A Feast of Dragons - By Morgan Rice Page 0,21

“and I will kill you myself.”

CHAPTER TEN

Thor felt himself getting sucked down beneath the water and knew that within moments he would be plunged to the depths and drowned—if he wasn’t eaten alive first. He prayed to god with all that he had.

Please, don’t let me die now. Not here. Not in this place. Not by this creature’s hand.

Thor tried to summon his powers, whatever they were. He tried with all that he had, willed that special energy to flow through him, to help him defeat this creature. He closed his eyes and willed for it to work.

But it did not call when he summoned it. Nothing happened. He was just a regular boy, powerless, just like everybody else. Where were his powers when he needed them most? Were they real? Or had all those other times just been a fluke?

As he was beginning to lose consciousness, a series of images flashed through his mind. He saw King MacGil, as if he were right there with him, watching over him; he saw Argon; and then he saw Gwendolyn. It was that last face that gave him reason to live.

Suddenly, Thor heard a splash behind him, then heard the creature shriek. He turned, just before he descended beneath the surface, to see Reese, in the water beside him. His sword was drawn, and he held the creature’s severed head in his hand. The creature’s head, detached from its body, continued to scream, as yellow blood gushed from its body.

Slowly, Thor felt its grip loosening on his leg, as Reese reached over and yanked it free of him. Thor’s leg felt as if it were on fire, and he hoped and prayed that no permanent damage had been done.

Thor felt Reese’s arm around his shoulder, and felt himself dragged back towards the boat. Thor blinked, in and out of consciousness, dimly seeing the huge rolling waves of the churning sea, feeling them rise and fall all around him.

They made it, and Thor felt himself being hoisted up and onto the boat, the other boys yanking him and Krohn on board. Reese landed in the boat beside him, and finally, all were safe.

Thor lay there, on the floor of the boat, breathing hard, the boat rising and falling in the sea, waves crashing all around them.

“You okay?” Reese asked, sitting over him.

Thor looked up and saw Krohn leaning over, then felt him licking his face. Thor reached up and stroked his wet fur. Thor grabbed Reese’s hand, and pulled himself up to a sitting position, trying to get his bearings.

He shook it off and looked down at his leg, and saw that the creature had left marks, burning through his clothing, the pants on one leg now just a shred of fabric. He could see the round marks where it had leached onto him, and he rubbed them, feeling the slight indents. But now that the tentacle was off of him, the burning was getting better by the second. He tried bending his knee and was able to. Luckily, it was not as bad as it could have been, and it seemed to be healing fast.

“I owe you one,” Thor said, smiling up at Reese.

Reese smiled back.

“I think we’re even.”

Thor looked around and saw several of the older boys rowing, trying to gain control as the boat rocked violently in the waves.

“HELP!” came a shout.

Thor turned and looked back to the big boat and saw several boys jumping off the edge—or being pushed off by Kolk and the other commanders. Among them he spotted O’Connor, Elden and the twins. They all landed in the waters with a splash, and they bobbed there, flailing. Some were better swimmers than others. Creatures of all different colors and shapes and sizes surfaced in the waters around them.

“HELP!” a boy screamed again, as a wide, flat scaly creature turned sideways and lashed its fins at him.

Reese crossed the boat, grabbed a bow and arrow, and aimed it down at the water, firing on the creatures. He missed.

But he gave Thor an idea, and he jumped into action. Thor looked down and was thrilled to see his trusted sling still stuck to his waistband; he grabbed it, inserted a smooth stone in it from his pouch, took aim, and hurled.

The rock flew through the air and hit the creature right on its head, knocking it off the Legion member, and making it swim away.

Thor heard another shout, and he turned to see O’Connor, a different creature perched on