The wooden ship crashed through a wave. The seas weren't very rough, but some rogue waves occasionally caused a splash. The sails were still full as they got close to their destination. The sailing had been easy so far- a nice two day trip from Sagr Harbor

A reef surrounded the Buraki Islands. Nobody had charted the islands, at least nobody from Sagr Harbor. There was little doubt with the ship's crew or the passengers, that somebody- something, had probably charted the islands. But the map makers weren't human, weren't here and would be nothing but trouble.

The six passengers were a mixed lot. They were partners, famed adventures who were coming to the Buraki Islands to slay monsters and reap treasure. The truth was, the four men and two women really were famous. They really were outstanding in their chosen professions. Their leader was a wizard. He had a long wide beard and hated wearing robes. His preferred outfit was a black shirt, black pants and black boots. He had a black vest with copious amounts of pouches full of stuff. At the moment he wore a black oilskin cloak to keep him dry. Despite all of the black, he was not evil. He would tell anybody who asked he just was. He loved facing danger. It didn't matter if the danger was a new spell or an angry troll. He just loved danger.

The rest of the group were equally skilled and dangerous in their own right. The priest could have been a bishop, but his taste for exotic pleasures kept him from settling down. The barbarian woman was shunned by her tribe. Finally, they had tried to talk to her when she returned to her village with a sword in her hand and vengeance in her heart. Now the tribe shunned her from the grave.

The rest of the group each had equal reasons that drove them. The common denominator was that all were excellent at what they did.

The ship continued breaking waves as it headed towards the pillars. Up in the crow's nest, the lookout spotted something to starboard. The lookout had made the journey through the pillars and to the Buraki Islands a few times before. The pay was good, the trips were uneventful and he had never had to fight any monsters. He had jumped his old ship for higher pay with a brand new captain. Now the captain was on his maiden voyage to the Buraki Islands.

The lookout shouted to the deck below. The watch stander at the prow leaned over the port railing and started yelling. The warning was too late.

A huge tentacle rose out of the water on the port side. It was as wide as a cart and longer than they could see. The tentacle had suckers as big as a barrel. The watch stander was the first victim as the tentacle snatched him off the deck. From the starboard side rose another tentacle. The wizard was the first to react. A stream of fire arced towards the tentacle. Steam hissed and sea flesh withered. Adventurers drew weapons. A third tentacle, again from starboard, breached the water and like a whip lashed out and smacked the wizard. But the wizard was not an easy kill.

Blades hacked, magic flew. The third tentacle oozed ichor as it withdrew. All was quiet in the sea- except the ever present waves.

The topside lookout yelled again and pointed. To port, 50 yards out, a broad cone shaped head with big eyes rose out of the water. It was a horrible mottled gray. Another head rose even closer to the boat. The adventurers and crew opened up on the creatures. Magic spells, arrows, harpoons flew. The nearer creature ducked beneath the waves. The magic spells had hit, but the missiles mostly missed. Out of the few that hit, only one penetrated. That was a magic arrow.

The further creature stared. It just stared. The first one started to reappear, but further out to sea.

"Something's not...." Before the wizard could finish his statement the boat lurched violently. The sounds of beams creaking and breaking was horrible. Inconceivable disaster was upon them.

Another creature, a third, maybe a fourth, hit the ship below the waterline on the port side. The ship listed to port as water gushed in. More of the giant tentacles appeared, but this time no man was the target. The target was the ship itself. Men screamed- some when they were crushed, one as he was hurled out to sea and the rest just screamed in horror. Even the ship itself screamed with its creaks and groans. Slowly the ship tipped.

From up above, the lookout dove into the water. Below, some crewmen jumped, some were glued to the deck with fear. The adventurers shouted to each other as they tried to formulate a plan. The wizard cast a water breathing spell. The priest prayed for their god's intercession. One of the warriors started to shuck his armour. The barbarian called him a fool, they needed the armour to fight the sea monsters.

The lookout swam away from the ship as fast as he could. When he tired, he tread water and turned to look. The ship was completely capsized. Two of the hideous sea monsters were riding the keel of the boat as it sank. They looked like giant squid with hooked beaks and arms like a giant's and tentacles aplenty.

The lookout fought the waves as he watched the ship go under. He saw a barrel and swam for it...

"How do you know all of this?" The speaker was a thin guy. His shiny breastplate and jewel pommeled sword spoke of wealth. Everything else about him said rookie.

The grizzled sailor standing the bow watch didn't take his eyes off of the sea. "The top side lookout was my brother. He caught that barrel and clung for dear life." The sailor, Salty was his name, turned to face the young man. "As it was, this very ship was making for the same place." Salty looked forward again. The ship, this ship was sailing for the pillars. "The same place we're going."

The young man, Aldric, was horrified. His hand reached for his sword. "Are we going to be attacked?"

Back towards the stern, a tough looking man, Geoff, turned to the woman beside him. "While I'm in the caves, I want you to stay in your cabin." His voice was deep, a command voice.

She was attractive enough, not a princess level beauty, but attractive. "What if I don't want to?"

Geoff looked to the bow of the ship. He began to watch Aldric and Salty talk. "I don't care what you want. You're paid to do as you're told."

"I'm a person you know." The woman had her hands on her hips and was glaring at the man. "A little consideration."

"You're bought and paid for." He barely spared her a glance. "Do as you're told." The man walked towards the front of the ship.

From the command deck above and behind the woman, the Master Of Sail smiled and nodded his head. He had the satisfaction of knowing he was right.

"Aldric, rest easy," Geoff put his hand on the boy's shoulder. Geoff spoke with the air of authority. "The captain assures me it has been a long time since the kraken were last seen."

Salty nodded and spoke to the boy, "the squire speaks the truth. It has been some time indeed."

"Now let the crew do their job as we prepare for ours." Geoff guided the young man amidships where the adventurers gathered. Geoff was older than the rest. He had experience. His job was to bring the young scions and gifted ones to the next step in their development.

The Captain of the ship slowly strolled from midships to the front of the boat. A cabin boy followed. All eyes were on them. Nobody uttered a sound. The cabin boy carried a bundle of white cloth. Quickly, the boy set the bundle down and unwrapped it.

"Cuttin' it a wee close cap'n" Salty said.

The captain answered quietly. "I wanted to let you spook the boy." The captain took a vial from the cabin boy. He chanted some words and dumped the vial overboard. Salty tried to look as reverent as possible. The rest of the crew and the adventurers were actively reverent.

Next came a bundle of sweet and bitter grasses. The cabin boy dutifully lit the bundle on fire. A crewmen beat a drum. The cabin boy did a complex dance that involved waving the fire too and fro. The boy and the drummer practiced every day, the movements had to be precise. Their lives depended on it.

The captain took the remaining item, a large fish, and offered it to the sky. He chanted. Nobody could quite make out the words. The crew had stopped trying to understand after a few voyages, they assumed it was some foreign magical language. The Captain offered the fish to the ocean on port side. More chanting and he offered the fish to the ocean on the starboard side. More chanting and he tossed the fish overboard. The drumming reached its crescendo. The cabin boy threw the burning grasses.

Salty grabbed the cloth from the deck, it was as long as a man and mostly white. He attached it to the railing so it hung off the bow of the ship.

On deck, crewmen who weren't in the rigging or on the command deck was on their knees. The adventurers too. Every man jack feared what would happen if the sacrifice was rejected or the ritual was done wrong.

The adventurers were ready for action. The crew looked this way and that. The ship sailed through the pillars without incident. Collectively everybody breathed a sigh of relief. It was known that once you made it through the pillars, no sea monster would ever threaten you.

The Mate signaled the Master Of Sail. The Master bellowed and the rigging men scampered through the maze of ropes and masts like monkeys. A quarter of the available sails were flying. Soon enough the ship had passed islands and approached the two islands that were their destination. Again the sailing master received a signal. Quickly the rest of the sails were furled.

Slowly, the ship cruised to a stop. A team of sailors released the massive anchor.

The Captain and Squire Geoff had already discussed their plans. Geoff and his companions were anxious to try their luck against the Hnoh. The captain had no objection, there was plenty of daylight and it wasn't his neck on the block. One of the companions, was sick and would stay in her cabin on board. The captain wasn't happy, but reassurances that she would stay in her cabin and a generous gift smoothed things over. The captain was skeptical- the swordswoman shared a cabin with Squire Geoff.

Two of the ship's long boats were lowered. Geoff and his adventurers scampered down a rope ladder onto the boats. Three of the heavily armored men needed help. At first they refused, but two rungs down the ladder and they gladly accepted assistance. A rope was tied round each one so crewmen could all but lower them to the boats. If the armoured men had fallen, it was straight to the bottom.

Once all of the adventurers were aboard, the long boats set off. They were rowed by the ship's crew. More longboats were lowered. The crew had sailed here many a time and there were no fears of disaster or danger. The crew would row to another of the islands. For the sailors this was a wonderful job. Two days of sailing from Sagr Harbor. Nights on the safety of the ship and days on a tropical island. There were no girls, save one or two who were part of the crew, but there was hunting and fishing and rum.

The Captain and the Master Of Sail were very choosy about the crew. They rejected many an old hand who were full of skill but might bore easy. Easy going men who would enjoy a pig roast on a beach were chosen. Salty and the Bosun were notable exceptions, but they hardly left the ship when they anchored here in the Buraki Islands. Likewise the Captain and the Bosun stayed on ship.

The crew suspected the four of them could get the ship moving if they needed to leave in a hurry. Besides, if they weren't worried, why should they? The only danger was the Hnoh, and the Hnoh stayed on Adventure Island. Nobody had a name for the island the Hnoh lived in, so they called it Adventure Island.

The Hnoh were alligator men. That was the easiest way to describe the large scaled creatures. Hideous red eyes, forked tongues, they stood upright like a man and had two arms. Their fingers were tipped with claws. Their mouths were full of razor sharp teeth. They were armed with spears and clubs and an occasional sword. Most of the Hnoh were as dumb as sea shells, but all were as deadly as a coral snake.

An hour after setting anchor, it was finally all quiet on the ship. Through his spyglass, Salty had watched the two boats of adventurers land and enter the cave. The sailors who had rowed them ashore on Adventure Island made a small base camp.

A nearby island had a cove that featured a beautiful beach. More longboats from the ship carried the crew to that island. The first mate was one of the first to the island. He was organizing a pig roast.

The Bosun looked out from the other side of the ship. A boat approached. This boat had not launched from the ship. It was stacked high with crates. The oarsmen wore cloaks with hoods pulled over their heads.

"Bum boat coming in," the Bosun called. Bum Boats were a constant thing in harbors. When sailors couldn't come to the shops, the shops would come to them. More than one captain hated the bum boats. Too many bummers sold liquor to sailors on watch.

"What is that?" The Bosun and Salty both spun around to look at the woman.

The Bosun swore. Salty spoke, "Mistress, I thought you were too sick to be on deck."

"I'm feeling better," the woman said. She didn't look sick at all. Geoff had claimed she was a swordswoman, but none of the crew had ever seen her wield a sword let alone carry one. They had seen her in pretty dresses. One of the rigging monkeys claimed he had spied her taking a bath, but nobody believed him. His descriptions of her "perfect body" differed each time he told the story.

"You shouldn't be on deck, mistress," Salty insisted.

"Really, I'm fine." Her eyes were fixed on the bum boat. "Should we sound an alarm or something?"

The Bosun's eyes lit up. There was an idea. "Ain' nobody hear an alarm, but danger, danger. Why don'tcha go back to your cabin below." Salty nodded. "We'll protect the ship, but you, you lock yourself in."

"What's going on?" The captain was on deck and he didn't sound happy. The captain wasn't a pretty man. He was weather worn and unshaven. It was easier to believe him a pirate than a respectable ship's captain.

Salty answered, "Mistress here..."

"My name is Jessalyn," the girl interrupted.

Salty nodded to her. "Mistress Jessalyn says she's feeling better enough to be on deck, but because of the danger," Salty vigorously tilted his head towards the bum boat that came steadily closer, "but with the great danger we thought she might be better off locking herself away in her cabin."

Jessalyn fixed the captain with a glare. "Captain, something is going on and I want to know what."

"You are far better off going below, Mistress Jessalyn." The captain said. "For your sake and ours."

She struck a defiant pose with her hands on her hips. "I can handle myself."

The captain looked her up and down. "I'm sure you can, but I'd prefer you did it below decks."

She turned and pointed to the bum boat, or where it should have been. It was close enough that it must be against the ship and blocked from their view.

Jessalyn couldn't make this work in her mind. "Are you planning on killing Geoff and the others?"

Everybody looked shocked at the suggestion. " Of course not, Mistress."

"Then who are they..." She froze. A scaly hand clamped onto the railing. A second later a robe figure pulled itself over the railing and onto the deck.

"Ahoyyyyssss," the creature hissed.

"Tzunah," the captain said as he stepped forward, arm extended. Tzunah and the captain clasped forearms. "It is good to see you my friend."

"Goodsss it isss." He looked at Jessalyn. Her golden hair had a soft glow from the sun. "Who issss thisss?"

"Trouble," Salty mumbled.

Her mouth opened and closed. Finally words came out. "Gods, you're a Hnoh!"

Tzunah uncovered his head before bowing slightly. "I am Hnohla."

Jessalyn stared at his alligatorish head. The snout was shorter, but the teeth were sharper. His second set of eyelids blinked. "Is he going to kill us?"

As much as an alligator could looked shocked, Tzunah did. The captain forced a laugh. "He's only going to kill us if he keeps charging us such ridiculous prices."

Everybody but Jessalyn laughed.

The Master Of Sail appeared on deck. "C'mon lets get the goods on deck." Salty and the Bosun went with the Master Of Sail to the railing. A small hoist was assembled and soon they were winching up crates. Another Hnohla appeared. And then another.

The captain guided Jessalyn up the stairs and on to the command deck where the ship's wheel was. "I wish you had listened." He sighed. There was nothing to be done about it now. I'm sure you have questions."

Jessalyn looked down at the men and Hnohla hauling crates up. Another Hnohla climbed over the rail. Soon crates were opened.

Jessalyn looked the captain in the eyes. She was shaking slightly. "Are you going to kill me?"

The captain smiled. "Straight to the point eh?" She didn't say anything. She clenched a fist, not to fight, but to stop it from shaking. The captain continued, "I haven't decided yet. I don't know if I can trust you."

She tried to put on as brave a front as she could. "If you kill me, Geoff..."

"Your boyfriend."

"Geoff is not my boyfriend." The statement should have been indignant. It was a simple emotionless denial.

"Call it what you will. You're no swordswoman." Jessalyn didn't answer. She looked back on deck. The crates were being brought below. Other crates were being brought up from the hold.

"Play your cards right and all will be well. Play your cards wrong and you go with our friends." The captain had a stern expression.

After a few seconds of vividly imagining her possible date with the Hnoh or Hnohla or whatever, she said "You wouldn't."

The captain didn't answer. Her vision of being roasted over a fire was supplanted by the more likely vision of her screaming her lungs out as she was eaten alive, one bloody bite at a time.

Fungus glowed in the cavern, it was enough light. Alric and Geoff lead the way through the tunnel. A Hnoh appeared. It carried a club. It gave a scream and charged. Alric took a step forward, his shield and sword ready for action. The Hnoh swung first. Alric took the blow on his shield. He used the push from the club to pivot his body and add some oomph to his swing. The blade skipped off the scaly hide of the Hnoh. The club swung and clipped Alric's shield.

Alric stepped forward, bashing his shield into the Hnoh. His blade stabbed forward. The point pierced the Hnoh's midsection. It screamed again. Alrice stabbed and stabbed and stabbed. Even when the Hnoh was down he stabbed. A yell from beside him broke through. He looked around.

Two more Hnoh were dead. Alric had no idea where they had come from. Several Hnoh with swords hacked at Geoff. These Hnoh were laughing as Geoff fell to his knees. Alric charged them. He crashed into one of them and tried to stab him the same way he had done a moment before. Alric never saw the blow aimed at his head.

The deck was cleared of crates, except for one. The lone crate had become a table. Stools surrounded the table. The Master Of Sail and the Bosun played cards with two of the Hnohla. Jessalyn couldn't tell the Hnohla apart, but the others seemed to know who was who.

Jessalyn shook her head as she watched the game. It was surreal. Before her a monster, a species that Geoff and his people had come to kill, were playing cards with the ship's crew. She blinked when she saw Salty and the Master Of Sail carry two large trays of food up. Smoked fish and some kind of beef were the featured items. This was beyond all attempts at belief. They were literally dining with the enemy. She knew she must be dreaming. This couldn't be real life. If this was a dream, or a nightmare, she thought, why not see how the dream ends.

"There's no kraken?" She asked.

"Isss kracken," Tzunah hissed. "Many."

Salty concurred. "The tale o' the BlueBird and the kracken tis true." There were nods all around.

"But, but..." she never finished her question. Everybody waited, but she said nothing.

"Our sacrifices are better," Salty said.

Everybody laughed.

Tzunah laid his cards on the table- red royals every one. He reached out and dragged the coins out of the pot. They players anted up again.

This was insane. Jessalyn muttered "You play cards with them while Geoff hunts them?"

Tzunah looked at her and scoffed. "Kill wwwhiled onesss. And crazy onesssss. And worthlesssss. Kill them or we kill them. Keep the Hnohla alive."

Salty sat beside her and offered her plate of food. Beef with bread and carrots. She took it without thinking about it. "Hnohla are whatcha might say are enlightened ones. Hnoh who talk and think." Salty paused to take a drink. "There is a tribe of wild Hnoh that live in yonder cave your Geoff went into." She was processing it all.

She turned on Tzunah. "But you let them kill your kind?"

"Sssssometimesssss the craziesss win." He threw down his cards in disgust. "Today youngssss wantssss challenge." He shrugged. "Who knowssss who winssss?"

Jessalyn glanced in the direction of the cave. "Geoff is the only really seasoned one. The rest have fought some, but aren't the greatest. Most of them are young and trying to make a name. All of them are from good families. Rich families."

The Master Of Sail laid down one card. The Bosun dealt him another. "The greats, the strongest, the most powerful don't come here."

Jessalyn blinked. "Why not?"

"We won't take 'em." The Master Of Sail ordered his cards. He threw a coin into the pot.

Jessalyn didn't understand. "Can't they find a different boat?"

"We're the only ones who can get past the kracken."

She didn't know what to say. Salty spoke next and Tzunah discarded another card. "I told you, our sacrifices are better."

Jessalyn tried to take a bite of her bread, but she shifted and spilled some meat onto her dress. Salty handed her a whiteish cloth napkin. She stared at it. It was pure white once, time and use had yellowed and stained it.

"To clean up the meat," Salty said as he offered the napkin again.

"Yes," Jessalyn said as she blotted the stain off her dress. "Yes."

Night was approaching. The Hnohla were long gone from the ship. The cargo bay was secure. Jessalyn and Salty watched the water. The longboats from the Adventure Island were coming back. "Something's wrong," she said flatly. "There aren't enough of them."

"There are," Salty said. "They're all there." He spit over the side.

As the boat came closer, she saw what he meant. She didn't see what she wanted to, but she saw what he meant. The back boat had three corpses, they had to be corpses, covered by blankets. The other thing she didn't see was Geoff.

"He's dead."

Salty studied her. He had a hard time reading her expression. She sure wasn't happy. She didn't seem unhappy either. Worried was his best guess.

The adventurers held a council that night. The majority just wanted to go home. That night a triple watch was set to make sure no Hnoh tried to come aboard. Sailors and adventurers would stand together watching for an attack that would never come.

Everybody understood when the captain said that Jessalyn was too distraught to be around people. He explained that in her grief she had locked herself in a cabin. Only one person commented that the cabin Jessalyn was hiding in was far from the passenger cabins the adventures were using. A dropped suggestion that it was far from Geoff's cabin got sympathetic nods from the crew. The adventurers were busy wallowing in their own grief.

This wasn't how this was supposed to go, the adventurers said to each other. They were supposed to win and kill the Hnoh. Geoff wasn't supposed to die. Kieriey and Aldric weren't supposed to die either. The Hnoh should have died. All of them. Each and every one of them should be dead. There was no glory and honor and treasure. There were supposed to be gold coins scattered around like grains of sand. Right now there was only the bloody reality of death. And a handful of coins.

There were recriminations and infighting in the group. One young wizard argued that if everybody had listened to Geoff in the first place, maybe he would have lived and they would have their golden dreams fulfilled. Maybe they would come back, some of them said. Several vowed to never leave their homes again.

Jessalyn was lying on the bed in the dark room. There were no windows in the room. Earlier she had tried yelling, but nobody came. She didn't know that everybody believed she was grieving. For the hundredth time she cursed herself. She should have stayed in Sagr Harbour. There was a young nobleman who fancied her. He wasn't as rich as she would have liked. Maybe even being one of the working girls in The Mares, that hellish dive of a bar, would be better than waiting for death. A key rattled in the lock. She sat up. Salty and the Captain came into the room. Salty hung a lantern from a hook.

"Are you going to kill me?" The question was simple and direct.

"Everybody would believe us if we said you were so broken hearted that you killed yourself."

"Not if they saw stab wounds in my body."

"Not true anyway." The captain looked at Salty. "Her heart's not broken."

The captain turned back to Jessalyn. "Everybody would believe it if we said you ran off into the night. Grief makes people crazy."

Jessalyn nodded. "What if I wore white?"

"White," the captain asked, "whatever do you mean?"

"White. Like the napkin you gave me to clean up the meat," she said to Salty. "White like the tent the crew set up on Pleasure Island." She smiled at the captain. "White like cloth you carried your sacrifice in before we sailed through the pillars. Your sacrifices, because your sacrifices are better."

"What about it?" The captain smirked.

"Salty hung the cloth off the railing as we got close to the pillars." She looked from one of the men to the other. She couldn't put her finger on it, but were they relaxed now? "White as a signal flag?"

"Whats would we need with a signal flag?" Salty had the hint of a smile.

Jessalyn didn't hide her smile. She ticked off the points on her fingers. "You're the only ones who don't fight the kracken." Another finger. "You don't take the elite adventurers here, nobody too powerful who would be a threat to Hnohla." A third finger, "Tzunah said the crazies and the castoffs get killed." She fixed the captain with a glare. "You trade with them. You have some kind of deal."

"Told ya she was a sharp one, yes I did cap'n."

The captain nodded. "Yes you did," he said to Salty. Jessalyn didn't wither under the captain's stare. As he always did, he had a sword at his side. His hand casually rested on the hilt.

She took a deep breath. "What happens now?"

The captain's response had no emotion. "You go fleeing into the night and become dinner for Tzunah and his friends."

Jessalyn paled. She had spent too much time thinking about being an alligator-man's dinner.

"Or you join the crew."

"I'll join the crew." She didn't hesitate to answer.

Salty spoke next. "Ya' gotta take the mark and oath. If you break oath, magic will eat your soul."

"What?" What would eat her soul? Was he making sense and she just missed it?

The captain must have picked up on her confusion. "A wizard's oath. You speak the oath while the spell is cast. It binds you forever. Don't break your oath," he explained.

Jessalyn nodded. That made more sense. She shrugged. "What's my cut?"

"Spoken like a true mercenary," the captain said.

"Or a whore," Salty added.

She didn't think about it too hard before she spoke. "Only difference is what you sell."

"Sharp as a harpoon, cap'n." Salty smiled.

"So I won't be Tzunah's dinner?"

"Nah," Salty said, "he only eats fish." Jessalyn didn't expect that.

The captain smiled. "There are plenty more surprises to come. Welcome to the crew."