The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart (43 page)

As the first syllable left her mouth the gentle waves cupping the boat glowed, and as her voice rose so too did the sea emit
brighter and brighter luminescence, a sea-foam-shaded light shining on her joyous face. For all the ages she had lived and
all the leagues she had swum, the thrill of the song remained the rarest and sweetest delight, a feat possible only on a sojourn
to the dry world. It being the last opportunity she might have for millennia to enjoy herself in such a fashion, she sang
all the louder, summoning all of her world who might listen to the requiem of her voiceless, earth-treading days.

Merli jumped over the side of the boat in his dream and regained his senses when a very real wave swallowed him, the giant
sailor instantly aware that for him every seaman’s nightmare had been realized. A large black shadow bobbed out of the glowing
wave beside him, and he knew it boded ill. Like any drowning man, his body reacted before his mind could halt it and he kicked
toward the shape, desperate for anything to cling to, but then Merli saw orange eyes flicker on the shadow and on dozens of
similar creatures all around him. His fingers brushed scales and spines and he went under, and whether they spirited him down
to behold unimaginable splendors or devoured him on the spot is not recounted here.

Al-Gassur awoke without realizing he had fallen asleep and, rubbing the salt from his eyes, saw Barousse release the anchor.
It splashed in front of the ship, the cable uncoiling from its spool. Sitting up, the Arab felt his eyes fill with tears as
he heard the sweetest song imaginable drifting from just over the bow. Then a shadow fell from the top of the high mast into
the glowing sea, plummeting as silently as the anchor.

Below deck, Angelino, Giuseppe, Lucian, Karl, and Sir Jean drowned in their nightmares, their dreamships dashed on the music
dripping down through the planks. Raphael had risen to piss and, seeing Martyn’s head submerged in the water barrel, yanked
him out, only to have the cardinal shove him off and submerge himself again.

Atop the foremast Leone stared at the end of the crossbeam from which Cosimo had jumped, too startled to move. On the rear
mast Hegel attempted to prevent Manfried from doing the same while not slipping himself, one hand wrapped in the rigging,
the other clutching Manfried’s breeches while his brother tried to scramble to a higher diving point. Then a horrible groaning
smothered her song, the entire ship jerked to the side, and even those in the depths of their night visions started awake.

In the dark men tumbled out of their berths into one another, slamming into the forecastle walls as the ship violently tilted.
The barrel upended all over Martyn and Raphael, and the young brigand rolled in the water, keeping Martyn’s head above the
shallow surface and slapping the Christ back into him. The cardinal began hacking up water and his eyes focused on Raphael,
who released him and joined the sailors rushing up the ladder.

A second shock rattled the masts, and the suddenly suicidal Manfried’s head knocked against the crossbeam with enough force
to loosen his teeth. The rigging Hegel gripped swung him away from the mast and his brother, and before it swung back Hegel
saw Manfried open his eyes and shakily stand on the crossbeam. Hegel screamed impotently, but instead of jumping to his doom
Manfried turned and snatched at his swinging brother. Her song unbroken, the Brothers locked eyes, blood leaking through the
gaps in Manfried’s grin.

“Witchery out a hand yet?” Manfried helped Hegel untangle his arm from the ropes.

“Fuck that witch and double fuck Barousse he tries to keep us from righteousness!” Hegel began descending the mast, the light
of the sea brighter than the moon.

“Hey!” Manfried noticed Leone standing on the opposite crossbeam, his head tilted down at the water. The sailor did not hear,
carefully edging toward the end of the sail. Knowing what he was about, Manfried snatched out a dagger and hurled it at the
man. His aim true despite the rocking vessel, the blade stuck in Leone’s leg and sent the man spinning off the crossbeam.
He disappeared with a crash into the hold, which was better than the sea by Grossbart reckoning.

Al-Gassur followed as she quit the bow and made for the stern, throwing himself at her feet. She raised the Arab up with her
voice, her discarded sheet entangled on the figurehead. Her body blinded him, not with lust but with awe. Stroking his chin,
she stole his heart as sharply as if she had done it with a knife.

Dropping off the mast, Hegel saw them and moved to crack her head open when the ship again tipped and he lost his footing.
Karl led the charge from below and was therefore the first to tumble down the suddenly steep deck and over the railing. His
pick embedded in the planks, Hegel shot out his hand and seized the sailor’s arm. With Hegel secured in place Karl’s legs
dangled over the edge, and as the ship teetered further, a wave splashed onto the deck, immersing the sailor for a moment.

As the glowing water retreated, Karl shrieked and Hegel caught sight of a long shadow beside the man that disappeared with
a splash. Hegel hoisted Karl back onto the ship, Angelino and Giuseppe arriving to help as the ship rocked back the other
way. Karl kept screaming and as he toppled onto the men they saw that from the belly down nothing remained but strings of
meat. While they all slid down the deck entrails spilled out from where Karl’s legs ought to have been, his would-be saviors
coated in his blood, the man’s scream finally catching in his throat at the realization that he was dead.

Rodrigo slipped in the spilled water below deck and knocked the wind out of himself when he fell. Lucian and Raphael hung
on to the ladder as the ship pitched about, and then emerged to the sight of a radiant ocean and Karl’s upper half gliding
across the deck. The waves had climbed along with her song, blazing spume crashing over the railings and soaking all. Manfried
released his grip on the mast when the ship settled as much as it was likely to, and he saw her shove the Arab toward the
edge and flee back to the bow. Manfried gave pursuit, the sprawled trio of Hegel, Giuseppe, and Angelino finding their footing
as she danced past them onto the platform.

Between the rising groans of the timber and her song the men’s shouts went unheard by each other, but all were clear on their
purpose. Angelino’s dread became complete when he saw that not only was the anchor dropped and doubtless moored, but Barousse
stood before the windlass used to winch it up with his sword drawn. The woman stepped behind him, singing directly into his
ear, and then she turned and let her song bound out across the roiling, luminescent ocean. With each note the sea grew fiercer
despite the still air, and the taut anchor cable tugged the nose of the ship down so the figurehead could kiss the sea before
rearing back up.

Al-Gassur held on to the open lid of the hold as the ship swayed, and he saw the barely alive Leone sprawled in the shallow
water atop the layers of hidden gold bars. Had the hold contained seawater and caught fish instead of Barousse’s fortune topped
with a little fresh water the man might not have broken his hips when he fell from the mast. Al-Gassur reached out to Leone
and drew Manfried’s dagger from where it jutted out of the sailor’s thigh.

Martyn raved and prayed below deck, wondering if perhaps all was not as the Grossbarts claimed and he, through no fault of
his own, championed sinners instead of saints. Sir Jean’s limited knowledge of sailing and his absolute terror propelled him
through the storeroom door with a satchel in each hand. Rodrigo tried to stop him and was promptly knocked unconscious by
the crazed knight, who opened the ship’s only porthole and shoved the satchels out into the sea in a desperate gambit to lighten
the load, radiant water rushing in with each sway of the ship.

Manfried barely noticed Barousse in his eagerness to reach the woman on the bow, and almost had his face split for his oversight.
Instead he jumped aside, sliding to the edge of the railing. Hegel circled Barousse, trying to get at the woman he shielded.
Angelino shouted something about the anchor but even those who spoke Italian could not hear over the song and the crashing
waves. Giuseppe knew without being told, however, and slunk after Hegel. Raphael and Lucian drew up short behind Angelino,
Raphael unsure of whose side to fight on given his bought loyalty to Barousse and Lucian simply scared of getting near the
enraged man.

Regaining his balance on the platform of the prow, Manfried went in for another assault and managed to back Barousse into
the anchor winch, the man slipping in the salt spray and falling flat on his back. Hegel headed for the woman but then the
prow bucked again and he slipped, skidding toward a gap in the railing. Manfried caught his brother before he went over, dragging
him away from the edge. Hegel tried to stand but his leg buckled, his left shin black and swelling from where it had connected
with the railing. Angelino was not so lucky, the poor fellow tumbling over the side of his ship as it dipped violently back
down, his last thought before he struck the blindingly bright water that his best friend had sent him to his doom.

Scrambling upright, Barousse noticed with dismay that Raphael was delivering the final strike needed to sever the cable. The
ship swerved as it came free, and to Hegel’s horror he saw an enormous shape moving under the luminescent water where the
hacked end of the hempen cable disappeared. As if sensing his gaze it dived down, sending up a brilliant wave that washed
everyone but the woman and the Grossbarts off the bow and onto the deck.

Having seen him creep up on Barousse and the woman, Al-Gassur pounced on the upended Giuseppe but the mate hurled the Arab
off. Lucian and Raphael clung to a mast to avoid being swept into the sea, and Alexius Barousse again regained his feet. The
woman gripped the same railing as the Grossbarts and her eyes narrowed at them, her song trailing off. Her teeth appeared
longer in the sea-light, and they saw her dripping body bulged and pulsed, her skin darkening in wide splotches. As she pivoted
and sprang over the railing Manfried grabbed a gaff pole from its mooring in the rail and swung, smacking her side.

Seeing the woman disappear over the edge, Barousse wailed and charged back toward the prow to follow her into the ocean but
Lucian kicked his legs out from under him. Giuseppe scrambled to his feet and was hurrying to put an end to Barousse when
Al-Gassur tackled the mate, pitching them both on top of Barousse and Lucian. Raphael decided to side with the majority and
administered a sound kick to Barousse before the restrained captain freed an arm and pulled his former hired man down onto
the pile.

Using every remaining drop of stamina, Manfried held on to the gaff with both arms, Hegel limping as fast as he could to his
brother’s aid. The woman went berserk on the end of the pole, her left arm skewered by the barbed hook. She dangled in the
water up to her waist, her other arm pulling on the gaff to drag Manfried down with her. Then Hegel reached them and grabbed
his brother around the waist, tugged him away from the edge. Eyes tightly shut from her surprising weight, Manfried opened
them only when he heard her flop over the edge of the railing.

Her bright lips again parted to release her song, her soft eyes meeting his hard ones, but Manfried could not hear her music
over his own scream. Having finally pummeled Barousse unconscious, Lucian, Raphael and Giuseppe looked up and joined the Grossbart
chorus while the Arab began laughing the desperate, howling laughter of the deranged. Below, Sir Jean dropped the box he held,
bursting gems and coins and jewelry onto the floor beside the concussed Rodrigo. Martyn stopped praying and withdrew a bottle,
guzzling what he thought might be his last taste on Earth.

The thing writhing on the bow resembled the woman they had brought through the mountains from above the navel, but even here
differences were legion. Her small teeth had lengthened, sharpened, and multiplied, several rows of them glittering in the
moonlight as she snapped at them. Several gashes had opened on either side of her throat, and water bubbled out of these as
they descended upon her with pick and mace. Their weapons tore through the webbing between her fingers, smashing her hands
down into her face and chest. Her blood proved red, thankfully, but they kept screaming, mashing her skull and driving her
ribs out through her back.

Even with her song forced back down inside her she flopped around, her sinewy body slapping on the planks. The smooth skin
of her stomach appeared translucent where it met the scales coating what had been her legs, the new and shimmering eel-like
appendages tapering to splayed fins. This abominable region of her body continued twitching even after they used hatchets
to remove her arms and head, and Manfried carved out her heart with his knife.

Giuseppe and Lucian retreated below, sallow and shivering, under the pretext of locking up the mutinous Arab in the storeroom.
Raphael swayed aimlessly on the deck, gibbering to himself in his native tongue. A sound slap from Hegel set him a little
straighter, and he assisted in transferring her prodigious remains to the hold lest they reform in the again-dark and calm
sea and she return to life revenge-minded. In the hold they found the dazed Leone, who passed out as soon as he saw what they
carried. They dragged him out and shoved her in, then bore the sailor under.

Sir Jean had eventually calmed after the ship stopped creaking and swaying, and realizing he had struck Rodrigo unconscious,
surreptitiously made his exit. Finding Martyn dozing on the floor, the knight liberated him of his bottle and righted one
of the chairs. Giuseppe and Lucian found him there, and after shoving Al-Gassur into the storage room without noticing the
still-prone Rodrigo they picked up their own chairs and word-lessly joined him in drinking. Worrying he had perhaps erred,
Sir Jean did not mention his exploits in the storage room, and the sailors did not mention their adventure above.