Contents
30. The Pig in the Drink
Overview
The wounded kraken returns, capsizes the Suepka by climbing and rocking the masts, and devastates the crew. Galva summons Deadlegs’s clockwork horse to force a path to the last oar-boat. Captain Boltch is seized and torn apart when the kraken recognizes his juvenile-beak trophy. Norrigal blinds the monster with powder, unintentionally blinding allies; Kinch executes the Spanth poisoner as the survivors row for the island.
Summary
The kraken hauls itself aboard the Suepka Buryey, revealing it has dragged the ship offshore. Recognizing it as the same wounded beast, Kinch helps the still-weak Galva arm up. The creature climbs the mainmast to rock the ship toward capsize while ballistae and arrows prove useless. Korkala’s attempt to sever the stays is thwarted when the kraken smashes her with falling timbers.
Realizing the ship is doomed, Galva uses Deadlegs’s staff to summon the clockwork branch-horse and charges the brawling crowd at the last oar-boat, scattering them. Kinch, Galva, Norrigal, Malk, the Ispanthian poisoner, and a harpooner launch as the Suepka overturns and breaks apart. Captain Boltch swims to them and is hauled aboard to row for the distant island.
The kraken pursues, pausing only to feed on survivors. When it confronts the boat, its gaze locks on Boltch’s necklace—a juvenile kraken beak. In a furious recognition, it seizes Boltch and rips him to pieces.
As the monster prepares to strike again, Norrigal hurls a bottle of silvery powder, and Kinch shields his eyes. The powder drives the kraken to dive, but blinds several in the boat, including Malk and Galva. Amid the chaos, Kinch stabs the Ispanthian who poisoned Galva and throws him overboard, sparing the blindly rowing Malk. The survivors pull for the island with the kraken temporarily driven off.
Who Appears
- Kinch Na ShannackNarrator; helps arm Galva, launches the oar-boat, witnesses Boltch’s death, and kills the Ispanthian poisoner.
- NorrigalWitch; retrieves potions and blinds the kraken with silver powder, inadvertently blinding allies but saving the boat.
- GalvaPoison-weakened Spanth knight; summons Deadlegs’s clockwork horse to clear the crowd and escapes in the boat.
- The krakenVengeful sea monster; capsizes the Suepka by rocking the masts and kills Captain Boltch over a juvenile-beak trophy.
- Yevar BoltchCaptain; boards the oar-boat but is recognized by the kraken for his beak necklace and torn apart.
- MalkGaltish sailor; rows fiercely, is blinded by Norrigal’s powder, spared by Kinch despite earlier enmity.
- KorkalaMolrovan magicker; leads an effort to cut mast stays and is struck down by falling rigging.
- Ispanthian poisoner (Spanth Badger)Galva’s countryman who poisoned her; helps launch, is blinded, then executed by Kinch.
- HarpoonerCrewman in the escape boat; helps haul Boltch aboard and rows for shore.