Princess Master 3, page 2
“Let’s do this,” I told Cienna and Jessamine in a grim tone. “I really hope it’s nothing, but god forbid something else bad happens to Cordelia’s house.”
The two princesses nodded in agreement, and we swam closer to the wild plants growing at the edges of Cordelia’s property. I squinted, and at first I didn’t see anything unusual, but then I thought I caught a glimpse of shining eyes peering out from among the strands of kelp.
“Do you see that?” Jessamine gestured to the same place I’d been looking at, and now I definitely thought I saw a pair of black eyes looking at us.
“What the hell is that?” I asked. I had an uneasy feeling about the way whatever creature this was seemed to be sitting there and appraising us instead of immediately showing itself or moving away.
And then I caught a glimpse of the arms with telltale suction cups on the bottom. The octopus had camouflaged itself against the plants and rocks, but it was getting easier and easier to see its whole body as it slowly crawled forward.
“I think it’s an octopus,” Cienna gasped, and I nodded. “I’ve never seen one in real life before, although I’ve seen pictures in books. Joe, what the hell are we supposed to do? Do we just leave it alone?”
“Well, all I really know about these fuckers is they’re really smart and super strong,” I mused. My hand drifted toward the hilt of Genie’s Wrath, but I wasn’t sure yet if it was best to leave the beast alone or if we needed to defend ourselves and Cordelia.
Then suddenly, from seemingly out of nowhere, there were four of them. A quartet of huge, spotted octopuses began to creep forward from the brush in a tight pack, and Jessamine, Cienna, and I all swam back.
As ever, I was grateful for Cienna’s ability to freeze time, which she always seemed to use at exactly the right moment. The ocean froze around us and I gasped aloud when I took a good look at the still eight-legged animals, who came up to about my waist. Their primary coloring seemed to be pale yellow with large, bright blue spots, but patches of their skin were still in the same greens, tans, and deep browns of the landscape they’d been blending into.
“Holy shit!” Cienna cried out to me and Jessamine, and we all unsheathed our weapons in unison. “These things are a lot bigger than I thought. And they look very determined to come at us. We obviously need a plan, and I think we’re going to need Ariana’s help, too.”
The redhead had been affected by Cienna’s spell, though, and we could see her trapped in the moment when she’d been bent over the crops with her tools.
“How long do we have to talk, Cienna?” I asked, and I looked over to assess my blonde wife, who was gritting her teeth.
“My magic feels pretty strong today,” she informed us, “but it never hurts to wrap things up quickly.”
“Okay.” I nodded briskly. “Well, you know I always like to step in front of you princesses when there’s a fight, but the good news is we aren’t outnumbered. There’s four of them, and there’s four of us. That is, if we can bring Ariana over here. Cienna, do you think I have time to swim over and grab her?”
“Yeah, but hurry!” the blonde replied as her face contorted with concentration.
So, I swam over as quickly as I could with Genie’s Wrath brandished, scooped up Ariana under my other arm, and made it back to Cienna and Jessamine just before time unfroze.
“What the--” Ariana began, but then she saw the creatures, who were crawling toward us very slowly from about twenty feet away. “Oh, I hate these things!”
“Genie’s Wrath time,” I grunted as I focused on charging my sword to shoot its blast of purple lightning at the octopuses. I didn’t trust the animals in the slightest, and I suspected they were approaching slowly because they had some sort of plan of attack. I knew they’d been smart enough to escape from their cages at many zoos back home, which concerned me quite a bit.
So, I held up my giant golden sword, pointed it at the octopuses, and shot a burst of purple shocks in their direction. Before the attack could land, however, the creatures faded back into the underwater brush almost immediately. The blast seared a lot of seaweed, but that seemed to be about it, since I didn’t see any signs of octopus pieces floating in the water.
“We have to get them, Joe,” Ariana implored me. “They can be really dangerous, and there’s no way I’m going to let anything happen to Cordelia again. I think they’re hungry because Morgar’s been destroying their food supply, which has probably made them even more aggressive.”
“I’m not giving up on this,” I told the princesses. “We’re definitely not stopping until these assholes are gone. I’m just not sure Genie’s Wrath is fast enough to hit them with its lightning, so I need a better plan. I hate the idea of getting closer, but they’re unpredictable, and we need to draw them out.”
I had to admit it was hard to think when I knew four pairs of eyes were appraising us. I hoped they stayed in a pack, because it was disturbing to think about being surrounded by them on all sides.
“I don’t know what to do,” Cienna admitted. “I don’t think I could freeze all of them for very long. I hate to think of using you as a target, Joe, but what if you stepped forward to try to bring them out of the bushes? We’ll keep our weapons ready.”
“Yeah, good call.” I nodded firmly as I kept my eye on the location of our opponents. “Jessamine, maybe you should make the three of you invisible, and you all can surround me. Wait for my word, okay? We can probably fight them off with just our weapons, if they’re weak enough for that, but Cienna, I want you to stand back and be ready to freeze time if needed.”
“Yes, I’m feeling strong enough to perform my magic again,” my blonde wife said with a nod.
“Okay, here goes nothing,” I sighed as I lifted my great, golden sword. “I’m coming for you bastards!”
“You can do it, Joe!” Jessamine encouraged me.
I slowly crept forward until I was only about ten feet away from the octopuses. From that distance, I could see four pairs of glowing black eyes staring back at me, though their bodies were still invisible. The closer I got, it seemed like Cienna’s plan was working, because the sets of eyes seemed to be moving nearer to me. I thought I could see their blue-spotted bodies through the layers of plants, and I decided to use my “Master Sword Link Move” one more time.
I shot its purple lightning out toward the edge of the field, but the octopuses quickly retreated again. Purple lightning crackled over the swaying kept, but then the electricity fizzled and dissipated into nothing.
“Dammit!” I swore. “Well, that’s not working. Guess I’ll keep getting closer. Jessamine, remember what I said. At my word, make the three of you invisible, and then all of you need to be ready to shoot forward and attack alongside me.”
“I’m ready, Joe,” Ariana proclaimed, and although she was usually shy, there was no doubt the red-haired princess was also incredibly brave.
I crept a tiny bit closer with my sword held high, and the action seemed to be working again. I could see leg after leg emerging from the seaweed and rock formations, and I silently cheered. I didn’t want to make a sound in case the creatures decided to retreat again, and I decided to wait until they were further out of the weeds to call out to Jessamine.
Suddenly, one of the octopuses charged me. Its head flew forward through the water, and I knew I only had a moment before we were locked in a potentially deadly wrestling match.
“Jessamine, now!” I shouted.
The princesses were behind me at this point, but the spell must have worked, because the octopus stopped in its tracks when its head was just a couple feet away from me, and it seemed to look around in confusion for the rest of my party.
I seized the opportunity and jabbed out with Genie’s Wrath into the space between its eyes, and a cloud of bright blue blood flooded out into the water. The disgusting liquid matched the animal’s spots perfectly, and I gagged even as I celebrated my hit.
The octopus’ wound only seemed to make it more desperate, though, and it reached up and out with four of its arms to try to grapple with me. I felt the arms close around me for a moment, but when I was able to kick its body away and the creature sunk down again toward the seafloor, I suspected it had been mortally injured. I wasn’t about to stomp on it with my bare foot, so I took my sword and jabbed downward into its upturned face. Then a royal blue, rotten-fish-smelling fountain of blood spurted out all over me, and I began to choke.
I knew the creature was dead, but I didn’t have time to catch my breath before I saw its three friends charging, or uhhh… swimming, right at me. The death of their apparent leader had seemingly enraged them, and they were ready to kill.
Suddenly, though, an even bigger cloud of blue erupted around me. It seemed the three invisible princesses had each attacked an octopus, and the creatures’ deadly approach was abruptly slowed. I could tell Ariana speared one of them in the face with her trident because I could see a series of three holes on both sides of the octopus’ head, and I was briefly fascinated by the phenomenon.
I could also tell Jessamine had attacked with both her swords when one of the spotted beasts was slashed into three pieces, and if I’d thought the blue blood was gross, the many feet of octopus guts that exploded out into the water were almost enough to push me over the top. My eyes and mouth began to water, and I did my best not to start coughing as I tried to see what had happened to the third octopus.
Cienna, who had been behind me, apparently cut the third monster in half with a blow from her longsword. When I turned around, I could see its head and torso floating up through the water like a blue and yellow, polka-dotted balloon. Even more disturbing was the fact that the bottom half of its body still seemed to be alive, and the sticky legs were trying to wrap themselves around the blonde princess’ body, which I could see was now at least half visible again through the murky water.
“Joe, help!” Cienna gasped out as she struggled against the octopus’ disembodied arms.
Although Genie’s Wrath seemed to be able to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys when I attacked, I didn’t want to risk blasting my wife at such short range. I wasn’t sure how to extricate her using my sword, so I crossed my fingers for a second, put Genie’s Wrath back on my belt, and went in with my hands to try to pull Cienna free.
The disembodied arms were surprisingly strong, and the suction cups had started to adhere themselves to the blonde’s porcelain skin. I could hear her gasping with pain as I pulled her free from their grasp, but I was ultimately able to release Cienna and draw the octopus arms’ attention onto me.
A slimy appendage reached up across my face, and I used all the strength I could muster to pull the suction cups off my skin and push the body parts out into the water away from us. In one final move, I pulled my sword out again and hacked apart the remaining octopus parts.
“Holy shit, it hurts when you pull them off you!” I gasped. “Cienna, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” she panted as she rubbed at the welts on her arm.
All of a sudden, I heard a sound from behind me, and when I whirled around, I realized a fifth octopus about twice the size of the others had emerged from the kelp forest.
The beast was camouflaged in a tone that almost made it the exact same color as the water itself, and it had its arms positioned directly above Jessamine’s shoulders and neck.
Chapter 2
“Jessamine, watch out!” I shouted.
My raven-haired wife turned around just in time to see the beast’s arms coming down over her, and she shrieked.
I swam over as fast as I could and tried to grapple with the huge octopus, but I soon realized the motherfucker was at least twice as strong as the one I’d managed to pull off Cienna. Its arms had started to close around Jessamine’s neck, and my efforts to save my wife didn’t seem like they were working.
“Shit!” Cienna yelped, and I realized she’d seen what was going on. Suddenly, time froze for the two of us, and I gasped with relief.
Then I noticed the most amazing thing.
The octopus’ arms were no longer entwined around Jessamine’s neck. The limbs hovered a fraction above and behind her, and as I stared, I realized it was as if time had actually reversed itself to the moment before she’d become completely entrapped.
So, I quickly pulled the dark-haired princess away from the octopus’ arms, and then I tugged her and Ariana through the water to a safe position near Cienna, who was about fifteen feet away from the huge beast. When I turned around to look at my blonde wife, I saw her mouth was hanging open.
“Joe… what the hell just happened?” Cienna managed to get out. “Did you see…”
“Cienna, I think you actually reversed time for a minute!” I exclaimed. “That was incredible!”
“Yeah, that was pretty cool…” the blonde mumbled, but she looked exhausted as she drooped where she floated. “I didn’t mean to do it, but it drained me a lot.”
“Hang in there and just listen to me for a second,” I told her. “As soon as time starts again, I’m going to yell for Ariana to put up her bubble around you three princesses. And then I’m going to take on this last octopus, once and for all. At least, I hope it’s the last one…”
I shuddered at the thought of running into even more of these assholes, and I grabbed Cienna’s hand to give her strength. When I felt sparks pass between our palms and saw a flash of gold in front of my eyes, I hoped I’d given her at least a little bit more energy. One of the benefits of my special hero's relationship with the princesses was that when we touched, we could enhance one another’s magic powers, and I had to admit it was fucking awesome.
The ocean began to roar again around me, and Jessamine immediately put her hands up to her neck to try to wrestle the octopus’ arms away again. When she realized they were no longer there, she gasped with shock.
“What… who…?” the dark-haired princess mumbled as she looked around in confusion.
“It’s okay, you’re safe,” I assured her. “But Ariana, put your barrier up around the three of you, now!”
“Yes, Joe!” the redhead replied and did as I asked, and I was relieved when I knew the princesses would be safe for the time being.
When I glanced back over at the huge octopus, its eyes looked even larger, and its limbs were frozen in place as if it were stunned. I held up Genie’s Wrath, the stone flashed, and I could have sworn the huge animal looked at me with intelligence in its eyes before it swiftly turned and retreated back into the seaweed.
“Fuck, what now?” I muttered to myself. I could barely see its glittering black eyes, which were the size of golf balls, but at least they let me know it was still there.
I turned around to make sure the princesses were alright, and I could see them all holding hands for strength within the invisible confines of Ariana’s protective bubble. Then I faced my opponent again.
“Guess it’s just me and you, fucker.”
I held my position and wagered on the fact that the octopus would make its way out of the weeds and rocks again to come and get me. However, it appeared we were in a showdown for a couple of long moments. The blue-spotted monster stared me down, and I tried to consider my next move.
I wasn’t too worried until the octopus shifted, and I suddenly lost sight of its eyes. So, I raised Genie’s Wrath into an attack position and waited to strike out if it charged me, but nothing seemed to be happening.
Then I saw a strange, blobby mass of what sort of looked like seaweed headed toward me. The blob was approximately my size, and I shrunk back for a moment in horror. I knew it was the camouflaged octopus, but my eyes were having trouble making sense of what I was looking at since the blob was only vaguely shaped like an animal. Its eight legs appeared exactly like strands of seaweed, and its head only barely stood out from the surrounding water. The beast was moving slowly, but I knew it could strike out at any minute, and I needed to clear my head.
It suddenly occurred to me the animal was still far enough away for me to try to strike it with a bolt from Genie’s Wrath. So, as quickly as I could, I held up my sword and shot a blast out toward the strange-looking creature. Purple streams of lightning flew forward and hit the blob right in its center, and I saw a spurt of gooey blue liquid spiral out through the water. Its body became more visible once I’d injured it, and I was relieved to see the outline of an actual octopus again.
However, the beast was so large I realized I wasn’t able to kill it with one strike. It was getting closer, and I was afraid I didn’t have time for Genie’s Wrath to charge again. I decided it was time to go on the offensive, so I began to swim toward the monster with my sword in one hand. The octopus opened its sharp beak and hissed in what looked like an attempt to shoot venom, but I could tell I’d injured it badly.
The giant octopus reached out toward my face with its seaweedy arms, and for a moment I had a vision of being trapped the way Jessamine had. Then I slashed out with Genie’s Wrath toward the beast’s leafy limbs, and I managed to remove four of them from its body. The fishy blue blood that gushed out from the cuts was as disgusting as ever, but I sensed victory was within my grasp.
So, I dared to swim a little closer and higher, and then I raised Genie’s Wrath high in the water before I brought it down on top of the octopus’ head in what I hoped would be the final blow. The sensation was like a butter knife cutting through jello, and that, combined with the smell of its blood, made me dry heave for a moment.
The huge beast was still twitching around on the seafloor, so I stabbed it one last time through its disgusting eyeball to ensure it would die. I felt its giant eye pop under the tip of Genie’s Wrath, and I almost completely lost my breakfast from earlier. Even with saltwater to rinse the residue away, being coated in a cloud of slimy, fishy blood was still pretty gross.
Once I was sure the giant octopus was dead, I turned around and noticed the princesses were all swimming back toward me.
