The Dragonstone

CHAPTER 77

“Egil.'" screamed Arin, her eyes wide with horror. "Egil!"

She tried to push out from Burel's embrace, but he held her tightly, saying, "Dara, Dara, there's nothing we can do."

Delon kicked off his boots and whipped a rope about his waist and made ready to dive, but Aiko stopped him, saying, "Burel is right, there is nothing we can do."

And they watched as the great creature, Egil in its grasp, swam underwater in silence toward the entrance to the cavern within, the other Kraken turning to join the first. And the only sound to be heard was the quiet weeping of Arin and the far-off rumble of the Great Maelstrom.

Yet suddenly the hush was shattered:

RRKAAAAWWW! From above there echoed a mighty roar, and plummeting down the face of the precipice thundered Raudhrskal, his wings folded back in a stoop. Down he plunged and down, down the sheer fall of stone, his mouth wide and spewing flame, a stream of fire pouring down into the water as he came.

And lo! the Krakens turned and raced toward the place of the fiery blast.

Whoom! Raudhrskal slammed into the water, an enormous wave billowing up and rolling outward, the surge to hammer into the precipice, brine whelming over those clinging to the ledge above.

And still the Krakens raced toward the Drake, as if rivals of one another, each one vying to get there first. And in their wake, in their wake-

"Egil!" shrieked Arin, pointing downward.

There in the water below, the current slowly drawing him into the grasp of the long turn of the sea spiraling toward the Great Maelstrom rumbling afar, just under the surface and abandoned by the Krakens drifted Egil, lifeless, without motion of his own.

"Anchor me," barked Delon, handing Aiko the other end of the line fixed 'round his waist. And then the bard dove from the high ledge and toward the water below, a flurry of rope uncoiling behind. Cleanly he dove down into the brine, a great stream of silvery bubbles showering upward in his wake. And he turned underwater to swim toward the drifting man.

"Stand ready, Burel," called Aiko, handing the end of the line to him. "As soon as he's lashed onto Egil, we'll haul him up."

Moments later Delon reached Egil and, grasping him, swam to the surface. Now the bard undid the line and fixed it about the limp man, and then shouted, "Draw him in!" and hung on as Burel and Aiko pulled both to the cliffside below.

Delon clambered up the stone, free-climbing, and he called, "Don't worry about me, I'm all right… But Egil is dead!"

Arin gasped, but Aiko said, "Draw him up, regardless, Burel. There may yet be a chance."

Now Burel alone hauled the limp body upward, the big man grunting with the strain, Aiko taking up the slack behind.

As Egil was lifted onto the ledge, Arin gritted her teeth. "Roll him onto his stomach," she said, then straddled Egil's waist and pressed down hard on his back.

Water gushed out from Egil's lungs, and again Arin pressed. More water flowed. And once more the Dylvana mashed down. This time only a bare trickle leaked outward, and Arin flopped him over onto his back and brushed his wet hair away from his face, so deathly pale and still. Then she pinched his nose shut and pressed her mouth to his and forced her breath into him, then turned her head and listened as the air escaped.

Once more she breathed into him; once more she turned aside.

And again…

And again…

And he did not respond…

And again…

And once more…

And still he lay cold…

And again she breathed into him…

And again…

And she hammered on his chest and cried, "Oh, Egil, my Egil, breathe, beloved, breathe…"

And again she sealed his lips with hers and breathed into him…

Altogether eight times…

And of a sudden Egil coughed once, twice, and began breathing on his own-hacking and gagging and spitting up water, but breathing on his own.

Arin covered her face with her hands and burst into wrenching tears.

And in the cold currents of the Boreal Sea, entwined in the tentacles of two fervent Krakens, all three ablaze with lust, Raudhrskal was drawn under and toward the churning whirl of the Great Maelstrom afar.