PATH OF ASCENSION

by Ulquiorra9000

Chapter 10

Being a "security guard" on board the Dawnsail wasn't as difficult as it sounded, even though most of the passengers had brought their families, bringing the guest total over one hundred (by what Jaina overheard). The ship's passenger decks were loaded with the wealthy and their families, but the trip to Madam Apolla's island mansion turned out to be surprisingly quiet. Other guards patrolled the ship and kept order with a well-practiced hand, so Jaina was left with patrol duty with her fellows.

On the evening of the second day, Jaina found herself paired with Petros on duty, so that meant wandering a fixed route through the Dawnsail's interior with him the whole time. Jaina had been told that the Dawnsail would arrive at the island the next morning, and to Jaina, morning couldn't come soon enough.

"How tough do you think the trusted one will be?" Petros asked eagerly, after half an hour of patrolling. He rubbed his hands together.

"Very," Jaina answered wearily. Petros, out of boredom, had been nagging her with inane questions and comments the whole time.

"Makes it more fun," Petros said, unfazed. "That was a good fight back at the fort, but I'm ready to really take it to the Shadow League."

"We all are," Jaina sighed. "But we can't get cocky. I keep telling you that." She felt her insides squirm with anxiety. Fighting Jero and his grays had been tough enough; she clearly remembered the pain of Jero's mana whip coiling around her leg, sapping her strength, leaving her helpless on the floor...

Petros' next obnoxious comment brought Jaina back to the present. "I think you worry too much, Jaina. We're tough! I think we're going to kick ass, and we should arrange a big celebration party when we get back to Meletis. Do you think the headmaster will help set it up?"

Enough was enough. "Shut up already!" Jaina snapped. She and Petros rounded a corner, walking past more guest cabin doors.

"I was only joking," Petros shrugged.

Jaina ignored him. "I'm tired of all your yammering, Petros! Ever since we set out, it's been 'I'm such a great archer!' and 'This is boring!' and 'I'm such a ladies' man!' Will you stop it already?"

"Lower your voice," Petros warned her, his voice suddenly cold. "What's your deal, Jaina?"

"You," Jaina retorted. It felt good to finally say something about this. "You're my deal! I was required to bring you with me for this quest. It's not like I enjoy this."

"You've got bigger problems than that," Petros argued. "What about Cadoc? You just go around treating him like he's so great, dragging him along 'cause you think he's so cool and mysterious and damaged... but I think he's trouble."

"That's not why I recruited him," Jaina defended herself, but she felt herself redden. Truth be told, she did like Cadoc's rugged determination. "He's a good addition to the team. I think you're just jealous of him."

Petros sputtered. "Jealous of Cadoc? Are you kidding? I just don't trust him, that's all. Something is wrong about that guy."

"Like what?"

"Like... well, I can't put it clearly into words," Petros faltered. He frowned. "It's just... he's too damaged by the Shadow League, if you know what I mean."

"I don't."

"That guy's more than revenge-bent," Petros said in a grim tone. "Something broke in his mind when he was disgraced by the League and expelled from his home polis. He told me all about it, and I was suspicious even then."

Jaina felt more exasperated by the second. "I don't think this is an issue."

"I'm telling you, there's something wrong with that guy!" Petros insisted. He didn't raise his voice, but Jaina was shocked by the sudden intensity of it. "He enjoyed torturing Jero a bit too much. I saw it. Men like him are trouble."

"It was an interrogation," Jaina said, but she felt a creeping doubt in her mind as she spoke. "We needed that intel."

"I know we did," Petros relented, "but once this mission's over, we need to ditch that guy. Quick."

"Pretty eager to get rid of him, aren't you?" Jaina wondered how long this argument would go. She was starting to get a headache. Couldn't they get to Madam Apolla's island and finish all this already?

Petros nodded. "I just think we should stick to people we trust, that's all."

"I trust Cadoc."

"I'm not sure you should."

Jaina felt her anger rise again. "What gives you the right to doubt Sophia's and my decision to bring him along? We decide what happens on this quest! Not you!"

"I'm trying to help," Petros said stiffly. "I've got this quest's best interests at heart, believe it or not. I want us to do this the right way."

"Since when did you care about anything besides glory and women?" Jaina taunted him.

Petros' face fell. He seemed to deflate at Jaina's words. "Since I learned to grow up and take responsibility for myself."

Now Jaina was curious. "What's that supposed to mean?"

For a minute Petros was quiet; he looked like he was deliberating something in his head. Then: "Do you know why I joined the Reverent Army?"

"No," Jaina said blankly. She had never bothered to find out, or even wonder about it.

"It was my only way to redeem myself," Petros admitted heavily. "I was a criminal when I was younger."

"Huh?" Jaina never imagined Petros as a criminal.

Petros swallowed. "I ran with a bad crowd growing up. My family was poor, so some kids and I did all kinds of petty crime. Stealing from shop vendors. Pickpocketing. That kind of thing."

"And then?"

"I, uh... first, promise me you'll keep all this secret." For the first time, Petros' voice had a slight pleading tone.

Jaina suddenly felt tense. What was Petros going to tell her? "All right, I promise. What's your secret?"

"I killed a man," Petros said bluntly. He clenched his fists, taking a few deep breaths. "I was only fourteen. During a break-in to a old merchant's home. The old man caught me and my friends, so out of panic I attacked him. I tackled him in his study, and he hit his head on the edge of his desk and died before the city healers could get there. Then the guards hauled me off to jail."

Jaina was shocked. "They let you join the Reverent Army after that? I didn't know any of this!"

"Because we didn't meet until you joined the Army academy yourself," Petros told her. He sounded relieved to tell someone this. "Look, I spent two years after that accident in a boys' correctional institution and proved my remorse. Every day since I killed that old merchant, I lived in regret, even though it was ruled as involuntary manslaughter. For a time, I thought I deserved to die."

Petros shrugged. "Then I was told that serving the city was a better use of my time and energy. I eventually came to agree, and was allowed to join the Army when I turned sixteen and swore by Heliod's name to never hurt anyone unjustly again."

"Oh." Jaina didn't know what else to say, so she changed topics a bit. "But... why do you act like you do? Boasting and womanizing and complaining..."

"I left my old self behind," Petros told her. "I got over myself and decided to look on the bright side of things. I tried to reinvent myself, but I guess I took it a little far. I'm sorry if I annoyed you."

"I, uh..." Again Jaina didn't know what exactly to say. She decided on: "Thank you, Petros, for being so honest with me. I really didn't know."

Petros nodded. "Just... make sure you don't tell the others, okay?"

"I won't." Jaina spent a few minutes walking, then added, "Let's just stay focused and finish this quest. Do your part, Petros, and we'll be fine."

"Of course." Petros' old grin came back. "I want to be the archer that you need for this quest. I'm here for you. I'm ready and willing to lay my life down if need be. I mean it."

"Good. Hopefully it won't come to that," Jaina said frankly. She continued her patrol in silence, but she felt shaken by what Petros had told her. If he had suffered all that and still wanted to complete the mission so badly, then Jaina definitely had to give it her all. She could make no excuse.

As Jaina walked, she noticed that for some reason, the Dawnsail had started churning and rocking. Was there a storm outside? Then, an almighty crash threw the ship hard to starboard and both Jaina and Petros found themselves thrown to the floor.

The cabin doors slammed open and frightened guests babbled everywhere. "Get back in your rooms! Let us sort this out!" Jaina hollered. She scrambled to her feet and took off down the hall, heart hammering. "Come on, Petros!"

"Coming!" Petros got to his feet and followed Jaina to the security cabin, where Madam Apolla's guard captain was on full alert with his men.

"Got to be a kraken," the bearded captain said grimly. He gripped his pike tightly. "Make sure all the guests are in their rooms, then assemble on the top deck!"

Jaina's mind was racing as she checked the ship with the other guards. A kraken? Now? When dozens of rich and powerful people were going to an island where a trusted one was lurking? Something was going on here, and Jaina's ignorance of the situation frustrated her.

*o*o*o*o*

It took only a few minutes to secure all the guests, but Jaina knew that this was going to be a long night. She reached the top deck with the other guards and was met by a sight from her nightmares. Churning water slapped against the Dawnsail and angry waves rocked the ship like a toy. Thick gray clouds had convened overhead and sheets of rain fell on the ship while thunder boomed overhead. The red evening sun shone faintly through the horizon's storm clouds, throwing everything into twilight.

There was also a hungry kraken.

"It's a big one!" the guard captain shouted over the noise. "Mages, prepare to release your spells!"

Several mages, including Cadoc, had gathered on the deck's middle while nearly two dozen soldiers surrounded them in a protective ring. Destructive red, white, and green mana hummed and glowed in the air as the mages prepared their power, but to Jaina's eyes, the magic was only a pretty light show compared to the kraken's bulk.

Like a massive cobra, the sea serpent rose from the waters and bore down on the Dawnsail. Its creamy white underbelly was protected by thousands of dinner plate-sized scales, but the beast's back had massive, silver plating on it, and Jaina doubted that the strongest mages in the world could penetrate that chitinous armor. If Jaina had to guess, the kraken's serpentine body was at least twenty feet in diameter.

What an evening.

Unfettered by the rain, the kraken loomed over the ship and lowered its ugly head toward the assembled human defenders. Two round, yellow eyes glared at the warriors from under a hood of gray armor, and a dozen scaly mandibles surrounded the beast's toothy mouth. Jaina stood her ground with the other , but felt hope bleeding out of her as she stared up at the kraken's hungry maw. Nothing at the Reverent Army academy had prepared her for this!

The kraken let out a shriek of hunger and came crashing down on the Dawnsail. At once, a cluster of sizzling mana jets sprang from the mages' outstretched hands, and the massive kraken jerked back as the magical assault washed over its hideous face. Smoke coiled from the kraken's scorched armor, but to Jaina's eyes, the magical attacks had only made it madder.

Again the kraken threw itself at the Dawnsail, and again the mages retorted with a blistering volley of magic. The soldiers jabbed their pikes and sword at the beast's bulk, chipping off a few of its belly scales and scratching its back plates. Growling deep in its throat, the kraken slithered back out of harm's way.

Jaina didn't let herself relax for a second. While rain pelted her face and thunder filled her ears, she gripped her swords tight and kept her eyes on her giant foe. She had heard tales of kraken attacks back at Meletis, since the beasts sometimes preyed on merchant ships that sailed in and out of the polis' harbor. None of the descriptions did this beast justice, however; it was nature's destructive power given life.

Now the kraken shifted position, made another screechy roar, and flopped heavily onto the Dawnsail. This time, loud wooden cracking noises filled the air as the kraken threw its weight on the ship. What was more, the beast's mandibles caught two soldiers and drew the screaming men into its toothy maw. The men's cries were silenced as they were swallowed whole.

Instinctively, Jaina drew back, fear coursing through her. What good were her short swords against that? She didn't want to be swallowed too. She felt a chill run down her spine, and not from the cold rain that soaked her.

Jaina barely heard the guard captain's next order, but she soon saw the results. Now the soldiers rushed forth, their pikes and swords glowing with coalesced layers of mana. Fearlessly, the soldiers jabbed and slashed at the kraken with their enchanted weapons, and now they broke through the beast's defenses. The kraken squealed in pain as enchanted weapons tore at its face and neck, spilling gallons of dark red blood onto the deck.

The kraken had had enough. It shrank back and slipped under the ocean's angry waves, leaving only the storm and creaking ship behind. Jaina stared, awed. The kraken had vanished so fast, its whole attack had seemed like only a bad dream. She stared at the waves; had a massive, ship-killing beast really come from down there?

"Group up," the guard captain called out.

Numbly, Jaina turned and joined her fellow guards. The mages all looked exhausted but pleased at their work. "We enchanted their weapons," Cadoc told Jaina over the wind's howling. "It's a useful tactic for combined-arms assaults. Remember when I enchanted Petros' arrow?"

Jaina nodded. She clearly recalled Cadoc enchanting an arrow so Petros could send his projectile further than by any mundane means. "I guess we'll have to remember that for later battles," she said, unwilling to mention the Shadow League by name in front of the guards.

"Yeah," Cadoc said. "I suppose we – behind you!"

Jaina hardly needed the warning. The ocean's surface exploded and the kraken surged out of the water, angrier than ever. Torrents of water spilled across the Dawnsail's surface and Jaina winced against the wave of cold seawater. She knew this had been too easy!

When Jaina opened her eyes, a fresh wave of dread coursed through her. The kraken was still wounded, but this time, three sets of lobster-like arms sprouted from the kraken's upper body, each arm fitted with a claw big enough to cleave a cyclops in half.

Now the kraken renewed its attack, and the human defenders could do little but frantically try to avoid the beast's claws. Jaina and the other soldiers leaped out of the way just in time, for the kraken had thrown itself onto the Dawnsail's deck yet again. One of the mages was too slow, though. A claw closed around him and clenched, neatly sawing him in half. Seconds later, a pike-wielding guard met the same fate.

"Attack!" the guard captain hollered. The other guards advanced and jabbed at the kraken with their enchanted pikes while a few mages flung scorching jets of fire for support. Fresh wounds peppered the kraken's hide, but the beast casually swept a claw aside and knocked the soldiers away.

Just when I thought we stood a chance, Jaina thought darkly. She joined the other guards in another assault, but she felt her short swords merely bounce off the kraken's thick plates. Then, pain erupted in her chest when a claw smashed her aside. Jaina felt herself tumble away like a rag doll, head ringing from when her head struck the Dawnsail's deck. She struggled to catch her breath.

Jaina could barely hear the battle, but she did hear the kraken roar and men shout in alarm. Shaking her head, she pushed herself onto her feet, picked up her swords, and rushed back over. No lousy sea snake was going to best her!

Or maybe it would. Jaina found herself retreating from the kraken's marauding claws, and while she watched, the claws claimed three more bloody victims. No one dared get close enough to the beast for land a solid blow.

"We've got to find its weak spot!" Petros shouted over the wind. The kraken was now content to keep its chest on the ship's deck and wave its claws everywhere.

"That thing doesn't have a weak spot!" Jaina called back. Was this any time for Petros' cockiness?

"I'm an archer," Petros told her. "I've trained to shoot things in their weak spots. All armor has vulnerable areas! This kraken's hide must have a weak point!"

"But... oh," Jaina realized. She stared at the kraken's ugly, snake-like body. Its armor plates were thick, yes, but what about underneath them? Why did the kraken need plates and scales to begin with?

The soft, fleshy body underneath.

"Captain!" Jaina barked at the man. "We've got to get on that thing and injure the flesh under the plates!"

The captain quickly caught on. "We need a distraction," he said. "Mages, prepare a diversion while I set up a strike team."

Jaina was only too happy to join the strike team. After Cadoc infused Jaina's right blade with tight coils of red and white mana, she sheathed the left one and joined four other soldiers, all of them prepared for the worst. As soon as the mages distracted the kraken with a magical attack, Jaina and the others sprang into action.

It felt crazy, charging straight at a six-armed kraken. But what other choice did Jaina have? She could spend all evening hacking at its plates and never get anywhere.

One of the attacking guards wailed as a claw caught and crushed him, but Jaina and the other three men grabbed hold of the kraken's bumpy plates and hung on tight. At once, the kraken lifted itself again, swaying back and forth as though to shake off its passengers.

Jaina gripped the kraken's chitinous hide with the numb, aching fingers on her left hand. She didn't dare let go; if she fell to the deck from this height, she'd be clawed to death, and if she fell into the ocean, she was definitely done for.

The other soldiers rammed their swords at the junctions between the kraken's plates, but even their enchanted weapons couldn't quite break through. Smoke wafted from the scorched plating, but nothing more.

The kraken, angrier than ever, screeched and twisted its arms back as though to pick off its unwanted passengers. One of the claws seized a man and tossed him right into the ocean, leaving Jaina and just two others.

A claw lunged at Jaina and she felt the claw's sharp edge slice open her thigh. Not a sound escaped Jaina's lips, however; she was too numb, wet, and determined to register anything but a desire to kill this kraken. With blood oozing down her leg, she heaved herself onto the kraken's back plates, out of the claws' reach. Before the kraken could throw her off, she knelt and plunged her sword at the same place where a guard had struck earlier.

This time the kraken gave a reaction. It squealed again and jerked back, but Jaina hung onto her sword for dear life as she drove it deeper between the kraken's plates. Cadoc's searing red mana melted the damaged plating away while the white mana drilled deeper into the flesh.

The kraken twisted its whole body aside and Jaina saw the other two guards fly off, splashing into the ocean far below. It was just her now, the only one who could finish it. Jaina gritted her teeth as she strained to push the sword ever deeper, her arm muscles burning...

Cadoc's mana had reached a critical point. By its own accord, the mana pierced the kraken's soft flesh and spread like a toxin. Red and pearly white mana shone from underneath the kraken's plates and Jaina smelled burning flesh.

Jaina suddenly realized that the kraken was about to sink into the ocean again; it was quickly lowering itself into the sea, and if Jaina didn't jump off now, she'd be trapped. Alarmed, she wrenched her sword free, ran across the kraken's back, and took a flying leap. She just barely reached the Dawnsail's ledge, seizing it with her aching left hand.

Jaina hung off the deck's edge, dangling right over the ocean. She felt her grip weakening. Any second now, she'd fall into the churning ocean. She prayed for Heliod to watch over her. Would the gods have mercy?

Strong hands gripped Jaina's arms and hoisted her up. Shivering, Jaina sprawled onto her back and relaxed, her sword falling out of her hand. Meanwhile, the writhing, smoking kraken plunged into the ocean's depths once again. Jaina tensely waited for its return, but she was left only with the rain and thunder.

"It's gone now. Must be," the guard captain figured. "Animal instinct. Don't stay close to something that can hurt you that badly."

"Hey, you did great," Petros said excitedly, kneeling beside Jaina. "You, one, kraken, zero."

"Good work out there," Cadoc grinned.

"Thanks, guys," Jaina mumbled, too tired to say any more. She let the guard captain bandage her leg, then Petros supported her as she made her way back to the guard barracks.