James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

"He told me about that," she said.

"I wanted him to be quiet, but he wouldn't shut up…so I growled at him."

"Are you sure that you are not hungry?" she asked.

"I'm sure," he said.

"I will have the cook keep something for you, just in case."

Tarrin heard a faint sound, almost like the fluttering of a sheet in the wind. He looked up, but the sails were rather slack in the still air; the sailors were not even tending them, they were standing around on the deck waiting for a wind to come along. "What is it, Tarrin?" Dolanna asked. He put a paw up to quell any further questions.

But after a few moments, he gave up on it. He had no idea where it had come from…it could have been a branch slapping into another. "I don't know, maybe I'm hearing things," he told her. "You should-"

He heard it again, closer this time, and from another direction. He looked up towards the bow of the ship-

– then he was diving to the side, carrying Dolanna with him, as a loud crash shook the ship, and large pieces of the rigging and mast slammed into the deck. Tarrin was up in an instant, as a huge reptillian-like bird writhed in the rigging, shrieking a loud, high-pitched scream and thrashing at the sails and ropes. "It's a Wyvern!" Dolanna shouted in sudden fear and anger as the creature systematically destroyed the sails, and broke off another piece of the mast. It gave another keening cry as chaos erupted on the deck, sailors scrambling every which way to avoid whipping ropes and falling spars. The creature was nearly twenty spans long, not counting its tail, and its large wings beat heavily at the air with every stroke as it used its huge, wickedly clawed feet to rip at the rigging. Its tail had a noticable barbed tip, and its black scales gleamed in the morning light. Its red eyes glared balefully as it screeched, thrashing apart the intricate rigging and working its way to the deck. Sailors started to scramble towards the gangways, getting away from the huge monstrosity. Tarrin watched helplessly as that barbed tail shot down like a javelin and impaled one hapless man in the back. He stiffened instantly, then fell limply to the deck when the sharp point was pulled away, his skin already beginning to turn black from the venom.

He had to do something . It was too large for the sailors to fight, and with it up there and them down here, there was nothing that they could do except for get stung by that tail. Unthinkingly, Tarrin popped out his claws, laid back his ears, and growled at the creature menacingly, his eyes flaring up from within with an unholy greenish aura. Those two slits of evil glared right into the creature's reddish eyes without fear, challenging it without words. More sailors scrambled safely away as Tarrin held its attention, and Dolanna groggily got back to her feet.

The monster crashed to the deck with enough force to make the entire ship tremble, smashing planking under its feet as it dropped from its perch in the ruined rigging. It towered over Tarrin, barely able to fit on the deck, but Tarrin just growled at it menacingly, hunching down and putting his paws out wide in an instinctive, reflexive battle stance. "Tarrin, have you lost your mind!?" Dolanna shouted at him angrily, even as she raised her hands at the creature and started weaving a spell.

The creature lunged its head at him, faster than a striking snake, but Tarrin was even faster. He slipped just aside of those wicked jaws and raked it right across the snout, almost getting its eye. He got in another good rake on the end of its nose as it snapped back, howling in pain, shaking its head as blood flew in all directions. Tarrin hunkered down and grabbed a barrel, then lifted it as the expected tail-stinger lanced in at him with blazing speed. He put the barrel in its path, and was pushed back as the stinger slammed into the full barrel. Digging his claws into the deck, he stopped the momentum of the stinger, amazingly with the barrel intact, then threw the barrel and tail aside. The barrel was stuck on the end of the Wyvern's tail, regardless of the creature's whipping attempts to free its venemous stinger of the obstructing object.

A sheet of pure fire flashed out and up, right into the monster's face, as Dolanna's spell was fully formed and unleashed. The Wyvern howled in agony as the curtain of fire continued to sear at its scales and crisp the flesh of the open wounds Tarrin had put in its face. It desperately lunged forward, making Dolanna break the spell to literally dive over the edge of the rail to escape the creature's snapping maw. Tarrin tried to slash it, but the creature's great weight, put on only one side of the narrow-beamed vessel, was making the whole ship list dangerously to that side. The rail was almost in the water as the Wyvern started skidding forward, and that low level allowed Tarrin to reach into the river and pluck Dolanna out of the current by the back of her dress. Sinking his claws into the deck, he carried the wet woman up the steeply angled decking, out of the thrashing Wyvern's reach. The Wyvern had too much weight on one side, and as it tried to turn around to get back into the middle of the ship, the railing broke against its leg and it tumbled into the water.

The ship rocked wildly, catapulting Tarrin all the way across the ship as many sailors, and Walten, were hurled over the sides, as well as the horses and what wasn't nailed down that was on the deck. Tarrin had to wildly throw out one paw and snag his claws into the rail to keep from going over the other side. He managed to keep hold of Dolanna, but that grip tightened as the Wyvern hooked its wing over the railing and pulled, dragging the ship's starboard rail under the water's surface as it tried to clamber back onto the ship. Many of the people below, who were eating breakfast, were just now getting to the doors, among them Faalken, who were armed to the teeth to repel the monstrous invader. But at that moment, they were all grasping onto anything that would not slide across the deck. The ship listed higher and higher, until the deck was almost vertical to the water, as the Wyvern tried to drag itself back onto the ship. The horses were swimming frantically towards the far bank, just putting distance between them and the Wyvern.

"Goddess, it is going to capsize the ship!" Dolanna screamed in fright.

"Everyone over the rail!" Tarrin heard Rennee's terrified voice scream over the din, then he shouted it again in the language of his own people. He looked down, right into the Wyvern's face, seeing that one of its eyes had been burned away, and smoke was wafting from the charred flesh of the wounds he had given it. It was mad from pain, and it did not realize that capsizing the ship would most likely kill it as the ship's weight rolled over it and pinned it underneath. Sailors were diving off the ship in every direction, even right past the Wyvern, but the creature's eyes were fixed balefully on Tarrin and Tarrin alone.

Grabbing Dolanna by the waist, he set his feet into the deck with his claws and grabbed her with both paws. "What are you doing?" she demanded as he hefted her over his head.

"I'm saving your life!" he answered. Then he threw her, with every ounce of strength in him. She sailed far downstream, a good thirty spans, and crashed noisily into the water well clear of the Wyvern.

Tarrin grabbed onto the rail and pulled himself over it as the Wyvern's wing hooked around the mast, and it hefted to drag its weight back out of the water. The ship lurched violently, rolling up even higher as it was pulled down by the monster's weight. Tarrin saw Faalken and Tiella jump over the side, as Rennee tried to keep hold of the railing, then lost his grip and dropped out of view. Tarrin glanced away for a moment, back towards shore. He thought that he may be able to jump to one of the branches overhanging the river. He turned his back to the Wyvern, set himself in a sitting crouch, and then sprang.