Chapter 12: Of Krakens, Sushi and Yeeted Sailors
Ulrich rode through the warehouse district of Lotton, trying and failing to shift the bad mood Jeremiah had put him in. Ruddy disgraced, over indulgent priest. Ok, Ulrich would admit that he had kind of started it with his prank last night but the was meant in good fun and to pop the oversized bubble head that Jeremiah seemed to have.
The man appeared to have the sort of sense of humor where it was fine for him to play all sorts of nasty, underhanded games on other people. Ulrich was not going to forget the absolute mess Thorian had been in when Calypso died any time soon. Yes, Thorian didn't seem to be very grateful about the liquor Ulrich had given him but obviously the orc cross breed was more susceptible to hangovers than most, fact that, if Ulrich had know it, would have meant he would not have given Thorian the second bottle. One would have been enough and then off to bed to sleep it off after probably a bucket of tea to help wash it through the system. So yes, Thorian didn't seem to be that grateful right now but Ulrich could understand it, having brushed up against a few hangovers himself over the years but at least Thorian wasn't taking it out on him. Jeremiah on the other hand...
Ulrich scowled, an expression that made people, who were already moving out of the way, move even faster.
Jeremiah had his fun tormenting other people but when the tables where turned, well then he acted as if he had never done anything to attract the attentions of karma and resorted to the most petty, pathetic methods to extract his revenge. About the only thing that made this morning more bearable was the fact that he now knew for certain that Kaelin was distancing herself from the priest already. Obviously, what had ever had happened in the tower, Kaelin wasn't keen for a repeat of the experience. As much as Ulrich's gore rose at the... well it wasn't the thought of what might have happen because he wasn't allowing himself to think of it. As much as Ulrich's gore rose at what could have possibly driven that decision he was also glad of it. He had the feeling that Kaelin would have been a difficult one to convince but if she had convinced herself then all was well.
As he reached the main square he realized that maybe riding his lizard wasn't the smarted move.
"Halt!" the guard held up his hand.
Making a split second call, Ulrich reigned in.
"Why officer, is there something wrong?" he kept his voice level and unbothered, ignoring the spears that the other guards were beginning to lower in his direction.
"You trying to be funny?" the guard asked.
"No sir, I am not, however, I do not wish to jump to conclusions about why you do not seem to be very relaxed this morning. I did hear that there was some trouble in the rich quarter last night but I do not wish to be a bore and tattle about such things. It is rather uncouth to chew over another's misfortune," Ulrich made sure that he spoke gravely. This could be a very unfortunate situation if he didn't handle it right but he made sure to smatter in a little of his education. Perhaps if the guards could tell that he was fairly close to being a noble then perhaps it could help with convincing them that he was unlikely to be involved in whatever had happened last night. Not that he could call on his father's name. He hadn't quite been disowned but it was very close to being disowned and if he wound up in even deeper trouble than he already was then it was quite likely that would be the last straw.
"Where were you last night?" the guard demanded.
"At the water front," Ulrich answered promptly, "Riding this one and leading the pet of my comrade, a larger and uglier version of this one." He patted the lizard's neck and it slowly flicked its tongue at the guard captain. The man did not seem reassured by that gesture.
"And where were you going?"
"To the Armored Dragon, the ship we intend to take across the lake to Nether Wallop to resolve the civil issues that are happening over there," Ulrich did remember that he'd once been told to never volunteer information when he was being questioned but long experience had taught him how to balance between sharing and not sharing. If you didn't share enough then you just made yourself look suspicious.
"Cross the lake?" the guard demanded, "Don't you know that the shipping is shut?"
"We intend to open it back up," Ulrich replied, "That is apparently our duty as the King's Special."
"The King's Special?" the guard's eyes narrowed, "Where's the King's Blade?"
"Hartseer has some difficulty with ships, I understand that his weight has a habit of putting his foot through the bottom of the boat and that would be a problem for us," Ulrich replied, "Particularly if the little beastie out there is as grouchy as the sailors report. Therefore, Hartseer is transversing the south shore of the lake and will meet us at Nether Wallop."
"So why are you away from the ship now, ugh?" the guard demanded, "The docks are back that way."
Ulrich leaned forward and beckoned the guard closer. The man didn't move but Ulrich had made the effort.
"We of the King's Special might be worse sort of criminals as far as the Guard might be concerned," he confided, "And you are probably right but that doesn't stop the fact that we have been forced to work together by the King. We may be doing our best to do the job but that doesn't stop some interpersonal difficulties if you follow my meaning. After all, I highly doubt that you get along with all of your comrades in the guards, do you?"
The guard gave a cautious grunt. He wasn't entirely convinced but he was beginning to relax.
"This morning was one of those mornings where we were just not going to be able to stay in close proximity without some fireworks becoming a problem," Ulrich admitted, "And as we were on a wooden ship I decided that it would be best to remove half of the problem, seeing as the other half of the problem wasn't ever going to admit to their faults." Ulrich rolled his eyes and then gave the guard a look that invited him to commiserate.
The guard grunted again.
"So where were you going?" he asked.
"Dippler's Pie Shop," Ulrich answered, "We had some decent nosh from there when we were passing through the first time, so I figured that having breakfast away from my friends would given the situation time to calm down."
The guard narrowed one eye and then nodded.
"We'll see you on your way and I might ask Dippler a few questions," he said at last.
"You are most welcome to join me, especially if it means I avoid any of this unpleasantness on my trip," Ulrich smiled and set his lizard walking at a much slower pace.
"Out of interest, are any of the rumors floating around the docks true about what happened last night?" Ulrich asked.
"Need to know," the guard grunted.
"Fair enough," Ulrich shrugged, "I merely asked because we will probably be called upon on the way back to sort out the mess. Especially as one of our team has history with what was rumored to be active last night."
The guard grunted again but at least the rest of the squad wasn't pointing spears at him any more.
Dippler looked up from his tray of pies as the shop door opened.
"Morning Officer, what can I do you for?" his cheerful greeting seemed lost on the dour faced guard.
"This man? Seen him before?"
Dippler gave Ulrich a long look. Ulrich looked back and let the memory of a certain boat trip play back in his mind, willing Dippler to pick up on what he was thinking about.
"Yeah, came through two, three days ago. He and his merry band of mates just about cleared out one of my shelves. Why'd you ask?"
"They say were they were going?"
"Not that I can recall but they came in right before the morning rush so I was a little distracted at the time," Dippler admitted.
"How many of them were there?"
"This one, a lass who looked like if you said good morning to her she's kick yer in the fork, a fat priest sort and an orc crossbreed who had half a dozen of the Marvelous Miscellaneous," Dippler reported, "They also sold a couple of horses to mah mate Sweetie down the road. He said they were still in pretty good condition. Think he might be selling them later today."
"Alright," the guard seemed to decide something, "You buy your stuff and then shift out of town you understand?"
"From here to the docks," Ulrich promised, "I'll be quick as I can."
"Make sure you are," the guard grunted and walked back out of the shop, letting the door bang behind him.
"Thank you muchly," Ulrich smiled at Dippler, who grinned back.
"No squealing, no fowl," he said, "So how did you get yourself in trouble?"
"Didn't think this morning," Ulrich admitted, "Picked up a rather exotic mount and didn't consider the fact that with what was said to be going down in the rich quarter last night the guard would be picking up any one unusual."
"Not yer smartest move my ducky," Dippler observed, "You do realized that one is going to go and ask the gate guards who saw you coming into the town?"
"What, you mean this place has efficient guards?" Ulrich exclaimed with a grin, "What is the world coming to?"
"Comes of having a king who doesn't believe in dumping all the cheese gongs in one place and letting it go to the dogs," Dippler grinned, "But yeah he will be asking around and if he works out that you didn't come into the city with that mount but now you have it, he's going to be asking questions."
"Well that could be uncomfortable you you as well," Ulrich noted.
"Why do you suppose that I didn't drop you in it with them? As I said - no squeal, no fowl," Dippler grinned.
"In that case I'll take three of your steak pies and make sure we are back at the ship and sailing soon as," Ulrich grinned back, "If we sort out the beastie in the lake then everybody should be too busy with sorting out the supple disruption to worry about following it up."
"You could be right there," Dippler nodded as he flipped a box into being and loaded it with pies, "Give 'em something more important to deal with and give yerself some space away from where the lords and ladies have been kicked up."
"Was there any truth to what was said to be going on in the rich quarter last night?" Ulrich asked as Dippler tied up the box with the off color string.
"Two of 'em are dead," Dippler reported, "One of the patriarchs and one of the heir of another house and several of the little ladies have been injured, according to the tattle."
"That is going to cause a shake up," Ulrich observed.
"Ain't it just, especially as one of the ones damaged was the pretty little thing that was being engaged off just last night," Dippler observed as he made Ulrich's payment disappear at speed.
"Oh stonk!" Ulrich swore, "That is really going to disturb the power balance."
"It is that," Dippler grinned, "Apparently those two families have been trying to dicker a partnership for years and now the little furries have upset all that."
"How do you know all that?" Ulrich asked, frowning.
"I used to supply the servant grade meat to one of the big houses when I started out, still have me contacts," Dippler touched the side of his nose, "Still get a few of them coming down here when they have their pay packs in the winter festival and don't have to send the lot home to family to help get the little 'uns stuff they needs. They like my spiced winter pies, they do, the ham and winter pickle one also fair flies off the shelf and the dried fruit one sells well too, specially as I can buy in the ingredients for that one earlier in the year when they're cheaper. You hear a lot when the servants are in swapping gossip, if you keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Got to remember that, sometimes you learn more to your advantage if you listen to what the little people say and what they don't say, if you following my meaning."
Dippler winked.
"Now run along my chummy, before them guards come to give you more of a hard time. I'll see you the next time you come through this way, for mah 'steak' pies." The grin he gave Ulrich was wicked and Ulrich found himself grinning back as he turned out the door. Dippler was incorrigible but some how likeable and it had certainly shifted his crummy mood from earlier. Ulrich swung up on to his lizard's back and swung it round to towards the docks. Maybe today was going to be better than he'd thought.
*
On the Armored Dragon Thorian woke up and lay still a moment, double checking that neither the miniature giant space dwarf nor the invisible giant space dragon had come by for a second visit. Reassured that his head wasn't trying to do an impression of a stepped on water melon Thorian levered himself upright... and bumped his head on the bunk above him. He froze for a moment and then very slowly raised a hand to the top of his noggin and carefully probed for a lump. It didn't feel like there was a lump coming up so he stood up and looked round for his shirt.
"You reckon we're going to see that beastie today, Kaelin?" he asked as he shrugged it on. No reply was forth coming. He looked round and Kaelin's bunk was already empty. Thorian shrugged. It always seemed that he was the last one to wake up.
Pushing the door open he stepped out on deck and looked around in time too see a couple of sailors dragging a third up the gang plank. The one stumbling in their none too gentle grip seemed to be unable to speak an understandable sentence or even to move in a straight line.
"What's up with him?" Thorian asked no one in particular as he watched the bosun haul a bucket of water up the side of the ship, then the harbor wind shifted and the smell of the guy came wafting towards Thorian. The orc crossbreed wrinkled his nose. "Smells like those bottles Ulrich gave me the other day, gone bad," he observed.
"That, my dear Thorian, is precisely why that sailor smells like that and looks so bad," Jeremiah spoke from where he lent of the railing, sipping slowly at a steaming mug, "He has been drinking, probably since this ship made port, and now he needs sobering up." Thorian winced in sympathy as the bosun unceremoniously dumped the bucket of water over the drunken sailors head. The guy straightened up with a yelp and then lurched to the railing where he shouted at Hughie for several minutes. The bosun simply walked to the other side of the ship, hauled up another bucket of water and when the sailor had stopped bellowing at Raff, emptied that over him as well. The sailor shook himself like a wet dog and shivered to be told in no uncertain terms to get below and get a hot drink from the galley.
While the sailors escorted their mate below, the bosun made his way up the poop deck steps to were the Captain was lent on the railing, watching the bustle of the water front.
Entertainment over, Thorian looked around.
"Seen Kaelin?" he asked.
"Up there," Jeremiah gestured up into the rigging. Kaelin was perched up high in the main rigging, just below the main top, one leg hooked through the ropes of the rigging, holding with one hand and leaning back so she could see clear down the length of the ship and out towards the horizon. With the wind blowing in her hair it seemed as if they were already on their way as far as Kaelin was concerned.
"Seems she likes this place," Thorian noted. Jeremiah grunted. Behind them there was a noise coming from the poop deck steps.
Ka-flup, ka-flup, ka-flup.
Risk, the huge white bird, hoped down the poop deck steps to the amidship deck. Stopping for a moment he looked up at Jeremiah with one cocked eye and then sedately waddled on his way towards the forecastle, shaking his tails as he did so.
"Thar is one strange bird," Thorian nodded to himself.
"Well, my friends," the Captain's strong white teeth shone in his dark face as he walked down the stepped, "It seems that the bosun has managed to find all of mah crew and none of them permanently broken. We should be ready to make sail soon but where is your friend Ulrich? I do hope that he has not had a reconsideration of your friendship." He cocked an eyebrow at Jeremiah.
"Ulrich seemed to suffer from feeling cramped in too small of a space last night and decided that he would go ashore to find his breakfast this morning," Jeremiah smiled, "Tell me, will he be able to get back in time or will we have to explain why he is missing to the King's Blade when we reach Nether Wallop?"
"I dare say that mah crew could do with a little more time to convince themselves that they are a crew and not just a bunch of drunks and disorderlies," the Captain smiled as if sharing a joke with Jeremiah but there was something else in the look of his eyes. Jeremiah's answering smile became just a little bit fixed. "In the mean time, I would suggest that a breakfast is in order. I believe that the cook has some bacon on the skillet, if mah nose tells me anything at all."
"Bacon?" Thorian's eyes shone with glee. There was the whizz of rope through a deadeye and Kaelin landed on the deck with an almost friendly look in her eyes.
"That sounds like the best breakfast option that I'm had in quite a long while," she observed. Even the albatross seemed to agree, breaking out in a series of long calls, half spreading his enormous wings. Kaelin had to suppress her smile. To her ear, Risk sounded so much like a trumpet, that had a puncture.
Parp toot!
Haggis apparently agreed.
The Captain smiled and lifted his arm to wave at his companion.
"Aye Risk, I'll remember to bring you some. I would not expect my best friend to fly on an empty stomach," the Captain called and then lead the way down below the deck. Risk refolded... and refolded his mighty wings, shuffling his tail as he did so
It was while they were enjoying the thick, crispy slices of bacon on slabs of bread that the Captain broached another subject.
"That is a most unusual instrument you have there," he said to Kaelin, "Is that part of our defense against the critter in the lake?"
"If it works properly," Kaelin swallowed a large lump of bacon and bread, "Should be. And if I can't give the Kraken the collie wobbles then I should be able to give your crew members a good heart for the fighting of it."
"And did you bring anything else to be facing this Kraken with? 'Cause if Kraken it be then we will need all the help we can have," the Captain said gravely.
"Yeap," Thorian said around a mouthful of bread and bacon, "We all carried some, so they didn't wind up getting dropped again."
"Dropped again?" the Captain raised his eye brows.
"Yes our big green friend is not the most steady person upon his feet," Jeremiah noted.
"If you'd been willing to take some of the weight from the get go," Thorian didn't look round from his sandwich, "You might have found which box we needed but I had dug it out from the bottom of the heap. We could have gone halves and done fair splits of the work."
"Needless to say the repair job is a good one," Jeremiah gave Thorian a grade three level stare before turning back to the Captain, "And we will be ready to set them up when they are needed."
"And you will not be setting them up before hand? We don't know how fast this critter is," the Captain remarked.
"We'd prefer not too," Jeremiah smiled and to his surprise the Captain smiled and shrugged.
"It is fine by me," his smile once again carried the edge of something, "After all, if the critter eats you before me then it is most likely to leave, don't you think?"
Kaelin found herself wondering at the Captain's tone. There was an interplay of undertones that seemed to suggest that if the Kraken ate Jeremiah it would either be too full to want to attack them further, or it would be too busy trying to spit and clean its mouth parts with all its tentacles to want to try the taste of the rest of them for fear that they would be just as foul.
Above their heads there was a clumping sound on the deck boards. Lifting his head to listen, the Captain lead the way up the ladder.
"Well, friend," he greeted, "We were beginning to wonder if we would have to leave without you."
Ulrich grinned down from the back of his lizard.
"I was beginning to wonder the same," he admitted as he swung down to the deck, "The guards were feeling in the need to flex their muscles this morning."
"So there was some truth to the rumors going round last night?" the Captain asked.
"Too much," Ulrich confirmed as he lead the lizard back down into the hold and put it back in the pen that had been mocked up for it, "At least two of the nobles are dead and several marriage alliances are now in jeopardy." He looked at Kaelin. "They were targeting the women." Kaelin's eyes went smoky dark and then she nodded. Ulrich concealed his flinch. He'd wondered after their discussion during the first dinner they were at the Wizard's Tower just how deeply Kaelin was tied into the werewolf activity. Between her fear of going north of the river and what that one who got away had said he had suspected a connection, now he was sure of it. He also understood what had gotten her on to the King's Special. Running from a family like that would have meant she would have had no choice but to resort to some rather unpleasant and illegal means to survive. How much trouble this was going to cause the team remained to be seen. Then he glanced at Jeremiah as he came back out on deck and nearly exploded with laughter. Just imagining the priest as a very dumpy and overly hairy werewolf nearly had him in stitches.
"What?" Jeremiah asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," Ulrich smiled, "Nothing at all." He turned and strode to the poop deck steps, "Permission to step on to the officers deck?" He addressed the Captain.
"Permission granted," the Captain smiled and then raised his voice, "Bosun? Are all stores loaded and stowed?"
"Aye aye Sir!" the bosun roared.
"Are all crew accounted for?"
"Aye aye Sir!"
"All cargo secured?"
"Aye aye Sir!" came the called from the quarter master.
The Captain smiled and nodded to his officers, "In that case..." He drew in a breath that swelled out his already barrel like chest.
"Hands aloft!" he roared.
"Hands aloft!" came back the cry and sailors buzzed up from below decks, swarming to the rigging, checking tools as they went or scurrying to the lines fore and aft.
"Loose fore top, main top and fore topmast stay!"
"Loose fore top, main top and fore topmast stay!" came back the cry, sailors speeding up the rigging. Kaelin watched them avidly as they pulled themselves out along the shroud spars.
Team by team the calls came in asking permission to loose the sails, answered with clear 'let fall' cries from the Captain. As the sails came out of their securings the deck team took over control, ready to pull the sails taunt to catch the wind.
"Raise the gangplank!"
"Raise the gangplank!" Thorian found himself a space near the cargo hatches where he seemed to be out of the way as sailors ran hither and yonder in what looked like chaos but still had control in it.
"Cast off fore line!" the Captain roared.
"Cast off fore line!" the coil of rope was untied, looped and tossed back to the ship.
"Cast off aft line!"
"Cast off aft line!" the sailors coiled it back into place on the deck.
"Set the sails!"
"Set the sails!" the crew called back and with a great rustling of canvas the sails unfolded down and out, pulled tight until the cries of 'All's well!' echoed across the deck. With a judder and a creak that ran the whole length of the keel, the ship moved forward, water beginning to run against her hull with a hush and a sigh, nosing her way out into the waters of the lake, heading east. Ulrich looked back over the starboard rail in time to see a squad of guards march to the end of the wharf and glare after the ship. He straightened and waved his hand slowly, baying them farewell. For some reason they didn't appreciate the gesture. Ulrich turned his head to see the Captain grinning at him and without a word they started to laugh.
"Well," Jeremiah observed from midships, "I must concede that you were correct Captain, sailing a ship is a lot more complicated than I had expected and certainly not something that we would have managed on our own."
The Captain smile without pride.
"As I said then, if any fool could stand on a deck and tell the ship where it was he wanted it to go then what need would there be for sailors?"
"None at all," Jeremiah smiled back, "So we will have to hope for your sake that they never invent a self guiding ship."
"They won't do that in my life time," the Captain laughed, "They won't do that in my life time."
Up on the fore castle Risk finished downing his plate of bacon rashers and then hopped, by stages, up on to the railing to the right of the bowsprit. After a moment of turning his head this way and that he unfolded the massive wings that seemed to shine white even in the daylight and with barely a flap he lifted up and away from the ship.
Kaelin, once she was sure the sailors weren't going to be needing to climb up and down for a while, skimmed up to her perch in the rigging, letting the breeze play in her hair. It was strange to sail over such a body of water and not smell salt but she was still free for a time, free of her grandfather's influence. Part of her wondered if she could take to the sailing life. She'd never considered it but it would make it difficult for the old bastard to follow her. There again, if it was him who had attacked the mansion last night and she was damn sure it was...
She sighed. Letting in the hunters hadn't stopped him, only delayed him. She glanced over her shoulder to were the Captain chatted idly with Ulrich on the poop deck. The old sea hand was right, running from the storm had only driven her on to the rocks. This was her problem, her fight. If nothing else she owed it to the young women her grandfather was targeting to stop him. After a moment she lifted her hand and opened the locket so that if Charlotte was there then she could also enjoy the way the sun light shone on the waters.
Rocking slightly the ships sailed on, land falling away behind it and Risk cruising ahead of it. Sometimes the great bird tipped a wing and drifted back to float beside the ship for a while, seeming to hoover along side the rigging. He seemed to find the sight of Kaelin up in the rigging a fascinating thing to behold. She nodded to hi each time he went passed. Jeremiah settled himself in the sun and seemed to fall into a doze while Thorian nattered to an idle sailor, asking him just how much strength it took to be able to pull the sails. He seemed crest fallen when the sailor told him that all of them had to be able to manage the climbing in the rigging without falling, Thorian's two left feet obviously betraying a hope he'd had of work.
As the day pushed on Ulrich found himself becoming sleepy with the rocking of the ship, eyes lazily scanning the southern horizon.
"Do I dare say anything?" he stretched and leaned back on the railing, "Do I really dare to say anything?"
Ahead of them Risk let loose a high, shrill cry. The Captain's reaction was instantaneous. He swung to the port railing and peered ahead, brow furrowed as he raised a hand to shield his eyes.
"Apparently not," Ulrich muttered as the rest of the crew on deck started standing up, eyes turned to where Risk was crying out his shrill warning.
"Wake up," Thorian pocked Jeremiah on the way passed as he hurried to the starboard rail.
"Wait... What," Jeremiah slurred as he sat up and rubbed his hands over his face, trying to get the gears in his mind to line up straight enough to notice something beyond the water being wet.
Up in the rigging Kaelin leaned further out, peering ahead trying to see what had disturbed Risk. On the eastern sky line a long, black line had appeared and it was growing by the second, boiling up over the horizon, thick as tar, black as night and seething like a dragon denied the treasure it believed to be its right. Kaelin felt her mouth go dry as she realized that it was running against the wind. She was already heading for the deck before the Captain drew in his breath.
"Lads!" the Captain roared, "Batten down the hatches, rig the life lines and lash the cargo with double lines! Here it comes!"
The sailors jumped as if lightning had already struck. Within seconds the way down to the holds were closed and barred, life lines tied, cabin doors bolted shut and a scurrying from below spoke of the cook and his helpers dousing the galley fire and double lashing the cargo and canons.
"You lot!" the Captain bellowed as he pushed aside the sailor holding the wheel and lashed himself to it in the dragonkin's place, "Whatever you are are going to do, get to it! We've a welcoming party waiting for us!"
"Aye Aye Sir!" Thorian shouted back, making a very unpracticed salute. Kaelin grabbed one of the lamps that showed no sign of repair and Ulrich grabbed the other.
"Shouldn't one of those go right in the bow and the other up there on the stern?" Jeremiah asked. Ulrich and Kaelin looked at each other, Ulrich raising his eyebrows. Kaelin nodded.
"Good thinking for once," she said as she ran for the bow.
"For once?" Jeremiah demanded but Ulrich was already moving.
"Get one of those to the port poop deck steps," he shouted over his shoulder.
"I beg your..." Jeremiah demanded.
"Just do it," Thorian said, grabbing two, depositing one at the starboard poop deck steps and then hurrying to set another at the starboard back stays of the foremast. Jeremiah grumbled under his breath but shifted his butt as the edge of the racing cloud loomed ahead of them, casting a shadow so thick it seemed that it could have been spread on toast.
Kaelin smacked the pins to hold the lamp steady in the bow home into the wood and then ran to grab the last one and hammer it down by the port side back stays of the fore mast. Ulrich hammered his into place and then checked how secure the ones by the poop deck steps. Kaelin secured the last one as Jeremiah called out the instructions of how to activate the lamps to the sailors who stood on deck. The Captain gave the order and six of them took up stations by the lamps, the remaining four hefting long harpoons in their hands as the sky above them darkened and the sunlight was cut off off abruptly.
Kaelin grabbed a life line and looped it round her waist as she set herself on the cargo hatch. Ulrich stood by the starboard poop deck steps, hefting the jewel encrusted blade the chest weasel had given him. Jeremiah climbed up to the poop deck without asking but in that moment no one noticed.
Then the first swell hit the bow and the ship reared like a frightened horse before slamming down into the trough behind it. Everyone staggered at the sudden change. Kaelin swallowed back and unslung Haggis, blowing to inflate his bag, the throbbing drone beginning to fill the air. Beside her Thorian groaned as the ship bucked again. The orc cross breed reeled, clapping his hands to his mouth as he changed color, going a very strange shade of yellow.
The ship smashed into another swell, her bow pointing to the heavens for a moment before she tipped and plunged towards the depths.
Thorian gurgled and dashed for the starboard railing, where his bacon sandwich breakfast was totally wasted. With a sound some where between a belch and choke, Thorian shouted a rainbow at the lake and was slapped in the face by a wall of water for his pains. A moment later the skies opened and the rain crashed down, so thick and heavy it seemed that the gods themselves were throwing the entire linen closet down on them. Within seconds the deck was a wash and everyone's hair was plastered to their skulls, their clothes soaked through and water gurgling in their boots.
Then the ship shuddered and cried as if she had struck a reef. Lightning tore across the heavens in a blazing sheet that made the clouds glow green, answering corona glow shining from the mast tops. The thunder didn't rumble, the sound of it stamped down on them like a giant's boot.
And then Jeremiah saw what was squirming up above the railings of the ship, rearing high over them, dripping and slimy and squishy.
"Klu'ga-nath protect me!" he squealed, not caring who heard him, his blistering tongue unfelt.
Thorian looked up at the rubbery, sucker studded, pinkish white tentacles that was towering over the side of the ship.
"Oh I-kay-a-ki," he observed, naming a squid dish he'd sampled in his travels along the coast but his stomach did not appreciate the reminder of food.
"Oh!" Thorain yelled and then bent double over the side of the ship again, trying to energetically throw his toe nails over the side, or at least that was what the epic stomach cramps told him he was doing. Thus he was distracted from the first terrified wails as said tentacles writhed into life, descending with agonizing slowness towards the decks and the trembling sailors there.
Kaelin blew into Haggis with all her strength, cheeks puffed out, red faced with effort, fingers flying up and down the chanter reed, Haggis's voice challenging the thunder above to drown him out.
"Lights on!" Jeremiah roared, some how his voice cutting through the sailors' dumb terror. Somehow their fingers found the activation runes and beams of light almost as bright as the lightning stabbed into the dark.
The Armored Dragon shuddered again, a strange vibration quaking through the deck, as the tentacles flinched back, their skin bubbling and weeping as the light touched them. The sailors needed no extra prompting, lashing out with the harpoons in their hands. Several jarred off the Krakens slimy, rubbery skin but one or two managed to bite and bite in deep, thick blue blood spilling across the deck, mixing with the rain water that lashed down.
The Kraken's response was instantaneous and vicious.
The sailor manning the light by the port side steps screamed as the nearest tentacle smashed down towards him, crushing the light out of existence and pinning his legs to the deck. He screamed again as it ripped him over the side and he disappeared into the dark, thrashing water. The other tentacles pummeled the deck, cracking planks and snagging in the rigging.
Lightning tore across the heavens again and it that brief flash of light Ulrich struck out, the edge of his elven made, fae given blade slashing deep into the tentacle rearing high over the starboard side of the poop deck, passing through it with barely any resistance, the blade's edge so sharp that the strange blue blood hardly clung to it. Again the ship shuddered beneath their feet, the weird vibration almost a scream, felt through the feet rather than heard by the ears.
Through the storm and the thunder Kaelin played, straining to make Haggis heard above the rumble and crash of thunder. Behind her, on the Poop deck Jeremiah yelled above the storm, book clenched in one fist as he tried to inspire courage and ferocity into the sailors, even as the rain soaked the pages and threatened to mark the ink run.
With yells of either terror or rage the sailors rose up mightily, harpoons striking out at the four tentacle encircling the ship, hacking and slashing for all they were worth. Thorian straightened, finally back in control of his stomach and charged the tentacle on the starboard side that slapped and crashed over the bow, trying to find and destroy the light that burnt its flesh. Thorian's blade crashed down, more like an axe than a sword and the tentacle went into spasm, near severed in two.
Ulrich span his blade in the fancy loops and brandishes of a master swords man and the other tentacle that threatened the starboard side fell in loops and rings, cut clean through, the bleeding stump jerking back under water as the ship moaned in the grip of the thing that held it.
On the port side the tentacles slashed out and another sailor collapsed to the deck, smashed out of existence by the kraken's rage but it had put its limbs within the reach of his avenging mates and harpoon blows rained down on the blubber like flesh, gouging deep wounds into the fore one and completely chopping the one by the poop deck steps.
The tentacle by Thorian reared up, blood hosing from its half cut girth and the flopping, twitching stump nearly floored him as it swung like a wrecking ball at him. Thorian ducked and swung and the heavy length crashed to the decks, blocking the starboard steps to the forecastle deck.
A sailor screamed on the port side as the writhing, questing tentacle smashed down, barely missing him as it crashed down on the lamp, splintering the metal and crushing the glass to powder but the weird squealing scream echoed up through the ship's timbers as the sailors by the port steps to the poop deck rammed their harpoons through the battered tentacle and then heaved against each other. The tentacle came apart, shredded, the ragged stump wavering as if this time the pain was so great it didn't understand what had just happened.
As Kaelin blew a jeering, mocking tune Thorian charged across the rain sloshing deck and struck with a huge lateral blow that made the tentacle by the port side fore steps jump free of its stump. The writhing mass bounced off the timber of the ship and sent a wall of spray as it crashed into the heaving waves.
The cheer of the sailors challenged the rolling thunder as Kaelin let the reed fall from her mouth to grin at Thorian.
"No need to thank me," Jeremiah smiled benignly, "It was my duty as a man of the cloth to give what aide I could to moral in such dire circumstances." Ulrich rolled his eyes at the show of humbleness, even as he tried to dry his blade, the rain showing no signs of letting up.
"Is this what you people call a shower?" Thorian grinned a he stepped closer to Kaelin.
Thunder rolled; it rolled a natural twenty.
The four tentacles burst out of the lake and smashed down on the deck, flailing and pounding as the ship juddered and squealed in the kraken's grip. Jeremiah yelled as a great tangle of rigging, rope and shattered spares collapsed down on top of him, engulfing him and leaving him fighting under the dripping, clinging mass.
The light on the starboard side fore steps popped out of existence a second before the tentacle reared up and tangled itself in the fore rigging, popping dead eyes and bull's eyes out of the wood and cracking spares.
The sailor's yelled as the two aft tentacles reached over their heads and coiled around the mizzen mast, yanking the ship from side to side as it sort to rip the mast out of its housing, the deck planks popping and flapping up and down around it as the Kraken twisted the mast like a farmer trying to twist a rotten post out of the post hole.
In desperation the sailors converged, hacking at the tentacle on the port side, smashing the barbed sides of the harpoon heads into the tentacle and then dragging them backwards to saw through the rubbery flesh. Blue blood mixed with lashing rain to half blind them but their vicious attacks didn't let up and what looked like half the tentacle was left hanging from the spar of the mizzen royal sail when the ragged stump finally dragged back over the railing. Any hope of cheering was short lived as a scream ring out. The sailor manning the light in the bow, crouched by his charge, trying to keep the tentacles locked in the beams of blistering light even as they dragged the two sailors that had been guarding him clear off the deck and smashed them down into the lake. They vanished without a chance to scream themselves.
"Get off mah friends!" Thorian roared, his eyes turning red. Kaelin saw and took a massive gamble. Haggis rang out with an explosive, violent chorus that ripped through the air with the force of a serrated blade.
Thorian bounded forward, cleared the forecastle steps in a single leap, seized the sailor by the collar and threw him out of the way. The Captain stared in stunned amazement as the sailor sailed passed his ear and out over the stern of the ship.
"You there, life lines out you lazy lot! Shift yer afts or I'll yeet the lot of you out there to join him!" he bellowed at the stunned knot clustered from where they had finished hacking at the tentacle slowly uncoiling from round the mizzen mast. They leapt to obey, staggering as the tentacle still holding the mizzen mast yanked it to starboard.
On the forecastle, Thorian was a blaze of motion and roars, blue blood sheeting into the air, chunks and splatters of rubbery flesh bouncing and quivering across the decks as one tentacle just exploded in half. The other reared back, sliding and slithering off the deck, suckers popping and squishing as it retreated. Thorian wasn't going to give it such mercy. It erupted, a solid wall of disintegrated flesh and blood blasting across the forecastle deck, turning the rippling rain water almost purple.
The ship lurched as the last tentacle released the mizzen mast and smashed down on the last light on the starboard side. It rose again for a second blow. Ulrich rose gracefully to the points of his toes and then his jewel studded blade whispered through the air, a faint trail of bisected raindrops trailing after it as it whipped back and forth through the tentacles. The flesh of the tentacle barely seemed to move and for a moment, Jeremiah struggling loose of the tumbled canvas thought at Ulrich had missed... then the section in front of Ulrich parted and fell as rings of flesh that bounced and rolled across the deck, the top section toppling like a tree and smashing to the deck, missing Jeremiah and the Captain by inches. Jeremiah swore as he scrambled back out of the way.
"Do you always have to show off," Thorian shouted from where he knelt, hanging his head like a sick dog as he gasped for breath, rain water and spray surging round his knees, washing the deck clean. He lifted his head as the sun pierced through the clouds, the rain finally slackening off.
Within moments the last splatters of raindrops pattered down, the clouds parted and the swell calmed and settled as if the storm had never occurred.
With a final parp Kaelin let Haggis fall silent, looking about herself at the wreckage that now made the deck. Tangled and broken rigging flapped and trailed, the shattered pieces of four of the lamps mixed into the mess. She counted the remaining sailors.
"What's up?" Ulrich asked as he walked down the poop deck steps.
"Four," Kaelin's expression was despondent.
"I'm sure Elisha will understand," Ulrich reassured her.
"No, I didn't mean that," Kaelin rubbed a straggle of hair out of her face, "We lost four of the sailors. It took them. No, five. We lost five of them and the last of them was...was my fault... I triggered Thorian's rage... I.... I didn't think."
A ragged cheer sounded from the stern. Dripping, coughing and shivering the sailor that had flown the whole length of the ship was hauled over the railing and helped to his feet by his mates. Kaelin sighed in relief.
"O.K. only four," she managed a weak smile, "Not great but better than I feared."
Thorian lurched down the forecastle steps and limped to the poop deck steps. He struggled up them to approach the sailor that he had thrown the length of the ship.
"I'm sorry about slinging you like that," Thorian said. Jeremiah looked round at the orc crossbreed and started muttering under his breath.
"What?" the sailor asked looking up and then he eyes went wide.
"I said I'm sorry about slinging you down the ship," Thorian repeated, slightly puzzled by the way that the man was staring at him as if he'd just grow an extra head, "I just wanted you out of the way before I went to work on it. I could feel myself getting too angry, watching that thing trying to squish you like that and I wanted you out of the way before I lost it. I didn't expect you to wind up in the drink, so sorry again." Thorian held out his hand but the sailor just whimpered and went slack in his mates' grip, eyes rolling back in his head until only the whites showed.
"Was it something I said?" Thorian looked round, asking everyone there.
"I think the shock was just too much for him," the Captain gave the now silent Jeremiah a look as he handed the wheel over to the bosun, "And I for one don't blame him. Get him below decks, out of his wet things and wrapped up warm. Tell the cook to heat him up a hot drink and add that cook is to heat a warm potage for all of us while he's at it. The rest of you, start clearing up this mess, we need to go over this ship from stem to stern and discover what is still working. Bosun, keep her on the heading and steady as she goes. Friend Ulrich, if you could see to using that fancy sword of yours and chop up what our unpleasant guest left behind then the cook might be able to make use of it."
With a slither and a thump the tentacle wrapped around the mizzen mast came free and cascaded to the deck, pulling more of the rigging out of order.
"On it," Ulrich nodded and set to work clearing the starboard steps.
"I am never eating squid again," he observed after a few moments, pausing to wipe sweat from his brow, "There again," he hefted his blade, "Maybe I will just on the principle of revenge."
"Friend Kaelin," the Captain addressed her, "Would you be so kind as to find a way up into what we have left of our rigging and keep an eye out for more of that weather. I do not expect our unpleasant critter to come back for another round but I would rather not run the risk of it having a friend to send after us."
"Not a problem," Kaelin nodded and managed to scrabble up the knotted cobweb of rigging to the main topmast, were she settled herself of a spot of weather watching. The breeze played with her hair as if it had never been anything more than friendly.
Jeremiah was surreptitiously checking his book. He'd felt it warm in his pocket when he'd worked the illusion spell on the sailor so he'd seen Thorian as a ravening beast come to bite his head off. Now that Jeremiah inspected it, not only were there no signs of water damage, it was looking even better than it had done. It almost looked to be in the same condition as the one he had lifted out of the Abbey library. There was some sort of magic here but he wasn't quite sure what and it wasn't like he could ask his companions about it, dull creatures that they were. As he stroked the cover he felt something, something like a warm and tender caress around his soul. His darkling god's approval was almost over whelming and he quietly slipped the book back into his pocket as he noticed that as Thorian hauled and dumped, shifted and lumped, the orc crossbreed was muttering to himself.
"Thorian , my dear friend," Jeremiah oiled over to the orc crossbreed, "Whatever is the matter my dear friend?" Thorian gave Jeremiah a careful look, his eyes not totally free of suspicion and he shifted several more lumps of Kraken over to the hatch way where a sailor was hauling them down below decks before he answered.
"I was just wondering if I could find someone to write me a note for that sailor I yeeted earlier as I don't write so good," Thorian eventually admitted, "I'm trying but I don't seem to get the hang of all those little wiggles and nobody else seems to get my pictures."
"Well perhaps I can help there," Jeremiah smiled, "Not to blow my own trumpet but I am a fair hand at writing and I am sure that if you spoke out loud what you wished to tell the sailor I'd be able to record it for you. Then you could give him the letter the next time you see him."
"That sounds Okay," Thorian admitted as he held a broken spar up so the sailors could unthread the rigging from it, "Thank you."
"Well then," Jeremiah smiled as he dug in his pockets until he pulled out a piece of parchment and an ink stick, "Speak away friend." Thorian thought for a moment as he shifted the broken spar to one side of the deck and collected more Kraken rings from Ulrich's efforts.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry again for throwing him out of the way so hard that he wound up flying off of the ship," as he spoke Jeremiah scribbled a way like mad, "I really didn't mean to do that, its just that I know that when I lose my temper I some times hurt people I don't mean to hurt and I didn't want that to happened to him. I'm right glad the others managed to get him out of the water and if it is alright, when we get to Nether Wallop I'd like to buy him a drink."
Jeremiah's ink stick scribbled over the page as Thorian spoke and he signed off a few moments after Thorian finished speaking.
"There you go," he smiled as he rolled up the parchment and handed it over.
"Thank..." Thorian paused as his hand closed about the parchment. Something about Jeremiah's smile wasn't friendly. There was something in his eyes that reminded Thorian of a shark, "You. Thank you very much."
"Is there something wrong friend, Thorian?" Jeremiah's smile didn't flicker but the unpleasant edge grew stronger.
"Nah, course not," Thorian smiled back, sweating only slightly, "I'm sure you've got it all down just as I wanted it. Now if yah don't mind I'd better get back to helping out, our squiddy friend has left us with quite a mess to clean up." He tucked the letter into a pocket and Jeremiah seemed to relax.
"Of course," his smile became slightly less threatening, "I really should discover what I could do as well to help out the situation." Him wandered off and Thorian breathed a sigh of relief. There was something really bad about that priest some days.
Some hours later Thorian made sure he was in the right place to meet Kaelin as she came down from the rigging to bag some food.
"Er Kaelin could you help me out with something?" he asked diffidently.
"Depends," her usual sullen expression didn't give anything away, "What is it you're asking about?"
"I wanted to write that sailor I chucked about a note and Jeremiah wrote it down for me but I'm not sure he wrote what I wanted him to," Thorian explained, glancing about to make sure that Jeremiah wasn't hanging about. Indeed, despite the fat priest's words, he hadn't been doing a lot of work since the battle. He was always seen hurrying about but he always seemed to be on his way to do something, not actually doing anything and at the moment he seemed to be not on the deck. "I was wondering if you could take another look at it?"
"Yeah, why not," Kaelin held out her hand, "One of the few things Grandpa did let us learn, how to read and all that. Guess it was too ingrained for him to think of forbidding us to learn the trick." She read the note, her eyebrows slowly rising.
"It depends," she said at last, "Where you intending to rip the guys head off the next time you saw him or did you have something else in mind?"
"I never said that?" Thorian protested, "I was offering to buy him a drink!"
"Then I would say that Jeremiah was not the person you should have asked for help," Kaelin observed.
"Well its just that you and Ulrich seemed so busy and he asked if he could help," Thorian mumbled, his eyes welling with tears, "What have I ever done to him?"
"Been the easy target," Kaelin sighed, "That would be my guess, to Jeremiah you are an easy target. I'm sorry to say that some pure blood humans can delight in causing as much pain and torment to their fellow living beings as much as any monstrosity and Jeremiah seems to be one of them. What is more he seems to like picking on those he doesn't think can out wit him." She crumpled up the offending piece of parchment and lode it over the side. "Come on, I think the Captain can help out with this."
It turned out he could provide another piece of parchment, which was serviceable despite its blemishes and Kaelin could write well enough to note down Thorian's note, as he actually wanted it written down. With some relief Thorian tucked the new note into his pocket but turned around to find Jeremiah watching him.
"Why friend Thorian," Jeremiah asked, "Was there something wrong with the letter I wrote down for you earlier?"
"Er..." Thorian felt his brain trying to run away and squeak but then he remembered what Kaelin had said about Jeremiah picking on people he didn't think could out smart him, "Oh no, Kaelin just wanted to know how well written it was and she said that she noticed a few gram-mat-tickle errors. But its fine she sorted them out."
"Grammatically errors?" Jeremiah frowned, "I wouldn't have thought that possible, not with all the hours I've studied. May I see it again? I'm sure I could..."
"Nah, no worries," Thorian waved a hand, "As I said its alright, Kaelin sorted it out. She said something about your spelling being something like three hundred years out of date as well."
"Three hundred years out of date?" Jeremiah spluttered.
"Yeah, guess reading all those old books means you didn't see that the way things are scribbled down has changed in the last little while," Thorian grinned and slapped Jeremiah on the back, causing him to stumbled, "Might want to get your hands on some new books some time soon."
Jeremiah blustered and spluttered as Thorian wandered away to their cabins, whistling a jaunty tune. Jeremiah's mood didn't improve that much that night either, his dreams haunted by the deep and resonant thrum of a cello, echoing in the shadows.
"Alright, alright," he grumped in his dream, "I'm getting to it. Last thing I need is an impatient ghost." He rolled over and the notes of the cello faded letting him dive deeper into sleep, but they hoovered, just below the edge of hearing. Jeremiah snorted in his sleep but stayed aware that he was still being watched, even as he slept.
