by Raymond Cain
Tanner shook his head no and he tried to speak but his words came out in a gurgle. Blood oozed of his mouth and dripped into the water that was slowly rising in the ship’s cockpit. The man pointed in the direction of the shipwreck that Flynn found a few days earlier.
Flynn was at a loss. There were so many questions he wanted to ask but Tanner let out one final gasp and slumped over.
“Tanner!” Flynn yelled, shaking the man in hopes of waking him. “Tanner!”
Again, Flynn tried to shake the man awake but it was too late. Tanner was dead.
Flynn removed the compass from his pocket and stared intently into the blue, shimmering sphere. The crystal needle pointed firmly at Tanner’s body for a few seconds and then it stopped, drifting aimlessly within the glowing orb. Flynn didn’t know why the compass pointed at Tanner initially, but whatever the reason, it stopped pointing at him after he died.
One of the twenty-foot-long great white sharks circling above swam toward the ship. The cockpit was full of water and the smell of Tanner’s blood inflamed the creatures. Its jaws opened wide as it approached, pulling back its meaty lips and revealing a mouthful of razor sharp, triangular teeth.
Flynn closed the hatch to protect Tanner’s body and pushed off from the hull, launching himself toward his vessel. The shark snapped its jaws shut on empty water where Flynn had crouched an eyeblink earlier, and it slammed into Tanner’s ship. More crystalline pieces broke off the windows, falling onto Tanner’s lap.
The collision stunned the shark but two more joined the fray. They swam toward Flynn but he made it back into his ship before they reached him. Soon, all three sharks were circling his vessel.
Flynn pushed the acceleration levers up to full and kicked up a dust cloud with the propellers. His ship launched forward and all three sharks stayed close on his tail as he sped away, intentionally leading them away from Tanner’s ship.
“Sorry, Tanner,” Flynn said, dejectedly. “I’ll come back to take your body home once it’s safe.”
The sharks stayed on his trail and he led them in the same direction that Tanner pointed. Before long, Flynn flew over a valley of red, writhing plants and he soared over a hill covered in luminescent green algae. He knew the wooden frigate and the dragon corpse were on the other side and the sharks might be more inclined to feed on dragon meat than human flesh.
A shocking sight greeted Flynn once he crested the hill. The dragon’s body and much of the wooden ship was missing. He expected to see the partly exposed skeleton of the dragon, partially eaten by scavengers, but there were no remains in sight. He could not imagine what kind of creature was capable of hauling the enormous skeleton away. Osedax, bone-eating worms that thrived in the deep sea, were capable of consuming bone but the dragon skeleton should have taken weeks to devour.
The sharks veered off as Flynn neared the site, as though something in the area scared them. He circled low enough to the ground to clear sand away and the only evidence he could find were some half-buried scales in the soil. Not a single bone remained.
The remains of the frigate were equally surprising. The entire aft of the ship was removed. It looked as though something cut the vessel in half and devoured the rear of the ship. All that remained was the bow, the masts, and the front half of the hull. Lanternfish entered from the rear and swam throughout the vessel, lighting up its various compartments as they went.
Flynn burned with curiosity. After ensuring there were no dangerous creatures in the immediate vicinity, he settled his craft down beside the wooden vessel and popped open the hatch. He dove into the icy cold water and each kick of his swimming boots propelled him quickly toward the missing section of the ship. The edges of the boards were scorched, as though an extremely hot fire turned the aft portion of the ship to ash.
As Flynn hovered by the wreckage, a purple glow shined down on him from above. He turned around to find a skeletal pirate ship heading straight for him.
Chapter Seventeen
It was the most unusual ship Flynn had seen. The bowsprit of the skeletal vessel was a massive dragon skull, connected to the rest of the ship by three enormous vertebrae. The forward hull was a dragon’s rib cage, large enough to hold a dozen ships the size of Flynn’s vessel. Massive leg bones served as masts with dragon wing sails. In many respects, the ship resembled a skeletal dragon drifting through the ocean.
Within the heart of the ship raged an electrical storm. Purple energy spilled out between the rib bones and arched along the hull, creating hisses of steam and trails of bubbles behind the vessel. Branching lines of electricity struck the water, propelling the ship forward at alarming speed.
As the ship neared Flynn, the dragon skull bowsprit roared with power. Purple energy flared in its eye sockets, and an inferno of electricity raged in its mouth. As terrifying as the ship was, the crew was even more frightening.
The skeletal frigate was manned by Azurans, an evil humanoid race that resembled humans save for their white skin, white hair, and purple eyes. Ghastly images of skulls and ghosts were tattooed into their skin and emblazoned onto their clothing. They peered intently at Flynn, their purple eyes brimming with anticipation.
Two of the pirates stood at the front of the ship. The first was a muscular man wearing a long, black leather coat embroidered with images of skulls. He wore a sailor’s hat, a leather tricorn with all three sides of the brim pinned up with silver skulls, and his long white hair hung freely down his back. His broad leather swordbelt sported a jewelled longsword and shortsword.
Next to him stood an Azuran in all black clothing. His jacket, gloves, and breeches were made from inkskin. A dark cloth covered his face below the eyes and his hair was tucked under a black bandana.
The man in the leather jacket barked an order and two crewmen responded by fetching a bone crate. They tossed the crate in the water and the bones separated, allowing its contents to escape. Six eels emerged, each one longer than Flynn was tall. The eels were dark grey and tiny bolts of blue electricity danced along their bodies.
Flynn recognized the deadly creatures. They were electric eels, widely feared for their ability to stun their prey by touching them and paralyzing their victims with their bite. The cruel creatures were known for slowly feeding on their helpless victims while they were still alive. The eels swam in tight circles around the crate and, in unison, they stopped circling and stared intently at Flynn.
The eels bolted toward him. Flynn considered swimming back to his ship but it was too far away. With a kick of his swimming boots, he shot forward into one of the frigate’s lower decks. He could tell by the flickering light on the walls that the eels were close. His breathing quickened and he could feel their jaws snapping behind him. On the floor ahead of him lay a trap door and he yanked it open.
As Flynn dropped down through the opening, he noticed the Azuran Captain swimming toward him. The man wore a bone helm that appeared to be the front half of a human skull. Flynn reasoned it magically enabled the wearer to breathe underwater the same way his own breathing helm did.
The eels were nearly upon him and Flynn slammed the trap door closed. The reassuring thuds of eels slamming into the door were followed by the crackling of electricity striking the wood. His relief disappeared when the clunk clunk of booted feet approached the trap door.
Flynn swam away as fast as he could and slammed into the horribly burnt face of a dead body. Clamping a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from retching, he reeled back and collided with another corpse. There were dozens of bodies floating in the compartment he was in, and they reeked of dead, rotten meat. With one hand still clamped over his mouth, he pushed through the corpses and swam deeper into the ship.
The trap door creaked open behind Flynn and the electric eels were speeding toward him once again. The eels’ glow lit up the chamber as they swam, making it easier for him to navigate past all the corpses. All too soon, he reached the end of the ship. There were no exits and the eels were closing fast.
Looking for an escape, Flynn noticed the wooden vessel was heavily damaged. There were gouges in the hull, some wider than his head, as though an enormous beast tried to tear its way into the ship. One of the gouges looked big enough for him to fit through and he swam for it. He squeezed his head through and immediately pulled himself back inside when a frilled shark swimming along the outside of the ship lunged at him. The shark’s jaws snapped shut where his face was a split-second earlier. He retreated back into the ship as the six electric eels bore down on him.
The frilled shark swam through the hole and emerged between Flynn and the eels. Finding new competition for their meal, the eels attacked the shark and stung it repeatedly. The shark jerked as electricity tore through it but it fought back, snapping at the eels with its needle-like teeth. After many vicious moments, the eels were dead, the shark was badly injured, and a gruesome blood cloud hung in the water.
The injured shark turned toward Flynn. It reared back like a snake and Flynn’s heart pounded so hard he wondered if the shark could hear it. It was stopped in mid-lunge by a longsword stabbing it through the neck. It jerked violently once and stopped moving. Flynn was grateful for the swordsman’s help, until he realized it was the Azuran captain that saved him. The man slid the shark off his sword, releasing more blood into the water.
The only parts of the Azuran’s head still visible were his long white hair and a pair of hateful purple eyes. As Flynn met the man’s gaze, he somehow knew the man suffered a life of cruelty and bloodshed. Apparently perceiving Flynn as no threat, the Azuran sheathed his sword.
Flynn seized the opportunity to try to escape. He pushed off the wall and shot like an arrow toward the gouge in the hull, an opening too small for the stocky captain to fit through. He made it halfway out of the ship before the pirate grabbed his ankle.
Flynn tried to resist getting pulled back inside but the Azuran had the strength of an ogre. Once he was face to face with the captain, Flynn tried to punch him. The pirate caught his wrist with one hand and shoved him into the wall with the other. Flynn’s head bounced off the wood and the Azuran smashed Flynn’s head against the wall three more times, dizzying him.
On the brink of consciousness, Flynn was dimly aware that the Azuran removed a teardrop-shaped jewel from his coat. It was a clear, multifaceted crystal the size of a baby’s fist. Flynn’s legs felt as rubbery as octopus tentacles, and he would have collapsed were it not for the Azuran’s powerful right hand holding him upright.
The Azuran shoved the pointed tip of the crystal into Flynn’s chest. Pain surged through him, far more than he would have expected from such a minor wound. Bone-numbing cold crawled through his limbs and it felt like the energy in his body was being drained out of him. He tried to push his attacker away but he was too weak to put up a fight.
The jewel changed color. A black, smoky substance left Flynn and entered the crystal. With each passing moment, more smoke left Flynn to enter the jewel and the more exhausted he became. He tried to push the Azuran off him but the man’s powerful arms wouldn’t budge.
Flynn examined his surroundings, looking for something to help him escape. Wooden walls and floating human bodies surrounded him. The frilled shark corpse drifted by his knees and one of the electric eel corpses floated by his hip.
The pain and lack of energy made thinking difficult but something in the back of Flynn’s mind triggered when the eel corpse drifted by. He gathered what remained of his strength and grabbed the eel by the sides of its head, opening its jaws. Even after death, its teeth remained full of the toxin it used to paralyze its victims.
Flynn shoved the eel mouth-first into the Azuran’s leg. Its teeth bit deep into the white-skinned man’s thigh. The pirate stiffened, releasing his grip on Flynn and dropping the gem. The gem flickered from an inner light as it fell through the bloody water and thudded softly on the wooden deck.
His strength returning, Flynn was finally able to catch his breath and push the pirate off him. Despite the paralyzing venom coursing through the Azuran’s veins, the man’s cold, purple eyes remained locked on Flynn. The pirate’s face was mostly hidden behind the gruesome bone mask but Flynn could tell it was twisted with hate.
Flynn removed a coral-handled knife from his belt and put the blade against the Azuran’s throat. Frustration and rage filled the pirate’s eyes, but there was no sign of fear. Flynn gripped the handle tighter and drew a droplet of blood from the captain’s white neck. The Azuran deserved to die, and he surely killed many others during his years of piracy, but Flynn couldn’t bring himself to kill the man. The thought of killing a defenseless person, even an Azuran, did not sit well with him.
Flynn towed the pirate through the trap door and into the deck above. He shoved the Azuran, sending him bouncing off the walls toward his skeletal vessel. Flynn was startled when a dead body brushed up against his leg, but he was too busy enjoying the sight of the drifting Azuran to care.
As the pirate captain floated out of the broken frigate, Flynn realized his mistake. The shouts of angry crewmen, muffled by the water, preceded the sound of the crew diving into the water to retrieve their captain. Flynn knew they would be going after him next.
Flynn kept to the shadows and ducked into a cargo hold to avoid detection, but he knew they would find him eventually. The Azurans were ransacking the vessel room by room, knocking aside floating bodies and ship debris as they went.
Stairs leading up from the chamber looked promising but Flynn could hear the movements of pirates above. Two Azurans opened the trap door and three more entered the cargo hold from an entrance opposite the one Flynn entered. With a kick of his enchanted boots, Flynn swam away from the pirates and headed back to the room where he fought their captain. Three Azurans wearing black leather armor and wielding bone-handled spears entered the room right after him.
“There he is!” the pirate said, launching a spear at Flynn’s head. It came so close to its mark that the water it displaced swept the hairs on the back of his neck.
Flynn pushed off from the wall and swam for the same opening that he’d attempted to escape from earlier. He squeezed through the hole and the Azurans were right behind him, trying to do the same. Despite their efforts, the muscular pirates could not fit through the opening.
The Azurans threw spears weighted for underwater use. They flew like viperfish but by the time the first spear was thrown, Flynn was already out of range. The spears fell short and landed in a bed of mussels, scattering some of the hard-shelled creatures as they stabbed into the ground.
The pale blue glow of the crystal windows made his ship easy to find and Flynn swam as hard as he could to reach it before the Azurans caught up to him. The pirates gave up on the gouged opening and swam out of the opening where the frigate was cut in half instead. The wound in his chest ached with every swimming stroke but Flynn didn’t slow his pace.
The popping sound of shifting bones and the crackle of electrical energy striking the water alerted Flynn that the skeletal ship was coming after him. A school of frilled sharks fled as the ship came near. Spears stabbed into the soil around him as Flynn reached his ship. He popped open the hatch, pulled himself inside, and shoved the acceleration levers forward.
The propellers’ dust cloud arose as Flynn’s ship lurched forward. Crabs, starfish, and mussels were sent flying as the vessel picked up speed. Knowing it would be difficult for the crew to attack anything directly below them, Flynn spun around and sped directly below the skeletal ship. Razor-sharp bones protruded from the hull’s breastbone and he stayed far enough away to avoid the purple electricity weaving in and out of the massive ribs. The pirate ship hummed with power and a feeling of pure evil swept through Flynn as he passed below it. The skeletal frigate was slow to turn around and he was long gone by the time the ghastly ship was back on his trail.
Remembering his promise to bring Tanner’s body back to the city, Flynn headed back to the broken ship. Shockingly, the weapon master’s ship was missing. He circled over
the site many times but he could find no trace of Tanner or the chitin ship. After many minutes of searching, he gave up and headed home.
Flynn breathed a sigh of relief when the golem-barrier came into view. The golems made no move to block him—their enchantment prevented him from leaving, not entering—and he smiled at the thought of what they would do to the Azurans and their ship if they tried to cross.
The hum of his propellers attracted the attention of a school of dolphins that were lapping up air bubbles from a nearby grove of mermaid’s kisses. As his ship flew over, they hurried toward him. They were soon in front of his vessel, playfully launching themselves from the wake created by his ship. Tasker once told Flynn that dolphins swam in front of ships because it was easier to ride a wake than it was to push their way through dense water. But after watching the spirited creatures frolic, Flynn felt certain they were just being playful. He chuckled at their antics, but his laugh was cut short when it elicited a surge of pain in his chest.
After the dolphin escort dispersed and the glowing blue city of Seahaven came into view, the pain in Flynn’s chest became worse. He removed his tunic and pulled his shirt collar aside to look at the wound. There was a small amount of blood and a small break in his skin, but it did not look serious. Even so, the minor injury caused more pain than expected, and the wound edges felt like they were on fire.
A grove of indicator coral revealed it was late in the afternoon and Flynn puzzled over the events of that day. What attacked Tanner and why did the compass point at him? What was the Azuran pirate trying to do to Flynn with that jewel? Why and how was the wooden frigate cut in half? None of it made sense.
The skeletal ship was a mystery as well. The energy crackling in the heart of the vessel sent shivers down his spine. The Azurans were skilled in the use of dark magic, but Flynn didn’t know they could create something so powerful.
Flynn skimmed low over the ground, close enough to a field of orach to make the leafy vegetables sway behind him. Seahaven loomed before him and he sped between a pair of guard towers and dove his ship under the dome. He entered the tunnel leading into the docks and after surfacing, he climbed out of his ship and headed for home.
