Kingdom's Fall

Chapter 17, Part 2

Kara watched Aradan's expression darken, then shift to disbelief as Aiden outlined his plan. She wasn't even sure it was possible, and from the look on the captain's face it was obvious he shared her concerns. She had hoped to convince them to turn and use the cannons on the creature, but Aiden and Aradan had agreed that even if they could keep it in range there was little hope of causing significant damage. Aiden's suggestion was madness - bordering on outright suicide - and Kara was starting to wish she hadn't brought up the issue of responsibility. Even so, she knew that the Sparrowhawk was in the best position to deal with it: they knew where it was, what it could do, and - with its target on board the ship - that it wasn't going to run away. If they hoisted all the sail they could and left it behind, the next ship passing through would not have that chance. Only the Gods knew what kind of destruction it would cause if it followed them to land. Gray had told her not to trust him, and the bottle below decks had been proof of the soldier's word, but she had to accept that his plan was the only one with any chance of success.

"Do you have the spars or not?"

"Aye, we do," Aradan said. "But I'm telling you, it's not going to work. You ram us straight into that thing, it's going to land straight on the deck. We can't turn fast enough to avoid it."

"Then we do it at an angle. Point the spar off the right-hand rail-"

"Starboard."

"-the starboard, then, and come at it that way. You'll sail past it as we hit."

"Like with a lance," Kara said.

"Yes, like a-" Aiden turned to her. "How do you know what a lance is?"

"Boys," she said. "Almost every one of the lads I knew growing up would jam a stick under his arm and pretend to be a 'champion of old'. They stopped letting me play when I took a stick off one of them and knocked him on his noble arse."

Aiden looked at her for a moment, on the verge of saying something. He thought better of it and turned back to Aradan. "Just like a lance."

"It'll be a hard bit of sailing. I can't promise we'd survive it."

"You're saying you can't do it?"

The lines around Aradan's eyes tightened. "I didn't say I couldn't. I'm saying it'll be hard. And when it sweeps one of those arms over the deck as we go past? What then?"

"We put the crew that aren't needed below decks. Keep a team of volunteers ready with buckets and brushes for if the worst happens."

Aradan was nodding now, beginning to come round to the idea. The further they sailed from the floundering creature, the more confident he seemed. "How can we be sure it'll do the trick? One tiny spar isn't going to do a lot of damage."

Aiden was smiling now, nodding as though he had anticipated the question. "It will if it's got a charge on the end of it."

Aradan looked at him, surprised. "And here I was thinking it would be an easy trip."

The Sparrowhawk sailed in an elongated loop, running out to sea before coming about in a tight turn and heading back towards land. All the time lookouts kept an eye on the creature as it rose and fell, churning the waves into foam around it as it made slow progress towards them. While Aiden hassled the crewmen that were unpacking and setting up the spar, Kara stayed close to Aradan, who was looking out at the monster in silent contemplation.

"Why do you think its swimming like that?" She asked.

"It's a sea dragon," he said.

"A dragon?"