When he could stand it no longer, he let loose with the question that was on the verge of driving him and everyone else on board mad. “For Gojokku’s sake, bruther—what’s it saying? What are you two talking about?” He hesitated only briefly. “You are talking, aren’t you?”
“What?” As if suddenly remembering that he was not alone aboard the Grömsketter, Ehomba turned to gaze reassuringly at his companions. “Yes, we are talking. In fact, we are having a most pleasant conversation.” Even as he replied to Simna, the herdsman continued to twitch and contort his fingers into patterns that meant nothing to his fellow humans.
“Hoy, then how about letting us in on a bit of it?”
“Yes,” agreed an anxious Stanager. “What does it want?”
“Want? Why, it wants what I told Simna any creature in its position would probably want. Payment. For anchoring the hard-shelled multitude that pulled us out of the valley.”
Stanager was uneasy. “By all the sea gods and their siblings, what form of ‘payment’ could such a creature require?” Peering over the side, she observed the powerful, parrot-like beak protruding from the center of the mantle—a beak large and sharp enough to bite through the hull of a ship. “If it’s hungry, I’m not sacrificing any of my crew. We have preserved meat aboard, and fresh as well as dry fish. Might it be satisfied with that?”
Turning back to the eye of the Kraken, Ehomba worked his fingers. Once again, immense tentacles semaphored a reply. Wishing to make certain that there was no miscommunication, the herdsman repeated the query and for a second time made scrupulous note of the response.