The Gift of Battle by Morgan Rice Page B

tusks, charged forward, and impaled his father through the back.
    His father cried
out, blood pouring from his mouth, as the elephant raised him high in the air.
    Darius felt his
own heart close up as he saw his father, the bravest warrior he had ever seen,
high in the air, impaled by the tusk, struggling to break free even as he was
dying.
    “FATHER!” Darius
shrieked.
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
     
    Thorgrin stood
at the bow of the ship, tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, and looked
up in shock and horror at the massive sea monster emerging from the depths of
the water. It was the same color as the blood sea below, and as it rose higher
and higher, it cast a shadow over what little light there was in this Land of Blood. It opened its massive jaws, revealing dozens of rows of fangs, and it released
its tentacles in every direction, some of them longer than the ship, as if a
creature from the very depths of hell were reaching out to give them a hug.
    Then it plunged
down for the ship, ready to engulf them all.
    Beside Thorgrin,
Reece, Selese, O’Connor, Indra, Matus, Elden, and Angel all stood holding their
weapons, standing their ground fearlessly in the face of this beast. Thor
strengthened his resolve as he felt the Sword of the Dead vibrating in his
hand, and he knew he had to take action. He had to protect Angel and the
others, and he knew he could not wait for the beast to come to them.
    Thorgrin leapt
forward to meet it, up high onto the rail, raised his sword high overhead, and
as one of the tentacles came swinging sideways for him, he swung around and
chopped it off. The huge tentacle, severed, fell to the ship with a hollow
sound, shaking the boat, then slid alongside the deck until it smashed into the
rail.
    The others did
not hesitate either. O’Connor let loose a volley of arrows for the beast’s
eyes, while Reece chopped off another tentacle descending for Selese’s waist.
Indra threw her spear, piercing its chest, Matus swung his flail, severing
another tentacle, and Elden used his ax, chopping off two in one stroke. As
one, the Legion descended on this beast, attacking it like a finely tuned
machine.
    The beast
shrieked in rage, having lost several of its tentacles, pierced by arrows and
spears, clearly caught off guard by the coordinated attack. Its first attack
halted, it shrieked even louder in frustration, shot up high into the air, and
then just as quickly plunged beneath the surface, creating great waves and
leaving the ship rocking in its wake.
    Thor stared out
at the sudden silence, puzzled, and for a second he thought that maybe it had
retreated, that they had defeated it, especially as he saw the beast’s blood
pooling at the surface. But then he had a sinking feeling that all went too
quiet, too quickly.
    And then, too
late, he realized what the beast was about to do.
    “HANG ON!” Thor
yelled to the others.
    Thor had barely
uttered the words when he felt their ship rise up unsteadily from the waters,
higher and higher, until it was in the air, in the tentacles of the beast. Thor
looked down and saw the beast beneath it, its tentacles wrapped all over the
ship from bow to stern. He braced himself for the crash to come.
    The beast hurled
the ship and it went flying like a toy through the air, all of them trying to
hold on for dear life, until it finally landed back in the ocean, rocking violently.
    Thor and the
others lost their grip and went sliding across the deck every which way,
smashing into the wood as the ship tossed and turned. Thor spotted Angel
sliding across the deck, heading for the rail, soon to go over the edge, and he
reached out and grabbed her small hand, holding her tight as she looked back at
him with panic.
    Finally, the
ship righted itself. Thor scrambled to his feet, as did the others, bracing for
the next attack, and as soon as he did, he saw the beast swimming toward them
at full speed, its tentacles flailing. It gripped the ship from all sides, its
tentacles