Chapter 25. Monsters of the Deep

We hustled up the steps to the deck.

Norma stood at the back of the boat, hand on hips, staring back up the river. “What in the deep depths of the Alasano did you get us into?”

The Alasano River was almost a mile wide. Its slow waters reminded Warren of pictures of the Mississippi that he’d seen back in high school. We had put some distance between ourselves and River Junction. At least a mile.

One boat followed us. It was far enough away that I couldn’t see anything other than a raised sail and a handful of people on deck.

“Are they chasing us?” Cassandra asked.

“That boat has both sails raised,” Ned said. “It’d be highly unusual for a fishing craft to speed along like that. He turned to get in Cassandra’s face. “Why would they want to chase us?”

Rowan pulled her sister back, and stepped forward in her place. “Do you really want to know?” Rowan said. “You knew when you picked us up and hid us in the cabin that we didn’t want to be found.”

Norma put a hand on Ned’s shoulder. “She’s right ‘bout that. But we didn’t know that people wanted you so badly that they’d pursue.”

Rowan winced at that.

“So what now?” Henry said. “We paid you well. And we’ll pay you the rest when you drop us off where we agreed.”

“You’ve caused us a lot of trouble,” Ned said. His eyebrows narrowed, a sign of genuine anger. “What am I supposed to do now? Everyone in town knows my boat. They’re gonna know I helped ya’. You’re gonna have to pay me a lot more than a hundred Silver to make this right. I’m gonna have to pay off all sorts ’a folk.”

The boat was gaining on us. Slowly.

“Umm,” I said. “I think they’re catching up.”

Ned and Norma both looked.

“He’s right, Ned. What are we gonna do?”

“Turn ‘em in,” Ned said. “I don’t want that kind of trouble.”

“You’re already in trouble,” Rowan said, taking a step toward Ned. “If they catch us, we’ll tell them that you willingly helped us escape. In fact,” she said, taking another step toward Ned and putting a finger on his chest. “We’ll tell them that you were part of it from the start. And they’ll believe us because this isn’t the first time you broke the law.”

Ned’s eyebrows shot up and his jaw went down, just for an instant. Rowan had called it. Time for some good cop, bad cop.

“Or,” I said in a low voice, putting my hand on Rowan’s shoulder and stepping up next to her. “We could all get out of here together, and we could make it worth your while.”

Ned looked nervously at Norma.

She sighed. “You got us into a real river storm this time,” she said. “Maybe it’s time we go on vacation, Ned.”

He looked back at me. “What do you mean by ‘make it worth our while’?”

“First, get us out of here.”

“Okay,” he said. “But this isn’t settled.”

Ned and Norma went into action mode. They hustled all over the boat. They untied an extra sail, then cranked a wench until it was taught. A giant bar whipped side to side on the boat, nearly taking me down.

I kept watch, gauging the distance between our crafts. While we had sped up, they gained on us still. Just less quickly.

As the boat got within range, I recognized the passengers. It was the company from Central City. The guards that we had stolen the Dungeon Seed from.

“What are we gonna do, Ned?” Norma asked.

Ned stood, arms across his chest, frowning and grumbling. “Those are warriors,” Ned said. “Look at ‘em, Norma. And they’re gaining.”

“Maybe they’ll give up?” she offered.

Ned grunted in doubt. “They’ll catch us before nightfall.”

Our little group sat near the back of the boat. Wind rustled hair. Rowan had taken her new spear out, and laid it over her lap. It must have stood six feet tall, with a long smooth wooden shaft. A one-foot length of sharpened metal, the shape of an elongated arrow with two prongs on either side made up the tip. Janica sat next to Rowan, whispering furiously about spear technique.

Ned walked up to us, looking at Rowan’s spear. “I have an idea,” Ned said.

“Oh boy,” Norma said, not excited about his announcement.

“What’s that?” Rowan asked.

“Fishing.”

“Fishing?” I said. “How’s that going to help?”

“Ned,” Norma said. She looked at him like he was crazy. “You aren’t—”

“It’s our only shot,” Ned said. He explained his plan to us.

A half-hour later, we stood at the ready, the four of us circled behind Ned. We each had ropes around our waists. The other end of the ropes were tied to the mast. Janica flew around above the boat, simulating a grand sequence of moves with an imaginary opponent.

The other boat had caught up. We had let it catch up. It still raced toward us, now less than a hundred yards behind us. The entire group from Central City stood watching us, hands on weapons. Like pirates ready to board our boat. I hated the plan. It required trusting Ned and Norma, which I did not. We didn’t have a choice, but Ned was up to something. I could see it in his eyes.

Norma had one hand on the wheel. She hollered back to her husband. “Ready!”

At the back of the boat, Ned pried the lid off of a barrel. A horrendous smell assaulted my nose. It smelled like someone had gutted a dozens of fish, mixed in body excrement, then let it out in the sun for days.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I retched, dry heaving in my mouth. Cassandra fell to her knees, hand covering her mouth and nose.

Ned barked a tremendous laugh, then dumped the contents of the barrel into the wake of our boat. Dead fish and oil coated the water between the boats.

Ned grinned at us as we covered our mouths and noses and retreated from the odor.

For the first time, I noticed he lacked several teeth.

We watched in silence as the approaching boat sped right into the floating refuse. The slime and rot. The guardsmen and women winced in confusion. Tried to ignore it. One vomited.

“Wait for it…” Ned said.

The captain of the other ship rushed out to the front of the boat, elbow over his nose. “Ned, you damned fool!” he shouted at us.

Ned laughed from his gut. “Good to see you, Fin!”

“You’ll kill us all!” Fin shouted back.

“You tried to kill us first!” Ned shouted.

Fin grabbed the wheel and spun it, steering their boat directly toward the shore. Too late. The other boat went right into the odorous water.

And then something stirred from below. The river churned and roiled. It looked like it was about to boil. A dark shape passed between the boats. Another.

“I see something,” Janica said from up above. “There’s a shadow under the water.”

A giant mouth emerged from below the water. It reminded me of that scene in “Jaws” where the shark tries to eat the entire boat. Its mouth must have been ten feet wide. The fish failed to swallow the boat whole, but knocked the boat sideways, nearly spelling its passengers overboard. The fish rose and fell back into the water, sending a splash like a tidal wave. Its body was black and smooth with long, black whiskers as long as Rowan’s new spear.

Monster Catfish

‎ Level 14, Elite

‎ HP 128/128

‎ Stamina 30 0/300

The passengers on the other boat screamed as the boat nearly capsized. People fell to the deck, sliding into the railing.

I felt paralyzed. Unable to move or think. I watched in horror, hand wrapped twice around a rope to steady myself. I didn’t love the idea of deep water. And deep water with a catfish large enough to swallow me whole. Nope. No thanks. The entire situation had gotten way out of hand. Sure, I didn’t want to be arrested and brought back to River Junction, but I also didn’t want to see any of the NPCs killed. That wasn’t discussed in the plan. Ned had described it more as a distraction. I knew that NPCs were really just ones and zeros, but they seemed incredibly human. They had ambitions and cared about each other.

“Ned!” Norma screamed. “I know you’re not gonna let those poor folks die.”

“Hush,” he called back. “It’ll be fine.” Ned climbed up onto a platform at the back of the boat. Connected to the platform was a crossbow large enough that no human could cock it. Minutes earlier, Ned had loaded the crossbow with an arrow as large as a jousting lance. A cord hung from the end of the projectile, attached to a wench. I imagined this is what Captain Ahab wished he had. Hopefully, Captain Ned wouldn’t meet the same fate.

Ned began tracking the monster with his harpoon, following its shadow as it circled in the water. “Children!” he yelled. “Tie yourselves up as we talked about. It’s almost time.”

We each hustled to the back of the boat. Four ropes were tied off to the stern with loops premade. Rowan was the quickest, pulling the loop over her body and tightening it around her waist. We each followed suit. The slack was only three feet. Long enough to allow us to move from side-to-side, but short enough that none of us could fall off the back of the boat. Like four human tetherballs. How did Ned talk us into this?

The Giant Catfish launched itself out of the water again, ramming into the side of the other boat. A crack sounded. People tumbled across the deck. The boat tilted hard, then righted itself, but the damage was done. A fracture had formed on the side of the boat. A splinter that grew by the moment, threatening to split the boat in half.

“I will strangle you in your sleep if you let Fin die, Ned.”

“I won’t let him die, Norma. Hold yer damn horses.”

“Ned help us!” Fin shouted. The guards looked terrified. Helpless.

The shadow moved away from the boat, made a U-turn, and headed back toward the boat.

“Steady now,” Ned said to himself, the fish gaining speed as it prepared to ram the boat again. “Steady now.” When the fish was a second from making contact, Ned pulled the trigger and released the arrow. It hurled through the air, impaling the catfish.

“Got him!”

The fish continued to speed at the other boat. The rope made a whirring sound as it uncoiled. The pile of extra cord got smaller and smaller. And then it ran out. The line went taught. Our boat lurched as the hook set, throwing me to the side.

I reached back and grabbed a bar for support.

Cassandra plummeted over the side, nearly taking Rowan with her.

“Cass!” Rowan shouted. She grabbed Cassandra’s rope and pulled her back onto the platform.

Ned began cranking the wench, making a loud clicking sound.

The boat lurched left and right, but we were all holding on to the back of the boat now.

I could see the shadow of the fish getting closer beneath the water. The clicking continued.

The harpoon had hooked the catfish near its head. Every crank of the wench brought the fish closer to us as it tried to swim away. The fish was powerful. It pulled the boat backwards at an alarming rate.

I noticed a spear hurl through the air and skewer the fish in the center of its body. A line was connected to this projectile as well. Ned tied the end of it to cleat at the back of the boat, then went back to the wench. I heard the click-click-click as he brought us closer to the monster.

“When it gets close enough, kill it!” Ned shouted.

The fish slowed, now slowed by two lines, and changed tactics. It turned to face us, emerging from the depths. It seemed to notice us with round, black eyes. It’s tail came up out of the water and swung at me, hurling me back into the boat.

I skidded across the deck, smashing into something.

“You took fifteen damage,” Janica called. “Be careful of that tail.”

I stood up and got out my drum. I started pounding out the beat to “Separate Ways” by Journey, activating both Tempo and Rhythm in the process. It would stay active until I ran out of stamina.

“Seriously, Warren?” Rowan hollered to me. “Journey?” She lunged at the monster with her new spear, striking first.

“Nice!” Janica said. “Stick and dodge.”

The fish swept its tail again, sending Henry flying into the other two. He was almost useless in a fight. We needed to get him that Potionmancer Job, or something he could do from range. They got up, each getting in a ready stance.

“Coming at you again,” Janica called out.

With Janica’s help, they dodged the tail swipe.

The fish’s side became exposed when it swiped, and Cassandra buried both daggers in the fish, then removed them, back to her ready position.

“Fifty percent,” Janica announced.

The fish dove below the water, pulling down the back of the boat. Creaking sounds ripped through the air as the boat moaned from the strain of the beast. My party slipped toward the back of the boat as the stern dipped lower into the water.