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Not for lack of opportunity, of course He darted through a web of iron and curses, batting away clu or lucky for him to avoid Every metal favour bestowed upon hi his assailants back
He was vaguely surprised that he could feel thequite so strong as they had been when he first encountered them But Irontide, and the flesh he had rent in suicidal frenzy, had been o
He was less aware of death this tiht an errant blade in his hand and tore it free fro thean as a chaos of fire and thunder on the deck had since degenerated into a chaos of fire, thunder, steel, cursing, spitting and screa
Arrows fell fro to seek cover from them or return fire with hasty shots Those feho siht another target or clung by their htning bolt thrown from the dark-skinned huface with the burning eyes took no notice, consuet Whatever bemusement had been present on his face had been consuer hich his eyes flared He was no longer even nat Now, he displayed the anger appropriate to a nat that spewed fire and frost at his that had decided to seek easier prey had found theainst the deck Lenk refused to ness,equally stupid The squeaky little huet hi hu soface
Impotent, drained, useless and othereak; they deserved to die, he knew
What he didn’t knohy the netherlings seeking to kill theht rose to hi blade in his palrin with a scowl After all, it wasn’t as though there weren’t bigger probleer problems with tremendous teeth
Such a problem made itself known in a shadow that blosso, blackness banished by the resounding thunder of blue jaws snapping, a screa wildly as a great serpentine head swept up and shook back and forth to silence its writhing, shrieking prisoner
No guttural roar that boiled behind its teeth could drown out the noise of flesh rending as an errant leg went flying before the rest of the sinewy s and down a throat
The Akaneed, far froonreat serpent seeazes went deeper into each other, curiosity turning to respect turning to anger in an instant In each other, they saw soreat serpent, Gariath saw sharp teeth stained with blood, narrowed yellow slits glowing in the night He saw in theo, upon a beach he had intended to be his grave: hunger, hatred, an end
To everything
In Gariath, the Akaneed saw so distinctly different
This wasjaws hurtling towards hied backwards as the serpent’s snout speared the deck, shattered the wood and scattered the living and the dead
The ship shook and groaned as the serpent tried to pull itsabout the deck as they struggled to keep their footing Gariath clung to the deck, his claws eaze about the deck
A good chance to escape, he noted Lenk won’t h They’re small, stupid You want to protect the and all that The snake is distracted The longfaces are distracted The Shen are …
Watching, he noticed, dozens of yellow eyes staring fro, he realised, their boered, bodies tense
For hi of lizard hi to see if what they knew of Rhega was true or if they had all died long ago
He would show the over the dead, tra on claws as the Akaneed pulled itself free, its jaws tinted red and bris to pull him aloft and towards the creature’s snout He fell upon it with a snarl, sinking claws into blue flesh
In an eruption of splinters and a thunderous roar, the dragon tenaciously with claws dug firmly into the tender flesh of the creature’s nostrils as its serpentine neck twisted and writhed like a ind as it struggled to dislodge this clawed, fanged parasite
Gariath could not let that happen His path becath by ar fresh wounds, feet thrust into old ones Each tio and fly into dark water, to sink until he could see, feel, breathe no more Each tia They would see They would know
‘I haven’t rowled to the Akaneed ‘There was another one I took much from him Eyes, teeth …’ It replied with a roar and a futile atteive reat deal more than eyes and teeth’ He clawed his way up to eyes which burned yellow hate ‘Thank you’ He drew back a fist ‘I’h the squelch of ht was that an eye was very , in both texture and the way yellow cru of air beneath hi up before him as the Akaneed threw him fro blue column as he fell and twisted hi it and drawing forth red blood and echoing howls fro to slow his fall His hands tensed to the point of agony, claws threatening to rip froers
When he slowed to a halt, the beast had no rowl It swayed dizzily upon the waves, fighting the pain inside it, struggling to stay awake, afloat, alive
Gariath felt a pang of syh, as he turned to face the dozens of yellow eyes fixated upon hiht, or he wanted to think It was so hard to see their stares at this range, swaying on the serpent’s hide, his own eyes veiled by pain and weariness
‘I aa is alive The Rhega still live’ He slammed a fist to his chest ‘I am alive Look Look at me’ He couldn’t hear the shrill desperation in his voice, couldn’t feel the tears welling up in his eyes ‘I ah a choked throat ‘Talk tobehind their yellow stares One by one, the fires of their arroere snuffed into darkness One by one, each Shen disappeared into gloo the shadows
‘No!’ Gariath roared at them ‘You can’t leave now! Not when I’ to exist as their flan that they heard him, or cared what he had to say He continued to shriek at theht provide an answer, any answer, before they vanished coa?’ he howled at thee? Where are they? What happened to the plea ‘WHY WON’T YOU ANSWER ME?’
They continued to say nothing, continued to disappear until all that rele yellow eye Yaike stared, expressionless, the ruin of what had once been his eye see to stare far deeper, speak far louder, than his whole eye or his rasping voice
‘Jaga, Rhega,’ he spoke ‘Home All that we do, we do for it’
‘And what does a Rhega do? Tellthe lizard wisps of smoke
‘I a for the sound of oars dipping into water through the distant carnage of the deck and the flesh-deep groan of the Akaneed And through it all, he could hear the voice of the grandfather, speaking with such closeness as to suggest the spirit was right next to hia do, Wisest?’
His answer came slowly, his eyes and voice cast into the darkness
‘Life is precious,’ Gariath whispered ‘A Rhega lives’