Rising tide - Mel Odom [107]
She eased into position, bringing her trident up in line with the creature. It wouldn't do much good against the kraken, she was sure, but having the weapon there made her feel a little more secure.
The kraken glided into position above the flier, dangling over it. The tentacles whipped languidly through the water, curling and almost brushing against the craft. The sahuagin bristled with weapons as they faced the creature.
"Ah, little malenti, this is truly a fascinating specimen."
Laaqueel glanced at Iakhovas, surprised to see the look of absolute joy that crossed the wizard's scarred face.
"I knew not if they yet lived, hadn't dared to dream that it would be so."
"Yes," she said, "and they also kill."
"This creature will not harm me," he told her confidently. "Once, when I was young and the world was too, I knew them all."
"Even so, this won't be one of those."
"Given the life spans the creatures have, there's no chance," he agreed, shaking his head, "but I guarantee you, little malenti, this creature will know me."
She looked at him, wondering if he told the truth. Kraken didn't stay anywhere near each other, much less near any creature that they didn't rule. She knew this one had to have been kept captive, forced to serve the sahuagin king. It was one of the secrets of the sahuagin royalty she was now privy to.
The sahuagin guard at the other tunnel hailed them.
Iakhovas gave the flier pilot orders to take the craft closer. The sahuagin swimming beneath surged forward, wanting to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the kraken, but the kraken drifted effortlessly in their wake, spreading out wide and resembling a net not quite closing around them.
King Huaanton stood at the forefront of the Royal Black Tridents. Almost nine feet tall and still growing slowly these days, the sahuagin monarch carried a body sculpted in wide and hard planes of muscle. He was old enough that his scale coloration was almost black, a natural camouflage at the deepest levels of the sea. His combat harness bore the shark seal of Sekolah and was festooned in shells and shark's teeth. He carried the ornate shark bone trident with inlaid gold that had been handed down for centuries from king to king. That trident, Laaqueel knew, was a guarantee that the sahuagin holding it would fight to the death to hold his station. Huaanton had stripped it from his dead predecessor after a challenge battle not far from the sahuagin city.
"Iakhovas," Huaanton called out.
The wizard turned at last, drawing his gaze from the kraken, but Laaqueel knew the observance of the command had been too slow. Huaanton wouldn't let that go.
"Exalted One," Iakhovas called back. "At your behest, I have returned to your august presence that I might serve you."
Laaqueel grew more afraid as the kraken continued closing the distance. Iakhovas didn't seem to care. The net stretched tight before them, the kelp laced with bone shards to prevent anyone from easily cutting through. Until it was lowered or removed, it trapped them with the kraken.
"You find yourself on the wrong side of the net," Huaanton stated with the hint of a threat. "One of my predecessors found that creature and captured it while it was young, then it was walled in here until it grew too large to escape. Now the beast is deliberately kept hungry. Only the fact that it knows we'd starve it to death if it attacked you unbidden keeps it from eating you now."
"Perhaps, Exalted One," Iakhovas said, "and perhaps there is more to this creature's behavior than you know."
He sprang from the flier, cleaving the water and streaking upward. He moved like a born swimmer, instinctively knowing how best to move his body.
The kraken's tentacles rippled in response to Iakhovas swimming closer. For a moment, it looked like the gargantuan creature was actually going on the defensive.