The Dragonstone

CHAPTER 76

Stand ready!" cried Aiko. "Peril comes." To one side on the ledge, Burel and Delon took up the lines to the rope webbing floating in the water along the outflow from the cavern. Opposite the underwater crevice, Aiko held the third line, and used it to keep the rope mesh positioned correctly in the current below. At the Ryodoan's feet a coiled line lay, ready to cast should Dara Arin miss the webbing altogether.

And loud grew the cry of her silent red tiger as peril came rushing headlong.

Of a sudden, driven by the mighty current, like a shot from a sling the Dara came hurtling through and upward, something huge and dark and deadly speeding after. She nearly missed the floating mesh, but at the very last moment managed to grab on with one hand.

"Now!" shouted Aiko, letting go as Burel and Delon hauled with all their might. Sputtering and gasping for air, Arin grabbed hold with her free hand just as she was jerked sideways in the water toward the two men high on the ledge above. Driven onward by the massive flow, the Kraken hurtled straight past the Dara and beyond, its tentacles clutching nought but water where she had been. Even so, its great dark form could be seen turning 'neath the water for another run at its prey.

"Hurry!" shrieked Aiko, the Ryodoan now moving along the ledge, her swords in hand, though when she had drawn them she did not know.

Now Delon and Burel hauled the Dara upward, each man straining to the uttermost, though it was Burel with his great strength carrying most of the burden.

Up she was drawn and up, up and away from the water, a massive dark form speeding toward the cliff below.

Now a huge tentacle whipped out of the brine and snatched at her leg, but Arin jerked aside, and then she was beyond the creature's reach.

Huge tentacles lashed the water in fury and beat against the wall as the monstrous Kraken below clutched upward, only to fall inches short. Again the monster whipped its tentacles in rage, churning the brine into foam.

At last Burel and Delon hauled Arin up to the level of the ledge, and Delon reached out and helped her to stand, while Burel cast the mesh aside.

"Lord Adon," cried Delon, shouting with stress though the danger was past, "but that was close."

Arin stood trembling uncontrollably, though whether it was from cold or fear or from the near brush with death, none could tell. And Burel stepped forward and took her in his wide embrace and murmured, "Be at ease, Dara Arin, for Ilsitt has seen you safe."

But then Aiko cocked her head in puzzlement and looked at the enraged Kraken below, then peered about. "What is it, my love?" asked Burel, still holding the Dylvana in comfort.

"More peril comes," Aiko said. "Whence, I cannot say."

But in that very moment, out from the underwater crevice came hurtling another form, something huge and hideous rushing after.

'Twas Egil and another Kraken, but this time there was no waiting rope net.

Out they hurtled and out, impelled by the massive flow, Egil struggling to the surface, gasping for air, only to be wrenched under by a massive tentacle grasping his leg.

Upward he clawed, his efforts entirely futile, his strength minuscule compared to the monster's. No longer holding an axe, he drew his dagger and desperately hacked at the rope arm, all to no avail, for the edge made no mark whatsoever on the tough hide.

And now with its victim clutched in its underwater grasp, the creature began to swim back toward the entrance, Egil's agonized lungs burning to breathe, his chest heaving spasmodically, his whole being screaming for air.

But there was none to be had, and in the last moments, his mind spinning down into darkness, unable to withstand the demands of his need, Egil drew in great lungfuls of water.

And in that moment in the grasp of a Kraken, Egil began to drown.