“Reason? That?” She gaped at him.
“The Kraken and their smaller cousins are among the most intelligent creatures in the sea. I thought an experienced mariner like yourself would know that.”
“I am a Captain of people,” she protested. “I do not converse with squid!”
He turned from her, back to the many-armed monster that was approaching the ship. “Perhaps you should learn.”
It swam right up to the bow. There was a sharp bump as the Grömsketter, jarred by the contact, shuddered slightly. The Kraken did not try to halt the ship’s progress, though it was clearly more than massive enough to do so if it wished. Instead, it swam lazily alongside, paralleling the vessel’s advance. One of the two major tentacles rose high out of the water, reaching up to probe curiously at the lookout nest that topped the mainmast. The sailor stationed there crouched down, painfully aware of the inadequacy of his pitiful shelter.
Sidling to the side, Ehomba leaned as far over the railing as he dared and found himself gazing into a luminous, very alert eye. It was quite similar to his own, except that the Kraken’s was nearly three feet in diameter. If he was not careful, a man could lose his mind in that eye, he warned himself.
The glistening orb twitched slightly and stared right back at him. Its pupil alone was far larger than Ehomba’s eyeball. Behind Ehomba, Stanager and Simna waited breathlessly, knowing that the monster could pluck the herdsman from the deck as effortlessly as they would pinch a bud from a long-stemmed flower.