Free Crossroads 04 - The Dragon Isles by Stephen D (v1.1) Sullivan Page B

tight, but Marlian’s legs were slippery with rain.
Bok began to lose his grip.
                 Lady
Meinor staggered forward, trying to keep her footing on the rocking deck. Kingfisher surged and she fell into the
rail, almost going over herself.
                 Bok
grabbed her and lost his hold on Marlian.
                 Marlian
screamed as she disappeared into the brine. Razorfish swarmed in her wake and
stained the ocean red with blood.
     
                 * * * * *
                Trip clasped his fingers tight
around the rope atop the masthead. He watched in fascination as the dragon
dived past the ship on the starboard side. Several deckhands threw themselves
off the ship in a frenzy of terror. What Trip felt was more of a thrill. He’d never seen a dragon before and was determined
not to miss a moment of the experience, even if it killed him.
                 Lightning
flashed through the sky, narrowly missing the mast. As quickly as he could,
Trip scrambled down the rigging toward the deck.
                 Another
dragon-spawned wave struck Kingfisher’s side. The boat pitched wildly, and Trip found himself hanging in the air,
holding onto a rain-soaked rope by only his fingertips.
                 “Wheel”
he squealed as his hands slipped free. The feeling of soaring unfettered through the air was one the kender knew he would
treasure for the rest of his life—even if that life was about to end. Trip
smiled at his friends on the madly bobbing ship below as the waves rushed up to
meet him. “Will I hit the deck, or the water?” he wondered. “Will it hurt
much?”
     
                 *****
     
                 Karista
grabbed Bok’s shoulder and clung to him as he pulled her away from the rail.
                 “Lower
the boat!” Karista cried, staggering toward the skiff, stowed amidships. “If we
lower the boat, we could get away!”
                 “Away to where?” Bok replied, gazing frantically around the
surging seas, trying to find the islands.
                 Dragon-fear
held the crew firmly in its terrifying grip. Most of the hired hands dashed
madly about the deck, or dived for cover through the hatch and into the hold.
Following Karista’s suggestion, several sailors began to unlash the ship’s boat
and push it toward the rail.
                 “Belay
that, you fools!” Mik shouted from the bridge, but the crew wasn’t listening.
The captain cursed as the heaving seas threatened to yank the tiller from his
hand. Kingfisher bobbed and swerved
wildly, nearly heaving onto its side.
                 Ula
staggered from the rail to help Mik. As she skidded across the teetering
bridge, the sea elf looked up and saw a kender flying through the air toward
her. She held out her arms, and Trip fell hard into them. The two of them
thudded to the rain-soaked deck. “So kender fly now?” Ula asked.
                 “I
wish!” Trip replied. The two of them struggled to their feet once more and
lurched to the tiller.
                 “Hold
onto this,” Mik said, slapping the diamond artifact into Trip’s small hand. “I
don’t want to lose it in this wash.”
                 Trip
nodded, and tucked the object into one of the many pouches on his lizard-skin
vest.
                 “The
dragon’s submerged! I can’t see it!” Bok cried. The big bodyguard looked around
frantically.
                 “Maybe
it’s gone,” said Pamak, trying to launch the boat.
                 “It
could be anywhere!” replied a woman helping him. The two kept pushing die skiff
toward the rail. A crowd of sailors had formed around them, but no one seemed
to have a clear plan for accomplishing their task; the crowd hindered as much
as helped the efforts to launch the smaller boat.
                 Meinor
and Bok pushed