Free Pirate Wars by Kai Meyer

out everything to his marksman’s satisfaction. Once he ducked away under a kobalin harpoon; another time a lance glanced off the ray’s wing, but it left only a slight scratch.
    During each circuit he stole a worried look at Jasconius, who had detached himself from the jetty and thrashed under the surface as a mighty shadow. When Griffin saw him down there the first time, he was astonished at the mobility of the giant whale and at the same time deeply concerned about the mass of dark spots that crowded around him. But by the second orbit the whale clearly had fewer opponents, and by the third the kobalins were keeping at a respectful distance from the titan who raged in the middle of them. However, Griffin didn’t deceive himself: If the deep tribes focused a part of their strength and took concerted action against Jasconius, he wouldn’t be able to hold out against them for long.
    When the rays crossed the sea star arm beneath which theanchor chain was fastened, Griffin noticed that a particularly dense mass of kobalin swarms were clustered there. He thought with chills of Soledad, who must be down there somewhere. As long as the kobalins didn’t go onto land—and until now they’d made no attempt to do so—the area around the anchor chain was the most dangerous place in the entire battle. The princess must have lost her mind to let herself be deployed right there. At the same time he admired her courage. If anyone truly deserved to lead the pirates of the Caribbean, it was she. Maybe she thought she still had to prove it.
    The next harpoons flashed into the air around his ray like steel lightning. All the horrific visions of Soledad’s fight in the deep faded, as he had enough to do to keep the ray under control.
    From behind him came a gurgling scream.
    “Rorrick?” Griffin looked over his shoulder.
    He looked into the lifeless eyes of the marksman.
    The man sat swaying in the saddle, hit by a kobalin lance.
    Griffin screamed with shock and fury, but when he tried to reach back with one hand to hold his companion, the ray shifted unmanageably beneath him, and Rorrick lost his balance. The body slipped back, tore one of the munitions pockets with it, and plunged down through the emptiness.
    Stunned, Griffin turned away from the sight as the body struck the waves and was pulled under by a dozen clawed arms.
     
    As Griffin lost his marksman, Soledad had long ceased to fight for the anchor chain or the future of the sea star city.
    She was fighting for sheer survival.
    Around her reigned a chaos of kobalins, dead divers, shredded protective suits, and dark red clouds, which made it harder still for the humans to defend themselves against the attack.
    The kobalins had just broken through the light pillars of the torch shafts in a mighty attack wave. They’d drawn a ring of attack around the defenders of the anchor chain like a noose of lances and claws and snapping jaws. Within one or two minutes the number of defenders had decreased by half. About a dozen humans were now fighting desperately against the attacking deep tribes.
    Soledad had a handful of bolts left, but she had no chance to reload the two crossbows. A kobalin shot toward her through a cloud of blood, his claws outstretched and fangs bared. Soledad kicked her legs to rise, and at the same time was aware that her air supply was growing thinner. It was long past time to change the bubblestone, but the attackers left her no opportunity for it. Somehow she succeeded in avoiding the first attack and in pulling the corpse of another kobalin between her and her adversary. For a moment the creature was distracted and sniffed at the dead one like a hungry wolf, without taking his eyes off Soledad. With trembling hands she loaded one of the two crossbows—and was just able to aim when the kobalin shoved his dead comrade aside and shot toward her in a flowing movement.
    The bolt hit its target. However, the kobalin’s stroke was strong enough to get him up to