by Billy Wong
"Fine, I'll return to the battle soon. What about you? You're not a bad fighter yourself."
"Maybe. I have a lot to take care of around here." Unlike Regis, he didn't always delegate the "boring" tasks to others.
Picking up his immense pike, the emperor stalked out of the room to meet the latest foreign diplomats to visit the palace. Julian hoped he would simply scare the wits out of this bunch rather than killing them. Fanteia could use some peacetime after its conquest of Terlon, at least until the foretold threat was eliminated.
#
Rose grabbed the sailor as he tumbled over the edge of the deck and pulled him back up, the tanned man giving her a nod of thanks before scurrying away across the wood. The ship had met one hell of a storm halfway to their destination, and the crew struggled to get through the day alive. Though it was rough, Rose had begun to get into the rhythm of running from place to place helping whoever needed it the most, and now slipped and stumbled towards the men trying to lower the sail. But then a broad, flat reptilian head the size of a carriage broke the water near the stern, snapping up a beefy sailor in a maw full of long teeth.
She almost couldn't believe this was happening right in the middle of the storm, but ran to meet the sea serpent before it could claim any more lives. Drawing her heavy broadsword Thorn, she slashed at its neck—somewhat clumsily due to the rain and rocking ship. It reared back and hissed, raising a spike-covered tail high into the air. Not a tail! She'd taken a rather severe injury from one of those in the not so distant past. The serpent swiped at her. She ducked, allowing the fleshy whip to sail over her head, and came up with a slice which left a deep gouge in the monster's brow.
The wound seemed to discourage the serpent, and it disappeared beneath the water. But then the ship lurched from a powerful impact followed by another, and Rose realized it continued its attack from below. She saw only one choice if the ship was to be saved, and not a pleasant one. Steeling herself for a rough battle, she jumped over the side after the beast. But even before she hit the water, its head shot up into the air and snatched her in its deadly jaws.
She cried out as sharp teeth dug into the flesh of her torso, but did not allow the monster any more time chewing on her than she had to. Chopping into its eye with her sword, she forced it to drop her—right into the turbulent waters below. The stormy sea proved very dark, and only grew darker with her blood so that she could hardly see anything beneath the surface. But she felt the tail which crashed into her side just fine, throwing her against the underwater portion of the ship's hull. Her ribs hurt, and she fought to hold her breath.
Her enemy's huge head swooped down from above. This time she managed to avoid the jaws, twisting around them to plunge her left hand into its ruined eye and use the socket as a handhold. She raised her sword and tried to hack into the serpent's skull. But it was too thick to penetrate easily, and the flexible tail lashed her on the back while she hung from its head. She lost her grip on the eye socket bone and the tail coiled around her. It slammed her against the hull, making her cough blood. At this rate, it might sink the ship! Desperately she powered her arm free and severed the tail with a chop. The monster's maw widened in silent anguish. Pushing off the hull with her legs, Rose propelled herself towards it and stabbed into the roof of its mouth. It lost control of its body, and sank thrashing in its death spasms into the depths.
Rose surfaced with a huge gasp, glad to get to breathe again. She began to pull herself up the anchor chain, a tough climb in her wounded state. What a pain! The crew had better be able to keep the storm from claiming her ride; she didn't want her spilled blood to have been for nothing, and the rest of the way to Terlon would be a long swim.
