The dead body was floppy and heavy as Piggy tried to hoist it upward. The boat was leaning dangerously close to the surface of the water. To Piggy’s right a thin stream of water was pouring in adding to the pool clustered around Piggy’s feet. With a grunt, Piggy shoved the body out towards Rhino-xi.

Whump. Splash. A hand broke off the body and bobbed back towards Piggy, but the rest of it was just to the right of Rhino-xi and the kid.

Rhino-xi squirmed as his hand grabbed the dead guy’s neck, ‘This was the best rope you could find?’

Piggy strained against the edge of the boat and pulled the dead guy’s leg. Rhino-xi and the kid floated over.

Piggy still wasn’t finished with the body. When the two were clutching the side of the boat Piggy hauled the body on board and used it to counterbalance Rhino-xi’s weight as Rhino pushed first the kid, then himself aboard the boat.

The kid was tiny. A little girl dressed in a plaited straw dress. She lay on the bottom of the boat limp and unmoving.

Rhino-xi and Piggy shared a look.

‘What are we gonna do?’ Piggy said.

‘We’re gonna bring her back.’

‘How?’

Rhino-xi threw his hands in the air, ‘use the resuscitation spell.’

‘The what?’

‘The one we got taught in that med class by that really old guy with the boring voice.’

‘Oh…’ Piggy wiped a hand across his face, ‘The first principal of synthetic composition of matter in its organic form invloves triaged treatment.’ He broke into a grin, ‘That guy right.’

Rhino-xi laughed, ‘Yes, that’s the one. Loved long words.’

‘Sounded like his nose was in his throat?’

‘Exactly!’

They giggled for a moment, then Rhino-xi’s eyes landed on the kid they were supposed to be saving.

‘Piggy! Do the resus now!’

The grin dropped off Piggy’s face, ‘okay, okay, put your hands behind her head.’

‘Done.’

‘Ah… make sure she isn’t breathing.’

‘She hasn’t been breathing for five minutes Piggy, hurry up.’

‘Ahh…. Rhino-xi?’ Piggy scratched his head, ‘I wasn’t paying attention in that class either.’

‘Sop she’s going to die, all because you couldn’t bother paying attention for five minutes.’

‘I’m sorry Rhino-xi.’

‘You are a bad person Piggy. And so am I.’

‘That’s right, you weren’t paying attention in that class either Rhinoo-xi.’

‘We’re both bad people.’

‘Really bad.’

And then they looked at eachother and said, ‘I wish Sparrow was here.’

But Sparrow didn’t show and the kid lay between them geting colder and limper with every second.

‘Sometimes when I was little, I’d choke because I ate too much food.’

Rhino-xi eye’d Piggy’s belly, ‘I can see that.’

Piggy sniffed, ‘There’s no need to be mean Rhino-xi.’

‘I know, I’m just angry because we’ve got this girl dying here and we can’t even help her.’

Piggy nodded, ‘That’s what I was saying, when I was little I’d choke because I’d try cram too much food in my mouth. My mumma would come along and whack me on the back, and just like magic the food would come out.’

A gleam found Rhino-xi’s eyes, ‘Hey! My mum did that too!’

He stood up so fast the boat nearly flipped again. Luckily the body of the dead guy next to them helped counteract his motion.

He grabbed the girl, flipped her on her back, jumped a metre in the air and drove his hands down towards her back.

Piggy jumped in front of the girl,stretching out his arms and shreiking ‘Not like that! You’ll kill her.’

Rhino-xi touched down on the boat. Waves spread out around the boat.

Piggy doubled checked his companion wasn’t going to bodyslam the girl, then carefully put his palm against the girl’s back. He tapped her back three times and a pool of water trickled from her mouth.

‘Aim her face downward!’ Rhino-xi said, ‘there’s water coming out!’

Piggy tilted the little girl, and hit her back again. Three strikes. And then she started to cry.

Her chest moved on its own accord and her weak limbs even struggled to stand back up.

Tears flooded Rhino-xi and Piggy’s cheeks. They hugged the little girl and then hugged eachother.

‘We did it!’ Rhino-xi shouted.

‘We didn’t kill her!’ Piggy joined it.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

‘We’re not complete idiots!’

Beneath the water a little to their left a lone horde was walking towards the shore. It was the last horde on Stormwater and had been making sure not a single lifeform remained. All of its attention was focussed on getting back to the shore and dealing with the influx of gods that were arriving to join the battle.

But the yells of delight coming from somewhere above it captured the horde’s attention. It gazed upward at the dark shadow of the lifeboat, kicked off the bottom of the lake and began swimming towards the ship.

****

The first Piggy and Rhino-xi heard was a vague splashing from their right.

‘Waves are getting bigger here,’ Piggy, who was attempting to paddle the boat with his hands, said.

Rhino-xi, was steering with one hand and rubbing the little girl’s back with his other hand. The dead guy was still in the boat. Bits of his guts were sloshing around in the bottom.

‘I see that,’ Rhino-xi muttered, ‘and to be honest I’m not sure we’re getting much closer.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Well you see the roof of the fortress, the one burning down?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I’ve been watching it for the last five minutes and its not getting any bigger.’

There was another splash, this one rocked the boat.

Piggy dipped his hands into the lake. The cold, fresh water trickled through his palms. He counted a rhythm under his breath. One, two, three, four, one, two, three -

A hand grabbed Piggy’s hand, and twisted. A white hot pain shot up Piggy’s arm and into his spinal cord. The pain was sharp and fast and dragged Piggy towards the side of the boat. Piggy rolled - which probably saved his life. The roll displaced the boat, which tilted up onto its side but Piggy’s fingers slipped out of the Horde’s hand and Piggy pulled his damaged limbs back into the boat.

‘You right Piggy?’ Rhino-xi called as the boat settled onto the flat surface.

Piggy hugged his wrist. Something had grabbed him, but what? Piggy peered into the fearful dark depths.

‘I - I felt something.’

Rhino-xi pulled his hand out of the water and peered into the depths. Their boat wobbled.

‘Maybe it was a fish.’

Thump, thump, thump. Came a knocking on the underside of their boat.

‘Oh, that’s no fish.’

Piggy’s eyes scanned the boat, searching for a weapon. Perhaps he could try pulling a nail from the boat? But then… he had nothing to pull it with. Likewise, there was no way to pry a board from the ship.

Piggy’s eyes landed on the dead body still in the ship. He got to his feet shakily. And heaved the body towards the edge.

‘Oh no you’re not.’ Rhino-xi said.

The water splashed against the side of their craft as Piggy lowered the body’s arms into the water. They waited. Slap, slap, slap.

The water lapping against the side fo their craft mixed with the sounds of battle from the shore. The clanging of metal, shouting of battlecries and screams of wounded melded into a single noise that reverberated in the distance.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

‘Guess it was nothing.’ Piggy said, slipping the body overboard.

Snap. Splash. A fist burst through the bottom of the boat, grabbing Piggy’s right leg and dragging him down into the water. Plank shrapnel hit Rhino-xi’s cheek, drawing a long questionmark scratch.

Piggy’s nails dug into the side of the boat. His leg was pulled further and further into the hole, bending at an unnatural angle. THe bone made a cracking sound and the pain made his fingers let go.

He was down to his waist. His left leg spread out along the bottom of the boat. Water was pouring in through the hole in the bottom. His knee was already wet.

Something above him wrapped around Piggy’s wrists. Piggy looked up to see Rhino-xi grunting as he tried to tear Piggy back from the hole. The boat was threatening to tip again. Veins rippled in Rhino-xi’s temples as he pulled and pulled and…

A head smashed through the bottom of the boat. Black clad and reeking of flesh. It was joined by two hands. Piggy felt an instant relief as the beast let go of his leg. He clambered to his feet and tried to stand, but stumbled, bodyslamming into the horde.

The beast wasn’t prepared for such an attack and dipped below the boat once again.

The water was up to Rhino-xi’s calves now. The little girl let out a faint cry. It was closing on her waist.

Piggy let out a scream and struggled to his feet. The back of his shirt was torn and beneath the trip was a large circular hole with red flesh peaking out from it. Sharp tooth incisions lined the hole.

A second time the horde’s head and shoulders appeared. Its arms thrust out to the sides and it pulled itself up into the boat.

Rhino-xi kicked it in the head. Stumbling back into the side of the boat as his foot contacted the rock-solid appendage.

The beast barely snarled in reply.

It was on its feet. Surveying its targets - two on one side, one on the other. All unarmed. The apex predator licked its teeth. It would start with the young one.

A second thud tapped the bottom of the boat. This one was louder than the horde had made, it shattered the structure of the boat centre. The horde wobbled, then took a step across to Piggy’s half of the boat.

The two halves of the boat seperated and cold water slapped the backs of its occupants.

The horde stumbled across the boat, throat punching Piggy so hard that Piggy flew backwards off the edge of his craft. Rhino-xi had the girl on his shoulders as their half of the boat dipped further and further into the water.

The horde swum towards them with fast, powerful strokes. There was nothing Rhino-xi could do but watch. No paddles, sinking boat…

I’m sorry, he thought, I’m sorry Piggy for dragging you into this. I’m sorry little girl. I wish we could’ve saved you. I wish my life had meant something.

The horde’s fist grabbed the wood under Rhino-xi’s feet. But as it went to pull itself up something beneath the water jerked it backwards.

The horde tugged, but it still didn’t move. It looked back towards its feet where a long, pink tentacle had curled around its waist.

The tentacle tightened squeezing harder and harder until the horde’s bones began to liquify.

The horde tore at the tentacle’s rubbery flesh. Its fingers whirrring. But that was not enough to stop its destruction. Another tentacle rose up from the ocean - and pulled at the creatures’ head, twisting it like the cap of a bottle until it popped off carrying the creature’s spine with it.

Rhino-xi stared up at it, shivvering.

A giant wave rose towards them, churning up the water around them.

And from the wave rose the kraken, a beast of jelly-like flesh that roared a hideous fish-filled breath at them through row upon row of sharp, razor-like teeth.

The little girl was quiet now. Eyes large. Breath heaving.

She knows. Rhino-xi thought, she knows this is the end.

He fell to his knees and let out a single sob. Their half of the boat flooded and then dropped into the sea. A tentacle wrapped around him, pulling him towards the gaping mouth.

Rhino-xi closed his eyes, surrendering to the great beast of the lake. Then the great kraken’s limbs stopped just short of its mouth. The air here smelled like pond-weed and fish. Why hasn’t it eaten me already?

‘I wondered where you fools got to.’

Rhino-xi opened his eyes. The voice was familiar - female - with a taunting humpour to it - it could only belong to…

On a bulge on the beast’s head was Princess Jade. She stood, clinging to a tiny nick in the creature’s slippery skin.

‘Princess?’

‘Emperess now…’ she said, ‘not that there’ll be anything much left to be emperess of.’

‘But h-’ he stopped as he caught sight of piggy being lifted from the water by the giant beast’s tentacle. His friend looked soggy but breathing. And that was all that mattered.

‘The kraken isn’t just a beast.’ Jade said, ‘Its an intelligent, thoughtful being. It knows the people of the lake pray to it and offer to it. But the horde. They awoke its fury.’

She smiled, ‘Just like they’ve woken the fury of the gods.’