At the naming of daemonfire, Alos groaned and put his face in his hands, but neither Egil nor Arin nor Aiko noticed, for they were facing the opposite way.
Egil's voice dropped to a whisper. "And one by one the Drakes plunge into that fearsome spin, to be clutched in the grasping embrace of those hideous tentacles, each Dragon drawn under by a monstrous mate, lover and lover sucked into the whirling black abyss below, to spawn beyond the light of all knowledge.
"And later, somehow the Drakes return, bursting through the dark surface, struggling to wing up into the night air, and only the strongest survive."
Egil fell silent, but Captain Holdar added, "They say that the offspring of this mating be Sea Serpents, the long-wyrms of the ocean: those be the children of that vile spawning. I believe it, too! For I have seen a Sea-Drake, myself, not more than a day's sailing from here."
Arin looked up at the captain, her eyes wide. "Aye," he continued, "a long beastie 'twas, with a rippling crest all down its considerable length, snaking through the water. We ran, we did, and I'm not 'shamed to admit it."
"But then, Captain"-Aiko looked puzzled-"if nought but the serpents of the sea are the get of that breeding, whence come the Dragons themselves, or the Krakens, for that matter?"
Holdar shrugged and said, "All I know is it be said that Drakes and Krakes both come from the sea." He held out a hand to Egil in a silent appeal, but Egil merely shrugged as well.
Aiko looked at Arin, and the Dylvana sighed. "Those who have spoken with the Children of the Sea say that-"
"Pardon, Dara," interjected Aiko, holding up a hand. "Children of the Sea?"
"Aye," replied Arin. "Children of the Sea: they are the Hidden Ones who live in the depths of the oceans of the world."
"Mermaids, y' mean?" asked Alos. "Mermaids and Mermen? People with fish tails 'stead of legs?"
Arin shrugged. "I think not, Alos, though I have never seen one."
"But I-" began Alos in protest, yet Aiko silenced him by holding a chewing stick out to the oldster. A look of dismay swept over the old man's features, but he reached out and took it.
As Alos began gnawing on the tip of the stub, Aiko turned to Arin. "I interrupted, Dara."
Arin smiled. "The Children of the Sea tell that after ages of swimming and feeding, the great serpents take themselves unto the unlit depths of a vast chasm located somewhere in the waters of the wide Sindhu Sea. There, three full leagues below the surface, in a lost abyss they settle upon dark ledges lining the chasm walls, where they exude an adherent and enwrap themselves into tight spheres. The adherent hardens and they are enshelled in a crystalline glaze to begin an extraordinary metamorphosis. After a time, when the change has occurred, the crystal shell is finally shattered, and just as some caterpillars emerge from their chrysalises as butterflies whilst others emerge as moths, well then too some serpents-the males, I would guess-come forth Dragons while others-the females-come forth Krakens…
"Or so say the Children of the Sea."
"Well now," said Holdar, "be this tale true or false, fact or fable, rumor, speculation, or just plain opinion, I think something of the like must be. List: none has ever seen a small young Drake: all seem full grown from the first. And I don't think there has ever been found a clutch of Dragon eggs aland: they seem to lay them not. And as far as I know, none has ever seen a female Dragon: they all be males.
"And as to the Krakens, well, I cannot say as to what they may be-male or female-but the sages tell that they be the Dragons' mates, and who be I to argue?"
Again a quietness fell upon them all as they stared over water at the far headland, dim in the distance. After a long while, Holdar broke the silence: "Ah me. Dragon, Kraken, Sea Serpent, I know not the which of it, but I do know that many a ship has been lost to something in those waters, be it Maelstrom or monster. Of those who have sailed in there, none has ever lived to tell of it."
Egil shook his head. "Captain, I think if a ship sailed 'tween Dragons' Roost and the Seabanes, 'twould be the Maelstrom that would drag her under, drowning all aboard, for none has ever escaped the suck of that hideous swirl."
Arin shuddered, and for some reason this talk of the Maelstrom brought to mind the whirling chaos of her vision, a maelstrom of its own, with dire events all spiraling about the jadelike green stone. Will we all be dragged under by its hideous swirl?
Driven by a following wind, the Gyllen Flyndre cut through the icy water, the white-capped Gronfang Mountains ashore sliding up over the horizon, soon followed by the craggy Seabane Islands asea, slipping leftward in the distance to be lost at last over the rim astern.
West now she fared for days, past the long shore of the Angle of Gron, a vile, baneful land, for therein dwell Foul Folk: Rutcha, Drdkha, Ogrus, Vulgs, Guula and Hel-steeds, and other creatures dire, thralls of a Black Mage, or so it was said.
Past this dread realm shsshed the Gyllen Flyndre, laden with sailors and a cargo of furs and bearing four passengers as well.
On they sailed across the waters of the Boreal Sea and the fickle weather thereupon, through sunny skies and moonlit nights, through rain and squalls and calms. At times the ship fell into irons, and rowers would debark in dinghies and tow the ship across glassy water in an attempt to find the wind. At other times the crew would need reef the Flyndre's sails, as fierce wind and torrential rain unmercifully lashed the craft. Yet at other times, no matter its state, Captain Holdar pronounced the weather "bonnie" as long as the winds were favorable.
Up across the horizon came the headland where now the Rigga Mountains plunged into the Boreal Sea, where Gron ended and Rian began. Past Rian they sailed, then past the Jillian Tors, a far-flung set of craggy highlands wherein fierce clansmen dwell, noted for their endless feuds. On westerly sailed Captain Holdar and his crew, to fare along the shores of Thol.
Here, day after day Alos stood adeck and peered at forested land as it slid by, for Thol was once his home realm, but no more, indeed, no more.
They followed the long arc of the Tholian coast, gradually curving 'round from west to south, and somewhere along this route they crossed the uncertain boundary between the Northern and Boreal Seas. Now they fared toward the wide waters of the channel lying between Gelen to the west and Jute to the east.
Altogether it took twenty-eight days for the carrack to fare from Morkfjord to the point in the channel where Arin and her companions would transfer from the Gyllen Flyndre to the Brise and set sail in the sloop on their own.
And when the Flyndre had come as close to Jute as she would, Captain Holdar ordered the ship to heave to, and he luffed up in the wind. Haling on the tow ropes, crewmen drew the sloop alongside, and Arin and Aiko climbed down the larboard ladderway and into the small craft.
Alos stood by, watching, the old man intending on staying with the Flyndre and sailing on to the walled port of Chamer. Yet he seemed agitated, as if reluctant to part with those who had cared for him-Arin with her gentle ways, Egil with his friendship, even Aiko, though she was rough, making him bathe and all. However, he was sober for the first time in thirty-three years, and he did not like that at all, what with his dreams being filled with a witch-fire Mage and bloody monstrous Trolls.
Before clambering over the side, Egil turned to the oldster and appealed one last time, "My friend, I would that you choose to go with us, for I need an experienced helmsman to aid me in sailing the Brise, and none else here among these sailors can go but you."