Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (22 page)

"What kind of reception can we expect?"
Damion asked curiously.

"It's much like any large port city. They're used to seeing
strangers in Naquia, so you shouldn't run into much trouble with the locals."

"How do we
even know this witch is taking Leia there?" Raven inquired, her brow furrowing in concern. "What if they decide to make port somewhere else?"

Ca
ptain Harper shook his head. "They'll have to stop off in Naquia to resupply, if nothing else. It's three hundred leagues to the next closest port. After such a long voyage they're going to be running short on supplies. They'll not have any choice but to make port in Naquia. Once we reach port, I'll send my men out to scour the docks. If they've been there, we'll know within an hour."

The young woman didn't seem very reassured, but didn't question the good captain further.

The young couple stood together in silence until the sun had set, then carefully made their way to their quarters below decks.

An hour or so later,
just as they were sitting down for the evening meal, the sea suddenly began to grow rough, tossing the ship back and forth violently.

"It looks like Captain Harper has managed to find himself another squall to sail through." Sly grumbled sourly, after attempting to take a drink from his tanka
rd, and instead, winding up wearing the contents. He wiped the ale from his face and beard, then turned to stare at Damion accusingly.  "You could have at least warned us that he was a complete maniac."

"He isn't a maniac!" Raven told the little man, rising to the captain's defense. "He knows the
se seas better than anyone!"

"All I'm saying is that he could try to avoid the storms once in a while, just for the sake of variety."

A crash of thunder made them all jump in surprise, and a deep roar suddenly began in the distance, slowly growing louder, until it began to vibrate the entire ship.

"This
can't
be good." Damarius groaned, stumbling to his feet after being tossed from his seat by an usually strong wave.

They all rushed above deck
to find to crew in a complete panic.

"Man overboard!" One of the sailors roared, his eyes wild with panic.

Several of the more disciplined deckhands were rushing towards rear of the ship, their eyes scanning the churning water.

"Where's Captain Harper?" Damion
asked a panicked sailor who was rushing passed.

"He and the first mate were just washed overboard by a rogue wave!" The man cried, rushing to the rail to stare out into the darkness hopelessly. "The sea has claimed him, for sure!"

Damion cursed violently, then rushed towards the stern of the ship. "Get on that wheel!" He bellowed to Sly, shoving several sailors aside to get a better view.

"There!" One of the men suddenly shouted, pointing towards a figure struggling against the growing waves
. "It's the captain!" The man shook his head. "He's too far away! There's no way we'll be able to reach him!"

"Speak for yourself!" Damion growled, quickly drawing in his magic and focusing it on the churning water surrounding the struggling captain.
He raised both of his hands, and an enormous wave suddenly rose beneath the drowning man, momentarily engulfing him.

Everyone scattered as the massive wave crashed down over the rear of the ship, knocking several of the sailors from their feet, and sending
them bouncing across the deck. Captain Harper suddenly appeared from amidst the crashing water, slamming down hard onto the deck, where lay he gasping, a dazed look in his eyes.

Sly
stumbled to his feet, coughing up sea water. "Dammit, Damion!" He roared. "Can't you be more careful when you do stuff like that? You could have killed us all!"

Damion ignored him as he made his way over to Raven and Damarius, who were
carefully helping the old sea captain to his feet.

"I thought I was a goner
for sure!" Captain Harper wheezed, still out of breath from his desperate attempts to fight the sea. "This storm materialized out of nowhere and started tossing the ship around as if it were a toy! The next thing I knew, my first mate and I was being washed overboard by the biggest rogue wave I have ever saw!" He shook his head. "In all of my years at sea, I've never seen anything like it before!"

"That's because it's not natural!" Damarius exclaimed,
clutching onto the rail as another huge wave crashed into the side of the ship. "Someone, or something, is using magic to cause this!"

Damion stumbled over to the old wizard's side. "Are you sure?"

Damarius nodded, then gestured to the sky. "When was the last time you saw something like that?"

Damion looked up just as a streak of violet purple lightning st
reaked across the sky, followed immediately by an ear shattering crash of thunder which rattled the entire ship.

"Captain!" One of the sailors near the bow suddenly called out in terror.

Everyone rushed forward to stare out into the darkness. The dull roar began to echo in the distance, slowly growing louder as the winds began to grow stronger.

"By the gods!" Captain Harper gasped as the source of the dull roar was revealed by an
other flash of lightning. Less than a thousand yards from the Fearless Lady swirled an enormous whirlpool measuring nearly a mile across. "Maelstrom!" He suddenly bellowed, rushing back towards the wheel of the ship.

"
It's starting to pull us in!" One of the sailors reported in a panicked voice. "We're done for, now!"

"Damion!" Raven's voice was nearly lost in the roar of the looming whirlpool. "You have to do something or we're all dead!"

Damion's mind raced as he looked about for a solution. "Get everyone below deck," He turned to look at the others. "and find something to grab a hold of. I have the feeling things may get a little bumpy!" He hurried to join Captain Harper, who was fighting to break his beloved ship from the maelstrom's deadly grip.

"I don't think I can break her loose!" The captain reported with worried eyes. "It's
already got too firm a grip on us!"

"Then steer us straight towards it!"

"Are you mad? It'll rip us to shreds!"

"Didn't you once tell me that the gods couldn't
spawn a storm that could sink the Fearless Lady?"

The old sea captain blinked in surprise, then suddenly laughed. "That I did, my boy!" His
expression changed to one of determination. "What's your plan?"

Damion stared out at the looming whirlpool. "Our only chance is to
allow the ship to ride the edge of the maelstrom, build us as much speed as we can, then use that momentum to slingshot free."

Captain Harper laughed again. "That's so insane that it may just work!" He
turned to look out over his panicked crew. "Get a grip on yourselves, you mangy bilge rats!"

The crew of the Fearless Lady instinctively turned to stare up at their captain.

"Hoist every inch of canvas we have!" He roared at them in a thunderous voice.

The crew merely stared at him in disbelief.

"Get moving, unless you want to dine tonight at the bottom of the briny depths!" He bellowed at them threateningly. "We're going to build up as much speed as we can, and slingshot ourselves loose!"

Understanding suddenly overtook the crew, and they leapt to work, crowding on every inch of sail aboard the huge ship.

The flamboyant old sea captain spun the wheel to guide the ship directly into the current of the swirling whirlpool. "I hope you have a back up plan!" He yelled to Damion with a laugh. "You know, just in case this doesn't work!"

It was Damion's turn to laugh. "
Back up plan? Let's just say that this had better work!"

The Fearless Lady began to shudder violently as it rushed towards the brink of the churning abyss.

"Keep us as far from the edge as you can!" Damion shouted, noticing the ship edging closer and closer to the brink of the roaring vortex.

The timbers of the great ship began to groan under the pressure of the crashing waves
, but continued to hold firm as it sliced through the water like a shark, gathering speed as it made several loops around the edge of the maelstrom.

"Get ready!" Damion roared, gathering in his magic
, and drawing the Dragon Sword from its sheath. "Now! Do it now!"

Captain Harper spun the wheel as hard as he could, and the ship suddenly lurched to one side, nearly throwing Damion from his feet. The timber began to groan louder
, and the Fearless Lady started to shudder even more violently as the ship struggled to break free from the vortex's grip.

"We're not moving fast enough!" The old sea captain roa
red as they quickly began to lose speed.

"Hang on to something!" Damion
turned towards the rear of the ship, focusing his magic on the vessel itself, then he unleashed the force through the Dragon Sword and into the ship, which instantly lurched forward against the pull of the maelstrom, throwing most of the sailors to the deck.

The ship's timber began to scream in protest
as Damion continued to concentrate his magic, pouring every ounce of energy into fighting the raging torrent that was trying to draw them back into the raging vortex.

"
The ship's breaking up!" One of the sailors cried, pointing to the decking around the main mast, which had begun to buckle upward.

The Fearless Lady shuddered violently once more, then suddenly broke free of the whirlpool's grip, limping away from the torrent, battered and bruised, but still in one piece.

The crew let out a cheer of triumph as they sailed away from the vortex, which had suddenly began to shrink smaller and smaller, until it had disappeared entirely. As rapidly as the storm had appeared, it broke up, leaving them with a clear starry sky, and only a light breeze to propel them forward.

"Now
that
was a storm!" Captain Harper was laughing uproariously, still dripping wet from his trip into the briny sea. He turned to stare at Damion proudly. "I told you there hasn't been a storm spawned that could best the Fearless Lady!"

"That you did, Captain, that you did!" Damion leaned
against the railing wearily, exhausted from the exertion of pushing the huge ship forward. He took several moments to catch his breath, then made his way below deck to check on the others, while the captain hurried to inspect the damage.

He found their quarters in complete
disarray. Their belongings had been tossed about the cabin, while the others had been hunkered beneath the large table, which had remained bolted securely to the floor.