THE SEA HAG by David Drake

Dennis paused. Gannon, Conall, and Aria were alone at the table where Dennis had sat on previous nights. The remainder of Conall’s glittering ‘guards’ were divided among the tables to either side; and Gannon stood now between the seated king and princess.

Conall glanced back and saw Dennis. He gestured the youth to a seat among the guards.

“And now, King Conall,” cried the champion, turning to the older man beside him. He lowered Rakastava’s head so that its weight rested on the table. The stump smudged the smooth surface.

“In recognition of my saving your daughter—and in saving all of us for the future from the monster’s exactions—I claim the Princess Aria in marriage.”

“No!” gasped Dennis.

“Hurrah!” cried the nearest citizens.

“Hurrah!” the shout went on in an arc expanding around the circle of tables. Someone threw a hat; the air began to spin with bright cloth.

Gannon took Aria’s hand. She resisted his pull for a moment, then rose to her feet. Her face was turned aside and toward the floor.

“I request that our wedding be held at—”

The assembly hall was growing darker.

“—once!”

Rakastava’s laughter boomed through the sudden hush.

“Humans, humans,” called the monster’s glowing image from the center of the hall. “You are not yet free of Rakastava.”

Gannon tried to release the severed head. His fingers were wrapped in strands of the mane. His hand twitched with increasing violence, like that of a man who’s touched something foul and sticky.

“In the morning,” continued the image, “the Princess Aria must return to me… and with her must return my head.”

Only the head on the creature’s central neck was speaking. The stump hung limp, though at least in hologram there was no sign of the blood that had spurted from it earlier.

Dennis thrust his right hand into the sidepocket of his trousers as he watched Rakastava.

“And the champion who fights for the princess may come or may not come,” said Rakastava in a voice as close to a caress as a roar could be. “It is all the same to me. But if he comes, he will stay.”

“Ooh…” murmured the crowd as the lights brightened and the threatening image faded away. All eyes were on Gannon.

The King’s Champion was shaking.

And in his pocket, Dennis fingered Aria’s crystal ring.

CHAPTER 48

Chester’s tentacles closed the two halves of the star-metal helmet over his master’s head.

“Gannon sneers at me,” the youth said. “He and I both know he’s a coward, but he sneers at me.”

“There is no remedy for the sting of a fool’s tongue, Dennis,” the robot quoted. A latch clicked as it locked together the helmet’s hinged segments.

The mirror showed the cavern beneath Rakastava—beneath Rakastava’s city. It seemed even darker than it had the morning before; but Dennis’ eyes had adapted then, and they would adapt again today, he was sure.

It wasn’t as though he had to see for any distance, after all.

Aria was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The severed head lay on the stone beside her, but Gannon was nowhere to be seen.

Dennis shifted his stance, making sure that all the joints and fastenings of his armor were firm but flexible. He slid his sword, a ribbon of reflected gray dawnlight, from its battered sheath.

“Chester,” he said without looking at his companion. “I wonder if you’d—you know, help me today if I need help.”

“If you ask my help, Dennis, I will give it,” Chester replied.

“I didn’t think to do that yesterday,” Dennis admitted, skirting the question of whether Chester would have come to his aid without being asked. “I—anyway, it won’t be as bad today. He’s—it’s been wounded.”

“Today’s fight will be twice as fierce as yesterday’s fight, Dennis,” said Chester quietly. “If you struggled then, then you will strain indeed today.”

“It’s time,” said the youth, gripping his sword as he stepped into the cavern washed by the waves of the monster’s approach. Sound echoed crushingly about him.

Aria stepped forward when the youth in black armor splashed out of the darkness. Her lips moved as she called something, but the words were inaudible and unnecessary.

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