When Venamo had been fished out of the lake and back into the ship with some rope, he fell on his back on the deck exhausted from all the swimming with his sword on his back. Everybody on board saw how the four large tentacles had stopped moving and slowly sank under the surface, and now everybody was circled around Venamo as he was breathing heavily on his back.
"Are you all right? I'm sorry I couldn't come fight along with you. Varma fell over board and I had to go get her back." Yilka asked as he crouched beside Venamo.
Venamo coughed and then sat up. He stood up and walked up the the Fifth with some choice words in his mind.
"What was that sudden turn you did? You gave up on the fight before it was lost! Our grandfathers didn't do that when they rebelled, you coward." Venamo ranted at the Fifth.
"It's called picking your battles. No point fighting a battle we are doomed to lose." The Fifth explained.
"Doomed to lose. My arse." Venamo said and walked back to the others.
"Once again, are you alright?" Yilka asked him.
"You could have come fight with me if you had fished Varma out of there with the same rope that you pulled me out with." Venamo replied.
"It was more instinct than anything when I jumped over board. I didn't think of that in the moment." Yilka replied.
"You need to learn to use your reason in situations where you have to react quickly. But even if you had fought along with me, it wouldn't have made a difference. The fish. Something was controlling them. Under the water they were all swarming around the Father and eating away at it. Fish don't behave that way. Something was going on there." Venamo explained.
"Controlling them?" Yilka asked.
"Yes, controlling them. And when those men rowed away, one of them threw a shiny yellow jewel into the water. I tried to swim after it but my lungs can only hold for so long. Something tells me that he threw it in there for a reason." Venamo explained.
"What he threw in there might have been a familiar stone. A stone infused with Holy magic, intended for controlling lifeforms with weak wills, such and fish and small animals." Nofa explained.
"That sounds a bit mean for the animals." Varma commented.
"Well, the Holy people themselves use the familiar stone for guiding hordes of rodents and harmful birds out of their lands so that they won't have to harm the little creatures. But of course it can be used for whatever the wielder of the second familiar stone wants. If one familiar stone is held by me, and the other familiar stone that is bound to my stone is near creatures with a weak will, I can command the creatures with my mind. So my guess is that that the Vastus have a second familiar stone somewhere and they made the fish of the lake eat the Father of waters. And then to make the job quicker they sent some men here to get the job done faster." Nofa speculated.
"If I retrieve that jewel, will they be able to control me?" Venamo asked.
"As I said, the familiar stone can only control creatures of a weak mind." Nofa answered.
"So yes." Yilka joked.
Nobody was amused.
"According to the records, whoever kills a Grand Beast inherits its power. So if the fish killed the Father of waters, they'd inherit his power. And if the Vastus control the fish of this lake, they can direct the rains and rivers. That's what this is all about for them. They want to rule everything. Is there a way to break the bond between two familiar stones?" Venamo asked.
"To my knowledge, no. The bond between two familiar stones cannot be broken by time or distance. If there is some way, I don't know what it is. Sorry. I don't think we'd do anything with that stone." Nofa explained.
"If we at least get it out of the lake, the Vastus won't be able to control the fish of the lake anymore. We should bury that stone deep under some rocks were no living being will get it." Yilka suggested.
"It's at the bottom of the lake now. Nobody could possibly get it from there." Venamo said.
Yilka and Nofa looked at each other as if they both got the same idea at the same time.
"What if we fish it out with the attractistone?" Nofa suggested before Yilka could.
"But can it attract jewels? I thought that it attracted metals?" Yilka asked.
"In all depictions of the familiar stone that I've seen in my books, a metal tip is always added to the bottom of them for style purposes. If theirs has one, then we should be able to fish it up from there." Nofa answered.
"Let's try it then!" Yilka said excitedly.
"Also, Vena. You can have this. I don't need it." Varma said and handed to Venamo the rug that had been put over her.
Venamo looked at the rug and contemplated if his manliness allowed him to get snugged up in a rug. When he realised that everybody was looking at Nofa tying the stretchy rope into the attractistone, he put the rug over himself.
"How are you already dry, Varma?" Yilka asked when he noticed Varma's dryness while she was watching the process.
"I'm starting to feel warmer already. I guess the mushroom is starting to wear off again." Varma answered.
"Just eat another one once you start getting too hot." Yilka reminded.
"As if you need to remind me." Varma sarcastically replied.
"Done!" Nofa exclaimed when she had tied the attractistone.
"Will it hold?" Yilka asked.
Nofa bounced it around a few times to see if it held, and it did.
"I trust that it will. Now let's fish and let the pressure under the water do the work." Nofa said and lowered the rope into the water of the lake.
"Now what I want you to do is stretch parts of the rope. That's how it becomes longer." Nofa told Yilka and Varma.
"How long can it get at most?" Varma asked.
"Well, let's find that out. We'll have to stretch it quite a bit if we want the ingot to get deep enough to get crushed under pressure, so get stretching!" Nofa ordered.
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Time passed slowly in the early morning at the waters of Kemioe while holding a piece of rope. Being surrounded by sweet water while listening to the morning calls of the cranes gave some amount of piece of mind to the sleep deprived travellers who had been awoken early by the battle that they ended up losing. Nofa kept looking over the edge down into the water where the attractistone had sunken so deep that it couldn't be seen anymore. Yilka admired Nofa's hair from behind, Varma dreaded the rising heat inside her and Venamo was sulking.
"Do you feel anything?" Yilka asked Nofa.
"No. I'm not quite sure if the impact of the jewel hitting the ingot would even register to us. Maybe we should check." Nofa replied.
"How do we pull up this stretchy rope without stretching it more?" Yilka asked.
"You can retract it by twisting it. Like this. But if we pull it back, the pressure of the water will let up and we won't get what we wanted to get. I'll go dive there to see if we caught anything." Nofa replied.
"No. I should do it." Yilka said.
"No, this was my idea so I should do it." Nofa insisted.
"Is Vena alright." Varma asked and looked over to Venamo who was still sitting far from the others.
"You all right?" Yilka shouted at him.
"I've noticed something about myself." Venamo answered calmly.
"Pardon?" Yilka replied.
"Ever since I got that blessing, I've gotten stronger. My endurance has gotten better, as I noticed back in the forest. My eyesight has gotten better, and now I've noticed that I can hold my breath a lot longer than I used to." Venamo said.
"Great. We have a job for you!" Nofa told him
"Hm?" Was Venamo's reponse.
"Could you dive down there and see if anything has caught on to the attractistone?" Nofa asked.
"Please." She then added.
"Somebody has to do it. Better me than any of you." Venamo calmly stated.
He walked over to the rest of them, took off his shirt and his leathery armour piece and dove into the water again.
"He was very willing." Nofa commented.
"He doesn't tend to complain about doing work if he believes it's work worth doing."
"I do hope he can withstand pressure better than we can as well." Nofa said.
"He damn well better." Yilka said and peeked over the edge with concern.
No part of Venamo could be seen anymore, but the rope was vibrating as a sign that he was holding on to it.
"Go Vena!" Nofa cheered on while also peeking over the edge.
Yilka started banging his hands against the side of the ship and Nofa started doing the same. After a thrilling wait, they saw something coming from under the water. To their relief, it was Venamo, and he raised his hand to show them something.
"What have you got there?" Yilka asked.
"Get me up there and we can have a closer look." Venamo shouted back while squinting his eyes.
"Just grab the rope and we'll get you up!" Nofa told him.
Venamo did as told and grabbed the rope.
"To retract the rope, just twist it like this." Nofa reminded Yilka and twisted the rope.
Yilka did the same, and the rope started retracting and thus Venamo got pulled up high enough that he could climb into the ship himlself. Venamo tossed his findings onto the deck and the reaction was disappointed.
"Well this isn't a familiar stone." Nofa commented.
"No, it isn't. Just some piece of metal." Venamo replied.
"It looks like the decorative metal piece that usually gets attached to the familiar stone. So the stone itself is still at the bottom of the lake for all time. The attractistone only pulled the metal tip of it. But what about this other thing that it pulled? That is a pretty silver necklace with a lovely green jewel on its pendant. I might just keep that." Nofa said.
"Could that be the necklace from the legend?" Yilka asked.
"How exciting would that be? But that would make me feel like a thief for taking away something that was meant as a gift for someone else. Maybe if we ever return to Laukiv I can give this to the poet stone." Nofa entertained the idea.
Then they all heard a throat being cleared.
"If you want to return there one day, you'll have to get on with our mission at some point. We've stalled for long enough. No more sea battles or fishing or swimming. We are going ahead now!" The Fifth commanded from where he was standing.
"He's right. We just have to accept that this battle is lost. The Crown now controls the waters of the land. We need to destroy them before they gain control of anything else." Venamo said while hiding his shivering.
The sails were turned to align with the wind and the ship got moving once again. Favourably the winds blew south where the destination was as well.
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Once the journey was properly on its way again, the travellers had settled down. Venamo had fed the mounts and he had began training his muscles to warm up from the swim and to test his improved attributes. He was doing it for hours, and Yilka in his envy couldn't look. Instead he spent his time looking into the horizon while leaning on the stakewall.
"Two of the Grand Beasts are dead now and I didn't do a damned thing to stop it either time. And now we have to guess which one they'll attack next and hope that we'll be there to stop it. No, that's a hopeless endeavor. We'll have to kill the King and everyone who stands with him, and anyone who may succeed him. Only that will make this stop, and only that will make this madness stop, and only that will make them leave our brothers in peace. What are we doing? Why are we not going to the capital city to end that tyrant?" Yilka murmured to himself.
"Perhaps because in the capital city there are eyes everywhere. Unless you have someone as good at sneaking around as Bloodmist, your chances would be rather slim of taking out anyone of importance." The Fifth said as he took his spot next to Yilka.
"How do you know those things about the capital city? Do you know were it is?" Yilka asked.
"It's far south of here. So we are going closer to it all the time." The Fifth answered.
"Are you sure? Can I look at your map again if you have it with you?" Yilka requested.
"I'm sure I know the location better than you do. Trust me." The Fifth insisted.
Yilka gave him a suspecting look.
"If you want me to trust you, tell me your name." Yilka demanded.
The Fifth gave him a suspecting look back.
"My true name is Vakevata Vinia." The Fifth revealed.
"And what does The Fifth mean?" Yilka further asked.
"I am the captain of the fifth house of the Road of Blood. You have been in two of them already." Vakevata answered.
"Is there a third where we are headed?" Yilka asked.
"No. This ship will work as our base while we're in the parts where we're going. I hope that explains what you wanted to know. I must go back to helping my friend navigate this thing now." Vakevata said and made his way back to the wheel.
Yilka was alone again and decided to take a look around himself. He saw that Nofa and Varma were sitting by each other in a corner. Varma was tying some rope around her metallic arrow while occasionally jugging down water from a leather sack. Yilka decided to walk over to them.
"What are you preparing here?" He asked and sat down as well.
"I'm hungry, and I want to try arrow fishing." Varma answered.
"And she's been drinking a lot of water. Good thing Blueberry is here to refill the bag with water from the lake whenever needed. What did you talk about with that odd man?" Nofa said to Yilka.
"Just asked him where the capital of Vastusar is and what his true name is. But now that you mention it, I haven't eaten or drank in a bit. We did bring some bread with us but I don't want to eat it yet. I wish we had some mead to drink." Yilka replied.
"Well, I'm trying to catch some fish now that we're here and we have nothing better to do." Varma said and took another swig of water.
"Does drinking water help you keep cool?" Yilka asked.
"Not much. But I don't want to waste another mushroom yet."
"I understand. Once we land, you could go for a swim if that helps." Yilka suggested.
"The urge to dive into the in the lake like a kingfisher is growing every moment, yet I resist." Varma.
She had now tied the rope into her arrow firmly and began tying the other end to her own waist when they all heard something hit the side of the ship.
"What was that?" Varma asked.
"Sounded like an impact. As if something wet had slapped against the side of the vessel." Nofa said.
"Most likely a fish who jumped at it and collided with the wood." Yilka guessed.
"Yes, most likely." Nofa assured.
Then another such similar sound was heard from the same direction. And another. And another. Varma got curious and went to peek over the edge to see what it was. She let out a shriek of fright and threw her metallic arrow at what she saw, but missed. She took five steps back and used the rope tied to her to pull her arrow back from the water and readied it for another throw.
"What was it?" Yilka said and also went to look over the edge, but before he made it there, a gray and slimy hand with webbing between the fingers grabbed the stakewall. A human shaped creature with gray slimy skin and webbing in its armpits, loins, fingers and toes, with small eyes and thick lips climbed into the ship and Yilka took a few steps back in horror of the creature.
"What in the..." Nofa said in disbelief and stayed away from the creature
Right then the creature looked directly at Nofa and let out a sound that was like a mix of curiosity and anger. The creature started stepping towards Nofa, its feet smacking against the boards.
Nofa started to repeat the spell of exhaustion, but with a threat coming directly towards her, she stuttered in her words. The gray creature got a hit from Yilka's cudgel in the back. The cudgel was not enchanted in this moment, but the hit still made the creature screech in pain. It turned around and slapped Yilka in the cheek so hard that he fell over. Varma shot her arrow at the creature, but the creature let out its long tongue and caught the arrow with it. It flung the arrow over board so hard that Varma flew out of the boat with it since she was still tied to the arrow. Venamo charged the creature with his sword pointed towards it, but the creature jumped high to avoid it, but just as it landed, Venamo took another swing at it. This time the creature leapt all the way to the front end of the vessel. The creature then made a powerful pounce all the way from the front of the vessel towards Nofa who was on the other end. But as it flew past Yilka, he swung his cudgel down and hit the creature in the back while it was midair. The creature crashed to the ground belly first, Yilka then mounted its back and put the creature in a cudgel assisted choke hold.
"Vena! Go get Varma!" Yilka shouted to his brother while keeping the creature in place.
"You better finish that creature!" Venamo shouted back at him and dove over board.
The gray creature reached its arm towards Nofa even when Yilka was choking it.
"You'll rest in the bottom of the lake where you crawled from, you wretched beast. You want to go after Nofa? Go through me first." Yilka spoke to the creature while choking it harder with his cudgel.
"Yilka, stop it! I figured out what it wants!" Nofa shouted at Yilka.
"And he won't get it!" Yilka shouted.
"No, look!" Nofa said and tossed the silver necklace to the floor near the lake creature's reach.
The creature was no longer focused on Nofa, but desperately reaching towards the necklace instead.
"It wants the necklace. Let go of it!" Nofa demanded.
"Oh? Have a spell ready then." Yilka warned and gave Nofa the time to get the book from her belt and open a page.
Yilka then let go of his choke hold and stepped away from the creature. The creature crawled to the necklace and then stared at it while holding it in its hands. The creature was not paying attention to anyone on the ship anymore, but only looking at the necklace. Then it got up walked to the side of the boat and looked into the distance. It then dove over board and swam away, disappearing into the waters.
"Couldn't... even... toss... me... a rope?" Venamo's voice said as he was climbing up the side of the ship by using his own sword and Varma's arrow.
Once Venamo was back in the boat, he dropped Varma down from his shoulder onto the deck.
"Ow!" Varma shouted.
"I see you disposed of that beast. Well done." Venamo said to Yilka proudly.
"Mmm, yes. It was no match for a hunter like myself or my Beast Slayer." Yilka said dishonestly and gave the tip of his cudgel a smooch.
Nofa then nudged at Yilka's sleeve and got close to his ear.
"The city of the poet is that way, where the creature swam to. I think he wants to give it to the poet. I think the legend is true and that was the man who's been looking for the necklace for centuries, and we almost stole it." Nofa whispered to Yilka.
"Grandfather always said that every legend comes from somewhere." Yilka simply stated back.
"That damned creature wanted to drown me!" Varma said while laying on the boards after having gotten her mind together again after what happened.
"It didn't know that you can swim. It got what it deserved. And I need to warm myself again. Terrific." Venamo said and went to do squats in a corner of the ship.
"At least it was cool in the water." Varma stated to herself.
Blueberry then poured a full sack of lake water on Varma, which she seemed to enjoy. Nofa and Yilka both chuckled at it.
"Are you all right after all that?" Nofa asked Varma and crouched by her.
"Can we just dock somewhere already? If creatures like that are in this lake, it won't be safe to sleep on this boat." Varma complained.
"I don't think there are any others of that creature, and I think it already got what it wanted. And besides, we whooped its butt, didn't we?" Nofa replied.
"I had it, you know? I just had a bad angle on it." Varma assured.
"Of course. And if another one shows up, we'll kick it right off this boat too." Nofa promised.
"Damn right we will." Varma replied with confidence.
"Now, we were about to do some fishing weren't we?" Nofa then reminded.
"Ugh. Yes. I am still hungry. Do we have the means to make fire here on the boat?" Varma asked.
"Just let the fish rest on your back and it'll cook." Yilka joked.
"If I get hot enough to cook fish with myself, I'm taking another mushroom, but thank you for the idea." Varma replied with snark and took her arrow.
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As the day went on, it turned out that Varma had some good fishing luck, and even more fortunately, the ship had a brazier meant for bringing light in the night, but it could also be used for cooking. Several fish were skewered in Varma's metallic arrow that had been left to rest above the brazier while Varma was getting friendly with Blueberry. At the front end of the ship Yilka was once again leaning on the stakewall while Nofa was sitting on it and looking into the distance.
"About that thing that Vena said to you earlier..." Yilka opened a conversation with.
"Which one?" Nofa asked.
"About you not taking this seriously enough." Yilka answered.
"Hmph." Nofa simply let out.
"Today we've been in two situations where some of us feared for our lives. You do realise now that this is real? That we need to be on guard and serious." Yilka asked.
"I knew that this was serious as soon as you told me your reasons for going on this journey. I still choose to be cheerful even after scary incidents." Nofa explained.
"How do you do that? How can you choose to be cheerful?" Yilka wondered.
"It's something I taught myself. During the famine year when I was a scared little girl all alone and starving, there were times when dread and despair almost got the better of me. If they had, I would have accepted my end and withered away like my father did. But when I was laying on the floor of my hut and starving, I saw a pretty butterfly that was completely unbothered by the suffering of everyone else. There it was just flying and looking pretty, and guess what? It cheered me up. I got myself up from the floor and followed it. It led me to some fruit trees where I found it licking a tree's sweet bark, and that gave me the idea to get nutrition from the roots of the trees. That is what saved my life, and it's all because something cheered me up just enough so that I could get up." Nofa revealed.
"That is... inspiring." Yilka commented.
"I will never let dread, despair and hopelessness get the better of me or anyone around me. I have to keep my and others' spirits up, no matter how much anyone tells me that I shouldn't. Perhaps someday I will be to somebody what that butterfly was to me. It was that butterfly that also made me fall in love with butterflies in general and led me to find my Blueberry." Nofa told and rubbed her finger on the back of her beloved blue butterfly.
"That's a wonderful mindset to have." Yilka said earnestly.
"I'm glad you think that way." Nofa said cheerfully.
"But don't forget that just because one threat is behind us, doesn't mean more won't be ahead." Yilka reminded.
"I'm not foolish. I just don't want anyone to die in bad spirits." Nofa said.
"I could never be in bad spirits as long as you're with me." Yilka admitted.
"Aww... But yes. Having you around makes it easy for me to stay cheerful as well." Nofa replied and the two looked at each other with their minds in peace.
Their moment of peace was however interrupted when Vakevata Vinia cleared his throat loudly by the wheel.
"Attention, my friends! One more night on this wretched lake, and if the winds favour us, we'll be able to get on land by morning. We are on the waters of enemy territory, but we're skilled sailors who know how to avoid detection at waters. Rest well tonight, and be prepared." Vakevata announced to everyone.
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