The Voyage of the Miscreation #1: The Voyage Begins

by Kristen S. Walker

smaller ones were still deadly, climbing onboard for a more direct attack. This one’s head alone was larger than a rowboat.

  Mynta rested a heavy hand on Rei’s shoulder. “I’ll handle this,” she snapped. Before anyone could respond, she turned and marched back across the deck.

  Mynta balled her hands into fists, then raised one to pound on the door of the rear cabin. There was a long pause—what could that infernal mage get up to in the few minutes since he’d left supper? She pounded again, even harder. “Open up, Ameyron! I know you’re in there!”

  There was a muffled cough, and then the door swung open, revealing the mage with his robe half-open. “I was just about to retire for the night,” he said in a peeved tone. “We’re still going to have an early start tomorrow, aren’t we?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you planning on running one of your ‘experiments’ tonight?”

  Ameyron gave her a puzzled frown. “Not in the middle of the sea. There are no specimens for me to study out here.”

  She whirled and pointed at the sea serpent bearing down on them. “What about this creature you’ve summoned to endanger all of us? You could have warned us that we’re about to get a little up close and personal with a rather large ‘specimen’!”

  He pushed past her onto the deck and stared at the shape in the water. He put on his glasses and squinted, then shook his head. “I’m sure you’re overreacting, Captain. That could be nothing but a harmless whale.”

  Mynta reached for her spyglass, then realized she’d left it with the navigator. When she turned, Yuri held it out for her, his normally red face pale. She took the instrument and thrust it at the near-sighted mage. “Look again! I know a northern crested serpent when I see one.”

  Ameyron fiddled with the spyglass awkwardly. When he finally got it right, he almost dropped it over the railing. “Allfather protect us! What can you do?”

  She jabbed a finger at him. “You can call it off or stop whatever it is you’re doing to bring it here. It would take multiple gun ships to take on a monster that size, and in case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have any cannon on Miscreation.”

  “Me?” His voice came out in a nervous squeak. “I—I haven’t done anything, I swear! Turn the ship around!”

  She gestured at the monster’s speed. “At the rate it’s coming now, it’ll reach us before we could make land, even if we turn and head back for the mainland. Even if you didn’t mean to, you must have done something to attract its attention. It’s been following us since this morning, and sailing near the coast didn’t shake it off our tail.”

  The mage was gaping and flapping his hands wildly. “I don’t know of any way to attract or handle sea serpents. I couldn’t possibly—“

  Mynta drew the dagger from her belt and grabbed the anxious man, pressing the flat of the blade against his throat. “Think,” she growled in his face. “You’re the expert on monsters, and you promised me only hours ago that you wouldn’t endanger my crew. Is there something you brought that it wants? Treasure? Monster bait?”

  He swallowed hard, and she had to tilt the knife away to avoid nicking his skin. His eyes darted back and forth, avoiding her intense stare. “N-nothing,” he insisted. “But maybe I could scare it off with a spell. Create a flash with a loud noise, make it think that we have cannons?”

  She looked over her shoulder at Rei, who was watching the whole conversation intently. “Is he lying?”

  Rei came up next to Mynta, then reached out and grabbed Ameyron’s wrist. “Say it again. Swear that you know nothing about the sea serpent following us.”

  The mage looked over at the other woman and swallowed again. “I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with that creature. I don’t know why it’s here.”

  Rei nodded. “He’s telling the truth, he’s just frightened. Probably because you’re threatening him.”

  Mynta released him and slid her dagger back into the sheath. “I had to be sure,” she said with an off-hand shrug.

  Ameyron bent over and panted heavily. He put a hand to his throat, but found no nicks or cuts on the skin. He looked up at the captain with fear still in his eyes. “So should I try to frighten off the serpent…?”

  Mynta folded her arms across her chest and frowned. “I’m afraid of making it angry. See if you can come up with something less aggressive.” She turned and pointed at Yuri. “Turn this ship around and make a run for it as fast as you can. Rei, get back up in the rigging and give him every last scrap of sail we got. I’ll go tell Nikephoros to have the pikes ready, just in case.”

  Her first mate glanced up at the ship’s masts with a wary look in her eyes, but Mynta must have been imagining things. Rei had never hesitated to climb aloft before. After a moment, though, she nodded and reached for the nearest ratline. Meanwhile, her husband braced himself against the wheel to change direction.

  With her crew already in motion, the captain went downstairs below deck to find Nikephoros. And she had one more trick up her sleeve to prepare before the monster arrived. It was unconventional, but she was going to do whatever she could to get them out of this encounter alive.

  Yuri braced himself at the helm, using his back instead of his single leg to get the leverage that he needed to turn the wheel. Miscreation was slow under his direction—the sails were still close hauled on a starboard tack to head straight into the west wind, and turning only slowed the ship’s speed to a crawl. He looked up at Rei on the main mast, tugging on ropes to change the angle, but there were seven sails between the two masts—a lot for one person to handle alone.

  “Come on, honey, you can do it,” he murmured, running his hand along the smooth-polished wood.

  Just on the side of his vision, he could see the serpent gaining on them. The confident monstrosity now had its head several meters above the water—clearly it didn’t care if its prey knew it was being stalked. It probably thought the little ship was an easy target—but not if he had anything to do about it.

  Nikephoros lumbered up from the hold and dropped an armful of sharpened pikes on deck. He eyed the serpent with a look of grim determination. Then he nodded at the navigator without a word and climbed up the fore mast to adjust the other sails.

  Soon, Yuri felt the wind working with him to turn the ship, and the rudder moved more easily under his hand. Before long they were running before the wind and picking up speed on a southeastern heading away from the pursuing serpent.

  His baby sprang to life, doubling in speed. He smiled despite the dire circumstances.

  Even without the spyglass, he thought he saw the serpent hesitate for a moment in surprise. Then it lowered its head below the surface.

  “Can you see it?” Yuri called aloft.

  “It’s swimming faster,” Rei shouted back. “Still gaining on us.”

  “Not for long.” He gripped the wheel tight with both hands.

  Mynta emerged back on deck, carrying several heavy packages wrapped in paper. “Join me on the rear deck, Nik,” she barked.

  The burly quartermaster swung down and followed the captain.

  Yuri looked up behind him to see what they were doing. Sure enough, when Mynta unwrapped the first parcel, he saw an entire haunch of meat—meant for their supper in the future. He shook his head at the waste of good food. Did the captain doubt his ability to avoid the monster?

  Mynta handed the hunk of meat to Nikephoros. “Throw it as far as you can.”

  Nik gripped the meat in one hand and did a spin like an athlete throwing a discus in the Summer Games. It arced up into the air and hit the water so far away that the splash was inaudible.

  “Again.” Mynta handed him the next piece, and Nik repeated the process.

  Yuri wished that he could see the serpent—if the bait slowed it even a little, he could still make the coast. “Any reaction?”

  “That last piece almost hit it, but it’s still coming on strong,” Rei called down, still perched on the main mast.

  Leina stomped up on the deck
just in time to hear the announcement. “Stop throwing my prime cuts away! That beast doesn’t know good meat from rancid!”

  “Give it back to her,” Mynta said reluctantly. “It’s not doing any good, anyway.”

  Nik came back to the main deck and presented the last piece of meat, still wrapped, to the angry cook. “Sorry,” he mumbled, averting his eyes.

  By now, the ruckus on deck had drawn attention from the other passengers. The priest, the physician, the little girl, and Genara all came out of their respective cabins to see what was going on. They rushed to the rail in a crowd and blocked Yuri’s view off the side.

  “Is there something following us?” the priest, Benu, demanded. “Are you trying to lure it closer with that meat?”

  Mynta came down to the main deck and held up her hands. “Please, everyone, stay calm. There is a situation, but the crew is handling it.”

  The mage, who had been wringing his hands uselessly the whole time, suddenly pointed over the rail with a cry. “It’s coming up again! It’s almost here!”

  The other passengers stepped back from the railing with a collective gasp. Beyond them in the water, the head had reemerged, only a few hundred meters away. Yuri imagined that he could see an evil glint in its slitted eyes.

  He couldn’t see the rocks low in the water before the ship, so he looked up to his wife in the rigging. She was braced against the mast, watching aft. “Port, thirty degrees!” she suddenly shouted.

  Yuri spun the