The creature was different from the others that the humans had met: it did not seem to be as tall, and what little of its neck and chest that could be seen were covered in a thick layer of the same dark sand which covered both the sea floor and the beast's back. Its long serpentine body was lithe and sinuous, many times longer than that of most of the creatures that the humans had encountered thus far.
What puzzled the humans the most was that the creature seemed to be made out of sand, but it also seemed to be alive. They had all seen the other creatures emerge from the dark waters that had risen, but those creatures didn't move around like this did; those other creatures were mindless, but this one was exercising a will, and that made it dangerous.
The creature slithered past the human vessel and into the deep waters; its movement seemed fluid and graceful, though no effort had been made to conceal its presence. The humans twitched and glanced nervously at one another. Most of their eyes were fixed on the sea, while one human had his hands clasped to the long black rifle he had strapped to his back.
The shipmaster turned toward the human. "Who are you?" he asked, his tone accusatory.
The human simply stared at him. Eventually, the shipmaster whirled around and barked at the helmsman:
"Why are we stopping?" he asked. "We must not waste any time!"
The helmsman answered somewhat awkwardly: "I'm sorry, Shipmaster. The former Grandmaster and all of the crew are all on board now; we need to wait for the new Grandmaster and a new ship to fulfill their duties."
The shipmaster glowered at the helmsman. Just then, another human came up the steps and stood next to the human with the long rifle.
"You have the nerve to stop?" the new human asked the shipmaster.
"We are stopping because we can proceed no further," the shipmaster spoke with authority. "We cannot go on without a Grandmaster."
"You should have thought of that before you started leading us, you idiot," the newly arrived human spat back.
The shipmaster roared with anger and lunged toward the human as he drew the silver dagger from its sheath at his side. The human with the rifle aimed the long barrel of the weapon at the shipmaster's rival and pulled back the lever.
"Stop!" the former Grandmaster said as he stepped between the two humans. "Our shipmaster is correct; we cannot proceed until the new Grandmaster and a new ship arrive."
The shipmaster put away his dagger; his face was red from anger.
"We must stop," the former Grandmaster stated. "If we proceed, we will either run out of fuel or we will run straight into rocks by the shore. We cannot have both of those things happen. We have no food, and in all likelihood we may have to eat rats if we do not catch a fish soon."
The shipmaster shook his head, and his expression softened as he spoke: "We should have killed every one of those rats for food years ago. As for me, I will not eat my kind for food, no matter how hungry I am." He pointed a finger at the human with the rifle, then at the human who had approached him, and finally at the former Grandmaster.
"All of you," he stated, "should be thankful that I have control of the ship, or I would not be stopping for anything. You will all live and die on my watch."
The human with the rifle snorted. "I am the only one who should be thankful to anyone," he said as he aimed the weapon once more. The shipmaster stepped toward the human with the rifle, his full attention focused on him.
"I would not do that," the former Grandmaster said as he stepped forward, a stern look on his face. "Your quarrels must be settled later. Now is time for us all to work together for our survival. We are not all going to die here today if only we can work together."
The shipmaster suppressed his anger while the human with the rifle nodded, and turned away.
The shipmaster turned to address the humans as one:
"Even if the Grandmaster is late, we can wait until the moon comes up. We cannot launch the balloon until the night of the new moon, and the balloon only carries enough fuel to carry it for 12 hours. If we wait until then we can take off for the west before the sun returns."
The human with the rifle nodded.
"We are still far from the shore," the former Grandmaster said. "We can only work toward the shore with the sun upon us. If we do not catch a fish or if we only catch a small one, we will not last long. Who knows how long it will be until we catch fresh food, or if we ever will."
The other humans looked somberly toward the former Grandmaster.
"The sun will rise and set three times in the next three days," the former Grandmaster said. "We will have to wait for an hour after each sunrise and set before we launch. This will save fuel, but it will also burn more time from our schedule."
The shipmaster turned to the humans around him. "I will wait," he stated, "as long as I can, but we must launch tonight, with or without the new Grandmaster."
The former Grandmaster nodded. "I agree," he said. "We cannot wait any longer. If we wait, we will die. We need to be sure that we each have a part to play before we die, or else we will all be lost here."
The shipmaster nodded and turned to the helmsman. "Man the sails," he ordered. "Load the firearms."
The humans moved to obey his command.
"We will find our weakness now," the shipmaster stated as he stood at the ship's railing with his hands clasped behind his back, looking toward the now near-distant sand dunes.
The humans pulled back the ropes securing the balloon and climbed into the basket. They secured the sails and started to push the contraption toward the ocean until the ship's mast pushed against the spongy hot air balloon with a series of muffled thuds that seemed to drift through the humid air without direction. The humans on board wondered at this and first began pushing the craft from the side that they were facing; when that did not work they went around the craft so that they would have more leverage. Once they were all securely at the front of the craft, the shipmaster gave the order to push the vessel into the sea.
The craft slid into the water with a splash; humans screamed and cried out as they clung to the basket now rocking in the heaving sea.
Pic (Source)
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