Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) (20 page)

“You have heard of Scylla and Charybdis, I hope,” said Solim, his voice strangely flat. “Meet Scylla!”

A scream sounded from behind the group, and they spun around to find a creature out of their nightmares rising from the water. Scylla was enormous, with six dragon-like heads on long, serpentine necks. Each of its heads was 10 feet long and could open up wide enough to swallow a gnome sideways. Their mouths had three rows of shark-like teeth, top and bottom, for seizing their prey and cutting it to ribbons. The heads were almost hypnotic as they rose swaying from the water on their 60-feet-long necks. The body remained mostly under the surface, but its underwater shadow was far larger than even the orc ship. A shadow passed in front of the sun as the monster’s tail came up from the water on the other side of the ship. It rose 50 feet into the air and then fell across the ship, crushing two of the crewmen who had the misfortune of being underneath it.

As everyone turned to see the tail sliding across the deck of the ship, the closest of the heads struck forward to seize one of the crewmen, and it pitched the unlucky sailor headfirst down its gullet in a single bite. The other five heads screamed as they approached the ship, making coordination among the crew impossible. “
Empathia Feri!
” called Fitzber, casting Wild Empathy on the head that was looking at him, preparing to strike.

“I don’t think so,” said the head in Solim’s voice. Fitzber dove out of the way as the head snapped forward, biting down on the empty air where Fitzber had been a split-second before. Fitzber came out of his roll already nocking an arrow to his bow string. In one smooth motion he drew and fired. His jaw fell open as the arrow ricocheted harmlessly from the scales on the monster’s head.

Within seconds, heads were everywhere, striking at people along the length of the deck, as Scylla’s tail continued to wrap itself around the
Dancer
. The starboard railing couldn’t take the weight of the monster’s tail and snapped with a loud crack.

“’Ware the tail!” yelled Captain Meyer. “If we don’t get it off, it will crush the ship!” The sailors dropped the weapons they had been using to fend off the heads and grabbed knives and axes and went to work on the tail. The scales on the beast’s tail were nearly as strong as steel, though, and the sailors’ weapons had very little effect on them. The monster’s heads flashed down, and two more sailors were carried screaming from the deck. One of the heads tossed its sailor down its throat in a single bite; the other one paused, holding the screaming human, and another of the beast’s heads reached in and bit the sailor in half at the waist. Freed of the extra weight, the first head tossed the other half of the sailor up in the air and swallowed it with no problem.

The companions were not having any better luck fighting the monster than the sailors. “
Globus Incendi!
” shouted Dantes, as he hurled a fireball into the open mouth of the head that was attacking him. The mouth snapped shut as the fireball burst, but then opened up again to scream in pain. Dantes could see that the fireball had charred portions of the monster’s tongue, but it was otherwise unharmed.

The head attacking Dantes decided that it didn’t like having hot things thrown into its mouth and went in search of easier prey. It turned and saw Second Mate Rowntree, who was fending off another head with a boathook. Similar to a pike, the boathook was an eight-foot long pole that was used for docking and undocking. Although similar to a pike, it was far less effective as a weapon as its tip was blunt (for pushing away from the dock), and he wasn’t able to penetrate the monster’s scales. He was jabbing ineffectively at another of the monster’s heads when the second head took him from behind, biting him in half as it lifted him off the deck. His legs and torso created a red stain as they fell into the water below.

“
Flagra!
” cried Father Telenor, unleashing a flame strike on another of the creature’s heads. The divine flames were more effective against the monster’s slime coating than Dantes’ fireball had been, and the flames burned out the eyes of that head, blinding it. The monster slammed its head down on the deck, breaking several of the planks.

“Not on my ship!” said Captain Meyer, charging up to it with his cutlass drawn. He stabbed the creature in the eye, causing it new waves of pain. It reared back and then slammed its head back to the deck, hoping to squash the human that had stabbed it. It missed and slammed its head down on the remains of the main mast. Several large splinters of wood protruded from the end of the mast; these knifed through the monster’s throat, up through its mouth and into its brain. The head died, and the ship rocked precariously as its weight pulled the ship down to port.

The sea monster began squeezing the ship, and the hull groaned as it endured forces it wasn’t meant to withstand. Hearing a little scream, Ghorza turned to see Gary Mathison and his girls come out onto the deck from below. Boards were already being sprung by Scylla’s squeezing, and the family had come up to avoid the water rushing into the hold. The smaller of the two girls, Ghorza couldn’t remember if that was Samantha or Shelby, screamed again at the sight of the giant six-headed monster that was fighting the crew across the length of the ship. One of the heads looked over and, in a flash it struck, picking up the girls’ father. It bit him in half and swallowed both pieces.

As the head turned back to look at the girls, it found itself cut off from them by Ghorza and Lady Ellyn, who positioned themselves in front of them. “
Celeritas!
” said Ghorza, casting Haste on the paladin before scooping up the two little girls to pull them out of the way.

The Scylla head hadn’t fought any of the little shiny ones before, and it circled Lady Ellyn warily, just outside of her sword range. The head moved back and forth, up and down, looking for an easy way to get to its prey without having to go through the pointy thing that the prey was holding in front of it. It paused, turning sideways to Lady Ellyn to inspect her more closely. This gave the paladin the opportunity she had been waiting for. Switching weapons, she used all of her Hasted reflexes to throw her dagger, and it buried itself in the monster’s eye. The head reared back in pain and screamed.

While it was distracted, Lady Ellyn turned part way around toward Ghorza. “Give me your sword,” she said. Without hesitation, Ghorza pulled out her scimitar and tossed it to Lady Ellyn. The paladin turned to meet the monster, armed with a sword in each hand. Enraged, the monster struck down at Lady Ellyn, intending to eat her whole. As the mouth came down toward her, she jumped back out of its grasp with her Hasted reflexes, and the head snapped shut within inches of her chest. Lady Ellyn stabbed Ghorza’s sword into one of the beast’s nostrils and used it to climb up onto the monster’s head. Before it could react, she drove her sword into one of its ear holes and into its brain, killing it. The monster spasmed, its head rearing back and up, and Lady Ellyn was thrown 100 feet into the air. She splashed down into the water several hundred feet behind the monster.

Another head took its place in front of Ghorza. She tried to draw her sword, but realized that she had given it to Lady Ellyn. As the head drew back to strike, she realized that she didn’t have any spells that would work on the monster, either. She pulled out her dagger, but it seemed woefully inadequate to the task. Reaching behind her, she found one of the girls. “Move,” she said over her shoulder, while keeping her eyes on the monster. The monster’s head circled, looking for the best angle to get at Ghorza. It decided on one.

It attacked.

Onboard the orc ship, all of the orcs had moved to the railing to watch the fight, with the exception of the two holding onto John, who had not relaxed their grip or moved at all. The way they held onto John, his arms dangled alongside their weapons, his right hand next to the sword of one of the orcs and his left hand next to the other’s dagger. He smiled. His time below decks hiding from the orc ship hadn’t been wasted.

He twisted his arms slightly so that he could get a finger on both of the weapons. “
Calefacite!
” he said under his breath. For a few seconds nothing happened, and he wondered if he had pronounced the spell correctly. Then he saw the handle of the sword start to change color and John knew that he was okay. Within a couple of seconds, both weapons started to hiss as the heat of the metal began to eat into their scabbards. Although the orcs at the ship’s railing couldn’t hear the hissing, the two holding him could, and they looked down to see their weapons glowing. The one on John’s right tried to grab his sword, but immediately dropped it after touching the white-hot metal. Realizing they couldn’t touch the weapons, both of the orcs let go of John so that they could take off their sword belts.

That was all John needed, and he sprinted toward the rail of the ship. The orc with the hot sword was too busy trying to get rid of it before it could fall on the deck and set the ship on fire, but the other enemy saw where John was heading. “Look out!” it yelled, loud enough to be heard over Scylla’s screams. The orcs along the railing began to turn away from the rail to see what was happening.

“
Spira!
” John shouted as he crashed headfirst into the chest of the shaman. Smaller than the rest of the orcs, the shaman wasn’t much bigger than John and was much older and wizened. As they went over the railing, John had a hard time holding onto the orc. The creature wasn’t much more than skin hanging loosely over bones, and he was hard to grab. They hit the water with a splash, and John drew a breath as the cold water rushed over him. The shaman was less prepared, and he got water up his nose and began coughing.

The two wrestled, and the shaman showed that, while old, he still had a wiry strength about him. He was, in fact, stronger than John, and kept fending him off as he tried to clear his lungs. As the shaman’s coughing passed, John knew he had to do something, or he was going to die in some nasty way. Although the shaman pushed him away, John succeeded in wrapping his legs around the shaman’s waist and drew him in.

The shaman opened his mouth to cast a spell, but John put both of his arms over the shaman’s head, and pushed him under the water. The shaman began struggling as John held him under. John was fine, as he had cast a Water Breathing spell as he went over the rail, and he had no problems breathing. What he hadn’t counted on was how strong the shaman was, nor how hard he punched, even under water. Although John was able to breathe under water, he quickly lost the ability to do so as the shaman threw punch after punch into his chest and stomach, without seeming to wear out. Finally, aiming lower, he punched John in the groin.

John’s legs opened of their own accord as he doubled up, fighting several waves of nausea which threatened to incapacitate him. Almost out of air, the shaman pushed his way free and began struggling toward the surface. Seeing that the shaman was going to get away, John cast the only spell that came to mind. “
Fluxum Geli!
” he said, casting the Ice Ray spell.

Emanating from his hand in a stream, the water froze in a cone toward the shaman and encased his head. The shaman stopped trying to make it to the surface and began clawing at the block of ice that covered his head. Already out of air, the shaman’s struggles soon slowed, and finally ceased. The shaman was dead.

It suddenly dawned on John that he had just killed someone, and the realization threatened to overwhelm him. He hadn’t meant to kill the orc, he thought...well, that wasn’t entirely true; he had intended to drown him, which would have killed the shaman just as dead...but John hadn’t really thought about the fact that he was going to kill the shaman. John knew that they couldn’t get away while the shaman lived, and he was the only person close enough to do something about it, so he had acted. Mostly without thinking, he had done what needed doing. And he had killed the shaman...who was evil and would have happily killed John and everyone else aboard the
Dancer
without a qualm. John didn’t have a choice; it was either kill him or have everyone he knew in this world be killed.

A spear flashed by him, bringing him to his senses. Launched by one of the ballistae, the crew had obviously seen that the shaman was dead and were now able to shoot at John. He turned and dove deeper, so that the orcs wouldn’t be able to see him. He saw a couple more spears flash by, but they both missed.

He had accomplished his first goal of avoiding pursuit, but like his first night on the planet, he had evaded the pursuit only to get lost in the process; he wasn’t sure how to get to the
Dancer
. He could tell which way was up, because he tended to float in that direction, but that was it. After a moment’s consideration, he decided it was better to go a little way in the wrong direction than to surface and get speared, so he swam off in the direction he thought was right. He knew he needed to hurry; his teeth were beginning to chatter in the cold water.

The monster’s head dove at Ghorza, only to draw up short as Tanja Cilia stepped in front of Ghorza with a boat hook. “I’ve got this,” she called. “You take care of the girls.”

Having grown up on an island, Cilia had been on the water since she was a little girl and was very familiar with the use of a boathook as a weapon. She began spinning it hand over hand like an airplane propeller, and it spun faster and faster until it was nothing more than a blur. The monster decided that the staff had evaporated and struck out at the first mate.

The staff hadn’t disintegrated, though, and Cilia used the staff’s spinning momentum to swing it up and slam it down on the monster’s nose as it dove in for her. Although she didn’t break through the monster’s scales, she did deliver a stinging blow to the end of the monster’s nose, and it jerked back in pain and surprise. It came back a second time, its mouth open to swallow the half-orc. Unable to dent it from the outside, she waited until it was about to engulf her and then jammed the boathook into the roof of the monster’s mouth. Although not pointy enough to break through Scylla’s scales, it was sharp enough to penetrate the roof of the creature’s mouth, and about a foot of it wedged in its nasal cavity.

The boathook was designed with a downward pointing hook for holding onto things, and the monster was unable to shake the boathook out. Deciding it needed to bite it in half, the creature bit down on the boathook as hard as it could, but only succeeded in driving the boathook further into the roof of its mouth and then into its brain. It fell lifeless to the deck.

“Ha,” the first mate said, walking up to spit into the monster’s flat black eye. She didn’t see another head rear up behind her. The head swooped in and snapped her up in a single bite. Before Ghorza could do anything, Cilia was gone.

“Why don’t you try that on me?” yelled Captain Meyer. He was the only one of the
Dancer’s
officers left; he knew it was up to him to kill the beast and save the passengers. He had tried cutting Scylla’s tail, but his axe had only drawn sparks when he chopped down on it. The only way to stop the beast was to kill the heads. Snatching up a boathook, he brandished it at the monster, which turned and dove at him.

Meyer had seen the success his first mate had with stabbing the monster in its mouth, and figured that was his best chance to kill it. He dodged to his right as the head came down at him, just like he had planned; what he hadn’t planned was to step in the puddle of blood and entrails left on the deck by one of the monster’s earlier kills. He slipped and went down. The head shifted its strike and grabbed the captain by his legs. Lifting him up, the monster bit off his legs and his torso fell to the ocean, 50 feet below. The last thing he saw was the boathook as it fell from his numb fingers.

The sea monster now had two coils wrapped around the ship, and Dantes could feel the effect its squeezing was having on the ship. The hull of the ship vibrated with the pressure. With a loud crack, the port railing broke, and the deck groaned ominously. Dantes knew that he needed to do something before the entire ship came apart. While there were only three Scylla heads left in the fight, there were fewer and fewer people fighting them as the monster ate the crewmen or tossed them into the cold water. The closest head was fighting Fitzber, who was dodging in and out of the rigging to avoid the creature’s bite. When the creature would withdraw, he would pop out to fire arrows at it. His tactics had proven somewhat successful; he hadn’t been eaten yet, and the monster had lost one of its eyes to an arrow. After Fitzber had shot out the creature’s eye, the fight had become a stalemate. Fitzber wouldn’t give it much of an opportunity to catch him, but neither would the monster look at Fitzber with its good eye long enough for him to put an arrow into it.

 “
Molaris!
” said Dantes, casting his Force Missile spell at the head. Both missiles impacted on the creature’s nose, tearing bloody chucks out of it when they exploded. The head screamed and turned toward Dantes.

“You!” the head screamed in Solim’s voice. Without waiting for an answer, it dove on Dantes and caught him in its bite. Smaller than most humans, the monster had no problem with him. Tossing its head back, it swallowed him whole.