Sea Monsters
A sudden wave rocked their little boat, causing the taller of the two to stumble. He tripped over his tackle box and plunged headfirst to the deck with a shout. His fishing pole slipped from his hand as he fell, clattered off the side of the boat, and dropped into the water with a sobering “plunk.” He scrambled to his feet a little too quickly and banged his head as he stood. Red in the face now and holding his head in both hands, he turned fuming towards his stout companion, who himself had managed to remain upright. “Could ye not have warned me to steady meself? Now look at that, me pole is gone, and we only just got started!” He had a thin, whiny voice that would not have sounded much nicer on a good day.
“Ey now don’t make out like this was somehow my fault!” the shorter man countered gruffly. “I can’t help that yer so clumsy on yer feet, nor that yer grip is weak as a schoolboy. Heck, now I think the fish were as likely to have caught yuh! Ha!” He laughed to himself at this, cracking a twisted smile which revealed several missing teeth.
The two began thus to go after one another, back and forth for several minutes, evidently well-practiced in the art of being utterly disagreeable. However, just when it seemed they would come to blows, the short one froze, still as stone, his face draining to a sickly pale, staring past the tall one. So sudden was the change that the taller man stopped mid-sentence, tipped his head quizzically, and turned to see what had got his companion's attention.
Far off, projecting from beyond the horizon, rose the silhouette of a heavy black mountain. Very tall, and oddly narrow, carved into a twisting angular shape, somehow holding itself up despite leaning rather too far to one side. Other than this peculiar lean, the mountain didn't strike the taller man as especially odd, that is, until he remembered there were no mountains in that direction. The mountain then began to fall. Not only to fall, but to separate. Two twisted shapes, wrapped around one another, large as mountains but—he sucked in a gasp of air as he realized: creatures. Great wrestling creatures, each the size of an island. He thought as they fell that he perceived the shape of their snarling faces. They soon fell away beyond the horizon, retreating into the ocean out of sight.
Neither of them spoke for many minutes, staring intently at the empty horizon. The boat rocked gently now, and the two silently agreed they should catch no more fish today.