8

Beneath the Waves

The water still stretched on forever in all directions. "How much longer do you think this trip will take?" Tomon asked.

"Hard to say," Winsul replied while working at a spear head with a whet stone. "Captain thinks it might be a week still."

"Still?" Tomon asked. "It feels like we've been at sea forever."

Winsul smiled. "You have to remember: nobody's sailed to Antonica for hundreds of years. A few of the scout ships did of course before the Combine lords decided to return to Antonica. But they are not great ones for sharing. Captain said there was a rather rough map in the old captain's quarters but it's a bit short on details."

Tomon frowned. "So we don't know where we are going?"

The fisherman laughed a good long laugh. "My boy, trust in Captain Vagano. He's a loyal follower of Karana the Traveler and a sailor of much experience. We will get to where we are going."

"And when we do? What then?" Tomon asked. "Has the Combine built homes for everyone? Are there towns and cities and towers?"

Winsul smiled. "All good questions, my boy. I don't know the answers. I do know the settlements have been there for some time so it shouldn't be like the stories of the old Exodus when the people of the Combine got out just ahead of the dragons and fled to Kunark. It shouldn't be near the same struggle. Hopefully a skill and a strong back will keep a roof over your head and food on your plate."

Just then a shout was heard from the lookout in the crow's nest. "Contact off starboard bow! Something in the water! Could be wreckage!"

Captain Vagano altered course and made for the sighting. Tomon had moved to the railing on the main deck along with many of the crew when they first started getting a closer glimpse. There was a barrel bobbing in the water. Then another. Then the real wreckage appeared. The Captain had put out two lifeboats with crew to search the wreckage. As the Seahorse slowed under lowered sails, the smaller boats moved away, taking on barrels and poking through the floating debris.

"Was it the storm? That, that did this?" Tomon asked.

Winsul shook his head as he stood beside the Master-at-Arms, Vargas, and the Captain. "Broken up like this? This much debris?" His eyes scanned the water full of splinters of wood. "It was pulverized. Almost as if it was struck down by the fist of the Warlord himself. The storm I'd have expected it to cause a ship to capsize and go down, not break apart like, like this." The Captain nodded his head in silent agreement.

Master-at-Arms Vargas shook his head. "Something's not right, Captain. The wreckage is still close together. The waves have not had time to spread it out. This happened in the last day, two at most, but not a body to be seen anywhere. Nobody clinging to the rigging over there, nobody hanging on to a barrel or a piece wood broken loose. Not a soul. The sea's been calm the past few days. What could cause this?"

"Captain!" came a voice from the nearest lifeboat. Men were pulling a piece of wood over the side. The lifeboat made its way to the side of the Seahorse a few minutes later. A few barrels were made ready to be pulled up to the main deck. But there, sitting in the bottom of the lifeboat was an elongated piece of driftwood. The letting was clear, if incomplete: DY NERI.

The Master-at-Arms looked to the Captain. "The Lady Neria?"

"The Lady Neria," Captain Vagano confirmed with a nod, his ears flattened in sadness. "She was in port at Kurn's not long ago, returned from the Antonica settlements. Word was it was taking the last of the departing nobles and their families out of Kunark and on to Antonica. She was built of pure Heartwood. One of the older ships of the navy but still one of the strongest." Vagano frowned as the wood was lifted up toward the railing. He finished with a voice barely above a whisper, "I'd have said she was the last ship to go down in a storm."

"Perhaps it wasn't a storm that sent her down, Captain." The words were whispered so that only those nearest could hear. None had seen him approach, but there was the cloaked figure of the dark elf, Vastin, standing at the rail. Others looked to him. "The wood," he continued, "is shattered. As if upon the rocks at shore. But no rocks do I see. We must be wary, Captain." He began to walk away, but paused behind Tomon and Winsul. "We must be prepared," he said quietly.

Tomon frowned, not sure what the dark elf meant. He looked to the fisherman, but he only scratched his bearded chin in thought, saying nothing.

"Recall the boats," the Captain barked. "Ready the sails! We must be underway." The bell started ringing, recalling the last lifeboat. The other was already being hoisted up the side. Winsul moved toward the sterncastle in silence. Tomon followed. He wanted to ask what all the talk was about from the Captain and the dark elf, but had the strong feeling Winsul was too busy to answer.

"Contact to starboard!" came a shrill cry from the lookout. The note of panic was clear. "Something in the water!"

Tomon looked up to the crow's nest and saw the lookout pointing. He ran to the rail and put both hands on it to look. The lifeboat with three men and some salvaged jetsam was still some ways distant from the ship. Two were rowing frantically while the third readied a spear. Beyond them was a disturbance in the water. He wondered what it could be. He felt Winsul's hands slap on the railing beside him, but couldn't turn away from the sight in the water. Behind him he heard footsteps coming closer. The voice of the dwarf asked, "What is it, Winsul?"

A large, dark bump surged up out of the water behind the lifeboat before submerging. Cries of terror were heard from the men on the lifeboat. The large bump emerged, coming higher out of the water this time. Water roiled around the lifeboat. What looked like large snakes came up out of the water and curled over the lifeboat. Tomon had never seen anything like them. Snakes was the only explanation his mind could come up with, but why were they out on the sea? They closed over the lifeboat and pulled it under the water easily. The cries of the men stopped suddenly.

"Solusek's Eye!" Durgin exclaimed. "Will you look at that? What is it?"

As if in answer, the lookout called out again. "It's a kraken! Seraphs help us!"

The bell was ringing frantically now, calling men to arms on deck. The Captain was back at the wheel and the sails were going up, catching the wind immediately. The Master-at-Arms was shouting orders. Durgin leaped down to the main deck and picked up an axe before joining the Master-at-Arms and the others.

Tomon looked to Winsul who had not moved from the sterncastle railing. "What are we going to do?"

The fisherman did not answer, unmoving as he looked out to the sea. Tomon turned to look as well. The bump of the sea creature was surging toward the ship, parting the sea water and debris. It looked very big to Tomon. As big as the ship maybe. How much more of it was underwater he could not guess.

Tomon felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Winsul. His eyes gripped Tomon as firmly as his hand. "Stay by the Captain." He released Tomon's shoulder and moved toward the stairs down to the main deck. Tomon ran to the side of the Captain at the wheel. Without thinking, he reached to the Captain's arm and wrapped a hand around it. The Captain didn't seem to notice. His eyes were on the approaching creature in the water. It was getting closer.

Tomon heard Winsul start the chanting he had heard the night of the storm. Winsul's voice grew deeper and stronger. Tomon saw him walk down the stair to the main deck, calling out the name of Prexus. Saw him walk past the men with spears lining the rail, none of whom seemed to notice him, so focused on the magnificent sight of their approaching doom. Tomon saw him step past the dwarf and Master-at-Arms to the railing. Men looked to him now as he took a knife from his belt, reached out over the edge while putting knife to hand and pulling the blade through, and let his blood fall into the water below.

Tomon squeezed the Captain's arm in fear. "What's he doing?" The Captain didn't answer. The creature not far from the boat now. Men on the railing were backing away in uncontrollable fear.

"Prexus!" Winsul called out in his loudest voice. "Shaper of our World! Hear me, your loyal follower whose blood joins you now! Turn aside your servant and spare this ship!"

The surging bulge of the dark creature closed in on the ship. It did not seem to be slowing.

Winsul dropped the knife to the deck. "Prexus!" he bellowed as he pushed his hands outward. "I am Winsul! Hear me now as I join you! Turn aside your servant for he has feasted enough this day!"

The surging bulge of the creature slowed now as it came within a stone's throw of the ship. The water roiled and the snakes returned up out of the water, reaching toward the ship. Tomon saw they were not actually snakes now. There were no eyes or mouths at the ends. They looked like reaching arms from the large hill of flesh rising up out of the water. The remaining men at the railing dashed away. The Master-at-Arms managed to bellow out a command for them to hold their ground but his voice held no power for men in the face of the danger that confronted them now.

Durgin yelled out, "Blast it, Win. Get away from the rail!"

Winsul stepped out over the edge of the ship and disappeared into the water below with a splash. Tomon gasped as the blood drained from his face.

"Karana protect him," the Captain said and made a sign over his chest. The creature's arms reached over the ship. They were immense, thicker than the masts of the ship. People were crying out in irrational panic. Some ripped open doors to run below decks in desperation to get away.

Winsul was out of sight now, but his voice echoed up over the side from the water below. "Prexus!"

The creature paused and came no closer. The snake-like arms extending over the ship paused. Seawater rained down from them onto the deck and the people on it. People cowered beneath them, frozen in fear.

And then the tentacles of the kraken withdrew. Sliding back from the deck, they disappeared down over the side of the ship and out of sight into the water. The dark mass of the creature rose up out of the water. A massive eye opened from its midst, looking over the ship for a moment. Then the creature fell away, sinking into the sea and vanishing from sight.

For a few long moments, there was silence. Death had hung over the ship like a dark cloud, and then was blown away by a wind unlooked for.

The voice of the dwarf was the first to be heard. "Hooray for Winsul! He turned the kraken away!" He had already tossed a line over the side. As Tomon ran down the steps to the main deck, Master-at-Arms Vargas and Durgin were already pulling the rope up and helping Winsul up over the side.

Tomon ran up to the railing and, impossibly, threw his arms around the fisherman. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the chest of Winsul. "I thought you were going to die." He felt wet arms close around him.

"So did I, m'boy," Winsul said, "so did I."

People were pouring out onto the main deck from below. As quickly as word spread of the kraken's approach, so too did it pass that the beast had gone, and at the word of the Prexus-worshipping fisherman.

The dwarf renewed his cheer and it was joined by others, though not all. People slapped Winsul on the back, cheering and thanking him. Tomon stood next to him with one of the fisherman's hands resting on his shoulder. A blanket was thrown over Winsul's shoulders and his hand was bandaged. The procession of people thanking him continued as the ship set sail again until he called a stop to it and looked to Tomon. "Time to get back to fishing and earn our keep," he said with a smile.