Shadow and Flame by Gail Z. Martin

Author:Gail Z. Martin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction / Fantasy / Epic, Fiction / Action & Adventure
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2016-03-22T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

WHITNEY TOOK BACK THE SHIP’S WHEEL FROM Connor at the sight of the giant sea serpent. Connor, still possessed by Remon’s spirit, stumbled and would have fallen had Zaryae not gotten one shoulder under his arm and helped him to the rail.

Thank you for your help, the Wraith Lord said to Remon. Now you must leave him.

Wait! Connor said. Remon—the tanoba is a creature of the deep. How do we fight it?

Remon’s spirit regarded Connor sadly. I don’t know, he said. It doesn’t belong here. The wild-magic storms brought them, and they stayed.

Them? Connor echoed with a note of panic. There’s more than one of those things?

Remon nodded. Not many but a few. They appeared when the magic was broken, out of the wild places. Other things, too. But the tanoba are the biggest.

You haven’t seen anyone fight them successfully? After all they had done to navigate the undersea mountains, Connor had no desire to be sent to the bottom by an oversized snake.

I don’t wander the depths. I stay in the valleys of the mountains, Remon replied. There are things in the deep places that are more dangerous—even to the dead—than the tanoba. I’m sorry I can’t help you.

Then leave him, the Wraith Lord commanded. Because I can.

In the time it had taken to maneuver through the sunken mountains, the moon had risen and the sun had set. As soon as the sun was below the horizon, Nidhud came up on deck.

“I’m sorry I could not be of help earlier,” he said. “I knew of your danger, but I couldn’t rise.”

“We’ve got more trouble,” Zaryae said, pointing out beyond the bow of the ship to where the tanoba’s head and forebody was just barely visible above the waves. “And Connor’s nearly spent.”

“I didn’t get us through the mountain pass just to get ripped apart by a big swimming snake,” Connor said, but even to his own ears, his voice sounded strained.

You are not strong enough for a battle, the Wraith Lord warned.

Then let’s make it a skirmish they’ll tell tales about in Raka, Connor said, gritting his teeth. “One big strike,” he said aloud to Nidhud and Zaryae.

We will help you. The unexpected voice came from Remon. Connor could see the ghosts hovering around the ship.

Why? Connor asked suspiciously.

Because the monster feeds on the dead, Remon replied. It has the power to destroy even spirits. We would be well rid of him, but we’ve had no way to do it. Help us as we helped you. And in return, the spirits of the deep will guide you safely to your destination and watch over you.

Connor relayed what Remon offered. “It’s a necrophage,” Nidhud said. “All living creatures ‘feed on death’ after a fashion, since few get nourishment from the life force itself. But a necrophage gains its sustenance from the energy of death itself. That’s why it poses a danger to the ghosts. It can actually eat them.”

“Could it harm the Wraith Lord?” Zaryae asked.

Nidhud looked to Connor. “What does he say?”

Connor turned inward to Kierken Vandholt’s spirit.

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