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He taunted the beast, stabbing at its hearts before shooting through the water towards the surface. It let out a terrifying screech of anger before following him and shooting through the water, faster than Mananan expected. He broke the surface, a spout carrying him high.
“Freeze it!” he shouted at Bayn.
The beast exploded out of the waves, tentacles waving angrily, still focused on catching Mananan. He started to free-fall back towards it.
“Now Bayn!”
Ice shot from the boat and collided with the flailing shark heads. The ocean froze about it, its tentacles unable to go back under. Mananan landed in the center of the creature’s half-frozen heads. With a wild battle cry, he drove his harpoon into its hearts—once, twice, three times. The jaws stopped snapping, and the tentacles fell, lifeless, onto the salty ice.
“What the fuck is that?!” Bayn called. The boat moved through the waves until it sidled up to the defrosting corpse. Mananan leaped off the dead beast and back into the boat.
“That is Fomorian abomination. It was guarding the altar, and I triggered it,” Mananan said.
“More bloody sea monsters. Just what we need,” Bayn cursed.
Mananan tore the leg of his pants and hissed. “Fucking thing burned me. Knowing that bastard mage, it’s poisoned too.”
“Let’s get you and this body back to Taran. Kian’s castle is closest,” Bayn said.
Mananan directed the boat to the nearest shore and slumped back onto the bench at the back of the boat. The burn from his wound was creeping up his thigh.
“Fuck… Itwaspoison,” he cursed and passed out to Bayn’s shouts of alarm.
13
Mananan woke to Bayn carrying him into Kian’s castle. Faces blurred in front of him, and Taranis hauled Mananan over one of his shoulders.
“Stay awake, brother. I need you conscious,” Taranis demanded. “Bayn, go back for the altar pieces.”
Mananan vomited sea water and bile over the floor, unable to hold it in.
“For fuck’s sake, that better not have landed on me or I’m going to let you die,” Taranis snapped.
Mananan wanted to laugh and couldn’t. His whole body was paralyzed and burning at the same time. Taranis dropped him onto a lounge in the laboratory before tipping his head back and dumping a potion down his throat.
“Gods, that tastes like ass,” Mananan coughed.
Taranis’s concerned face came into focus. “It’s working though, so be grateful. What the fuck happened?”
Mananan told him about Ella’s vision, the altar, and the monster as Taranis cut away his pants on his wounded leg.
“It was feeding off the portal? That’s clever,” Taranis replied. He soaked linen strips into an opaque green liquid. “Don’t glare at me. I know it’s an evil thing to do, but it’s still smart. The gateways have huge amounts of magic, especially the ones under the sea that haven’t been tampered with by humans. The mage is learning. It will make your job a bit easier if he’s placed the altars at two other gateways. This might sting a bit.”
Taranis wrapped the soaked linen over Mananan’s leg, and he shouted a long list of obscenities at his brother.
“Sting abit?” Mananan roared.
“Don’t be such a baby. Give it a second to work,” Taranis replied, unfazed by Mananan’s stream of abuse. Cool relief washed over him, and Mananan stopped cursing.
“Thank the gods,” he groaned, collapsing back onto the couch and trying to steady his breathing.
Taranis huffed. “Thank me instead, brother.”
“Thank you. You’re still an asshole.”
“I love you too,” Taranis replied and patted Mananan’s cheek. He batted him away half-heartedly.
“We need to find a way to stop those sea beasts. We can’t have more of them, Taran. The horde creatures are bad enough,” Mananan said, accepting the cup of water Taranis gave him.
