Chapter 28

28

The wit of man, wasted on scheming.

~ Winter Moon Priest Dazibaru

As the deck rocked, whales thumping against the hull from all sides, a blunderbuss fired. Someone targeting the beast?

With the fog so dense, Kaylina doubted anyone could see him, but the pirates might get off a lucky shot.

"Vlerion?" Isla whispered, angst and fear in her voice.

"He'll be all right." Hoping she wasn't lying, Kaylina gripped Isla's hand. "This way."

"There!" someone shouted as they veered across the deck toward the railing farthest from the action.

Kaylina froze, afraid someone had spotted them.

But something landed on the far railing, claws scraping into wood. No, not someone. The beast.

In the fog, she could just make out his powerfully muscled form under his sleek fur. From the railing, he sprang toward a man on the deck. Toward the assassin.

Crouched with a sword and dagger in his hands, Venegarth waited, ready to meet his furred opponent.

"Look out!" someone barked.

A blunderbuss boomed again, thunderous in Kaylina's ears. The beast blurred as he leaped aside, swift enough to avoid the shot. Rounds slammed into the railing, chipping off chunks of wood.

Isla had been following Kaylina without hesitation, but she halted now, turning into an anchor.

"Vlerion," she whispered, her face contorting with distress.

"He'll be all right." Kaylina tugged, willing her to follow, but Lady Isla wasn't as obedient to druid power as a plant. "I've seen him fight. He can handle this."

She hoped that was true, but movement above caught her eye. Two of the crew ran across the yardarms, cutting something. Not a sail. A net?

"Watch out, Vlerion," Kaylina blurted as it fluttered toward the deck.

The beast either sensed the trap or heard her warning. He sprang back to the railing as the net landed between him and the assassin. He glanced up, snarled at the men who'd dropped it, then bounded over it and toward his waiting foe.

"This way." This time, Kaylina succeeded in leading Isla away, though she didn't take her gaze from the fight as the beast and assassin engaged, claws and blades clashing.

Only when they reached the railing, the harbor water lapping against the hull and a fin gliding past, did Kaylina realize she'd made a mistake. She couldn't hoist Isla over and ask her to swim to shore when there were sharks down there. Usually, nothing more inimical than starfish and sea urchins came into the shallow waters of the harbor, but now… She'd caused this.

Kaylina might swim past the sharks unscathed, but she wasn't positive of that. Especially not when she saw a second fin. The sharks were circling in the water. Waiting for prey to fall overboard?

Since the fur shark she'd encountered in the lake in the catacombs had left ugly scars on her leg, she didn't have faith that these creatures would leave her alone.

"I can swim." Maybe Isla thought she was hesitating because of that concern.

"Yeah, but so can they." Kaylina pointed at a fin, then scooted along the railing.

Maybe they could reach the side of the ship near the dock—assuming it was still near the dock. With the fog, she couldn't tell.

Growls, snarls, and scrapes and clanks came from the deck, the beast fighting with Venegarth. A lesser human would have already fallen to his superior speed and strength, but the sage assassin had advantages. Not only greater than normal strength and agility but tricks. He hurled one of his small explosives at the beast's pawed feet.

An irritated roar came from the smoke that billowed away, mingling with the fog. Someone screamed in pain. Not the assassin but one of the pirates. They were ganging up on the beast, trying to help Venegarth, and one had gotten too close.

Kaylina hardened her heart to the scream. These people were getting what they deserved for helping kidnap women.

She and Isla continued along the railing, making their way around the bow of the ship. When they reached the other side, a pirate with a blunderbuss came into view.

He stood with his back to the railing, his focus on the fight, and he didn't see them. With his firearm aimed toward the skirmish, he waited for an opportunity to shoot the beast.

Fury propelled Kaylina to release Isla and sprint at the man. She had her sling and knife but raised neither, wanting to bowl him over the side.

At the last second, the pirate noticed her and turned, swinging the blunderbuss toward her. She reached him first, ramming her shoulder into his torso. The firearm flew out of his hands, hit the deck, and went off, booming into the night.

The pirate grabbed at Kaylina, but she'd knocked him off balance. She tried to shove him over the railing, but he weighed more than she, and even her fury couldn't lend her the strength needed.

He recovered, curling his fingers into a fist. Before he could punch, Isla stepped up beside Kaylina with the discarded blunderbuss. Kaylina was about to say that it would need to be reloaded, but Isla swung it like a club.

The pirate, paying more attention to Kaylina, didn't get an arm up to block in time. The firearm cracked against his temple. Isla struck him again and again, her fear for her son no doubt lending her strength—making the attack more frenzied and savage than one would expect from a fifty-year-old woman.

When the man staggered back, nose bleeding and eyes glassy from the blows, Kaylina and Isla swarmed him. Together, they shoved him over the railing.

He almost landed on one of the whales near the hull below. Several sharks angled toward him.

Drawing back, Kaylina pointed farther down the railing and closer to the dock. "We'll go that way."

Pale-faced, Isla nodded. "I should think so."

Grunts and a cry of pain came from the netting, then the clatter of a sword hitting the deck. The beast slashed toward the assassin's chest. Claws tore into flesh and muscle as the man rolled away, and blood spattered. As Venegarth angled toward his sword, someone threw another explosive to help him escape. Another assassin ran in as well, shouting for his boss to look out as he swung at the beast.

Isla faltered, staring at the battle as fresh smoke billowed.

Kaylina pushed her along, knowing Vlerion would want his mother to reach safety. "There, the gangplank is still down. Get to land."

On the far side of the ship, another pirate aimed a blunderbuss, targeting the beast through the smoke. As Isla continued forward, Kaylina stopped to loose a round with her sling.

She wasn't fast enough to keep the man from firing, but her round struck him in the jaw. He reeled back, dropping his weapon. At least that would delay him from shooting again.

When she turned to check if he'd hit the beast, someone charged out of the smoke at her. She swore, reaching for her knife, but a pirate barreled into her like a taybarri about to flash.

She tumbled backward, striking the rail painfully, then tumbled over it, unable to get a grip to save herself. As she fell, she glimpsed Isla running along the gangplank. Hopefully, she would make it to safety.

Kaylina splashed down into the icy water without landing on any marine life, but that didn't mean she was out of danger. She gasped for air as the cold shocked her system while willing her power to keep the sharks away.

Something glided past, brushing her side. She spotted a triangular gray fin and almost screamed, inundated with memories of the fur shark in the lake chomping into her leg. This time, nothing bit her, though fins were all around, far more ominous from in the water than from above it.

Kicking hard, Kaylina paddled toward shore, or where she believed it to be. The fog made it hard to see far, and within a few strokes, even the hull of the pirate ship grew indistinct.

Another explosion came from the deck. She hoped the beast would survive, that he could handle all the assassins and pirates—and traps—without help.

A piling loomed ahead of her and to the right. Kaylina angled toward it, a gentle wave rolling her in that direction. She caught the barnacle-covered piling, but the dock was too far above for her to reach. She swam under it until she found a rowboat. It was low enough that she could grasp the edge and pull herself into it. From there, she climbed up to the dock.

When she got her feet under her, the fight was still going on the deck of the ship. The fog made the view fuzzy but didn't hide it completely, didn't hide the dead men, eviscerated or beheaded by the beast's powerful claws. Nor did it hide that others were diving overboard, risking the sharks and whales rather than continuing to fight against a more deadly foe.

Kaylina hoped Isla had made it to the waterfront—and that she hadn't noticed all the blood, all the bodies. Even though Kaylina had no delusions about the curse and what Vlerion became, the carnage was something from a nightmare. It would be hard for any mother to know her son had been responsible. Even if these men deserved it.

No, Spymaster Sabor deserved it. He'd orchestrated this.

Sling in hand, Kaylina started to turn, wondering if he'd avoided the beast running out toward the ship and was nearby watching this. But something hard pressed into her back even as she glimpsed a shadowy figure out of the corner of her eye. Sabor.

"Is that—" she started.

"A loaded pistol?" Sabor pressed the muzzle more firmly into her back as he stood close and gripped her elbow. He spoke over her shoulder as he watched the battle on the ship. "It is. I've a dagger and a sword as well. And troops nearby. As you might guess, it would have been foolish for me to come unprepared."

"Why did you come? And why did you hire assassins to kill Vlerion?"

As one of the pirates took aim at the beast, Kaylina tightened her grip on her sling, wanting to loose a round at the man. She should have stayed on the ship. Sabor never would have come for her there. He'd been skulking on the docks, avoiding the beast and watching from afar.

Somehow, the beast anticipated the firing of the blunderbuss aimed at him and leaped away before the pellets would have struck. He twisted in the air and came down behind his main opponent. Venegarth whirled, sword ready to deflect a claw slashing toward his head.

"To kill him?" Sabor responded calmly, as if they were in a quiet park instead of witnessing a deadly battle. "I deemed that unlikely, but I wanted to know for certain that this was all worth it."

"Then Isla is right. You are testing him."

Sabor turned his head slightly, whispering in her ear. "Not only him."

"Me?" Kaylina longed to ram her free elbow into his abdomen, the creep, but if he fired, that weapon could kill her instantly. And his grip on her was like steel. "You didn't even know I would be here."

"I knew the assassins wanted to use you as bait. Rightfully so. They're not dumb. They figured out what draws the beast."

Kaylina didn't know what to say to that.

Sabor fell silent, watching—or maybe mesmerized by?—the battle. She tried to reach out to the aquatic plants again. Maybe the whales could swim close enough to bump the pilings. The dock wouldn't rock like the ship had, but if a tremor startled Sabor, she could dive back into the water to escape him.

"He's magnificent," Sabor whispered. "Even more incredible than I believed from my research."

"You had to hire assassins to figure that out? You're an ass."

Sabor laughed shortly. "I wanted to make sure. The project I have in mind is long-term and quite the commitment, so it had to be worth it."

"What project?"

"Preparing a suitable location for him and his mate and ensuring his line will continue." Sabor looked at her, his eyes glinting with his schemes.

"What do you mean suitable location?" she asked, though she was getting the gist and doubted he meant the room in the castle tower he'd promised.

"Something far enough from trees—and apparently aquatic life—that you won't be able to escape from me—or him. Drawn by your druid blood, he'll come to you over and over, mate with you over and over, and you'll have cursed baby after cursed baby. We'll raise them to be weapons, to serve the kingdom."

Horrified, Kaylina stared at him. "You mean to serve you."

Sabor smiled tightly. "With such an army at my disposal, the kingdom will be mine."

"You're mad. You can't keep him locked up. He's too strong. And I'm?—"

"As fascinating as he is." Sabor looked at her again. "I didn't think I was the type to be roused by a pretty girl, but even I can feel your allure, your draw."

His hand shifted from her elbow to her waist, groping presumptuously, and fury surged into Kaylina. Only that pistol against her back kept her from attacking, but she shook with raw anger as the spymaster pressed against her.

Something bumped one of the pilings, and a shudder went through the dock. Unfortunately, it didn't startle Sabor the way she'd hoped. He looked calmly down as a shark swam beneath them.

"Fascinating," he repeated, meaning her, not the shark. "I almost envy the beast his task of taking you, of planting his seed, but you are meant for him. Your cursed babies will be powerful. With them serving me, the world will bow to the power of Zaldor. We'll finally get rid of the Kar'ruk parasites and all those desert dwellers who refuse to come under our rule. None will dare stand against us."

A splash sounded as someone fell or dove into the harbor, and a final scream came from the deck of the ship. The beast gripped the eviscerated body of Venegarth, holding it overhead with both hands—paws. He appeared ready to hurl it after whoever had gone overboard, but he spotted Sabor and Kaylina on the dock.

With the body still above him, the beast jumped onto the railing of the ship. He must have been able to tell that Kaylina was a prisoner because he roared with fury. His blue eyes were savage—almost insane. He hurled the body onto the dock, blood spattering when it landed, then launched himself off the railing toward them.

Sabor shifted the pistol from her back toward the beast. Kaylina stomped on his instep and rammed her elbow into his abdomen. She had the satisfaction of striking him hard enough to make him stumble back. The pistol went off with a fiery flash, but she'd knocked his aim high, and the beast landed on the dock, not wounded, at least not from the firearm. He dripped blood from his other battles, but that didn't make him pause.

A splash sounded behind her. Sabor falling, or more likely diving , into the water.

"Vlerion," Kaylina blurted as he sprang not after the spymaster but toward her.

She backed up, fresh fear flowing through her veins. Did he not recognize her as a friend? As his mate ?

"Vlerion," she repeated as he came closer, meeting those savage eyes and willing him to hear her. She reached for the power to soothe, but did she want to calm the beast now? When Sabor was getting away? "You have to go after him."

The beast engulfed her in his powerful arms, almost knocking her back.

" Mine ," he snarled in his animalistic voice, and she realized those savage eyes did recognize her. And, after his great battle, he wanted her. "My mate."

"Yes, but you can't stop this time." Kaylina planted her hands against his chest, the muscles hard and taut under that sleek fur. "If you don't take out Sabor, he'll send more assassins after you." No, that wasn't the spymaster's plan, but with paws all over her, she couldn't find the words to voice detailed explanations. He shifted her against a piling, hunger in his eyes, in his touch. The beast wanted her, and he wanted her right there.

The dock shuddered as another shark bumped the piling. Or maybe something larger struck it.

The beast paused, snarling as he glanced toward the water, holding her possessively.

"I command those," Kaylina told him, trying another tactic. "I can take care of myself. And I need you to chase down Sabor." She glanced toward the water but couldn't see if the spymaster was swimming for the shore. He had to be. She couldn't have hurt him badly with her elbow strike. And he'd dived in, not fallen. "He'll continue to be an enemy to us both if you don't get him. Vlerion, do you understand me?"

Her hand tingled with searing warmth, and it glowed green, the light so strong that it bathed the furred and snouted face of the beast. It highlighted his eyes as he looked down at it and then at her. For the first time, a hint of hesitation mingled with the savagery in his gaze.

"Get him, Vlerion," she whispered. "Get Sabor, and then we can be together."

When you're a man, she thought but kept to herself.

The beast snarled, showing his fangs. This close, they were terrifying, but she made herself hold his gaze, summoning whatever power her blood gave her, and repeated her words. "Get Sabor."

The beast leaned in, inhaling her scent deeply, and she thought she'd failed, that he intended to take her whether she agreed or not, but his lips brushed her cheek, almost a gentle caress, and he sprang away.

With his great muscles rippling under his fur, he ran past lampposts and down the dock, then leaped into the water. For a moment, splashes sounded as he headed in the same direction Sabor had likely gone. And then silence fell.