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[talien]

Vlad squinted out at the ocean. It was his turn to be on watch. Eight days had passed since the journey began, and there was something to see almost every day.

Nothing.

Beldin, who couldn’t see quite as high over the rail, kept him company.

“We’ve encountered just about everything the Pale Sea can throw at us,” the dwarf said gruffly. “Sirens. Sea serpents. Pirates. I thought for sure that island we were on was going to turn out to be a giant turtle.”

“You thought that too?” Vlad laughed. “Captain Baldric says we’re a third of the way there. Hopefully it’ll be smooth sailing from here on out.”

Beldin grunted. “I doubt that. I have half a mind to become a pirate myself.”

“With that ring you took off of Cho Sun, you probably could be.”

Beldin looked down at his feet. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

Dripping saltwater, the huge furry leg of an arachnid slapped onto the deck, sending sailors flying.

“That!”

Two huge fangs were visible next, topped by a crown of beady black eyes.

“Sea spider!” someone shouted.

“Sea spider?” Vlad asked in disbelief. “Seriously?”

Two more legs reached the deck. The ship listed hard as the spider clung to the side of the Nǎoké. Its torso arched underneath the spider.

“Oh no,” said Vlad, “it’s going to—“

Sticky webbing sprayed the deck, entangling everyone and everything. The trapdoors from the decks below were glued shut. Vlad could hear the crew pounding on the doors to let them out.

Vlad skidded in front of the thing, sword and shield at the ready. “Now I’ve seen everything.” He hacked at one of the creature’s legs.

The sea spider screeched and recoiled. Then it darted forward, both fangs sinking into Vlad’s torso. It tossed him effortlessly across the deck. He skidded to a stop, unconscious and foaming at the mouth, ensnared in a cocoon of webbing.

Beldin skidded to a halt in front of Vlad’s unconscious body.

The spider lurched forward again, slapping at Beldin with one of its legs. The dwarf was knocked back several feet but held his ground. Its fangs followed soon after, striking home around Beldin’s shield

“Poison, eh?” Beldin snarled. “You’ll have to do better…than that…to stop…a dwarf.”

He took two steps forward and then fell over the side of the ship.

More crewmen wailed in despair. On the forecastle, Henry Tranco continued to play solitaire on a table bolted to the deck.

Yolanda pounded the table. Besides the crew, Vlad, and Beldin, they were the only ones on deck. “Aren’t you going to do something?”

“Nah,” said Tranco. “It’s under control.”

“Does that look like it’s under control? Vlad has been poisoned and Beldin just went overboard!”

“Yep,” said Tranco. “But you forgot something.”

Thunder boomed overhead. The spider hesitated, startled by the sound. Swirling white clouds formed in a vortex above the ship.

“What’s that?”

Then hail fell. And fell. And fell. The hailstones started out small but increased in size. The deck became covered in snow and ice.

“Beldin has Cho Sun’s ring.”

Tranco kept flipping cards. He flicked some ice off of the table.

Finally, a huge hailstone the size of a man smashed into the arachnid’s head. With another screech it slipped off the side of the ship. Tranco put one hand at the far end of the table and his cards slid into his open palm as the ship righted itself.

Tranco sauntered over to the one of the trapdoors and sliced it open with his knife. Brother Egil poked his head out.

Beldin collapsed back onto the deck. The dwarf was purple from the poison and drenched in seawater. But he was still alive.

“You may want to help out the Milandisian,” Tranco said to Egil. “He’s been poisoned.”

Tranco turned to Yolanda, who was shivering from the sudden cold snap. “There, see? I helped.”

“You’re a real jerk,” she huffed off.

Tranco shrugged. “What can I say? I never make a bad bet.”