Of Kings and Killers (Elder Empire Sea #3) - WIll Wight Page 0,127

crooked teeth barely fit into their mouths, their eyes gleamed dirty gold, and they hissed as they flooded onto the deck. A less experienced crew would have panicked at the nightmare assault.

But The Testament had weathered such attacks before.

Andel closed his eyes, gripped his medallion, and a soft white light surrounded the four of them. It didn’t stop the Elderspawn as Calder had hoped, but it clearly slowed and disoriented them.

Foster gripped what looked like a sharpened fire poker in both hands, impaling any he could reach. Petal had an alchemical sprayer: a glass tube with a rubber bulb on the end. Whenever she squeezed the bulb, she sprayed out a cloud of acid that dissolved Elderspawn flesh in seconds.

Calder started off by taking his usual place in the formation: covering gaps the others missed with quick flicks of his saber. His Awakened blade and Andel’s new Soulbound powers made them more effective than ever, as each cut from his orange-spotted sword melted an Elderspawn to black goo.

But it was like crushing ants from a hive one at a time. There were always more.

And after only a few seconds, Calder realized he wasn’t doing all he could. He swung his sword faster, slicing the fish-creatures in half if they even looked like they might slip through.

I can go faster.

With his left hand, he slipped his helmet on. Then he left the safety of Andel’s light.

Breaking formation should have been more than suicide. Not only would he get overwhelmed and killed, but the others would be swarmed as soon as he left a gap.

But he had no need to defend himself. The Elderspawn who tried to bite into the Emperor’s armor tasted only broken teeth.

Now, Calder was free to move.

He cut every fish in front of him, but he knew there would be more behind. He ran around the circle, pushing himself faster and faster, moving his arm more and more, until it looked like everyone else was standing still.

A few moments later—how many, he couldn’t be sure—his muscles twinged in pain.

Reluctantly, he slowed down.

Bucketfuls of black sludge that had once been Elderspawn splattered to the deck.

Petal called his name, but he was lost in a trance that reminded him of Reading. As he focused on himself, on the fight, everything else fell away. The cosmic battle overhead, the glimpse of Urg’naut that still threatened to devour his thoughts, his own uncertain fate.

He was left with nothing but himself.

And he could push harder.

He extended his senses through the mark of Kelarac on his arm and he felt another wave of Elderspawn crashing into them. He could kill them with his sword…but he remembered what he had done with the Emperor’s Intent. He had stopped a blow from Urg’naut. He had changed the shape of an island.

The Emperor had carried both blade and raw Intent into battle.

Calder Marten, Captain of The Testament, reached deep into his Soulbound Vessel.

Ropes shot out and seized Elderspawn while they were still in the air, grabbing them and tossing them back into the ocean. The seamless wood of the deck rippled and launched creatures away from the crew.

He didn’t even need to look to pinpoint the Elderspawn. He felt them, his sword flashing orange and destroying fish-creatures before he turned his head. He Read their slimy, alien Intent, the mark of Kelarac protecting him from their inhuman nature.

He reached deeper, straining the protection of the mark, until gibbering terror threatened to spill up from some primal part of his brain. He was Reading these Elders too directly.

But he didn’t want them. He wanted something inanimate. Something he could Awaken.

He seized the water droplets on their skin.

Water was notoriously difficult to invest. Intent held to the form of an object, so liquid was a poor medium. But he didn’t need it to hold Intent for very long.

Active Reading, he’d learned, was like forcing an Awakening and abandoning it halfway through. It was a violent transformation good for little but destruction.

Destruction was exactly what he wanted.

The water droplets on the skin of the Elderspawn all exploded at once like tiny alchemical bombs. Dark blue Elder blood splattered the ship and body chunks fell to the wood.

“Calder!” Petal called. She pulled on his elbow.

He was swaying on his feet and he saw three Petals overlaying one another, but his thoughts were still clear. He knew he needed whatever help she was about to give him, but he also knew there was no time.

Dark tentacles rose overhead, blotting out the light