How was I supposed to defeat something like this?
As I broke the surface, talons tugged the back of my shirt before I was suddenly airborne.What the…My head snapped up to find Barnabus, shifted and in a larger form like his bat brethren back home, swinging me upward.
“Thanks!” I called out.
Don’t thank me yet, young one! You still need to kill the ugly bastard.
He was right, and I would have laughed at his description if the task ahead of me wasn’t so damn daunting. We soared through the air, and the Kraken tracked us as Barnabus brought us out further from the ships in a move that would no doubt save a few of them from being capsized. The air ripped against my skin as I flexed my fingers, knowing I would need them to be warm enough to use.
“Drop me on top of its head!”
Barnabus suddenly dived and did exactly that, dropping me within two feet of the bulbous top. Almost instantly, I began sliding toward its face, and for a horrifying moment, I was afraid I was going to slide over the scaly surface and right back into the sea.
Shit.
I took one of my daggers and turned, lodging it into the scaly skin to keep me planted in place. I dangled, almost vertically, as the creature began to shift violently. My stomach swooped as I fought to hang on. Tentacles reached toward me, and I jerked the dagger back, sliding a little further down before slamming into it once more. The creature didn’t even twitch, likely not even able to feel the dagger digging into its flesh. I was stable, but I likely wasn’t doing any damage.
I knelt on top of the creature as it screeched, immediately turning my focus to what I needed to do—knowing that it would be able to reach me even at this placement. I used one dagger to keep my hold while taking the other out. Leaning forward, to the point that I felt like I was going to fall into the icy depths below me, I located the pulsating, glowing organ between its eyes.
With a cry, I surged forward and embedded my dagger into it as hard as I could.
The screeching sound it let out was like nothing I’d ever heard, and the monster began to twist and turn, trying to shake me loose. I held tight with all my strength and pushed the dagger even further in, blood gushing out and spraying over me and into the water. I hissed as I pushedevenfurther in, my forearm following my weapon as the sensation and sound nearly made me sick to my stomach. Between the squelching sound of tearing through their insides and the heat surrounding my arm, I knew I would never forget this.
I couldn’t deny that some part of me hated even having to do this to the creature. I didn’t relish in killing any being, be it human, vampyre, or animal. The feeling unfortunately paled in comparison to my need to ensure this threat was eliminated, though. I couldn’t allow it to take down my fleet.
It’s bellow of agony cut through to my heart, making me falter ever so slightly.
End this now, Kyella. Try to make it as quick as you can for this creature.
Pulling my stabilization piece out, I immediately lodged the weapon right back into the creature, its positioning closer to my frame this time so I could lean further down and off the kraken—pushing my embedded dagger so deep that I was in up to my shoulder.
I cried out in surprise as a tentacle swiped at me, trying to throw me off, but I managed to duck in time.
When the creature began to slam its head forward and back, I decided it was time for me to get the hell out of here and hope I’d done enough. The movements were thrashing and instantly I was looking around for a way to get off it—
Empress! Jump, I will catch you—do it now, or you’ll be taken down with the force of its body.
Snapping my head up, I pulled my dagger out of the hopefully lethal wound and tried to right myself while continuing to use the other to hold me in place. Using my feet to try to push off the creature and toward Barnabus, I dislodged the final dagger from it. I didn’t even have a chance to jump, though, because right at that moment, its thrashing movement catapulted me through the air. My entire body tensed, preparing to hit the icy water once more.
I exhaled in relief as Barnabus caught me by the back of the shirt by his talons, my head spinning as I drew in a ragged breath. I watched as the creature's tentacles reached skyward toward us before it released a final bellow and sank below the surface—the limbs falling lifelessly before being dragged under the surface of the sea.
I’d killed it.
Sagging in Barnabus’ taloned grip, I let him fly me toward the ship, closing my eyes as I inhaled and then let out a controlled exhale. I’d done it…I’d fucking done it.
I’d saved our fleet.
That was when I heard it—cheers of victory, a roar of them that echoed over the seas. My head snapped up.
For you, young one.
As we neared the ship, Barnabus flew toward the main deck, and I could see my three men watching me in shock. When he gently set me down, everything exploded into noise.
The entire crowd of men on deck joined in a loud cheer that echoed from the other ships. They stomped their boots and called out my name, and I thrusted my fist into the air as a sign of victory, unable to help the smile from splitting over my face. I may have been soaking wet, covered in blood, and exhausted but…I’d ensured the nightmarish monster couldn’t hurt anyone else. I didn’t know how much damage the creature had caused but I needed to find out—my priority would always be keeping my people safe.
Dakath appeared in front of me, his eyes wide as he cupped my jaw. “Kyella, that was…”
“Insane,” Kolvar joined him, running a hand through his hair, looking a bit off-kilter. “That was amazing, but I am going to have nightmares about you facing off with that creature alone for the rest of my life.”
