The Adventures of Larson and Garrett, Quest of the Crusader

Chapter 11

Liverish scenes of a reddened sea played behind a black mist. A beautiful woman's face contorted until her lips vanished, and fangs emerged. Her nose flattened into daemonic slits. Her hair flowed all around her. She screamed an awful wail, like that of a banshee, but garbled by salt water and ocean waves, the horrific sound was bone-chilling.

Spinning and turning onto herself, she turned inside out, and she was a snake, an enormous, scaled beast of yellow and red. The serpent took off like greased lightning. Unhinged jaws were set to devour. Behind wicked teeth, there was a wreath of flames, and within those flames there was a horned skull.

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"Oh!" Yoris yelled and sat up. The sudden pain in his body flared. Everything hurt. He suffered a violent spasm before collapsing onto soaked pelts.

Puffing and groaning, he struggled to open his eyes. Candles barely illuminated a wooden room. Dark, heavy drapes blocked out the sunlight, but salty winds blew the fabric to reveal that it was daytime. Lying back, he placed a bandaged hand over his forehead. He was dripping sweat.

The creaking of unoiled hinges drew his attention. He looked over to see Ignacious shutting the door behind him. "Ya' up?"

"I think so...what happened?"

"Ya' ran in to fight those sea creatures like a damned fool. What did ya' think ya' could do underwater?!" The old man hobbled over with a tray. He handed Yoris a cup, saying it was tea with a touch of milk.

"I do not like milk," Yoris retorted. The old man told him to drink it anyway, but he explained it gave him intestinal distress.

"Fine! Drink this soup! It's tomato."

The crusader accepted. "So...anyway. I ran in there.... I recall the monsters ripping me to shreds," he coughed. A look at his body revealed innumerable, bloodied bandages covered his form.

"Aye, but I had the guards throw ropes around ya' an' haul yer carcass outta' there. Ya' took a serious beatin', lad. Got a few healers to do their best, so ya' should be up an' at 'em in a few weeks."

The young fighter scooted back and propped a pillow under his lumbar while resting his head against the wall. "What exactly happened out there? Are the monsters gone?"

Ignacious removed his tricorn to rub at the bald skin of his head. He pushed back the thick strands of white, which grew in a horseshoe pattern. "Aye," he whispered. He pulled over a stool to sit next to his friend. "The monsters are gone...fer now. They killed so many men...."

"Why?! Has this ever happened before?"

"Nah," he sighed, angrily. "In all my seventy years, I never seen a thing like that. If ya' ask me...nah. It's nothin'."

Stoic as ever, Yoris eyed the man. A salty gust blew the drape up. For a moment, the oblique sunlight made the old man look aged and worn out. "Tell me what you think."

Ignacious rubbed his clean-shaven chin. "Yer the one what believes in Gods an' daemons, lad."

"Indeed I am. I prayed to my God to help me defeat the monsters, but...he did not bless me as I required."

"Aye. Yer gonna' need to be a fish if you wanna' beat that mermaid."

"You saw her?!"

"Aye. I seen 'er. Looked to me she the one what led the sea monsters. They tore the ships asunder an' whatever men fought back, an' then they vanished. The waves receded, an' the storm blew off...."

"The Angora?"

Looking down to his boot, Ignacious spoke slowly. "Bottom of the sea now."