The Viking Throne: The Cursed Seas Collection Read online

  Another deep call.

  “Let’s get back aboard now.” Pierce swam out from under the hull. I followed.

  “Throw a rope down now!” I yelled to Doyle. My heart pumped fast and hard. The adrenaline and simultaneous transition from breathing water to air strained my body.

  The deep call could be heard from the surface too.

  A rope ladder was thrown from starboard. The call must have convinced Doyle to help.

  We climbed aboard. The crew was on deck unfurling the sails. A few men pushed the anchor pulley. McBain wanted to set sail, and fast.

  “Don’t just stand there, fishies. Get the spotlights workin’ so we can see what the hell is coming our way!” Doyle yelled.

  I didn’t know if that was the right move to attract with lights whatever beast headed our direction. Pierce ran to the stern deck where two spotlights were positioned. I ran to help him regardless of the stupidity of the order. We climbed the deck steps to the stern deck. McBain was at the helm, his hands on the wheel.

  “Them two generators, gentlemen. Hit the power on those. That will light up the night.” McBain confidently gave orders like a seasoned Captain.

  I hit the red button on the generators. We aimed the large round spotlights in the direction of yet another deep, reverberating call. The wind hit my face as we set sail.

  “Every bit a’ cloth we got, mates. We gotta move and move fast!” McBain yelled to his crew. He gripped the ship’s wheel hard and looked at me. “Tell me which way the beast is headin’, and I will get ready to turn us.”

  “There. It’s coming up.” Pierce pointed at a spot about thirty meters behind the ship where the water boiled and bubbled.

  We both shined the spotlights at the patch of unsettled sea. Soon enough, the bubbles and foam spread and widened across the surface. Water shot up like a mighty geyser on old Earth. The mighty spear of water reached the stern and soaked the three of us.

  I nearly lost the grip on the spotlight then recovered and finally pointed the light. “McBain, a hard right would do! Whatever this thing is, it’s right on our arse.”

  “It’s a giant sperm whale!” Pierce yelled.

  I moved the spotlight around. Its head was wider than the sloop, like a smooth mountainside until its head lifted higher out of the water. The teeth were huge and showed chunks of a large, freshly chewed squid.

  “McBain! Turn that wheel now! Or fuckin’ Monstro will eat us!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  McBain turned from the helm to look at the whale. “Holy shite, mates.” He turned back to the helm and spun the ship’s wheel hard to port.

  The sails shifted. I felt the ship’s sudden change of direction and gripped the spotlight handle. The spray of the sea smacked my face as the whale dove back into the foamy sea.

  “We lost visual on her, Captain.” I found myself calling McBain by his formal title. The moment seemed to call for it.

  “That be good news, son. But this beast is hungry, and a mere right turn away might not be enough to draw her off course.” McBain centered the wheel, as to not go in a giant circle.

  Pierce and I kept a steady field of vision with the spotlights. There was no whale in sight.

  “Perhaps it just wanted to remove us from its line of pursuit to the pod of orcas and sharks,” Pierce said.

  “That could be. Want to jump in and take a look?” I laughed.

  Pierce had spoken too soon. The seas beneath us went from relative calm under the moonlight to choppy. I lifted my eyes to the sky. The stars were shining. The constellations legible. There was no storm above to roil the seas. I scrambled and shined the spotlight around the ship.

  “Rough waters, mates. Brace!” McBain yelled.

  The crew on the deck tied ropes from the mast to their waists.

  Pierce and I kept the search on. The choppy waters made it difficult to keep a solid grip on the spotlights, but we managed.

  “It’s on my side!” Pierce screamed.

  I left my spotlight and ran to Pierce. The sperm whale emerged from the sea. It was huge. Much bigger than the sloop. Pierce caught its eye in the spotlight. The eye’s pupil was black with a yellow hue around it. The monster would be right alongside the ship in seconds.

  “McBain! Hard to starboard!” I yelled.

  “We cannot have this big bastard chase us. Get ready to fire a broadside, boys!”

  “Sir, do you think that might just piss it off?” I said to McBain.

  “When you been in these cursed seas as long as I have, Irish, you will learn excessive force is the only way to fight these beasties.”

  I looked down to the deck. The fuses were lit on the cannons.

  Doyle yelled to McBain, “Ready to fire, Cap’n!”

  The sperm whale reached the side of the sloop and began to undulate in the water as if prepping for a strike. Its tail splashed aft of the ship.

  I spat and nearly vomited water onto the deck. Pierce was knocked from the spotlight. McBain’s tall stature withstood the deluge. He kept the ship’s wheel steady.

  “Wait till she bobs back up in the water. Then give the order, Doyle!” McBain yelled.

  The whale dove under. The undulations ceased.

  “Clever girl. Doyle, pull the fuses. Await new orders.”

  “You heard the cap, boys. Pull ‘em,” Doyle said.

  “Where do ya’ think she went, Irish?” McBain turned to me.

  “If I knew, I would go kill her.” I knew I would regret those words.

  “That’s exactly what I was thinkin’ you should do, Henihan. Go to Doyle. He will give you the firepower you need. Get down there and force Monstro to the surface so I can hit ‘er with a broadside.”

  Pierce kept the spotlight to the sea alongside the ship. The sea began to boil.

  “Here she comes again. You may not need to go in there, James,” Pierce said.

  The bubbles followed us for a few moments, then it happened. From the whale’s blowhole, a massive geyser shot up at an angle toward the deck of the ship. We thought it was just water until some of the men on the deck let out bloodcurdling screams. The whale’s excretion steamed as it splashed and burned the men and the deck.

  “This is not just a hungry whale. She be cursed as well.” McBain looked below.

  “English, get down there and help the injured get below deck. Irish, get the hell into the water. See Doyle first.” Pierce left his spotlight post and ran to the deck.

  “What is burning your men, Captain?” I asked and moved towards the stairs to the deck.

  “It be acidic water. We must be over cursed depths. It dove down, sucked some of that shit in, and unloaded it on us. Force her up. Or we may not be alive for much longer.”

  “Aye, sir.” I sure as hell didn’t want to go into the water. What the hell would I be able to do down there?

  I reached the deck. Doyle was unhurt. Two of the gunners’ faces were half burnt. Another man lay on the deck screaming bloody murder as he held his leg. Pierce dragged him below deck.

  “McBain wants me to get in there and force her to the surface. What do I need?”

  Doyle already acted the proper quartermaster and handed me two timed explosives that had C4 markings all over them.

  “The timers are only for ten seconds, so I hope you can swim fast, Fish-Man.”

  “Wonderful. I am gonna need a harpoon and a light too. I can’t see in the dark.”

  Doyle walked into the captain’s quarters and brought out a helmet with a light on it and a harpoon.

  “Oh, I thought we had only the shitty manual torches.” I grabbed the gear from him with a pissed-off look.

  “Easy now, Fishy. Good luck down there. Be wary of Davy Jones.” Doyle smirked. Another shot of water filled the night air. Most of the men were below deck this time. I ran into the captain’s quarters. A steamy hiss filled the air and cracked the wood. I had to get down there fast. I secured the helmet then strapped the harpoon to my back and held the explosives with on
e hand. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

  “Davy Jones. Really. Have the broadside ready, idiot.” I looked at Doyle, ran starboard, and jumped off the port side.

  The water felt unseasonably warm. The whale must have warmed the water. I couldn’t see a damn thing. I had no choice but to turn the light on. I really didn’t want to. I clicked a button on the yellow helmet that Doyle had given me. The torch’s power was strong. I could see much farther in the water than with the other shite flashlight Doyle provided. That was less comforting in this instance.

  I swam fast to keep pace with McBain. I looked underneath the ship and couldn’t quite see all the way to the other side, which was the last known location of the whale. I swam under the ship to get a better vantage point and kept underneath the ship. There was nothing in sight. Swimming to keep pace with the ship and looking for the giant whale was harder than it sounded. I didn’t want to move from underneath the ship. Fear hit me hard. I thought about the burnt men above me in the ship and did it anyway. The water on the other side of the ship felt a bit cooler.

  There was no whale in sight.

  I looked down, remembering what McBain said about cursed depths that the whale had dived down into and sucked in some acidic water to bring back and spew on the deck. I hoped that nasty water lay far below me. My heart pumped so fast and hard I could hear my pulse in the water. I swam farther away from the ship then turned parallel and kept pace, all the while looking down to see if I could see her. Nothing. Maybe she’d left. Got bored or found another squid to chomp on. Whatever the case might’ve been, I almost called it quits. I looked down once more.

  Teeth.

  Opened mouth.

  I was swallowed.

  I couldn’t believe my luck. I tumbled as if sliding down a slimy mountainside, then the whale leveled. It was warm, moist, and smelled horrendous. My lungs transitioned to breathing the disgusting air in the pink and grey mouth of the beast.

  This whale was huge. I felt like I was in a grand lobby of a resort. A nightmare resort but still. This whale definitely came from cursed waters and was mutated in some awful way. I needed to get the hell out of the damn whale, and fast.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I was able to stand up in the waist-deep water in the whale’s mouth. I looked to the closed teeth in front of me and began my walk to the toothy exit. I still held the explosives in my left hand. All I could think about was getting out when I could have been plotting about the best way to blow her up from the inside. I wasn’t. At least, not yet.

  Gurgling came from above, and I realized it was about to blow more acid onto the deck. Its nasal passages were angled toward the blowhole. I had to stop it.

  I stopped trudging through the mouth, sighed, stared at the explosives, and contemplated my next move. The mouth opened. I couldn’t believe my luck. I increased my speed to the open exit.

  Then the reason for its open maw became all too clear. The first squid tentacle nearly whipped so hard it took my head off. The second tentacle wrapped around my waist.

  The whale chomped on yet another pale giant squid while I was inside its mouth. The squid twitched and slithered, trying to break free. It pulled me toward its beak-like mouth. Yes, I was in a mouth heading towards another mouth. I could barely breathe. The giant squid pulled me to its beak faster and faster. It couldn’t possibly be planning to eat me. It was in full-panic mode.

  The rest of the squid’s arms twitched and whipped around. The whale made a noise and chomped on the squid three more times. The squid spewed blood from its beak, then it relaxed its grip. I fell back onto the mouth, except this time, the whale began to swallow. The chopped squid rolled toward me in multiple pieces. The waist-deep water became knee-deep water. I grabbed the harpoon, jammed the bolt into the bottom of the mouth, and held on. I didn’t want to be in the esophagus.

  I held on for dear life. The water receded more. The squid chunks rolled over me. I stopped breathing and prayed for it all to end. Some more water filled the mouth. The bulk of the squid chunks moved on to the whale’s digestive system. I really wanted to vomit. I couldn’t. This experience needed to end, and quickly.

  An idea came to me after I gathered myself, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. I was too disgusted with my situation to be capable of rational thinking. I could attach the C4 to the harpoon bolt and shoot it down its esophagus!

  I pulled the harpoon out of the bottom of its mouth. It bellowed angrily. I stuck the bolt into the C4 and clicked a green button to turn on the detonator. A red button glowed next to the time display. I clicked the red button and aimed it down the path the squid just went. The timer started.

  BOOM! Muffled bangs emanated from outside of the whale. McBain must have hit her with the cannons.

  The explosion knocked me off my feet. I dropped the harpoon gun in front of me, then went to grab for it. The timer read five seconds. I rolled away as fast as I could.

  The timer beeped.

  Nothing.

  The C4 was a dud. I stood, but the whale started diving fast and I fell forward. I looked up with my helmet light and saw the whale was internally bleeding above me. She must have surfaced for a long enough time to attempt cannon fire. She leveled again. I dropped everything I had in the concussion of the cannon fire. The second timed explosive had to be around somewhere. The helmet light was bright enough to see much of the mouth, so I looked down and it was right at my feet. Finally, something went right.

  I took a deep breath, armed the explosive, and threw it as far as I could toward the esophagus.

  I ran to the teeth once more, hoping for an exit.

  A muted popping sound echoed throughout the whale’s mouth.

  “AH-OOOOOOOOOO!” the whale screamed.

  I stomped through the watery bottom. The mouth opened slowly, and more water poured in. I leapt to begin my swim out of the whale to the open sea.

  Chapter Fifteen

  My exit from the mouth proved easier than I thought it would be. The whale took in a lot of water, perhaps to quell the burn from the explosive I threw down its gullet. This beast was very much still alive, and from the crew’s yelling and screaming, she was close to McBain’s ship.

  I swam as fast and as hard as I could, the helmet light still illuminating my way. I reached the surface and was behind McBain’s ship. The name of the ship was carved into the aft. I found it befitting of the man and his crew: The Relentless.

  The whale sounded a deep and angry call. She was hurt but every bit as relentless as the ship fighting her. She was coming back up to sink it. The sea behind me pushed hard against my back. She was close. I did not want to be swallowed again.

  I swam harder and called out to McBain. “Captain! Captain!”

  He didn’t hear me. The moonlight was bright enough for me to see the whale emerge on the right side of the ship. She didn’t waste any time. She used her blunt flat head and rammed the ship. The Relentless tipped to the left. The wood audibly cracked and creaked. Another hit might cause major damage.

  “Wait, mates. Wait!” McBain shouted.

  The giant sperm whale still swam on the surface. She pulled away to charge another ram with her head. The ship bobbled.

  “All hands! Prepare to fire all we’ve got!” Doyle screamed.

  The whale came back, this time with her mouth wide open, ready to chomp straight through the ship.

  “Men! Don’t be afraid! Make her eat the powder and pewter from our guns! Fire! Gents! Fire!” McBain seemed delighted in his dance with death.

  What followed was the most epic, loudest, brightest display of naval engagement I had ever seen. The crackle and pop of the pirate’s machine guns sounded first.

  The guns’ flashes showed blubber that sprayed in chunks off the whale’s smooth head. The guns weren’t enough to deter her.

  The cannons were next. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  My body was tired from the chase, but I kept pace. The adrenaline and spectacle kept
me swimming.

  The whale’s mouth smoked from the hot lead of the powder and ball.

  “AH-OOOOOOOOOOOO!” the whale screamed in pain.

  The giant mammal continued her charge.

  McBain began to turn the ship after the last broadside he’d ordered to avoid the worst of the whale’s final attack. She rammed the ship. The whale’s bloodied head only clipped the back corner.

  The waters around me warmed with the blood of the whale. She was nowhere to be seen, badly injured both internally and externally. It wouldn’t be long before she bled out. A worthy opponent the whale was, but no match for The Relentless.

  The aft spotlights flashed on once more. I swam faster, the circular spots dotting the surface. McBain turned the ship to fish me out of the water.

  Back aboard the ship, McBain was the first to greet me. “Mighty fine work, laddie! Let’s eat in my quarters. That’s an order.”

  The rest of the crew cheered and ballyhooed. “Aye, Fish Face! Ya’ did good!” Many offered other offensive yet good-natured remarks too.

  Pierce emerged from below deck, smirked, and gave a grateful nod. I felt strange with all the praise. I had led my own unit of Siren Guardsmen and didn’t ever enjoy any display of gratitude. I was merely doing my duty.

  “Cook! Get goin’ on our dinner.” McBain gestured for me to follow him.

  I followed, even though I felt disgusting having just been swallowed by a whale and nearly digested myself. The notion of eating still didn’t feel right.

  The captain’s quarters were quaint yet tidy and not without charm. There was a baseball in a glass case sitting against one wall, along with a football and many books. McBain seemed an educated man, or at least, he valued the pursuit of knowledge. The woodwork in the room was intricate and curled around the posts in the four corners of the room like withered roses. His desk was clean and shiny. This was a much different room than I had expected from a pirate captain.