Chapter 9-3

Zakhin’Dakh perked up at Almonihah’s shout, then took off, risking the storm to look closer. Soon he circled back, shrieking out, Really big! Bigger than me!

“It’s big, too!” Almonihah translated, nocking an arrow and preparing for when the creature broke the surface.

Both Garkhen and the ship’s mage hurried over to where he stood, looking out over the ship’s railing. The mage paled at the sight. Behind them, the captain was shouting out orders, and sailors were arming themselves with whatever they could—though there seemed to be a number of them with spears.

There was no time to ponder what this meant, however, for a tentacle snaked out of the water ahead of the approaching creature. It was nearly as thick around as a man, and ended in a pad with large suckers. The ship’s mage belted out a short incantation and hurled a bolt of lightning at it. It blasted a smoking hole in the pad, making the tentacle flail about and then submerge beneath the water… only to be replaced by one, two, three more.

As the tentacles drew near enough to touch the ship, the creature partially emerged, showing a huge, fleshy head, covered with odd growths in various grays and browns, with a gigantic maw ringed by countless tentacles. Almonihah loosed an arrow at it, but he knew it would be little more than a pinprick to a creature of such size.

He swore, quietly but intensely, in Draconic as he nocked another arrow. This was going to be bad…

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But of course it’s a Kraken! What else would it be?

And yes, short post today. I have a couple big projects due next week, so I’ll probably be brief on the next post, too.