Housekeeping
When I first worked on this story in webcomic form, I talked a lot about legends. It dealt with Terry doing some things and those things being inflated into legendary acts. Well, I realized that’s not what this story is about. This is about real legends. It’s about Terry actually performing those acts. Join me as Terry faces…
The Father of Waters
Terry stared out at the undulating ribbon of scales approaching the Blowhard from the east.
“Lydia, can I borrow your spyglass?”
She just handed it to him without a word, and Terry raised it to his eye. It WAS a massive creature, whatever it was. He could tell by the way it moved and how long it took to undulate. The movements were serpentine. He also knew exactly what kind of creature it was.
“Gargouille,” he whispered.
“WHAT?!” Lydia shouted, and Terry flinched at her volume.
“Yeah.” Terry replied, “It’s a male, too. Lots of colorful frills and spines on it. Never heard of one that big before.”
Arthur stepped away from the railing, looking nervous. “I have, and if we’re lucky I’m mistaken on what it is. You’ve dealt with these a lot, have you?”
Terry handed the spyglass back to Lydia. “I’m a bit of an expert on dragons and saurians. Hopefully that actually pays off here. I’ve only fought one before.”
“MEN!” It was Captain Spalding. He had hopped up on the base of the mast and had an arm around it, holding himself up. He struck a dramatic pose. “I won’t lie to you! We face certain death at the hands of this handless monster!” Everyone turned to watch the man, no doubt hoping for inspiration. Or a plan. Or possibly a cannon pulled from his pocket. “Let me know how that turns out.” The man bolted below decks before anyone could say a word.
Lydia gave some quick orders with a sour expression and the sails were lowered. So was the anchor. She was in no hurry to meet this thing. Terry couldn’t really blame her, but he felt the great thing connected to him moving again. He had an idea, and it was a whopper. He turned to a crewman with curly red hair and a dirty top hat.
“Can you get my horse saddled? And quickly?”
The man motioned Terry closer and for him to hold his hand out. Terry had only seen this man a few times below decks and didn’t much care for his constant manic grin. Terry obliged and held his hand out. The man threw his leg up into Terry’s hand. Terry growled and threw the man’s leg back down with an eye roll. The man squeezed a horn and it gave a loud “HONK!” before he skittered off somewhere.
“Gella, can you get someone to saddle Aloysius and have him brought on deck?”
The girl didn’t ask questions, for which Terry was thankful, and ran off to see it done. Lydia on the other hand…
“Terrance Lingal! We have a serious situation here. Don’t you dare bring a horse on my deck. I’d expect this from the Captain, but not you. I won’t have horse leavings up here!”
Terry looked her in the eyes and her anger vanished, replaced by concern and disbelief.
“You’re going to do something either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Why’s it got to be one or the other? Why not both?” he said with a smile.
The thing was nearly on them when Terry stepped back up to the front of the bow. Now that there was something to fight, his mood was lifting. He felt like he had a purpose again. Terry could be Terry. People needed him.
“SAURIAN!!” he shouted, and it seemed louder than it should. “Talk with me!”
To Terry’s utter astonishment, the thing stopped some distance away and raised its head above the water. The head alone was the size of a house, and Terry heard men and women scramble back away from him and it. He turned, and Arthur had remained with him, as had Lydia.
“Not gonna lie,” Terry said to his friends, “I’m kinda surprised that worked.”
The thing was strangely beautiful once the water was done cascading from it. The scales were iridescent, and it had frills of red, yellow, and green. When it moved those colors shifted. What he’d thought were merely spikes were full on horns, and they were perfectly smooth and white. The teeth looked almost silver. Then the mouth opened fully and it spoke.
“You would bandy words with the Father of Waters, mortal?”
Terry was laughing before he knew it. Lydia and Arthur looked at him like he was out of his mind, but they weren’t from Mississippi. They didn’t know.
“That is funny,” Terry said. “I swam in the Father of Waters when I was a kid. It’s a fitting name for you. And yes. First, I wanted to find out if you could speak.”
“Obviously I can, and I have no idea why I honor you with that knowledge.” The voice was a deep bass rumble. Its breath was hot and damp. It stank of rotting fish.
“It’s appreciated, nonetheless,” Terry continued. “Second, I know you’re here for me. I want to know who sent you.”
The head reared back. It took Terry a moment to realize it was in surprise. At that scale, everything was slower and it threw his perceptions off.
“You are intelligent for a mammal, boy,” It said louder than before. “Father Dagon seeks revenge for what you have done to his children!”
“Of course he does,” Terry said.
“What’s he mean?” Arthur asked quietly.
“I wiped out a town of Dagonites. Horrible things.”
“Ah.”
“AND!!” the Father of Waters shouted. “One who seeks to free the Old Ones from these three dimensions seeks your sword!”
“Jack in the Leaves,” Terry sighed.
“Again, you surprise me, mammal. Few today from your world know what that name means.”
Terry sighed. “I’m not giving you the sword, and I’m not letting you harm this ship or its crew.”
“You would dare face me?!” the great beast shouted. “Don’t think for a moment I can be easily defeated! I am immune to these lightnings you call down! I am impervious!”
“Oh thank God,” Terry said.
“What?”
“I was afraid things were getting too easy. Now, if you’ll give me just a minute so they can…”
“HI TERRY!” Aloysius’s joyful voice rang out behind him and Terry couldn’t help but smile. He turned and walked away from the thing and he heard it grumble behind him.
“Hi Al! I need you for a few, buddy.” He patted the horse’s muzzle before thanking Gella for her help.
“What is that?” Al asked and Terry shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re going to do something, Al. I don’t really know exactly what yet, but it’s gonna get kinda weird. I just need you to trust me the way I trust you. Ok?”
The horse nodded and got a determined look on his face. Arthur ran up to him then.
“Terrance, Terry, what are you doing?”
He looked at the old man and smiled. “You say I’m more than a Spell Blade? That I’m more than I think I am? Well, let’s find out how much more.”
He turned to Gella. “Squirt, if this goes south, then when you get to Tir-Na-Nog and you happen to see Delores…” He looked up at the suddenly grinning face of the monster. “Just tell Delores I tried, ok?”
Terry launched himself onto Aloysius’s back and he felt it. Al was a part of this now. He could tell that there was so much more to the horse than he’d been allowed to show anyone. This would work. It had to.
The sound of the Father of Waters chuckling at him was honestly frightening.
“You would face me from horseback on a tiny ship surrounded by my own element?” the thing asked.
Terry pulled the Axis Mundi from its place in his coat and held it out to the side. There were sounds of surprise as his sword changed shape. Even Terry was a bit surprised it would allow itself to take this form in particular. It was a long spear. The haft was thick and wooden with a leather wrapped handle in its lower center. The hilt with its jewels was up near the end and smaller. The blade had grown short and slightly curved.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Arthur mumbled. Terry just shook his head and the old man let out a low groan.
“For Delores,” he whispered, then swung the spear over his head before pointing at the beast. Aloysius took off at a gallop.
It was the right move, Terry thought. The Father of Waters had no idea what Terry was doing, so when Aloysius jumped off the boat and sailed past the thing he didn’t know how to react, until Terry took a swipe at him with the spear as they sailed past. The Father of Waters flinched, but nothing seemed to happen. He really was impervious.
That part of the idea hadn’t worked. That was fine. Terry could pivot. The next part was going to be up to Aloysius. Terry closed his eyes and prayed. He heard splashing sounds followed by the full throated laughter of a horse. He opened his eyes. As soon as he saw, Terry threw his head back and whooped. Aloysius was galloping on the surface of the ocean.
“Look, Terry! I’m a seahorse!” Al yelled and Terry laughed.
“That was terrible! I love it!”
He looked back and saw the thing coming at them at speed. The Father of Waters didn’t have to be fast, really. He could cover distance just from his size alone.
“I need to face the thing!” Terry shouted, and Aloysius obliged. The horse turned and took advantage of the fact that they weren’t on solid ground, they slid to a halt. Al finished his little spin and was facing back toward the ship and the Father of Waters.
“Gotta think, gotta think, gotta think,” Terry chanted softly. As the massive head rose, mouth wide, Terry gave the reigns a flick. “Gun it, Al. Doesn’t matter where. Just watch for me.”
The horse nodded and as he started to move, Terry sent himself flying out of the saddle. He managed to land on the great monster’s head, grabbing hold of one the many horns. The head began swinging back and forth, but it was such a wide gesture, that Terry managed to hang on.
“Climb off me, coward, or I will drown-STOP THAT!” the Father of Waters shouted as Terry tried to stab under a scale with the Axis Mundi. He saw underneath was a thick membrane that seemed to be just as hard as the scales.
“It’s ALWAYS the scales with these guys,” Terry muttered.
The head reared and started to dive. Terry took a blind leap. He hadn’t felt this nervous in a long time. This whole fight was new territory for him. He was coming down fast when suddenly there was a saddle beneath him and he managed to land. He was going to have to just pretend he hadn’t just landed crotch first into hard leather.
“Great catch, Al!” Terry said, voice pitched too high after the landing.
“Thanks! That didn’t work. What do we do?”
Terry had no idea what to do. He looked back and the sight of the gaping maw of the creature with his pink tongue and row after row of silver teeth in its soft gums put the fear of God in him.
Pink. SOFT!
“TURN BACK! QUICK!” he shouted, and Al did his drift again. This time he ran straight at the monster. Using his knees, Terry guided the horse toward the left side of the thing’s head. The head turned to follow, but Al was too small and too fast compared to the gargantuan thing. As the two sped past the Father of Waters’s face, Terry took an experimental swipe at the Father’s gums.
The head shot up out of the water with a half roar, half scream that made Terry shiver. He’d cut a tooth loose. He grinned.
“I know what to do, Al! Take us further out. He’s gonna be really pissed. I want you to let him start to catch up with us, got it?”
“Got it!” the horse shouted. He didn’t even sound winded.
Terry patted his neck. “You’re doing great, buddy. I think this might be it.”
This was going to be a gamble and Terry knew it. There was a chance he might not open his mouth again after that and just try to crush them. He hoped that if they made a tempting enough target the Father of Waters might try to swallow them. Terry didn’t think he had any other options.
The great beast was right behind them. Terry could feel hot breath on the back of his head from angry and frustrated snorts. He turned and the monster did it. He opened his mouth.
Terry jumped up and stood in the saddle and threw the spear with as much strength as he could muster. The spear stabbed into the roof of the Father’s mouth. It looked like a toothpick jammed there, but the Father of Waters did exactly what Terry had hoped. He raised his head to scream in pain and rage.
That’s when Terry reached into the sky and threw lightning at the pommel of the Axis Mundi. The Father’s eyes widened as the shock went through him. Before he could react, Terry threw more. He threw lightning again, and again, and again. With each strike the Father of Waters screamed and convulsed. Terry turned and hopped back into the saddle and brought Al back around.
The massive head fell and sent crashing waves at the both of them, but Al jumped over them like a show horse. Terry held his hand out, not know if what he was thinking would work, but the Axis Mundi flew out of the monster’s mouth and by the time it reached his hand it had become a sword again. Terry pulled Aloysius up short of the Father of Water’s face. Horrible noises came from deep within its throat.
“I want you to understand that I’m sparing you, Father of Waters. I’m sparing you because I CAN spare you. You’re just too darned impressive to kill. For that, you’re going to go back to your masters and you’re going to give them a message. The Errant Apprentice is done being threatened. You understand?”
“Yeeeessssss…” the Father of Waters hissed as it rolled back onto its belly. One massive golden-red eye stared at him.
“What are you, mammal?” it asked.
“What am I? Done with shenanigans is what I am.” Terry nodded toward the southern horizon. “Go on, now. Get.”
The massive head sank beneath the surface and the Father of Waters made his way south.
“That was AWESOME!” Al shouted and did his weird little trotting dance. It sent splashes and ripples out around them. Terry patted Aloysius’s neck and turned him back toward the Blowhard and took off at a gallop.
As he approached, he waved his sword overhead and pointed east before riding Al in that direction. It would take the ship time to get the sails back up and Terry was done waiting. They galloped on ahead.
Aloysius laughed at the sheer joy of the whole thing and it infected Terry as well. He looked around him. Now that it was all over, he could truly understand what they were doing.
“I can’t believe this,” Terry said quietly as he hunched over Al’s back.
“I think this is what I was born for, Terry! This is why I’m here!” The horse sounded for all the world like he HAD found his purpose in life. Terry just patted his neck as Aloysius jumped over waves and ran through ocean spray.
The ship caught up in less time than Terry thought they would. Al had probably let them catch up. Sometimes Terry thought the horse was smarter than him. He angled Aloysius away from the ship enough that they could get a running start, then ran toward the side of the Blowhard. They approached, and Al made a leap that put them on the main deck with only some minor scrambling as he got used to being on solid ground again.
As soon as Al had his footing, Terry climbed out of the saddle and threw his arms around Aloysius’s neck. He felt Al hook his head over Terry’s shoulder in the closest thing a horse could approximate to a hug.
“You’re amazing, Aloysius. Absolutely amazing,” Terry said.
“Gosh, thanks Terry!” Al said, smiling.
Terry looked around at the crew then. “Ah, dang. This is probably gonna get around, isn’t it?”
They should have been hauling lines or, well, something. They weren’t. Everyone on deck was staring at him. Some in shock. Some in fear. All of them in awe. Even Arthur stared as if he’d never seen him before. What felt like a slap in the face was when Gella reached a hand out timidly to touch his coat.
“C’mere, you!” he said and grabbed the girl into a bear hug, lifting her off the ground.
For a long moment she didn’t react, and Terry thought he’d lost the girl then and there. If he’d done that, he thought it would break his heart all over again. Then she slung her arms around his neck and squeezed.
“It’s still me, Gella. I promise. I’ll always be me.” He bit his lip.
He felt her nod, and something inside him unwound. That was it. That was what had been bothering him the whole time. He knew that, deep down, he would always be who he was. Nothing could change the core of him. He didn’t have to worry. Not about that, anyway.
He looked at Arthur and took a tone of mock severity at the Tutor. “Now don’t make me do it again.”
The old man started laughing, and Terry just laughed right along with him.