“What now, Captain?” Seton asked.
Banks checked to the northeast where the loch narrowed before the stretch of canal that led into Inverness. The fog had almost completely lifted, and he saw the taller buildings of the city in the far distance.
“I told the colonel a full sweep, so I’d better do it. All the way up to the top end, then we’ll crisscross the loch on the way back and make for Urquhart Castle if we don’t get lucky.”
“Or unlucky, as the case may be. I do believe yon beastie could swamp this boat with one flick of that tail. I wonder why it didn’t attack?”
“Maybe it was your singing,” Banks said.
“Maybe,” Seton replied. “Or maybe it just wasn’t hungry.” The older man looked over at Banks. “I’d like to try again, up at the north end. It’s a common spot for sightings, and we know now it responds to the song. And I have a request of you.”
“Ask away.”
“If it comes back, I’d like to try to calm the beast. To control it if you like. It may be that we can avoid both further bloodshed, and the death of a monster, the death of a legend.”
“And then what?” Banks said softly. “I have some sympathy; I’m a Scot, and Nessie is iconic. I don’t want to be the man who goes down in history as having killed the myth, but it’s not as if we’ve got a handy fucking big cage, and even if we had, I can’t see the brass allowing such a thing to be left alive.”
“Let me try? Please? Call it payment for your passage on my boat if you like, but I have to try.”
Banks saw the naked need in the man’s face, and couldn’t bring himself to say no.
“As long as nobody gets put in harm’s way in the effort, you get first dibs. That’s a promise. But if yon beastie gets frisky, I’ll order the lads to put it down”
Seton smiled and shook Banks’ hand.
“I accept your terms of surrender.”
When they reached the top end of the loch, they cut the engines and anchored offshore just before the shallow waters around the canal inlet. On a normal summer day, there would be boats lined up here to head into Inverness, but today they had the loch to themselves.
“More coffee, gentlemen?” Seton asked. “I need to wet my throat if I’m going to be singing again?”
“Only if there’s more chocolate digestives,” Wiggins said from the bow.
“Oh, there’s always time for chocolate digestives,” Seton replied with a laugh.
Banks took the relative peace and quiet as an opportunity to check in with the colonel in Urquhart Castle, relating the details of their sighting.
“A giant otter? Really?” Banks heard the incredulity in his superior’s question.
“Yes, sir,” Banks replied, “or as near to one as makes no difference. We all got a good look at it as it passed us. Nearly 30 feet nose to tail at a guess.”
“Is it still in your area?”
“Hard to tell, sir. We’re working on something. I’ll get back to you if we’re successful.”
“Make it fast, Captain. We found what little was left of the wee girl floating by the shore on the south side an hour ago. The press, blast them, have got wind of something. That List D notice won’t hold for long if they know there’s a dead child involved in the story.”
“Understood, sir. I’ll check in when I get to you, if not before.”
“Make it before.”
He closed the call just as Seton arrived with the coffee and biscuits, and they drank, ate, and smoked in silence this time; he guessed Seton was saving his voice for the singing to come.
“Ri linn cothrom na meidhe, Ri linn sgathadh na h-anal.
“Ri linn tabhar na breithe Biodh a shith air do theannal fein.”
Seton’s high tenor rang across the waters of the loch as he repeated the same two lines for several minutes. Banks went up onto the top deck and scanned the loch surface with the binoculars, but with the wind still getting up, the water was even choppier now, and if the beast did appear, they might not see it until it was almost upon them.
“Heads up, lads,” he shouted, “and take positions. This might go south on us fast.”
Seton raised his voice higher, putting everything into one last repetition.
“Ri linn cothrom na meidhe, Ri linn sgathadh na h-anal.
“Ri linn tabhar na breithe Biodh a shith air do theannal fein.”
There was no warning, no sign of its presence. The beast surfaced 20 yards off their port side and came toward them with a surging rush of spray.
- 7 -
From straight in front, the huge, slightly flattened head looked almost dog-like, although it was five feet and more in width, with a mouthful of teeth in a smile that creased from ear to ear. McCally was closest, and he raised his rifle, taking aim.
“Don’t shoot,” Seton pleaded. “Captain, tell them not to shoot.”
The creature was almost on them, and would surely swamp the boat in seconds, but before Banks could reply, Seton shouted, two ringing words that sounded like a command.
“Dhumna Ort!”
The beast’s forward motion stopped and its head went down so that only the eyes and snout showed above the surface, the long body swaying from side to side in the water to maintain its position. Its ears perked up, listening. The boat rocked alarmingly below them from the waves caused by the beast’s surging attack and it was several seconds before they were on an even keel.
“Cap, do we put this fucker down or what?” Wiggins shouted.
“Don’t shoot!” Banks replied, and Seton added his own two words immediately afterward.
“Dhumna Ort! Dhumna Ort!”
The beast raised its head just long enough to emit two loud barks in reply, excited, like a dog expecting a treat. The loch fell quiet. The beast lay still in the water, never taking its gaze from the boat, its eyes just inches above the choppy surface. Every few seconds, a small whoof of thin steam showed at its nostrils as it breathed, but that was the only indication it was actually alive. Even the tail was still, lying straight out behind it.
“Now what?” Banks heard Hynd say.
“It’s our move,” Seton replied. “Let’s hope we have the best hand to play.”
The older man moved around to the port side so that he was standing directly in front of the beast’s gaze. He sang again, softly this time, like a mother to a small child, the same words and tune as before.
“Ri linn cothrom na meidhe, Ri linn sgathadh na h-anal.
“Ri linn tabhar na breithe Biodh a shith air do theannal fein.”
The beast let out a huffing snort that would have been almost comical in other circumstances, but every nerve in Banks’ body was tingling now, and he had an itchy trigger finger. He knew the other men would be feeling the same way.
Come on, wee man. Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.
He was going down the ladder to Seton’s side to try to speed matters up when a new sound broke the silence on the loch. He recognized it immediately as the chop and whop of an approaching helicopter.
It’s not one of ours. The colonel would have told me anything was incoming. So much for the fucking List D notice.
The noise got louder quickly, and Banks kept one eye on the beast; if it got agitated now, it was too close to the boat for them to take it out before it got them. For a few seconds, the chopper seemed as if it was going to pass straight over them and keep going. But the pilot or passenger obviously spotted the beast lying just of their port side, and quickly circled around and came back overhead, descending, intending to hover in position above it. A side door slid open, and a figure leaned out precariously, aiming a camera at the beast below.