Eryk had already braced himself at the portside harpoon mount, knuckles white as he fought to keep his footing.
“Line ready!” he shouted over the roar of the sea, hauling the barbed shaft into place as the deck bucked beneath him.
When the Leviathan’s shadow passed overhead, he didn’t hesitate—he loosed the harpoon straight into its flank, the linescreaming as it ripped free and tore the mount half out of the deck.
Crewmen rallied where they could—harpoons thrown more in desperation than strategy, blades flashing as smaller tendrils lashed close. One man went over the side with a scream cut short by the waves. Another was hauled back by his belt just as a coil snapped shut where his head had been.
Marisol locked eyes with me across the deck and nodded once before throwing herself into the fray again. She kicked a fallen blade toward a stunned deckhand, shouting, “Steel up or get off the ship!”
“Alaric!” Nerina’s voice cut through the chaos.
A shockwave pulsed from her position—magic, raw and untamed. It struck the Leviathan squarely, forcing it back a few feet. Just enough. The deck lurched as the pressure shifted. I saw her lift her hands again, eyes blazing—trying to summon another strike.
Nothing came.
Panic flashed across her face.
Whatever force she’d unleashed—she couldn’t call it again. Then the Leviathan turned its attention toward her.
To her.
I felt it in my gut before I saw the creature shift its focus. The tension in the air snapped taut.
It had sensed her. My blood turned to ice.
The beast surged forward, jaws gaping, tentacles snapping like whips. I ran, boots skidding on slick planks as I closed the distance. I drove my blade into one of its smaller limbs, the impact shuddering up my arms.
It shrieked—a sound that rattled bone and teeth alike. “Nerina, move!”
I didn’t wait.
Gripping my blade, I leapt across the deck toward the Leviathan’s flank—a massive coil of ridged flesh slick with seawater and blood. My boots slid, caught, slid again—but I found purchase and slammed the blade into a seam where the molten light beneath its scales pulsed brightest.
The Leviathan shrieked.
It reared back, and I held, carving a long line across its spine as the deck tilted violently beneath me. My arms burned, muscles screaming as I twisted the blade, severing something vital.
Hot ichor drenched me, hissing where it struck my skin. I grit my teeth against the sting.
The beast whipped its head toward me now—enraged.
Good.
Another roar split the mist as the Leviathan surged higher, its full length breaching the surface like a tidal wave given form. Its tail lashed the sea hard enough to capsize a smaller vessel. The Marrow rocked violently to starboard, mast creaking, rigging snapping loose as men clung to whatever they could grab.
“Nerina—below deck!” I barked.
I ducked as a massive tendril swept low, obliterating the railing where I’d stood seconds earlier. Wood exploded into splinters.
Then I saw it.
A fissure near the base of its spine—raw, exposed, the molten glow pulsing too close to the surface.
A weakness. I ran.
Launched off a shattered crate, drove the blade down with everything I had. The sword sank deep into the fissure, and I twisted hard.
The creature howled, its body convulsing violently. The recoil launched me backward, slamming me into the deck hard enough to drive the air from my lungs.
