Tides of Torment (Immortal Realms Book 2)

The ache was bone deep, her muscles almost beyond movement, but Sereia’s fury fueled her, silencing all protests. Energized further by the knowledge that, for the moment at least, Travion was still alive.

As he dove into the ocean, Sereia made her way to Batteo. “Take Adrik below and make sure he is secure in his bed.” His remains would be safer there, until she was ready for a proper goodbye.

“Aye, aye, Captain.” He nodded and motioned to another sailor. Together, they tenderly gathered up their comrade’s body.

She hated herself for the weakness, but Sereia had to look away and focus on something other than the lifeless form of her first mate. She turned to Chailai instead. “You’re first mate now. Begin reloading all of our cannons, and fire at anything and everything in the water. We’re heading toward that island.”

“The one with the volcano, Captain?” She looked like she wanted to protest.

“The king is on his way there now, and we need to provide a distraction for the beasts in the water and clear his way.” There was no time for idle chatter, so she turned to call up to Boran, still at the helm. “You need to get me as close to that island as you can without running us aground. Understood?”

He saluted her, then spun the helm, turning The Saorsa in the direction of the island, her cannons firing as a large shark crested the water before them. The cannon stopped it from falling down onto their bow, pushing it back into the water. Several more of the monstrous, crab-like creatures climbed onto the deck; her crew was on them in haste.

Xiu staggered as a tusk went through his leg but captured the second in his hand to stop it from impaling him. Batteo, coming to his aid, thrust his sword into the monster’s mouth, ceasing its motions quickly.

Brenid was fighting a second but lost his balance and fell onto his back. He cried out in pain as the crab-beast pinned him to the deck with a tusk through his shoulder. Sereia ran forward, blocking the free tusk with her own sword.

“Don’t give them time to attack!” she screamed. They had to strike preemptively if they wished to survive. “Yon, keep your eyes peeled for anything climbing the sides!” Sereia shouted up to the crow’s nest as her sword slid down the length of the tusk. She ducked beneath the arm and drove her dagger into the side of the monster’s face. The bulbous antenna eyes swiveled to pin her with a look. She didn’t allow it to attack again. Pulling her sword back to her chest, Sereia then drove it up into the roof of its mouth, piercing the beast’s primitive brain.

As it collapsed, Sereia struck out at the joint above the tusk, chopping it free. Together, she and Brenid yanked the severed tusk out of his shoulder.

The young lad got to his feet, a hand pressed to his wound. “Thank you, Captain.”

Sereia pressed a quick hand to his good shoulder, nodded, and then moved down the side of her ship, slicing through the joint of another crab, enabling Yannik to deliver the killing blow.

Above, Yon called out the location of a new monster mounting the starboard side. Several crewmembers rushed to stop it before it could get on deck. Four more hurried to the bow at her guidance.

Sereia’s eyes shifted to the shoreline, searching for a form climbing the beaches. She wasn’t sure where Travion was going to come up, but she needed to make certain that he made it. Her insides were too raw, every nerve overexposed. The world couldn’t handle her losing him. Not today.

While watching the shoreline, a large fin slicing through the water caught her eye and hauled her attention that way. Familiar apprehension shivered down her spine. It wasn’t the size of the monster that had attacked them at sea, but it was still abnormally big and heading directly for them.

Sereia rushed over to Yannik, who was manning the closest cannon. Yannik, who was also missing the lower half of his right arm. “What are you doing?” she sputtered. “Get below deck and bandage that!”

Yannik looked at her in surprise, then shrugged. “No time, Captain. We’re down men—”

“Yannik, now! Preferably before you bleed out on my deck.” She glared at him until he stepped away from the cannon and nodded. She watched him until she was certain he had gone below—she would not be losing any more crewmembers if she could avoid it—and then turned her attention back to the shark.

Sereia sheathed her sword and took Yannik’s place at the cannon, the slightly rough iron surprisingly cool in her hands. As she pushed down on the heavy cannon, her biceps shook with weakness. But Sereia ignored her sore body and the weariness running through her. Angling the cannon, she lined it up with the approaching shark. Grabbing the flint dangling from the end, she held it ready in her hand. When the shark was close enough, she sparked the flint and lit the slow match, inserting it quickly into the vent hole. The cannon erupted, spewing the solid ball of iron forward and rocking back on its base. Sereia withstood the shock, her ears ringing.

The ball struck the shark dead-on, driving it below the water. Sereia watched and waited. However, it wasn’t long before the shark breached the surface again, angrier than before. “By the sun, moon, and sea!”

“I think they’re armor-plated, Captain.”

Sereia looked over her shoulder at Xiu. “What makes you think that?”

“I saw a glint from the sunlight.”

Frowning, Sereia pulled her spyglass off the holster on her thigh and extended it to take a look. Sure enough, there appeared to be an almost metal-like sheen to the shark’s hide. Their enemy had increased their defenses.

Sereia cursed as she lowered the spyglass. “If that’s the case, then the only soft spot is likely to be inside its mouth.”

The shark, deciding it had had enough of circling, dove beneath the water only to come back up beneath them, slamming into their hull and making The Saorsa sway, dangerously close to tipping over.

Sereia and Xiu both went down, as did the rest of the crew, tumbling and sliding across the deck.

Grabbing on to the mast as she slid by it, Sereia kept herself aboard, but there was a terrifying sound of several splashes that could only mean one thing.

She pulled on her reserves and righted the ship with her powers, pushing The Saorsa up with a wall of water. “Get them out of the water!” she screamed, climbing to her feet, and turned to Xiu. “I’m going in and I’m going to distract that thing. Once its mouth is open, do not waste any time firing. Do you hear me?” Xiu nodded. “And Xiu? Don’t miss.”

Sereia ran for the railing and launched herself into the water. From its depths, she was able to see the shark just below The Saorsa, dark gray form cutting swiftly through the water and headed for someone floundering at the surface. Propelling herself toward it with a burst of water behind her, Sereia managed to grab on to its tail fin.

As she leeched on, the shark shook its body, rolling in the water to try to dislodge her. Sereia clutched more tightly, digging her nails into the un-plated flesh of its tail. She allowed her body to move with the coiling motion, keeping her place. When it was unable to remove her, the shark swam for the surface, leaping into the air, only to slam back down on its back.

The impact left her breathless and forced her to let go. She had barely enough time to gather herself as the shark came for her, its jaw wide.

Sereia threw her hands out in front of her, forcing a jet of water directly into the shark’s mouth. The creature stopped, shaking its head to try to right itself. Taking this as her chance, Sereia created a swirling vortex of water around herself that lifted her up into the air.

As she came above the surface, Sereia glanced over her shoulder at the ship. Xiu was there, prepared to fire when she had lined the shot up for him.

They didn’t have long to wait; the shark, both hungry and agitated, leaped from the water, its maw open wide as it sought to grab her out of the air. Just as the sound of the cannon echoed through the air, Sereia released the water below her and let herself fall back into the sea.

It was the exploding of flesh and raining of blood around her that let Sereia know they had succeeded in taking out the beast.

As she resurfaced, Sereia looked at the island once more. She didn’t require her spyglass to recognize Travion sneaking across the shore. Not trusting him to face off with the female responsible for all of this alone, she took this as her sign to join him. Her crew would be fine. She would just have to have faith that they would do what they had always done and come out on top.

Creating another current around herself, Sereia pushed herself toward land. A smaller shark shot through the sea toward her. Sereia kicked at its snout with her feet, shoving herself away and also deterring it a little. Shooting a blast of water at it, she drove it farther away. Fortunately, the vast majority of the creatures seemed to be deterred by Lucem’s princes, or her very own ship, and she was able to swim past the last of the crabs.

She released her pull on the water just as she reached the shallows, her body catching on the sand beneath and tumbling through the waves until she finally stopped.

Sereia climbed to her feet and waded through the last of the water, up onto the beach. She could no longer see Travion, but she knew the direction he had gone. Just as she stepped out of the water, a shockwave rushed over the entire island, knocking her to her hands and knees.

Her ears were ringing, and Sereia felt like she was underwater. Her head swam, and her eyes were unable to concentrate on anything, leaving her body wobbling and falling over into the sand. Groaning, Sereia shut her eyes, taking deep, slow breaths and counting to ten before she opened her eyes once more.

Now able to focus, Sereia pushed herself up onto her knees and carefully climbed to her feet. Her ears were still ringing, so she carefully made her way over the rocky beach and in the direction that she had seen Travion disappear.

When at last she broke through a cluster of trees, her hearing finally returned, and she found Travion and the brown-headed female. Both were holding half of The Creaturae in their hands.

Unsure of the situation, Sereia leaned against the trunk of the nearest tree and hoped they wouldn’t notice her as she got the lay of the land and figured out how she could best help Travion.

“So, it seems we remain at odds,” the woman spoke, waving her portion of the book.

“And I have the destructive side,” Travion responded.

The woman only smirked. “Mm, so you do. But that isn’t enough to stop me.”

“You don’t think so?” Travion began flipping through the pages, until he stopped suddenly, his mouth beginning to form words.

The woman reacted, shouting something that caused a large stone wall to burst from the ground, separating the two of them. But as Travion’s words finished, and he pointed his finger toward her, the wall exploded, sending rocks hurtling through the air.

Sereia ducked down quickly, narrowly dodging a rock that came whizzing past. The brunette was not so lucky, and a rock struck her in the head, causing her to drop down to one knee. Long, pale fingers pressed against the wound, and she glared across the way at Travion.

“Lucky strike, that one.”

“It’ll be a larger rock next time.” His hand angled toward the volcano, and a sharp crack was followed by a rumble as the side of the volcano broke open.

“You’re going to kill us both, you fool!” Her hand lifted toward the volcano, and as she murmured soft words, more rocks formed along the side of it to catch and block the lava beginning to rush from the divide.

“Better we both die than any more perish for your nonsense.”

“Nonsense? Nonsense?! I’ve come only for what I am owed after my family gave your father my most precious gift! The Creaturae was formed for my family, for me, and we gave it to Ludari with the understanding that I would become a part of the royal family. And your brother—”

“Oh, I’m aware. He broke the pact, and then we refused to give The Creaturae back once it was understood the power that resided within. It was three thousand years ago, Phaedora. You must get—”

“Do not tell me to get past it,” Phaedora spat out.

The book—in the end this was all about a stupid book more powerful than anything had the right to be. Greed was a heady thing, and it could drive even the sanest people to madness. If Travion and his brothers had managed to destroy it, they’d all be better for it.

Sereia began to stealthily make her way along the tree line while they spoke. They were both distracted, and if Travion could keep the madwoman speaking, perhaps she could get behind her and tackle the other half of the book out of her hands.

It was a good plan—until one of the crab monsters appeared from behind a boulder and hissed at her, swinging one of its tusked claws at her head. She ducked out of the way, throwing herself to the side and rolling away from it in time to avoid being struck, but it drew the attention of both Travion and Phaedora.

Rising onto her knees, Sereia brought her sword up. But the crab was faster, and its tusk collided with her wrist, sending her sword flying. A gasp left her as one of its shelled legs hit her in the chest and pinned her to the ground. Sereia groaned and grabbed at the leg, but lifting it was useless and only sliced up her hands on its sharpness.

“Sereia,” Travion growled in concern.

“I’m okay!” she grunted back, her breathing hampered by the press of the foot against her chest.

“Oh,” Phaedora spoke with understanding. “Does this one belong to you?” She looked from Sereia to Travion.

Travion didn’t answer that, but the flex of his jaw said all that was needed. “Don’t, Phaedora . . .”

The brunette smirked. “You have something I want, Travion. I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement.” She tapped her finger against her lips, eyeing Sereia and the crab with delight.

Sereia, not wishing to be held against Travion, struggled to reach her sword, but it lay just too far out of reach. Above her, the crab hissed once more, its giant cavernous mouth opening and closing with a snap as drool streamed from the sides.

“Do you know, Travion, that while your half may be the destructive portion, it is my half that possesses the resurrection spell?” She cackled, and with a snap of her fingers, the crab reacted.

Its pointed foot increased its pressure and drove through Sereia’s middle, crushing and tearing everything beneath it. Sereia screamed, pain beyond anything she had ever felt before lancing through her, racing through every nerve and firing every synapse. Her ribs fractured, her heart lurched and spasmed, and for the first time in her life, she felt what it was to drown.

A roar of fury and agony sounded out, and then the crab above her shattered into a million pieces. Travion was at her side shortly after, pulling her into his lap.

Sereia now understood what Adrik had felt in those final moments. The coldness. The pain. The surprising acceptance.

Her skin ached, and her lips pulled at the smile she struggled to put on them. “I’m so glad I came back, and that I’ve had this time with you.” Weakly, her hand curled into a fist in the front of Travion’s shirt. “I was going to stay this time,” she rasped and forced the smile on.

“Sereia, don’t you dare—”

Everything became foggy. She was beneath the water again; it was filling her lungs, pulling everything inside her apart. Sereia coughed, trying to clear the blockage inside her. But her lungs burned. Her heart faltered. She gasped, unable to get oxygen. She was falling, pulled into the cold. Into the emptiness.

And then it all stopped.