The Lord of the Plains (46 page)

He turned and ran into the forest- surely it
couldn’t come here! The radio was to his mouth and he was speaking.
He glanced behind.

There was a crash. He didn’t know what it
was.

And then… In disbelief Vann saw that trees
behind him were falling! Above the canopy was a blue arc. It came
down, arched up again. It was the monster, undulating, wriggling
like a worm.

He put the radio away- he needed to run!

He ran clear across the island. The whole
time he was thinking it has to stop now it has to stop
now
!
But the crashing sound didn’t get further away. It kept coming.

Then he was at the cliff.

There was a dizzying drop before him and
water beneath. Water was not his friend right now.

He looked back. He could see trees
disappearing from the canopy. The sound was getting louder.

He looked to either side, this was the
furthest point from the beach. Whichever way he went would lead him
back to the beach. Back to that monster!

Then he looked down.

It was an easy decision, really. The only
one.

Despite his racing heart he was calm and
careful as he began climbing down the cliff face, clinging to the
rock.

He hung on tightly, blocking the sounds of
trees falling from his mind. He climbed down til he came to a small
ledge. He looked up, he could no longer see the trees from where he
was.

In one hand he had his lightning rod. It was
set to maximum.

Then… then a blue, scaly tip appeared above
the cliff.

His heart leapt to his mouth but he stayed
calm. He pressed himself flat against the cliff face, the lightning
rod in his hand.

Then it came over, over. It was falling past
him, heading towards the water. The sandy, scale covered body was
following. No limbs came off it, it was like a really, really big
snake.

He would not have to reach his hand out far
to touch it.

There was a crash and water arced all
around. The thing had touched the water, yet it was still coming.
Vann counted the seconds under his breath. Each second his eyes
widened.

There was an unbroken line of monster from
the ocean at the bottom of the cliff to the top. And it just kept
coming
.

A sick feeling in his stomach, Vann thought
it must be as long as the island. He’d never seen anything this
size.

And it kept coming.

For so long Vann began to think it would
never end.

And then there was another tip. The same as
the head of the beast. Blue sky was above instead of blue monster.
He turned his head and watched it disappear under the waves.

He waited perhaps another minute. When there
was no sign or sound he began climbing back up the cliff.

When he was up he fell, hands and knees on
the ground. He was trembling.

He closed his eyes, swallowed. Then he stood
up. He was a submariner.

He pulled the radio out once again. Then he
looked at the forest.

There was a swathe of trees down, a corridor
through the forest. He could see all the way to the other side of
the island.

Gingerly he began walking through that
corridor. He took note of the width.

About twenty meters wide and so terribly,
terribly
long
.

How could anything be that big?!

When he reached the beach the first thing he
noticed was his boat.

It was not so much a boat any longer but
scraps of twisted metal.

His gaze lingered on it for a moment before
roving over the rest of the beach. There was a deep furrow in the
sand, from the ocean up to the corridor through the forest.

It was when he noticed the dark stains in
the furrow that he remembered the fish people.

He looked around quickly, taking a step
forward.

The beach was empty. If there had been
bodies, and remembering how the creature,
Molk
, had crashed
down onto the beach above those slowly moving fish people, that
that there must have been, they were gone now.

He wondered, feeling an unexpected moment of
sorrow, what had happened to the talking fish person.

He pulled out his radio again and walked
closer to the water’s edge. He stayed out of the furrow and avoided
the dark stains that could only be blood. He didn’t get too close
to the water.

He finished speaking, a patrol nearby would
come pick him up. And come examine the island. He’d remained calm,
his voice had not betrayed his feelings, still, the base did not
quite believe his story.

The radio was once again put away.

There was a splash. Alarmed, Vann whirled,
his lightning rod coming to his hand.

Green seaweed caught his eye first.

Calming only marginally Vann realized it was
the talking fish person. It was approaching the shore. It looked
like this one was the only fish person around.

‘Friend, friend, not eaten, not eaten!’

‘Why are you here?’ Vann called, ‘it’s
dangerous!’

‘Friend’s boat died! Zap zap take friend
back! Friend fight Molk.’

‘We’ll fight it.’ Vann acknowledged. They
couldn’t let something that huge and dangerous roam around
Coastside. That thing could probably swallow a submarine whole!

The fish person flipped its tail and drifted
closer to the shore. ‘Zap Zap take you back.’

‘Zap Zap?’ Vann asked. ‘Is that your
name?’

The creature nodded. ‘Zap Zap. Friend zap
zaps creatures and kills them.’

‘My name is Vann.’ Vann replied. ‘But…’ he
hesitated, the creature had warned him about Molk (and expected him
to kill it), but there was no way he was getting in the water with
it. It was a risk not worth taking. And there was no need anyway, a
patrol would pick him up before nightfall.

‘Another boat will come pick me up.’ he
said. ‘Thank you, but I don’t need your help.’

There was a flash of silver and a splash of
water as Zap Zap flicked his tail.

‘Zap Zap stay. Make sure Vann doesn’t get
eaten.’

‘It’s not safe here. I’ll be fine.’

Another splash.

‘Vann be safe?’

‘I’ll be safe.’

Vann felt a moment of relief as the tail
splashed one last time and the fish person disappeared. Right now,
he didn’t feel like dealing with any gemengs, no matter how
friendly they appeared.

The patrol arrived. They examined the
island. They measured the corridor and the length of the cliff.
Vann watched, not able to feel amused as the colour drained from
their faces.

Vann helped them salvage the scrap metal
that had once been his boat.

The ride home was uneventful. It was just
past sunset when he stepped off the patrol boat and onto the piers
at Coastside.

The night was his, tomorrow morning he had a
meeting with the Commander.

Vann intended to spend his night in the
company of a beautiful woman. He set off immediately after a quick
shower to find one.

The next morning Vann was standing in front
of the glowering Commander of the Coastside Submariners. The
situation felt pleasantly familiar to Vann, who had known the
Commander all his life. Today, Commander Lart Reista was looking
less murderous than usual.

‘Submariner Vann Hilyard, how are you?
Enjoying your shore time?’ Commander Reista asked from behind his
desk.

Vann didn’t respond.

‘You realise, don’t you, that patrols are
done for the safety of Coastside, not so you can enjoy a solo
pleasure cruise around the islands? Or did you miss that in basic
training?’

Vann remained silent.

The Commander didn’t say anything for a few
moments as he fixed his hard gaze on Vann.

Then, ‘so, why exactly did you decide to
sail off on patrol alone, hmm?’

This time Vann replied, ‘my partner was
indisposed. The patrol needed to be done and no one else was
available. So I went alone. If I hadn’t-’

‘I am aware of that.’ Reista replied
nastily. ‘And don’t change the subject. Submariner Adeis has been
discharged. I’m told he didn’t wake up til after noon.’

Despite himself Vann was momentarily
surprised, though he really shouldn’t have been. ‘Y-yes, sir.’
Adeis performance with Vann was not unusual, in fact it was what he
did every day. No one would go on patrols with him anymore. Vann
had thought the man would pull himself together for his one last
shot.
I guess I was wrong
.

‘Sit down,’ Reista said testily, ‘you’re
blocking my view.’

Vann obeyed, sitting down in the chair in
front of the Commander’s desk. Behind him was a window with a view
of the bay.

‘You know, if you behave like this you won’t
get any more promotions.’ the Commander said, glaring at Vann.

‘I don’t want a promotion.’ Vann said
slowly. He’d been promoted to Second in Command of the
Bad
Luck
kicking and screaming, so to speak. The Commander had
given him the option of taking the promotion or leaving the
submariners. Vann still didn’t think he was allowed to do that.

Reista’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’ll take
whatever job I damn well give you.’ Then he relaxed slightly. He
leant back and slapped his desk. ‘It’s uniforms for the rest of
your shore time! Without pay. And consider yourself lucky.’ the
Commander eyed him, ’if you hadn’t discovered this ‘Molk’ and
started having conversations with fish you’d be on a mine ship for
the next year.’

Very politely Vann said, ‘yes, sir, thank
you sir.’

The Commander grumbled something under his
breath and leant back in his chair. ‘Very well, what did the fish
people say, hmm? And why did they grace you with their conversation
and no one else? Or do they think you’re as special as you think
you are?’

‘I’m not sure why they spoke to me.’ He said
honestly, ‘I think they were afraid of Molk. They climbed onto the
beach.’

‘I see. What did they tell you about
it?’

Vann narrowed his eyes as he tried to
remember and make sense of what Zap Zap had told him. ‘They called
it an Ocean Lord and said it was going around Molk’s territory.
They said it had been here before and was here now.’

The Commander’s eyes widened slightly, Vann
didn’t notice.

‘Hmph. Did it look like this?’

Reista placed an open book before him. It
was open to a hand drawn picture of Coastside.

Vann had seen pictures like this before. The
Military Library was full of them. They had pictures and
descriptions of the gemengs around Coastside and records of
attacks. He’d seen many pictures of the bay area after it had been
destroyed in a gemeng attack.

This picture showed a giant wave descending
on a Coastside that looked a bit different to today’s version. Then
he noticed, out in the ocean, a pillar.

Cold descended on him.

Vann pointed at the thick black line rising
from the ocean. ‘That could be it.’

Reista nodded and put it away. ‘Most of the
gemengs in the records are bigger than what we deal with today. I
wondered if they were exaggerations. Judging from Arling Island
however, it would seem they are not.’

Vann raised his eyes to Commander Reista’s.
‘How are we going to kill it?’

‘I imagine you have some ideas.’

‘I think I should try talking to the fish
people again, find out what they know.’

‘Hmm…’

‘Commander, the fish people think we’re
their friends.’

He raised an eyebrow at that. ‘Really.
Why?’

‘Because we kill all the dangerous gemengs
around Coastside. Those gemengs attack the fish people too.’

‘Hmm…’

‘I think we should try talking to them. The
fish people have never bothered us before. Maybe we could be…’ he
hesitated, ‘…allies.’

The Commander’s steely eyes bored into his.
Then he shrugged. ‘Well, no harm in trying. Find out what they
know.’

Vann nodded. ‘I think we should treat it
like a giant splitter.’