The Fisherman

The Fisherman’s cursed water seep from Angelo’s pores, and his eyes turn to gold. Viscous wheezes and grunts issue from his mouth. Recognizing these noises as speech, Jacob has a vision of hovering high in the air, far above the Leviathan, which is pierced by numberless hooks and tethered to a vast “lattice” of ropes that fan out from the shores. The Fisherman has done this “with a patience that’s equal measures mad and heroic,” bringing this “god-beast to the brink of complete capture” (151). Though filled with awe and even admiration, Jacob shudders at this epochal “trespass” against nature itself.

Plunging back to earth, Jacob finds the two brothers, Andrea and Angelo, in a death struggle. Seeing Jacob standing over them with his axe, Andrea hisses, “Do it!” Meanwhile, Rainer fights a duel with the Fisherman, the latter wielding a weapon that shines like mercury. Just then, Italo deals a final, devastating axe blow to a massive fishing line, which snaps back like a whip. Rainer ducks in the nick of time, and the rope’s many hooks fly into the Fisherman.

Trying to rescue Andrea, Jacob swings his axe at Angelo with deadly force. To Jacob’s horror, Angelo’s gold eyes become normal just a split-second before the blade sinks into his throat.