Kraken
#2 of Lystronia Chronicles
Near the front of a medium sized boat, an off white, female looking cat was leaning against the railing, staring across the deck to a large, black wolf. The cat sighed, deeply, and hung his head again, before turning, to peer over the seemingly endless ocean.
He wondered how long people would care about him missing, if he were to just toss himself over the side. Sure, his mom and dad would be sad, and the kingdom might miss him for a bit, but there were irrelevant. He knew that the one person that he wanted to care, wouldn't. And it just tore him up inside.
The cat leaned forward slightly, tipping over the edge slightly, but not enough to fall over. He stayed that way for a few moments, when a loud 'thunk!' came from behind. He jerked, and gasped, as his belly hit the railing, hard. He slid forward, almost falling off when a paw gripped his tail, halting his fall.
As Marilen was hauled back up, he heard the same distinctive growl that Xavyr had had ever since the marriage ceremony. "As much as I'd love to let you fall, your father would have me executed if you died, so consider yourself lucky." The wolf said, setting Marilen down back onto the deck.
Immediately, the cat darted off, running down a nearby set of stairs, and into his and Xavyr's quarters. Well. Atleast, they were supposed to be Xavyr's. But instead, they were his - and only his. Xavyr had long since decided to sleep with the crew of the ship, even if they wouldn't let him work with him.
Marilen tossed himself onto his large, decorative bed, and curled into a tight, tight ball.
-
Marilen felt the world around him shaking and rocking horribly. There were screams, and groans, and the extremely loud and ominous creaking of wood. Marilen curled up on his bed, until something hit the wall outside of his room. The cat screamed, and immediately ran out, going up to the deck... Only to regret it.
For one, it was raining. And it was raining hard. Horribly large drops pattered down continuously on the deck, making half the crew attend to tossing buckets of the water over the side. Large waves rammed into the ship every so often, rocking it more than usual, and sending even more water onto the deck.
There was something, something looking over the ship in the dark. Huge, black limbs covered in barnacles, fish, and gigantic suckers waved through the air continuously, smashing down on the ship, and carrying off a crew member screaming into the air, every so often.
Lightning flashed. Marilen saw something he never, ever wanted to lay eyes on... And he had never even heard of the thing before.
The main part - The part that the tentacles seemed to be connected to - was big and bulbous, blotting out the moon. It was covered in old scars and many, many different beasts that clung to it, feeding off the huge beast as a form of sustenance.
There was a single eye, staring emotionlessly at the ship, from just above the water, planted seemingly in the middle of the beast. And just below, an beak, covered in cracks and cuts, water and blood, opened, letting out an ear piercing shriek that cut through the night, worse than any banshee's scream.
Marilen screamed again, as lightning flash... This time, something reflected off of metal, and he saw Xavyr down on the deck, roaring, and hacking at the flailing limbs of the beast, scoring many deeps cuts on them. But it wasn't enough. And Marilen knew it. The now completely hopeless prince sunk to the wet, wooden floor of the deck, watching his only love battle the kraken.
-
Xavyr quickly fell to the deck, intentionally (of course), as a large tentacle flew over head. He rolled, and was back up in an instant, roaring his fury at the beast. Another tentacle flew. This time, the wolf turned, and slashed down, actually cutting off the end... But said end rammed into him, and sent him flying, hitting the mast of the ship with enough force to dent his armor - and the wood of the mast.
He stood there, dazed for a few moments, before looking for the crew. They should be helping him defeat this damned monstrosity! He found the survivors chucking bucketful after bucket full of both sea and rain water over the side, doing their best to prevent sinking. They were all exhausted, just as much as the wolf, or in a few cases, more.
Xavyr scowled, knowing that he would be forced to do this by himself. He gripped his sword handle tighter, and returned to battle, hacking at a limb as it flew near him. He heard several screams, one on his right, where a crew member had been snared by a tentacle... And one behind him. He turned, staring in profound dumbness... Marilen was on the deck. His eyes actually widened with fear. He most certainly would not allow this beast to hurt his mate. He swerved suddenly, to his right, and started running to the crew member, who was being lifted into the air, grasping at the wooden handrail with the force of a man in death... For that was surely what he was, if he let go. Xavyr reached the crew member, and grabbed his arm, pulling, placing his paws stubbornly against the deck, where the wood changed from horizontal to vertical. He pulled and pulled, but the damned thing wouldn't let go.
Still holding on, Xavyr suddenly stopped pulling as hard, and leaned forward, slashing at the tentacle as hard as he could... The tip was cut, and the fur released, but he also lobbed off the crew member's right footpaw, sending it into the night. The man screamed, as he fell back onto the deck. But he hugged Xavyr's leg, and thanked him for his life, before ripping his shirt, and adding a tourniquet to his leg.
Xavyr knew he needed something drastic. And suddenly, he had it. The wolf stabbed his sword into the deck, deep where it wouldn't budge, and ran into off the deck, into the underbelly of the ship, only pausing to grab his cat, and drag him.
The wolf rushed the prince down halls, soon reaching the small room that would be the armory. He took the cat into the room, and immediately started grabbing items: A few bow and arrows, explosive powder, quicklime, sulfur, oil, tow and a bowl. He poured the powder into the bowl, and handed it to Marilen, growling, "Grind it!" at the cat, who was so shocked, that he obeyed quickly. "Do it quickly! Hard. It must be fine." The wolf grunted, pouring everything else into a different larger bowl, and getting that ready.
-
Half the crew was gone. The remaining crew was tired out of their minds, wondering why the hell Xavyr, their only protection and stallance had run off with the princess. Damn irony!, they all thought. The continued to evade tentacles, and toss water out. But with every crashing down of that beast's arm, it got a little closer to the crew members.
A few minutes later, one member was caught on the leg, and soon the beast had the rest of the crew. Screeching its victory, the beast raised them into the air, flourishing his prizes... When he was struck with a flaming arrow... But that was the least of its worries. Atleast, that was what it thought before the arrow promptly exploded, tearing a sizable chunk out from its flesh. The beast screeched louder, in pain, and dropped the crew members, swerving to find its earlier enemy on the deck, under the slight protection of a cloth, stretched from one post to the main deck, holding a bow and arrow. It noticed arrows soaking in some black goo, in a bowl, near the small wolf's feet, with a cat feeding more arrows every second.
-
Xavyr fired another arrow, stooping down to grab two more from the bowl. He made sure, with great caution, that none touched any water - which was extremely hard. He fired those two, and was rewarded with the beast's screeches of pain.
He kept on grabbing more and more, firing and firing until his arm felt as if it would fall off from the stress. The crew had picked themselves up, and were hauling water at a much faster pace, elated by the fiery return... Of their savior.
Xavyr started taking more and more careful aim, as they started to run out of arrows. "Go get more!" He barked at the prince, sending the feline off.
He started aiming near what seemed to be the face-like area of the kraken. He, luckily, got one stuck in the beak, and watched with great pride as part was blown off. He reached down, only to find that he was out of arrows, until his prince returned. Xavyr dropped his bow, and ran out to the deck, occasionally slipping and sliding, until he came upon his sword. He yanked the metallic blade from the deck, and dodged a flying tentacle.
The beast was attacking the ship more forcefully, enraged beyond any sort of reason. Xavyr looked down at his sword, to the bowl of goo, and then to the kraken. He growled. Damn that cat for making him loose two swords!, he thought, running back to the goo.
-
Marilen burst into the armory, immediately attacking the boxes in search of arrows, of which there seemed to be none. He searched the walls, the chests, and everything, but only found blades... And a few arrow shafts, headless. They would do no good. He set them onto the floor near the door anyways, and suddenly tripped over a box of small daggers. The cat gasped, in pain, and opened his eyes to find a coil or rope. He blinked.
-
Xavyr dunked his sword into the goo, scraping along the bottom. He couldn't get enough on, no matter what way he turned it. Growling, he lifted the bowl, and poured, slowly of course, the goo onto his blade. He set the bowl on the ground, when his sword was fairly coated, and ran into the rain, hiding his sword beneath him, so it wouldn't get wet. Even when he felt heat coming from it, he ran to the edge.
Finally, he whipped it out, watching it catch aflame in the rain... He pulled his arm back, and threw the sword, watching it fly, in a large, large arc, until it sunk deep into the flesh above the bottom half of the kraken's beak. Xavyr took a few steps back, waiting, waiting... The sword blew up. The kraken screeched... And a piece of the hilt of his blade hit him in the head. He fell back, slamming into the deck. He knew he was bleeding.
And then, at the worst possible time, he fell unconscious. He felt all was doomed.
-
The wolf awoke to the familiar sound of bow fire, and the extremely weak screeching of the kraken. He sat up, gasping at what he saw. The beast was now covered in holes, bleeding profusely. Even its eye seemed to be put out, a huge chunk missing from the brow! Three more arrows thunked into the beast's flesh, exploded almost immediately.
With a final roar of pain, defeat, and death, the kraken tipped backwards... And sunk into the waves. The crew screamed in victory, knowing the battle was theirs.
Xavyr stood, intent on congratulating the archer. He turned, and found Prince Marilen, powder streaked and angry, holding his long bow, with another two arrows ready to fire. The arrows looked wrong, actually... What was that? Were those daggers tired to arrow shafts?!
The wolf was dumbfounded again. He walked over to his mate, and took the bow from him, setting it on the ground. And then, the sun rose, illuminating the deck, and casting a rainbow over the ship. Amidst the crew's screams of joy, Xavyr leaned down to Marilen, and kissed him.