The Hollow: At The Edge (3 page)

“Do you sleep with that
thing as well?” asked a scornful voice behind him.

Serrel turned to find
Caellix had again sneaked up on him in that way of hers. She was
worse than Dogbreath. If you were downwind, you could at least
smell him coming. He was relatively harmless in his way, as well.
Whereas Caellix at that moment was holding a well made and most
likely very frequently used spear at her side.

Caellix glanced at his
staff, which was propped against the rail of the ship while he
worked. Serrel took it everywhere with him. That was one of the
first lessons Holland had drilled into the members of Pond Scum.
Your staff never left your sight.

“I always keep it with
me, Sergeant,” Serrel said carefully. “It isn’t much different from
carrying a knife... or a few axes.”

Caellix looked down at
the sharp hatchet tucked into her belt. She nodded.

“I suppose so,” she
conceded. “If it were a real weapon. What good is a big stick in a
real fight?”

“If he was fighting
Dogbreath,” put in Brant, who was watching a safe distance away
with some other Hounds, “he could distract him by throwing it and
yelling
fetch
.”

“If only all our
opponents would be so amendable,” replied Caellix.

Serrel careful placed
the rope on deck and picked up his staff. “I have to admit, I
haven’t been in many real fights-”

“Really?” said Caellix.
“I
am
shocked.”

“But I imagine five
feet of solid wood is better than nothing,” Serrel finished.

“Only if you know how
to use it, Fresh Meat. And only if you have trouble figuring out
which end you were meant to hold a sword by.” There were a few
laughs. Caellix didn’t join them. She wasn’t being spiteful for the
joy of it.

“I know how to use my
staff, Sergeant,” Serrel said irritably.

“Good,” said Caellix.
Without warning she lowered her spear and stabbed the point
straight at him.

Serrel didn’t always
think the worse of people, but part of him saw that coming. The
word of power
Balvihs
had been floating in his mind, and now
with little effort, Serrel weaved the ether into a shield directly
in front of himself.

The spear tip hit the
invisible barrier, and stopped dead. Caellix stared at him, and
pushed the spear harder. It moved a fraction, then stopped again.
After a moment, the air around it began to glow with a dim green
light.

“And how long do you
think you can keep that up?” Caellix asked him.

“Long enough,” replied
Serrel.

“I think you’ll run out
of strength before my arm does,” Caellix said.

Serrel glanced at her
arm, which had more muscles that he had ever seen on a woman, and
wondered if that were true. He’d never shielded himself for long
periods against a physical attack like this. At Fort Amell, they
had practised defensive weaving against spells, and the occasional
rock thrown maliciously by Holland. No one had ever broken Serrel’s
defence before, but then again, no one had ever tried to stab their
way through his shield before now. Already he was starting to feel
the strain, and the ether energy in his being trickling away.

“So, Fresh Meat, what
happens then?” Caellix asked.

Serrel dropped the
shield so fast, Caellix was momentarily caught off guard. Without
the barrier holding it in place, the tip of the spear thrust
forwards, and would have hit him had he not already been stepping
to the side, and lifting his staff to parry it.

As the shafts of their
weapons impacted, he threw a wave of force at the sergeant, a
relatively low powered one, since he didn’t actually want to hurt
her, and piss her off more than she generally was. But Caellix was
faster than he expected, and had already spun away. Serrel’s spell
missed her entirely, and washed over another of the Hounds instead,
knocking him comically to the deck.

Caellix ignored the
gales of laughter behind her, and stared daggers at Serrel.

“Um...” said Serrel.
“Sorry?”

“I don’t care how good
you think you are with magic, Fresh Meat,” Caellix said. “How well
can you handle yourself in a real fight?”

The spear came hurtling
at him again. Serrel parried her attacks as best he could, using
his staff and throwing up shields whenever he needed to. He was out
of depth somewhat. Holland had taught them close combat with a
staff, but Serrel had not exactly proven himself a natural born
warrior. Even with Caellix holding back, and she was holding back
he realised, he only narrowly avoided being impaled over and over
by the skin of his teeth.

With one final thrust,
Caellix sent the spear flying to his throat. Serrel managed to cast
his shield again, then felt a sharp prick right on his adam’s
apple. He weaved his shield too slowly, and instead of stopping the
blow, it had formed around the shaft of her spear, giving it easy
access. Part of Serrel noted with interest the way the shield
didn’t pass through obstructions, and just formed itself around
them, and filed the information away for future reference. The rest
of him focused on not moving a single muscle, or even breathing, in
case he accidentally opened his own throat.

He did not have to
worry. Caellix held the spear with extraordinary control, and kept
it perfectly still, its tip just touching the skin of his
throat.

“What’s next, Fresh
Meat?” she asked him. “What’s your next trick?”

Serrel held up a finger
in a
just-give-me-a-moment
gesture. There were more laughs
behind him.

“Do try not to make a
mess, Sergeant,” said Captain Snow, who was watching the fight from
a spot near the helm.

“Stick him!” yelled
Dogbreath. “Heheh.”

With perfect timing,
the whole ship suddenly shook violently. There was an ominous
groaning of wood and the ship listed to port. Caellix lowered her
spear quickly to avoid causing a messy accident, and the two of
them fought to remain standing.

“What just happened?”
Brant asked aloud.

“Snow!” the ship
captain was yelling angrily. “What’s yer bloody wizard doin’ to my
ship?”

“I didn’t do anything!”
Serrel snapped indignantly.

Caellix made a face.
“Gods, I hate the sea,” she muttered and turned to look out over
the railing, their fight forgotten.

Serrel joined her at
the rail. “What is it?”

“Do I look like a
sailor to you, Fresh Meat?” She pointed to the surface of the
water. “Maybe you can tell me what the hell that is.”

Serrel saw a large dark
shadow under the water, growing larger and larger. Then suddenly
the sea exploded, and a huge black object almost as large as the
ship they were on hurled itself out of the water and into the air.
Serrel had a momentary view of fins and a huge tail, before the
creature fell back into the sea with a giant splash, spraying up a
great wave of water that drenched the pair, and sent the ship
rocking again.

Caellix shook her head,
spraying water from her dreadlocks over Serrel. “I hate the sea,”
she repeated.

The other Hounds and
most of the sailors lined up at the rail.

“Wow,” said Holly.
“What was that?”

“Whales,” said one of
the sailors. “Great Blacks. Been a while since we’ve seen one of
them. They don’t usually come to these waters.”

As they watched, more
and more of the creatures began surfacing all around the ship. Some
came up slowly, and blew great plumes of water into the air as they
took a breath. Others leapt dramatically skywards as the first had
done. In other vessels in the flotilla, soldiers and sailors were
lining up to take in the sight as more whales appeared amidst the
mass of ships.

The captain growled.
“Blacks be bad luck,” he muttered.

“Only if they land on
you,” said Brant, as the ship rocked back and forth from the force
of the landing whales.

“Blacks be bad luck,
you dosy boy,” the captain repeated. “That’s why we stopped huntin’
‘em.”

“They’re just big
fish,” said Holly.

“Mammals actually,”
said Brant.

“Tain’t the whales yer
need to worry about,” insisted the captain. “It’s what comes after
‘em.”

Serrel looked over at
him. “Why?” he asked. “What comes after them?”

The first sailor shook
his head. “That’s just a-”

He was cut off by
another whale erupted from the sea. It was far too close to the
ship for comfort, and it was the biggest one yet. Except...

Serrel stared in horror
as the whale landed back in the sea, only just missing the hull of
the ship. It wasn’t just a whale. Something had been wrapped around
it. He had a glimpse of what looked like... snakes?

Another whale came up,
thrashing violently, its huge tail throwing a mass of water all
over the onlookers strong enough to send a couple sprawling. And
Serrel saw it clearly. Not snakes. Tentacles. Huge tentacles
wrapping around the struggling whale and yanking it back beneath
the waves.

“I told you!” roared
the captain.

“What the hell was
that
?” Holly asked in shock.

“Krakens,” the captain
snarled. “A whole school of bloody krakens. They come up, chasin’
the whales.”

“Oh, well now. That’s
just
perfect
,” said Caellix scathingly.

“How much trouble are
we in right now?” asked Captain Snow calmly.

“Plenty,” said the
captain. “If we don’t get clear o’ the school, them Blacks will
knock us to pieces. And if we’re really unlucky, one o’ them
krakens might decide he wants a bite o’ us...”

“Oh. Well, then. No
worries.”

“If ye have a god,
Snow, I’d start praying to him.”

“Good point,” said
Snow. He turned to his men. “Hounds! Off the leash. It’s time to
pray.”

Without a word, the
Hounds dashed back to the hold. Several jumped down below-decks,
while others waited by the ladder. Soon, a long stream of weapons
emerged on deck, passed up from below and distributed around the
group. It didn’t take long for everyone to be armed.

“What d’yer think yer
can do with those?” the captain asked witheringly.

“We generally find a
use for them in most situations,” replied Snow, accepting an ornate
sword from Brant.

Serrel was impressed at
the speed and coordination of his unit. He stayed out of the way,
and watched the sea seethe with monsters. Fleeing whales sped
hurriedly through the water, while huge masses of red tentacles
sped after them with alarming tenacity. He watched a giant kraken
pass silently under the ship and disappear.

Beside him, Caellix
gripped her spear tightly and pursed her lips. Her eyes danced
across the surface of the water, seeking the next threat.

Then it happened. A
large whale, masses of red tentacles coiled tightly around it,
launched itself from the water and slammed straight into the ship
nearest them. Serrel heard the sound of wood cracking, and breaking
to pieces, then men screaming as their ship came apart around them.
He watched in horror as the ship rolled over onto its port side and
began to sink, men on its deck sliding down and landing into the
sea.

“Hell,” said Snow.
“Come to starboard, we need to help them!”

“Belay that!” said the
captain. “If there be men in the water, they be as good as
dead.”

“They aren’t dead
yet.”

“There’ll be a frenzy!
The krakens will attack anythin’ that moves!”

“Captain!” Caellix
snapped. “There are Legion on that ship. So you can either come to
starboard, or you can go
swimming
.”

The captain scowled.
“Bloody Legion... Fine! On yer head be it! Come about, lads, and
tool up! We be in for a fight!”

Serrel held on to the
rail as the ship veered towards the stricken vessel. He saw men and
woman struggling in the water. Then he saw a vast red shape appear
beneath them, and one by one they started being pulled
underwater.

He wondered who had
been on that ship. If it had held someone he knew.

The ship came upon the
floundering crew, and the sailors quickly threw rope and barrels
over the side. But anyone unlucky to be in the water was quickly
dragged down and lost. The dying crew and members of the Legion
aboard did their best to drag themselves onto the wreck of their
ship, but it was sinking too fast to give them any real aid.

Serrel watched one
woman in a Legion uniform struggling up the side of the almost
vertical deck, as a long red tentacle slithered up from beneath
her. She screamed as it wrapped around her leg.

“’Scuse me,” Holly
pushed past him, lifting a bow. She sighted down the arrow at the
tentacle, and let fly.

The tentacle twitched
in pain as the arrow drove into it. When a second arrow fired by
Brant impacted, it let go of the woman and shot back underwater.
But just as someone threw her a rope, the woman lost her grip and
slid down to join it.

“Damn it!” Holly
swore.

Serrel looked at the
water, at the red shape beneath the surface. It wasn’t too
deep.

“Can you hit the body?”
he pointed at the long, thick mass attached to the tentacles.

Holly and Brant lowered
their aim, and fired. The arrows hit the water, but were slowed
down too much and merely bounced off the kraken’s thick flesh.

Caellix swore, flipped
her spear over and impaled it blade first into the deck of the ship
for safe keeping. She turned to the nearest sailor. “You! Harpoon!
NOW!”

She held out her hand,
and caught the harpoon he threw to her. Then she leapt onto the
rail and balanced upon it in a crouch. Serrel reached up and
grabbed a hold of her belt instinctively, and braced his feet.
Caellix pulled back her arm, aimed, and hurled the harpoon with all
her strength.

It sailed through the
air, down through the water, and slid through the kraken’s flesh.
The monster thrashed in pain, tentacles lashing out and hammering
anything unlucky enough to get too close. There was the limp body
of a man still held in one, flung back and forth like a rag
doll.