Fowlhunter [GL]

They trudged along within the walls. It was a secret passage that Jemi had found, somehow apparently, which bypassed the elevators and hence any guards. The thing was, when it had been time to get moving from the campfire…

“I can’t move. Carry me, won’t you?”

“You’re magicless, not legless. Walk yourself.”

“Heeeey, don’t walk off like that. I mean it! If you don’t carry me, I won’t guide you to the Kraken. I'll just sit here and play tic-tac-toe with the cavebats.”

…So, presently, the woman clung to her back like a big, gold-haired sloth.

That was not the worst part. Really, she wasn’t that heavy—the woman was concerningly light, if Ennanis had to say. The worst part was Jemi’s constant yammering. Ennanis couldn’t fathom how a person could talk so much all the time, even in a place like this.

“Don’t worry, I’m the only person here,” Jemi’s voice sang in her ear. “Which means I’m the only person who could laugh at you.”

“That helps a lot, I’m sure.”

“I do help a lot. I made you sandwiches. Do you even know how to cook, or do you just eat ration bars all the time?”

“Ration bars are good. They last almost indefinitely, and are packed with all nutrients essential to survival,” Ennanis said defensively. “Come to think of it, those sandwiches looked familiar. Smelled familiar…” she paused. Then, indignant, “Did you steal those from the kids?”

“What? I just found those in the pantry at the metal bunker thing.”

“Those are for the kids, you— you damn kleptomaniac,” Ennanis managed. “I’ll be eating only bars from now on, and you will be too.”

“Blegh. Tell me you have apple-flavoured ones.”

“The only flavour I bring with me is nectar.”

“Of course, nectar, how did I not see that coming.”

“Unless you’re the one bringing any food—and I mean your own food—you can shut up.”

They—rather, Ennanis alone—continued to trudge through the narrow tunnel, boots clanking. Ennanis had her headlight turned off to conserve energy. Jemi’s free hand was stuck out in front of them, holding an oil lantern to light their path.

“By the way, what’s in the sandwiches? The flatmeat, I mean.”

Jemi thought about it. “Chicken, probably.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Bother me? Why? Because the Cockatrice is my friend? Pha-hahahaha! She’s not a literal chicken, you know that. You just love calling her that. Chickling, chickling. How cute, but she’s as close to a chicken as you are to a dove.”

“A dove?”

“Yeah?” Jemi cooed. “You angels are practically half-birds, Commander, haven’t you noticed? Your wings… they’re as soft as a white dove’s.”

“Don’t touch my wings.”

“What happens if I do? Ooh, don’t answer that. Scary, scary look.”

“Why,” Ennanis droned, “do you enjoy tormenting me so much?”

“Because you act like you have that spear of yours up your butt. Like, constantly,” Jemi answered, draping herself over her shoulder. “Loosen up, for Medusa’s sake.”

…Ennanis decided not to dignify her with a response.

The silence stretched on. A rat skittered past. Ennanis once again fought the flash of instinct to incinerate it. The rat was unlikely to be a Beast, or her biggest problem at the moment.

“You know what we have to do, right?” Jemi said. She leaned on Ennanis’ sticky back. The air had become warmer and warmer as they walked on.

“The Agni,” Ennanis nodded along. “It’s not covering up the Kraken. It is the Kraken.”

It made sense. The cabochon had led Jemi here; Ennanis’ senses had led her here. The Agni, a creature that pulsed within the lava heart of the mountain—even though it wasn’t anything like the deathly-cold Kraken Ennanis had sensed within the fissures of Mount Casca, the resemblance was uncanny. The shape of long, twisting, infinite tentacles, the size large as a dragon would’ve been, and—above all—a power so overwhelming it drove people mad with reverence. With such power, it was not inconceivable that the Kraken could take on different forms depending on where it was.

“I’ll admit. It’s really something that humans managed to contain it,” Jemi exhaled.

“They didn’t,” Ennanis said. “Ahi Vesuvio mentioned that the Agni comes and goes of free will.”

Jemi raised her brow. “Is that so? He doesn’t strike me as the sort of man that respects the concept of free will. Free will for anyone but himself, that is.”

“He appears to be a deeply religious man,” said Ennanis. “He would bow down at the feet of a being he perceives as greater than him… Even if the reason he bows down to it, is precisely because he believes his devotion will serve his own interests.”

“We could use that to our advantage,” Jemi noted. “Still, from what you’ve said so far, it seems like the rest of the squad have managed to find information on the mythological Kraken and what it is—but nothing on vanquishing the thing.” She exhaled, shaking the oil lantern in frustration. “Did your Emperor Prometheus even tell you anything? A little hint? Can you ask him for help?”

“His Excellency placed a communication charm on me to keep track of where I am,” Ennanis said, rueful. “But he hasn’t contacted me once for a report. Only he has enough Soleki power to bridge the range all the way from the summit of Mount Casca, so I can’t send a charm back myself.” It seemed that Prometheus had really intended on simply banishing her from Mount Casca, rather than envisioning she would truly succeed on this impossible mission. She had suspected as much from the get-go; it was merely her own sense of duty that kept her going. “Definitely nothing about the Kraken’s kill-switch.”

Still, she wasn’t completely without clues from the ruler.

She put together what she had heard. “According to our history, Prometheus supposedly vanquished the Kraken some three thousand years ago. But according to Vesuvio, and based on the local practices, it seems that the Kraken has been visiting the Kanch region regularly enough over the past centuries, at least.” Her eyes narrowed in concentration. “If we retraced the origins of the Agni, it could tell us when exactly the Kraken reappeared in modern times. Earlier than the Battle of Fifth Peak.”

“A name is just a name,” Jemi pointed out. “The Agni myth could have preceded the appearance of the Kraken.”

“But it’s a start,” Ennanis said.

“Alright, then,” Jemi nodded. “Give Asha a call.”