Captain Fariz had seen the same thing. Abandoning the wheelhouse he called his men to him and set up a tight fighting square in the middle of the deck. Knives and cutlasses drawn, the crew formed a shield-wall against the arrows but the look in their eyes was enough to tell Lann they thought all hope was gone.

Suddenly a loud shout went up from one of the defenders; he was pointing at something beyond the pirate vessel. There was a moment of silence as everybody, attacker and defender alike, stared in that direction. Then chaos broke loose.

The creature was ancient. A primeval thing from a time when the old gods ruled this world and everything in it. It was this mythical beast Fleya had come into this watery world to find, but even so, she paused before stretching out to make contact with its mind. She’d never attempted something like this before, not with a thing like the giant she was now faced with. She’d have liked more time before attempting such complicated majik, but right now, time was the one thing she had precious little of. Forcing her doubts and caution aside, she merged her own consciousness with the sea monster.

It had been a long time since the creature had moved from its place on the ocean floor, and it couldn’t quite understand the impetus to do so now. It had thought it would rot away in the darkness and cold it had chosen as its final resting place. For it was an ancient thing and there was little left for it to do in this world but die. But it did not feel old now. No; it felt brave, excited, in a way it had not for hundreds of years. And this alien feeling, rather than being resisted, was welcomed by the monster. It unfolded itself, stretching out with colossal limbs and feeling the seabed around it. It was to go up through the murk and cold. Up, up to the surface. Jetting water through its body, it propelled itself out of the darkness towards a light that was already hurting its eyes. All it knew was the need to hurry. It passed the body of a man sinking slowly through its watery world. The man was dead, the corpse already attracting the attention of those who would feast on it. The light was brighter than ever, and as the creature burst free of the water it let out a terrible screech against the searing pain that exploded in its head. Noises, shouts, screams and harsh, sharp sounds filled this world. The cacophony was coming from the two wooden vessels filled with men. The foreign stimulus that had stirred it from the ocean depths now urged it to concentrate on the larger of these vessels. The creature had been brought here for a purpose, and now it set about its reckoning.