Work Text:
It was the inner edge of the world. The ice wall stood in the distance, obscured by the freezing rain pelting their coats and armor and frosting as drops slid off of their hems and on the deck at their feet. It was never this warm this far north, and life was void here, but something of the serpent made it warm.
Made it storm.
Their women, their wives and older daughters, and the young men’s mothers lay in the dragon’s lair somewhere along this ice wall.
The fight would be brutal, the armor may be useless, the men may be too tired, or the weapons too small, or waves too powerful. The fabled race of gargoyles, half human half dragon, dark and twisted creatures, belied the intentions of the beast.
The women would be alive, but the question was where.
“Mister Balloch! Look!” One of them called, and pointed forward of the large boat.
The wave rose high, twice the boat’s size and four times its length, splitting to reveal just a sliver of the giant creature they were hunting, moving far too fast for something quite that size. The creature’s tail slithered beneath the waves just far enough, several hundred yards ahead, but the waves followed fast.
Balloch steeled himself. “Hold fast!”
The call was echoed by all who braced themselves as the wave lifted them, stomachs lurching, and unforgiving gravity brought them down from air to surface, shaking the men almost off their feet before doubling the rain on the weather decks.
They had seen the beast before, and it was all too aware of its might, and they were all too aware surprise was nothing they could hope for.
Niven, who had called out before, called out again, “Captain!”
He was pointing eagerly forward, and all the men looked.
There was the split in the ice wall, the most likely resting place for the beast to keep his stolen brides. This could be a deception, a crack in the ice only, but Balloch held hope. He remained emotionless as his men cheered, he could not show one face or the other lest his men need his calm.
He called to the helmsman, in a voice level but loud, “Full speed ahead,” And his men cheered again.
The serpent’s tail tip rose in front of them, whipping gallons of water into the air as it slipped back beneath the surface, forcing another, lighter wave forward, adding almost nothing to the existing turbulence.
The boat drew nearer, the men below decks coming up to see the glimpse of hope, all weapons at hand ready for revenge.
The beast would not have it so easy.
The creature rose from behind the fantail high in the air, a gargantuan neck suspending a horned grey white head with a mouth large enough to engulf the ship forward to aft, staring down at them, eyeing its target, searing its image into the minds of the men, its malice and awesome speed and power their marvel, only for a moment before striking.
They jumped, calling abandon ship as most of them made the air.
The serpent made the water along with them, smashing their boat into splinters and throwing the men close enough to see their fellows, but far enough to despair.
Balloch saw Niven before the both of them turned to swim at the crack. Balloch kept Fuamhaire Dubh, his giant axe, fastened to his back, where it stayed, but his sword was gone and doubtless many of his men’s were as well. He looked around to see who had survived, and saw Finn and Keegan as well both headed to the opening. He swam toward and called out to them, and the four of them grouped together to head towards the crack.
Tired and frozen they made it to the portion of the ice wall beneath the chasm, each man utilizing what foot and handholds they could to scale to it.
Keegan was swept off by a wave, and Balloch and Finn followed immediately to retrieve him. Keegan regained his composure a length down the ice wall just as Finn was about to reach him, and all three men headed back for the opening, Niven having reached the top.
“Captain!” Came his usual cry.
Balloch eyed him to see him signal out to the sea. He had misheard.
“Macson!” He called out the name of the beast, Balloch turned his head to see the massive tidal wave slam them into the ice followed by a loud dull boom coming from below.
The beast itself had missed but they were battered nonetheless, and cracked ice the size of heads and hands started to rain from above.
The men raced back to the opening but saw to their left the great serpent writhe again at the surface sending the waves after them once more.
They were again beaten into the ice and once more the ice took the shock and gave the song of its pain, loosing its hold on massive boulders now on top of them.
Smashed below the surface again their cracked bones were numbed by the cold and their limbs, fueled by their will and fear drug them to the surface.
No sooner had they surfaced than when they were swallowed.
Macson’s giant head grabbed Keegan and Balloch along with the boulders and tried to chew them, crushing debris that pinned them to the beast’s jaw.
Balloch unfastened the half of his axe that remained and plunged it into the area behind the beast’s chin. Keegan fell farther backwards and held himself by the quarter of his sword to the throat at the base of the beast’s tongue. Ice shards battered their bodies threatening to dislodge them, so Balloch curled his body small as possible against the dragon’s mouth and Keegan held himself barely in place as the ice passed safely over him being swallowed.
The two men held themselves still against the animal as it struck its head downward until a rush of water wrenched Balloch, axe and all, from his axe hold until he sunk it again at the base of the creature’s tongue opposite Keegan.
Its throat convulsed and gagged and Macson slammed its head once more against ice and back into the ocean taking another mouthful of boulders and seawater that sprayed but mostly missed the warriors. For a moment of chewing it was almost steady and Keegan withdrew his sword and stabbed it further back in the beast’s throat. Balloch began to pull on his axe before the creature began his writhing again, forcing him to remain. The throat closed again attempting to swallow, this time dragging Keegan who again freed his sword and this time drug it through the throat’s tissue as he was swallowed up.
The creature continued to writhe, slamming its head again into the ice wall, the ocean, and the ice wall again, loosing Balloch from his axe and into Macson’s teeth.
Balloch awoke in a cave. It was warm, but the ceiling was ice. He tried to look around, but his neck could barely move. A faint orange glow lit the area. His whole body ached, and he was too exhausted to move.
“Captain!”
Niven knelt beside him.
“Can you speak, captain?”
He answered slowly, “Yes.”
“Your bones are broke captain. We don’t know if you’ll be able to walk. Nine of the thirty two men have survived. The women have survived on penguin and seal. We haven’t seen Keegan or the dragon in several hours.”
“How long have we been here?”
“It’s almost morning, sir. You and Keegan fought the dragon yesterday afternoon. You were thrown into the sea, we thought you’d died.”
“Where is my wife?”
“Do you want me to wake her, captain?”
“Please.”
“Yes, sir!”
He disappeared with the same enthusiasm as in his speech, and Balloch eyed the ceiling, waiting.
He had come all this way to see his kidnapped wife, but he was too tired for visible excitement. His relief was tangible, however and his heartbeat picked up when he heard the footsteps.
“Balloch!”
“Abigeal!”
He tried to move to see her but his wounds stopped him and he winced. She made up the difference and tenderly embraced him where he lay, laying a kiss on his lips months in coming.
Even after months in the ice she still smelled like the seashore, and she kept her beauty in spite of the hardship.
“This is why I came,” he said, a smile across his lips.
She welled up with tears and kissed him again, her arms around his neck drawing closer on his body.
If they had questions of transport, they were answered in the following hours after sunrise, when the unmoving dragon Macson was seen lying in the waves, for the first time in many weeks calm, the fighting heart of Keegan having stilled the savage beast.