Tthor had no idea what a “kraken” could be, but from the urgency in Murk's voice, he knew there was no time for explanations. They went down a couple of stairs, passing along the way sailors of different ranks who were coming and going getting ready at their stations, who stopped awkwardly to greet the Vice Admiral, as part of the protocol.

   They entered the cockpit just as the Captain gave the order to prepare the guns.

   Tthor looked at Darius out of the corner of his eye, not daring to ask what was happening. He didn't see his mother anywhere. A pair of officers hurriedly marked lines on a map spread on top of a wooden table, in front of the helm, which was held with visible tension by a young boy who, Tthor thought, was no older than him.

   The Captain looked out, towards the raging sea, through the front wall, which was nothing more than a huge glass, filled with drops of water and illuminated from the outside by two powerful lights.

   " We will turn twenty degrees to starboard, point guns directly at him and wait for my order," said the Captain "Murk!"

   "Sir!" The Vice Admiral answered with a firm voice, looking at the map on the table and running his fingers along some dotted lines. "Circling to the east, we will pass by his tail. He will be less likely to turn around if he smells us. This way we can avoid the canyons so as not to wake up the water people..."

   "But we will go straight to the dragon triangle..."

   "We are ready, Sir."

   "Okay, lower the sails, engines on in silent mode until we cross next to him. But, just in case, let's have the cannons ready."

   "Yes, Captain!" Murk responded, bowing.

   Murk ran into the hallway. Tthor followed him on impulse and reached the figurehead with him. The waves hitting the boat caused an intermittent, cold rain that soaked them in seconds. Murk, who had not seen Tthor behind him, began to climb the mainmast with incredible skill and speed. Two officers did the same, each in the other two minor suits. In just a minute they reached the top and began the delicate task of unhooking the sails and furling them down. Three young cadets, standing at the foot of each of the masts, pulled the thick black canvases and, with great skill and speed, as it seemed to Tthor, they folded the sails and put them into some sort of holes in the ground and the They covered it with wooden boards.

   As quickly as they had climbed, the two officers slid down the now bare poles. Murk also began to descend, but when he was halfway there, a loud crash was heard at one end of the ship and a giant wave covered them. Tthor was completely submerged under all that water for a moment. He opened his eyes, just in time to feel himself being dragged away violently. He knew that he had to hold on to something or he would end up in the open sea. He saw a shadow that passed by him and grabbed it as best he could. The shadow turned out to be the edge of the bow. Tthor submitted to her with soul and life. His hands were slipping and something seemed to have caught on to his foot. The wave curled around itself and returned to the sea. Tthor gripped the railing more tightly and looked askance at his foot to understand what was pulling him out. His eyes widened in terror when he saw that some kind of large, slimy, black tentacle had him pinned and he was completely coiled in several coils up to his knee.

   "Help!" He shouted desperately, while he moved his leg nervously as if trying to get away from that thing.

   A dark face, with a bushy beard and deep blue eyes looked down at him. The stranger took it with both hands and pulled it towards his body. Another shadow, next to him, drew a shining sword. He raised the sword above his head, with both hands, and brought it down without hesitation, with such strength and speed that Tthor only managed to close his eyes and pray that his leg would not fly off his sword. body towards the sea. But the pain he expected to feel did not come. Tthor opened his eyes, just in time to see how the tentacle that had grabbed him was now cut at its base, releasing black liquid everywhere. Tthor felt himself pulled towards the ship and remained motionless on the wooden floor, unable to believe what he saw.

   A monstrous black mass, measuring more than thirty meters high, writhed in the air, hit its ends against the angry sea and released black liquid that covered Tthor in a few seconds. The young boy could not help but be astonished when he saw that beast in front of him, which moved violently. He thought he saw at the upper end of his amorphous body a pair of red, slimy eyes, which reminded Tthor of the eyes of a snake. And they seemed to be looking directly at him! Thor gasped as he realized that the beast now seemed to move toward where he was lying. He was coming to hit him with all his might.

   Just as he managed to slide backwards, clumsily, the shiny blade of a sword appeared in front of him and stuck right in the middle of the monstrous mass that seemed to be searching for Tthor, just a few centimeters away from grazing him. The beast let out a scream that almost pierced everyone's ears. Visibly injured, she folded in on herself and disappeared into the sea in a few seconds. The calm was almost immediate. The waters calmed down, as if by magic. Only Tthor's labored breathing broke the tension that now surrounded everyone.

   Tthor looked at his leg and screamed in terror. A piece of tentacle was still holding it, spewing out a dark, stinking liquid.

   "Don't worry," Murk told him, removing a strand of soaked hair from his face.

   He put his sword aside. He took out a small knife from his belt and cut the tentacle several times, determinedly but gently, especially when he got dangerously close to the boy's skin. Then he looked into Tthor's eyes and said:

   "It will hurt a little...but you will be fine. On the count of three...?"

   "OK…"

   "You count..."

   Tthor took a deep breath and said:

   "One…"

   Murk grabbed the tentacle with both hands.

   " Two and …"

   But before Tthor could say three, Murk gave the tentacle a sharp tug, causing Tthor to cry out in pain.

   "What happened to three?" He said as he saw Murk throwing the piece of monster towards the sea.

   "I'm sorry," Murk said, now examining his leg. "I had to take you by surprise so it wouldn't hurt so much..."

   "Thank you!" Tthor trembled with fear, he couldn't believe what he had just experienced.

   "The leg is fine, it didn't hurt you. You will only have a bruise. Now let's go to the cabin," he told him as he helped him get up. "Nothing that a good shower won't fix..."

   But Tthor barely had time to get up when a huge black head with eyes of fire rose from the water in front of them. Murk instinctively stepped in front of Tthor to protect him and held his arm tightly. With his other hand he brandished his sword, recklessly. Tthor looked at the beast that now seemed to rise to infinity, reaching a height of fifty meters, dripping water and something gelatinous and black that seemed to emerge from its wounded tentacle. He made a kind of snort. Tthor knew that she was angry and that she would lash out at him and the entire ship. He thought about yelling at Murk to get them to run out of there; although there was nowhere to hide.

   Just as the beast placed its red eyes on Murk and directed several pairs of tentacles towards him and Tthor, a roar from the starboard side shook the ship and threw Tthor face-first to the ground. He barely had time to raise his head to see how the beast exploded into a thousand pieces. A cannon shot had hit him right in the head. And now, its remains, dripping with a dark liquid, spread in the form of heavy rain over the entire ship. For some reason, seeing himself covered in a thick, hideous black jelly, Tthor thought that half of the kraken had fallen on him.

   Murk extended his hand and helped him up. He too was covered from head to toe in that dark slime.

   "Are you okay?" He asked with a satisfied smile on his soaked face.

   Tthor smiled back. He looked at his body covered in that horrible substance and began to laugh.

   "Better than the kraken is, I'm sure..." he responded, still laughing.

   A few hours later, a more refreshed and clean Tthor looked at the helm while he drank a cup of hot corma.

   "I still don't understand what you had to do out there..." her mother whispered to her, upset. "Are we going to have problems the whole trip because of you?"

   "That we encountered the Kraken was not Thor's fault," Murk said visibly in a bad mood, "actually, and if we think about it better, it could be his fault. Everyone knows that a woman on board always brings bad luck..."

   Ellysa didn't say anything else. She pursed her lips, gave Murk a venomous look, and retired to her cabin for the rest of the voyage.

   Murk winked at Tthor, while the captain laughed amused, setting the ensign a new navigation course.

   Just when the first light of dawn painted a horizon of gold and crimson, Murk went to look for Tthor in his cabin, who had spent the last hour there eating chocolate and remembering, with a shudder, everything that had happened.

   "We have arrived, Tthor."

   "As soon? And... I didn't break down...," he said suddenly.

   "That's because of the choco-spiders...they have magical...effects. And don't forget the book, in addition to chocolate, it is also for you. There you will find the entire history of Meaghdose and Warghost," Murk explained "And it will help you... when you are lost... or when you feel hungry...," he whispered mysteriously.

   They walked down the hallway, up two spiral staircases, and reached the surface. Already at the dock, they said goodbye. Thor instinctively hugged Murk and thanked him:

   "I would like to be like you. Have your value. Thanks for saving my life."

   "You have nothing to thank me," answered a visibly moved Murk. "We'll see each other soon. I'll let you know so we can meet when my trip is over."

   "Have a good trip, then!" The young man wished him and he stayed looking at the ship until it was so far from the dock that it only seemed like a point in the wide sea.

   The small raft that had brought them closer to the port was now just a small dark spot in the middle of the sea.

   Darius spoke to him, as they retraced their path towards the town in a curtain of fog and a soft breeze that moved Tthor's reddish hair with a very gentle hand, as if caressing him.

   The young man felt something he had never felt before, an intrigue and a renewed energy. He only regretted that Wilgenyna was not there with him. He decided that the first thing he would do when he finished settling in was to write her a letter and tell her everything that had happened to him so far. He could even imagine the girl's surprised face when she read the news.

   "What did you think of Murk?" Darius interrupted his thoughts.

   Tthor smiled and showed him the gifts. Darius smiled too.

   "As I already told you, Tthor, I must ask you not to mention this voyage on Warghost, that ship is not welcome on the shores of Meaghdose. If you ask, we arrived on the traveling boat, which is the usual means of transportation. And don't ask me why “Storm and Impulse” isn't welcome here. It would take a long time to explain...Besides, it happened so long ago that I'm sure almost no one remembers the real reason anymore. But I do appreciate them, I know they are not as bad as some believe..."

   Tthor reacted to those last words. They were similar to those of Murk. That made him more interested in the matter. And when he questioned Darius about the matter, Darius promised to tell him the story one day. And Tthor followed him along the road wondering why the people of that place did not love Murk and his people. But before his mother's inquisitive gaze, he stopped his conversation with the little man and quickened his pace.

   When his mother was no longer looking at him and seemed to be concentrating on the road, Tthor took a choco-web from the box and absentmindedly bit her head, while following very closely behind Darius, who was carrying his trunk along a straight stone path that It disappeared from sight, down the hill, in the darkness. And before disappearing around a bend, he turned around one last time and took a look at the sea that now seemed to have become angry again.