The tiny black vee Sam first thought was a bird was the farthest thing from it. Oh sure, it had wings...but its wings were tipped with claws and lined with bone, like webbed fingers. Between the bone, black, leathery skin was stretched taut, purple veins running through the membranous underside. A few twists of the spyglass, and Sam could see a smattering of scales across the wings, iridescent in the sunlight. The scales grew denser at the wing pits and thickened into armored plates coating the rest of its muscular body, supported by four strong limbs. Its tail was longer than head and body combined, covered in spikes and terminating in a bony club. Horns protruded from a serpentine head with a long snout. Set high in its skull, large, round eyes shone crimson, the pupils slit into crescent slivers.
Sam shivered, despite the heat. She had never seen a demon like this one before. Teivel's children were supposed to be abominations, monstrous, malformed beings twisted by his corrupt blood. Though the winged beast was no less a monster, it was whole and sleek and elegant, not a mishmash of illogical parts. Terrifying, but beautiful.
It was hard to gauge size at this distance, but at the speed it was flying toward the ship, it quickly filled her vision. Every flap of its powerful wings sent a mighty gust of wind over the river, stirring the water into choppy swells. The deck shuddered underneath Sam's feet. The world spun before settling, her stomach threatening to rebel. How quickly she'd forgotten what it was like to be seasick.
"If you're going to be ill, do it now," Azi growled.
Wordlessly, she handed the spyglass back to him, ran to the closest part of the ship's rail, and vomited into the river below.
Later, she'd be embarrassed, but now was not the time. The demon wasn't far now, close enough to see without the aid of a spyglass, its massive black wings blotting out the sun. They had minutes, maybe less, before it was right on top of them.
"Fire!" she heard Azi yell. The sound of her retching was drowned out by the twangs of bow-strings and the screams of arrows whistling through the air.
Sam didn't need to watch to know the arrows missed their target; she could tell by their shouts and the unnatural wind that refused to let up. The deck surged again, and Sam leaned over the railing, hurling until her stomach had nothing left to give.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Sam looked up just in time to see the impossible: The demon reared its head back, opened its jaws wide and roared, exhaling a steady stream of flame, burning as bright as the rising sun.
Mouth agape, Sam watched the beast fly through the orange blaze and reemerge unscathed, a nightmare cloaked in steam and shadow. The heat rolling off its scaly hide was almost unbearable, the air sweltering and thick like the heat of the Rhean Desert at its worst, far too hot for the early morning. Sweat poured off her in rivulets. Her belly still roiled with nausea, but she was done with being sick, if only by sheer force of her will. She had never fought a demon that breathed fire, and by the stunned looks on their faces, neither had the imperial guard. A distant memoryâa story of a world set alight by fire and burned to ash and boneâtugged at her mind, but she ignored it, setting it aside for later contemplation. Who cared if this demon was different? So long as it died when she cut off its head.
An awed silence gripped the entire ship until the last of the dying flames faded from the sky, leaving behind a heavy shroud of smoke. And then the ship's crewâgrown men, hardened sailorsâbegan to scream.
"Keep to your positions!" Azi barked, but it was no use. Panic had the crew in its claws, shook, and refused to let go. Some froze in place, while others ran in frantic search of an escape, trampling over each other in the process. Desperate men decided to abandon ship by jumping overboard into the churning river below. Sam hoped for their sake they were strong swimmers. The ship was nowhere near land. Or perhaps they'd knowingly leapt to their death, choosing a watery grave over the pit of a demon's belly.
The imperial guard, under Azi's orders, leapt into action, first trying to calm the remaining crew, and then when that failed, scrambling to fill the deserted posts to keep the ship steady. Except they were soldiers, not sailors, and it was clear even to Sam they didn't have any idea what they were doing.
At least she was feeling betterâeither because she was distracted, or because her stomach was completely empty. That was something. All she needed now to be useful was a weapon. Gods, how long had it been since she'd last swung a sword? Weeks? A month? She ran her thumb over the ball of her right hand. Too long, if her calluses were fading.
A glint of metal in the smoky haze caught her eye, a few yards from where she stood now. Squinting, she could see the blade of a sword come halfway out of its scabbard, thrown aside like garbage. She eyed it hungrily, her fingers itching to touch it. Where had it come from? From one of the sailors who abandoned ship? Swimming would be hard enough without a heavy hunk of metal weighing them down.
Before anyone could gainsay her (not that anyone was paying her any attention), she sprinted across the deck and dove for it. Her palm closed around a rough wooden hilt. Getting to her feet, Sam slid the sword the rest of the way out of its sheath and hefted it up to eye-level to get a good look at it. The grip was too large and the blade's balance was off, but Sam didn't care. She closed her eyes for just a moment, savoring the familiar feeling of steel in her hand.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Sam jumped, nearly startled into dropping the sword. She whirled around and glared at the interloper. "You again!"
It was the same imperial guard who had turned her over to Azi, looking no less happy to see her than she did him. "Put it down before you hurt yourself," he ordered, puffing up his chest with self-importance.
Sam rolled her eyes, annoyed now. The guard was more boy than man, his face smooth except for a few scraggly hairs attempting at a beard. Despite his fancy red-and-gold uniform, he was just a glorified soldier, while Sam was the emperor's bride-to-be. Sort of. He had no business telling her to do anything. "Why don't you come and take it from me?" she challenged.
"Of all the ridiculous..." he muttered before lunging for her sword.
Clumsy, clumsy. Sam dropped and kicked his legs out from under him in one clean sweep. Arms flailing, he hit the deck with a hard thud. She didn't give him a chance to recover from his shock, bringing the tip of her sword to his throat. He stared at the blade cross-eyed, his face a mix of outrage and disbelief.
"I'll be keeping the sword," she told him, ignoring the twinge of muscle in her thigh. She should have known better than to pull a fancy move like that after going so long without training.
He sniped a reply, but Sam couldn't hear the words over the demon's roar, a deep, guttural sound that rattled her bones. She ignored the fallen guard and looked up. The sky was still filled with smoke, but the beast was in shooting range nowâand close enough to burn them all to a crisp. But it was still well out of the range of her sword. From here, she could do nothing, except watch, and wait.
"Fire!" Azi shouted again. Archers notched their arrows and took aim. Bolts whistled through the air, bouncing harmlessly off the demon's scaly hide. A few sunk into the flesh between its scales, but the wounds were too shallow to cause any real damage.
Round after round they fired, until dozens of arrows stuck out from its body like quills. It did nothing to slow the demon's descent--lower, lower, until its talons scraped the top of the ship's crow's nest. Sam frowned. It just...perched there with its wings pulled back, the mast groaning in protest under its weight. Curls of smoke billowed out of its nostrils and rolled over the ship in wavesânot thick enough to choke, but enough to trick the eye, warping shapes and shadows behind a cloak of gray mist. But for all the smoke pouring out of its lungs, it didn't breathe fire. It didn't attack them at all. What was it waiting for? She'd never known a demon capable of stealth or self-restraint.
And then it unfurled its mighty wings and jumped.
More screams and shouts, now, and the hiss of steel against leather as swords were drawn. The sounds meant nothing to Sam, her gaze pinned to the spot where the demon's neck met its shoulders. Hidden before by the distance and haze of smoke, a human-shaped figure clung to the raised scales on its back.
Impossible. But when she closed her eyes and opened them again, the figure was still there.
Her legs moved of their own volition, slowly at first, and then she was sprinting full speed towards the demon.
And towards Braeden.
A/N: Struggled a bit with this chapter (possibly because last week was the world's longest at work). Look forward to your feedback!