His uncertainty returned. “What, that we’ll reach the coast soon?”
“No, you great elongated booby.” She punched him hard in the thick part of his right arm. “That there’s pleasure to be had in your company.”
For an instant, inherent hesitation held him back. Then he relaxed into a wide smile. To her surprise, not to mention his own, he put his arm around her. “I do not especially like the taste of seamen’s grog, but under the circumstances, it is the taste I think I should seek.”
Even those members of the crew assigned to duty high up in the rigging joined in the festivities. Internal lubrication caused a number to sway dangerously at their positions, but by some miracle the deck remained unsplattered. The Grömsketter continued to make headway, albeit more slowly than the efficient Stanager Rose would have liked.
The celebration continued unchecked until one lookout, his vision blurred but his mind still vigilant, sang out with an utterly unexpected and shocking declamation.
“Kraken! Kraken off the port bow!”
On the main deck, conversing intimately with one of the female members of the crew, Simna ibn Sind heard the cry and sat up like a man stabbed. He had never seen such a thing as the lookout proclaimed, but he knew full well what it was supposed to look like. Stumbling only slightly, he abandoned his nascent paramour and staggered forward. Ehomba was already there, staring like a second figurehead out to sea.
“What … ?” The swordsman steadied himself as he slammed up against the railing. “What’s happening, bruther? I heard the lookout….”