Random Act of Fiction: The Sea Serpent’s Ten-Step Program to Victory

  • 0

Random Act of Fiction: The Sea Serpent’s Ten-Step Program to Victory

I’m trying to finish a book this week, so you get a random act of fiction!

If I remember right I won a contest with this one!

It’s at least 12 years old, so don’t judge too harshly. 🙂

There I was, swimming my first upper level to surface patrol, reveling in my rank advancement from Kelp to Sea Cucumber, hoping for some action.  The area was 17-3E, a semi active shipping route.  The entirety of the ocean spread before me, behind me, below me, above me . . . was that debris?  I swam forward, towards the unidentified chunk.

Sure enough, it was a barrel.  There were char marks on the wood, indicating a recent source of flame.  I looked up towards the surface.  I could just make out a large shadow far above me.  Could be trouble.

I rose, swimming back and forth, watching.  Just as I suspected, there were two ships up there, and from what I could make out from under the water, there was a battle going on.  As I got closer, I could see balls of light arching above the water, and more things were being tossed into the sea, sinking my way.

This was my first incident encounter!  For a moment I forgot all of my training—my mind was blank—then it came back to me.  Step one, assess the situation and identify the aggressor.  I came up slowly, my long body still trailing deep under the water.  My eyes surfaced first, then my nostrils.

The stink of fire, which I had only smelled twice before, was everywhere.  I came up near the bow of a ship, and I could see humans running, screaming and fighting.  I looked left.  There was a big ship, sitting low in the water.  I looked right.  There was a smaller ship with very ugly humans on it.  This must be the aggressor.  I’d only seen a few humans before, and only two of those alive, but I could certainly tell that the humans on the smaller ship were ugly.  That made them pirates.  Plus they were hurling balls of fire at the larger ship.  Aggressor identified.

Steps two and three, separate the two ships and put out any fires aboard the victim’s vessel.  Why humans made ships out of a substance that burned so easily I would never know.  I submerged and slithered between the two ships.  There wasn’t much room, but I was certain I could get them apart.  I coiled, putting myself between the hulls, and pushed with all of my might.  One moment the two vessels were locked together in a battle to the death, and the next they were floating apart, grappling hooks and ropes falling into the water.  A few humans fell in as well, and they scrambled to get to a piece of floating debris.

I quickly submerged again.  So far the pirates had no idea what they were up against, and I wanted to keep it that way.  I could see the flickering of flames coming from the larger vessel, so I filled my stomach with water and swam to the front side of the ship.

Sea serpents are fairly common in the ocean, and not all of us are destructive maniacs, so I was surprised that just as soon as they saw me, the humans on the larger ship started shooting arrows my way.  A few of them even tried to get me with their swords.  Well, I was told to expect some, what did my instructors call them, misunderstandings?  Still, I had a job to do, so I released the water from my stomach, drenching the entire deck, and sending a few humans off the far side.  Whoops.  Still, ships separated and fires out.

Step four, neutralize weapons on aggressor’s ship.  Wait, all of the weapons?  I’d never thought to ask that before.  A flaming ball of fire hissed into the water next to me, and I decided to start with those.  If the pirates kept throwing fire at the victim I would have to go back to step three.

I swam under the large ship and around to the bow of the pirate ship.  From the level of the water I could not see where the balls of fire were coming from, so I raised my head to the deck and looked around.  Most of the pirates—their ugliness, now seen up close, left no doubt in my mind that they were pirates—were on the other side of the ship, shouting and brandishing their weapons.  It only took me a moment to locate the fire throwing devise. 

Before I could decide how to deal with it, I felt a searing pain in my neck.  Turning, I saw a pirate.  Looking down I found a spear sticking out of the side of my neck.  What in the ocean . . .

I submerged.  The pirates had hit me with a spear!  It was going to take me a trip to the crabs to get the thing out.  I coiled my tail around the shaft of the spear and snapped it off.  Glaring at the surface, I decided to skip steps five and six.  Although terrorizing the aggressor and striking fear into their hearts did have some appeal.  However, step seven seemed a more effective choice.

Going aft, I slowly rose from the water, careful to watch for anything that saw me come up.  When I could see the rear deck I knew I’d made the right choice.  Step seven, eliminate the aggressor’s leader, leaving them in chaos.

Humans were not particularly tasty.  In general they were foul with a distinct lack of meat and an over abundance of unnatural outer shell.  Moldy leather was the worst, but something as trivial as the taste of a three day dead whale would not stop me from doing my duty. 

I spotted the captain right off.  He was a hulking man and he was yelling orders at the top of his lungs.  Just as I had been told, the captain was standing on the top deck near the helm—right in my sights.

I slithered over the rail, gripping the side of the ship with the rest of my body.  I was about to strike when a small human looked, pointed at me and screamed.  The captain had his weapon out, and he turned just as I struck.

I may as well have tried to eat an urchin.  Pain exploded in the top of my mouth as I bit down on the captains weapon.  Shaking my head, in an attempt to dislodge the sword, I growled.  When the captain fell free, along with his weapon, I hissed and shrieked.  The sound was terrifying to humans, and most of them fell to the deck, their hands over their ears.  Looks like I got a bit of step five in after all.

First the spear in my neck and then a stab in my mouth.  That was it—I was finished.  Steps eight and nine were forgotten.  These humans were about to taste step ten, and they weren’t going to like it.

I went under.  Arrows and more balls of fire entered the water around me, so I circled beneath the smaller ship.  Once again I filled my stomach with water, but this time it was not for putting out fires.  I would only have one chance at this.  No problem.

I shot my tail out of the water first, wrapping it around the front of the ship.  I raised my head just above the water line.  With all of the strength I could muster I blew the water out of my stomach, and through the hull of the pirate ship.  Wood splintered apart as the structure gave way under the assault, leaving a hole large enough for coral reef to go through.

Panic stricken cries sounded as the smaller ship shuddered and began list.  A few of the pirates shot arrows or threw daggers at me, but the majority were running for the life boats.  Water was already pouring into the keel, and the ship was noticeably sinking.  I wrapped my body around the wooden mermaid perched at the front of the bow.  With one last shriek, which threw all of the pirates to the deck, I crushed the mermaid and drug the front of the ship down into the sea.

Step ten, if the situation cannot be resolved, completely obliterate aggressor. Mission accomplished.  Promotion, here I come.


Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 28 other subscribers

Top Posts & Pages