Nom and Qayid went back to ignoring each other, which made the second half of their time on the Pelican much the same as the first half, except for Nom's delight when they finally spotted some gigantic whales. They appeared like ghosts under the sea, unreal giants until they surfaced as the largest natural creatures he'd ever seen, larger than the river hippopotami south of his homeland, larger even than the elephants far in the southwest. Those animals were probably long gone, so he was heartened to see such wildlife still thriving.
Near the end of the week, the Pod began to parallel a stretch of the Berm which Tanaga informed them was like a dip in the border where they could get closest to land. Nom took his word for it, and suffered through a day of the crew shouting every word. Eventually the fleet halted its progress and the three ships came close together. Tanaga told Nom and his companions to gather their gear and put it on the ship's boats. Confused at first, they soon realized they were transferring from the Pelican to the Shearwater.
Tanaga explained Qayid couldn't risk his main cargo or crew on this venture. The Shearwater could sail in and out the fastest, and had even done so in the past. He also wouldn't make anyone take a risk on his behalf. So he and Tanaga accompanied them over in the rocking boats, and after a half hour conference, they sent the captain and mate from the Shearwater back with the boats.
Shearwater was a smaller craft, with almost as much sail as the Pelican. It housed some cargo, but mainly served a security role in the fleet. Nom and the young trio stowed their gear, then immediately began helping prepare for sail. The fleet split, with some distant shouted farewells between the ships.
The trip through the Berm was as tense as before, if less dramatic. There was no unexpected moving of the boundary, but the crew's lightheartedness slowly gave way to apprehension. Omega had to resume wearing her goggles as they approached the Hollow, and as they crossed, her mood fell farther than it had risen two weeks ago.
Once crossed, Shearwater rapidly made distance from the Berm, as if the Hollow were eager for their return, and Nom had to remind himself it was simply a faster ship. They followed the sun for the remainder of the day, aiming for a place called Alara, which Nom had not heard of. Tanaga mentioned it once had a different name, but could not recall it. Such was the way with lost places.
Omega sought conference with Qayid at sunset. Nom wasn't usually party to their conversations, but they ended up on the afterdeck with Qayid and the second mate both sighting the early stars with their hands, consulting an astrolabe, and arguing. Omega slipped away and Nom caught up with her.
"What's bothering them?" Nom asked.
"I told them the sun might be in the wrong place. They didn't believe me at first, and are now upset that they can't confirm our location."
"The sun is in the wrong place?" Nom asked, incredulous.
"Might be. I wasn't aware, until it started setting. Then for a moment I saw two suns. One was darklight, or maybe the real one was masked by darklight, I'm not sure which. But apparently the stars aren't helping either." Omega gestured to the sky.
"No, that would be too much to hope for," bemoaned Nom. "The sky we're seeing is not the same as last night. At least the water is calm, and hopefully we won't drift too far before Qayid figures out where we are. If nothing else, we can sail west."
The sun rose the next morning, pinkly diffused through a thick, muggy mist. Nom stared directly at it, wondering about everything he assumed to be true, if something so basically reliable as the sun was brought into question. Omega assured him it was in the proper place today. The water, smooth as a mirror, reflected nothing but a soft pink glow. Neither the sun nor a breeze stirred the hot damp air, which clung to skin and ran down in rivulets. With no wind, there was little to do, and Ahden joined Omega and Nom for a nervous game of cards on deck.
Little had changed by late morning, when Qayid came over. "Omega, the wind is still, the current is dead. The water itself is dead as a salt puddle. It blooms pink as far as the lookout can see. I cannot foretell an end to this malignant stillness. We can rig a scull, but I'd prefer a wind. Can you conjure that?"
"Of course. It may not be as strong as the world's wind, but I can move some air." She went to the aft deck, looked around for a bit, then began some arm movements with her fingers in motion. Much to Nom's relief, a breeze wafted past and cooled his sweat. The misty air swirled around, but it was not enough to move the sails. Omega was getting frustrated, but soon managed to produce enough air to billow the sails, though the boat still wouldn't move forward. Nom started to get hot again.
"Confound this bloody water," Qayid grumbled. "Is it secretly a molasses?" He grabbed an errant cork from the deck and tossed it over the taffrail into the water. It floated and sent normal rings rippling far across the still water.
"Oa," Nom said, "I feel no breeze back here at the taffrail."
Qayid stepped over next to him and confirmed. "Turn around seer," he said. "Direct your wind to the water astern."
She stepped to the taffrail and obliged. The wind immediately sent waves aft. Nom watched the floating cork skip and fly into the distance. Qayid nodded in satisfaction, and said "Good, keep it up." The captain must have felt movement, though Nom could not tell.
Nom heard a different noise echo softly across the water. "Stop," he said to Omega. She stopped, and silence resumed, broken by the slightest bobbing of the boat.
"Explain," demanded Qayid.
"I heard a noise," said Nom. "Not the waves," he added, seeing Qayid about to protest. "More of a bloop than a burble." They heard it again, then a few hundred feet away the water rose and gave way to a floating dark mound, alarmingly followed by a huge fleshy beast.
"Dead whale," said Qayid calmly. The carcass was enormous and bloated, much larger than the whales Nom saw in the days previous. "They fill with gas and sometimes float. It's of little use to us, let's move on."
From one moment to the next, the near-silence startlingly switched to an enormously deep drone. The whale-carcass began rising in sync with the increasing volume of the drone. An enormous platform, slimy and greenish brown, rose beneath the dead whale and lifted it completely out of the water. The carcass slid limply to the side, sloshing water as it picked up speed down the slope of the slightly domed platform. The bloated corpse pushed seaweed and other debris aside until it finally plunged off the edge and burst, releasing a foul smell from the gas inside. The huge crustacean-like mass underneath was an order of magnitude bigger than the whale or the Shearwater, more the size of an islet. Water poured off its shell-like perimeter in waterfalls, and the surge of its rising pushed the Shearwater forward. The droning was deafening now, then stopped as immediately as it started. The sound echoed into the distance.
The crew scrambled to ready the ship, but they knew not for what. Ahden and Dev joined the others at the taffrail to ogle the thing. Dev asked, "Is that—I can't believe I'm asking—but is that a man out there?"
Nom thought he had seen a man stand up on the creature, but the air was still hazy, and it may have been a reflection from the sun. There was a flash, then a moment later Nom was struck from behind with what felt like a wet towel. "What was that?" he shouted, spinning around.
Ahden picked up the thing that had struck him. "Seaweed," he said. They had but a moment for confusion before screaming broke out on the other side of the ship. Ahden was the first in motion to help, but Qayid grabbed his arm.
"Your duty is here. Omega, now is the time to get us moving. Dev, shadow the helmsman. Nom, with me." Qayid pulled a straight-bladed knife from his belt, and Nom followed his charge into chaos. The deck was littered with marine detritus: rocks, fish, sand, plants, urchins. Nom watched as a lump of coral flew into a sailor's face, shredding it like a cat-o-nine tails. All around, men and women lunged in attack, or ducked and threw up their arms in defense as more flashes of light popped into and out of existence. Others cowered or froze in terror, and were quickly targeted. Two crew members leapt into the water; Nom was sure one of them could not swim. From each luminous manifestation, objects normally found in the ocean depths flew with uncanny accuracy, though sometimes they were of questionable threat, like the seaweed. Nom was struck and knocked down, and Qayid slashed the empty air a moment too late. Nom swatted a dead and rotting seabird off himself, rolled to a crouch and pulled his knife.
All the flashing and ballistics stopped, and the crew nervously looked around for their adversaries. A short distance in front of Nom, Tanaga suddenly screamed in pain. A person had appeared from nothing, and with a hand made of pure light, had grabbed Tanaga's forearm. The man-like thing was riddled all over with fractured light. Its arm, a leg, strips of its torso, half its face and head, were all missing, replaced by twisted angular forms, like moving crystals, bending and refracting the light. The rest of it looked darkly weathered and malevolent: ragged clothes, skin blackened, blistered, and lacerated, a menacing glare in its remaining eye. It squeezed its beaming fingers further into Tanaga's flesh, then below the flesh to the bone, forcing him to his knees. Nom had seen such horrible beings before, but not made of light. Things he called the corrupt. Men and women consumed by darklight, their humanity giving way to elemental rot. He knew Tanaga was in grave danger. Nom grabbed the nearest thing at hand, which happened to be the dead bird, and whipped it at the corrupt. The thing blinked out of sight and resumed its chaotic assault on the crew. Tanaga collapsed unconscious on the deck, his arm now carved out and filled with rivulets of light where the corrupt had held him.
The immense creature in the sea recommenced blasting its loud drone, startling them once again. Nom scrambled across the afterdeck and ignored whatever Qayid was shouting. The corrupt manifested next to Omega, menacing her with a bright fist for a split second until Ahden smashed his hammer into its shoulder, sending a chunk of flesh and light flying and bursting like a firework. The corrupt flashed away again, and a guttural howl of pain bounced around the ship.
Omega still blew wind at the water, inching the Shearwater along. "Omega," Nom shouted to be heard over the drone. "Send everything you have at that island beast! Wind, water, that dead whale, whatever power you can find, send it at that thing like a monsoon!"
Omega shifted her focus, as a result cracking the wall of the captain's cabin to her fore and explosively blowing Nom and Ahden off their feet. All the mist behind the ship immediately cleared, revealing a view of the hulking creature and the corrupt man, flashing back there to retrieve his improvised missiles. The damp air condensed and flew aft, joining the water whipped up from the sea as Omega blasted it all at the beast. Waves formed and washed toward it with progressing strength.
The attacks continued, and the droning stopped and started at unpredictable intervals, stressing the crew's senses each time. Dev and the helmsen were pelted with fish, the latter cut up by sharp fins, but they held the rudder straight, and soon the force of the wind and water began moving the creature away.
Omega's force became less wild, more deliberate. A big rock flew at her, and she snapped one arm over to it, blowing it off course. She swiveled that arm back to point at the array of sails, and they all billowed out strong. She staggered for a moment, arced her trailing arm overhead, then crouched and brought both arms in close. She gently stood up, and the gale blowing back at the creature now blew the ship forward, independent from Omega.
Qayid barked orders at the top of his lungs, audible even over the droning, and startling in the sonic gaps. The crew scrambled to attend the rigging, many falling prey to missile attacks in the process. They managed to direct the sails, and quickly build distance between the ship and the creature. As the creature was swallowed into the mists again, the attacks became infrequent, the droning subsided, until all they heard was a menacing undertone beneath the sound of the wind.
The more seriously injured were being attended to, while the rest of the crew made do with bandages and wraps. Nom joined the second mate who helplessly looked over Tanaga's arm. The wound was bloody and burned at the edges, but otherwise still had the glowing handprint fused into it. Two more crew members had similar injuries.
"He'll be ok," Nom said, "for now. It won't heal, but won't get worse for a time, as long as he stays on the ship while in the Hollow."
"Why stay on the ship?" asked the second mate.
"Those degraded beings, the corrupt, they're tied to a location or a thing. If Tanaga or the others leave the ship, the corruption will spread faster, until they are no longer themselves. The corruption will go away when one leaves the Hollow, but the wound will remain and need immediate treatment. Like I said, Tanaga will be ok, but the others, it depends."
"I see," said the mate. "I'll prepare for that eventuality, thanks."
They soon sailed into normal waters, and picked up the natural currents and weather. Confidently heading west now, and somewhat sure of their latitude, they would eventually sight land and could follow the coastline to Alara. Omega was exhausted, as were most of the crew, but she at least was allowed to sleep all night.
The morning brought a view that Nom had not hoped to see. They had reached the coast, and visible in the distance were the highlands and cliffs leading up to the mountains that marked the eastern end of Mamidi Daruni, The Sea of Heaven and Earth, the edge of the Rabidian Empire. Qayid knew the landmarks and plotted a course. The second mate informed everyone they'd arrive in Alara that afternoon.