In a rush of commotion the ship lurched as the deck hands all jumped to it, pulling on lines to unfurl the sails, while others cut the lines anchoring them to the ice. All at once catching the winds the Redbird jumped up out of the water on its hydrofoil shooting out into open water as a huge form beneath the waves attacked.

Just missing their rudder by inches, the massive serpent collided with the berg behind them shattering the ice, causing a cascade of snow from above.

The black waters glowed faintly near the edges of the ice, casting the creature in shadows of green and black, its glowing red marks flashing beneathe the waves. It roared as it struggled to free its teeth from the sheet, a wheeze of air that sounded like barking, or maybe a gator hiss, Rui wasn’t sure which better described it.

The ice cracked and snapped as it struggled to turn its massive body, an echoing sound that shook the air with a vibrating whip-like crack.

“Throw the nets!”

The two Catchers on the aft of the ship were already there, net launchers at the ready. They took aim and fired, so in sync from previous jobs hunting the hellish beasts that they moved like they shared a mind even when they weren’t hunting.

The net was never going to be big enough, but in the interm it would do for what they wanted. It strung up fast, pinning the alread struggling serpent to the ice shelf, but even as a few men celebrated, the ice began to crack. Rui knew it, this was bigger than they were equipped for.

The creatures screams sent ripples in the water as the net caught in the snakeheads dorsal fin.

The pair of them were already loading a second dragnet, bouys meant to bring the beast to the surface to make them a better target almost useless.

They had hunted twenty footers along the coast before, but the cold waters up north here near Terceira  made the snakehead grow bigger faster.

“Tom! Gimme a guess!”

The kid swung down on a line to meet him, his one good arm gripping the line as he fearlessly made the forty foot decsent.

“It’s huge;” Tom exclaimed, ” I’d say, fifty, maybe sixty feet.”

Almost as big as the ship.

“Heads up boys! We need to tucker it out! Get Captain Brian,” he flagged the helmsmen, Michael, again, who grabbed one of the deck hands, Einrik, by the scruff, sending him in the direction of the hold. In moments the lights along the side of the mast were beginning to blink. Usually a charge to green was good to take down the serpents they hunted, but this was like none they had ever seen, possibly twice as big as usual, the snakeheads were huge here.

The lines across the deck were beginning to hum.

The sound of shuffling below deck announced the coming of the captain, a man Rui had personally devoted his life too.

Tom looked a little skittish though and Rui nodded to him, “Go; get his speargun ready.”

Tom nodded rushing off to go and grab the captains weapon of choice.

The faint mechanical hiss over his shoulder announced the arrival of Captain Brian, Rui turned, looking up at the man.

Captain Brian huffed, “He’s still afraid of me?”

Rui shrugged, “I don’t know if the boy fears anything. Even one armed I watched the boy cut across a dock overrun by ghosts and braved jumping in the water to reach us. He doesnt fear you, but I thing he’s old enough to remember the role you Warlocks played in the fall.”

Captain Brian nodded, his breathing mask hissing.

“I sense magic in him, old magic, very different from my own.” He raised his hand, closing his fist, sending a jolt of electricity running from the cables under his coat out into the lines that powered the ships systems. Rui shivered, “Well, I can barely tolerate yours, let’s hope he’s not, like, something weird.” The Captain chuckled, a mechanical wheezing in his chest making his shoulders shake. “Come,” he said, tapping the light bar, “Almost in the green, let’s hope we only need one shot.” “Captain,” Tom announced, holding out the giant blunderbus of a spear launcher he held in his arms, the heavy contraption resting over his shoulder. Captain Brian took it by the middle, hefting it up in one hand, the resting on his hip. “Alright everyone! Let’s get me an opening!”