289 Stuck fast

The orders and shouting rose to a higher pitch. The full sails were driving the ship hard into the floating dead creature while the men with poles pushed back, trying to maneuver the boat around it. 

Mayra gripped the railing tightly, her mind racing. The pure idiocy of her presence here on the boat struck her. She was useless. Yes, it was her plan, but it looked like it was failing, and she had no productive part to play in supporting it. 

Her eyes moved to Peter's struggles near the bow. They were making progress; the ship slowly shifted itself to try and move around the massive carcass. 

"Gwen, if you can hear me, please help us. I don't want these people to starve all winter, and I don't particularly want to die today. If you could somehow make this work… I'd appreciate it. I won't tell anyone you did." 

Her whisper was too quiet to draw looks from the crew who were tending frantically to their duties. 

Mayra swallowed, raising the spyglass again to look at the far ship. Though its nets were raised, it rocked unnaturally, its mast swaying more than the waves would cause. The water around it roiled and pitched, and there were gaps in the rows of oars; some must have been lost, or broken. 

Her ship lurched to the side suddenly, and she almost dropped the precious item. Storing it in the pouch at her side, Mayra looked down off the side. Something… large… had bumped them. 

A great tail rose above the surface as the creature dove below it. Pursing her lips, Mayra looked up. The barrowman was focused on the middle distance, not the close proximity of the ship.

Glaring at him for shirking his duty to call out the danger, she considered doing so herself, but she didn't know the terms, nor what to call the creature she'd seen. Was it another type of whale? A large fish? A different thing entirely? 

Blessedly, somehow, the bump had dislodged the ship from being stuck against the great putrid obstacle in its path. Quickly, the rudder steered them around the rest of the corpse and into slightly more open water. 

"Come on, let's go," Mayra urged quietly, knowing it was doing no good. The water ahead looked dark, as if a cloud was passing overhead, though the sky was currently clear. The ship slowly began to pick up speed, and she hoped they were steering out of the middle of the area instead of continuing the search for the nets. 

When the bait boat gave up its ability to draw most of the creatures away, the trawling ships were meant to flee. 

The rest of them had. 

The struggle against the dead whale had slowed Mayra's boat down considerably. The other four were well on their way to escaping the area cleanly, without much interference. 

A shout from the back of the boat drew her attention away from the water ahead. 

"Help! The nets!" The cry rang out, a mixture of hope and despair. A flood of well-organized men rushed to the aid of the two Cetoans who had been pulling their hooked rope aboard in preparation for the mad dash to safety. 

Leaning outward and looking back, Mayra could see that their hook had managed to snag something that wasn't a gruesome husk of a sea creature. 

At least, not entirely. 

The net was barely above the water, the hook straining with the weight of it. The rope looked as if it might snap. The other men threw theirs down into the water, hoping to gain purchase. 

The poles that had been used to push off from the dead whale, Mayra noticed for the first time, were hooked at the opposite end. These, too, were used to try and gain more hold on the net. 

Several snapped under the pressure, but more were brought. The net was brought even with the gunwhale, and men switched to using their hands to pull it inward, attaching its ends to the contraption they used to aid in the catching of fish. 

The wheels used to pull the net strained and the boat listed heavily. Every foot of net pulled from the ocean was a small measure of triumph, but were they working quickly enough? 

A sound like the pained screeching of some ancient ghost rose from the water. 

"Whales!" Came a yell from the barrowman. A lurch almost threw Mayra from her feet.

Another from the opposite side. 

The effort to pull in the heavily laden ropes doubled. Mayra feared the ship would capsize, it was leaning so heavily toward the net.

It was difficult to reel inward, so filled with death. Creatures half-devoured or picked clean or alive and trying to continue eating as they suffocated weighed down its straining ropes.

The next collision was accompanied by an alarming creak and crack of wood. 

"The hull is breached! Work the pumps!" 

_____________

Roland looked at Judah with a dubious pleading. 

"Will you help me? I know I can't keep up with those things alone." 

A cheerful chirp was the reply, and Roland climbed back onto the enormous spotted cat. Dawn was creeping up higher on the horizon, making it easier to see the giants, but also easier for him to be seen. Hopefully they wouldn't be looking for him. 

Adjusting his pack to put it between him and the cat, Roland barely had time to grab hold before the creature took off beneath him.

Apparently understanding the assignment, Judah leapt forward, dodging trees and obstacles, but not nearly so fast as the night before. 

The pair stayed back from the giants, keeping them within view but remaining unseen. 

The giantess held Edmar in her grasp, and had handed the halfling off to the younger-looking male giant. 

"Do not eat him." She warned in a voice that boomed across the jungle. If Roland had been any closer, he would have been tempted to cover his ears instead of hanging on. 

Well, that seems ominous, Roland thought. Though he had suspected the giants would be dangerous to people, the chastisement would not be necessary if it wasn't a possibility. 

He couldn't let them get to his own world, no matter what. 

Though Edmar was carried in front of the giantess, upright, the halfling was having a much more difficult ride. The young giant gripped him in his fist, perhaps too tightly, but swung his hand normally down by his side. 

It was a shock the halfling hadn't vomited. Or passed out. Then again, Roland couldn't get a clear view of the little man's face from this vantage point. Perhaps he had. 

The giants walked in single file through the jungle, matching their steps to established footprints. 

Whether this was to preserve the jungle, to avoid being stabbed in their bare feet by trees, or some other purpose, Roland couldn't say. 

It made their progress somewhat slower than it likely could be, which suited him well. Judah was keeping up nicely, and any faster would have made Roland's stomach churn. Even at a walking pace, the sheer breadth of every step made the giants' speed almost shocking. 

Watching them as they walked, Roland wondered how in the world he was going to get Edmar.

With a shiver down his spine, he realized that short of the Fae's intervention, the halfling would have to die. It was either still under the Void's slavery, or willingly serving. 

If the first, then only the Fae's magic could release him. If the second, it was unlikely he would ever be turned away, and a servant of the enemy must be killed. After all, he had gotten to Edmar and facilitated the deception of a vulnerable little girl.

He didn't relish the idea of ending life. Even to work in tandem with the Council as it condemned traitors to death had sat ill with him. 

However, if something must be done, he must do it. There was no one else to take on the task. He squinted ahead. Maybe the young giant would squeeze too hard and Roland wouldn't have to make the decision when the time came. 

The giants' casual stroll went on for some time as the sun rose higher in the sky. Roland wondered that the enormous creatures hadn't become hungry. 

Or perhaps they had. 

He tried to remember what Finn's story said about them. He knew that they all starved to death because of their huge appetites. Or, all the ones in his world had. 

With that in view, it was a little surprising they hadn't tried to recapture the fleeing Cetoans. Apparently they were anxious to get to the Below. 

It made Roland wonder what could be down there, aside from their kin. To satiate a giant's appetite, let alone keep fifty or so of them fed and alive, would require an enormous amount of food. 

That had to mean that, down there, there were likely either very large plants, or very large animals. Roland wasn't anxious to find out.