'I expect it's just a fluke.'
'Hmm.'
'… Eleven… twelve… thirteen…'
'Seems it's all right this time,' Kalgeck announced.
'… Fourteen… fifteen…'
'Good. Now maybe we can get on and — '
The line suddenly went taut. Then it began playing out at a rapid rate. The end of it would have disappeared over the side if several dwarfs hadn't grabbed hold of it.
But they struggled, and the rope was sliding painfully through their hands. Kalgeck, Spurral and the others joined in, and still they fought to keep a grip.
'We're going to lose it!' Spurral warned.
'It must be snagged,' Kalgeck reckoned.
'Then why's it moving about so much?'
The rope was going from left to right, then back again, and it was twisting in their hands. Kalgeck called for help. Three dwarfs ran to them and seized the rope. Now there were no less than nine of them clutching the line, but the bizarre tug-of-war went on.
It ended abruptly. Without warning, the line went slack. The release was so sudden it put them all on their backs. Scrambling to their feet, they quickly hauled the rope in. This time there was no resistance. Again, it had been severed.
'What the hell's going on?' Spurral said.
Kalgeck was blowing on his reddened palms. 'Maybe it got caught on a sunken wreck.'
'That's moving about?'
'The currents that deep can be strong. Maybe it — '
A weighty thump echoed through the ship. It originated somewhere far below. A second later there was another impact, louder and more powerful. The ship bobbed, tilting the deck and making the dwarfs' footing unsure.
Someone yelled and pointed. No more than an arrow's flight away a large segment of sea bubbled and boiled. The churning water was white with foam.
'What the hell is that?' Spurral exclaimed.
One of the Gatherer prisoners, working on some tedious chore nearby, had abandoned it and come to the rail. He stared at the seething mass of water with a fearful expression.
'Do you know what it is?' Spurral asked him.
He nodded, but seemed unable to speak.
'Well?' she insisted.
He whispered, ' The Krake.'
'What's that?'
The human gave no answer. She looked at the others. Kalgeck had gone pale, and the other dwarfs in earshot looked just as drained of colour.
'Kalgeck?' she appealed. 'Kalgeck!'
He tore his eyes from the restless water. 'We've heard the stories. The Krake are lords of the deep. Some say they're gods. They can crush any size of ship, or pull it down into the abyss.'
'To do that they'd have to be… gigantic.'
'Bigger than islands, they say.'
'But you've never actually seen these things yourself?'
'Not… until now.' He was staring over her shoulder.
She turned.
Something was rising from the angry water. At first, with spray and mist obscuring the view, it was hard to make out what it was. As it continued to rise it became clearer.
It was an appendage, a tentacle with the girth of a temple pillar. Like a blind cave worm it was greyish-white, and its gristly skin was dappled with thick blue veins. Soon it had risen to the height of the ship, and was still growing.
Another tentacle erupted from the water, much closer to the vessel; near enough to rock it and send a wave over the rail. Soaked and dazed, the dwarfs retreated.
Shouts and screams had them turning to the opposite rail. On that side, too, tentacles were rising. The dwarfs stood transfixed as more and more emerged. In minutes the tentacles, swaying grotesquely, stood taller than the mainmast. All around the ship the water frothed wildly.
One of the tentacles came down, striking the deck a tremendous, sodden blow. Another swept in horizontally, demolishing the rail and causing dozens to duck. When a third crashed into the bridge, the dwarfs snapped out of their stupor.
They set about attacking the odious limbs with cutlasses and axes. The rubbery flesh proved resilient. Blows glanced off, and only continuous hacking made any impression. When blades did break through to tissue they released copious amounts of a glutinous ochre-coloured liquid. Its disgusting stink had them reeling.
The tentacles weren't just causing damage to the ship. Somehow sensing the dwarfs and humans, they slithered at remarkable speed to entwine any they could catch. Screaming victims were hoisted into the air and over the side.
Encircled by a muscular tentacle, the mainmast snapped like matchwood and toppled, pinning dwarfs and humans alike. So dire was the situation that even the Gatherers joined the effort to repel the Krake. They were using improvised weapons, or snatching up swords and axes dropped by dwarfs who had been taken. In the face of disaster the slavers and their one-time captives made common cause. Not that it made much difference.
'This is hopeless!' Spurral yelled as she battered at a writhing tentacle.
'We'll have to abandon ship!' Kalgeck returned. He was smothered in the foul-smelling yellowish-brown life fluid.
'I wouldn't give much for our chances on the open sea!'
'What, then?'
'Just keep fighting!'
A bellowing human was dragged past, a tentacle wrapped around his legs. Spurral and Kalgeck tried to hack him free, but their blades made practically no headway. The unfortunate Gatherer was whipped over the rail and disappeared.
Ominous creaking and rending sounds came from the ship's bowels. Above deck, tentacles ripped through timber as though it were parchment. Planks buckled, the remaining masts shuddered, canvas fell.
The ship lurched violently. Then it began to descend.
'We're going down!' Kalgeck shouted.
Water began pouring over the rails and swamping the deck. It was ankle-deep in seconds, then knee- and quickly waist-high. Panic broke out.
Spurral felt as much as heard the hull crushing. Dwarfs and humans were swept overboard. She looked around for Kalgeck and saw him being carried over the rail by a torrent of water.
There was a dizzying drop as what remained of the ship was pulled beneath the waves.
Spurral was immersed. Underwater, all was chaos. The sinking craft, shedding fragments. A jumble of barrels, chests, ropes, scraps of sail, struggling bodies, twisting tentacles.
Just briefly she glimpsed animate forms, deathly white and grotesque in appearance. They were of enormous bulk, and their repugnant flesh pulsated horribly. She saw gaping, cavernous mouths lined with fangs the size of broadswords. And she caught sight of a single massive eye, unblinking and afire with greedy malevolence.
Then, mercifully, total darkness closed in on her.
22
Once the ship they had set on fire was out of sight, the Wolverines inspected their second craft. According to
