Page 140 of Vasmora

“What in seven hells are you doing, man!” Oswin shouted from the companionway.

The moment Kazhimyr stepped back onto the main deck, Oswin darted down below.

“Godsblood, you’ll burn us!”

Spiders scampered out of Dorjan’s mouth and wound, darting across the deck, undoubtedly in search of the blood they craved. The same craving that tickled Kazhimyr’s tongue, but he shook his head, swallowing it back.

“Oswin! Get up here! Now!” Kazhimyr held the lantern ready to smash it against the deck. Doing so right then would’ve created a flaming barrier, hemming the old man in, trapping him down below.

Though Kazhimyr was certainly tempted.

Through the door of the cabin, Oswin tossed a pot of water toward the fire, the fluids only sizzling in the roaring flame. Perhaps realizing the futility of his action, he twisted around for the door, and the moment he did, two spiders the size of squirrels darted toward him.

“There are too many!” Dravien shouted, and Kazhimyr glanced over his shoulder in time to see the Elvyniran dive overboard, a cluster of spiders scampering toward his vacated spot.

Kazhimyr groaned and smashed the lantern onto the deck then dashed toward Oswin. The spiders trapping the old man reared back, hissing, and without hesitation Kazhimyr kicked them across the deck.

Oswin climbed out of the cabin, heaving and clutching his chest, and as he stood upright, his eyes popped, hands flying up to the back of his head.

At first, Kazhimyr didn’t know what to make of his expression with the heat at his back from the growing flames urging him to hurry, but then his eyes caught the glisten of a web at the back of Oswin’s head, and he followed the path of it to the jib, where a hawk-sized spider clung to the flailing sail, watching them. Faster than Kazhimyr could register the movement, it sprang to Oswin’s back and sank its fangs into his skull.

The old sea captain’s spine snapped straight, eyes rolling back, and he convulsed in the spider’s grasp.

Shaking his head, Kazhimyr backed himself away, the fire swallowing the boat’s tired old wood as it caught on the lines and sail. Spiders curled and hissed, crunching under his boots as he crossed the deck. Loud, piercing sounds struck his skull so intensely, he slammed his hands to his ears, eyes clamped shut.

Jaw clenched, he let out a strangled cry as the noise penetrated his mind like a skinny tuck thrust into his ears. He stumbled backward, the rail smacking into the back of his thighs, and his arms flailed as he lost his balance and tumbled overboard, into the sea.

Icy water smashed into his spine, cradling his fall, and Kazhimyr sank into the blue, watching the flames consume the boat above him. For a moment, the world felt peaceful. Quiet, in spite of the cold darkness.

Perhaps it would be better if he stayed there.

A colossal shape slipped into his periphery, and he turned to see the glint of scales glide past him. A fucking dragon.

The flames must’ve drawn it.

The beast shot like an arrow through the water, and Kazhimyr braced his muscles. Ready for that first fatal crunch of his bones.

He closed his eyes, imagining himself back at Eidolon, watching Allura study bones. Remembering the scent of her hair. The brightness of her smile. How lovely her skin glowed in moonlight.

Her face faded for the flicker of another’s.

Dravien.

A rough jerk of his arm startled him out of his musings, and he opened his eyes to a pearly white substance. As he was pulled to the surface, he noticed the dragon off in the distance, his body round and bulbous, unnaturally so. The rattle of a thunderclap shook the water around him, and the force punched him in the chest, sending him flying backward. What little air remained in his lungs expelled out of him. As he breached the surface, cold air burned his lungs as he sucked in a gasp and flailed his arms.

Objects fell around him, splashing the water, and he focused on what looked like a wet chunk of red meat floating alongside him. More chunks of meat rained from the sky, sloshing against the surface.

He twisted around to find Dravien swimming toward him. “How in the gods are you still alive?” he asked.

Dravien chuckled. “I’m afraid the gods have nothing to do with it.”

“The bits of dragon was your doing, I suppose?”

“It was.”

Treading the violent swells, Kazhimyr held out an unsteady hand, sending a white mist over the water’s surface that froze into an ice floe. Tiny spikes protruded through the skin of his fingertips, and he climbed up onto the wobbling chunk that dipped and swayed with his jostling. Once atop it, he reached out for Dravien.

“I was certain you planned to leave me in the sea.” Dravien reached back for him, and Kazhimyr snapped his arm away, chuckling when the Elvyniran gracelessly flopped forward.