inside of our makeshift tent was sweltering. My face and neck dripped with perspiration. I wondered that I could have slept through this at all.
Gregor looked up from the middle of the gondola, where he and Malagigi had been kneeling together in prayer. “What did you have in mind, Brother?”
“I think, with my expert knowledge of medicine, the steps I have taken should induce the creature to vomit. I doubt the kronosaurs on earth had a regurgitation reflex, but this creature seems to, so I won’t argue with providence.
“Once it throws us up, we’ll need to sail on something when we get out. Or, at the very least, hold on to something. Any idea how to go about this?” Erasmus asked. He lifted the crimson robe that formed our tarp, scooted inside the tent, and then tucked the robe back into place, insulating us somewhat from the violence of the stomach. “I’m assuming we’ll be spit out into the midst of the swamp rather than near land. Of course, we might be spit out into the depths of the ocean of slime, and all asphyxiate before we reach the surface—in which case, we won’t need a boat. Assuming we do need a boat, however, what are we going to do about the gondola?”
We studied our vessel, moving the silver star here and there, to facilitate the examination. I ran my hand along the damaged area, feeling the break in the otherwise smooth wood. “It’s cracked, but not split. The dolfin has broken off the bow, of course, but that will not affect its water-worthiness. If we had some oakum, we could patch it.”
“Didn’t think to bring any,” Mab mumbled apologetically. He looked puzzled when the rest of us laughed.
“How about securing it to the skull?” I suggested. “We already know that the skull can float a bit; maybe the two of them together could stay afloat.”
Erasmus laughed derisively. “Oh, that will work, I’m sure! I can just see us now, floating through Hell in an upside-down skull.” Smiling, he tipped back his head and recited:
They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
“If I recall,” Gregor said, humor twinkling in his eyes, “‘they’ returned twenty years later, hale and whole, having ‘been to the Lakes, and the Terrible Zone, And the hills of the Chankly Bore.’”
Mab shuddered. “If this is the Lakes, then I guess we have the Terrible Zone to look forward to. Hope it doesn’t take us twenty years to get back, though. That would be bad for Mr. Prospero. Don’t much like the sound of Chankly Bore, either.”
Erasmus chuckled. “I didn’t know you could quote Edward Lear, Gregor. You never cease to surprise me! Very well, let’s lash our gondola to the sieve and throw our fate in with The Jumblies. May we be as lucky as they, and our sieve float.”
* * *
“UH … people!” Mab peered out from under the robe as we completed the task of binding the gondola to the skull. “That sea monster we killed? I don’t think it’s dead!”
“Of course!” Malagigi slapped his forehead. “We never saw its spirit leave its body and depart for some other place! Why didn’t I think of that! Bad, Maugris! Mal! ”
“Perhaps, you should attend more,” Erasmus chided mockingly.
“Ah! Touché! ” Malagigi made a show of clutching his heart as if he had been stabbed.
“Is that what would usually happen?” I asked. “We would see the spirit depart from the body?”
“If a living creature died, yes.” Malagigi sat down beside me. “Unlike the kronosaur, however, the sea monster may not be a creature that swam, living, from Earth. It may be one of those nightmares that serves the demons and preys upon the Lustful. If so, then it is bound by the rules that govern the damned. When spirits are damaged here, they lay in a stupor for a time and then regenerate to suffer the same torment again—or to inflict it, if
Gregor looked up from the middle of the gondola, where he and Malagigi had been kneeling together in prayer. “What did you have in mind, Brother?”
“I think, with my expert knowledge of medicine, the steps I have taken should induce the creature to vomit. I doubt the kronosaurs on earth had a regurgitation reflex, but this creature seems to, so I won’t argue with providence.
“Once it throws us up, we’ll need to sail on something when we get out. Or, at the very least, hold on to something. Any idea how to go about this?” Erasmus asked. He lifted the crimson robe that formed our tarp, scooted inside the tent, and then tucked the robe back into place, insulating us somewhat from the violence of the stomach. “I’m assuming we’ll be spit out into the midst of the swamp rather than near land. Of course, we might be spit out into the depths of the ocean of slime, and all asphyxiate before we reach the surface—in which case, we won’t need a boat. Assuming we do need a boat, however, what are we going to do about the gondola?”
We studied our vessel, moving the silver star here and there, to facilitate the examination. I ran my hand along the damaged area, feeling the break in the otherwise smooth wood. “It’s cracked, but not split. The dolfin has broken off the bow, of course, but that will not affect its water-worthiness. If we had some oakum, we could patch it.”
“Didn’t think to bring any,” Mab mumbled apologetically. He looked puzzled when the rest of us laughed.
“How about securing it to the skull?” I suggested. “We already know that the skull can float a bit; maybe the two of them together could stay afloat.”
Erasmus laughed derisively. “Oh, that will work, I’m sure! I can just see us now, floating through Hell in an upside-down skull.” Smiling, he tipped back his head and recited:
They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
“If I recall,” Gregor said, humor twinkling in his eyes, “‘they’ returned twenty years later, hale and whole, having ‘been to the Lakes, and the Terrible Zone, And the hills of the Chankly Bore.’”
Mab shuddered. “If this is the Lakes, then I guess we have the Terrible Zone to look forward to. Hope it doesn’t take us twenty years to get back, though. That would be bad for Mr. Prospero. Don’t much like the sound of Chankly Bore, either.”
Erasmus chuckled. “I didn’t know you could quote Edward Lear, Gregor. You never cease to surprise me! Very well, let’s lash our gondola to the sieve and throw our fate in with The Jumblies. May we be as lucky as they, and our sieve float.”
* * *
“UH … people!” Mab peered out from under the robe as we completed the task of binding the gondola to the skull. “That sea monster we killed? I don’t think it’s dead!”
“Of course!” Malagigi slapped his forehead. “We never saw its spirit leave its body and depart for some other place! Why didn’t I think of that! Bad, Maugris! Mal! ”
“Perhaps, you should attend more,” Erasmus chided mockingly.
“Ah! Touché! ” Malagigi made a show of clutching his heart as if he had been stabbed.
“Is that what would usually happen?” I asked. “We would see the spirit depart from the body?”
“If a living creature died, yes.” Malagigi sat down beside me. “Unlike the kronosaur, however, the sea monster may not be a creature that swam, living, from Earth. It may be one of those nightmares that serves the demons and preys upon the Lustful. If so, then it is bound by the rules that govern the damned. When spirits are damaged here, they lay in a stupor for a time and then regenerate to suffer the same torment again—or to inflict it, if
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