With Courage [King Caspian X OC]

Chapter 17

Lucy whirled round to face her brother. "Edmund, what did you just think of?"

He looked at her with terror in his eyes, the words caught in his throat like a wicked barb. He was a fish on a hook, trapped in the prolonged second before being reeled in by whomever would be waiting to take his life, accepting that this, whatever this was, was the end.

The Dawn Treader shuddered and tipped starboard, throwing its occupants to the ground; swords clattering to the deck and skittering away from reaching palms before the ship righted itself. Amber slipped and collapsed in an undignified heap, wincing as her skull made contact with the edge of the stairs.

She hauled herself up on unsteady legs and tried to ignore how her vision swam before her, reaching a hand behind her head as if she could cradle the pain.

Beneath her, the ocean churned with a sudden ferocity, ravaging the ship with waves as black and impenetrable as the night sky while above the clouds laughed deep at their despair, letting loose a merciless tear of white-hot electricity.

Gael, who had emerged onto the deck unnoticed when they had found Lord Rhoop, wandered towards the railing. She lay a light palm on the handrail and leaned over to peer into the sea. What had made them stomp around and yell so loud? What great creature had tipped the ship? Her father always said she was too curious for her own good. Too rash. But just like she had done many times before, she ignored him.

A ribbon of translucent green fins greeted her from the water. It was close enough to the boat that she could see how the veins inside glowed bright, and that the scales on the beasts' great hide writhed with colour as if they were alive. Like the skins of thousands of fish coming together as one.

It could have been beautiful. Green was her favourite colour after all. But this was wrong.

Fear injected itself into her veins and burned jade.

She stumbled back as she watched a tail as large as her bed flick through the water, all while the poison in her grew, scraping itself through her head as it sought her deepest fears and tried to tug them to the surface.

Her back hit the mast and the creature burst free.

Lucy was by her side in seconds, taking her small hand between her own and guiding her quickly downstairs. Caspian, meanwhile, scrabbled across the deck to Amber.

"Go with them. Please, I can't have you here." He pleaded.

Her eyes didn't meet his. They couldn't. "Caspian." She breathed, looking out past the ship.

"Please, just go where you'll be safe. Amber, I beg of you." He asked once more, squeezing her hand as if it would be the last chance to do so.

"Caspian. Look." Finally, he turned.

Through the dimly lit fog rose a serpent. It towered above the Dawn Treader and gazed at the crew with blackened eyes, a deep rumbling reverberating from its chest. Like Gael had already glimpsed, every scale across its tree-trunk thick body was glistening green, but this wasn't like the previous forms the mist took on. This was different. They couldn't wave their hand through this mirage, and – even if they could – they daren't try.

The serpent prepared to strike.

"LOOK OUT!" Tavros yelled.

A jet of fire sliced the air and, for a single, terrible second, presented the beast with a clarity the darkness was charitable enough to hide. Its snout, much like a dragon's though with an unhinged jaw, was drawn back to reveal hundreds of deadly sharp teeth, already stained red. The serpents skin pulsed with life, forged from Dark Island's worst depths, it thrived with each pounding heartbeat, every sharply drawn breath and restrained scream, taking each manifestation of their fear to feed its insatiable hunger.