A Campfire Story – by Dawn Rucker
You know those kelp forests, there off of the coast of Blazen? Some so thick you can damn near walk thirty, forty miles offshore. Well one time, that’s what Mark set out to do, now yea!
Mark’s crew bet him he couldn’t walk fifty feet offshore through Faden Wood so, you know ole Mark, he told ‘em he would walk fifty miles. Ah sha, you know, they give him some ribbin’ but they weren’t all that surprised when he headed straight off into that pitch dark kelp forest, right then.
He got so far out they couldn’t even see the light from his torch anymore. And then they heard it. Something rushing in the water. Something big, something fast, something hungry.
They could tell it was moving straight out the way Mark had went. Some of his crew started yelling, some of them lit out after it, others started smackin’ the water to attract the monster back to them, where they could get safely back on land.
But it was all useless, that thing was gone faster than a reindar during harvest.
That’s when the crew heard it. The most god-awful sound. So horrible none of them could even describe it. Some say they are haunted by that sound; they still hear it on the wind coming after ‘em.
Then there was silence. Nothing… fir hours. They sat waiting to hear the monster coming back, so they could avenge Mark. Finally, they saw the light of its eyes. They got to their feet, got into position, and readied themselves fir the fight of their lives.
The next thing they heard was Mark’s laughter as he broke through the final set of kelp stalks. Not only did he make it offshore fifty miles but he brought back dinner too!
He tossed that monster’s head at the feet of his crew and starting giving orders to prepare camp, like nothin’ had happened. What none of them knew was that particular part of the Faden Wood had been troubled by what some call a Kraken. Mark just called it delicious.
