Free Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows by Ree Soesbee

that had frightened him with their nearness were now far to the side, well out of reach of the beleaguered Indomitable . No sign of the underwater beast. Breathing out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, Cobiah reached for the tethers that tangled the foremast with the forward jib sails and began to saw at them with his knife.
    He’d cut through two of them when something in the water caught his eye. At first it was a purplish blur beneath the surface, a shadow within shadows, notable only by the speed and direction in which it flowed—counter to the ocean’s tide. The knife slowed in Cobiah’s hand. He watched the oily patch of color pass beneath the ship, trying to mark its true size and shape. Could the gunners see it? Grasping a rope, Cobiah leaned and shouted down to the deckhands, “Look aft, boys! The creature is—”
    Just then the beast rose from the depths. Sharp teeth, each nearly the size of a man, broke through the glassy surface of the ocean, pouring water in flowing gouts down its massive throat. Cobiah could hardly believe the scale of the creature. Its maw was vast and cavernous, capable of engulfing half the ship’s stern in a single bite. Beady eyes flickered behind thick, coiled lips. From hishigh vantage, Cobiah could see fins the size of lifeboats propelling the monster forward and, far below, a tail that thrashed so hard it formed its own mighty current beneath the sea. One of the cannonballs had struck the monster in the cheek, rending a bloody hole in sensitive flesh, and the pain must have driven the monster to strike again. Cobiah barely had time to wrap his arms tightly about the mast before the monster slammed into the rear of the ship. Everything pitched forward, and he slipped precariously, his body twisting into the very rigging he’d been working to cut away.
    The planks of the stern began to crack and complain as the Maw’s great teeth fastened upon it. Windows in the ornate rear cabin shattered as it bit down, and heavy shards of broken glass slashed the creature’s lips and gums. The pain only infuriated the creature further.
    Its roar shook the sails, stinking of brine and rot. There was a horrible, crashing impact as the creature bit into the rear of the Indomitable , tugging the ship backward into the water. Teeth sank into thick wooden panels, and the vessel lurched in the water like a wounded animal. A splintering of boards was followed by a sickening yaw, and with a jolt, the entire mast began to slip toward the sea, carrying Cobiah along with it.
    The trunk toppled, crashing through line and spar, and caught with a listing stagger in the netting between the two main masts. It spun about, wrapping Cobiah in rope and the canvas of the sea-damp sail hanging more than seventy feet above the deck. He choked back a scream and clung to the swaying lanyards. In his desperation to hold on, the long knife slipped from his hand. He lost sight of it as the blade vanished into the ocean’s dark waves.
    Somewhere in the pandemonium below, Vost washowling orders. If they could only get it to release its grip before the Maw crushed the ship’s hull, the Indomitable might just survive the encounter. To push it off, they’d taken up the ship’s fishing harpoons, jabbing at the monster’s eyes with all their strength.
    Tosh’s spear struck flesh, and the Maw roared again. As it did, its teeth slipped from the stern of the galleon, and the monster fell back into the sea. Slowly, it sank into the ocean, dark fins circling in massive watery drafts, the tail lashing up waves that swept the top deck. The ship shuddered with the effort of shaking off the beast, but she bobbed back to her full height once its weight dropped away. The hull wasn’t punctured. The Indomitable still held.
    That didn’t help Cobiah. He stretched to grab the sail canvas as the deck swung sickeningly below him. The mast tilted from side to side as the wind and the violent rocking motion of the ship