YCH from the talented  maloiko!

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It had been a long night of drink and revelry, with skald performances each trying to outdo each other's poetic efforts, mead and wine flowing freely all night, and seemingly every warrior in the four clans wanting to test their arm against the hero of the hour. Now that the Helm of Gudrun had finally been recovered, the clans' war was over, and they were united once again.

I had risen early, earlier than most of the drunken revellers. The Isle of Gamalheim was a marvellously intriguing place, filled with history, ancient magicks and old relics, but with my quest for the Helm done, I was eager to return to the mainland.

A longboat was waiting for me at the shore, prepared for my departure the day before. I inspected around its sides before leaping in.
"Departing already?" a voice called.

Trygve, one of the clan shamans who had guided me on my quest, stood alone on the shore. His thick, dark dreads fell haphazardly around his shoulders, strands of hair flickering in the gentle wind. The sand of the beach subtly whipped up around his ankles, but he barely seemed to notice. His dark, half-lidded eyes were fixed on me, inscrutable as ever.

"It's been fun," I said. "But I have business back on the mainland."
"I tight you were a wanderer. What such business needs your attention?"
"Your clans are at peace, now. You don't need me. But there's always someone there who needs a hero."
Trygve gave a rare smile. "I imagine the skalds will be singing of you for a long time to come. If there is anything we can offer you in thanks for recovering the Helm..."
"Just passage back home," I said with a smile. I patted a claw upon the boat's figurehead. It appeared like a representation of the Divine Serpent, but stylised in the way of Gamalheim art, horns and all. "But I think this beauty should have that covered."
The shaman's smile faded, and he dropped his gaze. "I wish I could share your confidence."

Confused, I followed his gaze down. There, I saw it - on the floorboards of the boat, lay a black feather. I kept down and picked it up, inspecting it between my claws.
"The night-black raven visited us in the night," Trygve said. "Where its shadow falls, disaster follows."
"Ha!" I laughed. "I've never put any stock in prophecies or omens. I make my own future, shaman. We all do."
"Have your beliefs," he said with a shake of his head. "But I have seen this omen too many times to ignore. I don't know why the night-black raven cursed this boat, but-"
I flicked the feather into the shaman's face. "If the boat's cursed, all the more reason for me to take it. You don't want to keep a cursed boat on your island, do you?"

Trygve blew the feather off his nice and approached. "If you are so determined to mock the night-black raven," he said, "at least allow me to give you what gifts I can to perhaps ease your passage."
He drew a eager from his belt and approached the side of the boat and stabbed the dagger into one of the shields, carving an intricate rune along it.
"A rune of protection," he said. "It will not prevent disaster, but will protect you from the worst of it. And a dune of guidance," he went on as he started carving into the boat's figurehead. "The boat's eyes will glow when pointed towards your destination."

"Thanks," I said. "But I doubt I will need them." I looked to the sky with a smile, floating my wings in the gentle wind. "Still waters, not a cloud to be seen, good wind - the journey will be easy, believe me!"

---

I shielded myself from the water and foam with a wing as another wave crashed into the side of the boat. The eyes of the figurehead flickered erratically as it twisted this way and that at the crest of the swelling wave. I grabbed onto the rope of the mast, gathered my strength, and heaved it back on curse. The light of its eyes flickered and brightened again. Just as another wave crashed in, knocking me off my feet and to the floor. With a grunt, I started scooping up water in my hands and throwing it back overboard.

Something fell on my nose, and I sneezed. A black feather fluttered in front of me, before being swept up in the waves. I growled and looked up - sure enough, a to of blacks birds circled above.
"Get out of here!" I yelled. "I don't like you any more!"

The first bird had joined me shortly after I had set out. I laughed then - it had reminded me of Trygve's omen, but the seas were so still and the sky so clear that it had seemed nothing could go wrong. A caw in the sky had heralded the second when the waves had just started to pick up. Now the sky was grey and monstrous, the water roiling malevolently, my wings were freezing, and I was sick of the damn birds.
"Caw!" they taunted from above.
In the absence of something to throw at the blasted things, I gathered the fire in my throat and blasted it at them.

Had I been calmer, I probably would have predicted the wind blowing the fire right back into my eyes.

I yelped and stumbled back, my eyes shut tight. The roiling of the boat sent me tumbling overboard, but I barely managed to catch myself on the side. Holding on tight, half submerged in the frigid waters, I looked up and shook a first at the taunting birds.
"This is your fault!" I roared.

Something else roared in response. I slowly looked over my shoulder, just as a gigantic tentacle rose from the depths like an awakening giant.

Thinking quickly, I heaved myself back onto the boat as the tentacle slashed at me. I crouched and shielded my face as a wall of water washed over me. Barely thinking, I grabbed my sword.
"Why don't you come here and tell me that" I cried out over the roast of the storm. The tentacle wavered in the water in response. "Yeah, that's what I--!"

Another tentacle grabbed at me from behind and lifted me off my feet. I roared and flailed my sword wildly, barely scraping along the tentacle's skin. Another screeching sound, and it dropped me back on the boat.
"Oof!" I said as I landed roughly on my stomach. But before thinking, I rolled to my back and held my sword defensively in front of me. It slashed at an incoming tentacle, which recoiled from the blade.

I couldn't help but feel like a mosquito to these things. My tiny bites annoyed it more than hurt it.

The sound of creaking wood from behind me drew my attention. One of the tentacles had wrapped itself around the figurehead.
"Hey!" I cried, leaping into the air with my sword raised and my wings folded tight against my back. I plunged the blade into the tentacle. It sank deep into the flesh, far deeper than I had thought it would. The beast shrieked again as I barely pulled the blade free - just in time for the tentacle to rip the figurehead from the boat like pulling a leaf from a twig. The head splintered away from the boat, and the tentacle flung it through the air. Its eyes lit up for a fraction of a second as it spun wildly through the air, then sputtered out as it hit the water with a pathetic splash and disappeared into the dark depths.

I hung on to the side of the boat and watched the point where the broken figurehead had vanished.
"Okay," I growled, turning to the tentacle and brandishing my blade. "Now you're just being a jerk."

The beast must have been rather sensitive to words, because just then another tentacle rose from the fathoms, followed by another, and another. The boat was surrounded by them, writhing, lashing, swiping wildly through the air.

One of them swung at my head. I crouched under it and swing my sword wildly. It came away clean - no blood drawn. There was a splintering noise, and behind me, a chunk of the boat fell beneath the flailing tentacle. Water started pouring in, far too fast for me top empty it. I growled as another tentacle took a swing. Holding my sword in both hands, I thrust it up at the tentacle, but it passed too high, creating into the mast. Torn from its bindings, the sail toe through the air and into my face. I growled and slashed through it. Another crash. The boat twisted, turned, and started to capsize. I slipped on the floorboards, slick with water, and was sent tumbling.

I yelped and gasped onto the edge of the boat, holding on for dear life. The boat was entirely upside down now, and I scrambled up onto the bottom of it. I dropped to my knees, digging my claws into the wood to stabilise myself. But I could feel the texture of the wood beneath my hands. It wasn't the smooth, hard wood of the floorboards of the boat. It was the rougher texture of the shields lining the sides. And the runes carved into them.

I grabbed one of them in both hands. Summoning all my strength, I pulled. My muscles ached, my lungs burned, but it gave way ever so slightly.

I threw myself down prone as another tentacle swiped overhead. I gasped the shield by its sides and heaved, prying it away from the boat. One... two... and with one final, mighty pull, it broke from its bindings. I rose to one knee and turned my body, just as a tentacle came crashing down directly upon me. I closed my eyes tight and turned my head, holding the rune shield between me and the crushing tentacle.

I felt the tentacle crash into the shield. I pushed back with all my strength. There was a blinding blue flash. Then nothing.

---

A scratching, looking feeling on my chest woke me up. When I opened my eyes, I was initially stunned by the bright light of the sun overhead - not a cloud in the sky. When my initial daze cleared and everything came into focus, I was face to face with a black bird walking over my chest, scratching and pecking at me without a care in the world.

I coughed at it. It cawed at me and jumped off, landing in the white sand beside me.

Gulping in deep breaths, I turned my head to look at it.
"I'm never sailing again," I said.