During the second moon of that season was when the first fishers were let out to the sea. They will not be fishing for fish or the tooth of the whale but they would be claiming what had been lost to the dark ones. Many were filled with fear yet others brimmed with revenge. Tasuki was fueled by something much worse than fear or revenge. It was hate. He loathed his enemy and he detested their very existence. He was on the very first mission to sea which could be the greatest achievement and the greatest failure. The medical clan researchers had come up with some theories about the black squids. The creatures were said to be dark pieces of mutated squid or some monster created by a deranged spirit. They were said to be less hostile and slow at night for some unknown reason
As the hundred or so fishers stood on their rafts in the arrow formation with Tanda the leader in the lead. He was a strong broad man with skin as dark as night and he stood a foot taller than anyone else. Tasuki was sixteen seasons old then and even he stood a foot shorter than him even though he was taller than most kids his age. Every fisherman stood with a trapping silver string in one hand and a warrior's sword in the other. One to trap and one to execute. Tasuki stood on the left wing together with Wai. Even as many seasons had passed Nau still clung to him and so the teacher never dared to separate her. They were the invincible trio Tasuki Nau and Wai.
Zakaru the head of their wing pulled left to the east on Tanda's command. They had practiced on the cleansed waters a thousand times before and as the darkness blanketed Satu they set out in the formation that divided them into three teams. The middle wing could head south slowly headed by Tanda son of Tanane, the right wing could head west headed by Rama son of Tzatziki and the east wing could be headed by Zakaru son of Atanga. The east and west wing could go on left and right and then make a sharp turn when they made contact with the unclesend waters and move inwards to meet with the middle wing so that they could go in together to gauge the situation and only attack when it was necessary. It was the first mission and they had to be the most careful as they walked the unwalked path and threaded the uncharted waters.
"Pull in, two rafts on one!" Zakaru yelled. "From here on we move in silence!"
"Yes leader" The three dozen of them on the east wing yelled in unison as they stubbed their oars in the waters on command and pulled forward. Tasuki signed to Nau before the duo pulled forward behind Wai and Naka. The sea was dark even with their enhanced goggles that helped them see the path.
The rafts slithered in pairs through the cleansed waters as they pulled south west. They blended well in the dark in black slacks and white capes with hairs tightly tied for women or shaven for men with the exemption of the tribal braid.
They smelled the uncleansed waters long before they could touch them with their oars. The lucid smell was sickening and the menacing smell of the creatures filled the air. The weak in stomach threw up and Tasuki had to fight the urge to throw up as his stomach tightened in knots. He hadn't forgotten the smell from when they had attacked and it felt like a punch to his gut as the blocked bad memories of that day came flooding back like a mantra chanting in his head. He was stuck in the hell of his
thoughts seeing his mother's head getting munched and his hand tightened around his sword in hunger for loath.
"We have made contact. Now we move east!" Zakaru announced. "Put distance between the rafts." The right part of the pair moved outwards while the left side maintained a tight line against the uncleansed waters. Wai and Tasuki maintained were on the outer part of the pair. A fisherman should never put his feelings ahead of the mission and as much as Tasuki wanted to unsheathe his sword and charge into the uncharted waters like a mad man, the mission came first.
"The right wing made contact too! Let's move in!" Zakaru announced when the green sign lit the sky moments after the left wing's sign lit the sky. "Two creeks till we join the center wing!" he announced again and the oars caresses became more aggressive as everyone wanted to join the main party. The more the merrier as always especially when facing enemies who are more dangerous than you.
"Halt!" suddenly came his command again. And every rafter stopped moving slowly into a defensive position. Everyone knew something was wrong before Zakaru could issue another command.
"We are being pulled in by something" Wai yelled looking at Tasuki who had come to the same realization. Nau's fingers were going crazy as she signed vigorously and maybe her lack in speech made her more aware of the surroundings. Her fingers were whirling dangerously in circles. Tasuki didn't need sign language to understand what had happened.
"A whirlpool" he said and everyone gasped as Nau nodded aggressively. "An unnatural whirlpool" he said again. The whirlpool wasn't natural. Something was creating the whirlpool intentionally to pull them in. Damned monsters! They couldn't reach them in the cleansed waters and so they tried to pull them in.
"Pull north!" Zakaru yelled a command and everyone stabbed their oars in the water in an attempt to return north as fast as possible.
"Tasuki! Move!" Wai yelled. He moved right in time before a black smelly tentacle ripped through the water right where his raft had been.
"Watch the water," Naka yelled. One of the fishermen.
The oars groaned as it became harder and harder to push.
"We are getting swallowed," another fisherman yelled as the whirlpool widened, becoming stronger and stronger. A sinking feeling fell in Tasuki's heart. Something bad was prone to happen. The monsters were going to win again. The research did not cover their intelligence. They were intelligent and wicked and they were in their best habitat.
"She will be disappointed if she sees you now" Tasuki said through his teeth partly to see if some part of Wai was left and some part to pump some sense into the boy.