by Dante King
“Do you want me to channel it into Plank Pillar?” she asked. “That might be the closest to a harpoon shape.”
“Exactly like that.”
“That sounds ambitious,” she said as her expression flickered with excitement and uncertainty. “I’m not sure it’s wise after our little altercation at the guild.”
Faryn held her arms wide and closed her eyes. The willows turned their branches toward her as she drew upon everything that carried the essence of wood. I let my own power move and turned to face the roof of the shrine.
“Create it on the roof. We need a way of getting it over the wall and into the ocean.”
“I’m not sure I have enough Vigor,” Faryn said.
Kumi stepped forward. “I can’t exactly produce Vigor, but I can bolster your channels and make your own Vigor more effective.”
“Are you sure you can handle it after the boat ride?”
“If it means saving my father, I’ll try.”
Kumi faced us and began to chant. The rain was drawn onto her and trickled down her body as the deep connection between her and the element of water took hold.
Suddenly, something burst from the shrine’s roof. A pillar of wood, and then, another, and another. Water and wood flowed through the three of us as we melded our powers together.
“Vesma,” I said, “take lookout. I need to know where the wyrms are.”
She nodded and sprinted down the street toward the wall of the city.
Leaves sprouted from the giant harpoon we’d created on top of the shrine only to be snatched away by the wind. The wooden shaft grew until it was taller than Kegohr, taller than the nearby trees.
The tiles on the shrine’s roof came loose as the structure took the Plank Pillar’s weight. The whole structure shivered, and the top trembled. Cracks appeared down the sides, and I was hit by a moment of panic as I thought that it was all about to fall apart. But splinters of wood broke away around the top and clattered to the ground to leave behind a sharpened tip like the point of a harpoon.
“That’s perfect,” I said. “Now, one last thing. Can you help me form an airtight hollow in the base, like a cartridge in a bullet?”
“Like a what?” Faryn asked through gritted teeth.
“Like…” I tried to think of anything comparable to a bullet in a world that had no guns. “Just a big hollow space, okay?”
Both women nodded. An opening appeared near the base of the harpoon, and sawdust poured out. The stream of sawdust stopped coming after a minute, and bark grew back over the hole to seal it shut.
Kegohr followed me as I sprinted up the road and climbed the outside of the shrine. When I reached the rooftop, I took hold of the side of the harpoon with the half-ogre’s help and lowered it until it rested at the perfect angle. The harpoon’s point protruded over the rooftop as I tied the lure to the tip of the improvised weapon. I wanted the core of the tidal wyrm, but my priority was getting it away from the city. If I could turn the wyrms against each other while they fought for the lure, it would save Qihin City.
We had a weapon ready to fight the tidal wyrms, but we had to make sure that they came to it. And that meant finding the other lure. If Cadrin was as arrogant as I suspected, I had a good idea where that would be.
“Cut a furrow into the tiles,” I told Kegohr. “As smooth as you can. I’ll be back.”
I somersaulted off the roof, swung off an errant willow-branch, and sprinted down the street. My feet carried me across bridges and toward the heart of the city. The royal palace towered above me on its pillar of rock as waterfalls crashed down its sides.
I raced up the stairs behind one of the waterfalls and made sure to keep my balance.
King Beqai stood at the bottom of the steps that led inside. A lure hung from a strip of leather around his neck, and he stared out at the ocean with a bemused look on his face. The king’s bodyguards stood a tense watch behind him and gripped their weapons tightly.
“Your Majesty!” I shouted.
Beqai’s gaze didn’t shift from whatever distant point held his attention.
“I need the trinket from around your neck.” I moved in closer to the guards. “Do you see this?”
I prodded the lure on his chest. At last, he looked down, first at my face, then at my finger, then at the lure.
“It was a gift,” he said. “From one of the guild.”
“It’s a monster lure,” I said. “And it’s drawing two tidal wyrms this way. If they’re not stopped, they’ll destroy the city. I need that thing around your neck. ”
“Tidal wyrms are majestic creatures.” Beqai laughed. “You seem intent on invoking their ire at every turn.”
I couldn’t believe this guy.
I fought to keep myself from snapping. His people were on the verge of disaster, and he still seemed unable to bring himself back to reality. What had happened to the great ruler who once led the Qihin?
“The Depthless Dream is taken. Your son has turned against you. The guild intends to destroy this entire city and slaughter your people!” I shouted at him. “Every member of your clan will die, and they will never have the opportunity to find their own Path of Peace!”
Beqai’s far-off look fled from his eyes, and he shook his head a little. The jowls on his face wobbled, and his seaweed-like hair flopped around his massive head. He took hold of the strip of leather from which the lure hung, lifted it over his head, and handed it to me.
Something had changed about him; it no more than a straightening of the shoulders and a glimmer in the eye, but I’d gotten through to him.
The King of Qihin had finally woken up.
“Here,” he said. “We don’t have much time. I can feel the wyrms getting closer.”
I thrust the lure through my belt and took off as fast as I could. I was soon back at the square and at the site of an oversized school project designed to kill an enormous monster.
Kegohr held the harpoon steady as the wind threatened to knock it to the ground. Faryn and Kumi sat with their backs against one of the houses and struggled to stay awake from the exhaustion of the task I’d asked them to do for me.
I jumped onto the carved wall of the shrine and climbed up its side. The lures glowed brighter now that they were near each other and bathed me in a deep blue light.
“Tie off the second one!” Kegohr roared over the wind.
“Not part of the plan!” I yelled back.
A screeching sound ran across the city. The foundations of the very streets seemed to shake as two huge creatures collided with the walls.
The tidal wyrms were nearly upon us.
“They’re here!” Vesma screamed as she climbed up beside me.
“Noticed that,” I agreed.
I called on the power of water and started summoning a Smothering Mist. I directed it to form in the hollow chamber at the base of the harpoon. Thick vapor flooded the almost-airtight chamber at the base of the harpoon until it strained under the pressure of holding it in.
“Vesma, Kegohr!” I shouted. “Get ready to channel some fire.”
A wyrm appeared over the wall in the distance and tasted the air. Huge, cold eyes stared at me and the lures.
“Oh, fuck,” Vesma whispered. “They’re so much bigger than the last one.”
The colossal creature’s hiss threatened to split our eardrums.
“Now!” I shouted. “Heat the bottom of the harpoon as fast as you can.”
Kegohr and Vesma placed their hands against the outside of the chamber I’d filled with steam as I mounted the spear like I would a horse. Fire flared from their palms as they superheated the hardened wood of the outside of the cartridge.
“What the fuck are you doing, Ethan?” Vesma shouted.
“Going fishing!” I howled back as the adrenaline took hold. “Get me into the air!”
The chamber exploded. A great gout of steam burst from the bottom of the harpoon and hurled me off the shrine’s roof. The streets stretched away beneath us a
s I rode a careering deathtrap straight toward a monster that wanted to eat me whole. The wind rushed past my face as I clung on tight, just along for the ride.
The shock of movement was so sudden that I had only two seconds to summon a suit of Frozen Armor. Instead of smooth plates, I made something spiked and covered in jagged edges like the armor of a cartoon villain.
The wyrm lunged up at me as I cleared the wall, ready to swallow me whole.
The harpoon shot straight into the wyrm’s mouth and took me with it. The massive spear rammed into the back of its throat, and I was flung off into the wet, warm space of the creature’s mouth. I slammed into the side of its mouth, and the spikes buried themselves in its flesh.
The monster shrieked in agony and thrashed around as it tried to shake loose the jagged wooden spear that was now buried in the back of its throat. Or the spiked human who’d just hurtled into its mouth. I steadied myself with one hand while I drew the my sword with the other.
“Your audacity knows no bounds, Swordslinger.” Nydarth laughed. “Strike true; I have no desire to spend a millenia inside this creature’s gullet at the bottom of the ocean.”
“Right along with you,” I panted.
Fire flashed along the blade and illuminated the inside of the creature’s mouth for a brief moment. I’d already been inside a wyrm, and I knew the inside of its mouth was armored, so I thrust upward a few times to break the tough plating. The wyrm continued to screech, and I could hear its stomach brewing a torrent of water to throw at me. I hurried my attacks until I broke through and thrust the Sundered Heart up toward its brain.
The wyrm screamed and filled every sinew in my body with the hellish sound. The roar from inside its stomach was almost deafening, and I needed some way to plug its gullet so that I wouldn’t get hit with a blast of water. I also needed to place the second lure somewhere, and the first was on the end of the giant harpoon. I removed the lure from my belt and tossed it down the monster’s throat.
I held myself in place by the handle of my sword, raised my other hand, and launched a broad Plank Pillar to close off its throat. For good measure, I thickened the pillar by infusing a large quantity of Vigor into it.
The wyrm thrashed around, and salt water streamed into its gaping maw. I looked through its sword-like teeth and saw the ocean. In little more than a few minutes, the wyrm had managed to race back to its home. With the lure inside its mouth, it must have seen no reason to remain in the city. It swayed from side to side as it slithered along the water’s surface, like a drunk trying to walk in a straight line.
The presence of the harpoon meant that it couldn’t close its mouth, and the massive barrier I’d put in its throat wouldn’t permanently stop its water attack from blasting out. I pulled the Sundered Heart free and kicked my way toward the front of the wyrm’s mouth.
Water lapped around my waist as I balanced on its tongue, carefully avoiding its teeth. The ocean closed in around my neck as I heard an all too familiar shriek from outside.
“Its friend approaches,” Nydarth whispered, her tone urgent.
“That was the idea,” I said.
I sheathed my sword and swam free of the wyrm’s maw entirely.
A mass of rippling bubbles surrounded me as the other wyrm slammed into the injured one. It buried its teeth in its companion’s throat and filled the water around me with black blood as it tried to rip out the lures I’d left in there.
The lack of air burned my lungs as I frantically tried to pull away from the underwater battle of the titanic serpents. My Frozen Armor melted away while I tried to get my bearings. I dragged myself up to the surface. My head burst out into the air, and I took a deep breath, then another. In the darkness and the storm-tossed waves, it was impossible to work out which way was land. Pelting rain stung my face as I fought to stay above the waves.
Then an unexpected current seemed to spiral through the water. It was strong and seemed to move with a life of its own. I swam toward it, and the current took hold of me, firm and insistent. It yanked me back and away from the surrounding chaos. I let myself be dragged along by it, and a minute later, I saw the docks.
I reached out a hand to grab hold of a wooden post as the magical current washed me up to it. A huge, gray, clawed hand found mine.
“You absolute lunatic!” Kegohr exclaimed as the half-ogre hauled me bodily out of the water.
Water streamed off me as I sat on the dock. Vesma, Faryn, and Kumi stared at me in a mix of anger, amazement, and absolute shock. King Beqai and a cluster of guards gathered behind them. The old ruler lowered his hands, and I spotted the current move back to the whims of the storm.
“So, I have you to thank for saving me out there?” I asked the king.
His tentacles twitched as he smiled. “Mmhmm.” The king was still tight-lipped, but, at least, he now showed emotion. He’d given over his lure, so he was partly responsible for saving Qihin City.
“That’s one way to kill a dragon,” I said to my friends.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kegohr said. “It’s good to see you in one piece, mate.”
“You too, buddy.”
The half-ogre pointed out to the sea. “You might want to watch.”
The storm had broken at last, and a beam of moonlight shone through a gap in the clouds. The two tidal wyrms fought in a mass of scaled muscle, silhouetted in the white light. The one that I’d hit with the harpoon made desperate efforts to break free or defend itself. The second tidal wyrm ripped at its companion’s throat while its every instinct urged it to find the lure.
The strong wyrm leaped upon the injured one’s body and tore at it with jagged teeth in an attempt to find the blue orbs within their cages. It shredded the other wyrm’s body and sent chunks of flesh and scaled skin flying. But amid the mess of ruined flesh and lapping waves, it couldn’t find what it was after. The surviving wyrm flung its head back, let out a disappointed screech, and disappeared beneath the waves.
“Anyone want to help me find its core?” I half-joked.
King Beqai turned to two of his guards. “Follow his instructions, my brothers. He has earned the spoils of his labor.”
I almost choked after hearing the king give an order. It seemed so out-of-character, but maybe I truly had woken him up.
The guards were equally surprised, and they paused for a moment, as though unsure whether they’d heard correctly.
“Did you hear me?” King Beqai asked them.
The guards all seemed to swallow at the same time before they stripped off their armor and drew long knives. They jumped into the sea and began to swim toward the fallen tidal wyrm.
Beqai turned to the rest of our group as they swam away. “Kumi, our people need to see that they are cared for and that order is being restored. Before you rest, go back into the city and find our craftsmen. Charge them to rebuild what has been damaged. Rally the guard to search for Cadrin, but keep it quiet; I do not want a panic on top of all this destruction.”
Tears streamed down Kumi’s face as she stepped close to embrace her father. Beqai took her into his arms and stroked her hair affectionately.
“You’ve returned to us, Father,” Kumi murmured.
“With the help of your young friend, yes.”
“I can use my Augmentation to assist with clean-up and repairs,” Faryn offered.
“And we can help hunt Cadrin,” Vesma said, nodding to Kegohr.
“Thank you, mighty disciples of Radiant Dragon,” Beqai said. “Your kind acts are most valued. But first, rest. The Qihin will look to their own city. I could not ask any more of each of you than you have already given.”
My companions withdrew gratefully as the king turned back to me. “A mighty deed. Worthy of one who flows with the current of Xilarion.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I said. “I must say, you seem a lot more lucid than you did before.”
King Beqai of the Qihin stroked his seaweed beard as he stared out to sea in the direction of the Resplendent
Tears Guild House. “I have indulged myself for too long. Sunk so deeply into the slumber of peace that I could barely be awakened. It took you to pull me back from that. The question now is how to act against the enemies assailing my people.”
“Horix has to be behind this. Too many of his guild fought against us for it to just be a collection of ambitious individuals. I believe Cadrin is merely a pawn, used by Horix. ”
“I trust to your intuition, as much as it saddens me to say it.”
“Horix has the Depthless Dream Trident, and I assume he plans to use it against you and your city.” I shook my head. “But that’s what I can’t figure out. None of this makes any sense. Why not just kill you outright? Why were they so intent on destroying the city with the wyrms?”
“The Depthless Dream is a fickle item,” Beqai said solemnly. “It requires clear skies and time in meditation to draw upon the true power within it.”
“So Horix wants the true power of the trident. That’s his game.”
“Again, I must agree. Horix’s target is not me. Nor is it Qihin Clan. He hates Wilds, yes, but not just those in the Diamond Coast. He would see them purged from all the realms. He will raise a tide of blood to bring him victory and cares not if it drowns my city and my clan. But we are simply one small pond in a vast sea of his dark ambitions.”
“Do you know that Labu has taken Horix’s side?”
“It saddens me that my own son would choose guild over clan, but once they come of age, young men must make their own decisions.”
The rain had passed, and the sea slowly stilled. A hand burst from the water in front of us, then another, and a head. The king’s guards climbed up the side of the dock and knelt in front of him. One laid a core on the ground.
“Your Majesty,” he said.
“Here, my boy.” Beqai gestured for me to pick up the core. “It’s all yours.”
I picked it up, pressed it against my chest, and felt power rush through me as I absorbed the core. The exhaustion abated a little as my flesh tingled with magical energy.
“With the core you already took, this will grant you the Crashing Wave technique,” Beqai said. “On the surface, you will be able to summon tidal waves across bodies of water. Under the water, it can be used to batter enemies or throw them around with great pushes of water force.”
