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fill. Therian ate only sparingly. Gruum felt his belly roil and growl within him. He longed for a clean haunch of freshly roasted meat.
    “I wonder if there is any game on this island. Besides the squawking birds, that is.”
    Therian pointed aloft. Gruum followed the gesture. A monkey regarded them curiously from the strange treetops. The creature ate seeds and spat out the shells one at a time.
    “I’m not eating that!”
    Therian shrugged, bored with the topic. They climbed toward a rise on the island. The entire scrap of land, Gruum estimated, could be no more than a league long and half as wide. Still, while climbing in the hot sun, it seemed large enough. He hoped they would not run into the crew of the Innsmouth on open ground. He doubted they could beat them all, and he knew Therian would be too proud to run from them.
    They reached a long open slope of crumbling land. Nothing here grew, as the land was blackened and volcanic in nature. An ash field, Gruum recognized it to be. They stood near the peak of the highest hill on the mountain, and Gruum studied that peak. Was that perhaps, a wisp of sulfurous vapor rising up from the top?
    “Oh, hold milord.”
    “What is it?”
    “This, I do believe, is a volcano.”
    “Of course it is, Gruum. These islands rise up from the distant floor of the sea. I’ve read about such places. What we walk upon is the crown of a huge mountain that is buried beneath miles of seawater.”
    Gruum swallowed. He tried not to look sick. “Milord, such places are vile in every way.”
    “Not always. A bit of healthy caution is in order, however.”
    Therian continued with the ascent to the crown of the volcano, but Gruum held back. Finally, he forced himself to follow his master. He’d never scaled an actual volcano before, but in his own lands such places were known to harbor the worst of fiends.
    It was there, in the open exposed lands at the top, that they met the men of the Innsmouth . The crewmen had come up the volcano from the other side. Apparently, each group had had the same idea, planning to move to the high ground and spot the other.
    Therian stood tall. Gruum halted at his side. The cone of the volcano was filled with water, not lava. The crater of the volcano was an open, steaming lake a hundred yards wide. On the far side of the lake the crewmen of the Innsmouth stared back at them.
    Bolo pushed through his stunned, muttering men and stood staring at Therian and Gruum.
    Therian put the cracked spyglass to his eye. “The impudent bastard dares to wear my blades.”
    Gruum eyed the group, looking for crossbows. None of them were in evidence.
    Bolo cupped his hands and called out to them. “Fancy meeting you here, sorcerer. Come closer, so we may parlay.”
    Therian cupped his own hands and called back to them. “What is there to discuss?”
    “We have a ship, but it is cursed. Lift that curse and all will be forgiven. We will take you to the nearest port.”
    “And what of my blades?”
    Bolo hesitated only an instant. “They will be returned,” he shouted back.
    “Don’t trust them, sire,” said Gruum in a quiet voice.
    Therian huffed. “I would sooner trust an eel.” He raised his voice to shout back to the crewmen. “I would forge a different bargain. Thrust my blades into the earth where you stand and retreat down the mountain to your ship. After I retrieve the swords I will release the wind spirits.”
    “What of you?”
    “We will fend for ourselves here.”
    This seemed to surprise them. For a minute or so, they talked amongst themselves. The men, by their gestures, appeared to like the arrangement. Bolo, however, seemed less than pleased.
    “I’m sure his plans did not include letting us live,” said Gruum.
    “That is my reading as well.”
    In time, the crewmen agreed. Seeker and Succor were thrust upstanding into the soft earth of the volcano’s cone. The crew left them behind.
    Gruum was in favor of moving around the cone of the mountain