Captain's Will

25. Fire in the Hole

The kraken would make the mistake of coming too close to the surface only once, so the pirates had to seize their chance. Two ships packed full of men waited for Hongjoong's commando. Their stiff bodies at the cannons reflected the suspense of the water as it rippled over the waves the kraken threw about.

The beast was furious, and its blindness toward their plan would become its downfall.

Hongjoong's hands flew like the wings of a bird as he fastened the rudder to the railing with a rope. He wouldn't risk exposing their sensitive broadside to the kraken or drifting off to leave the Dungeness as the sole victim. By his side, Wooyoung helped him with grim determination. The spray hit their hands and doused them in buckets full of foul-smelling air. As if the tentacle felt in the air what was coming, it flailed and writhed in its final battle.

Over the rushing of the ocean, Hongjoong barely heard his own command. He pressed it out between gritted teeth, hand raising high with his cutlass in hand.

"All cannons, aim!"

On the other ship, Seonghwa's voice carried the order like an echo. Some strands had loosened from his hair when the water had hit it. They dangled into his face in disarray as he rode out the next wave with a hand on the railing.

Skin grey as stone flashed in the water. The tentacles surged and coiled, rippling through the surface as the kraken neared. The mass of blackness looked to be solid and impenetrable, but it wasn't. It was as soft and easily damaged as many other sea animals.

Even with his limited knowledge of them, Hongjoong knew it meant their sole chance.

"Fire in the 'ole!" Jongho bellowed from downstairs. Hongjoong levered his blade at the kraken that simmered below the water. It lurked, assessing the two ships as its freakish arms figured out a way to destroy them.

"Fire!"

"Fire!" Seonghwa hailed at the same time, not needing Hongjoong's call to seize the moment.

The lurch that travelled through the Grief when all the cannons on the broad side unloaded at once was nauseating. Hongjoong clung to the railing with one arm, desperate to see their attack a success. A ringing noise remained in his ears long after the deafening booms had sounded.

The kraken flailed when it was hit by cannonball after cannonball. In action, the Dungeness looked even more magnificent than seated. Hongjoong was sure that her fire was a spectacle if deployed with trained soldiers. The pirates didn't care which cannon shot when and how prettily. They did their job as they punched holes into the water around the kraken.

Slowly, a large pool of blood spread around the dwelling enemy. Its tentacles still trailed under the surface, ghostly in their shadow and the pale of the fluttering suckers. All hectic movement dimmed as it twitched.

Hongjoong observed it without pause. He tried to determine whether the twitches of its limbs were sporadic and post-death, or if there was still some will left in the beast. The creature didn't tell him, as its spot under the water concealed it from the watchful intelligence of the pirate.

By his side, Wooyoung shifted to crawl towards the railing. On his hands and knees, he peered at the enemy and its drifting shape. Would it sink once it was dead? Would it float at the surface like a fish? How could they tell?

"Get Yeosang," Hongjoong muttered, not taking chances. When Wooyoung emerged to fetch their surgeon from the other side of the ship, mutters arose among the crew.

"Did we do it?"

"We did, aye?"

"It ain't movin'."

"I also would nay be movin' after such a load o' lead. It must be dead."