge and Ssskah strained with all their strength and raised the gigantic spear with the impaled Elkarrish high. Its tentacles flailing wildly in desperation, trying to get at the lance. One of Grumpy’s gargantuan claws seized the Elkarrish and pulled it up. The long spear was still embedded in the creature. The light of the Grey Wand continued to shine. Grumpy’s mouth opened as it rose, and two sizable mandibles emerged. They clicked with excitement at the prospect of its next meal.
“My‑re, you will not defeat the Elkarrish this easily! Our race-”
The creature's gargling voice suddenly cut off. Grumpy’s pincers began to slice at the Elkarrish, rip chunks off, and feed them into the crab’s mouth. Its razor-sharp mandibles and teeth shredded the gelatin-like creature.
As Grumpy dined, Ssskah and Captain Phetmolge approached and stood on either side of My‑re. Each watched Grumpy devour the Elkarrish.
“What a shame,” Phetmolge sighed. “That’s the second time I lost my favorite long spear today.”
“How did you get your spear back from the lake in the first place?” My‑re asked.
“Had a rope tied to it like a harpoon.”
A moment later, the long spear fell from Grumpy’s mouth and landed on the deck of the Nightie. It clattered back and forth several times before coming to rest.
“There you go,” Ssskah gestured to the returned long spear.
The light of the Grey Wand diminished, then went dark and back to its normal state. All three looked at the artifact, and Captain Phetmolge asked, “You were really going to break the wand?”
“No,” My‑re answered. “I went through too much trouble to get it back.”
“But I heard the sound of wood cracking,” Phetmolge said.
“You mean this?” Ssskah said, producing a thin piece of wood from behind her back and making a similar sound of cracking timber.
“You tricked it?”
“I prefer to call it a misdirection,” came the voice of Lady Sheila Greywand. She rubbed her wrists and stretched her neck from one side to the other. “Any wand of powerful merit would not snap like a twig.”
“Thank the goddess Gheal, you’re still alive,” Ssskah exclaimed and hugged Sheila, pulling her slightly off the ground.
“Yes, I still draw breath, but a little tender at the moment so as not to appear ungracious.”
“Of course,” Ssskah said, putting her down and backing up a step.
Captain Phetmolge said, “I’ll check the deck below, but I suspect it’d take a month to repair the hull even in a dry dock. I don’t think the Nightie will sail in her current condition.”
“No concerns, Captain. Grumpy will provide a lift home,” Sheila answered.
Ssskah sighed heavily, looking at the Lord Protectors strewn across the deck of the Nightie. “This Elkarrish left quite a mess.”
“Yes, they tend to leave chaos in their wake. Nothing that can not be cleaned up. Now, the Nightie needs a little sprucing. Please sort out the wounded from the dead. I’ll start resurrecting the fallen. No loitering back to the Isle of the Eye,” Sheila sighed and rolled up her sleeves.
“Lady Greywand, the Elkarrish was inside Spymaster Edward,” My‑re said.
“Yes, that would explain him being adamant about joining me on the Nightie,” Sheila stated.
“This belongs to you,” My‑re said, stretching her hand with the Grey Wand.
“Not an easy thing managing the Grey Wand, it is?” Sheila queried, retrieving the wand, examining it, and tucking it into her belt.
My‑re replied, “Let’s say I’ve found a new appreciation of what you do. I want to add, if I never hold it again, it will be too soon.”