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"I've lived here all my life," the old woman said, "and the rivers have been relatively safe. There were the rapids, but no giant monsters." "Maybe they're migrating from the mountain lake," Finn suggested. "That legend? A load of rubbish. Why, that lake is really little more than a pond." "But where else could the monsters be coming from?" The ocean was rather far away. "Maybe these are just isolated incidents," Rose said hopefully. "Maybe this is all we'll see of them." "I hope so," a middle-aged woman in an apron said. "My husband goes out fishing all the time." Finn nodded, and turned to Rose. "Let's go to the inn. I need some decent food and drink, and then we'll see how things are going." # The pair returned to the cozy downstairs bar of the inn, and after having a bowl of salmon soup (her guts were hardly up to more solid fare), Rose retired to her room. She fell asleep quickly, exhausted as she was. Sometime later, a loud noise at the door woke her. She looked to see Finn stumble inside. "Damn seafood," she said. "I suppose we'll probably be visiting the mountain lake soon, huh?" He walked closer, and Rose smelled the spirits on his breath. "Hey, Rose. You doing all right? You really look pale." His voice was slurred, and she realized he was drunk. She grew worried; it took a great deal of drink to intoxicate him. He must have been in severe distress to do such a thing to himself; even now, his deep voice sounded close to breaking. "I'm fine. What's bothering you?" He joined her under the blankets, draping an uncomfortably heavy arm over her chest. "It was . . . scary, seeing you bleeding on the ground like that. You could have been dead." She had indeed been badly wounded, but didn't want to think about dying. It was a scary thought that her wounds today might have killed her, considering how many times she had taken similar blows. "But I'm not, am I? It hurts like hell, but I'll be okay. I've got you to take care of me." Finn nodded, then looked her in the eye and said, "Maybe you should take a break and leave that mountain kraken to me." While Rose knew him to be genuinely concerned, he also did make a point of trying to outdo her whenever possible. It was one of the few flaws of his she still minded, particularly when it made him take unnecessary risks. "No, I'll be okay. Besides, if I did that, you'd never let it go!" Finally, he managed to smile weakly. "True. But you know I wouldn't mean anything by it." "Of course I know." "I love you so much, you indestructible beauty. You ever think about settling down, Rose?" "What, you mean stop adventuring and raise a family?" "You said you wanted to." She had, yes. "Someday, I meant. But not that soon. I'm still young." "You're not that young. Lots of women have kids younger than you are now. And I'm going to be an old man. I am almost thirty." His voice was a bit too insistent, and Rose hoped it was only an effect of the alcohol. "Don't worry, Finn. I'm sure we'll find the right time to settle down and be parents." "What do you mean, we? Even when you're home taking care of the kids, somebody's got to be out there kicking ass and winning bread." Rose took no pleasure in the thought of becoming completely dependent on a man, even the one she loved. "Wouldn't you miss me as a partner, if I retired before you?" "A little," he admitted. "I'd miss you more if you got yourself killed." Didn't he know she worried the same way about him? But she never tried to imply he should retire for his own safety. Trying to steer away from the increasingly uncomfortable topic, she said, "By the way, I just had a weird dream about squid." "What happened?" She chuckled. "It was nothing. I was eating squid at a carnival, and I got sick. Threw up all over the place." "I've never seen you get sick from eating anything." "Well, maybe it means something." "A carnival, Rose?" "Probably not, then. Get your arm off me." He hugged her tighter instead, sending greater pain through her body. Rose reasoned that she shouldn't antagonize him while he was drunk, and closed her eyes and went to sleep. # The next morning, they awakened to predictably bad news. "A great squid attacked my father!" a young woman waiting outside their room said as Finn opened the door. "He got away, but it broke his boat to splinters! You have to stop these things, just like you did the army." Swinging her legs off the bed, Rose took a steadying breath and stood. "Looks like we're checking out the mountain lake. Damn, more mountains?" Finn looked at her. "More . . ? Oh, yeah. Hurais, and Tilisa, right?" "No thanks for reminding me. I was just thinking about the climbing." The couple journeyed north without incident, until after two days they reached the outer fringe of the mountain range among which the Abyss Lake was nestled. "What a relief," Rose said. "These look more like hills than mountains."
Finn nodded. "I suppose everything in this legend is exaggerated.
Hopefully, the monster isn't the size of a castle either." |