The Eighth Sea

Chapter 18

A/N: Major character death; read at your own risk

Wren

Seriously, the Kraken? Wren was certainly not prepared for this. He should have expected that the Kraken wouldn't just stick around the ship, and maybe it was for the best that the Kraken wasn't attacking the Jolly Rancher. At least the rest of his crew would be safe.

Now, the same thing couldn't be said for the rest of them. Hector was pacing, Pierre was muttering something under his breath—whether it was a prayer or a profession of love, Wren would never know—Patricia was drinking more aggressively than usual, Gerald was biting his grimy fingernails, and Francis was frozen. And Levi... well, Wren wasn't entirely sure, although the captain was convinced that he could see beads of sweat forming on Levi's forehead.

"What's gonna happen?" Gerald asked. "We can't kill it."

Francis had a fair point, for multiple reasons. For starters, there was a giant wall of water in front of them, and there was no way they could breathe for that long, and movement would be limited. And the Kraken was, well, the Kraken.

"There has got to be a way out of here," Hector announced as Francis ran a finger along the wall.

"Wallis? Are you there?" Francis asked. Upon hearing his name, the dusty old wall man shot his arm out, and had Wren not been expecting it, he would have jumped. "Hey! Do you know a way out of here?"

Wallis pointed upwards and promptly disappeared.

"Great," Wren grumbled. "Let's just defy gravity and get out of here. No big deal."

"Can we try climbing the walls?" Francis asked, running a hand along the coarse, rocky walls.

"If you brought climbing gear, be my guest," Wren said. "Otherwise, it's going to be a long fall if we slip."

Francis, who was notably lacking such gear, huffed loudly in frustration.

"It's obvious there's only one way out of here," Hector sighed. "Scylla isn't dumb. She's making sure we never reach her in one piece."

"Are we actually going to do this?" Gerald asked incredulously. "Are we seriously planning on facing the Kraken?"

"If you have any better ideas, feel free to tell us now," Hector shrugged.

"I never got to say goodbye to Charlotte," Pierre whimpered, and for possibly the first time in his many years of knowing Pierre, Wren felt bad for him. At least he still had Hector with him to comfort him through the anxiety he was now facing. Sure, he was pretty accustomed to the whole concept of his own death. But he was also very much aware of Hector's mortality. Of his entire crew's mortality. He couldn't risk that.

"Hey, would anyone object to not fighting the Kraken?" Wren asked after much deliberation.

The crew looked amongst themselves before Hector spoke up. "Well, I wouldn't mind not fighting the Kraken."

"I gotta agree with Hector here," Francis chimed in.

"I'd rather stay blind than face that thing," Levi added with a shudder.

"So we're not fighting the Kraken. Great! How the hell do we get out of here?" Wren asked, scanning the walls for any escape method. Sure, they could go back the way they came, but the whirlpool that brought them into the maze could never bring them back out. Suddenly, climbing up the wall with various objects in the fish room seemed like it was the best idea. Surely Hector was smart enough to create climbing gear out of scrap? Right?