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18 - We’re Trapped, Then
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Senesio
There was little glory to be found cowering below deck in a downed skyship. But there was even less to be found in the stomach of an overgrown lizard. This was far from my finest hour, but it wasn’t going to be where my story ended.
One sword-length claw dug into the wood above, then ripped back. The hatch tore from the deck with a groan—frame and all—to leave a gaping hole behind. Not quite gaping enough to let the beast’s snout in yet, but it wouldn’t be long. The komodo had been relentless so far—one really did have to admire its perseverance—and it showed no sign of stopping now. Instead, it seemed content to take its time, digging and clawing, ripping and tearing, until it turned our hiding spot into a death trap.
“No luck going lower. Every deck beneath this one’s crushed flat, boss,” Theo said, returning from what had turned out to be an all too brief foray into the lower decks.
“So, we’re trapped then.” Sergeant Kyriakos cursed, then turned to look up towards the hole. “We’ll have to fight our way out.”
Six against a komodo. And one of those was the injured Maritza, another was the engineer, Demetrias, and another was Suni who, I felt safe in assuming, had no experience wielding a blade. So really it was three against a komodo. Long odds didn’t scare me, but even I knew that was suicide. When it really came down to it, I wasn’t opposed to glorious last stands—as long as they ended with me being immortalized for my courage and bravery, that was. Somehow, I doubted there were many poets around to immortalize any of today’s heroics.
Our chances of killing the beast had been much better the first time we’d encountered it, what with the whole crew and a full complement of ballistae to back us up. But the sergeant had chosen to run, coward that he was.
I briefly considered throwing the man to the komodo, but settled instead on sweeping in and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
“Sergeant, sergeant,” I said, shaking his head. “While I’m hardly one to back down from a fight, might I recommend we consider all of our options before making ourselves into a meal for the beast?”
“All of our options? I imagine that includes throwing me to the beast like you did the captain?”
“Throwing you to the—ancestors above! You wound me, sergeant. I would never consider something so heinous!” I pointed to the section of wall where a jagged scar had torn the starboard side hull open. “I was going to recommend a quiet departure out of our impromptu back door.”
“I didn’t ask for any recommendations from you,” the sergeant snapped, then looked to their potential escape route. “Can we even fit through that?”
Gabar leaned up against it, then forced his arm through. With a bit more work, half his chest was through as well. A moment later he pulled himself back into the ship.
“Bloody tight, but we’ll fit. It’ll be slow, though. One at a time.”
A snort from above caught everyone’s attention and I turned to find the komodo’s mouth up against the hole it’d created, testing its width. Still too narrow to get its head in, but it wouldn’t be much longer now. The komodo’s tongue flicked out, feeling around the floor and walls for a moment, before disappearing back into its foul maw. The beast exhaled, then pulled away, leaving the tiny compartment flooded with its wet, hot breath.
“If we stay here, it’ll get in eventually.” Theo was crouched in the half-light beside the sergeant, eyes trained up at the hatch. The komodo shifted its weight and the deck complained loudly, several planks bending inwards as a trickle of dust rained down. “Or just fall on us. One of the two.”
“It’s settled, then.” I clapped my hands together and put on my best smile. “We’ll squeeze through the crack, then make a break for the jungle. We’ll lose the big brute in there.”
Few people were immune to my charm, but the sergeant appeared determined to count himself among them, frowning at what was otherwise a foolproof plan. A timely crash, however, drove my point home.
The komodo’s entire foot burst through the ceiling, then slammed to the floor we stood on. Debris and splinters flew, bouncing off the survivors as they dashed farther back in the tight space.
I, however, only smiled.
The komodo’s claws gouged trenches in the floor as they retreated, then caught the roof on the way out and ripped away another great portion of it. The komodo pressed its face up against the new hole, tongue flicking more rapidly now. Tasting us, no doubt.
“Out! Go, go, go!” Sergeant Kyriakos shouted, waving Gabar through the crack in the hull. The big man wedged himself into the gap, then worked his way through, worming and wiggling.
“An excellent decision, my friend,” I said, and clapped the sergeant on the back. The man ignored me.
“Maritza, you’re next.”
The helmswoman nodded, then positioned herself beside the hole.
“Good things come to those who wait,” I said, placing a hand on Suni and Demetrias’ shoulders. “But great things come to those who take them.” I shoved the two into the rapidly forming line, then turned back to keep an eye on the komodo’s progress. The beast, however, was gone. The noonday sun shone through the gap, all too bright for the lack of the beast’s shadow.
“How delusional would I be to hope it’s actually gone?” Sergeant Kyriakos asked, then took a tentative step forward. The opening gaped before him, blue sky visible just outside, and for the second time that day I considered throwing the sergeant to his end. No man is without his faults, however, and my compassion—legendary in its scale—won the day.
I yanked the sergeant back just before the komodo’s head crashed into the opening. It pushed through this time, and I fell back against the far wall, Sergeant Kyriakos with me, as the beast’s jaws snapped shut not a hand’s width in front of us.
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The komodo snorted, then strained forward, jaws opening once more. A blast of wet breath flooded the space, thickening the air with its rotting stink.
Though I would never admit it, even I swallowed hard as we stared straight down the creature’s gullet. Could almost see all the way to its stomach, down to the poor souls it’d eaten earlier.
What could a man do against such a beast as this? Hell, what could a group of men do, even? With our skyship downed we were powerless. Helpless. Nothing more than sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
No.
I slammed a fist against the wall behind me.
I was Senesio Suleiman Nicolaou, damnit. I didn’t need hope and I certainly didn’t need anyone else. I didn’t even need the Stormcrow’s ballistae—though, being honest, they were fine weapons. All I needed was the belief, no, the knowledge, that I would prevail. It was what I did, after all. I was Senesio Suleiman Nicolaou, and this overgrown lizard would hardly be my undoing.
“We’re out!” Suni’s voice called from behind, and I turned just in time to see Theo ease her way through the hole and jump to the ground below.
The komodo pushed forward again but, impossibly, the deck held. The komodo’s tongue shot out at us. It started up on the wall, then slid down, flicking into the sergeant’s hair. He cursed, pressing hard against the unyielding wall behind as the tongue felt its way over his head, then down to his face, then, finally, over to the blood-stained sleeve of his shirt. It lingered there for a moment, before retreating.
The blood. The blood! I smiled as the realization clicked in my mind. Damned if it didn’t feel good to be so clever.
“Forgive me, sergeant, but I’m going to ruin your uniform.” And with that I ripped the bloody cloth of the shoulder free. The komodo reacted to the sound, mouth twitching to one side, half open, saliva streaming from its maw.
“Have it, then!” I tossed the fabric forward and into the beast’s jaws. They clamped shut the moment the fabric touched them, then pulled back, debris falling.
“That’s the closest thing to a formal invitation we’ll receive this side of the Far Wild, I’m afraid.” I gestured to the hole everyone else had slipped through, and the sergeant wasted no time.
I followed next. A good thing it was that I kept such a fine figure. Even still, the fit was tight. It pressed the air from my lungs, tore at my clothes, my skin. But I was nothing if not slippery and in a few moments I was through. Finally pulling free, I jumped to the ground and landed with the gentlest of thuds.
“Shhh!” Theo waved me quiet, then backed up against the hull of the Stormcrow.
A fresh breeze blew across the prairie, catching me along one sweat-soaked cheek. At any other time that would’ve felt a relief, but even as the cool air swept across my skin, the deck groaned from above. A shadow fell across the ground in front of us and the tip of the komodo’s chin leaned over the rail.
Something wet and bloody slapped to the grass a pace away. The sleeve of Sergeant Kyriakos’ shirt, soaked through with the beast’s saliva.
Even I froze then, keeping my breath shallow and soft as the komodo hovered just above.
The deck groaned again and one massive foreleg crashed through the ship’s rail, planting itself on the very edge of the Stormcrow. Splintered wood rained down and Gabar, thick-headed fool that he was, cursed aloud.
The behemoth komodo leaned forward, turning to tilt its head down toward us, and I reached for my sword. It would be far from a killing blow, but if I could get the komodo in the nostril, or better yet, the eye, it would buy us time. Or royally piss it off and get everyone killed. Pretty much a toss-up, but no one else was proposing a plan.
“What... what’s happening?” a voice called out from up on deck. It was shaky, uncertain. Confused, even, and halfway between a moan and actual words.
The komodo snapped around at the sound, turning back towards the center of the ship.
“Where am I?”
Aristos. It was Aristos. The poor man must’ve been stunned in the crash and had woken at the worst time. Well, lucky for us. Not so for him. Fate was cruel like that sometimes.
Stomping, crashing steps shook the wreckage of the Stormcrow as the komodo followed Aristos’ voice. We could hear as the beast nosed around for wherever the man was buried. Wouldn’t take it long, I knew. Not with that tongue it had. It would sniff him out, and that’d be it. We needed to do this quick.
“Go!” I whispered to the others, pointing to the distant tree line. “Run!”
They didn’t need to be told twice, and took off sprinting from the wreckage, heads down as they made for the jungle.
I watched them go, and when they were far enough away I stepped out from the hull and craned my neck up to look for the komodo. One giant shoulder drew into view, followed by a neck, then the top of a head as the beast rooted through the ruined deck of the ship.
It would have been easy to leave Aristos to his fate. Would have been easy as turning and running. But call me overly compassionate. Call me a sucker for a good story. Call me, simply, a hero. No one was getting left behind.
Aristos had gone quiet now, passed back out, maybe. Or realized the danger he was in. Whichever it was, the man was silent. Not that silence would be enough to escape the komodo. No, that would take some heroic intervention.
I readied myself to run, measuring the distance to the opposite tree line. As soon as I acted, the komodo would follow me. Or so I hoped. But it wouldn’t do to lead it towards the others. No, I had to lead it away, then circle back. Buy everyone enough time to rescue Aristos and get to cover.
I looked across the open grass to the faint dark line that was the jungle at the western edge of the prairie. A right far run, it was. A good thing I’d always been excellent at foot races. Another of my ancestors-given talents.
For a moment, I smiled to myself. It’d be one fine story I was about to make. The others had better be watching. I was about to save Aristos, the others, and outrun a komodo, all in one fell swoop. Glorious. It was going to be simply glorious.
I stepped farther away from the Stormcrow’s hull, making sure I’d be in the komodo’s line of sight, then sucked in a great lungful of air. This was it. Time to become a legend.
“Over h—”
A hand clapped down on my mouth at about the same time as a fist caught me in the stomach, driving the air from my lungs. I doubled over in a wheezing cough, but the hand gripped to my mouth held fast, muffling the sound.
“You’d never make that run,” Elpida’s voice whispered in my ear. “Damned fool idea.” She dragged me, still coughing, back up against the hull of the ship, then leaned in close. “We need you out here. Need every able-bodied wretch we can get if we’re going to survive this.”
“Aristos... ” I managed to cough between sucking down a lungful of air.
“We’ll rescue him together, but not by using you as bait, you moron.”
I half thought of darting to the side and calling out anyway, but even as I considered the idea, Aristos started screaming. A crunch followed, and the screams grew louder. I couldn’t stop thoughts of the sailor from earlier surging into my mind. I didn’t have to try hard to imagine the same happening to Aristos now.
Elpida cursed, then sighed.
“Aristos’ sacrifice ensures our survival. For another day, at least. We’re not throwing that away.” And with that she pushed me away from the ship, forcing me forward and into a jog after the others.
We reached the tree line faster than I expected and joined up with the other survivors. It looked like most everyone had made it out. Everyone except Aristos. I cursed, then looked back to the wreckage of the Stormcrow. Atop it, the komodo had its head down; was biting and tearing.
“Ancestors have mercy on him,” Maritza said, staring along with everyone else.
Elpida produced her ever-present flask of gorgam rum and held it high for a moment.
“He’s with his ancestors now. Afterlife rest his soul.” With that, she took a big swig, then tucked the flask away. “Now let’s make sure none of us go to join him.”