Chapter III - Into the Unknown

Thelonius wrote:

Ardans eyes widen. "Staying out here in the dangerous wild, when shelter is so near? This is madness, madness I tell you!
The villagers obviously protect themselves from the sea. Let's head over to the sea and plead for entrance."

Nodding towards Ardan, Otto looks up to the platforms. "Indeed. Staying by the river is probably safe enough. If not, the fishing boats would all stay at home. But seeing what remains of our Anakim friends, remaining outdoors seems daft for any stranger to these parts."

He shields his eyes from the sun, and looks for any obvious means of entrance to the platform, or any watchers above who might control entrance to the village. He sees no one immediately, perhaps due to the vantage point, and he begins to move around to get a better perspective on the platforms above.

Adrasta nods. "Then it's settled. I'll try and get their attention."

Adrasta climbs up a sandbank to gain a bit of height. She takes her shield off her back. She looks at the sun's position, then to the platform, and angles her shield's metallic surface to reflect the sunlight towards the platform. She tilts it back and forth so that the reflection comes and goes, trying to catch the eye of someone up on the platform or on one of the boats.

You don't see any sentries or lookouts on the platform. If anything, the buildings on the edge of the platform look like residential housing. There seems to be a couple communal lifts that pull the boats out of the water; these appear to be shared rather than every family having their own. Those pulleys end at buildings that look like warehouses, or perhaps processing plants to process the day's catch.

Nobody appears to be on the lookout for people on the beach. Either people on the beach are rare to the point where nobody looks for them, or they are unwelcome and you are being ignored. But you don't see anyone actively ignoring you.

Otto, Adrasta, and Draern are all accomplished athletes. The winds are creating strong waves near the shore, but once you get out past the surf zone the waves seem manageable. It seems feasible to swim out the 100 meters to the platform.

Otto is crafty and could probably fashion a floatation device. Given a few hours, he could probably make a decent raft.

Adrasta or Draern could also use an arrow - or a fire arrow - to signal one of the boats descending from the platform or preparing to ascend.

Adrasta huffs and lowers her shield, frustrated by the lack of reaction from the fisherfolk. "Ardan, how about we give your horn a try?"

Ardan nods solemnly and lifts the horn to his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he blows it as hard as he can.

The horn is... loud? You guess it's loud. It's certainly nowhere near as deafening as it was when the dwarves used it in the dwarven fortress. Maybe the difference is that you're outdoors, surrounding by sand, sea, and open skies rather than buried deep in a stone castle with nothing but hard surfaces in every direction. In any event, it seems reasonable to assume that someone on the boats or on the platform would hear you, but it's not so loud that Rima has a conniption.

At first there's nothing, but then the water begins to churn. There are bubbles and frothing and evidence that something large is being stirred up.

A massive leviathan rises up from the deep, at least 35 feet tall and just as wide. It most closely resembles an octopus, with eight tentacles and a bulbous head. But unlike an octopus it has eight eyes - two large, two medium, four small - which are black with red rims. It has spikes on its head and a giant mouth with three rows of teeth. And a tongue. The tongue swishes back and forth as if it is tasting the air. The creature is a deep reddish-purplish hue, like a black plum.

BEHOLD, a voice (?) booms in your head. You're not hearing it with your ears; the thoughts are being directly projected into your mind. PRESENT YOURSELVES FOR INSPECTION. ONLY THE WORTHY SHALL PASS.

Adrasta mouth drops open as the leviathan rises from the sea. The thing is unfathomably large, and her mind struggles to make sense of what she's seeing. "Ta gamisa," she mutters, bitterly aware that summoning this thing was the result of her idea.

When the voice echoes in her mind, Adrasta reflexively takes a step back and reaches for her xiphos. It takes a second for her brain to catch up to her body. She chuckles nervously as she notices her hand on her weapon's hilt. The utter insanity of trying to fight this thing was at odds with years of muscle memory, and laughter seemed to be the only way she could process it.

Adrasta forces herself to let go of her xiphos' hilt. The hand holding her shield is closed tightly, turning her knuckles white. She wants to run, but her legs refuse to move any further. She had created this mess, she had to try and fix it. She closes her mouth, swallows hard, then opens it to speak, but a squeak is the only thing that escapes her lips. She shuts her mouth again.

Adrasta takes a couple of deep, steadying breaths. When she opens her mouth again, this time, the words come. "Greetings... um... Mighty Leviathan," she says, as loud as she can without yelling. "May we know by what... um... criteria... we will be judged?"

The "voice" continues. While Adrasta addresses the leviathan in Trade Cant, the reply in her head is in Brass Speech, her native tongue. Ardan and Otto "hear" it in Emedian, Draern in Llaigisan.

I AM A GREAT OBSERVER AND LOOK QUITE THROUGH THE DEEDS OF MEN, the creature responds.

I WILL SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE AND CONSIDER YOU FOR ENTRANCE INTO MY STRONGHOLD. IF YOUR SOULS ARE DESERVING, YOU SHALL PASS.

As the leviathan rises from the waters, Otto's head tilts back...and back...and back.

"By Odin's kneecaps, what have we done..." he mutters.

Whether this is some sea-god, or some mindless creature, or some automaton built by the people who had built the platform, Otto has no idea. He knows only that there is peril, a problem that will not be solved through a contest of strength. He searches for things to say, but thinks better of it. This would be a bad time for one of Otto's verbal blunders. Suddenly self-conscious of his slackened jaw, he closes his mouth. His hands stay well away from his weapons, offering no offense. Or so he hopes.

Ardan freezes when the enormous creature rises from the sea. He can't move, can't talk, can't think. Terrified he stares at the beast that stands between him and what seems like something close to civilisation.

Draern watches the scene unfold with a mixture of fear and fascination. Animals of all sizes and shapes have always fascinated him, especially since he fled the troops back home and hid in the woods. Normally he is not afraid of animals, he has a way with them, but this is different. This is no animal.

When the booming voice in his mother tongue sounds in his head, his heart drops to his knees. This language he hasn't heard in many years and he immediately thinks It knows. It knows what I did. Could it be that it was sent for me?
He listens to Adrasta drive forward the "conversation", but his muscles are flexed and he is ready to explode. In a blink of an eye, he would have the bow in his hand and an arrow nocked. In another blink that arrow would fly and forever darken one of these terrifying eyes. And Draern is ready to run. He ran before, he is not ashamed to do it again. Not from this.

"Um... With all due respect, Mighty Leviathan, that doesn't answer my question and also raises a few more. How do you judge the deeds of men? Which do you consider virtuous and which do think are vices?" This was insane. Adrasta couldn't believe she was asking a giant sea monster for it's moral axioms. She silently thanked Onesimos, her master, who had quite liked to debate philosophy. Before now, she hadn't thought the exercise would serve her in such an unusual context. "If you tell us and we believe we would not live up to your standards, we will just leave."

"Also, what is your stronghold? Is it the platform?" Adrasta asks, pointing at the fishing village with her free hand. "Are the people who live there your..." ...pets? ... "... vassals?"

THEY ARE MY CHILDREN. THEY ARE PRECIOUS TO ME. NO HARM WILL COME TO THEM!

Presumably they are metaphorical children, as actual leviathan babies would, you know, probably live in the water, and not need fishing boats.

I WILL SEE YOUR ACTIONS, AND YOUR INTENT. YOU CARRY WEAPONS AND SMELL OF VIOLENCE. I WILL KNOW MORE BEFORE PERMITTING YOU TO PASS.

"We came only to trade, not to harm. The wilderness is a dangerous place, and even the animals carry weapons, of a sort, in order to survive."

"Those that came shortly before us, the Anakim -- we had concern that they might do harm, and we thought we could provide aid to those they harmed. With you protecting them, we see that the village had no need of our protection. Still, we seek entrance to trade, and for a respite from the hardships of these wild lands."

It sounds reasonable to Otto's ears, but others have twisted words before. He wonders what strange twist of his words will endanger the companions this time...

WE WILL SEE IF WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE, the voice in your head(s) says.

Then, a most curious sensation. Your eyes lose focus for a moment; all you can see is the sun sparkling off the waves. Except... the sun is high overhead and the angle shouldn't reflect much off the water. The creature seems brightly illuminated, as if it were in a spotlight. It's hard to look at the blinding light. You close your eyelids and, when you do, your world rushes by.

Adrasta has revived folks from the brink of death who then told her that their life flashed before their eyes in what they thought would be their final moments. That's the best analogy that Adrasta can come up with now, as her life plays in fast-forward. Otto, Ardan, and Draern experience the same.

LET US FOCUS ON THE RECENT PAST, the voice says. The images slow down, focusing on your adventures in the Wilderness.

HMM. YOU ARE A CURIOUS LOT. SOMETIMES YOU KILL THOSE YOU SHOULD...

An image flashes by of the bandits outside of Emma and Ignacio's trading post. Draern experiences it as if he were present.

AND SOMETIMES YOU KILL THOSE YOU SHOULD NOT.

There's the encounter with the dwarves in the fortress. Draern sees it too, even though he was not there.

AND SOMETIMES YOU DO NOT KILL THOSE YOU SHOULD.

An image from last night, of allowing the Anakim to pass unharmed.

YOU WERE CONCERNED THAT THEY MIGHT DO HARM, AND THOUGHT THAT YOU COULD PROVIDE AID TO THOSE THEY HARMED. WELL WHY DID SUCH ACCOMPLISHED KILLERS AS YOURSELVES NOT DEFEAT THEM THEN AND THERE?

The images stop. The lights recede to the point where you feel that you can open your eyes again. When you do, you find yourselves levitating ever-so-slightly, just an inch off the sand, as if you had been standing on your tiptoes the whole time.

DRAERNGROMLAES HUNDATHRIM, YOU ARE INNOCENT OF THIS BLOODSHED, EVEN THOUGH YOU SHOULD HAVE ACTED LAST NIGHT. BUT I DO NOT SEE HARM IN YOU, SO YOU MAY PASS.

ADRASTA LAKARIS, ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE CAUSED MUCH HARM, IN YOUR TIME YOU HAVE HEALED EVEN MORE. IF YOU FREELY OFFER YOUR SERVICES TO MY PEOPLE, YOU MAY PASS.

ARDAN LOCKE, I SEE YOUR DESPERATION TO BE RID OF THIS WILDERNESS. AND YET, I CANNOT DISARM YOU, AND SO I CANNOT NEUTRALIZE YOUR THREAT. YOU WISH TO CON A KING? YOU MAY NOT CON ME. YOU MAY NOT PASS.

OTTO BJORNSTED, YOU ARE PARTICULARLY PROBLEMATIC.

Otto's memories flash to his insults of the dwarves, and dressing down Thistlewick.

YOUR TEMPER IS A FIERY FURNACE. YOU ARE A FORMIDABLE OPPONENT, BUT THE PERSON YOU NEED TO CONQUER MOST IS YOURSELF. UNTIL YOU MAY BETTER CONTROL YOURSELF, YOU MAY NOT PASS.

Tecumseh wrote:

ADRASTA LAKARIS, ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE CAUSED MUCH HARM, IN YOUR TIME YOU HAVE HEALED EVEN MORE. IF YOU FREELY OFFER YOUR SERVICES TO MY PEOPLE, YOU MAY PASS.

"Have I?" Adrasta wonders aloud. By her count, she still had much harm to make up for. Perhaps the leviathan accounted for it differently, or maybe Adrasta was too hard on herself. It was hard to know exactly how much harm on had caused in the heat of battle. Faces melded into one another. Anger, fear, pain, and the other things you saw etched on the faces of your enemies all became indistinguishable as you fought for your life. War was a lot of waiting, followed by a blur of violence. Adrasta remembers looking over the carnage left behind after battle, and feeling the weight of it. Perhaps she was carrying more of it than she ought to.

Either way, there was nothing wrong about adding more to 'healed' column of her tally. Adrasta would gladly share her gifts with these people. Perhaps she would even find a student among them.

Adrasta listens silently to the leviathan's judgement of Ardan and Otto. Her eyebrows shoot up when it delivers the former. She knew Ardan was having a time, but to hear his desire to leave the Wilderness described as 'desperation'... Had she known, she would have insisted they turn back and return to Ignacio and Emma's. If Ardan didn't want to stay, he shouldn't have to, and wandering the Wilderness alone would be unwise. Once they were done here, she would make sure he got his chance.

Otto's assessment seems harsh to her. True, he had a temper and had let it get the best of him a few times, but never without provocation. She wrestles with the image of him in battle, spreading death with a single sweep of his axe, compared to the quiet, gentle craftsman she has travelled with and sat next to once they made camp. She had been around hard people all her life. Soldiering did not let you stay soft. It either hardened you, or broke you, often both. She had never felt unsafe next to Otto, but perhaps it was because she was used to men like him. She didn't think the fisherfolk had anything to fear from him, but it was clear that the leviathan disagreed. What had lead it to that conclusion, greater insight or a skewed perspective? She wasn't sure. Either way, the leviathan had rendered its judgement, so the point was moot.

Adrasta lets the silence hang for a bit, before turning to her companions. "Seems like if we want to meet these people, it'll have to be Draern and I. I'd like to go, as I'd hate for this trip to have been for nothing, but if you both would rather we leave, then we'll leave."

Disappointment slowly turns into despair. He is so close to civilisation, away from the city and its captors. The perfect place to stay, for now. And now he can not enter. "But I am harmless. I won't hurt anyone and my sword will stay where it is. I promise." If he gave up the sword, he would have to find a new one in order to make a new spirit weapon. Given his recent experiences that seems reckless. But how can he convince the leviathan, that he won't use his sword? For many years he had only used it for show or in defence until he escaped into an alley or door. Only the Wilderness had forced him to use it for its real purpose. But the beast won't care.
Helplessness creeps up his spine.

The leviathan seemingly inhales, although one wouldn't naturally think of it as an air-breather.

I SENSE YOUR DESPAIR, it tells him/everyone. YOUR HELPLESSNESS.

Another inhale. Perhaps it is contemplating Ardan's protestations?

DO THIS, it tells him. A tentacle rises up from beneath the waves, holding a deteriorating piece of driftwood that crudely resembles a short sword.

MAKE THIS YOUR SPIRITUAL WEAPON. REJECT THE VIOLENCE THAT MASTER AL-SAMI TAUGHT YOU. YOU NEED IT NO LONGER.

The tentacle extends itself to Ardan, depositing the "sword" into his hand. The water-logged wood is soft and can barely hold its shape.

DO THIS AND COMMIT YOURSELF TO NON-VIOLENCE. KNOW THAT A TERRIBLE FATE AWAITS YOU IF YOU BREAK YOUR VOW TO ME. DO THIS, AND YOU MAY ENTER.

"I see the visage of a god, but hear the judgment of a mortal. Whoever you may be, your vision is far-reaching, but lacks....context."

For better or worse, the 'judgment' from this voice removes the spell of awe that had gripped Otto. At first believing the words to be coming from this monster of the deep, for right or wrong, he now only sees a large puppet, and he now only hears the words of a puppet-master.

"A god would certainly recognize the importance of civility, for without it, what are we? While you judge me for my so-called insults to the dwarves, you ignore their own insults and their attack shortly thereafter. Yet the Anakim, as distasteful as they may be, actually afforded us greater civility than the dwarves. Surely, they could have smashed us, or otherwise offered affront -- yet they did not. But the dwarves, in the certitude of their fortress, both insulted and attacked. Your simple judgment says they should have lived, and the Anakim should have died by our hands. Without context, 'tis a very narrow view indeed.

"You choose to shame me for my treatment of Thistlewick? Fair enough. In my defense, I say only this -- he deserved more than a stern talking-to for his disdain of the people who took the time and the risk to help him in his time of need.

"Perhaps my demand for civility appears 'problematic' to you. Perhaps my demand for civility is a danger. It is my hope that you and your people are not uncivil. Are you uncivil? That is my concern, as I wonder what affront the Anakim gave before being torn limb from limb. Perhaps they deserved it. I know not."

"But what I do know is that we've come through the great perils of an uncivilized wilderness to arrive here, only to be greeted with yet more uncivil behavior -- the theft of our own thoughts and our own privacy. Thanks to you, I've been shown the minds of my own companions, things that belonged to them and them alone. You want us to atone for our 'sins'? Atone for your own. Or will you have us torn apart, as well?"

Otto is practically out of breath by the time he finishes, no longer caring whether he's offended a man or a giant stinking crab. He absent-mindedly wonders what the Anakim did when they had arrived, what actions they had taken to meet such an end.

The leviathan is clearly angered by Otto's speech.

I HAVE LIVED MANY OF YOUR LIFETIMES. I HAVE SEEN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THOUSANDS. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE HOW YOUR SOUL COMPARES, YOU SHOULD LOOK INWARD AND CORRECT IT RATHER THAN QUESTION THE JUDGEMENT.

Its tentacles writhe and snap like whips. Its eyes narrow and its teeth seem to snarl.

YOUR ARROGANCE DISPLEASES ME. GO, OTTO BJORNSTED, AND DO NOT RETURN BY LAND OR BY SEA. YOU ARE HENCEFORTH BANISHED.

To make the point, a tentacle - longer than what seems possible - lashes out from the waves. It seizes a giant piece of  driftwood, easily as a large as a man, from the shore and launches it into the distance like a catapult. The message is clear.

Tecumseh wrote:

I HAVE SEEN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THOUSANDS. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE HOW YOUR SOUL COMPARES, YOU SHOULD LOOK INWARD AND CORRECT IT RATHER THAN QUESTION THE JUDGEMENT.[/b][/i][/color]
YOUR ARROGANCE DISPLEASES ME. GO, OTTO BJORNSTED, AND DO NOT RETURN BY LAND OR BY SEA. YOU ARE HENCEFORTH BANISHED.

"How many have you read wrongly? If your answer is 'none', but don't see your own arrogance, then strike me down and get it over with. You dislike my words? You dislike my thoughts? Would that justify you murdering me?

Apparently, what you call arrogance is the greatest crime of all, punishable by death., but you do not know my heart, you do not know my soul.

My soul plays in the waves behind you as we speak."

He gazes at the proud ship beyond the beast. If he's going to die at the tentacles of this leviathan, he wants the last thing he sees to be one of the ships he and his family had devoted their lives to.

"If you're going to threaten me because you don't like my words, stop your threatening, and get to it. I am ready for your violence, and will meet it equally. Violence is your choosing, not mine."

Otto plants his feet, his axe coming to ready with a relaxed alacrity, knowing he may be taking his last actions in this lifetime.

Adrasta had started to relax, but at Otto's defiant words, her heart starts beating wildly. Her eyes flick from Otto, to the leviathan, then back to Otto. Her shield arm tenses. "Otto... what are you doing?" Adrasta asks through clenched teeth. Her go to the monster and back to Otto again. "Ta exeis paraxesi, malakia. You're going to get us killed. Apologize to the sea monster and let's go."

"Otto, No!" Ardans thoughts return from debating loosing his spirit weapon for peace and freedom to the harsh reality of Ottos words. Hesitantly he backs up into direction particularly and with horror watches the things unfold.

Draern watches the situation with the detachment of the unaffected. The monster had cleared him, much to his own surprise, and the people he just met were discussing the monsters decisions. Nothing that concerned him. Until the large man called Otto defies the monster and its decision.
Draern feels respect to the bold courage of the man, mixed with pity for his naive stupidity. There is no way he can survive a fight with this beast if the group of battle hardened Anakim obviously didn't even scratch it.
But now the situation is starting to change in a way that will affect him.
Rima snarles and the small hair in Draern necks rise. This will not end well. Slowly he takes a few steps back to get as much distance between the monster and its far reaching tentacles as possible.

His head turning to call to his friends, "Save yourselves, your fate differs from mine!"

Otto readies his axe as two purple tentacle spring out of the water, clearly intending to seize him. The creature makes no moves on Ardan, Adrasta, or Draern.

"You take that which does not belong to you!" Otto bellows, swinging his axe in defense. It's not a good swing but Otto has the advantage of a very wide axe and only needing to defend the relatively narrow space in front of him. The blade sweeps through the first tentacle, severing about three feet of it. The bloody tip flops in the side as the creature screeches.

" -- the thoughts and experiences of others, NOT freely given!" Otto continues, reversing course and striking the second tentacle on his backswing. It suffers the same fate as the first, losing a couple feet off the tip.

"-- then tell them to everyone within earshot!"

Otto's still alive, and there's something to be said for that, but the creature is now quite aggravated. The two tentacles have lost their tips but still remain 93% intact. And there are six more tentacles which are now writhing angrily. As if to make the point, two tentacles seize things from the shore, clearly intending to use them as weapons. The first tentacle grabs a heavy rock, the size of a fat watermelon or a large pumpkin, while the second grabs a heavy piece of driftwood that's ten feet long.

"Otto, stop, it will kill you!" Helpless, Ardan watches the fight proceed. If the leviathan can read minds, why doesn't it see Otto for who he is? A friendly and helpful man. A temper, but only when provoked. Integrity. He has integrity and stands up for what he thinks is right. Even now in the face of death.

Otto becomes vaguely aware of what the other tentacles are doing, and runs headlong toward the creature, yelling as he goes. His hand axe in his right hand, his war axe in his left he shouts, "Strong you may be, but I swear by Freya's mighty thighs, it will cost you a few stumps and an eye or two."

He dashes to the water line, the beast impossibly large in his field of view. He hurls the hand axe end-over-end...one...two...three full rotations, and the axe sinks deep into one of the creature's eyes.

Tentacles may slap him down or quarter him at any moment, but if he should fall, Otto knows the creature will remember Otto Bjornsted for the rest of its days.

Adrasta watches with consternation as Otto runs headlong towards the leviathan. She sighs, turns, and walks back to the horses. "I'm leaving," she tells Ardan. "We won't be welcome here anymore."

A thick tentacle seizes Otto's hips and legs, squeezing him. His hips are crushed.

Another tentacle tries to grasp the arm that just threw an axe into the leviathan's eye. It grabs him, but Otto's mighty strength allows him to pull the arm free.

A third tentacle wraps itself around Otto's arm with the war axe. It constricts until his bones are powder.

The tentacles bring Otto up to the creature's mouth, which has three rows of serrated teeth like a shark. Otto is bit in half, leaving his legs and one arm dangling from tentacles. His head has a few moments of consciousness before it plunges into the belly of the beast. Besides the searing pain, the last thing Otto hears is, YOUR SOUL MAY PLAY IN THE WAVES ONCE I HAVE DIGESTED AND EXCRETED YOU.

Otto's legs are flung over the sand dunes, back onto land. The arm with an axe is flung onto the shore, as if the rest of the party might want a keepsake.

The creature seems to take some deep breaths. It is clearly in pain.

I DO NOT HOLD YOU LIABLE, the leviathan tells the rest of the group. THE SINS OF FATHER ARE NOT LAID UPON THE CHILDREN. EVERY MAN'S ACTIONS ARE HIS OWN AND NO OTHER'S.

YOU MAY PASS.

Adrasta winces and stops when she hears Otto die. She sees his arm and axe land nearby. Perhaps she can return it to his family. Not enough to make up for their loss, but better than nothing. She hears the leviathan's words as she walks to pick up the discarded weapon. "Get out of my head, and let me mourn my friend in peace," she says bitterly.

Adrasta picks up the axe and carries it over to the pack horse. She secures it to its pack, then turns to Ardan and Draern. "I'm going to Ignacio and Emma's, then back across the wall. I know you wanted to leave too, Ardan. I'd be happy for the company."

"Draern, you can have Otto's horse, if you want it."

Adrasta mounts Wanderer, taps its flanks with her heels, and turns her back on the Wilderness.

Ardan watches the scene in horror until Ottos legs get flung right into his direction. They land some 10m in front of him and roll a little bit over the sand and come to a halt in a very unnatural position. Ardan turns around, bends over and throws up.
After a few rounds, he answers Adrasta, still heaving occasionally, "Yes, I'll come. This is the horrifying end of an unpleasant experience. Let us go right away." He starts walking, trying to get away of Ottos remains, but then stops. "We should bury him."

He has seen bad things in his life. Horrifying scenes. But this here is one of the worst. He hasn't known Otto for very long, but this is no way to go.
Draern happily helps the others to dig a grave right below a large tree, collect what is left of Otto and carve Ottos name into the bark.

When they leave and Adrasta offers Ottos horse, he asks Ardan to trade his horse with him. Something was special about it.
Ardan does not care and Draern now rides Wolf, next to his wolf. He does not follow the other two, but rides off into the woods that have been his home for so long.
"Good luck you two. And thank you."

The beast seems almost... disappointed. It watches you go, almost as if it wants you to change your mind. But it doesn't stop you from leaving, nor plead with you to stay.

It retrieves its severed tentacles from the shore, and painfully pulls the axe out of its exploded eye. It keeps those with it as it sinks below the waves.

Wolf looks askance at Ardan, somewhat surprised and maybe even a little hurt that Ardan would give Wolf up so easily. Or perhaps Wolf is wary of the Wildnerness too and wishes to go? But this Draern fellow does have a way with animals; he quickly sets Wolf at ease. It's not the same as being with Ardan, but it's still good... just in a different way.

END CHAPTER III