“Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan for that too,” I said. “But the wind’s picking up fast and the whole sky is turning black, so let’s get on with things while we still have time. Percy, get your crew to take the sails down. Ji-Ko, get your monks to take everything that’s out here below deck. Rollar, Drok, you two help with the heaviest items that need to be moved. We have maybe twenty minutes before this storm hits us with the force of a hundred thousand Jotunn warriors; move your asses!”
“What do you want the rest of us to do?” Isu asked.
“Everyone else except Rami-Xayon and Layna needs to get below deck.”
“What do you need me for?” Layna asked while everyone hurried to get below deck. “I’m as eager to help as everyone else is, but I doubt I’ll be of any use against a gigantic storm like this.”
“How fast can you produce spider silk?” I asked.
“I can wrap up a man in a full cocoon in less than five minutes,” she answered with a wicked glint sparkling in her eyes.
“Well you’re not going to need to wrap anyone up in cocoons, but you’ll need to use that spider silk on the people below deck.”
I explained to her what I needed her to do, and she smiled and assured me that it could be done.
With the sky growing blacker than the darkest night above us and the wind now howling in a gale, Layna dashed below deck.
I drew my Dragon Sword and prepared to battle the most monstrous storm I’d ever laid eyes on.
Chapter Nine
“Elandriel!” I yelled at the sea of pitch-black clouds above. “Show me what you’ve got, asshole!”
As if Elandriel had heard my challenge, an ear-splitting clap of thunder pealed across the tumultuous ocean. Its crashing boom shook the timbers of the ship below my feet and rumbled my very bowels. A jagged shear of lightning flashed across the clouds, briefly painting their bulbous forms in hues of bright violet and pink.
Before I began my magic-blending, I sent Talon up through the mass of storm clouds. She would fly high above the storm and would provide a view of the surface. With the harpy as my eye-in-the-sky, I would know when we’d breached the tempest and could bring the ship up from under the waves.
Closing my eyes, I hurled my spirit into Talon’s undead form so that I could see and experience the storm from her perspective. When I opened my eyes, I saw and felt the world via the harpy’s senses. Soaring through the storm clouds, I was able to experience a precursor to just how violent and brutal the hurricane was. Furious winds battered Talon’s body and wings as she raced upward, and I could feel the hammering as if it were my own body being kicked around by winds so powerful that they felt as irresistible as surging tsunami waves.
For one sickening second, I felt Talon’s flesh starting to rip. I hastily shot part of my spirit down to the ocean floor, grabbed some Death power from my undead army, and flung it into Talon’s body before the forces of the storm could literally tear her limb from limb. Even so, the raging hurricane winds were tossing the mighty undead harpy around like cats playing with a helpless mouse. I needed some help to get Talon above the storm.
I also needed to do this quickly, because the ocean was already heaving and rolling. The former choppiness was morphing into increasingly massive swells. The ship was lurching and rolling, diving down at nearly forty-five degrees one second, then hurtling up the slope of a wave the next. The vessel was tossed around like a toy boat in the bathtub of some petulant brat throwing a tantrum. Percy’s pirates were hurled around like ragdolls, as were Ji-Ko’s monks, who, despite their legendary agility and acrobatic grace, crashed to the floor and flew across the deck by the chaotic motion of the ship.
“Hurry up and get below deck now! All of you!” I shouted at the monks and pirates, my voice barely audible above the vicious roar of the wind. “It’s only a matter of time before someone gets swept overboard!”
As if to drive home this point, a heavy wave crashed over the deck, sweeping a number of men across the deck and slamming them into the railing on the other side. Thankfully, nobody was swept overbroad, but with the increasing potency of the waves, I was sure that next time they wouldn’t be so lucky.
“Move it, get below deck now before I kill you all myself!” I roared at them.
They didn’t need to be told twice. They scampered away, abandoning any loose objects to the storm; they’d taken the main sails and the bulk of the supplies below deck anyway. Now, I need to help Talon before she got turned into shredded harpy in the storm winds above.
Rami-Xayon was fully focused on conjuring up a mighty tornado and therefore couldn’t help me out, but that didn’t mean I was completely cut off from any access to Wind magic. I pulled my consciousness out of Talon and yanked it back into myself. With my free hand, I drew my kusarigama; there was enough Wind magic in this weapon to do what I needed to do.
Gripping the Dragon Sword in one hand and the kusarigama in the other, I called on the magic of the Dragon Sword. Two glowing icons appeared before me: the white tornado representing Wind power, and the gray skull of my Death magic. Using the alchemic abilities of the Dragon Sword, I fused the two together, creating a madly whirling Death tornado. The spinning tunnel of black, foul air, its stench like grave rot, would function as a shield for my undead creature, cocooning around Talon like one of Layna’s webs and protecting her from the battering forces of the storm winds.
I launched the Death tornado upward, and it
