Read The Ways of Mages: Two Worlds Online
Authors: Catherine Beery,Andrew Beery
The Ways of Mages: Two Worlds (26 page)
“
Sea Monster!!
!”
Some of the sailors started to scream. The laughter turned int
o‘
ts
k’
ing sounds. A whoosh of water later and a large serpentine head loomed above them. Men scattered away from it. A ridiculously feminine voice fell from a maw that spelle
d‘
the en
d’
in so many ways.
“
Now, now. That iss jusst plain rude.
I’
m no
ssssea
monssster
.”
Its sibilant voice hissed.
“
Then what are you if not a monster
?”
JayDee challenged.
“
Ssspirit. I like that
.”
The serpent chuckled
.“
I would not sssay I am
not
a monsster. I have my momentss
.”
The snake winked at JayDee in a conspiratorial way
.“
Asss to your question, what will you pay
?”
After a moment of JayDe
e’
s silence the snake swayed slowly back with a satisfied smile
.“
Do
n’
t worry, my dear, I know you will pay me ssoon enough. Asss to the ansswer to your quesstion; I am your guide to the other sside
.
”
Doctor Harding dropped to his knees before the great serpent. Its eyes fell on him
.“
Milady
.”
The ma
n’
s voice trembled slightly.
Two great diaphanous wings rose on either side of the serpent. They stretched, each longer than the ship. Water streamed off the gossamer limbs. They wrapped gently about the ship. Grim backed slowly toward the helm. JayDe
e’
s hand fell to her dagger. Near her, she heard Jingles mutter under his breat
h“
I do
n’
t like this. I really do
n’
t
.
”
The snak
e’
s head bent toward the doctor
.“
Well done, good and faithful ssservan
t
…
”
The snake said silkily. It glanced at Grim, its gaze obviously mocking. It looked down at the bowing man agai
n“
You have sserved me well. And now you will sserve me again, one lasst time
.”
Before any could react the snake struck.
Harding screamed as the snake nipped at his back. Teeth penetrated deep enough to be able to yank him up off the deck. His screams were shrill as it tossed him up into the air and caught him in its finely toothed maw. It chomped twice and Grim knew that it did
n’
t need to. It enjoyed the spectacle. Hardin
g’
s scream did
n’
t stop with his death. A faintly glowing mist was caught about the snak
e’
s mouth. It condensed enough to resemble the deceased doctor. With obvious relish the snake made a slurping sound. The screams grew in volume and shrillness until there was nothing left of the mist.
“
Hmmm
.”
The snake sighed
.“
Now, where were we? Ah yesss, it iss time to play
.”
The fragile looking wings wrapped about the ship tightened and what could only be the snak
e’
s tail rose on the opposite side from its head. With lightning speed, the tail hooked around main mast and yanked. The Lucky Blue Wing shuddered. Wood groaned as the main mast was pulled one way and the rest of the ship was twisted the other. Me
n’
s screams were drowned under the screech of rending wood as the ship was gutted.
Swift as any snake, the serpent plucked men caught in the main mas
t’
s rigging in her teeth. If they came whole or not did
n’
t seem to matter to the monster. Glowing mist shrouded the serpen
t’
s head. Their screams were too high. Inhuman notes that sank icy fangs deep into the souls of anyone in hearing distance. Done with the main mast, the snake tossed it into the maelstrom. Several things happened simultaneously then. Grim dove for the helm. The snake crashed down onto the crippled ship and dove into the depths. And the main mast came hurtling back around like a spear tipped ram. The stern, which had started to fold toward the bow, was jolted and crunched with the impact of the mast. The chaotic moment slowed for Grim as he braced himself against the helm. Dangling below him, miraculously clinging to his forearm, was JayDee. He was mirroring her clasp. Below her was Captain Willaim. The older man was clinging to her leg. Below him was the roiling sea, red with the blood of good men. Grim reached into his tunic, his hand touching the wooden cross.
Time sped up again as the serpent resurfaced and struck at the bow. One of its wings bashed into the stern, knocking it deeper into the maelstrom. Grim heard JayDee scream Willai
m’
s name shortly before the strong currents shredded the doomed ship apart. GrimHolden lost his hold. Cold, black water caught Grim in its perilous clasp. Muted rushing filled his ears as he tumbled about. He could
n’
t see a thing. He became conscious of his tightened hold on a soft, fine boned hand. JayDee. She was flailing about too; the miraculous current was having far too much fun. Grim could hear the monste
r’
s laughter in the depths as the Lucky Blue Wing lost her luck, crew, and existence.
Grim was quickly running out of breath when something knocked into his back. He reached his arm around and grasped it. The object was wood and it was speeding in a set direction. Praying that this piece of flotsam was on its way to the surface, Grim tightened his hold on both it and JayDee.
Sputtering, his head broke the surface. He dragged JayDee up with him. Blindly she latched onto their piece of flotsam. It was a fair size considering the bashing the ship received. Large enough for two to three people if they lay side by side with their feet in the water. It looked like it had once been part of the shi
p’
s rail. Coils of rigging were still tethered to its pulley mount. JayDee and Grim pulled themselves as far onto the ship chunk as they could. Around them were other such ship pieces. On a few of them were struggling men. Others were desperately trying to help shipmates out of the water. Those with men were much farther away.
As soon as she caught her breath, JayDee began screaming for her friend
.“
Willaim! Will! WILLAIM
!”
Her voice was hoarse. Tears and sea water streaming down her face.
“
JayDee, hush
!”
Grim commanded. The snake had resurfaced, picking off hapless sailors. Their cries joined the chorus of inhuman screeching mist. The sailors on flotsam nearest the carnage began to swim as quickly as they could. The snake would laugh and corral them back with a win
g…
or her teeth.
“
Oh no
.”
JayDee sobbed
.“
What are we going to do
?
”
“
Hide
.
”
She looked at Grim as if wondering when he had gone mad. Grim smiled grimly and pulled the wooden cross from his tunic
.“
Thank you, Lord
.”
He whispered as he kissed the cross; thankful that he had
n’
t lost it in the chaos. He then prayed; thanking the Lord for keeping them alive then asked for his next idea to actually work. There was a spell that the Grimdian Knights used to remain unnoticed by forest game. He prayed that it would work on the open sea. The cross began to glow softly and a small pressure brushed the nape of his neck.
“
What did you do
?”
JayDee whispered.
“
Hopefully, made it so we would go unnoticed
.
”
“
Hopefully
?”
Her voice sounded strained.
“
God willing
.”
And the Lord did indeed seem willing. The serpent ignored them. They were swept away from the carnage. Grim and JayDee watched the destruction of their friends and prayed that they could save at least one. But they were carried farther and farther away and closer to the curtain of pulsating light. Pressure built on the back of their necks. It was getting very uncomfortable.
“
Look
.”
JayDee pointed. Coming closer on what used to be yardarm was a very wet Jingles. When the wet and tired man was close enough, Grim threw a length of rigging to him. Jingles blinked at it, then followed the rope to them. He startled, his eyes very round.
“
I guess your spell is working
.”
JayDee said.
“
Grim! M
a’
am! Where did you come from
?”
Jingles asked.
“
We just floated up. Grab the rope, w
e’
ll pull you over
.”
JayDee replied. Jingles took hold of the rope and Grim pulled him in.
“
Have you seen anyone else
?”
She asked, helping to keep the yardarm close as Grim lashed the two pieces together.
“
I saw the captain earlie
r
…
”
Jingles said looking about
.“
How come I did
n’
t see you till the rope came at me
?
”
“
Magic to keep us unremarkable
.”
Grim replied. He showed the still faintly glowing cross to the sailor.
“
Not that it really matters
.”
JayDee muttered
.“
I do
n’
t see the serpent anymore and I see our death coming for us in two ways. Drowning
.”
She said nodding toward the center of the maelstrom.
“
Or the unknown fate of
that
.”
She said staring at the curtain of rippling light. She was right. Grim acknowledged. It looked like the maelstrom was sweeping them toward the curtain of wildly moving magic. He narrowed his eyes.
“
What is that up ahead
?”
He asked. JayDee, who had been resting her head on her arms looked up. Jingles barely managed to turn his head to see. There was a bobbing object ahead of them. The current they were in was pushing whatever it was too
.“
Might that be another of the crew
?
”
“
Too far to see
.”
She said.
“
Then let us get closer
.”
Grim said as he started to kick his feet, aiming their haphazard craft toward it.
When they were close enough, JayDee reached out and pulled the object closer. It shifted and she cried
.“
Willaim
?”
Lashed to a barrel was the old captain. He opened bleary eyes when he heard JayDe
e’
s voice.
He cracked a smile
.“
Hi, Lady. I saved a piece of the old gal
.”
He held up a waterlogged limb. In his hand was a scrap of wood with a solitary barnacle and an etching of a wing
.“
Unless I miss my guess, i
t’
s a piece of the darn rudder
.
”
JayDee, Grim, and a tired Jingles laughed. At that moment the pressure increased to severely painful and the world turned into a kaleidoscope of colors.
This ends the preview of The Ways of Mages #3, Startfire
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(Click on titles to jump to order page)
The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles
The Ways of Mages
(with Catherine Beery)
The Ways of Mages, #1
-Revised July 2012
The Ways of Mages: Two Worlds, #2
- Aug 2012
The Ways of Mages: Starfire, #3
- 2012
*The Ways of Mages: Three Swords, #4
- 2013
* Coming Soon
