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The sound of wood splitting interrupted her Eyes turned, horrified and befuddled at once, to see Gariath’s thick runt and a sturdy kick, he snapped the long pole fro it on his shoulder, he walked casually to the side of the boat

‘What are you doing?’ Lenk asked, barely ht it!’

‘I’onman replied sirim for but a moment before he smiled ‘A human with a name will always find his way back home, Lenk’

‘Told you we should have left theon nothing in the rough clench of his jaw and the stern set of his scaly brow No excuses, no apologies, nothing but acknowledgement

And then, Gariath threw

Their hands came too late to hold back his ht of the splinteredlike a banner as it sped toward the Akaneed, who merely cocked its head curiously

Then screamed

Itsfro eternity When it brought its head down once h a yellow eye stained red, opened its jaws and loosed a ru maw

‘Dalanced about furtively, his sword suddenly see so small, so weak Dreadaeleon didn’t look any better as the boy stared up with quaking eyes, but he would have to do ‘Dread!’

The boy looked at hiape

‘Get up here!’ Lenk roared, waving madly ‘Kill it!’

‘What? How?’

‘DO IT’

Whether it was the tone of the young reat serpent that drove him to his feet, Dreadaeleon had no time to know He scrambled to the fore of the boat, unhindered, unfazed even as Gariath looked at him with a bemused expression The boy’s hand trembled as he raised it before hian to recite the words that suer

Lenk watched with desperate fear, his gaze darting between the wizard and the beast Each ti new looked out of place on the wizard The cri from his eyes flickered like a candle in a breeze; he stuttered and the electricity crackled and sputtered erratically on his skin

It was not just fear that hindered the boy

‘He is weak,’ the voice hissed inside Lenk’s head ‘Your folly was in staying with the’

‘Shut up,’ Lenk muttered in return

‘Do you think we’ll die from this? Rest easy They die You don’t’

‘Shut up!’

‘I won’t let you’

‘Shut--’

There was the sound of shrieking, of cracking Dreadaeleon staggered backward, as if struck, his hand twisted into a claw and his face twisted into a mask of pain and shame The reason did not beco knees and saw the growing dark spot upon his breeches

‘Dread,’ Asper gasped

‘Now?’ Denaos asked, cringing ‘Of all times?’

‘T-too er fizzled as he clutched his head ‘The strain … it’s just … the cost is too--’

Like a lash, the rest of the creature hurled itself froh over the heads of the co Dreadaeleon squarely in the chest His shriek was a whisper on the wind, his coat fluttering as he sailed through the air and plummeted into the water with a faint splash

The companions watched the waters ripple and re-for the fact that the boy had ever even existed as the rain carelessly pounded the sea They blinked, staring at the spot until it finally was still

‘Well’ Denaos coughed ‘Nohat?’

‘I don’t know,’ Lenk replied ‘Die horribly, I guess’

As though it were a request to be answered, the Akaneed co fro up a great wave as it crashed into the waters on the other side The co the, sinewy body replaced the sky over thee, its body finally disappearing beneath the water as a great black s to leave us alone,’ Kataria gasped, staring at the vanishing shape, then at Gariath ‘It was going to go away! Why did you do that?’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Denaos snarled, sliding his dagger out ‘He wanted this He wanted to kill us It’s only fair that we return the favour before that thing eats us’

‘Gariath … why?’ was all Asper could squeak out, a look of pure, baffled horror painting her expression

The dragonman only smiled and spoke ‘It’s not like you’re the last humans’

Lenk had no words, his attentions still fixed upon the Akaneed’s dark, sinewy shape beneath the surface He watched it intently, sword in hand, as it swept about in a great se yellow eye upon the vessel

‘It’s going to ram us!’ he shouted over the roar of thunder as the rain intensified overhead

‘The head!’ Kataria shrieked ‘Use the head!’

He wasted no ti his hand into their stowed equipers about thick locks of hair and pulled free a burlap sack Holding it like a beacon before him, he outstretched his hand, pulled the sack free