Forlaith: Sea Monster

 February 26

I thought the water shortage would be our end.

I was in our cabin with the other women when it sounded as though the entire crew burst into shouts and screams. I led the women up the steep steps at a run. Even Oswyn forgot to be ladylike. We reached the deck to find the whole crew dashing here and there.

Rising up along the side of the ship was a giant, gray snake, its head nearly the size of the forecastle. It opened its mouth as we all stopped to stare. We could see enormous teeth dripping with slime and a forked tongue that lashed out towards our sails. Small tentacles swarmed around its head as though they each had a mind of its own.

The sailors rushed forwards, taking up long spears that I didn’t even know we had on board, and began chucking them at the long body. The sharp metal points bounced off the serpents scale and dropped into the rolling sea. By this time, other sailors had arrived with bows and arrows. They launched the arrows at the beast, most of them bouncing off its body like the spears, but I saw one stick into the animal’s eye.

The monster screamed, the sound tearing through our senses in a way that seemed beyond mere sound. I felt it vibrate through my chest. It made my ears hurt and my head throb. Before the serpent had finished its scream, the archers had loosed another volley of arrows, all directed at its more vulnerable face. Another arrow lodged itself into the wounded eye while a few attached themselves to the animal’s tongue and tentacles.  

I heard the women behind me screaming, but ignored them as I considered how I could help. I didn’t have a chance to come up with a plan before the serpent lunged forwards, dropping its head over the other side of the ship. The movement showed just how long this beastly thing really was. Before any of us could move, the head reappeared on the original side of the ship. It had made a loop with its body around our ship.

It wasn’t going to eat us; it was going to drown us by smashing the ship into splinters. The men who had given up on the spears dashed forwards and began pressing against the sides of the serpent as though their meager efforts could actually stop it. Without thinking I ran towards them, intending to help. Before I could reach that side of the ship, the head dropped to our level and snapped down upon us.

I screamed as a sharp tooth sprouted from my stomach. A sailor next to me was having the same problem. A second later, the serpent lifted its head as it closed its mouth around our bodies. We both shrieked, from pain and fear alike. The serpent shook us like a dog shakes a bird to break its neck, cutting our screams short.

The man skewered on the tooth next to me stopped moving. I tried to grab hold of the teeth above me, which were descending again, ready to poke more holes in me. The tooth was sharp and cut my hands, but the pain of the cuts on my hands were nothing compared to the feeling of the teeth digging into my gut.

The serpent shook me again, this time dislodging me from its teeth. I sailed towards the deck, hundreds of feet below me, another scream tearing from my throat.

And just as I reached the creaking planks of the deck I woke up.

Forlaith