The sea went quiet before it broke. Even the prisoners' muffled cries seemed to hush, as though the whole ocean drew breath at once.
Then the water split open.
Shapes surged from the gloom—sharks with pale eyes, squids with barbed tentacles, eels coiled like whips. Their shrieks and screeches rattled through the hulls. The boats pitched hard as the first wave struck, wood splintering, spray exploding across their faces.
"They've seen us!" Rowan shouted, bracing his harpoon in both hands.
"Steady!" Callen barked, voice sharp enough to cut panic. "Spears up! Nets ready!"
A shark slammed into the side of an Islander's boat, teeth grinding on the wood. Men jabbed frantically with oars until its tail slapped and it slid back into the froth. A squid coiled its tentacle over the prow, dragging itself up, beak clicking. Rowan lunged forward, driving his harpoon deep into its maw. The barbs tore through cartilage, and with a brutal twist he ripped it free, black blood clouding the water. The squid screamed and slumped back into the waves.
Another wave came. Three, four, five at once, circling, testing. The air filled with shouts, curses, the tearing of wood. Luna flared her glow—the pale veil of light flung wide—and the creatures hissed, recoiling. Lyra clutched the mast, eyes clouded, shouting warnings before attacks came. "Left side—now! Above you!"
"We can't fight them all here!" Rowan snapped, yanking his harpoon free of another kill. A shark's corpse dragged briefly on the line before he severed it. "We'll be dragged under before we reach the cages!"
"Then where?" Darin roared, axe smashing through the skull of an eel that had leapt into the boat.
Rowan pointed with the haft of his harpoon toward the pale arcs of bone looming closer. "The prison! We fight our way in!"
The boats lurched forward, oars slamming water, turning the skirmish into a chase. The corrupted swarmed after them, shrieking, slapping waves high as walls. The sea boiled with pursuit, a thousand small deaths nipping at their heels.
"Throw!" Rowan yelled.
Spears arced through the air. The Thalriss drove theirs with deadly aim, piercing sharks through the eye, squids through the skull. Islanders hesitated until Lyra tore open a pack she had been hoarding, spilling sleek shafts across the deck. "I took them from bounty stores!" she cried. "Use them!"
They did. Islanders who had never held more than a fishing gaff hurled steel with desperation, and the sea answered. A squid shrieked as its beak shattered. A shark rolled belly-up, thrashing as a spear lodged deep in its gills. Blood streaked the waves.
But the price came.
One Islander slipped as an eel struck the side. Tentacles wrapped his leg, yanking him screaming into the depths. Callen lunged, knife flashing, but it was too late. Blood boiled up, the scream cut short. The boat rocked under the loss.
"Row!" Callen bellowed, rage masking grief. "Row, damn you!"
They did, teeth gritted, arms burning, while behind them the sea filled with the corpses of corrupted beasts. Rowan hurled his harpoon, skewering an eel through the throat. He hauled it back with its cord, ripping it free in a spray of black ichor.
Lyra, voice shrill with desperation, screamed across the chaos: "Darin—get the turtle working!"
Darin stood at the prow, broad as a wall, Tharos's jade shimmer bursting around him whenever something struck the hull. Tentacles lashed, teeth tore, but they met a shell of green light that refused to yield.
Lyra, voice shrill with desperation, screamed across the chaos: "Darin—get the turtle working!"
Darin spun, eyes blazing, teeth bared. "His name—" he snarled, splitting a shark's skull with his axe, "—is Tharos!"
The jade aura erupted, bright as dawn. It rolled across both boats in a wide arc, a shield of light that cracked tentacles and sent eels thrashing back into the depths. For a heartbeat, the whole fleet was wrapped in a turtle's shell.
The sea seemed to pause. The remaining corrupted faltered, keening uneasily, and then broke, fleeing into the gloom.
Only one Islander's blood marked the cost.
The boats slammed into the whale's ribs, crashing against bone slick with kelp. Rowan vaulted onto a spur of ivory, harpoon in hand. "Now! Before they return!"
The Thalriss dove at once, their tails flashing silver in the murk. Rowan followed, Midg's light spilling from his chest, breath flowing clean in the water. Together they swam into the ribcage, slashing chains and tearing nets, freeing Thalriss prisoners, merfolk, dolphins, manta rays. The water churned with new allies, some darting off, others circling back to strike at guards. Rowan wedged his harpoon under a corroded lock and wrenched until it snapped, a half-dead dolphin bursting free in a trail of bubbles.
Above the surface, Darin planted his boots wide and became the wall. Tharos's jade aura arced across the boats, shielding them from the few corrupted stragglers that still tested the defenses. Callen organized the freed Islanders and mainland fishermen into a ragged perimeter, arming them with spears and broken oars. Luna poured calm into the panic, her glow steadying trembling hands as captives clambered aboard. Lyra shouted warnings—"That net will drop! Cut left!"—keeping the chaos from devouring itself.
The decks turned into battlegrounds of their own. Nets tore, locks shattered, captives hauled gasping into the open air. Some collapsed weeping. Others, once freed, staggered to their feet and seized weapons, wild-eyed with fury. Together with the Islanders they formed a circle of defense, holding the boats steady against the sea's wrath.
Rowan swam deeper. Midg's glow cut a path through the gloom, showing the largest cage lashed to the spine. Inside slumped the Thalriss prince, shackled but alive. Relief surged—until a shadow moved.
A loyal Thalriss warrior swam to help cut the chains.
And then a spearhead punched through his chest.
Rowan's eyes widened as blood clouded the water. The body convulsed, then drifted limp, sinking toward the ocean floor.
The killer stepped into view.
A corrupted Thalriss, body veined black, eyes pale and merciless. Coral armor clung to his twisted form, and his spear's barbed head gleamed like bone. He shoved the corpse aside as though it were nothing, and turned his gaze on Rowan.
Rowan tightened his grip on his harpoon.
The true battle was only beginning.