Rogue Currents

Chapter Eight

Lamprey swam through the coral, talons open. He snatched the herring from among the ridges of the coral and swam towards the trench. He had been untied for almost three months now, and had not found an opportunity to escape. It didn't help that he was pretty sure Stingray had posted a guard on him, to keep him from running off. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the guard hunting through the coral as well. Every so often, he would look up at Lamprey, making sure he was still there.

Lamprey swam down into the trench, and his eyes narrowed. Usually there was at least one other dragon in the dark water, but the trench almost seemed deserted.

Lamprey lingered by the cave entrance, debating whether he should take the chance. When his guard started into the cave, Lamprey made his move. He swam away from the cave as fast as he could, following the trench north. He swam down, but was alerted by a flash of light behind him. Lamprey turned back, and saw the guard chasing after him. Lamprey knew he couldn't outrun the guard, so he braced for impact.

The guard fell on Lamprey, claws digging into his wing. Lamprey bit down hard on the inside of his foreleg, causing a muffled yelp of pain to escape his guard's mouth. Seconds later, a powerful blow hit Lamprey in the ribs, knocking him into the floor of the canyon. His ribs sang with pain, but he still managed to dig his claws into his opponent's tail.

The guard's talons came down on Lamprey's wings and he reared his head back, preparing to sink his teeth into Lamprey's throat. Lamprey instinctively lashed out, and his claws slashed through the guard's throat. The guard's eyes widened, and he slowly collapsed on top of Lamprey, pinning him to the stone.

Lamprey shoved at the guard's body, choking on the cloud of blood filling the water. As he scrambled up, he saw a small force of SeaWings swimming towards him.

Lamprey turned and raced towards the north end of the abyss. He was already just a short distance above the bottom of the trench, but before him, a black void yawned. He hesitated only a second before plunging into the deep. He knew that giant squid sometimes lived in the deeper parts of the ocean, but at the moment he would rather deal with the huge animal than Stingray's troops.

Lamprey was curled up between a large rock and the trench wall.

I killed him, he thought, shivering at the memory. I actually killed him.

He pressed himself deeper behind the rocks, even though his tail was already crushed between him and the stone. Stingray's force was still looking for him in the trench. Every once in a while, Lamprey would see a grayish form swim in front of the narrow crack between the stone on either side of him. SeaWings could see in the dark, but Lamprey hoped his dark blue scales would make him just that much harder to see.

A flash of light lit up the trench outside. Lamprey leaned forward slightly, wanting to see what was being said.

The largest SeaWing was glaring at the other four.

Are you telling me you cannot even find one dragonet? he flashed, glaring. This trench isn't that big. Where is he?

I don't see you finding him either, Whale, another dragon shot back. Like you said, this trench isn't that big.

Let's just go, a third suggested. We can say he got eaten by a giant squid. Sooner or later, it'll be true.

Yeah, the fourth agreed. A dragonet his size won't survive if the squid thought he looked tasty. He'll be dead soon. The squid will do our work for us.

The first dragon hesitated a moment, then sighed. All right. Let's go.

They swam away. Lamprey waited until he was sure they must have been gone, then pried himself out of the crack. By the time he was free, the full weight of what he had done crashed on top of him, and he sagged to the floor. He had killed a dragon. He had attempted to escape, but instead had condemned himself. Even if there wasn't a giant squid, he was still trapped in the crevice. He couldn't leave the canyon; Stingray's dragons would kill him on sight. He had sentenced himself to starvation, assuming a squid didn't kill him first.