Sepron the Sea Serpent Read Free

saw a group of people gathered around three or four stone cottages. Some were sitting on the ground, their heads buried in their hands. Others just stared out toward the sea. Children were clinging to their mothers and somewhere a baby was wailing.
    Lower down the slope, there were more cottages, all partly covered by water. The sea was washing in and out through the windows. Beyond them, Tom could see only thatched roofs, then nothing but unbroken sea.
    Elenna halted, her eyes wide with shock. “It’s a village!” she exclaimed. “The water has covered most of it.”
    “I hope no one was hurt,” said Tom. Anger andanxiety flooded over him as he thought of the destruction Sepron had caused, all because of Malvel’s evil spell.
    Tom and Elenna hurried toward the water. As they drew closer they had to wade through the wreckage: shattered pieces of wood, fallen trees, and strands of seaweed. In the mud, Elenna spotted something glimmering in the sunlight — unharmed and beautiful. It was a long, slender knife with a pearl handle. “Come on!” Tom called out. Elenna stooped to pick up the knife. “All right, I’m coming.”
    At the sound of their voices, a boy standing at the water’s edge turned and saw them. He was tall and red-haired with a freckled face.
    “My knife!” he called out. “I can’t believe you found it!”
    “It’s beautiful,” Elenna said, handing it back tohim. “You’re lucky it survived. I’m Elenna,” she added, “and this is Tom.”
    “I’m Calum. And I’m lucky
I
survived,” said the boy. “I never thought I’d see this again. It’s been in our family for ages. We’re fisherfolk here, but—”
    He broke off as an older man, with gray hair and beard, came trudging toward them. His shoulders drooped and his face was lined with wrinkles.
    “This is my father, Matt,” said Calum.
    Matt looked from Tom to Elenna and back again. “We’d do more to welcome you if we had anything to give you,” he said. “But you see how it is.”
    “Everyone’s safe, thank goodness,” Calum said. “But look at our village!” He pointed toward the submerged cottages. “What are we going to do now?”
    “We’ll stay and help,” Elenna said.
    Calum clenched his fists in anger. “Thanks, but what good can anyone do? We can’t live hereanymore. We’ll have to move away, and it’s all the fault of the sea serpent.”
    “The sea serpent!” Tom exclaimed, exchanging a startled look with Elenna.
    “You must think we’re talking rubbish,” Matt said. “I thought that myself once. But now I’ve seen the creature. It’s out there.”
    Tom’s stomach churned with anticipation. They were in the right place, alright. With a bit of luck, he would soon be able to face Sepron and set him free.
    “We were out at sea when we saw it,” Calum explained. “It burst out of the water and smashed our boat to pieces. I thought we would drown for sure. But then it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.”
    “What did you do?” Elenna asked.
    “We hung onto scraps of the wreckage and swam ashore,” Calum replied. “The whole time I thoughtthe sea serpent would come back any minute and swallow us.”
    “We’re lucky to be alive,” Matt finished. “And that wasn’t the first bit of trouble, either. For weeks, we’ve caught next to nothing. Our nets were torn to bits. And now this.” He heaved a sigh. “It’s no use. We’ll have to pack up, all of us, and move farther inland.”
    “But what will you do? You’re fishermen,” Tom said. If every fisherman thought like this, how would the Kingdom survive?
    Matt snorted. “We
were
fishermen. But there’s nothing left to catch, and now all our boats have been washed away. Now we’re just beggars.”
    Tom felt anger growing inside him, but he tried not to let it show. Even though the villagers had survived, their lives had been ruined. He
had
to free Sepron—and soon.
    “There’s a boat over there.” Elenna pointed towhere a