by Billy Wong
She had almost finished her soup when Scott walked in. "How was the pillar?"
"It was amazing!" he replied with starstruck eyes. "It goes so far down, with a platform you can ride to the bottom, and you can see out into the ocean depths through the windows. Seems structurally sound as well."
Cart-Dragger smiled. "Then we'll take a look later too. For now though, I'm sure you're hungry so..."
Scott bought soup and sat down, but had scarcely taken his first careful sip when the ground heaved beneath them, splashing the whole bowl into his face. "Ow, ow that's hot! What the..?"
Again the floor shook, making Russ yelp as his chair slid back and Cart-Dragger grab the table for support. Lars furrowed his brow. "That was a mighty tremor. Is something attacking the city?"
"That would seem the likeliest explanation," Cart-Dragger said edgily, "but why now? Just when we got here..."
"You have really bad luck?" Russ suggested.
"Maybe." She ran out the door, going for her cart and the hammer on it. "But in case we're able to do something to help, maybe that will turn out to be good luck for Velinthe!"
Chapter 2
As they hurried outside, another jolt shook the island. The ground seemed to tilt for a moment, then it felt like they were moving forward. Cart-Dragger looked to the docks to confirm the isle indeed drifted away from its original position, dragging their ship along. There didn't seem to be anybody on board to release the rope. People ran screaming in all directions, panicked as expected. Sheesh, things were going bad in a hurry. "Holy crap, the support pillar's been broken!" Scott said rather unnecessarily.
Cart-Dragger snatched the hammer off her cart, glancing around for enemies but not finding any yet. "Yeah, I can see that. Guess we won't be viewing the ocean from inside it."
"More importantly, the city is compromised! It's still afloat for now, but might not be for long."
She spotted Overseer Brennan and a pack of guards moving down the street, shouting instructions to any they saw. "Where are you going?" Cart-Dragger called to him. "You do have an evacuation plan for something like this, right?" If they didn't have more ships than she'd seen in port...
Brennan looked at her with a hint of suspicion, for which she couldn't much fault him given how her arrival coincided with this disaster. "Yes, we have lifeboats we are directing them to."
"What kind of boats?" Lars asked before she could.
His voice grew lower. "Rowboats."
Cart-Dragger put hands on her hips. "Rowboats? You do know it's four days to shore?" Then again, at least they had some kind of contingency for their home becoming unsafe. She supposed it took less resources to create sufficient rowboats to hold thousands than proper seafaring vessels. "Are there enough for everyone?"
"Unless the population has grown, there should be."
"Alright, keep telling people where to go! We'll save our ride." She dashed towards the merchant ship, thinking to untie it. Before she reached it, she saw the captain stumble out of the cabin to look towards the city. He must have slept soundly while the crew left to pleasure themselves, and only just been woken by the commotion. "Captain, you have to cut the-" Her sentence was lost as water splashed up high behind his ship, an immense thing emerging from it to tower far above Velinthe. It resembled a tentacle, but of such size Cart-Dragger struggled to digest it. It must be even longer than the whole three hundred foot body of the King Elemental of Water Leviathan, perhaps a third again as long, and thick as a great tree. She watched it whip downward, almost slowly at first. "Captain, run!"
He gazed back over his shoulder and gaped, ran to jump off the ship's side. Unfortunately, since he had fled directly away from the tentacle, that didn't take him out of harm's path. It crashed down through his ship, snapping it in half, and also over him. Cart-Dragger couldn't confirm he was dead, but knew he'd most likely been crushed. The front part of the appendage reached well into the city, smashing through multiple buildings in its path. She rushed at it, only for it to rise back up before she got there. Three more tentacles burst from the water to loom beside it, waving menacingly before sweeping down again. Numerous buildings crumbled and people popped like grapes beneath them, blood splattering out.
"W-what do we do?" Russ asked, voice trembling. She didn't fault him. He had never even seen one of the King Elementals before, so how should he react to being faced with a creature possibly bigger still?
"You guys just help with the evacuation," she said to him, Scott and Lars. "I'll do what I can against it."
"But it's so..."
Scott squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry. Willow has beaten monsters like this before."
She darted at the nearest tentacle, which pulled itself off the ground just before she could get within striking range. Instead of sticking straight into the air, this time it only rose a few stories' height before falling down again—directly on top of her.
"It squashed her!" Russ cried. "Is she dead?"
Azure blood exploded from the appendage as it burst apart over her. She had swung the spike end of her hammer into it while it came down, then ripped it asunder using her weapon as a lever. Wiping its blood from her eyes, she growled, "I'm a lot harder to kill than that." The stump reared away, jetting blue fluid, while its fellow tentacles writhed in distress. So they did share the same body—she couldn't have been totally certain before. Let's cause that body some more pain, then.
She sprinted towards the pier beyond which the tentacles jutted out of the water. As she neared the edge, she drew a javelin and leapt holding it in one hand. Clearing the gap of a few dozen feet, she plunged the spear into a tentacle and hung there from it. The next appendage stood no more than three yards away—perfect. She jumped up between them and swung her hammer back and forth. "Tornado Break!" Blood sprayed with each blow as she hit each limb dozens of times within the span of a few seconds, alternating between one and then the other. Finally the first appendage went limp and sank into the ocean, followed by the second. Falling towards the water, Cart-Dragger drew the javelin connected to the inside of her quiver by a thin chain as the last tentacle reached for her. It pierced deep and the limb jerked reflexively away, yanking her after it. With its own momentum added to her strength, she gripped her hammer in both hands and struck, half severing it in one swing and freeing her javelin. She flew past the falling tentacle and with nothing else to grab onto, splashed into the water.
"Willow!" Scott shouted.
"She did it..." Russ added. "Our girl is such a legend."
Cart-Dragger swam for the dock where her friends stood. "You're still watching me? What happened to helping evacuate?"
"They were worried about you," Lars said. "That thing might be even bigger than a King Elemental... thought you would have more trouble with it than that."
She dragged herself on land, dripping wet with a proud smile. "Its tentacles are longer, but it might not be more massive overall. And, it's not covered in metal plates to give it some degree of protection. Now let's help guide any stragglers to the lifeboats."
The others told her where Brennan had directed the citizens to go, and they moved away from the docks. As they spotted a child crouching inside a merchant stall and Scott tried to coax him out, however, Cart-Dragger heard a sloshing of water behind her. She turned to behold four more tentacles sticking out of the sea. "How many arms does this thing have?!" Instead of striking deep into the city again, these stayed back to grip just the very fringe of the land mass and pull down. The island tilted, one edge going underwater while the opposite side rose into the air. People shrieked as they lost their balance, sliding and tumbling towards where the monstrous tentacles undulated. The stall saved the hiding boy, as it being attached to the ground blocked him from falling. Cart-Dragger and friends retained their footing for now, but it grew ever harder, and watching scores tumble past likely to their doom made her jaw clench with anger. "Slimy bastard! I'm going in."
Leaning backwards to stay upright, Russ started. "You mean-"
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br /> She didn't wait for him to finish before darting down the increasingly steep slope at the creature. Two tentacles lashed up at her. She swung her hammer. She smashed one out of her way, but the other slammed into her chest and sent her flying back up the way she came. With a grunt, she crashed against the floor near her friends. "Are you okay?" Lars asked.
"Just getting warmed up." In quite some pain despite her bravado, she clutched her chest and raised her maul to defend against a followup attack. But none came, the tentacles releasing the edge to retreat beneath the surface. "I guess it doesn't have the guts to risk a fight with me to the finish."
Then again, perhaps it was more because the damage was already done. The isle continued to sink into the ocean, dock side first. More figures fell screaming towards the water. "What now?" Russ asked, sounding terrified with his body all but pressed against the slanted ground. "We won't be able to hold on much longer..."
"I don't know if the residents of Velinthe can, but all of us know how to swim right?" The men nodded, if hesitantly in Russ' case. "Then why delay the inevitable? Let's dive right in and try to save who we can."
They ran down the tilted city, jumped in after those who had fallen before them. Cart-Dragger looked around, grabbed a desperately flailing mother and daughter and held their heads up out of the water. Her companions lent similar aid to folks who appeared unable to swim, but the help they could give was limited considering there were only four of them. "If there are any large pieces of debris floating around," Lars said, "see if your rescuees can make do holding onto them and find others to save."
Scott pointed at a fleet of boats coming around the side of the city. "Or we could bring them to the lifeboats and then pick up more people."
"I hadn't seen those, but good idea."
They swam towards the lifeboats dragging their rescuees along. As they approached, Cart-Dragger saw a lot of them weren't full. "What happened?" she asked Brennan who rowed one alongside his guards. "Surely you didn't have that much of an excess of boats?"
He shook his head grimly. "Many didn't make it. When we were trying to get them into the water and the island suddenly tilted—you can imagine what a catastrophe that was. And we had to launch right away after, so not everybody..."
She gulped at the thought of how many lives had been lost already. "Then we should take these boats and use them to save whoever else we can right away."
"Yes, you're right."
Climbing into a less crowded rowboat while others received the citizens they'd saved, Cart-Dragger and friends took over the oars and paddled it back towards where the most people floundered. As they got closer to the half-sunken city she felt awe to realize anew how truly enormous it was, making it hard to comprehend how suddenly it had been brought low. Brennan's boat tailed them, followed by many others at his instruction. He wasn't so bad she supposed, being quick enough to lend a hand. It wasn't clear how much blame he would end up placing on her for this, though. They rushed to haul as many onto the lifeboats as possible, those who looked to be struggling more first, Cart-Dragger and Lars sometimes diving in when someone went under before they could be reached. It was tiring work even for her, especially after taking that blow her sternum throbbed from, but she made do.
After a while, it seemed like they'd rescued about everyone they could, though some had inevitably been lost for all their efforts. Cart-Dragger rowed her boat towards one of the last men clinging to a crate and extended a hand. Just before he could take it, he stopped reaching towards her and wailed. "What's wrong?" she asked. In response he only screamed again, then let go of the crate and started sinking. She grabbed at his arm, caught his wrist and tried to pull him up only to feel a lot less weight than expected. A moment later, his limb emerged from the water, ending in a ragged stump halfway past the elbow. She dropped it with a gasp. What the...
Something burst from the ocean just in front of where she had dropped the arm, splintering the crate as it flew up. A fish the size of a man, with maw full of serrated teeth and spiny fins that somewhat resembled crystal or quartz. Having put her hammer down for the sake of her rescue efforts, Cart-Dragger punched it in the nose, spinning it away into the water. She snatched up her maul and looked around to see other boats faring worse, people being knocked off by leaping fish or bitten and maimed right off the bat.
"Monster fish are attacking us!" Russ said as she pulped another that sprang at them.
"I'm aware of that." Lars and Scott drew their weapons, and after a moment Russ did too. More fish assailed their boat. Lars stood his ground and cleaved them out of the air with his axe, while Scott and Russ with their swords had to work harder, dodging first before cutting or stabbing the fish as they passed. Cart-Dragger pounded a few into fish fillet before asking, "Think you can hold this boat on your own? I want to help some of the other ones."
Lars chopped into the top of a fish's head, driving its corpse straight down so that water splashed all over them. "We should be able to manage." Scott and Russ looked less confident, but didn't protest.
"Then here I go!" She jumped over to the nearest rowboat, rocking it as she smacked aside a fish pouncing at a teenage girl. She clobbered two more, then saw one clamp its jaws over the head of a man on another boat and bear him howling into the water. Shit. Strong as she was, she couldn't be everywhere at once. Each second another person died, and even if she intercepted the fish with javelins she only had so many. Wait... inspired, she drew the chain-attached javelin again and tied the chain around her hammer. "Everybody duck!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. She twirled it overhead, spinning the maul around her in a thirty foot-radius. While fish struck by the chain probably weren't killed, they were knocked back into the water or onto the waiting weapons of their would-be victims. The hammer meanwhile turned fish into dead misshapen lumps on impact, almost as potent on the end of the chain as in her grip.
Eventually fish stopped leaping up inside her circle of death. She yanked her hammer back into hand, hopped from boat to boat to an area where fish still attacked and resumed her slaughter. After a while and a few changes in position, the upward hail of fish halted. Over a thousand of their mangled carcasses floated around the boats, some slain by the people of Velinthe and her friends, but more than half by Cart-Dragger. She bent over putting hands on her knees. "Whew."
"You all right, Willow?" Scott called from several boats away.
She rubbed her chest. "Fine. You guys?"
"We got through without any major injuries." Beside him Lars wiped at his axe, while Russ sat panting for breath with sword hanging forgotten in hand. "I thought that might never end." The cost had already been great. The lifeboats looked less packed yet than before they went back for those in danger of drowning, and some were filled with bodies of the slain whose blood stained the ocean pink. Others lived but bore wounds, some bad enough they moaned ceaselessly in agony or lay still with their survival in question.
"We should see if the fish are edible," Lars said. "These people will need something to eat for strength to row all the way back."
Cart-Dragger worried too if these flimsy rowboats would hold that long, especially if the weather became rough. One thing at a time. "Does anybody have a pet they managed to save?" She spotted a little pigtailed girl hugging a hound big as herself and asked the sinewy men whose boat she had ended up on to row her over. "Sorry, but could I borrow your dog for a moment?"
The girl shook her head, scared eyes showing she somehow recognized a risk to her friend. But her mother, a freckled woman with a tear-streaked face, nudged her and she relented. Cart-Dragger recoiled to realize that the father, sitting slumped forward behind the girl, was dead with his throat torn open. She hoped she wouldn't deprive their family of another member, but this had to be done—human lives took priority over animal ones. She hauled a fish corpse out of the water, cut off a piece and fed it to the dog. It didn't drop dead, but instead perked up, gazing eagerly at the fish like it wanted more. She returned her test subj
ect to its young owner.
"We should wait a little longer before letting any people have it," she said to her friends who had rowed closer, "but at least it's not an instant killer. We should probably take some of the fish on board now for use later." She turned to Brennan, whose boat had also moved nearby. "You approve?"
His gaze might have carried a hint of resentment at her taking the lead, but he answered, "Yes, take them on. It would be difficult to make the journey to land without eating, to say the least."
They spread the word to the rest of the fleet, which began pulling fish from the water. Some suffered minor injuries from not handling the spiny fins carefully enough, but most soon learned after the initial curses and yelps of pain. They loaded a fish onto each boat, which should be more than enough for the trip back. The survivors of Velinthe started towards the distant shore, soaked and miserable, some of the weaker or hurt ones fainting after a short time at the oars. As they were only four, Cart-Dragger and friends couldn't do much to help beyond splitting up to lend their strength to separate vessels. After a few hours, enough people complained of hunger that Cart-Dragger and Brennan agreed to let them try the fish. The dog still hadn't died or shown signs of illness, after all. The raw meat turned out to be unusually chewy and tough, but sweet tasting and palpable enough.
Long days passed as they pressed on in the direction of Athendar, many of the wounded dying in part for the lack of medical supplies and their kin weeping over them. Hearing the sounds of grief, Cart-Dragger clenched her teeth in anger at the attackers. What on earth... why would some kind of giant octopus or whatever that had been assault the city along with an army of flying fish? "You think this had something to do with the 'race of evil' that God Soldier spoke of?" Scott asked her once as they rowed alongside each other.
"A bunch of hostile seafood being the race of evil? I suppose it isn't out of the question."
"Whatever those arms belonged to must have been huge. Do you have any idea what it was?"
