novelraw Chapter 791: On the Whale
Chapter 791: On the Whale
Following the rusted hull of The Whale, they ascended to the upper deck and made their way to the captain's cabin.
The cabin was in a similarly deplorable state, ravaged by time and the elements. The tables, chairs, beds, floor, and helm—every wooden object had absorbed the dampness until it resembled a rotting, disfigured corpse, eaten away beyond recognition. A taxidermy deer hung crookedly on the wall, looking like an anomaly in itself, while the sea wind howled into the cabin through a shattered window.
This was Katerina's first time at sea and on a ship, but it was hardly a pleasant experience.
Still, it was better than the hold, which reeked of rust and where rusted water dripped from the crumbling ceiling, accompanied by an eerie echo that seemed to rise from the ocean depths.
"Will it take us to Vinnelag?"
Prusius asked. He had circled the cabin a few times but could not find a place to sit down. Everything was damp, and the moisture was matting his fur, causing it to gleam under the light of the oil lamp.
"Yes."
Lu Li trusted The Whale just as he trusted the Lina-Tree.
Such faith in an anomaly might cost Lu Li dearly one day, but not today.
"Port of Storms... it might be growing old," Katerina remarked, gazing back into the distance.They had not yet left the bay and could still see the dozens of pinpricks of light emanating from the stone pillars and ships.
"Why?"
Lu Li was still surveying the captain's cabin.
The wooden bed and floorboards, which looked like the carcass of some giant creature, were as slick as moss, and every step squeezed moisture out of them.
The sea at night was colder than the land, filled with dampness and a chilling wind. To make their situation more tolerable, they would at least need to build a fire and patch the broken windows.
"This Whale is a monst—" Katerina stopped herself before finishing the offensive word. "...Port of Storms let it enter without doing anything."
"Maybe The Whale is very strong?" Prusius suggested.
His admiration for Lu Li made him well-disposed toward The Whale, and besides, the vessel was immense.
"A divine entity wouldn't tolerate any intrusion, unless the enemy could easily destroy it."
The sea wind whistled in Prusius's ears, and he couldn't sit down to scratch them, so he simply pressed them flat and said:
"The Whale doesn't seem as strong as a divine entity..."
"That's why I'm saying the divine entity might have grown old."
Her experience in Midnight had changed Katerina somewhat; at the very least, she would have struggled to form such a long and coherent sentence before.
"In that case, we should tell those people..." the kind-hearted Prusius said.
"Many people saw this... Whale. They'll figure it out for themselves."
Katerina said, her gaze shifting to Lu Li, who stood by the window, looking out at the deck as it dissolved into the night's darkness.
"What are you thinking about?"
The familiar sight did indeed stir some memories within Lu Li.
Those memories gave rise to an irrational thought: to bypass Vinnelag and return directly to Belfast.
But Lu Li knew that only ruins and a desolate cliff awaited him there now.
"Will The Whale repel the strange fog?" Katerina asked.
She got her answer quickly. The distant points of light became hazy and vanished from sight within seconds. Darkness completely swallowed the rusted ship, yet the strange fog did not penetrate it.
Lu Li handed the oil lamp to Katerina, opened his suitcase, and took out a fluorite lamp. It wouldn't go out, but its glow was dimmer. He then traded it back for the oil lamp.
"Where are you going?"
"For a walk." Holding the oil lamp, Lu Li prepared to descend into the hold below deck.
Oliver's remains were still there.
"Mr. Lu Li, I'm with you," his little companion Prusius declared.
"...I'll go too," Katerina added.
She didn't want to be left alone.
Leaving the suitcase behind, Lu Li and his companions left the upper deck and descended into the hold.
Lu Li still remembered the way; after all, it had only been a few months. But for this world and for The Whale, twenty-four years had passed.
Corrosion was everywhere. Rust clung to the surfaces like rock, and the reddish-brown walls, eaten away by seawater and moisture, resembled the innards of a colossal beast.
Wading through the pooled water, Lu Li followed his memory to the end of the first hold.
The cabin had long since lost its former appearance. Oliver's body was also gone; only an empty can in the corner silently told the story.
"Where is Oliver's body?" Lu Li asked.
The Whale could not answer him.
At that moment, Elder Sister, who was huddled in his cloak with her head covered to shield herself from the dripping water, suddenly spoke:
"He said he left."
"Left?" Lu Li frowned.
But Elder Sister could only understand emotions, and The Whale was incapable of expressing anything more complex.
Lu Li knew Oliver was dead. Even if he had become an anomaly, he was no longer himself.
The Whale's word "left" most likely meant that after sending him from the swamp, the Mother of the Swamp had taken Oliver's body.
Elder Sister then relayed The Whale's other emotions, which sounded like a whale's call for help.
The Whale wanted Lu Li to go down to the lower hold and see.
...
Flooded steps, murky water sloshing back and forth.
Perhaps there was a leak, perhaps there was just too much water, or perhaps both. The cabin doors on either side of the passageway were shut tight, sealed by a thick layer of rust. In a way, the rust had helped The Whale, blocking the constant seepage of water into the cabins and preventing the sea from dragging it to the bottom.
The water came up to their calves. If Prusius were to jump in, only his eyes would likely show.
The conditions in the lower hold were worse than expected.
Lu Li understood The Whale's plea for help.
"Where are the buckets?"
Following The Whale's guidance, Lu Li found some buckets in a storage room on deck. The wooden ones were badly decayed, but the iron ones were still usable.
Taking gloves from his suitcase and giving them to Katerina to wrap her hands and avoid cuts and tetanus, Lu Li and Katerina entered the passageway to help The Whale clear the water.
Prusius held two oil lamps in his mouth, illuminating the steps.
Without a pump, they had to resort to the primitive method of carrying the water out bucket by bucket and dumping it overboard.
After several hours of work, the water level had dropped to their ankles, and Lu Li and his companions stopped.
They still hadn't been able to help The Whale much, as most of the water was trapped in the rusted-shut cabins and the lower boiler room.
That was a problem that could only be solved once they docked at a repair yard.
The Whale sounded its horn in gratitude.
They found no dry wood for a fire, and the only available coal was in the lowest boiler room. They only managed to find a few planks to block the windows of the captain's cabin, keeping out the biting sea wind.
Sitting on a waterproof tarp they had spread out, they had a small meal and drank some water.
"How much longer until Vinnelag?" Lu Li asked.
"He said until dawn."
Less than twelve hours remained.
Lu Li placed some spare clothes from his suitcase under the tarp to insulate them from the slick, cold surface.
Katerina was indifferent. She had endured far worse conditions, like spending a whole night in a sewer until her skin was as waterlogged as a corpse's.
As midnight approached, the only sound in the captain's cabin was the groaning of the wind forcing its way through the cracks.
...
Katerina slowly opened her eyes.
Dawn had broken.
Prusius was curled up in a coat, fast asleep. Lu Li was gone.
Katerina stepped out of the cabin, hugging herself against the cold air, and looked around.
She saw Lu Li on the deck, and beyond the horizon, a sprawling, prosperous port city, reminiscent of the Belfast of old.