Golden Age (The Shifting Tides, #1)(98)

‘I can manage,’ she said coldly. ‘I rescued myself. Don’t forget that. Look at yourself, second son of a warrior king. You don’t even carry a sword.’

Dion gritted his teeth and shuffled up higher in the boat. He glanced back at her. ‘The waves are getting bigger. There are two blankets. I recommend covering yourself.’

‘I’m fine,’ she said.

At that moment the bow smashed into the peak of an oncoming wave, sending a torrent of water over the entire vessel. Looking back at the tiller, Dion saw that Chloe was completely soaked through.

She was wearing only a thin chiton. The water made the material transparent, and he could see through to the body underneath. The wet yellow fabric clung to her breasts.

Dion swiftly looked away, but not before she saw his glance and gave him a horrified stare. He passed her a blanket, keeping his eyes to the front as he handed it back to her.

‘I’ll rest now,’ he said gruffly. ‘Wake me if you need me.’




‘Dion!’

He woke groggily and his instant impression was of rolling movement, fiercer than before. Black clouds were gathering over the sun, bringing shadow to the world. Glancing at the approaching storm, Dion knew he was looking at terrible danger.

But when he turned back to Chloe, a blanket now wrapped around her, she wasn’t looking at the storm.

She met his eyes with a terrified stare and then once more looked up at the sky.

A dark bird wheeled in the distance. Its immense wings flapped up and down with slow, leisurely movements. It grew closer with every passing second, and Dion realized that no bird was this big.

He reached for his bow and quiver, tucked into the storage compartment at the vessel’s front. As he nocked an arrow he didn’t take his eyes off the creature. The wings stopped moving as it coasted for a time, high in the sky, the triangular head on its sinuous neck craning as it scanned the sea.

Its purposeful movements told Dion that this was no wildran. The reptilian creature with shining silver scales wheeled as it lost height. The veins in its bony wings throbbed. Clawed talons grasped at the air.

‘Take us into the storm,’ Dion said quietly.

‘But the waves—’

‘You’ve got the feel for it by now. Just make sure we don’t roll over. There’s a greater danger in the sky.’

The dragon suddenly plummeted, like a falcon making a strike at a smaller bird. In this case the prey was the small boat and its two occupants. All the eldran had to do was see the Calypso sunk and they would never make it out of the open sea alive.

‘Triton’s acting for Solon. The dragon has two eyes, but he must have sent it,’ Chloe said, white-faced.

Dion judged his moment as he watched the dragon grow ever closer in his vision. He could now make out the crests that swept back to form horn-like protuberances behind its head. Eyes glared balefully. Incisors the size of knives were visible in its parted jaw. Its body was entirely muscular, but at the same time it was all bone and sinew, a creature of nightmare.

As day turned swiftly to the darkness of night, though it was still midday, he risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that the storm was on them. He heard the crack of thunder and forked lightning shot down to strike the sea.

Fighting the motion of the ship as Chloe turned into the storm’s heart, Dion stood with both feet far apart and thanked the gods that the motion was as natural as riding to a horseman.

He held the bow high and drew the arrow to his ear, his arms straining with effort. The dragon came on swiftly, shrieking as it descended, closer with every heartbeat. At fifty paces, Dion loosed.

The arrow plunged into a near-transparent black wing and went through the other side, opening a hole with its passage. The dragon’s jaws opened wide as it screamed, but it didn’t halt its swooping trajectory.

Dion drew and sighted, immediately firing a second arrow. With the dragon now twenty paces away he couldn’t miss. The shaft sprouted from the back of its open maw, and this time it roared in agony, wheeling away before he could loose another.

He had to remind himself that it was an eldran as it rolled to the side. This gave him an advantage. If it remained too long in changed form it would risk turning wild. If they could hold out for long enough, it would be forced to leave.

Dion cried out as he pointed at the darkest clouds. ‘Take us right in!’

Chloe nodded, showing him a face full of terror.

He watched and held onto the mast with one hand as the dragon wheeled around. But the storm appeared to be causing it problems: The creature was being tossed around in the unpredictable gusts and flurries.

It turned its back to them and fled.

But the danger was far from over. They now had to survive the storm.

‘Face us into the waves!’ Dion roared.

The waves towered over the small boat, and unless they kept a direct line to the crests they would be rolled in a heartbeat. Dion rushed to the mast and unhitched the rope holding the sail aloft. He hauled hard, yanking the sail down with both hands as his arms groaned with effort. He could no longer worry about their course, or wonder which way was north and which south. He dashed to the tiller and sat across from Chloe. Once more he placed his hand over hers as it shuddered in their combined grip.

Working together, they straightened the Calypso’s angle until Dion was satisfied. Then the bow plunged through the top of a wave and emerged out the other side as water poured into the interior.