Anyway, they were on the river and though slowly they did not have to wait on one spot. It just felt utterly baffling as to not even feel a slight breeze of any kind. There had been a reason they had just spanned the sail a bit differently to have at least a bit of shade. It would be another thing, but the river itself was known for having many windless days, the why did elude him though. And though slowly, he noticed the landscape passing. The river was broad after all, so the currents weren't all that strong. Yesterday had been hell, his skin was toasted and the sunburn he had gotten was annoying as hell. How Gertie kept wearing her clothes with all the leather and gloves was a mystery to him. He had been wearing fireproofed robes, they did help a bit with the heat, but when he took them off he felt like he was toasted like sliced bread, the sun was that strong. The weather didn't much agree with him, so he was laying around and trying not to move, even breathing felt exhausting at times.
At least there was a slight breeze now, that felt surprisingly nice all things considered. Nic sighed, still contemplating if it was really worth it to call upon the things once more, as with the current tempo they'd be on the river for a few weeks.
On the other hand he was worried what might happen when they just disappeared around the city itself and shuddered. Kou was a big trade port and the capital of the country, such a strange phenomenon would sure throw it into chaos.
Kwez was very supportive of calling them up, so he was probably very rightfully weary of doing so. On the other hand, the critter didn't seem much of a fan of the heat either, so his usual enthusiasm was a bit absent as he was often lamenting about the unbearable heat.
"I really don't see a problem with this," Kwez explained in a way with his head lolling to one side. His whole posture was very much a picture of not quite understanding what the master had to harp on.
Gnashing his teeth Nic gestured wildly to the large head behind him. "Thanks to your help I have called a huge serpent instead of the windmakers! Look at that thing! It's huge enough to swallow me up in a go!"
His facial expression was rapidly changing as he couldn't quite decide whether to focus on his anger and irritation or his bone-deep fear, as the animal was certainly large enough to probably give a leviathan a run for his money if need be.
The boat they were on was so small in comparison, Nic was feeling anything but safe.
"But it's just feeding on fish," Kwez stated confused. What was the masters on about he wondered...
"Fish in the size of grown men!" Nic hollered. He had seen that, alright, one had been a dolphin and the other a catfish bigger than himself. Kwez just wasn't getting the point and Nic was about to rip his hair out in desperation.
Gertie was strangely relaxed through it all and went about it in her own pragmatic way. She fastened together enough rope into something of a haphazard bridle, got it on the snake and connected it with the boat itself. At some point she got Nic to point down the river, somehow making him say "That way" and it did sound like a command, though he still went back to ranting and raving at Kwez. The snake meanwhile started to pull their boat along, starting not too gently which made sure Nic fell flat on his back, finally shutting up for a moment.
Blinking he stared at the snake. It was strangely colorful too, now that he thought about it. In size it rivaled the leviathan, though he wasn't too sure of it, maybe it was a bit smaller? He had not been that intent on looking at the creatures that had sunk the ship in that moment, busy trying not to die, to be honest.
It was striped in green and yellow, though why Nic had no idea. It probably wasn't venomous, as he hadn't seen any teeth for biting. Though, to be fair, not all snakes had them that visible either, so he wasn't quite sure what was up with the thing. Heck, he wasn't even sure what to do with it, as he had no clue whether the thing was around to stay or just would vanish after a time.
He lacked the knowledge to really reach a conclusion concerning that. And Kwez couldn't be arsed to say anything about it. Gertie took it in stride and was happy to get to Kou a bit faster.
One day he would get back at Kwez, mark his words.
The snake was seemingly there to stay as it didn't vanish. Roughly the same time had passed since he had called it and well, nothing much to it then. His initial fear turned into a fond kind of annoyance as the thing was rather timid and took to behaving like Archie – meaning it was really a bit hard to be afraid of the thing when it slobbered all over you. They weren't dependant on the wind, which was good as the slight breeze just wouldn't have been enough to be of much use and the current was slow as well. They took a break every other hour and most of the night, so they could rest and let the snake go hunting. Or rest or whatever it did then.
Whenever the animal was close to the surface or had its head above the water Kwez was sitting on it and seemingly had a blast with the thing anyway. Though the snake was a bit mischievous as well, taking a dive without warning ever so often and getting Kwez submerged. The critter kept being grumpy about it but was looking terribly amused though. Once in a while it splashed Nic and Gertie, which was nice as it cooled them throughout the days.
Still, Nic was miffed about Kwez' casual interference and then not even coughing up what he did and why it even worked. The scroll gave him no new information either and the book was not of much use as he didn't really understand it all that much in the first place. So, whenever he thought about it he came right back to the starting point and was by now more than frustrated.
Sometimes he really regretted having had to leave All-Mag'Ick behind like they had. After the ritual had been done there hadn't been much time and he hadn't been able to get his hands on more books. Or scrolls or anything that he could learn something from.
Well, Kou was said to have an extensive library, free to use for anyone able to read. If he was lucky he could find something there. Hopefully. If he didn't end up in circumstances preventing him from doing so, that is.
He had a feeling he might just have jinxed it somehow.
Still, it wasn't just that. If Kwez indications were anything to go by he might find something about Ivan there as well. He knew the guy was still alive, but where he had been brought to by the stupid bird was anyone's guess.
But what was important was that he was alive. If he was well or not, that remained to be seen, but he was at least not dead.
Still, the travel itself was calm and the snake was by now not really something to be fearful of. His heart skipped a beat whenever Kwez was goofing off with the reptile though, having flashbacks to his once little Flame Sprite.