Chasing the Lantern(3)

The ocean erupted at her back. Saltwater drenched Lina while the pirate crew let out shouts of alarm. She threw herself to the opposite side of the longboat and turned to face the monster.

The serpent rose up some fifteen feet above the waves. It glared down at them, two black and belligerent eyes peering down from above a coffin-long maw. A rough frill descended from the top of its skull down its length. A wide pair of vicious horns crowned it. Sailors of all kinds agreed that of the many dangers of the sea, none was so terrible as the serpent. Like their land-born cousins, the dragons, sea serpents were large, powerful, and very dangerous. Lina had heard that the biggest could even threaten armored steamships.

This one opened its mouth and hissed. Lina spied rows of razor fangs and a bright red tongue. The smell of rotted fish wafted over them and she thought she was going to gag. It almost seemed to grin. Then the beast rose even higher, bending its length over their heads, and dove back into the water on the side opposite. The whole boat shook with the impact and the gunwales beneath its body cracked. The crew shouted and scrabbled about for cover, reaching for their weapons.

"On your feet, you laggards!"

Sarah Lome grabbed up an oar out of the bilge and held it like a club just as the serpent rose again, enclosing their vessel in a single coil. She stepped forward and swung the oar in a huge two-handed blow. It connected with the maw of the beast before it had risen more than a few feet. The monster jerked back, shaking the whole boat, yowling and rearing in surprise. Lina stumbled and clutched the opposite gunwale. Out in the water she spied the writhing humps of its body in the surf; the monster had to be eighty feet long.

"Drive it off!" yelled Henry Smalls. "Don't let it crush the boat!" The little steward had a dagger in hand and was hacking and jabbing at the coil in the middle of their ship. His blade scraped and scored and finally hit home. The serpent gave a grunt.

Other crewmen set about the monster. A man with filed-down teeth and patchy red hair struck a solid blow with his hatchet. The serpent yowled again, its voice like bending iron. It darted in, lightning quick, knocking Sara Lome down and biting at the other pirate who'd struck. He shouted and swung at its nose, just ducking aside.

Lina stared in horror as the maw of the thing passed just inches away from her. Then the serpent shifted back. Something in the wooden hull of the boat cracked as it moved. Yet another challenge. All right. I won't back down. Lina drew a dagger and threw herself at the coil of the serpent. She scrabbled over Sarah Lome to hack and stab at the monster. Its scales were too thick though, too tough. The beast was going to break their ship and then devour them from the water, one by one.

Sarah Lome caught Lina's eye. "Keep at it," she said. Then she stood, took her oar up again in both hands, and yelled. "Hey! Hey, beast!" She turned and swung at the coil of the monster. The oar cracked in half with a sound like a gunshot.

The serpent roared. It reared back and glared at Sarah Lome. The piratess grinned a feral grin and took up a stance with her broken oar. The monster darted down at her.

Glowing arcane liquid sprayed across the face of the serpent. It roared again and jerked backwards. The whole vessel shook with its throes, flinging the pirates about. Lina lost her footing and fell down against the gunwales, her dagger landing next to her in the bilge. More liquid fire shot out to score the thing, turning its scales black and pitted.

Maxim stood upright near the stern, half-cloak and long black hair flapping in the breeze, eyes stern above his prominent nose. The aetherite had both hands clasped together over some arcane Working that seethed and seeped liquid light. Drops of it dribbled down to the waves, crackling and spattering where they touched the water.

"Back!" he cried, accent thick. He flung the conjured liquid in another scalding spray at the serpent. The creature darted away, but coiled as it was around the boat, it couldn't dodge far enough. A few caustic drops still caught it across the side.

The serpent roared and sank back down beneath the waves. Its coiled length loosened and shifted, pulling free from the longboat. The little vessel rocked and shook, until the finned tail slipped over their heads, then down into the waves.

Pirates stood frozen, waiting for another attack. Henry Smalls crouched with his knife like a bulldog ready to pounce, Sarah Lome clutched her broken oar. Oscar Pleasant stood in the middle of the boat, looking frantically around at the roiling sea. He had a dagger clutched in one hand and Lina's severed hair in the other. Maxim scowled and released the rest of his conjured hell-spittle. It scattered overboard with a sizzling pop, like hot bacon grease poured into cold water.