Page 8 of In Darkness and Dank

Kittisak ignored him.

“Aqua regia,” Browning replied, also ignoring Bissell. “It is a man-made chemical first concocted by alchemists in the Middle Ages. It’s a corrosive combination of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. It can actually eat gold and other noble metals, and as it reacts, it fumes just like that creature’s ornament did.”

“A Hungarian chemist named George de Hevesy used royal water to dissolve two Nobel medals to stop Nazis from stealing them during World War II,” Hutte added. “It is positively nasty stuff.”

“And you think that pool over there is full of royal water?” Kittisak made a face. “The pool I was just swimming around in?”

“Not quite.” Browning stopped as they came up to the body, and he bent at his waist to examine it.

Kittisak tried not to look, but he couldn’t help himself.

Other than a few funerals here and there over the years, he’d never seen a dead body before. The more he looked at it, the less gruesome it appeared. It actually looked fake in a way, as if it was made of wax like some sort of prop for a horror movie.

The smell, however, was very real.

“See that residue there on the creature’s chest?” Browning pointed.

“Right there next to the giant hole where ribs should be?” Kittisak grimaced.

“Yes! It is the creature’s skin reacting with the gold. Organic material often produces acid as a byproduct of decomposition. If I had to guess, this stunning specimen’s decay produces hydrochloric acid and nitric acid in the correct ratio to create royal water in what would be the world’s first natural occurrence of it.”

“So, the fish monster makes a super powerful acid when it dies? And it… melts?”

“Slowly! But yes. This doesn’t appear to be the same strength as the man-made royal water we are familiar with. Note how little of the gold had actually been dissolved, though the putrefied dermis continued to react. Given enough time, I believe the entire corpse would, what did you say? Melt, yes.”

Kittisak wrinkled his nose. “That’s, uh, special.”

“Yes! Here! Please, yes, we must take samples!” Browning’s face lit up. “Oh! Those pockets of acidity we discovered in the Solimões. What if those had been other graves? Hmm? If this species truly is capable of producing royal water as they decompose, that would explain the areas—”

“Can we take a moment to appreciate that the very discovery of this creature is worth celebrating?” Hutte demanded. “Look! We have a new humanoid species not found anywhere in the historical record, one that is clearly advanced enough to have burial practices! This is any anthropologist’s wet dream! We need to get another team down here at once!”

Denninger had picked up a stick and was poking at the monster’s mouth. “Yeah, one with bigger guns.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary!” Browning scoffed.

“I think it is.” Denninger pressed the end of the stick until some of the skin peeled back from the monster’s lips, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

Kittisak shivered. He certainly hadn’t seen teeth like that on the monster from his dream, but maybe he hadn’t noticed because he was busy staring at other parts. He wanted to tell Hutte and Browning about his dream that maybe probably wasn’t a dream, but he was hesitant to say anything in front of Denninger or his goons.

He’d have to wait.

“Who’s to say these things won’t attack us on sight?” Denninger challenged. “Look at it. It’s clearly a monster.”

“Monsters who care enough about those who have passed on to make caskets for them, to give them valuables, and to bury them,” Browning said haughtily. “There is much to be learned from any culture from how they treat their dead.” He touched the edge of the broken casket. “This was done with love.”

“Uh-huh.” Denninger dropped the stick, and he glanced between Bissell and Zimm with a cruel smile. “Well, I would just love to have one of these stuffed in my living room.”

Zimm and Bissell laughed.

“This is probably the same thing that attacked the Hardison Lumber guys,” Denninger went on. “Up by the base of the mountain.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” Browning demanded.

“A few weeks ago, workers at that lumber yard reported being attacked by a giant river monster with big claws,” Denninger replied. “Nobody was hurt, but some blurry photographs of this nasty thing with teeth just like that monster there got passed around, and half the workers walked out because they were so spooked.” He smirked. “Looks like they were right to be afraid.”

“Except you just said no one was hurt,” Browning countered. “If those men did encounter one of these creatures, it was probably as scared as they were! We don’t know that they’re as prone to violence as human beings are.”

“Let’s make camp,” Denninger said, ignoring him. “Up on the ridge looks good. If it rains, we won’t get flooded out. We’ll pick up tomorrow bright and early. These things probably live near here if they’ve been burying their dead all along the riverbank. We can try tracking them—”

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