The Hunter's Pursuit

12. Lessons on Legends

It was mid-day before the crew completed their tasks and Caspian was content to let them shift their focus onto lessons. Jacob stood with Viviane just in front of the Captain's quarters with the crew spread out before them.

Amos, Jesp, Emilia, and Coralyn were passing around plates of steaming food, which Ms. Harriet, Prim, and Kitty were dishing up in the galley. Jacob and Viviane had been served first so they could speak while the rest of the crew ate.

Finally, the remaining three stragglers emerged from the galley and sat on the stairs leading up to the helm. Jacob spied a dark bruise spreading from beneath the bandage on Kitty's temple, and anger sparked in the pit of his stomach.

He was certain most of the men shared it, as Kristopher had been left to sit by himself. Caspian drifted down the stairs and sat beside Kitty, stretching out one leg and bending the other at the knee so his arm could rest upon it.

Caspian caught his eye and nodded. Jacob turned to Viviane. "You first," she said. "You claim to be in charge of this hunt, after all."

Jacob bit back a retort and settled for rolling his eyes. The crewmen perked up as he cleared his throat. "In order to kill a beast, you must first know how to hunt it," he began. "And to know how to hunt it, you have to know about the creature itself. There is much for us to tell you, but I'd like to know what you've already learned about this beast."

"It's huge," Jesp mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"It's much faster than I expected," Lester added.

Caleb poked thoughtfully at his food. "It was impervious to nearly all of our attacks."

"It's smarter than we figured," Pops said.

"Anything else?" Jacob asked. No one answered. "All right. We'll start with Ryujin's anatomy then. By the way," he raised a finger, "our beast's name is Ryujin. That's what it was called when it was believed to be a legend, and that's what it's called now that it's been proven real."

"Most of our information on this creature comes from legends, so don't be quick to discredit them. They might be the only thing that can save your lives when we next attack Ryujin." Jacob began to pace as he launched into the lesson, dredging up every detail written in the books of legend, and everything he'd learned from his father.

"Ryujin is as long as the Striga Range and as wide as an average galleon. Its teeth are the length of a lance and its scales are a solid foot thick. Those scales are both Ryujin's armor and its weakness. It is vulnerable around its neck and arms, where the scales have to periodically lift to adjust to its movements. When we next encounter it, we're going to watch for those brief periods and attack at those points."

"Beneath its scales, Ryujin's skin is about six inches thick. A strong thrust from a lance can pierce it. At long range, cannonballs will cause welts. At short range, they might be able to tear through the flesh. However, sparkpowder and the shot casings for the swivel cannons will do more damage. We'll be using the sparkpowder to make some special shots in case the others run out."

"What will sparkpowder do to it?" Westley asked.

Viviane stepped forward and Jacob let her take over. He folded his arms over his chest, listening while she explained. "Ryujin's skin secretes a type of oil that protects it from the temperature and pressure of deep waters."

"This oil is believed to be highly flammable," she continued, "although I'm not sure that's been proven true. If it is, igniting it using the shot casings or sparkpowder will likely cause a lot of damage to the beast and the fire won't easily be put out, because the oil is also water resistant."