She took a deep breath and ducked her head beneath the waves, squinting into the dark salt water. There… away, and below… a mass of darkness, long, though not serpentine, its body thickening in the middle, with powerful limbs… clawed she knew. It tapered to a thick tail which thrashed, appearing and disappearing in the shadows of the deep. It gripped something, something longer and thinner than itself, their bodies twisting violently together… and another, a third…
Calliope shuddered and felt her lungs burn for want of air.
She pulled back, taking several more deep breathes. When she looked again, she could see nothing. As hard as she tried and as long as she gazed, all she saw was darkness.
She gave up, coming back for air, and rubbing and saltwater from her eyes. She nearly drowned herself with another scream of fright as she looked up to find the massive head of the silvery-grey beast hovering over her, maybe a dozen feet away. She would have drowned in the half-faint which followed if something beneath her hadn’t kept her above the surface. A dazed glance to her side revealed the tips of claws and she guessed she was in its hand once more.
If she wasn’t so completely exhausted, she might have thrown up out of sheer terror. Certainly a wave of hot, dizzying nausea came over her as she gaped up at the terrible sight.
But she didn’t even have the energy to try begging for her life, even if it mattered, and certainly none at all to try to escape. She stared up at the monster with a numbing, dull certainty that it would be the last thing she ever saw.
She felt hot wetness on her checks which had nothing to do with sea water and wrapped her arms around her stomach, as if somehow that gesture could protect the precious thing within from its fate.
That thought gave her one final, if futile, burst of energy. “Please…” she whispered, then coughed to clear her raw throat. “Please… let me go. Don’t kill me…” She called out, babbling stupidly. “Please I… It’d do you no good to keep me, I’m not worth anything, and… I… I’m sure I don’t taste very good… please just let me go, please!” She fell silent, her jaw working to speak words her mind couldn’t produce. It stared back silently.
Why was he staring at her? Why wasn’t she already dead? What in all the circles of Hades was going on?!?
The claws closed around her and she whimpered and clenched her eyes shut.
But still, she was alive. Inexplicably still alive. Her eyes fluttered slowly open and she realized they were moving and had approached the ship… the remains of the ship. There was a figure… sitting cross legged on a floating bit of… something.
She squinted and realized it was Phineas.
She frowned when she saw that not only was he not frightened of the thing approaching him, he looked down right relieved.
She stared and gaped. He smiled. “I thought it might have been Triton at first, and thought to control them and turn the things away… but it wasn’t him. It was someone else. They were already being compelled and I couldn’t compete with it without preparation. I’ll be honest, it felt a lot like Callea… but there’s no way to be sure. I was sure there was something ‘Hecate’ like about that magic though. Not that this is very helpful.”
She frowned thinking he was speaking to her, and was not sure what to say since he said it all so casually, as if there wasn’t a massive creature bobbing in front of him with a mouth full of crushing fangs and hands full of claws. That is until the creature spoke and she understood it was to him that Phineas had spoken, not her.
It also startled the life out of her. Not that any but her could hear her frightened squeak over the booming sound of its voice.
It didn’t seem to be speaking loudly, but it was so giant a creature that every word was a thunderous growl. “I guessed as much. Normally they would have scattered when I arrived, or when I told them to go. When they attacked instead….” he snorted. “They’re simple creatures, but not that foolish.” He seemed to stretch his long heck, rising higher out of the sea, creating little waves which lapped about the edge of the makeshift raft with even his slightest movements.
She blinked up at the beast in amazement, a new thought occurring to her. Hadn’t Phineas said something about the “Favorites” being dragons? Perhaps this was simply another brother of Thelios… and a rather imposing one at that.
That was a rather happy thought actually. She dearly hoped it was so.
The beast finally released her, setting her down carefully next to Phineas on what seemed to be a remnant portion of the battered ship. She couldn’t help but shudder as she spilled from his scaled fingers, watching as those glittering, sword length claws passed just inches from her skin.
“There are lands near here, to the east. Take her to shore and wait. There are more coming, I can hear them. I suspect in the mean time Callea is using this as cover to escape. If I return to find her gone I will have my answer.”
Calliope let out a deep sigh of relief. He was… he was helping them, he was on their side. Perhaps Thelios had gone for help. Thank heavens for that!
Phineas nodded. “I’ll watch her, I know about where we are, so it shouldn’t be hard to find safety.”
The big head cocked. “Good. And don’t let anything happen to her or Callea and Triton will be the least of your worries.” He added in a deep growl and with a terrifyingly descriptive flash of claws. The same claws that had previously been wrapped around her. The thought caused a second, much stronger shiver to run up her spine and left the rest of her trembling.
Phineas only smiled tiredly. “I know. I won’t.”
Calliope frowned and looked between the looming monster and Phineas, feeling rather confused and more than a little uncomfortable. That feeling was exacerbated when the head tilted in her direction, looking down at her over his long scaled, snout. He still dripped water, and the scales shone like dark silver in the moon light.
He stared at her, long and hard, his fiery eyes pinning her to the spot, draining her of will and breath until she felt she would simply melt away beneath their weight. When he spoke it was in a low, almost soft rumble. Like distant thunder. “And woman… don’t lie. It doesn’t become you. It never has.”
Those words… that stare… she sucked her breath in hard. He reared back slowly, his head tipping on an odd angle, as if eying her askance.
She gaped and watched as the massive, horned head turned away, casting a final glance in their direction, and as those red… glowing… eyes… disappeared…
The creature slipped into the darkness as the black waters closed over him, swallowing him and leaving no trace but the gentle lapping of disturbed waters over the edge of their makeshift raft.
She came back to herself as if suddenly shaken awake and her mind reeled. “No!” She gasped, looking in shock at Phineas.
He cocked a brow in her general direction. “No, what?”
She continued to gape and pointed at the place where the dragon had slipped back into the water. “Th-th-that wasn’t…” she shook her head and scrambled to her knees, tipping her face over the edge of the staring into the water. Nothing stared back. “It can’t be.” She whispered.
She felt a cautious hand grope for her shoulder, pulling her away from the edge. “Calliope?” She turned to him and looked into his frowning, milky blue eyes. “Don’t worry. He’ll be alright. They really are only a distraction to him. They can’t do any real damage, as I’m sure you must have seen. Not to him, not like that anyway. As long as he keeps to the seas he’s in no real danger. Just like I said before.”
“No danger.” She repeated softly, looking away over the night black waters. “He’s Thelios, isn’t he?” Her voice sounded strange, even to her own ears. Distant.
“Ah.” She looked back to him. There was understanding in his tone, “You didn’t know. Bit of a shock I guess.” He added gesturing to the still waters. She nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see the movement, and looked out around them, noticing that they were no longer floating among the wreckage or the clinging bodies strewn over it it… in fact they were moving away from it at a fairly quick pace.
“How are we moving?” She wondered out loud.
“I’m moving us.”
“Oh.” She stared at the open waters. She was having trouble holding onto her thoughts. She was also feeling strangely numb again. Perhaps it was just the cold. She was soaked through.
“Calliope, are you going to be ok?”
“I… I’m… I’m just cold, but I’ll be fine.” She finally answered, knowing full well that wasn’t what he was asking.
She turned away, back toward the dark, empty waters.