Skaug was the pirate capital of the Nelanther Isles, a place Iakhovas had taken Laaqueel before. She hesitated.
Little malenti!
The quill next to Laaqueel's heart twitched in warning. She started up to the surface, tracking the bond between her and Iakhovas.
Placing a hand on the sea wyrm's back, Jherek vaulted to Azure Daggers tilted deck. Azla ran up the stern castle steps toward Iakhovas, her scimitar in her fist. The Taker grinned cruelly at her and a ruby beam leaped out from his golden eye.
The beam touched Azla and blasted her in a shower of sparks. She flew back over the railing to the main deck, her blouse afire and the stench of ozone in the air.
Jherek broke stride, thinking to go to Azla's side.
'Go, young warrior,' Glawinn thundered.
The paladin lurched across the broken deck, dragging his right leg heavily at his side. His left arm was curled up tightly by his chest, blood streaming from a wound marked by a wooden shard protruding from it.
Jherek ran up the stern castle stairs, watching as Iakhovas swung on him with the mystic eye. The young paladin leaped, taking advantage of the tilted deck, arching his body in mid-air and flipping to land on the stern castle only a few feet from Iakhovas.
Though he hadn't fought a mage before, he knew from stories that their power relied on being able to cast spells, and spells took time. He intended to give Iakhovas none. He willed Iridea's Tear into a two-foot shield and advanced on the Taker.
'You're the boy from the cave,' Iakhovas said. He grinned and took a step back as he drew the sword at his side.
'I am Jherek, a paladin in the service of Lathander, the Morninglord. If you would surrender, I would allow it.' The young paladin didn't expect the man would, but the opportunity had to be offered.
Cruel lights glinted in Iakhovas's real eye as well as the golden one that sat in the scarred socket. His runic tattoos made his face seem even darker. He laughed loudly.
'And you would kill me otherwise, boy?'
'Aye, and praise Lathander for giving me the strength.'
The words still sounded strange to Jherek's ears, but in his heart they felt right and true.
Iakhovas drew himself up to his full height of nearly eight feet and drew the sword at his hip.
'I invented swordplay, boy. Edged steel… sharp as a shark's tooth… shaped like a fin. Who else but me could create that?'
The great sword came around much quicker than Jherek anticipated. The young paladin stepped back and ducked, letting the blade go harmlessly by. Even as he started to set himself, Iakhovas brought the blade back at Jherek's knees faster than any human could have done.
Leaping over the blade, Jherek flipped and came down on his feet. He lifted the shield just in time to keep the blade from cleaving his skull. He parried with his cutlass, scoring a deep cut on his opponent's arm.
Iakhovas scowled and took a step back. A violet ray shot at Jherek from the Taker's golden eye.
Reacting instantly, the young paladin raised his shield, which absorbed the ray and threw it back into Iakhovas's face, staggering him. The young paladin immediately went on the offensive again, driving Iakhovas back. He thrust and parried, then lunged and slashed, moving steadily into the bigger man. Blood from Iakhovas's wound dripped on the ship's deck and left burned stigmata.
'You cannot kill me, boy,' Iakhovas shouted. 'I will not allow myself to die. Even Umberlee tried to kill me and failed. Who are you to challenge me who would be a god?'
'I am a strong right arm of Lathander,' Jherek replied, burying the cutlass in the railing then ripping it free and diving back. He blocked Iakhovas's return blow with his shield this time and slashed his opponent across the chest. 'I am a beginning, chosen by the Morninglord.'
'Chosen to die,' Iakhovas taunted.
'No,' Jherek said, 'chosen to live.'
Jherek thrust and swung and parried. His blade moved even faster, picking up the pace in spite of all the battles he'd been in this day.
Iakhovas's scowl deepened as he was forced back. Steel rang on steel, and for the first time Jherek realized some of the surviving sahuagin were attacking Azure Dagger.
Her crew defended her, aided by the sea wyrm. Pacys fought on the deck, his staff whirling as he chopped into the sea devils that fought to board. Khlinat was at the old bard's side, his axes whirling madly.
Taking advantage of the young paladin's distraction, Iakhovas stepped forward suddenly and chanced a side-arm blow straight for Jherek's head. Jherek barely got his cutlass around to block the sword, but he was driven stumbling backward, off-balance.
Iakhovas came at him, snarling and with bloodlust in his eye. He raised the great sword two-handed and brought it down.
Jherek turned quickly, barely escaping the blow that shattered the navigator's table behind him. He rolled to his feet, willing the bracer into a hook as he ducked under Iakhovas's backhanded blow. He caught the blade in the hook, stopping it short and pulling the Taker off balance. Turning in, knowing the chance he was taking, the young paladin brought the cutlass crashing down on the trapped blade.
Harsh green light exploded on impact, and electricity filled the air. Steel shattered, falling in two pieces, leaving only an inch or two sticking out from the hilt.
Iakhovas stepped back in surprise, but a crafty smile lit his scarred and tattooed features.
'You haven't seen all there is to me, boy,' Iakhovas said.
He turned and sprinted for the stern railing, leaping over it in a long, flat dive.
Jherek followed the movement, but stopped at the rail, amazed at what he saw.
By the time Iakhovas hit the water, he was no longer anything human. A manlike form went down, but a ninety-foot great white shark surfaced. Scars and tattooing showed around a golden eye. It sped out to sea and gradually went down, leaving only the triangular dorsal fin-as big as a house-sticking out of the water.
Sahuagin swarmed up the stern, and Jherek spent a few moments riposting their attacks and killing them. As he kicked the corpses back into the water, he noticed the triangular fin streaking for Azure Dagger.
'Hold on!' he roared in warning.
In the next instant, the huge shark slammed into the caravel. Timbers cracked and gave way as the predator hammered through the hull.
'Abandon ship, damn it!'
Jherek turned and saw Azla up and about. Wounds still covered her, but evidently Glawinn had healed the worst of it. She was mobile, but hurting greatly.
'Get the boats over the side and get into them!' she shouted. 'We're taking on water like a sieve!'
Glancing back out to sea, Jherek watched the massive predator come around for another pass.
Laaqueel watched Iakhovas in awe as he transformed into the great shark.
Not a shark, Eldath corrected. Iakhovas is a megalodon, a prehistoric creature and perhaps the first such of his kind.
'But he once walked with gods,' Laaqueel said, watching as Iakhovas sped toward the ship.
With Umberlee, yes, and possibly even with Sekolah.
'He was never one of Sekolah's chosen?'
No. He's an aberration, a thing whose time is well gone.
Iakhovas turned from attacking the ship and fixed her with his real eye. Little malenti, his voice sounded in her head, vow arc slow to come when I command.
You must make a choice, Eldath said, here and now. Will you stay as an outcast with the sahuagin and keep Iakhovas as your master, or will you take what I offer?
'Brace yourselves!' Jherek yelled as he grabbed the storm railing.
Iakhovas rammed Azure Dagger again, splitting the hull even more. As the huge predator pulled away this
