The sea surged upwards, rocking both ships in its wake as the kraken emerged from the depths. An eye – a perfect circle of black set in silvery-grey – stared out from the creature’s huge bulbous head, the obsidian disc regarding both vessels for a moment before sinking back beneath the waves again. A tentacle, a vast snake-like thing, rose up out of the water before slamming down against the stern of the pirate ship and wrapping itself about it.

Lann, consumed with fear and dread, had frozen at that first glimpse of the vast sea creature. Pulling his aunt’s body closer to him, he muttered a prayer into her ears, hoping that his instincts were correct and that Fleya was using her majik to control the kraken. Because if that was not the case, both ships and their crews were surely doomed.

The pirate vessel was large, perhaps the largest seagoing ship in all of the seas around these parts, but it might as well have been a child’s toy to the sea creature attacking it. That first tentacle pulled sharply down against the stern of the boat, sending the prow surging out of the water so that everyone aboard was thrown off their feet. The second appeared quickly after. Shooting high out of the foaming waters below, it wavered in the air for a moment before snaking out to grab hold of the mizzenmast, snapping the thing like a wishbone before sending it crashing down into and through the deck. The skewered vessel quickly took on water and was already listing dangerously to one side.

The monster was beneath the ship now. A third, and then a fourth tentacle, one from each side of the ship, wound their way across the vessel. The cracking and splintering sound of the hull being torn apart finally stirred the pirate crew from the shock that had paralysed them thus far. Forgetting all else, the brigands set about hacking and cutting at the limbs, trying to free their vessel from the gigantic beast beneath it. Below decks, men were screaming as water poured in, trapping and drowning them. All efforts were in vain. With one last terrible, ear-splitting crack the pirate ship was torn in two.

There were no cheers from the merchant ship. The crew of the Ra’magulsha stood, slack jawed and agog as the pirate ship and all aboard her were dragged down into the boiling waters with that terrible thing. After a few moments, Captain Fariz and some of the sailors warily made their way over to the bulwarks and looked down on to the waters. Wreckage quickly floated up to the surface, but not a single pirate body returned from the depths.