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She prayed for the men’s sake that the other ships had reached safety. She couldn’t worry about that now. Not when her own ship and men were gripped in the jaws of a cyclone.
And then, from beyond the thick, sturdy wood of the enclosure’s door, a strange, ghostly shrieking began. At first, she thought it was the wind whistling through sheets of heavy rain.
But no. The screams had a distinctly animal sound to them, in addition to the screeching grind of metal against metal.
One of the sailors burst into the chamber, ashen beneath his dark skin.
“Monsters…so many…oh gods! They have forsaken us!”
Heba immediately got in the man’s face, taking his arms and shaking him.
“Keep it together,” she ordered sternly, in her Regent voice.
“Look at me. Concentrate on me.”
The man did so, his eyes riveting on Heba’s face and slowly focusing.
“Now, tell me what you saw. What’s happening out there?”
“G-gigantic flying s-serpents,” the man stuttered, shaken with fright.
“I have never seen the like. They came out of the clouds like they were born from them. Like Apep in the flesh with wings, diving at our ship as if they mean to devour us. Oh, why have the gods forsaken—”
Heba slapped the man’s cheek sharply, silencing the rest of his litany.
“Get a hold of yourself,” she commanded gruffly.
“The gods do not favor cowards. Our men are still out there. We must help them however we can.”
She strapped two long daggers into her tunic belt and pushed past the sailor to get outside, but was stopped by a firm hand on her arm.
“Do not go out, my Queen,” Senenmut pleaded.
“Whether there are monsters or no, the storm is too unpredictable and violent. It is too dangerous. Let Shai and the men do what they can. We must protect each other and the valuables—”
“No,” Heba said, shaking her adviser’s hand off, brooking no further argument.
“The most valuable thing in my life isout there, not in here. I will protect him as he protects me. If there are truly monsters, I will not let him face such odds alone.”
With that, she pushed through the chamber door before a gust of wind shut it tightly behind her.
What she saw next with her very own eyes was the stuff of nightmares. So fantastical, she could only stand there rooted to the wooden deck, trying to make sense of it.
The sailor had not lied. Giant flying serpents undulated through the skies, their massive wings blotting out everything else. They shrieked with fury and circled the ship, surrounding them. Trapping them.
It seemed that the whirlpool they were currently caught within was created by these mythical beasts. By their smoke and hellfire and the bellowing wind from their colossal wings.
Shai and his best warriors stood on deck, braced with weapons drawn. He himself handled akhopeshin each hand, a rectangular shield strapped to his back.
When had he gotten armed?
Heba didn’t know but was thankful for his quick thinking. All of the men were armed similarly, though many of them weren’t as steady on their feet as Shai, as the ship tossed precariously upon the waves.
A serpent closed in and unleashed a torrent of gray fire at Shai, making Heba’s breath clog in her throat.
He crossed his swords and deflected the blow as if it was a physical force, going down to one knee from the brutal attack.
The hellfire assault seemed to scald Shai, for he turned his face away from the blast with teeth gritted. But it didn’t burn him, miraculously, where the flames licked his skin, hair and clothes.
