The Krakens Bride

On Land (Chapter 2):

As promised the elders had the villager's homes swept through to ensure that no one had been lying on the registry about their children's marriages, ages, and looks.

It had started about an hour after everyone cleared the great hall, the first home to be checked was the one closest to the edge of the village's borders, it seemed they wanted to begin outward and then move in like a coiling snake.

Leading the search was Javo and his piercing smile was deadly as he knocked on the first villager's door. He demanded to see the contract of marriage between the daughter of age within the house and as his intense gaze scanned the sheet, the father inside was almost shaking in his boots before he handed the page back.

The silence that ensued was deafening when Javo gracefully walked through the home and glanced over the state of the house, as well as taking a thorough look into each room. In one, the engaged daughter sat solemnly on her bed while in another room there was only a little boy who was clearly terrified by the intrusion.

The family waited with hesitant breaths as Javo checked thoroughly to ensure there was no one else living there since he had the papers of registration every family had turned in as well.

Finding nothing wrong, the elder walked out just as gracefully as he came and moved on to the next home, allowing the nerve wracked family to finally breathe.

It was hard to justify why the villagers held so much terror when it came to Javo, but the easy explanation would be that his presence was like a deadly snake that was poised to strike at any time. He was shifty and his energy gave the mental picture of a cobra waiting to bite you in the back, the second you looked away.

The search went on just as promised, Javo knocked on every door and he gracefully examined every house with his beady eyes glancing over each paper that signified a marriage as if it were a piece of trash that held little significance.

Every family was on edge before, during, and even after Javo left their homes. With a select few of them going as far as to light incense once he had left to clear that snakelike vibe he left behind like a poisonous fog.

It went on all through the day and each time Javo greeted the family inside with that mischievous grin, the two guards who followed him looked almost as weary as the families being examined.

Though all the villagers knew they would pass the inspection with flying colors because no one would dare lie on the registry, that innate fear still had a chokehold upon them.

Finally, Javo reached the last lane of homes, and the people felt relieved for just a moment because no one had been taken so far and it was clear the elders would have to do something else about this year's offering.

Deep down, the terror of the Kraken was a strong reality with the people who lived in Suicide Cove and yet they also were still more scared of losing their children than they were of facing the Kraken's wrath.

The real thought keeping them steady in their resolve was why should they suffer the loss of a child when the solution was to simply stay from the water instead.

The land had enough substance that they didn't really need to go off the island at all, nor did they need to fish, which is usually where people came face to face with the Kraken. With this in mind, the villagers had grown to think they did not need to sacrifice their children no matter what the elders thought.

The sweep along the final lane of the villager's homes was done just as quickly as the others had and then everyone sighed in intense relief, until Javo smirked and made his way back to the large estate where the elders stayed with each other, so it made consoling among themselves much easier.