The Coral Kingdom - Douglas Niles [67]
"Dead ahead-another raft of the critters!" The cry from the bow, by the barrel-chested Wultha, paralyzed Alicia for one terrorized moment, but in that space of time, the Prince of Gnarhelm had leaped down the center of the longship's hull and was scrambling up the neck of the proud figurehead, the princess racing to join him.
"By the hundred curses of Tempus!" snarled Brand, and in another moment, Alicia saw the cause of his distress.
She recognized the pattern of bubbles, saw the swells of the Trackless Sea mound upward as they had when the other raft had broken the surface. But this time, the obstacle lay directly in the Princess of Moonshae's path!
"Hard port-emergency helm!" shouted the prince. Even before the order was completed, the vessel heeled violently as Knaff the Elder pulled the rudder to port. Alicia lost her footing and tumbled to the deck, falling heavily as the longship crunched into the broad raft of the sea creatures with a timber-straining collision.
* * * * *
"Death to the humans! Attack!" hissed Krell-Bane, fang-toothed king of the scrags. The Mantaship beneath his feet staggered from the impact with the speeding longship, but the sleek vessel's keel rode up onto the raft, and now the ship was stuck there.
Two columns of huge scrags lurched forward, while the smaller sahuagin threw themselves with abandon at the gunwale of the longship. Human defenders quickly scrambled to their positions, but even as Krell-Bane exhorted his troops, he saw northmen fall, slain by trident and scimitar, tooth and claw.
In another moment, the first of the fishmen had scrambled onto the enemy craft.
In the darkness of the depths below, the body of a giant squid lurked, hearing the sounds of battle, waiting for the report of victory. Sinioth would not involve himself in this battle. Instead, he would let his children bring the bodies of his enemies to him.
10
Dance of the Mantas
Brandon cursed, and veteran northmen sailors tumbled from their rowing benches, dislodged by the force of the collision. The Princess of Moonshae shuddered violently as a cascade of seawater surged over the gunwale. Alicia scrambled to regain her balance, certain that the hull of the longship had been fatally punctured.
But as she stood again, the princess realized that the deck felt solid under her feet, and she could see no sign of a crack in the solid planks of the hull. She tried to tell herself that, just maybe, the Princess of Moonshae was not finished yet.
If water was not pouring in, however, the same could not be said of the sahuagin. Dozens of fishmen leaped toward the longship's hull as soon as the two vessels collided. In a few seconds, many of them sprang to the gunwales and scrambled into the shallow hull.
Following the impact, the prow of the longship rested on the broad, timbered deck of the enemy raft. Stout, waterlogged beams formed parallel keels separated by the long strips of water. Under the weight of Brandon's ship, the bow of the raft wallowed beneath the waves. With the fishmen scrambling all around, it seemed as though the two vessels were firmly locked together.
Brandon shouted an inarticulate cry and split a sahuagin skull with his great axe. Wultha picked up one of the creatures in his huge hands, snapping the creature's spine before casting it into the faces of two of the corpse's charging compatriots.
Keane, meanwhile, snapped the words to a quick spell and crushed something like dried threads in his left hand. He pointed at the fishmen with his right. Immediately strands of gooey string shot from his extended fingers, wrapping themselves about several of the approaching monsters, binding them securely to the hull. The creatures snapped and snarled, but their most diligent struggles couldn't break them free. Even more were ensnared as they attempted to crawl