Through the Eye of an Octopus

The girls had rounded the northern tip of the Island, passing through the relatively narrow, Banks Strait, a passage Delphi had been concerned about as potentially a good place to try and capture them.

They could see the Great Wall on the horizon as they entered Bass Strait. Even when you couldn't see land, you could still see the Great Wall. It was both impressive and ominous at the same time.

"I never thought I'd see the Great Wall in my lifetime," said Loveday, staring up at it.

"Well, we've passed it now," said Delphi. "God knows what kinds of tubiàn we'll run into up here. This is unchartered territory for the last fifty years…"

Within a few hours of hitting Bass Strait, the winds had picked up and the day turned from blue skies and a gentle breeze to grey and overcast.

"The waves are getting bigger," called Delphi. "All hands on deck if you're on shift."

The boat was surfing the three metre waves, and the wind was now at 35 knots, slamming the boat up and down like a top.

The girls who were supposed to be asleep, came out of their bunks to see what was happening.

Lili stood at the bow with binoculars, on lookout duty; she was having a very wild ride in the bow pulpit, plunging up and down like she was riding a crazed hobby horse.

The thrill-seeking girl wore a wide grin stretched across her face, licking the salt from her lips and gripping the rails tightly through gloved hands.

"Tie that crazy girl to the bow pulpit will you Feif," said Delphi as she headed into the hold. "She'll get herself thrown into the ocean."

Winter had abruptly become seasick after being fine for days at sea. She was crouched in a tiny ball, vomiting over the gunwale. Arrie was hovering around her trying to help, but there was nothing she could do.

The conditions had eased slightly by the time Delphi, Loveday, and Arrie emerged, blinking, from the hold, for their next shift.

Winter, with nothing left in her stomach, had finished vomiting. She now lay, pale and dozing, in the light rain.

"We've gained some good ground with that storm," Delphi said to Loveday. "We're about a third of the way across."

It was late in the day when Arrie rang the bell from the bow pulpit.

"Tubiàn, tubiàn!" she shouted.

"What kind is it Arrie?" shouted Delphi.

"It's a giant squid, I think. It's red with a big head."

"Weapons, Loveday," yelled Delphi.

The girls who had been asleep stumbled onto the deck, roused by the bell.

"Giant squid, thirty metres out, port side," called Arrie.

Loveday thrust an arsenal of weapons into their hands.

Delphi left Loveday at the wheel and went to join Arrie at the prow.

The creature now bobbed just a few metres from the boat, impossible to miss with its bright red rubbery flesh, like a giant wound in the ocean.

It had a huge ugly head that floated out behind it like a saggy brain. It was staring straight at them with small beady eyes. A red tentacle popped up above the water, almost as though it was waving at them.

"What a thug," said Delphi to Arrie with contempt. "Another man who thinks he can dominate us. It's a giant octopus," called Delphi to her team. "Keep your broadswords handy for the tentacles and strap your daggers to your thighs for backup."

Delphi ran for the lazarette to fetch the crossbow.

The octopus swam up to the boat and grasped the stanchions with its tentacles, hauling itself onto the deck, where it seemed to turn into jelly, as it easily squeezed underneath the cable rope.

Once it had slithered onto the deck, it suddenly became huge, rearing up to its full height using it's tentacles like legs. Now it reached three quarters of the way up the mast, towering over them.

"Get readyyy!" shouted Delphi.

The girls were all poised in half-crouches, their swords held aloft.

The octopus's tentacles started to dance all over the deck, trying to snatch them up or swipe them overboard.

Arrie ducked and rolled as a tentacle hit the deck where she had stood, moments ago.

Ruby flipped neatly backwards as a tentacle descended on her.

A tentacle swept across the deck towards Indy. She leapt gracefully over the creature's fleshy arm; it swept the appendage back at her and she leapt a second time. It tried again, and she did a third jump, but this time he had the idea, and came at her higher up, knocking her feet and sending her flying.

She scrambled and hid behind the wheel, the tentacle feeling around there after her, as though it had eyes and a brain of its own.

A strange dance took place as the tentacle pecked at her like a lethal chicken, while she slid about trying to avoid it, striking at the pounding appendage with her sword.

Feifei was battling with a tentacle that kept dipping at her, cornering her against the bow pulpit. She hacked at the flesh like a dervish, managing to slice the very end off the tentacle. It continued to aggressively attack her, seemingly impervious to pain.

Winter was sluggish, having only just slept for a few hours after her intense sea sickness. The creature had managed to wrap a tentacle around her ankle, and she was desperately hacking at the fleshy arm, trying to free herself.

She made some inroads into the tentacle, but she couldn't sever it, hampered as she was by her ankle being wrapped up in it.

It pulled her across the deck. She held onto her sword with one hand, scrabbling for purchase with the other. The beast lifted her up off the deck and into the air.

"Aaahh," she screamed as it held her upside down, metres above the deck.

"Winter!" screamed Arrie. She couldn't attack the tentacle that held her friend; it was too high above the boat.

Delphi had pulled the crossbow out, and she started to loose arrow after arrow into its bulbous head.

Each arrow seemed to sink into its flesh and disappear entirely, who knew where. Whatever the arrows were hitting, the creature didn't seem to need that part to stay alive.

The octopus plunged Winter into the ocean, holding her underwater by her ankle. Desperate seconds ticked by.

Arrie screamed in agony. "Winterrrr! Delphi, she's underwater, do something!" she begged her captain.

Delphi didn't deviate from her plan, continuing to shoot arrow after arrow into the creature's head, looking for the weak point.

It turned its head to look at the tentacle holding Winter, and Delphi got a clear shot at its eye. She shot an arrow straight into the tiny eyeball.

It reared back, exposing it's horrible white innards, and hauling Winter back up out of the water as it reared, pulling back all of its tentacles into a star shape.

"Paaaah!" Winter spat out water and sucked in air.

As Delphi fired arrow after arrow into that cavernous internal place, it jetted thick black ink all over the girls and the deck.

Winter jack-knifed from a hanging position to reach her feet where she used all of her strength with two hands to strike the tentacle that held her by the ankle with her sword.

She sliced the end of the tentacle almost all of the way through. Checking she was over the water; she gave the flesh one last hack, and then she plummeted into the ocean.

The octopus collapsed to the deck and slithered quickly back into the sea.

"Turn the boat, Ruby!" shouted Delphi.