The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (20 page)

“What is going on?” said Vashnas, wringing her
hands. “What kind of magic is this?”

“Divine magic,” Malock said. “Only the magic of the
gods could do something like this.”

Vashnas gulped. “Does that mean that a god is trying
to get us?”

Malock looked out over the sea, trying to locate the
source of the sound of the being walking through the water, and
said, “I think something worse—
much
worse—than a god is
after us.”

As soon as the words left his lips, it appeared. Its
appearance was sudden. One moment, it was not there; the next, it
walked out of the water and waves as if borne from the water. It
towered over the tallest mast of the
Iron Wind
and strode
through the water like it wasn't there. Every step it took sent
vibrations up the
Iron Wind
, shaking the ship far worse than
the storm did.

It was perhaps the strangest thing Malock had ever
seen in his life. Though humanoid in build, the giant resembled
neither human or aquarian. A green slime that smelled strongly of
rotten eggs dripped off its body, almost like sweat, its reptilian
skin glistening underneath. Large, sharp claws protruded from the
tips of the dozen or so tentacles that flailed from its sides,
claws that looked at least as sharp a Grinfian sword, if not
sharper.

Its face was impossible to see. A cloud of smoke and
smog covered it, the only features visible being its eyes. And what
eyes they were, huge and red and glowing. Simply looking into the
eyes was enough to strike fear into Malock's heart, the kind of
fear that paralyzes you where you stand and makes all hope
lost.

The giant, the Verch, stopped about a dozen yards
from starboard. Up close, it was even bigger, standing so tall that
Malock, Vashnas, and Banika had to crane their necks to see its
head. It did not do or say anything, didn't even make a noise. It
simply stared at them, perhaps trying to decide the best way to
smash the
Iron Wind
into a million pieces.

Then a strange sucking sound emanated from the
Verch's head and the next moment a large blob of slime shot out of
the cloud. The blob landed on the deck with a splat, causing some
of the foul-smelling slime to land on Malock and Vashnas, but not
Banika, who due to her position behind them managed to avoid
it.

“Ew,” said Vashnas, wiping the slime off her face.
“If this really is the Verch, I'd say this is punishment
enough.”

Malock tried to wipe the slime off his boat cloak,
but then the blob started moving and he stopped, anxious to see
what was happening.

Part of the blob extended upward, a long, thin pole,
before two arms sprouted out of the sides. Then, at the top of the
thin pole, two red eyes blinked open, followed by a mouth that had
no teeth or tongue. The entire thing looked like a crude
approximation of a human, as if an artist had drawn a human using a
vague description provided by someone who had only seen a picture
of a human once years ago.

The blob creature resembled the Verch in miniature.
Its red eyes swept across the entire ship before fixing on Malock,
Vashnas, and Banika. The intensity with which it stared at them
caused the three to step back collectively, Malock reaching for his
sword.

Then the blob held up a crude hand that constantly
dripped slime. “Don't hit.”

The blob's voice was strange. It did not sound
either masculine or feminine. If anything, it always sounded like
how Malock had imagined a wasp's voice would sound if it could
speak: halting, jerky, and with a slight buzz, too.

“It can talk?” said Vashnas. “I know the gods are
strange, but talking blobs?”

“Quiet,” said Malock under his breath. “You want to
get that thing angry?”

“Come in peace,” said the blob. Its voice was very
uncertain, like it was not used to speaking Divina. “Not bad. Here
to aid Chosen One.”

Surprised, Malock said, “I'm the Chosen One. You're
here to help me? Not punish me?”

The blob creature tilted its head to the side. “Why
punish? No. No punish. No wrong you did. Spy on crew did,
however.”

“Sorry, but what's wrong with your voice?” said
Vashnas, who Malock was beginning to feel less kindly to right now.
“You sound weird.”

“Mortal language,” the blob said, grimacing as
though it had just spat out a large wad of spit. “Clumsy. Awkward.
Useless.”

“What was that you said about a spy?” said Malock.
“And if I may ask, who are you? Are you the Verch of legend?”

“Verch? Don't know,” said the blob. “In filthy
mortal tongue, name is Messenger-and-Punisher. Come to bring
message from Kano.”

“A message from Kano?” said Malock. “Well, why
didn't she just send me another vision? Surely that would have been
more practical than sending, uh, you.”

Messenger-and-Punisher—who Malock decided to call
'Messenger' for short—frowned. “Other job, too. Get spy. Take away
to be punished.”

“So you're here to deliver a message and take away
this so-called spy,” said Malock. “Okay, what is it?”

“First, message,” said Messenger. “Kano says not to
worry, you be safe from harm. Says she still awaits you on World's
End. Says you trust me, I help you get the spy, help you get
World's End safely.”

“Ah,” said Malock. “That's nice to hear.”

“So you're not going to destroy our ship?” said
Vashnas. “Like you did with the pirates?”

Messenger's face was hard to read, but it looked
confused. “Destroy ship? Pirates? Not sure what you talk about. Is
confused.”

“What Vash meant is that you destroyed the hideout
and ship of a group of pirates about a week ago,” said Malock.
“Their leader told us that you ripped off the top of their
hideout.”

Realization dawned on Messenger's face at that
moment. “Remember now. Just Grinf told me go and kill them for
their crimes. Tired of tolerating their crimes. Did good job.”

“That's ... strange,” said Malock. “I didn't know
Grinf used you to dish out judgment on criminals.”

“Do work for all gods,” said Messenger. “North and
south. Kept busy all day. Don't remember always what I do. Hence
name. Messenger-and-Punisher.”

“Of course,” said Malock. “But back to the subject
of the spy. What do you mean?”

Messenger made a face very similar to that of the
Loner God. “Godly politics. Member of crew trying to cause trouble,
trying to stop you from getting World's End. Servant of
Tinkar.”

“Tinkar?” said Malock. “You mean the God of
Fate?”

“One and only,” said Messenger. “Go below deck and I
fetch spy.”

Malock raised his hands. “Wait, wait. You don't need
to do that, really. No need to waste your time looking for the spy
among the crew. You don't want to tire yourself out, do you?”

In actuality, Malock was only trying to keep
Messenger above deck because he was certain that the blob's
appearance below deck would cause a panic among the sailors. Even
he wanted to run and he was not in any sort of trouble. He didn't
want to think about what Messenger's sudden appearance below deck
would cause for the rest of the crew.

Messenger frowned. “Not big deal. Just go below,
grab spy, and leave.”

“But I could do it for you,” said Malock. “Just tell
me the name of the spy and I'll fetch him myself.”

“Don't know name,” said Messenger. “Just know that
spy is on board. Wish to make this quick. Have other jobs to do.
Gods very impatient.”

Messenger started sliding toward the hatch, but
Malock stepped in its way. He knew it was risky, but he reasoned
that a servant of the gods wouldn't dare harm him, even if he
annoyed it.

“Look, Messenger,” said Malock in his most
pacifistic tone. “You're obviously a very hardworking servant of
the gods. No need to spend hours searching my crew looking for the
spy when I could do it much more easily.”

Messenger stopped and actually looked angry now.
“Don't be wall. Get out of way.”

“I'm hardly a wall,” said Malock. “It's just that
I—”

“Don't be wall,” Messenger repeated. “You safe,
perhaps, but does not mean I must respect. Move or else.”

Malock stood his ground. “Give me one day, just one
day, to find the spy. Just one day. That's not such an unreasonable
thing to ask for, is it?”

Messenger looked unconvinced. “How find spy if you
don't know who it is?”

“I know a way to do it,” Malock said. “A way that is
much quicker than going through each sailor one by one. I can
assure you that by the end of the day, I will have the spy.”

Messenger grunted. “Fine. Do as you wish. I leave,
but I return tomorrow same time. I do other thing in meantime. Do
not disappoint.”

With that, Messenger collapsed back into a gooey,
formless blob, and slunk back to the bulwarks. It jumped over the
bulwarks and landed on the giant's body, crawling into one of the
open pores on its body. The ugly sight made Malock feel ill.

Then the giant stood back up its to full height,
turned around, and marched back into the storm raging all around
the ship. As soon as it stepped outside of the range of the still
water, it vanished, like it had been dissolved by the rain and
wind.

As soon as it vanished, the storm disappeared as
well. The clouds evaporated, the sea grew calmer, and the sun
appeared once again, making everything feel quite humid. It also
made the trail of slime left by Messenger smell even worse, but
Malock didn't pay attention to that. He was just glad Messenger was
gone because despite its assurances that it was on his side, it had
still freaked him out.

“That was the weirdest thing I've ever seen,” said
Vashnas as she and Banika approached Malock. “And I've seen plenty
of weird things in my life, trust me.”

Malock wiped the slime off his boat cloak as he
said, “We don't have time to waste talking about it. Banika, gather
the rest of the crew. They have to know about what Messenger told
us, as well as what I am about to do.”

Banika nodded, but didn't leave. “If I may ask, sir,
how are you going to find out who the spy is? Not even Messenger
knew and he was sent here to capture whoever it is.”

Malock smiled. “Don't worry, Banika. I've got it all
figured out. Just get everyone top deck in twenty minutes and then
everyone will know about it.”

***

E
veryone below deck felt the ship stop, which
led to a lot of speculation as to what caused it. Due to the lack
of windows in the lower decks, it was impossible to tell what was
going on outside, which was why everyone was so eager to come top
deck when Banika appeared with orders from Malock to bring everyone
to the surface.

The ship didn't look much different than it had
before the storm, except for the large splotches of a foul-smelling
green slime on the starboard. Kinker didn't know where that stuff
had come from or what it was, but he nonetheless avoided it because
it smelled even worse than the hold did.

Malock stood above them all on the quarter deck, his
hands gripping the railing. His eyes scanned the crowd of sailors,
like he was looking for any suspicious behavior. It made Kinker
feel uncomfortable, even though he knew for a fact that he was not
guilty of anything except for what he had done back on Destan and
as far as he knew Malock didn't know about that.

He, Jenur, and Bifor took up a spot at the back of
the crowd, near the bow. Despite the entire crew being present on
the deck, it felt far less cramped up here than it did down in the
lower decks, probably because it was wide open.

As soon as the sailors spotted Malock they started
directing their questions to him all at once in such a muddled
confusion of noise that Kinker couldn't even hear himself think. A
loud whistle blew just then, the boatswain's call, which
immediately silenced the entire crew.

“My loyal crew,” said Malock, looking around at them
with searching eyes that did not match his reassuring tone, “I see
you all want to know exactly what happened. I heard some of you
asking if we were attacked, while others think Garnal has returned.
Let me assure you that none of us are in any trouble ... save for
one whose identity is unknown.”

Kinker exchanged a look with Jenur as the sailors
exploded with even more questions. “What does that mean?”

Jenur shrugged as Malock continued, “Earlier, a
messenger of the gods appeared on the deck of this ship to deliver
me an urgent message. He revealed to me that there is a spy on this
ship, a follower of Tinkar, who has been attempting to sabotage the
entire voyage right off from the start.”

“Who's the bastard?” one of the sailors shouted.
“Tell me and I'll rip his—”

“That is the point,” said Malock, interrupting the
angry sailor. “I do not know who the spy is. Not even the messenger
knew. The messenger wished to search the crew for the spy himself;
however, I convinced him that we could do it on our own.”

“Why should we believe him?” said another sailor
near the front, shouting loud enough for everyone to hear. “Where's
the proof? I ain't seen no spies on this ship of ours.”

“You would dare question the authenticity of a
divine messenger of the gods?” said Malock. “Besides, the
messenger's message has confirmed my own suspicions. This voyage
has been one large disaster from the start and I've long suspected
that a member of this very crew is doing everything in his or her
own power to make it that way. Until today, however, they have only
been suspicions and nothing more.”

“Still sound like suspicions to me,” Bifor said, in
a low voice that only Kinker and Jenur could hear. “He still hasn't
offered any proof.”

“I'm sure the Captain has good reasons for
suspecting that,” said Jenur. “I mean, this voyage has been pretty
disastrous. And I can't see any reason why this divine messenger
would lie to us.”