83 Survival

I sighed deeply as I dived deeper. Beside me, Terrick swam along, a dangerous calm had seeped through his mind as his presence thinned.

He had been shaken by the appearance of the huge snake. Seeing his crew's strength and all they had achieved together had lulled him into a false sense of security. Only now that his crew's bedrock had been challenged had he begun to question his own position in the crew.

Of them all the captain had been the most proactive, driving himself ragged with every passing day to keep the crew aloft and ensure their strength. The first mate had acted as a stable foundation he was the sane to the captain's insane, the calm to the captain's frenzy and by far one of the only useful characters on the ship.

Even when he had been injured he had lurked in the background, a psychological bedrock to the entire crew's crazy shenanigans.

The snake had shocked him, what had he achieved today? He could not help but question as the water around him bubbled with the force of an oil pan thrown into a cold lake.

What had he done to justify his own existence on the crew? Heck even when the snake had arrived it was still the captain who was conscious enough to drag him into the calm sea, he had just stood there, gawking at the strange sea creature.

As these thoughts began to run through his head a strange and cold chill ran through his mind. A clarity that he had not felt in forever had descended over him.

Before he had joined the crew, he did not have a strong leader, now his leader was strong and he had become weak.

The chill that had began in his brain seeped into every crevice in his body, the muscles in his hands and legs galvanized and his intent sharpened.

He was an assassin first and foremost, and now the situation he was in was unfavorable.

"Captain, you think we can stand out among the coming horde?" he asked softly as his captain surfaced, a cold smile on his face.

Lorean looked at him for a second, taken aback at the sharp contrast in the aura surrounding his crew member. Before he had always felt like a ruffian who had been called an assassin, now he felt like an actual assassin.

With a ruthless smile Lorean nodded and the assassin was off.

In front of them a scaly tail surfaced, the water swiveled around them as the air turned frigid, saturated by a wild and beastly killing intent.

The sea began to toss and turn, waves forming on the surface the size of a minor tsunami. Around them a horde of heads began to pop out, saliva falling off their juvenile yet razor sharp teeth.

With a minor push of his feet Terrick propelled himself into the assembled crowd. A thin bladed dagger in his hand that he had pulled from a strap in his boot.

With a hiss of challenge a beast lunged towards him, a host of them looking on from behind. With a dangerous swivel he barely avoided the head.

With a shriek of rage the first beast shook off its alley that had lodged its front into the base of its neck.

As the two creatures fought a dozen of them came to occupy the vacated space. Terrick began to jump and twirl like a trapeze artist avoiding the sleuth of incoming foes.

A thin rain had begun to fall, a result of the water that had been thrown up by the rabid lunges of the sea faring monsters.

On his side Lorean fought his own enemies, much lesser in number, but they made do with sheer size. One bobbed downward as it opened its beaklike mouth just to be smacked in the side and propelled into another more bulky one that looked like a horse had been grafted onto its face.

Around him in a ring the creatures rose attacking in turns with a coordination that would make the heads of a hydra swoon in jealousy.

A creature whose face and coloration looked like the pokemon remoraid lunged downward, the sheer quantity of muscle in its lanky frame whipping the water into a pale white froth. With a huge thud its head fell into the water, barely missing its target who had taken the opportunity to jump onto its head and bear hug its neck, a dagger stabbed into its neck cartilage.

A wail of pain and anger loudly pierced through its contemporary beastly roars as Terrick stabbed into the eye of one of his assailants before kicking against its side to propel himself onto the rising body of another creature.

With a cruel squelch of flesh he stabbed his free hand into the creature's midsection. His hand took the form of a knife hand as it plunged into the creatures bony interior. He pulled outward harshly as he fell towards the water causing the creature to screech piteously as it swayed trying to dislodge him.

With a dull crunch a curved bone was pulled out of the puncture wound that Terrick immediately used as a makeshift sword as he drove it into the skull of an incoming gecko faced sea king.

The rancid roar that sounded only increased his pace of stabbing as fresh blood jetted out. The sea's foam turned red with the amount of blood that was spilt, and more was to follow.

**************

"Edda, report!" A voice sounded from a misty isle. The snake that had been seen on Lorean's ship stopped momentarily as a shrill and basal voice called out.

"Edda, The yuda smelt a swath of intruders, I had gone out to investigate. I am Remmy from the high priestess' entourage!"

"Edda, report accepted, you may enter!" The voice said in the same commanding tone before the fog cleared to a certain extent. As the snake neared the huge silhouette of land a small entrance could be seen poking out at the very base that looked like a mine entrance.

With a small click of her tongue she patted against the base of her snake's neck coaxing it to enter the shaft.

With a small twitch of her lips she pulled a flask that existed at the side of her makeshift seat on the neck of the snake, made of what looked like sea king bones tied together with nerves, a small wineskin sat unassumingly at the center.

"The High priestess expects me, I must report quickly Edda." she said to herself as she took a deep swig from the wineskin. A dull fume effused from the bottle as she chugged. The snake below her puffed out its nose in response before rasping dully as it raced through the dark cave….