Leviathan waited at the shore. We faced each other maybe ten paces apart, the salty wind whipping between us, and neither of us said a word at first because we both knew how this was going to go.
She wasn't stepping aside, and I wasn't walking away.
Then she moved. Fast.
Her hands twisted and lengthened into curved black claws that caught the light as she lunged straight at me, aiming to rake them across my chest and end this quick.
I watched her shoulders shift, tracked the angle of her swing, and stepped inside it just enough to grab her right wrist before the claws could connect.
My fingers locked around the scaled skin tight enough to feel the bones shift under it.
She snarled, tried to yank free, but I planted my feet, twisted my hips, and lifted her clean off the ground with both hands now. One on each wrist.
Her legs kicked once in the air before I swung her hard and threw her out over the breaking waves.
She hit the water with a heavy crash.
