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14 - King Of The Far Wild
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Suni
Okay, stay calm, Suni. Stay calm.
But how could I stay calm with the scene in front of me?
A pair of legs kicked and kicked from the giant’s mouth as they were lifted into the air. A muffled, distant scream clawed its way free. That was the only thing that made it free, however, as the komodo thrashed its head from side to side, the poor soul in its mouth tossed back and forth like a rag doll. Finally, there was a sickening crunch and the sailor’s legs fell mercifully still. The komodo tilted its head back, then chomped down, mashing the man in its jaws.
Crunch.
And then again.
Crunch.
With each bite, the sailor slid farther down the beast’s throat until he disappeared entirely.
My mind told me to curse and run and hide all at the same time. Instead, I stood transfixed. Frozen. Rooted to the ground by a fear heavier than any anchor. The komodo’s tongue flicked out. It was smelling the air, I knew, but in the moment it looked like it was licking its lips. Then slowly, slowly, the beast turned its gaze to us.
“We’re dead. We’re dead, we’re dead, we’re dead,” I heard someone stammering, then realized it was me.
“Suni.”
“Ancestors above, we’re dead.”
“Suni!” Senesio clapped sharply, catching my attention. It caught the komodo’s attention too, the great beast turning slightly to focus on him. It took a half-step forward, resting one foot on a stray piece of debris from the Panagia.
“Go back to the Stormcrow. Tell the crew to fire the ballistae. All of them,” Senesio said, licking his lips, but never pulling his eyes from the komodo. Almost looked like he was trying to stare the beast down. As if he could scare it away with looks alone. “Senesio and the Komodo. This is going to make for a very good story.”
“You’re not serious,” I hissed, then eased back a few steps, moving slowly and carefully. Each step felt a mile, that much farther from the komodo, and yet, never far enough. “We need to get out of here. Now. But don’t run.” My thoughts were starting to make sense again. “Move slow and steady. If we run, we’ll trigger its predatory nature. It’ll chase on instinct.” Probably. Every animal was different, and more study would be required to figure out how this one functioned. Didn’t quite seem the best time for that at present, though.
“Suni, get back to the skyship. Demetrias, I need you with me,” Senesio said, gesturing him forward, eyes still on the komodo. “We’ll take the right, then the sergeant and his boys will take the left. We’ve got this under control. Right, sergeant? Sergeant?”
“Uh, about that,” Demetrias said, and Senesio finally turned. Finally pulled his eyes from the komodo.
“Ah,” he said, focusing on the distant forms of Sergeant Kyriakos and his men, already aboard the Stormcrow and readying it for departure. “Well that’s less than ideal.”
“Get back here, you idiots! Run!” Elpida shouted, waving from the deck.
A hiss poured from the komodo’s jaws and I spun back around to face it as it took another step forward, lowering itself into what looked for all the world to be an attack stance.
“On second thought, perhaps we’ll regroup and come up with another plan,” Senesio said. Then, with all the calm of a man not staring down the largest predator in the Far Wild, he sheathed his sword and turned towards me. “That running idea of yours, Suni. Good thinking.”
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“No, don’t run, we have to—”
He burst into a sprint, and the world went mad.
The komodo charged forward and then everyone was running. There was a great pounding in the earth from behind and I could feel the monster gaining on us. Could feel its hunger, its jaws stretching wide. I sprinted faster, forcing everything I had into the run, and still the komodo drew closer. Each of its strides was worth at least five of my own.
Ahead, the crew of the Stormcrow was in motion. On the quarterdeck the helmswoman was working the wheel and various levers. The engines sprung to life with a buzzing whir and the ship lifted off the ground a pace.
Surely they weren’t leaving without us?
“Wait!” I screamed, one hand outstretched as I ran, as if I could grab the ship, could stop it from leaving.
The gangway clattered down the side of the Stormcrow’s hull, forgotten as the skyship lifted into the air, the helmswoman directing it up and away from the charging komodo.
No! Wait, please! I wanted to scream, wanted to curse, but there wasn’t breath to spare as I reached the skyship’s shadow. Even through the pounding adrenaline my lungs were burning, breathing already ragged and heavy.
“Skyward! There’s no time!” Captain Barba’s voice rang out from the deck.
“The hell do you mean?” Elpida’s voice carried from the deck of the Stormcrow. “No one gets left behind!”
“To hell with them,” the captain shouted.
“To hell with that,” Senesio shouted back.
We were mere paces now from where the ship had been landed, but we might have been a hundred for all the good it did us. The Stormcrow was in the air, and it wasn’t coming back down.
All of my instincts screamed at me to hide, to fight, to do something, but as the ship slipped away, higher and higher, all I could do was sprint after it like a mad woman, grasping at the air and shouting.
But wait, no. Elpida was at the rail, pointing at something. Netting, I realized. She’d thrown a web of netting down the side of the hull. It was dragging on the ground, just ahead. As the Stormcrow rose higher, though, it took the net with it.
But it was still within reach. I ducked my head down and gave it everything I had. The net left the ground a pace ahead of me, then kept going up. I jumped with everything I had and grabbed frantically.
And missed.
I came back down with a jolt that rocked through my joints, near toppled me over.
I’d missed. One last chance to survive and I hadn’t been able to take it. There was no escaping now.
“Suni!” Senesio shouted, passing Demetrias at a full-tilt sprint. “Bend over!”
What? What did he—
The realization hit me all at once and I complied, dropping to one knee and turning away from him.
Senesio leapt as he arrived, planted one foot firmly in the center of my back, then in one smooth motion, launched himself skyward. He unfurled like a sail catching the wind and flew towards the ship. He seemed to move in slow motion; an eternity passing as he inched closer and closer to the Stormcrow. And then, all at once, he slammed into its hull. Thunked against it and held tight, fingers wrapping in the netting and holding fast.
“Ha!” I punched the air as I ran after the still rising ship. “He made it!”
“So what about us?” Demetrias shouted.
Well. Shit.
There was no chance we’d outrun the komodo on the prairie much longer. No chance we’d outrun it in the jungle, either. We wouldn’t even make it to the jungle. Wouldn’t make it more than another ten paces now. Captain Barba had left us behind.
But Senesio hadn’t.
As he clung to the side of the Stormcrow, Captain Barba rushed to the ship’s rail. She leaned over, shock wide in her eyes for a moment.
“Hell of a jump,” she shouted, then extended a hand to pull Senesio aboard.
“And a bitch of a fall,” he called back as their hands met. He pulled hard, throwing all of his weight on the captain’s arm. She just had time to frown as her feet left the deck, her body pivoting on the rail like a fulcrum, and then she toppled over. Senesio grabbed the netting again, catching himself as Captain Barba plummeted past with a scream. A moment later and she thunked into the ground, bounced once, then lay still.
I hardly gave her a second look as I jumped over her moaning form and kept sprinting. By then Senesio had scrambled over the rail and, amidst the shocked and slack faces of the crew, began lowering more netting.
“Who has time to die anyway?” Senesio shouted with a wild laugh as I grabbed the netting and climbed up it as quick as I could. “There’s too much yet to be done.”
The net shook as Demetrias jumped onto it just below me. And then we were in the air as the Stormcrow ascended skyward, following its captain’s last order. I hardly even heard the screams as, moments later, the komodo stepped over Captain Barba, and dug in.