ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter 26: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Tiller was the first to notice something was wrong. He began to yell, saying that something had just swum underneath us. He then started firing into the water, leaving behind traces of blue energy with every shot.

Catayla reacted to the warning almost immediately, she jumped onto the boat's canopy roof and began to fire, the familiar peal of her rifle was like thunder ringing out in quick succession. It was chaos, no one else knew what was happening and yet they all began to shout out orders and questions, even as most of them fired blindly into the water.

"It's in the water," Tiller yelled. "Something is circling us, at least ten of them. Probably more. Line up and focus your shots and we can work together to take these things out one at a time."

Worthy and Bridgett immediately lined up next to Tiller and began to concentrate on the same targets. The blue lines left behind by Tiller's mana bullets made it easy for the other two to follow his shots and pick out the same foe. It seemed effective, as blood would rise from the areas where the group focused their attacks.

Unfortunately, the creatures were tough and fast and so far, our group had only struck glancing blows. Even Catayla had yet to get a kill.

I looked around, taking the time to activate my arcane shield. The water seemed calm, with only the splash of bullets and a few gentle waves disturbing the surface. It was too dark to see beneath the water, and the explosion and collapsed bridge had kicked up silt and dirt to further cloud the water. Still, I could barely make out areas of the water that seemed darker than the water around them. Faint shadows that were circling us.

I used my connection to the Dark Gemini, and it immediately awoke and dove into the black water beneath us. It changed into an abomination of eyes and tentacles as it did so. A form I had come to call the 'Gazer.' It was now healed of damage, without the burns or missing tentacles and eyes it had suffered from originally. It was also considerably smaller, perhaps due to limitations on the creature's shapeshifting talents.

As my companion dove under the water I was able to share its senses enough to get a vague idea of what was around us. Dozens of fish surrounded our boat, I could only make out silhouettes, but it was enough to see that each creature had large, dagger-like teeth and long stalks growing from their heads. Each 'fish' was roughly the size of a dolphin, but fatter and misshapen.

They lacked symmetry and were covered in lumps and protrusions that looked like tumorous growths.

I reached for the sheath at my hip. It was empty.

I had lost my sword on the bridge, so I created a weapon in my left hand. Dark smoke-like energy flowed through my arm and twirled around my fingers before quickly lengthening and solidifying into a spear, black with bits of burning crimson. It smoked and gave off sparks and embers.

The javelin was massive, half again as tall as I was and as thick around as my wrist. It was a scaled-up version of a real weapon I had pulled from my memory, something I had seen at the local aquarium. The blade at the tip was jagged and asymmetrical, with a cruel sickle-like blade that curved behind it.

I didn't bother creating a line or chain to tether the weapon, as I didn't want myself, or my boat, dragged under the waves. I would simply create a new weapon after I lost the first.

My strategy was simple – I would use my Dark Gemini to locate the creatures and pin them down with its tentacles, and then harpoon them. Rinse. Repeat.

It worked well, quickly landing me five kills. Tiller, Worthy and Bridgett had managed to take out another two and Catayla had killed at least as many by herself before the school of fish fled, leaving behind floating corpses to bob on the surface of the river.