PRESENT DAY

  TANNER

  The late summer sun beats down on the pier’s end cap, heat radiating up from the sun-baked dock boards, creating a comforting sandwich of warmth. Fishing pole abandoned on a discarded crate, line limp in the water. Tanner's wiry five foot ten inch frame sprawls in the enveloping heat, eyes closed and hands behind his head. The very picture of ease, prefect camouflage for the serious thoughts of his future. ‘So two weeks of relaxation before the attunement, then adulthood.’ He thinks to himself. ‘The imperial army is out. I can’t see myself there. The imperial Academy same reason, five years imperial service for every year of education. Yeah, I can see it’s a fair trade off, just not for me. Maybe I can get a sponsor for one of the two-year academies? Start delving while I am in school, then get my license. If I join the town guard force, like the city lord, and the captain want they’d pay for schooling. The guard would be security, steady job, steady pay. Delving will follow in my parent’s footsteps.’

  “Tanner. Tanner.” he hears shouts from the water. Recognizing the voices calling for him, Mary, and Lucua. ‘What nonsense have the Littles gotten up to now?’ he wonders. Cracking open one of his gray eyes. Not seeing anything wrong, Tanner sits up and opens his eyes. He squints in the bright sunlight, standing he looks out over the water from the pier’s end cap. Tanner spots the Littles, Mary, and Lucua rowing Ol’ man Holder’s boat. “You two get that boat over here and tied up, now!” Thinking if they hurry and get it over to the pier, and tied up, we can leave, the old man won’t know who snagged it.

  “We can’t. The tide caught us. It’s leaking terrible.” Mary calls to him.

  “Hang on.” He says. “Guess I’m going for a swim,” he mutters. Not alert from his cozy nap. The plunge into the cool water drains the warm sunlight he just soaked up. Bringing a slight chill along with a wide awake mind. Tanner swims out to the rowboat and climbs in, amazed he notices the flooded boat has several sprung seams. “How did you make it out here?”

  “The tide caught us and pulled us out.” Mary answers.

  CLAIRE

  Imperial Princess Claire Penelope Contigo stands on the stern deck of her family’s schooner, watching the young man relaxing at the end of the pier. Her long auburn hair pinned in a tight, almost wind proof bun. After watching the children struggle with the rowboat, she calls for her mother. Bree Alexander-Contigo stands on the foredeck, enjoying the warm breeze. A tall woman with an archer's build hears her daughter, turns and climbs the ladder to the stern deck. Mother and daughter stand side by side, they watch the threesome struggle with the sinking rowboat. The similarities between the women are clear. The same auburn hair, streaked by the sun, both faces kissed by a light scatter of freckles. Intelligence shines in the mother’s bright blue eyes. The same intelligence shows in the warm brown eyes of her daughter. The mother’s eyes glow with a soft, subtle light. Bree puts a muscular arm around her slighter built daughter. “They will be fine, until they get to the pier. Go get Penny on deck and have her stand by.” Alone on the deck, she watches the young man climb out of the rowboat with two children clinging to his back. One hand raised to keep her long, wind blown auburn hair out of her glowing blue eyes. Bree observes the young man struggle with the children for a few minutes. She turns to the deck hatch and walks down into the lower decks, contemplating her vision.

  TANNER

  “This is why I keep telling you Littles to stay off of the water. You didn’t look at the warning flags did you. Red means dead, you guys know this. The Matron is going to skin us all alive. With the current and the boat filling up, it may be too heavy to get us to the pier.”

  Lucua looks at Tanner, absolute faith shines in his eyes. “You can do this, Tanner.”

  “I’ll try,” Tanner grabs the oars and bends his back into the effort of turning the boat, pulling one oar, pushing the other, steadily. Tanner soon turns the overburdened boat.

  Mary and Luca cling to each other worriedly, while Tanner struggles with the heavy, water filled boat. He flashes an encouraging smile at the two after turning the flooded boat around. With the boat turned, he can see several Imperial Navy ships setting at anchor. “The tide looks pretty high right now and the current is strong. I’m not making any headway with all the water in the boat. We may have to swim. Ol man Holder, is gonna get the watch after the two of you, if he finds out you were the ones that stole his boat.” Tanner says to the two children, while struggling to move the boat’s weight to the docks. Tanner gives the boat up as a lost cause. Tanner ships the oars and shifts his seat on the center thwart, turning his back to the stern. Tanner orders. “Lucua, you’re the smallest. I want you to ride Mary’s back. Mary climb on my back. When I get us into the water, Lucua lay on your back to float. Make sure you relax, don’t fight. Mary grab Lucua like I showed you guys, for a life save. Mary, you hold on to Lucua tight. I’ll hold Mary and tow you both. Remember to relax.”

  The harbor alarm bells ring. ‘Now what? with my luck it’s probably for us.’ Tanner thinks. With the children on his back, he climbs backwards over the gunwale of the small boat. He struggles a little, needing almost all of his strength to lower himself and the children into the water. After a few moments in the water, Tanner gasps out, “You guys are doing great.”

  While swimming to the pier, Tanner feels a pressure wave flow up from under the water, pushing him and the littles. The pressure wave pushes them far past the ladder he was aiming for. He heads for the next ladder. Whatever is under the water seems to pass by them. Mary gasps. “What’s in the water?”

  “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.” Tanner breathes, swimming under the dock and behind the pilings, going for the closest ladder, between one of the Imperial Navy ships and the pier. The ship Tanner swims past rocks, the orphans swim under the pier, trying to get as far away from it as possible, well aware of the possibility of getting crushed. “Lucua, grab the ladder, climb up on this side. When you get to the top, swing out and get on the dock.” Tanner gasps. “Mary, you’re next. Go, Go. I’m right behind you.”

  The small children climb the ladder, the large ship rocks. A child screams, followed by a splash from the ship. A loud cry of “Philly.” is screamed on the ship’s deck. Tanner half sobs, “You Littles climb fast as you can.” Turning to swim to the child fallen from the ship. Tanner sees a tentacled horror surfacing next to the ship. “Kraken!” He screams. Mary and Lucua scramble up the ladder attached to the pier faster, screaming as they go. The kraken lines up on the child struggling in the water. Tanner, not thinking, starts yelling and splashing the water to distract the beast from the child. The sea monster slows and swerves into an attack line for Tanner. Someone on the ship dives into the water to save the child, then returns to the deck so fast they are just a blur.

  Watching the tentacled monster approach. Tanner balls up his fists ‘If I’m going to die, I’m going down swinging,’ flashes through his mind. A thick, muscular tentacle wraps around his leg and tightens. Tanner shouts “No!” and punches into the water.

  Hooks designed to catch and pull prey toward the beast's mouth, burrow into Tanner's leg. The kraken squeezes and pulls Tanner closer, with a sharp snap his leg bones break. Something yanks him up out of the water and onto the dock. A large, torn and bleeding tentacle is still wrapped around his leg.

  Tanner thrashes out with kicks and punches, many connecting. Tanner hears, “Easy.” Laying on his back, a wet, pretty blonde face with a minor scrape on her cheek occludes his view of the blue sky. “You’re beautiful. I like the way your eyes look like the sun glinting through the winter ice.” he says with a goofy smile.

  “Penny, what do you have for me?” An enormous man asks with a deep rumbling voice, running off of the ship.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Uh, okay?” The pretty blonde raises her voice, calling. “Rhys, kraken attack, venom. Left leg is broken in multiple places. Muscle tissue is shredded. Almost looks like his leg has been skinned. I can see his leg is dislocated at the hip. Damn monster almost tore his leg off before I got to him.”

  “Here, give him this antidote. He needs to drink it all down before he passes out.” After passing the lady a glass vial. “I’ll start on the healing process. How do you know this kraken was young enough to still produce venom?”

  “He smiled at me and told me I have pretty eyes. He is not feeling any pain.” She snickers, opening Tanner’s mouth to tip the vial, pouring its contents into him.

  Tanner stares, hand outstretched toward her cheek. “So pretty, pretty.”

  Looking across Tanner’s body at the blonde woman, the healer chuckles. “That does sound like the narcotic effect of kraken venom, or he likes the way you look. Hot damn Penny he tagged you one.”

  “What? No way.” A mirror appearing in her hand. “He did get me!” She exclaims. “Kid’s a fighter.” Penny’s sudden pride in the young man she pulled from harm’s way is clear in the way she lifts her shoulders and puffs out her chest.

  The healer hands her a small vial, telling her. “He needs to drink this also. Did he drink it?”

  “Yes, it all went down.” She replies with a giggle, watching Tanner’s dopey smile for her.

  “Good, let it get into his system.” The Healer, not paying any attention to the byplay between Tanner and Penny, his sole focus, on the task at hand. Still frowning, he tells her. “I’ve stopped the bleeding, this is more serious than I thought the damn thing did a number on him. Fortunate he did not get torn in half. I need to mend the shattered bones, then align them before I can connect the breaks. I will put him out.” He reaches out to lay his hands on Tanner’s head. ?Tanner’s vision dims. His last glimpse is of a concerned expression on a wet, pale blue-eyed, lovely blonde face.

  Bree strides off the ship, her auburn hair blowing into her eyes, squinting in the bright sunlight. She looks over the terrified children. “Hush now Tanner will be alright. He is in excellent hands. Rhys, Penelope, report.”

  “Kraken attack, young male rescued two children from farther out from the docks and distracted a kraken from the ship’s scullion after he fell overboard.” Penelope replies.

  “Teenage male, unattuned. Torn muscles from mid back to lower left ankle. Multiple broken and crushed bones, dislocated joints, from his ankle to mid back. Injected with kraken venom. I’ll have him stable in a few minutes. Complete healing will take a few hours.”

  The Empress examines the young man. “We will take him with us.” She decides. “Penelope, please deal with crowd forming and the city watch.”

  Penelope noticing the public displaying interest. Bows to the Empress, and salutes her. Moving toward the gathering crowd, while the empress returns to the ship. Penny stops twenty paces away, standing tall, and awaits the City Guard pushing through the mob. The watchmen step through the crowd into the space in front of Penny. She identifies herself, showing her badge of office. “Knight Commander Penelope Brightstar, to whom am I addressing?”

  “Watch patrol man Briggs, this is my partner watch patrol woman Sandwalker. We are investigating the present disturbance, Ma’am. Is Tanner alright?”

  During their conversation, they hear, “Make way, Sergeant of the Guard, coming through. Make way. We’ll get to the bottom of it, yes. Now make way.” The sergeant joins the three, takes in the wet noble, the bloody noble kneeling over a bloody Tanner, two sobbing orphans, a bloody tentacle that looks to be torn from a kraken. The Imperial flagged ships, a concerned young woman on deck, dressed more richly than the nobles in front of him, hugging a wet hysterical young boy. His guards at attention, and gives a sigh. “You all couldn’t wait another hour for when I got off shift? Care to explain Knight Commander?”

  Penny, recognizing a kindred soul, grins at the man. “Tanner rescued these two,” With a gesture to the two sobbing children standing by Tanner. “Then swam to the docks. He was getting these to safety, when one of the scullery boys was knocked overboard when the kraken bumped the ship. Tanner distracted the beast while I rescued the scullion. The kraken attacked Tanner before I could get him out of the water. I pulled Tanner out of the water and away from the kraken. My husband is healing the boy and here we are.”

  “Sargent. I want these three hooligans arrested. I demand justice.” shouts an enraged old man, pushing his way out of the crowd.

  The Sargent glances at the two sobbing orphans. “You couldn’t have taken anyone else’s boat?”

  “It was the only one unlocked.” Lucua tells the guard in a soft voice.

  The Sargent spits on the pier. “Of course it was.” With a glance at Penny and then where he spit, “Sorry Ma’am.”

  Penny winks and spits in the same place, “No apologies needed Sargent.”

  Turning to the disgruntled old man, the Sargent inquires, “Just what is your complaint, Mister Holder?”

  “What is my complaint? Are you some kind of dimwit? Those three stole my boat and sunk it. I witnessed the entire thing. That boat was a gem, I saw them steal it, take it out, and sink it. I just bought it.”

  The Sargent narrows his eyes at the old man. Ol’ man Holder brings himself up short as the much younger, bigger man glowers at him. “Did you just call me a dimwit while lying about a crime?”

  The old man stammers, “I may have misspoke in my outrage over losing my lively hood.” Glancing at Penny with an ingratiating smile. “I’m a ship captain, you know. I’m willing to waive the charges for a new boat. Fifty golds should cover it.”

  The guard opens his mouth to speak when an elderly woman approaches Holder from behind and smacks him, causing him to stumble. The crowd roars with laughter. The old man straightens himself and turns, glaring at the crowd, which makes them laugh even harder. The old man turns his glare on the old woman and snarls, “What the hell was that for?”

  “That boat was worthless as firewood when you built it 25 years ago. You are lying about the boat being new and the boat’s value. You’re lying about the price of a new one.” Glancing at Penny, “Twelve gold tops for a brand new row boat with all the tackle needed.” When she turns back to address the old man, she tells him, “You’re lying about Tanner.” The crowd grumbles at the last statement.

  A now blank faced Penny, cold with anger, holds out her hand. “Thirteen gold should cover your costs, Mister Holder. I suggest you take it and leave.” Penny turns, watching the older man stomp away from the area. She watches guard woman Sandwalker grab the old man and take five golds from him.

  “Leave your boat untied during a kraken alert again it will mean jail time Mister Holder.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she notices a younger woman with hair tied to hang over the side of her face. The young woman, a little older than Tanner, watches her husband work on Tanner with a worried expression.

  “You can go to him.” The younger girl starts at her touch, looking at Penny.

  She gulps, “I can? Thank you. Your uh ladyship.”

  Penny, holding the other woman’s hand, escorts her over to Tanner. “Are you a friend? You did not answer my question.”

  “Oh, uh sorry, we are friends. I’m Sam, short for Samantha.” She blushes.

  “I am not judging but he seems young for you?”

  “He. Uh, he is sixteen, summer’s end is in a few days. We are just friends” Adding, “He saved me.” The wind blowing her hair away from her face reveals a large knife scar on her face. With a soft sound of dismay, the younger woman pulls her hair back over her cheek.

  “Rhys, Tanner has a friend that needs to check on him.” Penny said, pulling Sam closer. Sam sinks into a crouch alongside Tanner, Penny taps her cheek. Rhys, looking up from his position, offers healing energy with a soothing touch.

  Sam looking wide eyed at Rhys. “What did you do?”

  Rhys reaches out to touch the girl’s cheek, muttering, “Not quite,” sending a more powerful burst into her cheek. “That should do it.”

  Sam reaches up, touching her cheek with tears running down her now flawless face, embraces the man. “No healers could fix it because the cut was so deep. How?”

  “I am good,” Rhys says with a smile and a wink.

  “I can’t pay you everything I owe you, but I am in the Volks Harbor Academy and can get you the money.”

  “You owe me nothing.” Rhys cutting her off. “I often share my healing with others. It gives me practice.”

  Sam, looking over Rhys’s shoulder, the wide-eyed girl kneels, “Your Imperial Majesties.” Overhearing Sam’s words, the crowd kneels, looking like a ripple in a pond as the gesture spreads.

  “Rise please,” The Emperor announces to the crowd. “Rhys, how are your patients?”

  “Stable, Your Majesties, we can move them both to the manor.”

  The Impress stepping to the two children. “We will need another carriage. Penny, can you make arrangements?”

  “Already sent someone, Your Majesties.”

  “Thank you,” looking down at the two wide-eyed orphans, The Empress crouches to look them in the eyes. “You were brave out there. Lucua, your ability to remain calm allowed Tanner to work on your rescue. Well done.” Leaning over to kiss the little boy’s cheek. Turning to Mary, she continues, “You showed bravery and a clear head in a dangerous situation, not to mention your incredible strength to have broken a chain to borrow a boat.” Bree reaches out and feels Mary’s arm.

  “I din’t break any chain.”

  “I know dear, I was poking fun at Ol’ man Holder. Did I say that right?” she whispers to Mary. A giggling Mary nods her head. “We need to get Tanner somewhere warm. Can I pick you both up?”

  Shamefaced, Mary replies. “No. You’ll get messy. We are wet and not very clean.”

  The Empress collects the two children, she holds them in a tight hug and showers kisses on both cheeks. “Take that. Shows how much I care about how dirty two brave heroes are.” The crowd cheers as Mary and Lucua’s smiles gleam like a second sun.