Chapter 2 – The Shogun's Court
by Scott S. Combs
The waterlogged gangplank creaked with each step Kurocyn took, just like it always did. Despite the night's rain, his boots gripped tightly due to the Genprey scales fixed to the deck. The wide, flat ship was divided into two sections; the storage deck and an elevated stern to the aft. The lower deck was easily fifty meters long; massive spools of rope and crates were grouped together towards the bow. The stern overlooked the whole of the ship with the captain and crew quarters lying beneath. The vessel had two pairs of masts that jutted out from the ship's center at forty-five degree angles roughly dividing the ship into thirds. Her sails were made from Plesioth wings and built into the masts, designed to unfold downward. This was the Stone Tablet, one of the heavy freighters owned by the Duloss family used for transporting large, dangerous, or unusual cargo, and on occasions like tonight, all three. Kurocyn had worked with the family before, and become a close friend to their son, Pegon.
Inside the captain's quarters, the party and crew sat at a large round table discussing their night ahead...
Tocs Duloss leaned over the table, pointing at a map. "Providing the tide hasn't pulled the Trebuchet further from shore, we've put it at just shy of fifty meters out and thirty-five meters down on the Western side. We'll anchor on the Eastern side, here." He noted, setting a miniature of the barge on the map. "Our four divers will descend to the ship and secure our mooring lines to her mast and rudder. The Stone Tablet will then heave the Trebuchet up towards the sand bar. There, the divers can easily recover the cargo in the shallow..."
"What about the Ceanataur, Captain?" A crewman interrupted, "The survivors said it never left the area. If it sees what we're..."
"Our hunter," he snapped at the man, "will post on the sand bar, here. Should anyone spot the Shogun, all crew members are to return to the ship immediately. Kurocyn will engage the beast, while Pegon guards the ship. Any other questions?"
The barge pulled into the bay silently, the storm masking her approach. Once in position, a catch was released and the Stone Tablet's anchor and chain crashed into the sea. The crew swarmed over the sand bar, staking torches down and running the two lines over the sand to the other side. The team of divers rattled their thunderbug lanterns to life and were soon out of sight beneath the waves.
Kurocyn watched over the sand bar from the South, keeping the moon's shadows at his back. Bow drawn and arrow knocked; he had doused the lanterns nearest him, keeping him veiled from sight. His eyes darted between the water looking for the divers' lanterns, and the ship to keep count of the crew.
The mooring lines drew taught and the Stone Tablet roared under the strain. Inch by inch, the ropes drew across the sand bar, slowly entrenching themselves despite the crews' best efforts. Then, with a flash of lightning, a broken mast stabbed towards the sky through the rain tossed waters. A second flash masked the divers' surfacing lanterns, and the thunder clap from the first drowned their cries.
When the crew finally heard the divers' warning, it was too late. As if a whip wielded by the gods of the seas, the north most mooring line snapped free. It cracked louder than a wyvern's roar and its strike more terrible than its bite. Four of the men lay dead, their bodies torn and beaten, another two crawling through the sands, searching for their legs.
The sands trembled and the ocean swole, a single blue crest burst through the waters. The Shogun was here...