*M i d n a*
Æsir Scribe
Okay, well here is the next chapter. We surely are halfway there. 
Valegrious had been resting in his bunk bed comfortably for a few hours after having performed nightly guard duties, but all of a sudden he was woken up by Minono's crazy and loud shouts.
"Valegrious! Wake up! We've got major trouble!"
She came running into his room. Having heard her shouts, Valegrious jumped out of bed right away and noticed how pale and scared she was.
"What is the matter, Foxy?" he asked. "What's going on?"
She was pale and trembling, and she swallowed hard before him and fumbled for words. "I-It's a m-monster," she informed.
"What?"
"C-Come," she pulled him along, or at least started to, but Valegrious held fast and told her that he needed to put his boots on.
She nodded and let go of him and waited while he did that, Valegrious all the while hearing the ruckus caused by the sailors up on the main deck. He put his boots on as fast as he could and stood up from bed, where he had sat in order to put his boots on. As he rose, he was suddenly surprised when a loud splashing sound was heard right outside the window of his room. A dark shadow obscured the window and the whole room darkened a bit. Valegrious did not miss any of it, his face paled when his eyes saw the large form outside. His heart began to pound his chest as he rushed to stand behind the small round window. He was fast enough to catch a glimpse of a dark green colored, fat, and scaly serpentine form filled with black spikes before it went back into the water.
"Oh crap," he cried, his whole being becoming filled with fear.
He spun around and rushed towards Minono.
"Stay here, Honey."
"Valegrious, why?" Minono was scared, and she grabbed his right arm before he could rush away. "Is it bad?"
"It's a Kalemar," Valegrious explained calmly. "A damn sea dragon. Stay here."
"W-What? No, don't leave me here," she clung to his forearm, her face distorted in raw fear.
Valegrious was about to tell her that she was safer there, but he understood that when it came to huge sea monster threats, no place in the ship was really safe, except perhaps outside in that salty water.
"Come on," he grabbed her hand and rushed out. Minono ran along with him, her heart still beating fast.
The two came up the wooden stairs out to the main deck. Sailors armed with more than just muskets, swords, and javelins, were scrambling about, others were already stationed close to the side railings and looking out to the sea. Valegrious even saw several sailors already stationed behind the two mighty weapons of the Smelly Ignacia, these working hard to get them ready for firing. One was a big cannon that fired spiky cannon balls, and the other one was a bigger cannon that resembled a giant bow that fired harpoons, which sailors believed were just gigantic iron arrows.
Valegrious looked around and soon caught sight of Jzak Hennessy on the forecastle of the ship, the felinum holding a huge spear and shouting orders as she peeped out and over the safety railing off the starboard bow.
"Where did that damn kalemar go, Lads?" Valegrious heard her shout. "Where, dammit?"
Several scared and excited voices replied to her right away that they did not know, others pointed out that the monster had disappeared under the water some fifty feet away.
"Valegrious!" suddenly the current captain of the Smelly Ignacia heard a familiar voice coming behind him. He and Minono turned around and saw Emilyann the elf rushing towards them. The elf's friend warriors, Magatha, Abigale, and the angelus were at her side.
"It's a big one,” Emilyann cried in more wonder than fear. “Tallinor here saw it.”
At the side, the dark elf nodded several times.
"We didn't know what to do," Emilyann went on. "But I thought my men and I could furnish your sister and friends some protection, as you said we should."
"Yes, Emilyann, stay with them, please," Valegrious plead. "I have to help deal with that creature or we could be in for a very rough time."
Magatha, hearing him say that, gulped hard and got real scared.
"Lemme at it," said Pandora from the side, the short felinum holding her crossbow tight, an arrow already strung.
"You won't inflict much pain to it with that," Valegrious mentioned and made the young cutie felinum quiet down.
"What do we do, then?" asked Yukiko. The angelus appeared very frightened, same as those who had never seen a sea monster before. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Just stay out of the way," Valegrious told her and all others that were there. "Leave this to us who know how to deal with it. If things get out of hand, though, jump over board!"
"W-What?" Emilyann cried feeling scared and confused. Magatha and the angelus also asked the very same question, and the other warriors behind them looked at each other in confusion.
"Overboard?" Lupinka stared at Abigale, her rapier in her right hand. "Did he say overboard?"
"Yes he did," said Abigale.
"Look," Valegrious cried, his expression as serious as his words, for he knew time was of the essence. "This is a big creature, a ship sinker, as we call them, so things can get pretty nasty. If it attacks the ship, your best bet is to jump overboard into the water. These creatures just tend to destroy ships and then leave."
Valegrious had no time to say more on the matter, so he just told his sister to not be scared, that everything would be alright. And he gave Minono a quick kiss, reminded them all to keep out of the way, and then ran away.
"Dang it, there he goes," Pandora cried as she saw him go. "Guess we should listen to him and do as he said if it gets nasty."
"Yes," said Emilyann. "Come on, stay close to me, everyone. We'll stay out of their way."
"This way," invited the cook. "I know a place where we can hide and stay out of the way."
"Lead on," bade Emilyann.
Everyone followed the red haired girl as she led them all to the very middle of the ship where the main mast rose from the deck. Several covered and exposed wooden crates lay close by. Abigale told them that this spot was as good as any to stay out of the way.
Valegrious reached Jzak and she put him up to speed.
"A damn Kalemar, Vally," she revealed, her face pale, her voice more than just excited. "Biggest one I've seen!"
"I saw a bit of it," nodded Valegrious at her. "We better deal with it before it takes down our ships."
Five years ago the crew of the Smelly Ignacia had dealt with a similar monster, but it had been smaller, perhaps the ship's size, and they had been able to drag it along and later sold it in Asaki's meat market. Judging from the size of the monster that he had been able to see, Valegrious knew this one had to be a fully grown Kalemar, which, to his guessing, could be up to three or four times the size of the Smelly Ignacia, maybe more!
"The damn thing went underwater just right over there," Jzak pointed out, her green eyes staring out to the water and working hard trying to see the large form. Valegrious grabbed at the railing with his hands and looked out for the monster as well but saw nothing but agitated bluish water. He looked about the other ships and noticed that the crews were very alarmed and also doing what they were doing. Before they had departed from Port Goodweather many days ago, the other ships they had bought had been rigged with the sea monster hunting weapons and equipment that the Smelly Ignacia carried, so Valegrious believed that they would be able to deal with the monster effectively if it attacked them.
Knowing that, Valegrious ran across to port side and looked out to the horizon. The pirate fleets, if they were pirates at all, were still out there.
"They've been keeping their distance," informed Jzak. "But have been following us from afar."
"Maybe they're just watching out for their territory," Valegrious suspected.
"Or waiting for an opportune moment to strike us," the cat-eared beauty feared.
"Perhaps,” said Valegrious worriedly. “But we can't worry about them now. We've got this monster to deal with."
"Indeed," Jzak frowned. "But I've taken precautionary measures and have ordered the Sea Sprite's crew to keep an eye out on them. I know how lengthy the greed of pirates can be."
Valegrious agreed with her with a nod.
"Alright," breathed Jzak. "We know what we're dealing with here, Vally, let us get to action."
"Yes, it would be good for us to deal with this one as we did with the one we killed five years ago. You are our best hope behind the harpoon cannon, Cap'n, so go..."
"Dammit, Valegrious," the felinum cried and stomped her right boot on the wooden deck. "You're our captain out here, not me."
The sailor was nervous. "Yes, I know," he chuckled nervously. "A slip o' the tongue, dammit. Anyway, go, we'll probably rely on your accuracy for this one. Rygar will have to do something else."
"Right," Jzak understood. "He's not going to like it, but I'll send him down to lead the cannon crew."
"I'll make sure to make him happy with an extra ration of potatoes and gravy tonight," said Valegrious. “If we survive the day, that is.”
"Right," Jzak laughed nervously, for indeed with an extra ration of something, food or drink, one was able to make it up to unhappy sailors.
"Give me that thing," Valegrious took the fat spear from her. More than being just a spear twice the size of Valegrious's height, it was actually a weapon designed to deal with gigantic monsters such as the one they were dealing with. Its wide, diamond tipped head was razor sharp and could penetrate monster hardened skin like a knife through butter. It was usually used to stab the monsters in the head or in other vulnerable parts that would kill them instantly, such as the heart. Weapon in hand, Valegrious then began to drop his weapon's belt and the weapons he carried on him right on deck, for he wouldn't need those for what he was about to do. As he'd done that, a bearded scrawny sailor was quick to grab them and rushed off to put the weapons back in his room.
"You're not going to...dive in, are you?" Jzak asked, surely preoccupied.
"I'll do it if I have to," Valegrious told her. "It's my sister that we're out here for, so a lot of our safety is riding on my shoulders; I will take the risk and do my part if that thing comes at us."
Jzak nodded once, told him to be careful if he did dive in, and then left running toward the back deck. Valegrious grabbed the nearest sailor by the collar of his shirt and not only told him to keep everyone calm, but he also told him to tell everyone to keep an eye out for the monster, for spotting it was crucial for everyone's safety. If Valegrious was able to spot it, he could damn well attempt to kill it before it ever reached them.
Because the sailor stammered, Valegrious helped him into action by shoving him away. The sailor-turned-captain then climbed the beak of the ship and stayed on the alert, Stabber, as the weapon he held in his hand was known as, firmly gripped in his hand.
The one hundred and two ton elongated monster swam in the depths below. It was an ancient creature, one of several monsters that had been used in the ancient war that the gods had waged against each other in this very world chiliads ago. The folk of the new era knew that kind of monster as a Kalemar, but its godly given name was Jinnachi, which meant water serpent. The monster's skin was oily and of a dark green color, it was also riddled with tough scales and pointy spikes. The creature had a long, sturdy body and a tail with spikes. The predecessors of that sea creature had been created by a demonic god to safeguard an ancient realm, a realm that the folk of Galileah knew as Atlantis. A handful of the sea monsters that had been created to safeguard Atlantis's surrounding oceans from foes had survived the war and had remained alive in the sea, and as time had passed, they had given birth to more.
Kalemars mostly fed on large fish like sharks and whales, but they were carnivore monsters, so other large sea predators like giant squids and giant types of fish were on the menu. Moreover, movement on the surface often grabbed their attention, and these monsters came up to have a look, as did other types of creatures. Kalemars were known to attack vessels, many had been the terrified souls that had witnessed their rare appearance. The meal that had come from attacking vessels were meager and unsatisfactory to them, but they still attacked them because their predecessor's killer instinct remained instilled within them. In the ancient war, when the gods from heaven had sent their warriors on ships and other sea vessels in their attempt to invade the realm of Atlantis, many sea monsters had attacked the ships under orders from the demonic god. The war was long over, with the realm of Atlantis now lying underwater somewhere in this same sea, but the creatures' killer instinct had remained.
From deep underneath the dark watery abyss the Kalemar swam upwards gaining momentum as it went, a single purpose in mind. It had targeted one of the five spots visible on the surface.
An old sailor stationed on the starboard side of the Three Hearts had been attentive watching the water when he saw a wide dark form approaching fast from below. His eyes grew with fear as the darkness ascending fast became a recognizable nightmare that had two reddish glowing eyes. The sailor opened his mouth to issue the warning, but this one never was heard, for raw fear had frozen his vocal chords.
The monster's humongous head disrupted the sea as it exploded out of the water some twenty feet away from the starboard bow of the Three Hearts. Up in the air the monster’s head rose for several seconds to the horror and dismay of many eyes before it turned its reddish glare on the ship. The monster's great head collided against the side of the ship, splitting wood apart easily. Its mouth, which was filled with razor-sharp fangs the size of a tall human, bit at the ship crazily, doing more damage. Sailors cried out in horror and scrambled about the deck. Loud bangs were heard as the sea dragon's head tore the front of the ship apart. The harpoon cannon, which had indeed fired at the creature, inflicted some major damage to the creature's long neck as the harpoon it had fired had gone through and through, but the creature's mouth remained opened and came down hard on the beam, its colossal head ramming and splitting the main mast and causing it to fall harshly on the ship. Wood creaked loudly as the mast came heavily down, and frightened sailors below shouted in fear and scrambled out of the way. Some were unfortunate, and the mast pinned and killed those several sailors instantly.
That had just been the creature at play with its heavy head. The body appeared seconds later.
“Abandon ship!” sailors cried in horror and jumped out to the sea as the monster’s long body came into view from port side as it wreathed its body around the ship. By squeezing its body harshly, the sea dragon split what remained of the three-mast ship easily in half and killing more unfortunate souls that had been in its wicked body’s path. The last one to abandon ship was its captain, the elf, for he had remained only to throw several spears at the creature. He caused little damage to it, so he jumped out to sea at the very last second as the sea monster went down with whatever remains of the ship it had wrapped in its body.
The creature's astonishing rise from the depth was seen by many, including Valegrious, whose being was rocked with the utmost of terror after he saw the monster easily tearing the neighboring ship apart in just a matter of minutes. That’s how it was with gigantic sea creatures. So visible had been the monster attacking the ship that not only Valegrious and those many others that had dared to come out here had seen most of its slithery, impressive dark green body, but also some pirates from the pirate fleet via the use of their spyglasses. Attica, who had seen the scene through her spyglass, was quick to relay word to her captain, who came rushing to the starboard rail and focused his view on the ships in the distance. The monster was not visible to him, but the scared sailors assured him that it had just gone underwater. Proof of the monster's appearance lay with what pieces were left to see of the torn ship, which the captain easily noticed floating on the water.
"By the damned crazy gods!" Captain Blue cried after he saw the carnage it had left. He remained there surrounded by most of his crew staring through that spyglass to see what else happened.
After its deadly attack, the monster was gone, submerged into the water it had. The remains of the split ship were fast sinking into the ocean. From where he stood on the beak, Valegrious could see sailors struggling in the water and could hear the shouts of help coming from those that had survived the savage attack. Many, he knew, perhaps more than half of that crew, were already dead, some of their lifeless bodies floated visibly in the water.
"Men overboard!" cried Valegrious loudly. "Put a few doreys in the water, Boys and Girls! Let's rescue our comrades."
His words were easily heard and the order was passed along rapidly.
“Go, men!” shouted Rygar, the sailor pushing some of his comrades. “Collect the wounded!”
Sailors went to action right away, the lot knowing that their comrades needed help. Several small life boats were soon lowered on to the water. On the other three ships, the crews were also taking action, with all sailors frightened to the core.
The monster was gone, so Valegrious jumped down to the wooden flooring and rushed through the main deck with intentions to make it to where Jzak stood behind the harpoon cannon. Valegrious moved several sailors out of his way as he went crossing the main deck. The young lad saw his sister seated on the deck behind some crates. She was crying in fear, and those that were gathered with her seemed perturbed and full of fear as well. How that scene had pained Valegrious, to have seen his sister’s tears. The truth was that Magatha had become frightened after she had witnessed the monster's attack on the neighboring ship, so had the others, but it had been Magatha who had truly lost it.
"Val!" Minono cried at him when she had seen him passing by. "Come here, my love!"
He would never deny her his attention, so he went to her right away, but he'd had in mind going to them when he had seen his sister in that terrible state anyway.
"Are you alright?" Valegrious quickly asked her, his right hand touching her on the back of the head. Minono, despite being frightened as never before, nodded at him.
“Good,” the captain touched her cheek and then knelt before his sister.
"Magatha? Magatha? Look at me," Valegrious implored her, and she was quick to bury herself in his torso in a strong hug. "It's alright, Sister, don't be scared."
"It was such a horrible thing to see, Valegrious!"
"I know," Valegrious pat her back. "Just stay low, alright? I promise you that everything will be alright soon."
Somehow his words sounded strongly soothing to her, and she nodded, because really, there was nothing else she could do at the moment.
"I have to go do something," Valegrious whispered in her ear. "I have to...” If only she knew how terribly pained and sad he was due to the sailors that had lost their lives just minutes ago. “...help stop this creature before it does more damage to us. Will you be alright, sister? You have to be strong."
"I will, Valegrious," she promised. "Just kill it...or make it go away."
Valegrious remained staring solidly at her after she had spoken those words, but he then gave her a quick nod and kissed her forehead. He touched her cheek suavely and then rose up.
"Valegrious," Yukiko got his attention then. "We want to help, too. We feel so useless just standing here."
"Yes, Honey," Minono assisted. "We all want to help somehow."
The elf and her band of warriors accentuated with nods.
"Come on, Valegrious," cried Avon. "Lemme have a piece of that creature."
"Right," Valegrious told them all. "Then look for Kaur, she'll tell you how you can lend a hand."
"The water pixie, right?" Minono remembered the name of the blue skinned sailor that Valegrious had introduced to her and the others during dinner on the first night of the expedition.
"Yes," Valegrious said. "But please, Minos, you stay with Magatha. I need you to do that for me, alright? She needs you now more than ever."
Understanding the importance of the task, Minono nodded, gave him a quick kiss, and assured him that she would do that.
"I'll stay with them too," Yukiko offered.
"Yes," Valegrious said. "Remain together, all of you, but not here, stay close to the side in case you have to jump. I will be back as soon as I can, I promise."
A few seconds later he was able to continue to the back deck, where Jzak stood behind the harpoon cannon.
"It was too far for me to take a shot," she said right away when Valegrious made it to the side of the harpoon cannon. "I'm pretty sure I could have nailed it in the heart or head, but it was too far away."
"But do take a shot if you see an opening next time," Valegrious urged with a stricken face. "We can't afford another loss like that."
"Let's just hope that damn thing doesn't attack us next or we're done for, our expedition done!"
Those words rocked Valegrious's feelings to the core. Surely scared at that, scared that it was very possible, he shook his head in denial.
"I didn't come out here to fail even before we've entered the damned unsailed sea," he shouted angrily. "We have to do something. We can't just remain out here like sitting ducks for it to pick us apart."
"What can we do?" Jzak cried, her face full of concern. "That thing is probably swimming down there and preparing its next attack."
"If it did not tuck tail and fled already," said Valegrious. "Those sailors did manage to hurt it with that harpoon cannon after all."
Jzak, who'd seen the harpoon wounding the creature as it had come down upon the ship, nodded at the captain. She greatly hoped that the creature had fled and left them alone, as Valegrious believed, but there was a big chance that it would attack them again.
"We can't be too hopeful that it's fled," Jzak mumbled.
"Then..." Valegrious's heart was beating so fast that it was pounding his chest hard. "Then we must see its next attack coming if it hasn't left."
He never allowed Jzak to utter another word, he merely ran towards the back of the ship and dived into the water.
"Valegrious!" Jzak shouted, but all she heard then was a loud splash.
.
The serpentine creature was hurt, but the disturbance in the water brought the monster up again. Instead of attacking another ship, it chose to rise and just swim by, its massive body visible on the water near the debris of the split ship. Sailors cried in horror when they saw it and after they heard a loud sound that the monster let out, a roaring bellow that lasted more than ten seconds. Valegrious, already in the water, heard the monster's bellow and saw part of its massive body as it swam by some two hundred yards away from his location. To him it appeared that he had seen a sequence of dark, moving lumps on the water, then the monster disappeared again, its lengthy spiky tail being the last thing submerging into the water.
The sailor took a deep breath and submerged into the cool water. The salty water stung his opened eyes, but he followed the dark, blurry form, which he barely could see passing by far away. Unbeknownst to him, the Kalemar changed direction and was on its way towards another target: the ship at the very front. The monster was not using discretion this time, though, it reappeared on the surface fifty yards out from the ship, it's reddish eyes concentrated on the vessel and making most of its crew's hearts pound hard with fear.
Valegrious came up to the surface, what with his lungs asking him for much needed air. He breathed loudly and then saw the monster far away.
"Dammit!" he cursed when he noticed that it was swimming towards the Crazy Yosh. He would never make it in time to use that spear, the monster was too far away, so all he could do was watch as the creature advanced on.
"Come on, come on," Valegrious murmured as he watched, hoping that the crazy lycan's crew would nail the monster.
The Kalemar came swimming at the ship fast and furious, but the crew had been wary of it, and so they had been prepared to launch an attack before the monster reached them. At a shout from the lycan captain, cannons opened fire at it, sailors threw their long spears towards it, and another huge harpoon flew out to greet the approaching monster. Valegrious, floating on the turbulent water, saw as the cannon ball fire, the spears, and the harpoon, flew out to hurt the monster. All were true strikes, but the mighty harpoon was the one that really struck the creature right on its head, puncturing its brain in a matter of seconds. But the creature, though mortally wounded, rose high out of the water again while issuing forth a painful bellow. Sailors of the Crazy Yosh jumped overboard as the humongous creature came down upon them fast, perhaps already dying from its grave wound, but still coming down upon them, for that had been the creature's intent all along before the sailors had fired their weapons at it.
Valegrious shut his eyes tightly, having chosen not to witness the fall of the monster upon the ship. It would be a tough scene to watch, to take, he had known, and with his eyes closed he hoped that all those sailors survived.
A loud crushing sound was soon heard, followed quickly by loud splashes. The Kalemar was fast dying, but its heavy head and body still fell upon the ship and tore it easily in half, squashing those few unfortunate victims that hadn't been able to jump out to sea or to safety. Sailors, water, and splintered wood, as well as other debris from the ship, were catapulted high into the air seconds after the heavy monster fell on the ship with such tremendous force.
Valegrious reopened his eyes and caught sight of a few sailors still falling into the ocean, he could even hear their shouts of terror. And the monster, struggling to cope with its grave wound, made the scene much worse as its twists and struggles further disrupted the sea.
Monster-caused harsh waves came Valegrious's way, but he expertly did not oppose the water and went with the coming current, as Jzak Hennessy had taught him to do years ago. The Smelly Ignacia, too, and the four life boats, were hit with the violent waves. The life boats were flipped over and the sailors tossed into the sea like rag dolls. And Valegrious was taken deeper down into the ocean. His commanding ship was stronger, though, but though it remained as it was, it was rocked badly several times. Several sailors were injured when they had fallen on deck or hit themselves against crates and other parts of the ship. Magatha, nor the group keeping her company would be spared, they too lived through a rough period of time during those moments, with Magatha falling hard on top of Emilyann and Tallinor, the water taking them for a wild run on the deck. But that was less pain compared to what Minono went through when she had hit hard against the wooden wall of the rising back deck, the right side of her head becoming open with a nasty cut. She lost consciousness after the hit and knew no more.
Unbeknownst to Valegrious that his love had suffered pain badly, he swam up and breathed loudly again after he made it out to the surface after being washed away by the waves for several long seconds. He noticed that part of the Kalemar's body was still visible in the distance, but that dark green body soon disappeared as the sea monster swam down seeking a place to calm a pain in its head it did not understand. The place it sought would never be reached, for even as it swam down, darkness took over it and it completely stopped struggling. It would reach the bottom of the ocean many, many minutes later, albeit dead.
There came cheers from the Smelly Ignacia after the sailors had noticed that the sea monster had been killed, and Valegrious heard those shouts but did not rejoice like the rest of the crew was, for he knew that the monster's death had come at a high price and at the cost of many lives. He spun around and noticed Jzak cheering wildly at the side of the harpoon cannon, her arms raised to the sky, just like many sailors that stood around her. If anything, Valegrious felt grateful that he had not had to deal with the monster himself as he had intended, a task that the felinum had once masterfully completed against a smaller Kalemar.
Chapter 11: The Sea Dragon
***December 14th, 1658***
***December 14th, 1658***
Valegrious had been resting in his bunk bed comfortably for a few hours after having performed nightly guard duties, but all of a sudden he was woken up by Minono's crazy and loud shouts.
"Valegrious! Wake up! We've got major trouble!"
She came running into his room. Having heard her shouts, Valegrious jumped out of bed right away and noticed how pale and scared she was.
"What is the matter, Foxy?" he asked. "What's going on?"
She was pale and trembling, and she swallowed hard before him and fumbled for words. "I-It's a m-monster," she informed.
"What?"
"C-Come," she pulled him along, or at least started to, but Valegrious held fast and told her that he needed to put his boots on.
She nodded and let go of him and waited while he did that, Valegrious all the while hearing the ruckus caused by the sailors up on the main deck. He put his boots on as fast as he could and stood up from bed, where he had sat in order to put his boots on. As he rose, he was suddenly surprised when a loud splashing sound was heard right outside the window of his room. A dark shadow obscured the window and the whole room darkened a bit. Valegrious did not miss any of it, his face paled when his eyes saw the large form outside. His heart began to pound his chest as he rushed to stand behind the small round window. He was fast enough to catch a glimpse of a dark green colored, fat, and scaly serpentine form filled with black spikes before it went back into the water.
"Oh crap," he cried, his whole being becoming filled with fear.
He spun around and rushed towards Minono.
"Stay here, Honey."
"Valegrious, why?" Minono was scared, and she grabbed his right arm before he could rush away. "Is it bad?"
"It's a Kalemar," Valegrious explained calmly. "A damn sea dragon. Stay here."
"W-What? No, don't leave me here," she clung to his forearm, her face distorted in raw fear.
Valegrious was about to tell her that she was safer there, but he understood that when it came to huge sea monster threats, no place in the ship was really safe, except perhaps outside in that salty water.
"Come on," he grabbed her hand and rushed out. Minono ran along with him, her heart still beating fast.
The two came up the wooden stairs out to the main deck. Sailors armed with more than just muskets, swords, and javelins, were scrambling about, others were already stationed close to the side railings and looking out to the sea. Valegrious even saw several sailors already stationed behind the two mighty weapons of the Smelly Ignacia, these working hard to get them ready for firing. One was a big cannon that fired spiky cannon balls, and the other one was a bigger cannon that resembled a giant bow that fired harpoons, which sailors believed were just gigantic iron arrows.
Valegrious looked around and soon caught sight of Jzak Hennessy on the forecastle of the ship, the felinum holding a huge spear and shouting orders as she peeped out and over the safety railing off the starboard bow.
"Where did that damn kalemar go, Lads?" Valegrious heard her shout. "Where, dammit?"
Several scared and excited voices replied to her right away that they did not know, others pointed out that the monster had disappeared under the water some fifty feet away.
"Valegrious!" suddenly the current captain of the Smelly Ignacia heard a familiar voice coming behind him. He and Minono turned around and saw Emilyann the elf rushing towards them. The elf's friend warriors, Magatha, Abigale, and the angelus were at her side.
"It's a big one,” Emilyann cried in more wonder than fear. “Tallinor here saw it.”
At the side, the dark elf nodded several times.
"We didn't know what to do," Emilyann went on. "But I thought my men and I could furnish your sister and friends some protection, as you said we should."
"Yes, Emilyann, stay with them, please," Valegrious plead. "I have to help deal with that creature or we could be in for a very rough time."
Magatha, hearing him say that, gulped hard and got real scared.
"Lemme at it," said Pandora from the side, the short felinum holding her crossbow tight, an arrow already strung.
"You won't inflict much pain to it with that," Valegrious mentioned and made the young cutie felinum quiet down.
"What do we do, then?" asked Yukiko. The angelus appeared very frightened, same as those who had never seen a sea monster before. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Just stay out of the way," Valegrious told her and all others that were there. "Leave this to us who know how to deal with it. If things get out of hand, though, jump over board!"
"W-What?" Emilyann cried feeling scared and confused. Magatha and the angelus also asked the very same question, and the other warriors behind them looked at each other in confusion.
"Overboard?" Lupinka stared at Abigale, her rapier in her right hand. "Did he say overboard?"
"Yes he did," said Abigale.
"Look," Valegrious cried, his expression as serious as his words, for he knew time was of the essence. "This is a big creature, a ship sinker, as we call them, so things can get pretty nasty. If it attacks the ship, your best bet is to jump overboard into the water. These creatures just tend to destroy ships and then leave."
Valegrious had no time to say more on the matter, so he just told his sister to not be scared, that everything would be alright. And he gave Minono a quick kiss, reminded them all to keep out of the way, and then ran away.
"Dang it, there he goes," Pandora cried as she saw him go. "Guess we should listen to him and do as he said if it gets nasty."
"Yes," said Emilyann. "Come on, stay close to me, everyone. We'll stay out of their way."
"This way," invited the cook. "I know a place where we can hide and stay out of the way."
"Lead on," bade Emilyann.
Everyone followed the red haired girl as she led them all to the very middle of the ship where the main mast rose from the deck. Several covered and exposed wooden crates lay close by. Abigale told them that this spot was as good as any to stay out of the way.
***
Valegrious reached Jzak and she put him up to speed.
"A damn Kalemar, Vally," she revealed, her face pale, her voice more than just excited. "Biggest one I've seen!"
"I saw a bit of it," nodded Valegrious at her. "We better deal with it before it takes down our ships."
Five years ago the crew of the Smelly Ignacia had dealt with a similar monster, but it had been smaller, perhaps the ship's size, and they had been able to drag it along and later sold it in Asaki's meat market. Judging from the size of the monster that he had been able to see, Valegrious knew this one had to be a fully grown Kalemar, which, to his guessing, could be up to three or four times the size of the Smelly Ignacia, maybe more!
"The damn thing went underwater just right over there," Jzak pointed out, her green eyes staring out to the water and working hard trying to see the large form. Valegrious grabbed at the railing with his hands and looked out for the monster as well but saw nothing but agitated bluish water. He looked about the other ships and noticed that the crews were very alarmed and also doing what they were doing. Before they had departed from Port Goodweather many days ago, the other ships they had bought had been rigged with the sea monster hunting weapons and equipment that the Smelly Ignacia carried, so Valegrious believed that they would be able to deal with the monster effectively if it attacked them.
Knowing that, Valegrious ran across to port side and looked out to the horizon. The pirate fleets, if they were pirates at all, were still out there.
"They've been keeping their distance," informed Jzak. "But have been following us from afar."
"Maybe they're just watching out for their territory," Valegrious suspected.
"Or waiting for an opportune moment to strike us," the cat-eared beauty feared.
"Perhaps,” said Valegrious worriedly. “But we can't worry about them now. We've got this monster to deal with."
"Indeed," Jzak frowned. "But I've taken precautionary measures and have ordered the Sea Sprite's crew to keep an eye out on them. I know how lengthy the greed of pirates can be."
Valegrious agreed with her with a nod.
"Alright," breathed Jzak. "We know what we're dealing with here, Vally, let us get to action."
"Yes, it would be good for us to deal with this one as we did with the one we killed five years ago. You are our best hope behind the harpoon cannon, Cap'n, so go..."
"Dammit, Valegrious," the felinum cried and stomped her right boot on the wooden deck. "You're our captain out here, not me."
The sailor was nervous. "Yes, I know," he chuckled nervously. "A slip o' the tongue, dammit. Anyway, go, we'll probably rely on your accuracy for this one. Rygar will have to do something else."
"Right," Jzak understood. "He's not going to like it, but I'll send him down to lead the cannon crew."
"I'll make sure to make him happy with an extra ration of potatoes and gravy tonight," said Valegrious. “If we survive the day, that is.”
"Right," Jzak laughed nervously, for indeed with an extra ration of something, food or drink, one was able to make it up to unhappy sailors.
"Give me that thing," Valegrious took the fat spear from her. More than being just a spear twice the size of Valegrious's height, it was actually a weapon designed to deal with gigantic monsters such as the one they were dealing with. Its wide, diamond tipped head was razor sharp and could penetrate monster hardened skin like a knife through butter. It was usually used to stab the monsters in the head or in other vulnerable parts that would kill them instantly, such as the heart. Weapon in hand, Valegrious then began to drop his weapon's belt and the weapons he carried on him right on deck, for he wouldn't need those for what he was about to do. As he'd done that, a bearded scrawny sailor was quick to grab them and rushed off to put the weapons back in his room.
"You're not going to...dive in, are you?" Jzak asked, surely preoccupied.
"I'll do it if I have to," Valegrious told her. "It's my sister that we're out here for, so a lot of our safety is riding on my shoulders; I will take the risk and do my part if that thing comes at us."
Jzak nodded once, told him to be careful if he did dive in, and then left running toward the back deck. Valegrious grabbed the nearest sailor by the collar of his shirt and not only told him to keep everyone calm, but he also told him to tell everyone to keep an eye out for the monster, for spotting it was crucial for everyone's safety. If Valegrious was able to spot it, he could damn well attempt to kill it before it ever reached them.
Because the sailor stammered, Valegrious helped him into action by shoving him away. The sailor-turned-captain then climbed the beak of the ship and stayed on the alert, Stabber, as the weapon he held in his hand was known as, firmly gripped in his hand.
***
The one hundred and two ton elongated monster swam in the depths below. It was an ancient creature, one of several monsters that had been used in the ancient war that the gods had waged against each other in this very world chiliads ago. The folk of the new era knew that kind of monster as a Kalemar, but its godly given name was Jinnachi, which meant water serpent. The monster's skin was oily and of a dark green color, it was also riddled with tough scales and pointy spikes. The creature had a long, sturdy body and a tail with spikes. The predecessors of that sea creature had been created by a demonic god to safeguard an ancient realm, a realm that the folk of Galileah knew as Atlantis. A handful of the sea monsters that had been created to safeguard Atlantis's surrounding oceans from foes had survived the war and had remained alive in the sea, and as time had passed, they had given birth to more.
Kalemars mostly fed on large fish like sharks and whales, but they were carnivore monsters, so other large sea predators like giant squids and giant types of fish were on the menu. Moreover, movement on the surface often grabbed their attention, and these monsters came up to have a look, as did other types of creatures. Kalemars were known to attack vessels, many had been the terrified souls that had witnessed their rare appearance. The meal that had come from attacking vessels were meager and unsatisfactory to them, but they still attacked them because their predecessor's killer instinct remained instilled within them. In the ancient war, when the gods from heaven had sent their warriors on ships and other sea vessels in their attempt to invade the realm of Atlantis, many sea monsters had attacked the ships under orders from the demonic god. The war was long over, with the realm of Atlantis now lying underwater somewhere in this same sea, but the creatures' killer instinct had remained.
From deep underneath the dark watery abyss the Kalemar swam upwards gaining momentum as it went, a single purpose in mind. It had targeted one of the five spots visible on the surface.
***
An old sailor stationed on the starboard side of the Three Hearts had been attentive watching the water when he saw a wide dark form approaching fast from below. His eyes grew with fear as the darkness ascending fast became a recognizable nightmare that had two reddish glowing eyes. The sailor opened his mouth to issue the warning, but this one never was heard, for raw fear had frozen his vocal chords.
The monster's humongous head disrupted the sea as it exploded out of the water some twenty feet away from the starboard bow of the Three Hearts. Up in the air the monster’s head rose for several seconds to the horror and dismay of many eyes before it turned its reddish glare on the ship. The monster's great head collided against the side of the ship, splitting wood apart easily. Its mouth, which was filled with razor-sharp fangs the size of a tall human, bit at the ship crazily, doing more damage. Sailors cried out in horror and scrambled about the deck. Loud bangs were heard as the sea dragon's head tore the front of the ship apart. The harpoon cannon, which had indeed fired at the creature, inflicted some major damage to the creature's long neck as the harpoon it had fired had gone through and through, but the creature's mouth remained opened and came down hard on the beam, its colossal head ramming and splitting the main mast and causing it to fall harshly on the ship. Wood creaked loudly as the mast came heavily down, and frightened sailors below shouted in fear and scrambled out of the way. Some were unfortunate, and the mast pinned and killed those several sailors instantly.
That had just been the creature at play with its heavy head. The body appeared seconds later.
“Abandon ship!” sailors cried in horror and jumped out to the sea as the monster’s long body came into view from port side as it wreathed its body around the ship. By squeezing its body harshly, the sea dragon split what remained of the three-mast ship easily in half and killing more unfortunate souls that had been in its wicked body’s path. The last one to abandon ship was its captain, the elf, for he had remained only to throw several spears at the creature. He caused little damage to it, so he jumped out to sea at the very last second as the sea monster went down with whatever remains of the ship it had wrapped in its body.
The creature's astonishing rise from the depth was seen by many, including Valegrious, whose being was rocked with the utmost of terror after he saw the monster easily tearing the neighboring ship apart in just a matter of minutes. That’s how it was with gigantic sea creatures. So visible had been the monster attacking the ship that not only Valegrious and those many others that had dared to come out here had seen most of its slithery, impressive dark green body, but also some pirates from the pirate fleet via the use of their spyglasses. Attica, who had seen the scene through her spyglass, was quick to relay word to her captain, who came rushing to the starboard rail and focused his view on the ships in the distance. The monster was not visible to him, but the scared sailors assured him that it had just gone underwater. Proof of the monster's appearance lay with what pieces were left to see of the torn ship, which the captain easily noticed floating on the water.
"By the damned crazy gods!" Captain Blue cried after he saw the carnage it had left. He remained there surrounded by most of his crew staring through that spyglass to see what else happened.
***
After its deadly attack, the monster was gone, submerged into the water it had. The remains of the split ship were fast sinking into the ocean. From where he stood on the beak, Valegrious could see sailors struggling in the water and could hear the shouts of help coming from those that had survived the savage attack. Many, he knew, perhaps more than half of that crew, were already dead, some of their lifeless bodies floated visibly in the water.
"Men overboard!" cried Valegrious loudly. "Put a few doreys in the water, Boys and Girls! Let's rescue our comrades."
His words were easily heard and the order was passed along rapidly.
“Go, men!” shouted Rygar, the sailor pushing some of his comrades. “Collect the wounded!”
Sailors went to action right away, the lot knowing that their comrades needed help. Several small life boats were soon lowered on to the water. On the other three ships, the crews were also taking action, with all sailors frightened to the core.
The monster was gone, so Valegrious jumped down to the wooden flooring and rushed through the main deck with intentions to make it to where Jzak stood behind the harpoon cannon. Valegrious moved several sailors out of his way as he went crossing the main deck. The young lad saw his sister seated on the deck behind some crates. She was crying in fear, and those that were gathered with her seemed perturbed and full of fear as well. How that scene had pained Valegrious, to have seen his sister’s tears. The truth was that Magatha had become frightened after she had witnessed the monster's attack on the neighboring ship, so had the others, but it had been Magatha who had truly lost it.
"Val!" Minono cried at him when she had seen him passing by. "Come here, my love!"
He would never deny her his attention, so he went to her right away, but he'd had in mind going to them when he had seen his sister in that terrible state anyway.
"Are you alright?" Valegrious quickly asked her, his right hand touching her on the back of the head. Minono, despite being frightened as never before, nodded at him.
“Good,” the captain touched her cheek and then knelt before his sister.
"Magatha? Magatha? Look at me," Valegrious implored her, and she was quick to bury herself in his torso in a strong hug. "It's alright, Sister, don't be scared."
"It was such a horrible thing to see, Valegrious!"
"I know," Valegrious pat her back. "Just stay low, alright? I promise you that everything will be alright soon."
Somehow his words sounded strongly soothing to her, and she nodded, because really, there was nothing else she could do at the moment.
"I have to go do something," Valegrious whispered in her ear. "I have to...” If only she knew how terribly pained and sad he was due to the sailors that had lost their lives just minutes ago. “...help stop this creature before it does more damage to us. Will you be alright, sister? You have to be strong."
"I will, Valegrious," she promised. "Just kill it...or make it go away."
Valegrious remained staring solidly at her after she had spoken those words, but he then gave her a quick nod and kissed her forehead. He touched her cheek suavely and then rose up.
"Valegrious," Yukiko got his attention then. "We want to help, too. We feel so useless just standing here."
"Yes, Honey," Minono assisted. "We all want to help somehow."
The elf and her band of warriors accentuated with nods.
"Come on, Valegrious," cried Avon. "Lemme have a piece of that creature."
"Right," Valegrious told them all. "Then look for Kaur, she'll tell you how you can lend a hand."
"The water pixie, right?" Minono remembered the name of the blue skinned sailor that Valegrious had introduced to her and the others during dinner on the first night of the expedition.
"Yes," Valegrious said. "But please, Minos, you stay with Magatha. I need you to do that for me, alright? She needs you now more than ever."
Understanding the importance of the task, Minono nodded, gave him a quick kiss, and assured him that she would do that.
"I'll stay with them too," Yukiko offered.
"Yes," Valegrious said. "Remain together, all of you, but not here, stay close to the side in case you have to jump. I will be back as soon as I can, I promise."
A few seconds later he was able to continue to the back deck, where Jzak stood behind the harpoon cannon.
"It was too far for me to take a shot," she said right away when Valegrious made it to the side of the harpoon cannon. "I'm pretty sure I could have nailed it in the heart or head, but it was too far away."
"But do take a shot if you see an opening next time," Valegrious urged with a stricken face. "We can't afford another loss like that."
"Let's just hope that damn thing doesn't attack us next or we're done for, our expedition done!"
Those words rocked Valegrious's feelings to the core. Surely scared at that, scared that it was very possible, he shook his head in denial.
"I didn't come out here to fail even before we've entered the damned unsailed sea," he shouted angrily. "We have to do something. We can't just remain out here like sitting ducks for it to pick us apart."
"What can we do?" Jzak cried, her face full of concern. "That thing is probably swimming down there and preparing its next attack."
"If it did not tuck tail and fled already," said Valegrious. "Those sailors did manage to hurt it with that harpoon cannon after all."
Jzak, who'd seen the harpoon wounding the creature as it had come down upon the ship, nodded at the captain. She greatly hoped that the creature had fled and left them alone, as Valegrious believed, but there was a big chance that it would attack them again.
"We can't be too hopeful that it's fled," Jzak mumbled.
"Then..." Valegrious's heart was beating so fast that it was pounding his chest hard. "Then we must see its next attack coming if it hasn't left."
He never allowed Jzak to utter another word, he merely ran towards the back of the ship and dived into the water.
"Valegrious!" Jzak shouted, but all she heard then was a loud splash.
.
***
The serpentine creature was hurt, but the disturbance in the water brought the monster up again. Instead of attacking another ship, it chose to rise and just swim by, its massive body visible on the water near the debris of the split ship. Sailors cried in horror when they saw it and after they heard a loud sound that the monster let out, a roaring bellow that lasted more than ten seconds. Valegrious, already in the water, heard the monster's bellow and saw part of its massive body as it swam by some two hundred yards away from his location. To him it appeared that he had seen a sequence of dark, moving lumps on the water, then the monster disappeared again, its lengthy spiky tail being the last thing submerging into the water.
The sailor took a deep breath and submerged into the cool water. The salty water stung his opened eyes, but he followed the dark, blurry form, which he barely could see passing by far away. Unbeknownst to him, the Kalemar changed direction and was on its way towards another target: the ship at the very front. The monster was not using discretion this time, though, it reappeared on the surface fifty yards out from the ship, it's reddish eyes concentrated on the vessel and making most of its crew's hearts pound hard with fear.
Valegrious came up to the surface, what with his lungs asking him for much needed air. He breathed loudly and then saw the monster far away.
"Dammit!" he cursed when he noticed that it was swimming towards the Crazy Yosh. He would never make it in time to use that spear, the monster was too far away, so all he could do was watch as the creature advanced on.
"Come on, come on," Valegrious murmured as he watched, hoping that the crazy lycan's crew would nail the monster.
The Kalemar came swimming at the ship fast and furious, but the crew had been wary of it, and so they had been prepared to launch an attack before the monster reached them. At a shout from the lycan captain, cannons opened fire at it, sailors threw their long spears towards it, and another huge harpoon flew out to greet the approaching monster. Valegrious, floating on the turbulent water, saw as the cannon ball fire, the spears, and the harpoon, flew out to hurt the monster. All were true strikes, but the mighty harpoon was the one that really struck the creature right on its head, puncturing its brain in a matter of seconds. But the creature, though mortally wounded, rose high out of the water again while issuing forth a painful bellow. Sailors of the Crazy Yosh jumped overboard as the humongous creature came down upon them fast, perhaps already dying from its grave wound, but still coming down upon them, for that had been the creature's intent all along before the sailors had fired their weapons at it.
Valegrious shut his eyes tightly, having chosen not to witness the fall of the monster upon the ship. It would be a tough scene to watch, to take, he had known, and with his eyes closed he hoped that all those sailors survived.
A loud crushing sound was soon heard, followed quickly by loud splashes. The Kalemar was fast dying, but its heavy head and body still fell upon the ship and tore it easily in half, squashing those few unfortunate victims that hadn't been able to jump out to sea or to safety. Sailors, water, and splintered wood, as well as other debris from the ship, were catapulted high into the air seconds after the heavy monster fell on the ship with such tremendous force.
Valegrious reopened his eyes and caught sight of a few sailors still falling into the ocean, he could even hear their shouts of terror. And the monster, struggling to cope with its grave wound, made the scene much worse as its twists and struggles further disrupted the sea.
Monster-caused harsh waves came Valegrious's way, but he expertly did not oppose the water and went with the coming current, as Jzak Hennessy had taught him to do years ago. The Smelly Ignacia, too, and the four life boats, were hit with the violent waves. The life boats were flipped over and the sailors tossed into the sea like rag dolls. And Valegrious was taken deeper down into the ocean. His commanding ship was stronger, though, but though it remained as it was, it was rocked badly several times. Several sailors were injured when they had fallen on deck or hit themselves against crates and other parts of the ship. Magatha, nor the group keeping her company would be spared, they too lived through a rough period of time during those moments, with Magatha falling hard on top of Emilyann and Tallinor, the water taking them for a wild run on the deck. But that was less pain compared to what Minono went through when she had hit hard against the wooden wall of the rising back deck, the right side of her head becoming open with a nasty cut. She lost consciousness after the hit and knew no more.
Unbeknownst to Valegrious that his love had suffered pain badly, he swam up and breathed loudly again after he made it out to the surface after being washed away by the waves for several long seconds. He noticed that part of the Kalemar's body was still visible in the distance, but that dark green body soon disappeared as the sea monster swam down seeking a place to calm a pain in its head it did not understand. The place it sought would never be reached, for even as it swam down, darkness took over it and it completely stopped struggling. It would reach the bottom of the ocean many, many minutes later, albeit dead.
There came cheers from the Smelly Ignacia after the sailors had noticed that the sea monster had been killed, and Valegrious heard those shouts but did not rejoice like the rest of the crew was, for he knew that the monster's death had come at a high price and at the cost of many lives. He spun around and noticed Jzak cheering wildly at the side of the harpoon cannon, her arms raised to the sky, just like many sailors that stood around her. If anything, Valegrious felt grateful that he had not had to deal with the monster himself as he had intended, a task that the felinum had once masterfully completed against a smaller Kalemar.
*****
