Blackrock Mercenaries

When I thought of having to attack a Kraken, I didn't expect to be sitting on a raised platform eating shortbread and discussing the weather. Beside me, where he had been since we had met him at the Inn, was Lord Henry. He was smiling and laughing with some of his staff, as he wielded a spyglass to see what was happening on the wall.

After finishing my snack, I checked my own. The large vat of the paste we had delivered to the siege engineers sat opened, and I watched the men carefully paint it onto the length of the bolt. Down below on the docks, I knew another group was getting ready with the bait.

It wasn't much more than a hastily put together raft. Not that the aesthetics mattered much. The design's sole purpose was to float out into the ocean, bearing both the rations Sasha had bought, along with a collection of old, well-used clothes. That last was Penny's suggestion. No one knew if the smell of people would entice the Kraken, but it was cheap, and her enthusiasm was infectious so no one had denied her.

A shift of my spyglass showed that despite the repeated warnings by Lord Henry's staff throughout the morning, we still ended up with a collection of onlookers. From my vantage on the watchtower near the gates we entered, I wondered if they were stupid or brave. Perhaps both. There was no reason for anyone but those firing the Ballista to be anywhere near the walls. Aside, perhaps, from those launching the bait.

"Whatever those men and women are being paid, it's not enough."

Beside me, with her gun over her shoulder, Penny watched the proceedings on the wall with rapt attention. Rita and Sasha both stood closer to Lord Henry, who was grinning from ear to ear in boyish wonder.

"They're all mad."

"You're not having fun," Penny teased as she prodded me with her tail.

"This isn't a time for fun." I glanced at her and saw her laughing at me. "If this doesn't work—"

I cut my words off as Sasha twisted to glare at me, before she pointed at her ears and then returned to her previous conversation. With a sigh, I ignored Penny's snort of laughter and thought about how to rephrase my words.

"If anything goes wrong with the ballista, then we won't have a delivery system for Sasha's excellent work." I paused, but she didn't turn around. "That's going to be a disaster."

Penny slapped me on the shoulder. "That's why you have me!"

"Yes, because a single bullet from you will deliver the same impact as a ballista bolt covered in itching cream." I did my best not to sound exasperated, but I couldn't help but think about the futility of it all.

"Maybe not." She shrugged, and then stretched. "But wouldn't you rather it go for me than you?"

"Maybe I'd prefer it doesn't go for anyone?"

"Aww, you care. But you and I both know that's not what I'm talking about. If you need me, it's not the kraken we need to worry about."

I couldn't stop myself from glancing down. Our coach and all the horses waited for us amidst Lord Henry's retinue. Penny was right. If this went wrong, she would be our best bet to make sure that we got away from the city with our hides intact. Though I sent up a silent prayer to Malycka for luck that it wouldn't come to that.

"The last thing Penny needs is an excuse to shoot a lord."

As though sensing my thoughts, she laughed and pulled me into a side hug. This got me a raised eyebrow from Lord Henry, who smoked.

"Is this the time?"

"No, sorry my Lord. I think she's just excited." I tried to push her off, and to my relief, Penny let go willingly. "Are you comfortable?"

He gave a sharp nod, raising his spyglass again. "Quite. Oh, this is going to be exciting! Do you think it'll show quickly?"

"It should, my lord." Rita tried to sound positive, but the way she was watching the ground below us made me uneasy. "With luck, we'll have this entire process wrapped up before dinner."

"And what a feast it'll be."

I listened as he described the food, the music, and the dancing. Beside me, Penny rolled her eyes as Sasha muttered to herself about the formula. The light conversation continued until I saw a light flash from the Siege engines, and then a gong beneath us sounded out. That was the signal for the barges.

"Let's see how this goes." I was grateful for Poker Face, as I trained my spyglass on the wall.

For a while, nothing happened. The Siege Engineers stood by, and we simply waited. Then I heard it. The sounds of waves crashing against the rocks. It sounded like a storm, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Then a tentacle rose into view, arrow shaped and searching.

"Fire!" Lord Henry called out, though I wasn't sure why. No one could hear him.

A moment later, the Siege Engines fired twice, launching two bolts into the flailing tentacle. Cheers sprang up all around me, none louder than Lord Henry himself, as it froze, and then spasmed wildly. More appendages rose from the depths as the siege engineers frantically reloaded with another coated bolt. They didn't make it in time.

Time seemed to go both fast and slow as the tentacle fell. I watched in morbid fascination, unable to look away as siege engineers scrambled to get away. Some made it, though not before the tentacles smashed the leftmost ballista into pieces, along with a section of the wall.

"Is this part of the plan?" I looked at Sasha, who was staring ahead as though she could see it all.

Not that she needed to. The sounds and the screams alone were enough to get a rough idea of what was going on. Beside me, Lord Henry was shouting orders at whoever would listen. Servants were dashing up and down the ladders. More of the siege engineers were fleeing, as others, with clear desperation, tried to load the remaining ballista.

"Sasha!"

"No, it's not part of the plan!" She yelled back. "It was meant to be driven away, not get angry. We need to hit it with more of them."

"How many more?" I didn't drop the spyglass, watching with bated breath as the engineers worked.

"I don't know."

"This is your plan."

"It's a good plan!"

"You two, we don't have time for this!" Rita snapped. "I need you to focus. Our job is to drive off the Kraken. Ideas."

"Make it eat the barrel of paste?" Penny suggested.

"How?"

Another bolt lodged itself into a tentacle, and this one froze as well. As quickly as possible, the engineers loaded another bolt, working like men possessed. Before it fell, they launched another attack on it. With two of the large sticks of wood sticking out of it, it backed up, showing an amount of control I hadn't expected from the creature.

Then things changed. Each of the tentacles pulled back, as the sounds of water crashing against the rocks occurred once again. Darkness overcame the town as the head of the Kraken slowly slid into view, blocking the sun that had risen behind it. The lack of light made it seem like some kind of shadow demon. A single eye in a triangular head. My heart pounded, and my hands trembled as it continued to rise, its tendrils fanning around it.

At the sight of the monster's head, and the gurgling scream that accompanied it, the engineer's resolve broke. Through the spyglass I watched them flee, some all but jumping off the wall to escape. My eyes widened when I noticed not all jumped the same way. More than a few leapt towards the kraken, arms outstretched as though to hug the beast.

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One grabbed a tentacle. Most did not. They were soon out of sight as sections of the wall, and the last ballista, disintegrated under the blows of its tentacles.

My attention locked onto the barrel of paste as it wobbled and topped into a newly made gap. It somehow slid down the broken bits of wall to land at the bottom, unscathed. I would have been pleased, except it nestled itself on the inside of the wall. Safe, for now, from any tentacles that might damage it. A panic laugh pulled itself out of me, as I watched the tentacles continued to thrash.

"Goddess of luck indeed."

Lord Henry shouted something, and I moved my spyglass away from the giant monster to the city below. Although none of the tentacles were getting far past the walls, people were running for their lives. I watched, gut churning, and heart beating, as people fell both by accident or when shoved aside. It was a scene of madness, and we were responsible.

Rita shook me, and I turned to her, naked fear in my expression, the emotion so great Poker Face couldn't hold it back. She was calm. A picture of serenity. The port in the storm of the surrounding insanity.

"Chad, listen to me." She didn't let me go. "Stay with Lord Henry. I'm going down to make sure no one fleeing tries to steal the horses."

All I could do was mumble an affirmative, and then she was gone, red hair and tail seeming to flow up with the speed she was descending the ladder. Penny was on her feet, rifle on her shoulder, though I couldn't see who she was aiming at. Sasha had her hand in her bag, the other clinging to a support pillar as the servants jostled us about.

"My lord," one said, a woman with a rather pointed chin. "You need to leave."

"Leave? If I go back empty-handed, what makes you think it'll be worse than this?" Lord Henry's voice broke on the last word, the shrillness getting him several looks.

The woman licked her lips. "My lord—"

"Is staying!"

He stomped his foot, the action childlike. I saw him look my way and then he pointed to his servants. With one hand he directed them to follow Rita, and with the other he gestured me over. When I moved, he grabbed my arm, fingers digging into me with all the strength he could muster.

"Can you fix this?" He demanded, as the same crack happened again.

My wide eyes met his, and I looked around at the rapidly emptying watch tower. "How?"

"You're the mercenary with the monster hunters!" His fingers dug in deeper. "That's your job! My tracker advised against it, and I ignored him. As a lord of the southern kingdoms, I demand you fix this situation immediately. It's what I'm paying you for!"

"Currently, you're not paying me. Payment after, I believe, was the agreement."

The thought was silly, but I clutched at it as a shred of normalcy. Penny's voice cut in before I could reply, her tone holding a savage growl.

"And if we don't?"

"I'll… I'll have you hung for destroying the town!" Lord Henry let me go to spin on her, and I took a chance to flex my arm.

My experience with other rich folk told me that while that threat may not be doable for most, he was a special case. That, and when someone screwed up at this level, people wanted nothing more than a scapegoat. While Penny and Sasha were popular here, that wouldn't protect us.

Desperation and genius can often be the same thing. I spotted Penny opening her mouth, and I knew I needed to step in and say something. Anything. If she antagonised this man, now? It wouldn't be hard for him to call up one of his knights and claim he was under threat. My training took over, and I did what my years in business taught me to do in a situation like this: lie.

"My lord." That drew his attention, and I gave him my best smile. One of confidence, hope, and possibility. "I told you we would have a feast and a festival waiting for you at Yuliosa. I intend to deliver. Of course, we came up with alternatives. Please remain here and calm. We are professionals. Penny, Sasha, we need to get to Rita."

He didn't have time to disagree before I was going down the ladder. Whatever this was, it wasn't worth the amount we were getting paid. A part of me despaired about the money that we would lose if we ran, but I couldn't think of a better option.

Rita met us down below. She was standing by the carriage, watching the slowly opening front gate. People were reaching through it, as if they believed sheer will would let them bypass iron.

"Chad," Rita said. "I heard what you said. You have a plan?"

"What? No. I just wanted him not to be mad while we ran away."

The look she gave me reminded me of old ladies when they heard risque jokes at a bard's performance. I almost laughed, but I refrained. She wouldn't be pleased, and I needed her to take me seriously.

With what seemed like a deeper breath than normal, she spoke in a harsh tone. "You want to flee?"

"What choice do we have?" I turned from her to Penny and Sasha, who shrugged back.

"We can't. He gave us a contract. Don't you respect that?"

"If it was a business contract, yes. But this isn't something we can fight and I don't want to die." I tried not to raise my voice, but it was a near thing. "What do you want to do? Stab it?"

"No, I'm going to go with a variation of Penny's plan." She sounded serious, and it took me a minute to work out what she was talking about.

When I did, I took a step back. "How in the kingdoms are we meant to get it to eat the barrel? How are we even going to get to the barrel? In case you haven't forgotten, massive writhing tentacles. Also, what do you mean, sort of?"

"We're going to get it to crush the barrel, provided we can find it."

"The barrel?" I looked at her, and then at the mass of people trying to get out of the slowly rising gate. "It's by the wall. Rita, you will die."

"Not if we're quick. There's a gong at the bottom of the tower to signal those in the town, correct?" She asked like she wasn't concerned, as beside her Penny almost bounced with excitement. Sasha watched them both and sighed, pulling out a series of bottles, one including the energy supplement that she gave me in the woods.

I nodded, as I watched Penny reach eagerly for the potions. "There is?"

"Take it back up to sit with Lord Henry. If you hit the gong, we'll hear it. You can warn us of danger."

"Here's a warning," I said, as I forced my hands to stop shaking. "They're a giant monster."

"When isn't there?" Penny laughed, as she tried, and failed, to take the potion from Sasha.

"Yesterday?"

"Good thing it's not yesterday." Rita reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. "We have to do this. Could you really leave the people like this?"

"Yes."

The thought was near instantaneous, but as I looked to the town, I knew it didn't matter. Rita wouldn't, and I doubted trying to escape them would be a good idea. Not to mention what Lord Henry would do if we abandoned him. Penny could track people. How many of his servants could do the same? Panic swelled inside me, but I pushed it down.

"Fine. I'll direct. Be safe?" I tried.

"We will."

It took some doing to get the gong to the top, and another minute to explain the plan to Lord Henry. He appeared delighted, and I ignored his glee as I watched Penny and Rita vanish down the ladder. Sasha was staying with me. As she said, they didn't need three of them to roll a barrel.

From the way she shrank back, it was clear she was afraid. Not that I blame her, I was too. Whenever I looked at the towering Kraken, still flailing as it tried to destroy anything within reach, my blood turned to ice.

"Will they manage it?" I asked Sasha, as I raised the spyglass.

"Do they have a choice?"

Her words were curt, but I didn't blame her. Below, the gate had finally opened and people were pouring out. They were rushing this way, all screaming and shouting. Someone got trampled, and I was grateful that we were up high. Rita and Penny downed the potions, and both rushed forward.

It was difficult to keep them in view, and I could almost feel Sasha waiting on my signal to hit the gong. The city streets nearest us were mostly fine, and together Rita and Penny moved through without issue. After the midway point, things changed. The tentacles were reaching further, and I watched with terror as it reached towards the same spot they were heading towards.

"Now!"

Sasha hit the gong, and the sound reverberated loudly through the air. Within moments, Rita had spun and Penny followed her, vanishing through someone's house. Thrashing tentacles filled the street they had just vacated. Twice more, we had to direct them away from threats before they reached the barrel in its small alcove.

My heart pounded as they shoved it, getting it unstuck and then into view of the monster. I watched them, and then I saw it. Another tentacle rising, this one going straight for them from the side. Sasha started beating the gong for all she was worth.

Penny reacted first. With a twitching motion, she grabbed Rita and hauled her back. The tentacle that was about to crush them slammed into the barrel first with enough force to burst it. Green covered the appendage, and the Kraken let out a gurgling wail. Penny turned to it, as though she were about to go back.

This time it was Rita who pulled her away. Together they stumbled as the Kraken thrashed and panicked. It threw itself backwards and as the head vanished, water filled the same spouse. A colossal wave, one that rose above the cliffs edges, seemed to hang in the air. Then it came crashing down.

"RUN!"

I couldn't help the shout, even though I knew they were already doing so and couldn't hear me. Sasha hit the gong again, as Lord Henry, who had been remarkably quiet, started yelling his encouragement. Both women ran up the main street and towards the gate. Their steps almost blurred as skills and strength blend to make them move faster.

They just made it. Rita broke left, and Penny broke right, using the wall as cover from the wave. It rushed out of the gate, and I watched the field get drenched. A sweep of my spyglass showed there were no more signs of the kraken.

I climbed down first, followed by Sasha, and then Lord Henry. The ground was damp, and everywhere people were speaking. Some wondered about their homes, others about if the monster would come back.

A blur hit me, and I found myself wrapped up in a hug by Penny. Her dilated pupils flicked about, and she didn't look like she could focus. That made her next words somehow both shocking and yet unsurprising.

"So Chad?" she asked, her wagging tail a blur. "When are we going to go to the Lord's party?"