Tides (Time of Myths: Shapeshifter Sagas Book 3)

by Natasha Brown

  Leif knew what that meant. If Eilish had been here, it would have been her that his father would order him to poison with the octopus’s venomous bite. It was done to paralyze the thralls before Ragna capsized the ship. His father’s monstrous form was as large as Leif’s, but the giant squid was without venom. Just like the two men, the sea monsters they embodied were similar in appearance only. His father had tried to mold him into a monster and had succeeded in part. Was Leif any better for doing the bidding of a man he despised?

  Leif rested his gaze on Ragna. As he stared at him, Leif saw everything he loathed. He recalled Eilish’s honesty, the words that had cut so deep. He was just as unfree as a thrall. Used like a tool or weapon by the sort who should not be allowed any sum of power. Leif would prefer to be buried at rest under the hills so that he might live free in spirit instead of taking another life for his father.

  “Prepare your own tribute,” Leif said clearly.

  Ragna’s eyes narrowed. “You think you can speak to me like that?”

  Leif cast a hollow stare at his father before letting go of his oar and shaking his head. “I have had enough of this life. I cannot remain any longer.”

  “You cannot?” Ragna asked, glancing at the nearing opening to the ocean.

  “No. I will not,” Leif answered.

  Ragna’s grin turned sadistic. A fire lit in his eyes as he snarled, “You will not?”

  “I would rather find Mother in the afterlife than remain here with you.” Leif was unafraid. What he said was true. He had made peace with his decision.

  “That can be arranged,” Ragna answered and let go of his own oar. The boat stalled moving forward and simply drifted back on the waves that rolled in from the open sea. “But I cannot accept either offer, for I want you here with me. I require your help.”

  Seagulls cried out from some rocks that littered a nearby rocky outcropping. Leif nodded, unsurprised by his father’s reaction. “Did you not say you had a feeling this would be the season your kin welcomed you into their grand halls? Why do you need me still?”

  “Because you are my kin, and I want you with me,” Ragna said through clenched teeth. “Until that day comes, I need you by my side to collect as much wealth as it takes.”

  “I will never again stand by your side.” Leif’s eyes narrowed. His emptiness began to stir into anger.

  His father looked up at the cloudy sky and clenched his fists. “I thought you learned your lesson the last time you left. Do you remember the promise I made to you?”

  “He has gone.” Unease grew in Leif’s belly. His confidence and resolve began to crumble as he realized the lengths Ragna would go to to prevent Leif from killing himself in a duel.

  “No doubt he is off to that woman of his.” Ragna laughed before growing quiet. “Do you so soon forget my vow? Your attachment to your pets has always been your weakness.”

  Leif’s throat closed as he realized the danger his friend was in. Ragna appeared to sense the weight of power shift in his favor. His shoulders eased back, and a sickly sweet grin rested on his lips. “Ho! His memory is back!”

  Leif turned toward his father and thrust his finger into his chest. “My blood will flow before I let you near him.”

  Ragna stared at him with an intoxicated glow. “It is not yours I will take.”

  In that moment Leif realized his father’s intention. He had no choice but to stop him. Leif clenched his fist into a ball and swung as hard as he could, hitting Ragna under his jaw sending his head back. If Leif wanted to save his friend and the woman who’d found a place in his heart, he’d need to push his father into a rage. A fury he would be compelled to act upon—a fight to the death. If his father took his life in battle, then killing Agnar to force Leif into obedience would no longer be necessary.

  Plus, Agnar and Eilish needed time to make it across the sea so they might arrive on the mainland before his father had a chance of finding them. They had no hope of survival in their small sailboat. Not against the Kraken, a monster who hungered for blood and was used to getting what he wanted. Leif had to keep his father engaged as long as possible.

  Ragna rubbed his jaw with his mouth open and laughed again. “That was unwise.”

  Leif expected his father to throw him into the cargo hold and hit him until he was bloodied and resembling fish bait, but he only stared at him with narrowed eyes. He didn’t know what he had to do to get his father into a fight, but he knew one thing that might do it.

  “If you hurt him I will never return your treasure!” Leif dangled the threat and watched his father’s reaction grow. Ragna’s face contorted as Leif continued, “All these years I have hidden away scraps of silver and ornaments of gold that you thought safe in the bottom of the bay—you will have none of it.”

  His father’s rage-filled eyes narrowed as Ragna screamed, “You will not do this to me! I will seize your friend’s life and take back what is mine. Then if I am feeling generous, you will get your wish to find your mother in the holy mountain, Helgafjell—though I have never much liked you, boy, and do not relish the thought of giving you anything but a lifetime of misery.”

  A lifetime with his father had already supplied Leif with an abundance of misery. Every humiliation, every cruelty and every life he’d taken unfairly. All of those moments, pieces of timber stacked in a pit, waiting for a spark, a reason to catch ablaze. An all-consuming flame stirred in his chest. Leif would not bow to Ragna’s whim ever again. It was time to rise up and die for the principles his mother taught him. Never again would he be unfree or listen to the words of his father.

  Leif pointed his finger toward the man responsible for his fury. “I vow to Odin and to Ægir, I will sacrifice myself before I let you near him.”

  Instead of throwing a punch or more insults, Ragna turned around and dove into the water. His pale flesh disappeared in the waves, though Leif spotted his long, pointed body cut through the inlet toward the open ocean. Long arms and tentacles trailed behind the monstrous squid as it swam away, faster than any boat.

  Leif screamed into the wind in frustration. His thoughts turned to the people he cared for most. He had little time to warn them. Ragna already knew the direction Agnar was headed. At that moment Cormacc wretched into the water in the hull. His head lolled back, and his confused gaze fell on Leif. “Why are you naked?”

  Leif ignored the thrall as he rushed to the anchor. Since they’d stopped rowing, the ship had drifted back into the loch toward shore. Two inexperienced and intoxicated men would not be able to save themselves from the sea if they were pulled out with the tides. It took all of his strength to lift the large piece of metal over the gunwale. It splashed into the water, reminding him of the time he’d saved Eilish from drowning.

  Leif called to the sensation that changed his shape. In moments, his webbed toes were carrying him across the deck. He opened his wings to the winds and raced into the breeze, letting himself get lifted upward into the sky. The higher he went, the smaller the world became.

  He pointed himself toward the partially cloud-covered sun and locked his wings in place. Leif glided over the eastern shore of the island. Ahead of him the ocean gleamed, and in the distance the dark coastal mainland was immersed in gloom. Ran was said to lie in wait with her nets, prepared to claim sailors’ souls and drag them to her home far beneath the waves. He hoped she would not claim two more innocents that day.

  Chapter 14

  Eilish tried to grip the rail of the boat, but Agnar’s spear was in the way. The lashings that held it in place rubbed against her palm, her grip was so tight. Though she hadn’t grown ill from her travels on the larger trade vessel, she wasn’t so lucky in the small faering. Her stomach had twisted in knots when they’d broken away from the island and hit turbulent waters. She felt every swell and surge from her toes up to her head. Thankfully, Agnar didn’t need her help after they set sail. She blinked at the oars stowed beneath the thwarts they sat upon, wondering if they’d have to use them. The thought
of sinking beneath the waves so far from land was decidedly worse than being forced to row ashore despite her weakness.

  Eilish glanced over her shoulder from the direction they’d come and stared at the hazy silhouette of the island they’d departed. Ahead of them the mainland had grown in size as they neared its grassy hills. She could not mark the passage of time, for it felt like an eternity. The closer they got to their destination, the cloudier the skies got.

  Agnar cast a look at her, clearly checking to see how she was doing. She offered a weak smile in return and straightened up. When he’d appeared the night before, she’d watched him approach warily from behind the hillock beside her camp. It was almost a disappointment seeing him trudge across the land in the moonlight, carrying his belongings alone, but he’d assured her that Leif would meet them on the mainland.

  “He will meet us?” she asked Agnar again, needing reassurance. She tried to remember the rarity of Leif’s smile and held that picture of him in her thoughts.

  “He vowed he would find us,” Agnar answered.

  She knew Leif to be an honorable man who valued honesty and integrity. Through her time spent with him, she’d learned of the importance of promises kept.

  “Good, for I would hate to swim all the way across the sea to scold him if he does not.” Eilish tried to distract herself from the swaying motion of the boat and her own misery and asked, “How far is it to Bo’s land?”

  “We may arrive after the midday mark if the storm does not prevent our passage.”

  “I met a woman there named Frigg. She asked about you,” Eilish said.

  His solemn expression changed. It was as if the clouds had momentarily lifted, casting a warm glow on his cheeks and setting a light in his eyes. “Was she well? She is not already married and with child?”

  Again, his countenance altered. He was clearly worried. She felt compelled to put his mind at ease. “It is true life can change in a moment, but you will soon find out she is unattached, and when I left she seemed quite well.”

  Agnar nodded. A sudden gust of wind pressed into the sail, sending the boat rolling over a wave. He looked up at the mast, then at the land growing nearer. “We must row the rest of the way. The wind will turn us on our backs if we are not careful.”

  Eilish took a deep breath and tightened her legs against her seat to hold her in place. The thought of letting go of the edge frightened her. She had been taught to stay afloat and knew how to swim a short distance. It was nothing that would help her if she was tossed overboard in these waters. She reached for the rigging to help Agnar take down the sail. Once his fingers unfastened a knot, his arms moved quickly, lowering the yard and sweeping up the sail. He laid the wooden beam and gathered woolen fabric along the length of the boat. The violent tugging lessened, but the weather did not appear ready to let up.

  Eilish thought of Leif in an effort to gather strength and courage. She had to fight if she were to meet her father again, to save him from his fate of servitude.

  A sorrowful call like a trumpeting horn startled her. She looked up to find a white seabird flapping its gray wings as it came near their boat. Agnar whipped up his head and frowned. They watched the albatross make an effort to steady itself in the gale before landing on the bow. Eilish held her breath expectantly.

  The bird hopped down into the hull and scurried under one of the thwarts to the center of the boat between herself and Agnar. Without warning, the animal grew skyward, losing all of its feathers. Its shape changed to that of a naked man. Leif hunched with his arms touching the wooden frame.

  Eilish finally took a gasp of air. Her eyes were wet from tears and the spray of the waves. “I never thought I would see you again,” she whispered.

  From the other side of the sailboat, Agnar asked, “Leif?”

  Her happiness eroded when Leif turned his steely green eyes and furrowed brows her way. He glanced at both of them before saying, “I have put you in danger. He comes for you, Agnar, but I vow on the soul of my mother that I will do everything in my power to stop him from hurting either of you.”

  “What?” Agnar sputtered, casting nervous glances over his shoulder. “Ragna comes for us?”

  “He does, but he would not have been spurred to fight if I had not stood against him.”

  Agnar tilted his head to the side and said, “I have been waiting my lifetime to witness such a thing and you act the moment I leave?”

  Eilish wondered if things were about to get heated, but Agnar broke out in booming laughter and clapped his friend on the shoulder, despite the rough waves sending them reeling. “Well done, you crazy fool! I would rather die beside my brother fighting for your freedom and a better life than any other cause I can think of!”

  Leif seemed to expect a scolding as well, so when Agnar congratulated him, the tension in his face eased. He turned his attention to Eilish and leaned in. “Thoughts of you gave me strength.”

  The boat continued to rise over the swells, rocking precariously. Leif brushed his lips to hers. Eilish grabbed hold of his neck and shoulders, pulling him closer. Her lips moved against his. A sudden wave brought him back to the urgency of getting them to land.

  He straightened and reached for the oars, pulling them free and handing one set to Agnar. “It will not be long before he reaches this shore looking for you. We must get you to land. If he does not kill you, Ran might instead.”

  With his back to the bow, Agnar put his oars in the oarlocks and pointed the boat toward the safety of the misty beach in only a few strokes. Eilish slid from her seat, settling in the hull where Leif was crouched. He took her place on the thwart, facing the stern as he secured his oars like his friend had done and joined Agnar’s pace rowing. Water spilled over the edge of the faering as they moved through the waves. Eilish stared at Leif’s back as he rocked back and forth with effort. She was proud of his strength, happy he’d stood up to his father, even if it signaled their demise.

  The wind pressed against her body like it was searching for something. She gasped for a breath of air without breathing in the salty spray from the waves. Fears of perishing beneath the sea washed over her again. Though she knew how to stay afloat now thanks to Leif, she whispered prayers into the tempest just the same, hoping they’d be heard. She watched the coastline grow nearer with every passing moment.

  That was when she saw something slip over the gunwale. A dark tentacle lined with jagged suction cups curled over the edge. Then another joined it. Something touched her shoulder, and she looked down to find a thick snake-like arm slinking down her body, one made of pure muscle. Eilish screamed, drawing both Agnar and Leif’s attention.

  Numerous tentacles now wrapped over the port and starboard of the small vessel. Leif let go of his oars and shouted to Agnar, “Keep rowing!”

  Eilish felt stabbing pain on her shoulder and chest like sharpened needles jabbing into her flesh. Leif spun around to help her with the tentacles, grabbing hold of the end of its length to pull it free. As it was lifted from her, she saw a clear view of the barbs and jagged teeth protruding from its suction cups. A cracking noise barely cut through the whistling wind, and they stared at the center of the hull where a fissure formed in one of the boards.

  “He is biting through.” Leif growled and looked at her. “Get to land. Swim if you must. I will do everything I can to stop him.”

  And as fast as he’d appeared, he leapt into the water and was gone.

  Once Leif sank into the sea, it took only moments to think of the form that had taken him so long to learn, the monster his father had used for his own gain. His body tingled. The first inhalation of water was always the hardest. It went against instinct to breathe in what would kill him as a man.

  Everything was eerily quiet while his eyes cut through the ocean in search of his father. Just beside him was the boat. The spear-shaped faering pressed into the surface of the water, and clutched to it was the mighty Kraken. Leif acted immediately, not wanting to give Ragna time to rip through the hu
ll.

  He thrust out a jet of water through his siphon, sending him shooting through the currents. Leif reached out his tentacles, touching his father’s monstrous body. He used his strength to pull himself against the giant squid, preparing to use his powerful beak, but as soon as Ragna sensed his touch, he let go of the boat and wriggled free. Leif attempted to grab hold of his quickly moving opponent, but a sudden cloud of ink darkened the water, and he struggled to see through the murk to find him.

  Leif swam out from the ink cloud, knowing his father could not have gone far. On land, the favorable position was high ground, but it was the opposite now. He jetted deeper, knowing his father always attacked from the depths, and he did not want to be the one surprised and left dead, floating in the waves to become fish food.

  He reached the bottom and clung to the rocky sea floor. His body tingled again, but this time he was not changing his form. His eyesight allowed him to see the variances of light and texture around him, something he was able to mimic by adjusting the colorant of his skin. Leif sat in wait for any sign of movement, prepared to attack.

  Though Eilish’s shoulder was in pain, she stumbled to the empty thwart to help Agnar row to shore. Her mind held onto the instructions she’d been given. The tentacles had disappeared, but she didn’t know what that meant. She couldn’t see what was happening below the waves and feared for Leif’s life.

  A rough gust of wind turned them sideways and Agnar shouted at her, “Hold!”

  She gripped the handles of the oars, feeling the surf yank them about. Eilish heard Agnar grunting behind her and glanced over her sore shoulder. He was pulling on only one of his oars, trying to turn them with the waves, but the ocean seemed to be stronger than he. Her stomach was left behind as they rolled and tipped sideways.