She’d never heard of Midhrok—had only heard of a few other realms from the children’s stories her father had told her growing up. “Have you been?”
Merrick shook his head. “I’ve not heard good things.”
A cold sensation swept over her, and she quickly took another hard stroke. “How do you know Raine is there?”
“It’s where he told me he’d go if everything fell apart,” Merrick responded simply.
“So… so you don’t actually know if he’s there?” she whispered.
“He’s there.” Merrick stretched his arms over his head, and his hands disappeared from view in the mist that now surrounded them like white walls closing in on the small rowing boat.
When he brought them down again, the white clouds lingered over his skin, and he swatted them off his hands. “Let’s switch. You look ready to drop dead.”
As she started shaking her head, the boat listed, nearly turning fully onto its side, and Lessia gasped as it slammed back down into the waves.
“What was that?” Ardow yelled behind her.
Turning her head over her shoulder, she could barely see Venko gripping the side of the boat through the mist, which seemed to thicken with each passing second.
She only just made out Ardow crouched beside him, his eyes wild as he stared back at her.
“I don’t know,” Merrick muttered, and they were perhaps the most terrifying words she’d ever heard.
A slight tremor worked its way into Merrick’s usually hard voice, and she held her breath as he leaned over the side to stare into the water.
When it remained quiet for a few moments, Lessia relaxed slightly.
Then the boat heeled again, and it was so sudden that she lost her grip on the oars.
“No!” she screamed as she rushed to get a hold of them.
But it was too late.
The wooden oars fell from their oarlocks and crashed into the stormy sea below.
“Fuck!” Merrick snarled, his hair flying across his face as his back snapped straight.
“What is it?” Ardow shouted over the wind that began whipping around them.
“Sea wyvern,” Merrick responded as he unsheathed the sword on his back. “And it doesn’t seem to want us here.”
Lessia’s eyes widened as she followed Merrick’s gaze into the water, and a reflection of something broke through the dark surface.
A reflection of something very large…
“What do we do?” she got out through gritted teeth as she pulled the daggers from her waistband, clutching them in her hands.
As she stared from the huge shadow beneath the boat to the daggers, her stomach twisted.
The blades seemed quite small in comparison.
“Fight for your life,” Merrick snapped as the boat tilted furiously again.
“This isn’t what I signed up for,” Venko cried. “Do something!”
“Can’t you whisper it to death or something?” Ardow screamed as he pushed Venko down onto the floor, standing over him as his wide eyes tracked the creature now swimming in circles around the small boat.
“No,” Merrick growled as he clasped the gunwale so as not to fall into the water. “My magic—” His words clipped when the boat jarred again, the raging waves spilling into the hull and making Venko wail.
