Erick breathed a sigh of relief as Sonia headed below deck, he had let down enough women in his life.
She hated it, he could see that. But she would only get herself killed up here. Not that Erick might fare any better, but at least he had a weapon and some training, however rudimentary.
"You too pip-squeak." Hirio told him, panting like a dog. "Get below deck."
Erick forced a laugh. "Ha! With you barely able to swing that, why, you will surely perish without me."
Hirio growled. "If you die, I'll tell your father it was your own fault."
I'm sure he'd be delighted to hear it, Erick thought.
In a brief spell of rationality, Erick wondered why he didn't go below deck. And hide behind Sonias skirts? No, he was still a noble and had to consider his pride. He would rather die than let someone take that from him. I suppose it's the only thing I have left.
He drew his weapon, a pair of dual blades suitable for his lean physique. The feel of them in his hands excited and frightened him. Oh, he had used them of course, he had fine teachers at the Wycademy. But he had never actually killed anything with them.
Swallowing nervously, he looked out to the sea, following the disturbed water as the Lagiacrus circled the ship. "Why doesn't it attack?" A sailor cried.
"It's sizing up the ship." Hirio responded. "Fire a warning shot, might be we can scare him off." The sailors looked to one another nervously. "Won't that provoke it?"
Hirio sighed. "Or we do nothing and wait for it to tear the ship's hull out from underneath us." The sailors began quickly loading one of the ballista.
"No, the cannon. It's bigger and noisier." Erick continued watching the leviathan, drawing ever closer. "You've clearly some experience with this." Erick observed.
"You should know, you read through my record." Hirio snarled in response. Ah, not going to let that go anytime soon I see
The sailors piled the ammunition into one of the cannons and looked on with nervous eyes. Mills glanced at Hirio doubtfully but held his tongue. The Lagiacrus broke the surface again, when it did, there was a thunderous boom and a cannon ball was sent hurtling into the ocean.
The shot missed, splashing uselessly into the water, but the monster paused. A vague silhouette floating just below the surface. The ship held its breath.
Slowly, the silhouette withdrew, becoming smaller and smaller until eventually it vanished. 5 seconds passed, 10, a minute. Is it gone? Hirio lowered his sword, clearly tired.
His respite was short lived.
The ship violently lurched upwards, Erick quickly lost his footing and hurtled into the mast behind him. His vision went black, and sounds became distorted and broken. Frantically he tried to find his feet only to be thrown forward. Something grabbed his arm, pulling him out his daze. Slowly Hirio's helmet came into focus, and the distorted noises became crashing waves and splintering wood.
Erick felt as though he was spinning, and then realised he in fact was spinning. The whole of the Red Maiden was rotating, rocking up and down as it did so. Erick was steadied by Hirio, who seemed to have little trouble holding his footing despite the ships tumultuous pitching.
"What's happening!?" Erick screamed.
"The Lagiacrus has dove under the ship and will be swimming in a circle to create a whirlpool. Classic Lagiacrus hunting tactic, it's trying to pull us under."
"It's going to sink my Red Maiden!" Mills wailed, clutching the wheel as it spun out of control
Hirio shook his head. "By my reckoning, the ships too big for it to sink before it gets tired! But with all this rolling we might take a few knocks!"
As if on cue, a scream came from below deck. "Breach!"
Everyone ran to the sound, with half of them tumbling down the stairs with the ship's erratic movement. Cargo was careering in all directions, furniture tumbling madly through corridors. Erick turned a corner and saw Sonia being flung against a wall; he shouted her name.
She looked up in wild panic. "We're taking on water!" She grabbed a door frame to steady herself and pointed behind her. "The biggest ones in the pantry, we've sealed it off. But if we keep getting thrown around like this the ships bound to get a few more!"
The thought made Erick shudder. "Well, seems my father's luxurious food stores have gone to waste! And I so enjoyed the Epioth seasoning."
Hirio gave Erick an incredulous look. "Epioth seasoning!?"
Erick nodded. "Yes, it's an extract from male Epioth's during summer period-"
Hirio shoved him against the wall. "I know what it is you idiot! I use it in sea monster lures!"
"Oh, Oh…" Erick grasped what he was saying.
"It's going after your dads bloody buffet!"
Did he know? Erick wondered. Is this how you rid yourself of me, father?
"Well, now we know what it wants, let's just throw it overboard and let it follow!" Sonia suggested, but a sailor behind her shook his head. "To do that we'd have to reopen the pantry, and that breach could flood the entire ship!" Sonia cursed.
Hirio drew in his breath. "Sonia, how big is the breach?"
"A few feet across, maybe half a foot wide, why?"
"I can swim into it from the other side and throw the seasoning out." The entire cabin gaped in shock.
"Are you mad!" A sailor shouted. Hirio glared at him menacingly. Sonia spoke up. "Hirio, even if you managed to get to it with the ship being thrown around, and that monster out there. The breach is too small, you'll never fit through it."
The two continued to argue, but Erick was so lost in his thoughts he barely listened. Did you know father? Was the shame so much? His father had invested much in preparing the ship, but such a sum would be a small amount to the Montfort family. Keeping up appearances, everyone knows the crossing is dangerous…To send me out unprotected would have raised too many questions. The Elder Crossing was in full swing, they had run into a mere leviathan today, but it could easily have been an Elder Dragon. What if he has more lures in the pantry?!
Far from the first time, Erick cursed his father. That thrice damned man, not just for his spite, or for his callousness. But for condemning everyone on the ship to die alongside him. Mills, Hirio, Sonia… Guess I'll fail her just like the last one.
She saw her clear as day in that moment, with sunlight in her hair and diamonds in her eyes. A more beautiful picture of regret he had never seen.
No. Something whispered inside Erick.
A small voice, barely heard over Sonia and Hirios arguing and the Red Maidens death throes, but it was there. He felt his pride well in his chest, slowly at first, but then a roaring torrent that set his limbs ablaze. The shame of allowing these people to die because of his feud with his father seared his conscious, and he could not bear it. I know what I have to do.
"Sonia." He spoke. "Would I be able to fit through the breach? It seems an apt size." Both Hirio and Sonia stopped and stared at him. "Erick, that's-"
He held up his hand. "Will I fit?"
Sonia studied him for a while, then nodded. "Yes, I think you will. But you'll never make it! That monster will tear you to pieces!"
"Most certainly." Erick agreed. "If I go alone." He turned to Hirio. Daring to gaze into the dark coals that where his eyes, in those terrifying pits, something gave. "I'll go with him."
Erick nodded and took a deep breath. "Then, here we go."
The two hunters stood on the edge of the Red Maidens starboard bow, though the ship rocked wildly, they held their footing.
"Don't try and fight this thing, just swim into the breach, get the seasoning, and get out as fast as you can."
Erick peeked over the edge into the thrashing waves. "I have no intention of matching myself against a Lagiacrus, rest assured. I leave all the glory to you." He made a mock bow, and Hirio grunted. "Ready?"
"Ready!"
The pair jumped.
The cold hit him first, an icy embrace that shocked him far more than he thought it would. His vision adjusted and he propelled himself along the ship's hull, searching for the breach. To his left, he saw Hirio with his sword drawn, and below, the source of their dilemma.
The beast noticed the two hunters who had dived into the water and ceased its circling to swim closer. Well, at least we won't have to worry about the ship anymore. Hirio swam to meet it, raising his sword in preparation to strike.
There! Erick saw the breach, and propelled himself towards it. The Lagiacrus noted his change of course and veered off to follow him. Hirio moved with it, changing his downward trajectory to intercept the monster.
The old hunter spun, reaching out with his great sword. Blade met flesh and rent it's hide asunder, resulting in a gush of blood from the creature's side. It whirled on Hirio, snarling, but as its gaping jaws came forward Hirio jabbed at its eyes, forcing the beast to retreat. The Lagiacrus circled him, considering its options and having completely forgot about Erick.
He dived into the breach and began hurriedly searching for the seasoning. He tore through the shelves and ripped open boxes, all the while becoming increasingly aware of how painful his lungs where getting.
Outside he could see Hirio duelling with the Lagiacrus. Despite being in its element, the monster seemed to be outmatched. And once again, Erick was dumbfounded at how damn fast Hirio could swing that huge sword. The serpent looped around in an impressive show of acrobatics, bobbing and weaving, trying to find an angle. But Hirio was always there to meet him.
However, being underwater the monster still had the advantage of agility, and Hirio couldn't find an opening to go on the offensive. Every time it swam out of range and circled back around to attack from a new direction.
Erick pulled his attention away and focused on the task at hand, it was getting really difficult to hold his breath now, if he didn't find it soon...
A small chest caught his eye, but as he grabbed it his vision began to blur. Desperately he prized the chest open and recognised the contents. This is it! Erick was losing sense of direction quickly, and the cacophony of battle from outside was getting further and further away. He threw the chest out the breach just as his sight began to turn black.
He couldn't hold on any longer, Erick opened his mouth and let the ocean in. Its icy chill scoured his throat and purged his lungs of air, he thrashed like a fish on a hook, drowning, dying. He saw the chest sink into the depths, and despite his predicament, managed a smile. You may take me, but no one else father. Holding the thought in his heart to gain some semblance of peace, Erick let his consciousness slip away.
"You have shamed me, Erick." His father said, looking out to the sea with a cold fury that was far too familiar for his liking. "Repeatedly, you have shamed me. But today…" The lord Weyland shook his head. "Today you have crossed a line that there is no coming back from."
"Father, I cannot marry her, I will not." Erick pleaded. He thought he had it all worked out, he thought that together they could run away. This marriage would mean nothing in the New World.
They stood on the wharf looking out at the Red Maiden. The ship that would have taken him and Anya to their freedom. He thought he had planned it all so carefully, just a bit of light number crunching from his father's accounts to hire the ship. A word at the armourers to get it retrofitted for the journey across the sea, when they walked onto its deck and found the Montfort guards waiting for them…
"Where is Anya father?" Erick asked. He hadn't seen her since that night, dragged screaming and crying from the Red Maiden.
"Tell me, is she worth it son, that common whore?" He still would not turn his head to look at Erick.
"She is no whore!" Erick shouted. "She is a sailor's daughter! She saved my life! I will not have her called-"
"She is a common woman marrying for wealth. What does that make her if not a whore?" His father turned to look at him. "Did you fall for her? Truly? A few honeyed words and a woman's warmth was all it took for you to stain our family's name?"
"She saved my life father! At great risk to herself! I will not-"
"You will, if I command it!" His father shouted. "Do you realise the chaos you have caused? Our standing with another house is ruined, because you refuse to marry their daughter. All because you are smitten with some fishwife!" He shook his head. "And since you still refuse to marry, I will have to deal with you another way."
Erick stiffened his upper jaw. "I will take any punishment you warrant before I marry another woman."
His father chuckled at that. "I have decided to grant your request. You will go to the New World. On this very ship, I will oversee preparations myself." Erick waited for what he was sure was coming next. "Anya, will not go with you."
The blow stung, but it was no less than Erick had expected since their discovery. He knew it could only end this way, there was no negotiating with the Lord Weyland. Erick drew in his breath and fought back tears. "I will endure the New World then, safe in the knowledge that Anya lives happy and healthy across the sea."
"How noble." His father commented. "But Anya will not be returning to her family."
A knot formed in Ericks gut. "What?"
"The girl has committed a grievous crime, in conspiring to kidnap a noble and commandeer a ship to the New World."
"What! You can't possibly think people will believe that its-"
"As a result, she is sentenced to 10 years of indentured service on the Dundorma walls."
Erick listened in horror. "The Dundorma walls! Between the hard labour, the conditions, the dragon attacks! Her chances of surviving 10 years are…are..."
"Impossible. They are impossible son." His father stared at him, his gaze almost suffocating. "She will die, and you will go to the New World where you can cause no further trouble. This entire incident will be quietly forgotten and provide no further stain on our honour. If you refuse, I will have her killed outright, and you will still go to the New World. Either way, there is no life for you anymore on this side of the sea."
Erick roared and struck his father; the old man fell to the ground before his guards dog-piled Erick. He spat at his father's feet. "Do you accept? Or will Anyas fate be the headsman's axe?"
Erick stopped struggling. He looked up at his father will all the fury he could muster, then whispered those dreaded words. "I accept."
The dream began falling away, shifting and changing until nothing remained. He saw her before him clear as day, with sunlight in her hair and diamonds in her eyes. She reached out and put a hand on Ericks cheek, but her skin began to turn bruised and scarred. Her hair was matted with dust and ash, her eyes sunken and broken. Then the flames devoured her, and she was naught but charred bones.
"Erick!" A voice was shouting his name, a woman's voice. Light slowly returned to his eyes, then colour, then shapes. "Move!" A man shouted. "Get the water out his lungs!" Something that felt like a sledgehammer hit his chest, and he shot upwards like a spring, spitting water in all directions.
"Ah, dammit pip-squeak!" Hirio wiped the saltwater from his face. He could see clearly now, lay on the deck of the Red Maiden surrounded by a sea of worried faces.
"I'm, alive?" Erick said, bewildered.
"You tried your best to end up otherwise, but yes, your alive." Sonia was kneeling next to him.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Soon as you threw that lure out, the monster chased it. Managed to grab your drowning ass and pull you to the surface." Hirio told him.
"You, saved my life?" Erick asked.
Hirio shrugged. "Been paid to do a job, I don't like botching them."
Erick stood, slowly, he still felt dizzy. "Well, what now?"
"Right now, you need a fire and something hot. You took on a lot of seawater, your body temperature is well below what it should be." Hirio grabbed him, and he and Sonia took him inside.
Soon he was sat in front of a fire slurping a hot drink, the shivering had stopped, and some colour had returned to his face. Sonia sat with him, Hirio was stoking the flames. He polished off the hot drink in no-time.
"Sonia, best to get him another." Hirio said, Sonia smiled and left the two hunters alone.
"I've been hired to keep you alive." Hirio said. "This journey, and the New World, will be dangerous. The best way I can think to protect you is to teach you how to protect yourself." He turned and looked Erick in the eye. "Starting tomorrow, we train twice a day. At dawn and at dusk." Erick looked at him, dumbfounded. "Your, actually going to teach me?"
"To defend yourself so you don't get killed, yes. Makes my life easier." Hirio left his seat and started walking up to the deck, he paused.
"You said a name while you where coming around boy. Sonia seemed worried about it."
There was a long, awkward silence, like he was going to say more, but Erick supposed he thought better of it. Hirio walked up the stairs, and vanished into the night.