Part 5 (2/2)
”Why not?” Free of the valley and with a fair wind astern, Stanager was in too good a mood to let the solemn-faced traveler mute her high spirits.
”Certainly they were by themselves in their millions strong enough to drag the s.h.i.+p clear, but any line, however mighty, needs an anchor against which to pull.” He waved diffidently at the gentle swells through which they were cutting. ”What was theirs?”
”Who knows?” She shrugged, much too relieved to be really interested. ”The top of an undersea mountain, perhaps, or a shelf of corals.”
”Corals would not hold up under the strain. They would break off.”
”Well, the submerged mountaintop, then.” He really was a man to discourage good cheer, she decided.
Not naturally grave, but given to an inherent reluctance to let himself go and have a good time. Simna ibn Sind was incorrigible, but at least he knew how to celebrate a success. Deciding to put the proposition to a small test, she reached down and pinched the stoic herdsman on his stolid behind. Startled, he finally took his eyes off the sea.
”So you are alive after all.” She grinned cheerfully. ”I was beginning to wonder.”
His expression was one of utter confusion, which pleased her perversely. ”I-I did not mean to dampen anyone's spirits. I am as gladdened as everyone else that we are safely out of the valley. You have to excuse me. It is simply that as long as I am afflicted with an unanswered question, it is impossible for me to completely relax. I can manage it a little, yes, but not completely.”
”I'm surprised that you are able to sleep,” she retorted.
Now it was his turn to grin. ”Sometimes, so am I.”
”Come and have a grog with me.” She gestured over the bow. ”Doroune lies that way, to the southwest.
We'll have you and your friends there soon enough, and from then forward I'll be denied the pleasure of your company. Prove to me that there is some truth in that statement.”
His uncertainty returned. ”What, that we'll reach the coast soon?”
”No, you great elongated b.o.o.by.” She punched him hard in the thick part of his right arm. ”That there's pleasure to be had in your company.”
For an instant, inherent hesitation held him back. Then he relaxed into a wide smile. To her surprise, not to mention his own, he put his arm around her. ”I do not especially like the taste of seamen's grog, but under the circ.u.mstances, it is the taste I think I should seek.”
Even those members of the crew a.s.signed to duty high up in the rigging joined in the festivities. Internal lubrication caused a number to sway dangerously at their positions, but by some miracle the deck remained unsplattered. TheGromsketter continued to make headway, albeit more slowly than the efficient Stanager Rose would have liked.
The celebration continued unchecked until one lookout, his vision blurred but his mind still vigilant, sang out with an utterly unexpected and shocking declamation.
”Kraken!Kraken off the port bow!”
On the main deck, conversing intimately with one of the female members of the crew, Simna ibn Sind heard the cry and sat up like a man stabbed. He had never seen such a thing as the lookout proclaimed, but he knew full well what it wa.s.supposed to look like. Stumbling only slightly, he abandoned his nascent paramour and staggered forward. Ehomba was already there, staring like a second figurehead out to sea.
”What ... ?” The swordsman steadied himself as he slammed up against the railing. ”What's happening, bruther? I heard the lookout....”
”Hoy,” the herdsman murmured, mimicking a favorite exclamation of his friend. ”We had our rescue.”
Turning back to the water, he nodded to the southwest. ”Now comes the reckoning.”
It arrived with ten immense arms each weighing a ton or more. Pale pink in color, the benthic colossus had surfaced less than a mile from the s.h.i.+p. Now it moved effortlessly closer, making a mockery of the desperate Priget's attempt to steer clear of its cylindrical bulk. A few crabs and barnacles clung to its smooth flanks, while scars revealed the history of t.i.tanic battles with sperm whales that had taken place in the depths of the ocean.
In an instant Stanager was beside Ehomba, even as she was beside herself. She could only stare in alarm and astonishment at the abyssal apparition that was making a leisurely approach to her s.h.i.+p. What else could one do when confronted by the sight and reality of the Kraken?
”That is what was at the other end of the hundred million crabs,” the herdsman informed her quietly.
”That is the only creature strong enough to both grip and anchor them.”
”But-what does it want? The crabs have gone, scattered back to their homes.”
”They were commanded. This is no crab, and would have to have been asked. I do not know what it wants, but whatever that may be, we had better hope we can supply it. The elders of my village have spoken many times of the Kraken, and I do not recall them commending it for its placid nature.” He tried to inject an optimistic note into the litany. ”They are a diverse family. Hopefully this one will be amenable to reason.”
”Reason?That? ” She gaped at him.
”The Kraken and their smaller cousins are among the most intelligent creatures in the sea. I thought an experienced mariner like yourself would know that.”
”I am a Captain of people,” she protested. ”I do not converse with squid!”
He turned from her, back to the many-armed monster that was approaching the s.h.i.+p. ”Perhaps you should learn.”
It swam right up to the bow. There was a sharp b.u.mp as theGromsketter, jarred by the contact, shuddered slightly. The Kraken did not try to halt the s.h.i.+p's progress, though it was clearly more than ma.s.sive enough to do so if it wished. Instead, it swam lazily alongside, paralleling the vessel's advance.
One of the two major tentacles rose high out of the water, reaching up to probe curiously at the lookout nest that topped the mainmast. The sailor stationed there crouched down, painfully aware of the inadequacy of his pitiful shelter.
Sidling to the side, Ehomba leaned as far over the railing as he dared and found himself gazing into a luminous, very alert eye. It was quite similar to his own, except that the Kraken's was nearly three feet in diameter. If he was not careful, a man could lose his mind in that eye, he warned himself.
The glistening orb twitched slightly and stared right back at him. Its pupil alone was far larger than Ehomba's eyeball. Behind Ehomba, Stanager and Simna waited breathlessly, knowing that the monster could pluck the herdsman from the deck as effortlessly as they would pinch a bud from a long-stemmed flower.
Ehomba smiled, for all the good that might do, and as he had done with the king of all the crabs, commenced to twist and wriggle his fingers.
The Kraken floated alongside, its tentacles weaving lazy patterns through the air and water, and studied the herdsman's limber gyrations. If so inclined, it was easily large enough to drag the entire s.h.i.+p down into the depths, locked in an unbreakable cephalopodian embrace. Iridescent waves of color, of electric blue and intense yellow, rippled through its skin as it flashed chromatoph.o.r.es at the apprehensive and uncomprehending crew.
Lowering his hands, Ehomba made a single final, sharp gesture with one pair of fingers-and waited.
Eyes that were full of unfathomable intelligence regarded him silently. Then the Kraken lifted half a dozen enormous tentacles from the water. Responding, men and women bolted for cover or tried to make certain of their hold on lines and posts. But the monster was not attacking; it was replying.
When those six gigantic limbs had risen from beneath the surface, a powerful urge to flee had surged through Simna ibn Sind. Mindful of Stanager's presence, he had held his position. Besides, there was nowhere to run to. Watching his lanky companion converse with the apparition by means of simple finger movements was akin to observing an infant engaging in casual chat with a mastodon via a confabulation of giggles. Only the possibility that the exchange might turn unpleasant, resulting in the sinking of the s.h.i.+p and the loss of all on board, kept him from smiling at the sight.
When he could stand it no longer, he let loose with the question that was on the verge of driving him and everyone else on board mad. ”For Gojokku's sake, bruther-what's it saying? What are you two talking about?” He hesitated only briefly. ”Youare talking, aren't you?”
”What?” As if suddenly remembering that he was not alone aboard theGromsketter, Ehomba turned to gaze rea.s.suringly at his companions. ”Yes, we are talking. In fact, we are having a most pleasant conversation.” Even as he replied to Simna, the herdsman continued to twitch and contort his fingers into patterns that meant nothing to his fellow humans.
”Hoy, then how about letting us in on a bit of it?”
”Yes,” agreed an anxious Stanager. ”What does it want?”
”Want? Why, it wants what I told Simna any creature in its position would probably want. Payment. For anchoring the hard-sh.e.l.led mult.i.tude that pulled us out of the valley.”
Stanager was uneasy. ”By all the sea G.o.ds and their siblings, what form of 'payment' could such a creature require?” Peering over the side, she observed the powerful, parrot-like beak protruding from the center of the mantle-a beak large and sharp enough to bite through the hull of a s.h.i.+p. ”If it's hungry, I'm not sacrificing any of my crew. We have preserved meat aboard, and fresh as well as dry fish. Might it be satisfied with that?”
Turning back to the eye of the Kraken, Ehomba worked his fingers. Once again, immense tentacles semaph.o.r.ed a reply. Wis.h.i.+ng to make certain that there was no miscommunication, the herdsman repeated the query and for a second time made scrupulous note of the response.
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