Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire by Chris Allcock

Author:Chris Allcock [Allcock, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: , &#160
Publisher: Titan
Published: 2022-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

10

THE PRIDEFUL DAWN

As the temple continued to flood with water, the great leviathan wasted no time squeezing its bulk into the underground chamber while Harkly and the others watched in horror. It most closely resembled a shark, a common enough sight on the Sea of Thieves, but this specimen was large enough that it could have swallowed one of the ash-grey predators without needing to chew. Its hide and fin were a rich blue, fading to a creamy white on the creature’s underside. Its four emerald-green eyes roved hungrily around the chamber in search of prey.

Jewels, with the closest thing to a formal education, was able to name the beast. “A Megalodon…” she breathed. “It’s beautiful!”

“It’s a damn great fish that wants to eat us,” Scraps hissed, scooping up his bundle. “We’ve got to get back down there and help the others!”

Jewels nodded, but when she turned back to recover her supplies from near the altar where she’d first found the drum, she felt the faintest of breezes on her cheek and realised that another alcove had opened behind them while they’d been distracted by the Megalodon. “There’s another passageway up here!” she called. “I think it might lead outside!”

“Nobody leaves until we have that key!” Harkly insisted, picking his way own way across the expanse. “See if you can’t lower a rope down to Karin.” Following Harkly’s order, however, first required the two pirates to take a circuitous path around the huge chamber, Scraps fussing with lengths of cord while Jewels took the lead and navigated the maze. By the time they could see Karin directly below them, the fin of the hunting Megalodon was almost brushing the ledge on which she was marooned.

The Megalodon itself patrolled the temple, moving in a lazy circle as it gradually rose higher. When it found its path blocked by the lowest of the wooden platforms it simply accelerated, smashing the walkway to pieces before continuing to swim as if it had all the time in the world. Judging from the number of scars and old wounds on its body, Karin supposed that might well be the case. The creature looked old.

Karin felt something brush her shoulder and realised that while she’d been staring, hypnotised, at the huge creature swimming closer and closer, Jewels and Scraps had managed to position themselves on a ledge overhead and lower their rope. She grasped it gratefully, looping it under her arms and around her waist to create a harness of sorts, before grabbing the chest in both hands. “Ready!” she bellowed, and felt the rope go taut as Jewels and Scraps began to heave upon it. A moment later, her booted feet left the floor.

Hauling Karin aloft was a painfully slow process, as she outsized both Jewels and Scraps, and there was nothing nearby to which they could secure the rope. The added weight of the chest only slowed them down more. “Can’t you drop that thing?” Scraps called, panting from exertion. “We only need the key, not the box!”

“Oh, now why didn’t I think of that?” Karin yelled back.

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