The shark thrashed from side to side, searching for her, or perhaps annoyed at the pinprick of her knife. Umira clung tight, refusing to be shaken free, knowing her life depended on it.
Not finding the triton, the shark changed targets, turning once more toward the crippled ship above.
It sees the ship as a rival, the only thing of its size in this ocean.
Powerful swipes of the huge fish’s caudal fin propelled the beast toward its target faster than any ship could travel. Umira tightened her grip and clung to her dagger, bracing herself for the impact.
As they drew near the ship, something plunged into the water nearby. It sizzled as it hit and glowed green as it sank, bubbling, into the depths.
Umira gasped. “No!”
Arzu’s magic exploded at the same moment the shark rammed the ship.
Umira felt as though her head had been smashed between a rocky shore and the pounding surf. The whole ocean filled with roaring sound and flashing lights. Her knife ripped free from the brute’s fin, and she lost her grip on its back. Only reflexes kept the twin weapons in Umira’s hands as she tumbled into the deep.
Dimly, as if in a dream, she heard distant screams and frantic splashing. She opened her eyes to a blurry, blue-green world, expecting to find terrible toothy jaws closing in around her. But the shark was not at hand; stunned, Umira had sunk all the way down to the rift.
The magical portal was much larger now, easily big enough for the titanic shark to swim through. The rift still glowed, though its color had become reddish, not the brilliant white it had been. It still pulsed, too, though the rhythmic beats seemed to be contracting now, not expanding. Umira sensed no movement on the other side—neither crustaceans nor more monsters.
Thank the Gods of Mercy!
But where was the shark? She looked up and spotted it circling the wreck, far above. The ship had broken in half, and five tiny figures splashed frantically in the water: Red Bandana, Shirtless, Dutch, Captain Shaw, and Nissa. They were mere silhouettes on the bright surface, but her sea-keen senses distinguished them easily.
The shark struck, swallowing Red Bandana whole before angling toward Nissa. The girl swam toward the nearest piece of wreckage, but the shark would easily pluck her from the water before she could scramble out.
Not her!
Umira shot upward, knives at the ready, knowing that she would be too late, but unwilling to let the girl who had freed her die without at least trying to save her.
A glowing green sphere fell into the water between the shark and the doomed girl.
Umira was ready for the magic’s impact this time, but it still tumbled her head-over-heels when it detonated. Surprised, the gigantic shark veered away from Nissa, toward the open ocean. Unfortunately, the captain lay between it and escape.
Umira regained her bearings and swam upward once again, just as Arzu pulled Nissa onto the wreckage. The triton caught only a glimpse of the rift as she swam; it looked smaller, now—smaller than it had been even moments before.
The magic that forced it open is fading; the rift is closing.
Shaw screamed as a single enormous bite split him in half. His head, left arm, and part of his chest went one way, his feet the other. The rest disappeared down the monster’s gullet. A few brave sharks, redfins and daggertooths, flitted in to pick up the beast’s leavings.
Umira burst from the waves, breaching into the air like a leaping dolphin and landing lightly on the upturned hull of the sundered wreck. The two mages huddled nearby, tears streaming down their haggard faces. Thankfully, neither woman seemed badly hurt. They were so intent on each other that they didn’t notice the triton at first.
Brine dripped from Nissa’s ornate clothing, and her short dark hair lay matted against her head; she looked exhausted. She spotted Umira, and gave a curt nod, but remained focused on her friend. “Please, Ar! One more! We just need one more! You have to!”
Arzu, if possible, looked even worse. Though she was mostly dry, she looked gaunt and pale, as though all the life had been drained out of her. “I can’t, Niss!” she gasped. “No more . . . energy!”
Her magic is nearly spent.
Nissa spotted Umira and turned pleading eyes toward the triton. “Please! There must be something you can do!”
Unfortunately, now that she’d arrived on the wreck, now that Nissa was safe—however momentarily—Umira couldn’t think of anything. She’d had no plans beyond trying to rescue Nissa. Dying while bravely trying to save a friend was one thing, but deliberately fighting this twenty-five-yard-long horror. . . .
“Help!” someone cried, and all three women turned to see Shirtless and Dutch splashing toward them. The men lay thirty yards off, swimming together. But they were fighting against each other, splashing wildly, each trying to be first to reach the imagined safety of the wreck. Shirtless clung to a boathook, its wooden handle giving him some extra buoyancy but slowing him down. Dutch surged past him toward the floating hulk.
After eating Shaw, the shark had vanished into the deep; Umira’s sea-bred senses had lost track of it when she leapt from the water. She cursed herself for that now, and peered into the waves with her keen black eyes.
“W-where is it?” Arzu asked, trembling. “D-do you see it?”
Umira started to shake her head, but just at that moment, the beast erupted from the water right below Dutch. He screamed as the yawning mouth surrounded him, but his scream was cut short as the wicked teeth snapped shut. The top of Dutch’s head, from the jawline up, flew into the air as the shark took the rest.
The beast breached, fully three-quarters of its immense length shooting into the open air. Then it crashed back into water with the force of a tsunami. The piece of the wreck the women clung to heaved, nearly tossing all three of them into the waves; the other half of the shattered ship spun away from them and sank even further, leaving only a small part of its hull bobbing in the brine.
Shirtless screamed as the predator righted itself and turned toward him. The shark raced along the surface, mouth flung wide to swallow the hapless mariner.
Umira regained her feet quickly, but she was too far away to do anything.
Nissa propped herself up on her hands and cried, “Pinu!” Three daggers of white light burst from her outstretched hand. The magical knives streaked across the water and hit the shark just in front of its gills.
The beast veered, mouth snapping wildly. Shirtless stabbed at it, his boat hook catching just in front of the eye. The shark turned even more, but not enough.
Shirtless screamed as it tore into him, thought it didn’t catch him full on. It kept going, and the crewman lay in the surf, bleeding.
Nissa, blue eyes brimming with moisture, gazed up at the triton. “P-please! Save him!”
Umira sheathed her knives and flung herself into the brine, hoping she would be able to retrieve the wounded man before the shark returned.
She reached Shirtless in seconds, but even that was enough time for other, smaller sharks to close in around them. Umira stared at them, her body posture aggressive.
We are not food!
The sharks veered away, and Umira dragged the semi-conscious man toward the overturned hull.
“Thank you, Goddess!” he gasped, salt water spraying from his lips. “Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
Umira sensed the shark returning. Its enormous bulk moving through the water sent cascading waves of pressure across her sensitive skin. The wreck lay close, but maybe not close enough. And even if they reached it, could it withstand another battering?
Don’t think! Swim!
Umira heard the rush of water past colossal gills as her fingers touched the wood of the bulkhead. She heaved Shirtless ahead of her, hoping that he might survive, even if she did not. She felt the pressure wave of the creature and heard the hinges of its titanic jaws creak open.
“Lindu kuat!” Nissa cried as the shark surfaced, maw gaping, a yard behind Umira. A crackling bubb
le of magical energy formed around Umira and the others, separating them from the beast.
The bubble sparked pink and blue as the monster hit it. Nissa staggered as though she’d been struck, and a huge wave rocked the remains of the wreck. The spell of protection held, though, and the shark circled away once more.
Nissa collapsed from the effort, and the shielding spell vanished.
“Goddess,” Shirtless mumbled. “Thank the Goddess.” He was delirious, his left leg missing below the knee, blood pouring from the ragged wound.
Umira gazed from the bleeding man out to sea.
That horror will ravage the entire ocean if we do not send it back where it came from . . . or kill it.
“Arzu!” she said. “Can you do your exploding spell again?”
Arzu shook her head, sweat dripping from her slender body. “Not yet. Maybe if I have more time.”
“Then I’ll buy you the time. Bind his wound before he bleeds to death.”
Arzu nodded and tore off her skirt to make a tourniquet.
Umira spotted a harpoon floating in the breakers two-dozen yards away, on the far side of the other half of the wreck. “Nissa, I’m going to swim to that wreckage.”
Nissa gasped. “But the shark!”
“I’ll try to draw it away from you. Can your magic bring that harpoon to me by the time I get there?”
“Yes. Yes, I think so.”
Umira nodded and dived into the surf, heading for the other piece of the wreck. The moment she hit the water, her sensitive skin told her where the shark was. It had been angling for the survivors, but now it turned toward her. She could feel its power and its growing agitation.
The triton sprang from the water and onto the bobbing remains of the ship’s stern. As she landed, the harpoon sailed through the air and into her outstretched hand. Umira would have smiled, but at that very moment, the shark struck the wreckage.
The beast hit the hull from beneath, carrying both ship and triton into the sky. Umira twisted in the air as the deadly jaws gaped below her. In the beast’s gullet, she saw the drowned face of Red Bandana, swallowed alive, peering up at her, as well as bits and pieces of the other sailors. The monster’s triangular teeth snapped shut, then opened again, eager to devour her.
Umira arced to the side, out of reach of the deadly jaws, and, with all her might, threw the harpoon into the brute’s left eye. The weapon sank in up to the shaft as the shark crashed down, smashing the remains of the ship’s stern into splinters. Umira sliced into the waves nearby, plunging through the thrashing beast’s turbulence and into the calm waters below.
But the shark did not die. Instead, half blinded and mad with rage, it circled toward Umira, sensing her warm body amid the floating debris.
It will catch me if I flee.
Desperate, Umira hurtled toward it, propelling herself at the shark’s blind side. The monster turned, snapping, but not quick enough. Umira slammed into its side, just behind the head. She drew her knives and thrust them into the creature’s enormous gill slits, stabbing and tearing.
The beast thrashed and swam in circles, like a dog chasing its tail. Its mighty jaws snapped like thunderclaps, trying to find and crush her. Umira clung tight with her left hand and attacked with the dagger in her right. She slashed the gills, sinking her arm up to the elbow and feeling the animal’s warm blood gush over her skin. Blood ran across her face and into her mouth; she savored the taste. For a moment, she felt more shark than triton.
No! I am not a monster!
Yet, she could not stop fighting until either she or the horror lay dead. She’d done enough damage to kill a half-dozen man-sized sharks, but the mega-shark had not even slowed. It rushed headlong through the brine, the triton clinging to its blind and wounded left side.
It dived deep and then turned, shooting toward the surface.
“Die! Damn you!”
The shark’s blood covered Umira’s entire body now; for every drop the rushing water swept away, another red fountain gushed over her scaly skin.
The shark breached, flying straight up into the air and shaking its enormous body. Umira’s knife came loose from the gills and she lost her grip. She slid down the immense body, and the huge tailfin slapped against her side. Pain shot through Umira as she felt a rib snap; the creature’s rough skin gouged through her scales, spraying blood across her torso. She flew through the air, twisting to enter the water cleanly. She hit hard and tumbled end-over-end in the shockwave from the brute crashing down nearby. The combined impacts knocked the breath from her wounded body.
She surfaced, ribs aching, hoping to gain a moment’s respite, and was horrified to discover she’d crashed down near the remaining wreckage. Shirtless lay unconscious on the overturned hull, his leg bandaged at the stump. Nissa and Arzu sat nearby, clinging to each other. Both women looked frightened and nearly exhausted.
Umira searched the waters for the shark, feeling the subtle pressures in the sensory organs beneath her scales. It had swum off to marshal its strength but even now was banking to return with renewed fury. Umira had to lead it away from the humans. Her side bled where the tail had struck her, and her broken rib ached with terrible fire.
“Can you cast the spell?” she asked Arzu. “Do you have the strength?”
“S-soon. I-I think so.”
“I will lead it away and try to lure it to the rift. Can you locate the rift?”
Nissa nodded. “I can. I have a spell that allows me to see magic. I think I have enough energy left to use it.”
“When it attacks me at the rift, you must cast the explosion spell. With luck, the beast will pass through the rift, and the spell will seal it inside.”
“What about you?” Nissa asked.
“Don’t worry about me.” The shark was coming now, so Umira turned and arced away, swimming as fast as she could, trusting that her injured side would lead the beast to her. The ocean reeked of blood now, both the monster’s and her own. Umira could sense the other sharks, prowling the edge of the battlefield, hungry, waiting.
Umira dived for the rift, her ribs aching as the deep pressed in around her. The magical portal was smaller now, still pulsing red. Was it too small for the beast to fit through?
The horror rushed forward, propelling its enormous bulk through the water more swiftly than any normal shark could. It turned its head from side to side, using the sensitive skin in its snout to track Umira’s movements. Even half blind, Umira knew it could still “see” her clearly.
But only when I’m moving.
She stopped, hanging dead in the water in front of the rift, feeling the tingle of the portal’s weird magic on her scaly back.
Please let them time the spell right!
The shark barreled forward, faster than a galley at ramming speed, faster than even dolphins or orcas, faster than anything Umira had ever seen in the water. Every part of her being screamed “Flee!” but Umira held still.
When I am still, it cannot see me clearly.
More a prayer than a certainty.
The huge jaws stretched wide, showing row upon row of hand-sized triangular teeth.
Will it fit back through the rift?
She heard the water surging past the damaged gills of the beast and the sizzle of Arzu’s spell hitting the surface at the same time. The pressure wave of the titan’s charge hit her a second later. At the last instant, Umira dodged, a maneuver she’d seen seals use to avoid the onrushing jaws of a breaching great white.
The beast twisted and snapped at her, the great blunt head crashing into her injured side. Then it hurtled past, unable to stop itself, and slammed into the rift.
Pin-wheeling through the brine, a terrible realization struck Umira:
It’s too big!
The shark was stuck partway through the rift. In a moment, it would wriggle free.
No!
Arzu’s magical explosion rocked the deep.
The concussion slammed Umira into the sea bed, half burying her in
the sand. Her head spun, lights burst behind her eyes, and her ears roared like the crashing surf. Mud clogged her gills, and she gasped for breath, barely able to lift her head out of the silt.
Her eyes, her ears, all of her senses were a chaotic blur. The ocean seemed a raging whirlpool filled with blood and debris. Her injured side burned and her entire body ached to the bone.
Did it work?
She concentrated, forcing her eyes to focus, and fear shot through her. The rift was gone, sealed again, but the shark still lived!
Half its face had been torn away; it was completely blind now. The ribs on its right side lay exposed, streaming blood, and only a stump remained of its right pectoral fin. It moved slowly through the water, snapping and writhing in pain.
Yet, somehow, even though it was blind and crippled, it turned and came straight toward Umira.
Move!
Her battered body refused the command.
Move!
The mega-shark’s titanic bulk streamed billowing clouds of blood and mangled flesh, but still it came, jaws wide—hungry.
Move!
Every part of Umira ached. Her skin tingled, overwhelmed by the swirling movement in the sea all around her. Her own blood formed red streamers in the water, leading the beast right to her.
Hundreds of teeth. Row upon row of jagged death.
No!
She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact and sudden flash of pain that would end her life.
She felt the pressure swirling all around her, the titanic mass moving forward, heard the blunt impact of flesh against flesh, the soft squeal of teeth rending sinew. But she felt . . . nothing.
Is this what it’s like to die?
Another impact and another, shuddering waves of pressure through her skin. Blood in the water. Blood all around her—and movement, flashing, knife-like movement.
Monster Shark Page 3
