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"Kraut here. Captain, I'm sensing something really big up ahead--make that two, no,four images
forming."
Mark turned his attention forward and sensed a vast moving wall straight ahead.
"Ikawa here. My people are all right."
"Hang on, my friend, something damn big ahead."
"I've got it, Mark." Sul surged forward with remarkable speed and Mark was thrilled by this strange
charge into the sea. Propelled by the ladulta's powerful undulating action, Mark rode above the creature,
hanging on with his left hand so his right would be free to fire.
A dull flash lit the ocean ahead, followed an instant later by a deafening roar.
"Tulana hit good," Sul whispered, and Mark could sense the delight in the creature's thoughts.
"I'm on to one," Tulana's voice roared through the crystal. "Close on me and let's get him up."
Sul, as if having heard Tulana's voice, swam forward. In spite of the shielding which protected Mark
from the drag of the ocean, he found himself struggling to hang on as the ladulta charged in.
Looking around, he could see the other ladultas closing in, each towing an offworlder. More than one
sorcerer was gripping his ride with both hands and cursing wildly.
Suddenly the ocean before Mark turned a darker blue, and then went black.
"Hang on!" Sul called, and instantly he snapped over, diving straight down.
"Holy shit!" Walker screamed, and the comm crystal was suddenly overloaded with shouts of panic,
matched by Mark's own cry.
The ocean before him was a vast cavern of darkness half a hundred feet across, surging in his direction.
The circle of darkness was rimmed with teeth, each of which was the size of a man.
The darkness surged past, buffeting Sul and Mark. Behind the mouth was a great dark bulk that seemed
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to stretch off into infinity.
Tulana appeared straight ahead, racing beside the creature. Turning, he swung in next to Mark.
"I figured I'd stir him up for you first," Tulana roared. "It's just a little one for you folks to break in on.
Now let's get him upset!"
"You crazy bastard," Mark yelled, but his words were drowned by the shouts of his companions.
"Start fire," Sul whispered.
Mark pointed his hand at the massive bulk gliding above him and fired. His shot was followed instantly
by a score of others.
A deafening roar boomed through the ocean, and the Cresus kicked and rolled, buffeting Mark and his
ladulta.
"Again!" Tulana ordered.
Another volley laced out. Suddenly the creature's tail loomed straight ahead, flukes slashing back and
forth as the Cresus turned and started up.
"He's breaching!" Tulana shouted. "Everybody out of the water!"
Sul cut away from the Cresus and raced straight upward, rocketing past their prey.
"Release," Sul called. "I wait in direction of sun."
Mark let go and, clearing the surface, he flew into the sky, blinded by the afternoon glare. Around him
the water seemed to explode as the offworlders soared into the air. Several launches stood by not fifty
yards away, their aft catapults pointed to where the sorcerers had emerged.
"He's breaching," Tulana roared, exploding out of the water below Mark. "Everyone get your asses
clear."
Directly beneath Mark the water suddenly turned black. A geyser exploded under him, threatening to
tumble him as he shot away.
And then the Cresus appeared.
The mouth, its teeth glinting wickedly in the sun, rose heavenward, higher and higher into the air.
Transfixed, Mark floated above it.
Yet still it came upward--fifty feet, then a hundred feet, the water exploding around it like a tidal wave.
A glint of light shot past, and the creature gave a bellow and seemed to rear even higher.
Another glint, and a catapult bolt snapped past Mark to bury itself in the creature's head.
A third bolt shot out, catching the creature in the middle of its body. A geyser of hot blood sprayed the
ocean in rivers of red.
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The Cresus shrieked and kicked, and then like a mountain it fell on its side. As its body hit the water, a
towering wall of water and foam kicked into the air.
"Good shooting!" Tulana cried.
The Cresus rolled and kicked on the ocean's surface, while the three launches crested the tidal wave and
circled in, slamming three more shots into its head.
Tulana soared to Mark's side. "Fun, isn't it?"
Stunned by what he had just witnessed, Mark just looked at the prince.
"Now let's go for a big one," Tulana yelled. Turning, he dove westward to where the ladultas circled,
waiting.
"Fun, he said," Walker called to Mark. "If I hadn't been swimming naked, I'd still be cleaning the shit out
of my pants."
"Well, let's get after them," Leti shouted, and Mark could see that she was caught up in the excitement of
the hunt.
"In and after them," Kochanski screamed, swinging in behind Tulana. "Thar she blows!"
Shigeru roared with joy and dove past Mark. Finally caught up in the thrill of the chase, Mark followed,
plunging into the ocean and calling Sul's name. Within seconds his companion appeared, joyfully spinning
through the water in a series of loops before coming up alongside Mark.
"Good kill," Sul called. "Now let's get big one!"
"Lead on!" Mark shouted.
As they dove, the world started to turn dark, the visible reds near the surface shifting in the water
through green and into an ever-darkening blue.
"I've got him," Tulana called through the comm crystal. "Tell your ladultas to track on me!"
As Mark relayed the command, Sul made a sharp banking turn and raced away.
Mark turned his senses forward, probing, and picked up the images of Tulana and Leti ahead of the
group.
"Naga! It's him, damn it!" Tulana screamed.
The effect on the ladultas was electric: A series of throaty growls echoed through the water in a strange
harmonic chorus that shifted and wove itself in a multivaried interplay of minor chords.
"What the hell is that?" Mark thought.
"Battle chant," Sul's thought returned. "Let Naga know we come, that we come to kill. He take many
young, many herd brothers, many mates. Now we fight again."
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