I stared silently at the sleek vessel that hung motionless in the water in front of us, stunned by the voice that had just bubbled up in my mind. It was cold and slimy and brought images of swamps and coiling slithering shapes.
"You created a sentient ship?" Laurel said in awe.
Don't compare me with those pathetic unnatural minds, the ship hissed. I am far sssuperior to them, even in this odd form!
I swallowed and quickly summoned my status window.
> Your attempted summoning of a Vengeful Spirit into empty lifewood has backfired and resulted in a wandering spirit being drawn into the vessel.
> You have limited control over this spirit.
Great, I thought, turning my attention back to the ship.
"Do you have a name?"
Yesss, I am Lark-tongue the Terrible! The ship hissed quietly.
The name should have made me laugh aloud, but there was such a foreboding vibe from the ship that I only shared a glance with Laurel. She cocked an eyebrow, but I shook my head.
"Alright. Can I call you Lark?" I asked after a moment, praying it would consent.
Yess, master.
"Alright, Lark. We need to reach the coast close to Orlion…" my voice petered off as I wondered if Lark would know where it was.
You will need to share your map with me. It iss not on the outdated one in this vessel'sss memory.
I turned to Laurel, who was looking at me with foreboding.
"Can you share your map?"
She nodded reluctantly, and I saw her shiver and closed her eyes as if something revolting was happening.
I ssee it. Climb aboard, Master.
I examined the ship for a short moment before swimming to the front deck with a feeling like entering a lion's den.
Why can't this thing resemble Barry?
The deck of Lark was smooth, and the railing was a single piece without view holes and reached up to my waist. Laurel and I held onto the edge, looking at the dark, wreck-filled waters ahead of us.
"We are ready," I said, wondering how the ship was going to move. There was no sail, and even if there were, how would that even work underwater. A soft hiss came from Lark, and then the railing moved below my hands. I looked around in shock as the ship began moving forward like a snake, the hull bending like toffee. Redtooth was easily keeping up, swimming at the nose like I had seen dolphins do.
Does this fish have to sstay this close? Lark asked in a disgusted voice.
"Yes," I replied carefully. I wasn't yet sure what to make of Lark and decided to be careful while dealing with him. "He's a friend, and as long as we are underwater, he will come along."
Then I hope we shall leave underwater sssoon, Master.
I nodded, agreeing with Lark, but probably not for the same reasons.
"Did Rathica give you all these spells?" Laurel asked, leaning across the railing and staring into the dark distance. From how her eyes moved, I was surprised to realize she had to be seeing something. We had been traveling for hours now, in the dark, and I hadn't realized until now. She cocked an eyebrow at me, and I remembered her question.
"You could say that," I replied as I recalled the massive library.
"The requirement to join her order must be insane," Laurel said, shaking her head as she turned her attention back to the front.
I remained beside her, looking around for any problems that might arise. I was slightly worried that Lark would get us into trouble, but as we continued through the graveyard, nothing hampered our way.
I was slowly drifting off, my eyelids growing heavy as weariness caught up to me when Laurel's surprised shout snapped me awake.
"Isn't that the Foul Mouth?"
My eyes snapped fully open, and I followed her finger to a wreck that seemed in far better shape than most of those we had found. The hull was smashed apart, and the masts snapped off halfway, making it hard to see, but I thought she might be right. A soft shimmer appeared around it for a moment, and I realized that there was water dripping on the deck.
There's a pocket of air around it!
"Lark, move closer to that ship!" I shouted to our serpentine vessel.
Why, master? It'ss just some pathetic fake entity, never even alive to begin with!
I was surprised by the question but just grunted.
"Because I want to see if anybody is still alive."
"You know that's impossible," Laurel said, at the same time that Lark hissed in surprise.
"There's a bubble of air around it, and besides the ship itself might still be alive," I replied sharply.
They didn't respond, but I was glad to see that Lark turned left, heading towards the wreck.
The closer we got, the more we could see the damage that had been wrought. The deck itself was torn asunder, and what had been the cabin was crushed onto itself.
"Why are these things all gathered here?" I asked. Nobody responded.
We arrived at the wreckage, and I gazed down on what I was pretty sure was the Foul Mouth. It had the same shape, and as I swam over the railing and down to the deck, I noticed small inscriptions in parts of the doorframe. Redtooth was hovering above me, staring down curiously. There weren't any bodies anywhere, and looking at the softly shimmering barrier and the glistening deck beyond it, I placed my hand on the barrier. It passed through without a hitch, and I grabbed the railing behind it.
Hehehe
A peal of soft crackling laughter erupted in my mind that continued without end and without stopping to breathe. I recognized the mental voice of the Foul Mouth. It gave me the creeps just listening to it, and I could barely make out any sanity or conscious thought in it.
Foul, is that you? I asked, pushing my mind forward a bit.
Tee hee hee, the laughter continued more crazed than before, and I tried to connect to the ship's mind a few more times until I gave up.
Laurel stood beside me, her hand on the railing and her eyes narrowed.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked, but she just shook her head.
"I don't know. I've never heard of a living ship that survived something like this. Perhaps it broke," she said after a while, but I wasn't listening. Instead, I carefully climbed across the railing, and when my head passed through, water dripped from my nose and other orifices. As soon as my nose was clear, I gently sniffed, but the air seemed clean. Emboldened, I climbed fully aboard, my body feeling like lead after being underwater for such a long time.
Laurel followed me, and we stretched until we could move naturally again. Carefully we began searching through the ship, and I had a little hope of finding my gear. It quickly evaporated as we found that nothing loose remained. Tentacles had slammed through the entire ship, leaving large holes through which everything had probably been washed out.
When we reached the end of the cabin, we came to a locked door, and when I tried opening it, the Foul Mouth finally stopped laughing.
NO! Leave her. Her body is all I have left!
The ship's mental pain and anger washed over me, and I stumbled. Behind me, something crashed to the ground, and I turned to see Laurel on the ground. She was grasping at her head, her eyes closed and her mouth agape.
We won't harm you or her! I shouted back, but the pain and anger just increased until I found my vision growing blurry. Looking at the door, I wondered if the captain was beyond it. It didn't matter if she was. We had to get out of here.
I turned and grabbed Laurel, who had fallen unconscious. Lifting her up, I hadn't been as glad for four arms in a very long time. Using two to hold her and one to balance her, I used the last to lean against walls when I lost my own balance. The dizziness worsened, and then the screaming started. A migraine slammed into my head, and I groaned in pain.
When I finally reached the deck, I could barely see where I was going, and I moved towards the railing and tossed us headfirst into the water. As soon as we left the bubble, the screams became muted and a moment later disappeared altogether.
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Did you find what you were looking for, Master? Lark asked.
"No, and I don't think we will," I said after a moment. I wondered if the captain was still alive. Foul Mouth had said body, though, so it seemed highly unlikely. I swam back towards the serpentine vessel, dragging Laurel along and placing her on the deck below the mast.
"Lark. Mark this location on your map," I said, deciding that someone else would have to go check later.
Done. Shall we continue to Orlion then?
"Yeah. Lets." I said, closing my eyes.
I felt Lark begin to snake forward again but didn't have the energy to look. I couldn't wait to be out of this sea and reconnect with Rathica. Besides the lack of headaches, I missed the fearlessness the connection gave me.
I stayed leaning against the mast for a long time, drifting into a light slumber but never really completely asleep. The fear of being eaten by monsters or dumped somewhere by Lark kept me partially awake until, at some point, sleep finally won.
--
Master, trouble!
The voice of Lark woke me, and I shot up, the movement causing my body to drift up half a meter. Looking around, I saw that the darkness had receded, and the world around us was now a dirty red. Laurel was still unconscious beside me.
I blinked a few times, my vision still a bit blurry from sleep. There was a gnawing, garbled sound coming from not too far away, and occasional snarls. When my vision finally sharpened, I almost wished it had not.
A few hundred meters above us was a churning mass of demons surrounding a massive Manytooth corpse. It looked to be the size of a whale, or bigger, and turning to Redtooth, I swallowed. Was this thing a baby? How long did it take for him to grow to that size? A gurgling sound from the corpse made me look up just in time to see a massive burst of air expelled from the side of the stomach, brown stained bubbles bubbling up in a stream.
I began examining the demons that surrounded the corpse. Most were the now-familiar demon-squids, dark red and black, but between them swam four-armed mermen with tentacled lower bodies, like an octopus instead of a fishtail. The mermen moved in packs of three or four, digging through the dark grey flesh as if searching for gold.
We have to get passsed them, Lark hissed.
I looked past the corpse and the sea beyond it and shook my head in confusion. "So? Just go around it?"
I tried, but this is the ssafest place.
"This- what?"
I swam to the railing, looking further into the sea. I didn't see anything but empty reddish water. It was a bit blurry, but there didn't seem to be anything dangerous.
To that ssside is the territory of a massive demon-squid. I tried moving there, and it immediately began chasing me. It only left when I reached the other area.
"So, go that way?"
It left because another one came from that side. They had a sstaredown before they both reluctantly left.
I pointed up. "And over?"
No good. There are thousands of those small ssquids everywhere, hunting anything that moves.
"Fucking fabulous," I muttered, staring at the frenzy around the corpse. Some of the demons had noticed us, but they made no move towards us.
"Can you rush past?" I asked after a while, wondering if they would even chase us.
I will try, master, but I thought it better to wait for you to wake.
"You woke me..." I grumbled. Still, Lark was right. If he was going to rush past something, it would be better if I wasn't asleep on the deck. What if I drifted away? Wait, why haven't I drifted off the ship yet? I hung perfectly still, trying to determine why I wasn't dragged away by the current I saw around the ship.
"Lark, are you doing something to keep us close to you?"
Yess master. I can't make one of those air bubbles without surfacing first, but I have made a barrier to keep you insside. A better one!
A better one? I thought as I looked at the serpent head at the prow. It was looking at me. The top turned almost a hundred and eighty degrees to look around. Is he like a child? I thought, suddenly feeling a lot less afraid of Lark's intentions.
"Lark, how old are you?"
Ancient, Master! I am thousandsss of days old! I've survived for such a long time in the Forlorn caves due to my astute intelligence.
The hissing voice of Lark sounded so smug that I gaped at it.
Days?
A soft groaning came from behind me, and I turned to find Laurel had started to move. She opened her eyes and gazed around blearily.
"Wha-append?" she muttered, stumbling over her words.
"Impeccable timing," I said, waving my hands around until I was beside her. "We are about to get into some trouble again."
Laurel looked at me, and I slowly saw the realization that I wasn't joking dawn on her face.
"Great. Why not. It's not like we've got it so easy," she muttered under her breath.
I laughed softly as she followed me to the railing and quickly explained the situation. As we stared at the bloody mess ahead of us, the laughter quickly died down again.
"So. We are going to storm through and kill anything that comes too close?" Laurel said after a moment.
"Unless you have a better idea?"
Laurel looked around, then turned to me. "Not, up, not left or right. But what about down?"
I am not going down again! Itssss cold! Lark hissed loudly.
Laurel glared at the serpentine head at the prow. "Seriously? We are going to do something possibly lethal because it's cold below?"
Lark's dark wooden eyes narrowed, followed by a warning hiss.
"Calm down. I am sure she didn't mean it in a bad way," I said quickly, shaking my head at Laurel, who was about to say something. She looked at me in disbelief, and I wished I could figure out how to explain what was going on. Not that I even knew myself.
"Lark, is the cold worse than being struck by those demons?" I asked carefully.
They won't hit me! I am much too fassst, Lark replied in the same smug tone again.
As if to show he wasn't joking, he began moving forward. We moved at full speed towards the massive corpse, aiming to pass it perhaps ten meters to the left. Redtooth was hovering behind us, looking at the corpse and the demons and us.
"Come!" I yelled, but the six-eyed shark just looked at me and stayed put.
Dammit, I need to get the better version of this Befriend spell, I thought.
I pondered for a moment to jump overboard and find my own way past. Then the first of the demons saw us, and the option was gone.
Grabbing the ax, I wished Lark could create an air pocket so fighting would be easier. I blinked and snapped my gaze to the belly of the corpse from which stained air still bubbled up. It wasn't as much as before, but there was still a steady stream moving up.
"Lark, can you make an air bubble from the air that is escaping from the corpse?"
Lark didn't reply, but his direction changed, his speed increasing even more as he headed up and straight towards the stream of air bubbles.
"Dammit, what are you doing, Est? Now we are passing even closer to them! They are bound to attack us now!"
"Yes, but at least with a bubble, I can fight more than one!"
"By Fin'r's balls! Were going to die," Laurel hissed, focusing on the demon-squids that were now shooting towards us while grabbing her daggers.
I focused on the air and tried to gauge the time it would take to reach it. Lark was going fast, so half a minute perhaps, but the first of the squids were faster, and they would overtake us before that.
"Get ready. We need to survive until we get the air pocket," I said, swimming to the center of the deck. Laurel followed me, grumbling to herself about ships that didn't like cold water.
I agreed with her, but there wasn't any time to think about Lark's peculiarities. Ten seconds later, the first squids slammed against a greenish barrier around the ship. Thin cracks appeared on it, as with glass ready to shatter.
"Can you hold them out until we reach the air pocket?"
No master, the barrier isn't meant for that yet.
"Ok, keep them at bay as long as you can!"
A sound like breaking glass followed my words as the barrier shattered into a myriad of quickly dissipating ice-like shards. Immediately I felt my body being pushed away by a current of water. Flailing around, I tried to keep my position on the deck, but it was in vain. I slammed into the mast as Laurel flew past me. Grabbing the mast with my legs, I stretched and reached her falling arm to keep her with me.
Something bit into my arm, and I saw a palm-sized demon-squid attached to it. My health bar showed, dropping by a sliver. A dozen more were a few seconds away, while larger ones were not far behind.
"How much further!" I screamed, using my last free hands to grip the squid and squeeze. It felt like holding a fat slug and popped like one when you stepped on it. Ripping it away revealed two circular holes in my arm, blood streaming from one and something disgusting and yellow from the other.
Twenty sseconds master!
Shit! Too long! I thought when six of the squids shot towards me. I tried beating them away when a glistening thing flashed past my face. Jerking my head back, I found Laurel slashing around with her knives, trying to kill the other squids. She had two already attached to her back, and I saw there were two suckers on them that I hadn't seen on the large ones. Her blood was flowing through one, while ochre-colored stuff flowed into her from the other.
The feeling of five bites came from my legs and back, and I grabbed two of the disgusting things on me, squeezing them as fast as I could. I couldn't reach the ones on my back well enough and felt my body start to tingle. My health bar began slowly decreasing, at a percent per second.
A weary feeling spread from the bites.
"Laurel, drop the knives and rip them off my back!" I roared, trying to get through to Laurel, who was slashing at two demon-squids attached to her calf.
"Laurel!" I roared at the top of my voice, and this time I got through. She looked up, and I grabbed one of the squids on her shoulder and made it go pop. The disgusting yellow bile from them was hanging behind us in a streak as Lark zoomed forward.
Laurel slammed her knives into the sheathes on her legs and reached up. I felt a sense of relief when she ripped the squids on my back away, as I did the same for her. My health bar had dropped to eighty percent, and looking up, I saw the larger ones, the size of a human a few meters away.
We are at the air master! Tell me when to-
"NOW!" I roared, and immediately I felt a rush of air passed me. The water was pushed away from the ship in a great woosh, and I fell to the deck. Thuds came from all around, followed by screeches and thumping.
I released Laurel and scrambled up. There were nine or ten of the larger demon-squids on the deck, their tentacles flailing around. Gripping my ax with four hands, I swung it like a batter across the deck, cutting one in half. A pungent yellow liquid poured out of it. Feeling the last of the water stream from my nose, I drew air through my nose, and my lungs turned on fire.
Biting on the metal in my mouth, a rush of air followed, and I coughed while trying to keep the metal bit between my mouth. Feeling the burning ease a little, I rushed around the deck, killing the squids. Laurel followed me, her lips pursed together.
When the last one was gone, I looked around and noticed a new greenish barrier around the ship. Dozens of demon-squids were circling it, slamming it with their tentacles.
Master, they will break it!
I growled and rushed towards one of the dead squids that weren't cut in two. As soon as my fingers touched it's squishy flesh, I drew a Vengeful Spirit in. The same rush of spirits as before came, but this time the first one entered the dead demon fish without a hitch. I threw the spirit towards the barrier, running to the next one.
"Kill everything around the ship!" I screamed as I flung the demon squids outside one at a time, even the one cut in half. When I was done with the last, I saw that my Vengeful Spirit imbued demon-squids were duking it out with the others. Our distance to them was quickly increasing, and I tried to remember if there was a range limit to them.
When we couldn't see them anymore, I slumped down on the deck.
"If you could make those things into pets, why didn't you do it before?" Laurel said as she lay down on her back. She groaned and shot back up, seeming to be in pain.
Putting my head on my knees, I sighed, making sure not to breathe any of the toxic fumes but relying on the metal bit.
"I forgot," I said, hoping we could get some smooth sailing to Orlion from now on.