The pile of gold that Aruk had refused from her. And he was so far behind the others, he must have already lost. Unless he meant to ambush and steal the relic from the victor as they made their way back to Aremond.
“And is that what you will do? Return to that tournament route?”
He nodded. “It is.”
Her heart constricted. And she understood him not at all. “Did you not say—”
The bow tipped up suddenly, throwing her back. Aruk’s strong arms caught her.
“What was that?” The sails were still full, yet the boat had stopped. “Did we hit a rock?”
Which should not have happened. The spell made this ship always sail true.
“I do not think so,” Aruk said slowly, eyes fixed ahead. “You ought to have spelled this ship against sea monsters, too.”
Jalisa gasped in horror. A huge gray tentacle was coiling around the bow. Enormous it was, slick and pulsating, the suckers hungrily seeking.
A monster squid. Which could tear apart ships, so the vessels spilled out contents and passengers, and the squid could feast at will. Frantically she looked to the stern, where another tentacle had begun winding over the deck.
Not a hint of fear did she hear in Aruk’s voice when it rumbled in her ear. “Do you have any weapons aboard?”
“No.”
“What did you intend to do if you came across pirates?”
“Not fight them! I would make the ship outrun them.”
But already that option was too late. The winds blew, but even spelled winds could not free a ship from the grip of a monster squid.
Aruk led her to the ship’s mast. “Hold tight to this,” he told her. “I must kill the monster before those tentacles rip apart the timbers.”
“Kill it with what?”
From the small bundle he’d brought from the island, he showed her a palm-sized stone with a sharp edge. “This razor I made.”
“Do you mean to give the monster a shave with that little blade?”
His teeth flashed in a broad grin. “It sliced into my face often enough, so it will likely also slice into a squid’s. Hold fast to that mast until I return.”
With smooth stride, he moved to the edge of the deck and leapt up onto the gunwale as if his thick muscles were made of springs. He looked down into the water, and a hearty laugh broke from him.
“It is my old friend! Perhaps he has waited for me all this time—but this day, I will not stop after cutting off only one arm. It is this monster’s day to die!”
And with stone blade clenched between his teeth, Aruk dove in.
5
Aruk the Wrecked
The Illwind Sea
Aruk had heard that monster squids had memories as long as their arms. True that seemed now, for apparently the squid had left the deep sea to lay in wait for him near the island. He knew not if the squid intended vengeance for the lost arm, but whatever feud between them lay in that foul brain, Aruk would end it today.
Under the water was a slithering mass of tentacles. A firm grip on the ship it had—and the vessel was already lost, Aruk saw. Timbers beneath the waterline had splintered and cracked. No spell for fair winds would prevent water from filling the hold and sinking them to the bottom of the sea.
He surfaced again. His disobedient princess stood not at the mast but clinging to the rail, her wide-eyed terror melting into relief when she saw him. “Throw everything into the dinghy and drop it free of the ship!” he called to her.
“I will!” She spun and disappeared from his sight.
With a screech of wood, the ship splintered in half, the center popping upward, the bow and stern tipping downward into the water. Cursing, Aruk dove under, stone knife in hand.
Broken planks rained down through the water, sharpened edges like wooden daggers. Feet kicking, Aruk arrowed through the water to the center mass of those tentacles. All the arms were wrapped around the ship—and so the squid’s great eye was unprotected.
As he dove toward it, his own face he saw reflected in that black orb, a mask of rage and purpose. He plunged the stone blade into the fleshy eye. Blood spilled out like ink, blinding him with black clouds. The squid began to thrash, convulsing tentacles still wrapped around the ends of the ship, tearing apart the two ends and flinging them about.
And Jalisa was still aboard.
Aruk’s heart pounded with sudden fear, his lungs were afire, but the squid was not dead yet. Deeper he shoved his arm, hacking into the monster’s brain.
All went still.
Aruk jerked his arm free and kicked for the surface. He broke through on a great heaving gasp for air, and in the next breath shouted, “Jalisa!”
The ship was scattered over gentle waves. He struck for the dinghy, swimming fast. Gripping the side, he heaved himself up and looked into the small boat. She had managed to toss his bundle into the bottom but no more.