Free Dragon Over Washington (The Third War Of The Bir Nibaru Gods) by Bruno Flexer

with a supreme act of will, stiffened his trembling hands and the figure returned to its tracing. The sailor’s left eye started twitching madly.
    It took a long time. The sailor sweated profusely, despite the wind that blew all about them, making the black robes flutter. After an eternity, the figure stopped and straightened up.
    “It seems all is ready. If you value your life, you will stand like a statue for the next several moments. Do you understand?”
    The sailor turned as white as a sheet.
    “I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”
    The black-robed figure faced the iron plaque while the sailor held it high. They stood that way for a while, unmoving, the iron-mask face immobile. It seemed the ship had become quieter, a deep silence of anticipation muffling every sound on board.
    “ Sin-Shar-Ishkun Adar Hejaat !” The words rang out metallically. An indefinable change had come over the ship.
    “ Sin-Shar-Ishkun Adar Hejaat ! Come up from the Pit Lands! Pierce the Veils! Come to me!” the figure cried, raising its arms.
    Strange lights began bathing the ship. It was as if a rainbow shone down over the deck, but twinkling with colors that are never seen after a rain - colors that could not be named, could not be remembered. The lights flickered, blinking on and off, flowing across the ship.
    “ Sin-Shar-Ishkun Adar Hejaat ! A mortal is offered! A prize is given! A tasty morsel awaits thee, Sin-Shar-Ishkun Adar Hejaat ! I conjure you by your name!”
    The lights bathing the ship drifted and converged in front of the black figure. Thunder rolled across the deck, shaking the ship and everything aboard. A tunnel formed with walls of pure light made up of colors that were unreal, colors that should not exist, colors that were radiated by the fabric of reality being changed. The ship lurched and perspectives changed. Things started to fall down into the tunnel’s mouth. Masts, sails - even the hull itself groaned as the inexorable pull from the tunnel’s mouth intensified.
    It was a tunnel between the Veils that mutated reality around it, changing the directions of the world. Everything not bolted to the deck was swept into the tunnel and was instantly sucked away. The captain, watching from the aft castle, held the rail tightly to keep from falling forward into the tunnel. Pieces of ropes, buckets and tools were sucked into the writhing tunnel.
    The first mate lost his cap to the tunnel. He glanced at the captain, waiting for orders. The captain’s face was white, his eyes bulging. The light show was visible for miles around the ship, ruining the ship’s camouflage. The ship itself tilted, lurching, its stern rising up.
    The tunnel continued moving, twisting and undulating, all the while its opening remained in front of the black-robed figure. Thunder rolled out of the tunnel, making the mainmast shudder and the sails shake violently like leaves in a storm. The tunnel seemed to end in a black abyss an immeasurable distance away.
    Now, something came moving through it, reaching towards the opening, surging with frightening speed and vitality till it burst out of the tunnel. As thick, yellow oily smoke exploded out, engulfing the deck, the tunnel of light winked out, returning perspectives to normal and the ship’s stern returned to the Skyriver lane with a great splash. The opaque smoke began to move, its coils writhing.
    Two eyes opened inside the smoke cloud, dark black orbs with a yellow, smoldering core. There was an irregular diagonal slash between the eyes - a constant disturbance inside the thick cloud, a scar. The thick, yellow cloud stirred and the eyes looked around before focusing on the sailor standing before it. They narrowed and scanned the iron plaque; then an inhuman shriek pierced the ship. Claws, beaks and talons emerged from within the cloud and lunged at the sailor, hungrily yearning for his flesh, stopping inches from his skin. Deafening howls of anger and hunger rose as the nebulous entity kept