by Mike Truk
She turned to me then, facing me full on, and in that moonlit air I was both glad and sorry that her alien visage was hidden by the wicker cage. “You have given me hope, Kellik. I would ask enough coin of you to pay for a room tonight, and then will find a means to earn more coin tomorrow. And I will endure. I will wait. And one day, when the outflow pipe runs dry, and my people accept me back into their midst, I will dive down again into those sweet waters and think of you, and how this night changed everything for me.”
I pulled my slender coin purse from my hip and placed it in her webbed hands. “Here. It’s not much, but it should get you more than just a night’s rest.”
“Thank you.” Her voice was soft. “Thank you, Kellik.”
I almost said, it’s nothing, but then realized how much those words could hurt. So instead I simply said, “You’re welcome. I wish I could do more.”
She took a deep, whistling breath - through her two nostrils, I guessed - and turned back to the bay. “But I can do more. I shall help you and your friends. If you still wish it, I’ll cast the magic that will allow you to breathe underwater, and come dawn you may dive down to retrieve your lost treasure.”
Chapter 12
To say we stole one of Maestria’s jolly boats would be too harsh. We simply borrowed it without letting anyone know after sternly telling the sentry we were taking it with Maestria’s permission. We cranked it down into the water, climbed in, lowered Pony into the very center, watching carefully as the water rose to within an inch of the gunwale, and then set out for the bank of fog which the nascent sun was turning from a roiling mass of shadow into a lustrous wall of silver wool.
Pogo proved to be apt with a bucket, and each time the waves sloshed over the sides he’d set to with a fervor, hauling the water out as if we were about to sink.
Which, to be honest, we probably were.
So it made for a nervy trip out to the far reaches of the bay, what with continuously watching the deck of the Bonegwayne for signs of violent disapproval and feeling like we might all capsize at any moment. Still, it was the largest of Maestria’s emergency crafts and it bore us well, sliding through the water with surprising speed as Pony pulled on the twin oars.
Anacoana trailed her fingers in the water beside the boat, her head still encased in its wicker frame, and I wondered at the sweet torment such contact must bring. To be so close to one’s home, yet denied so entirely. Was it weakness or strength to indulge in such contact?
“Here,” she said at last, just as the fog began to envelope us. Bells from the White Sun temple were tolling the official break of day, welcoming the dawn, but here in the fog they sounded eerily distant and vague. “We should be just within the banks of the coral labyrinth where The Hammer went down.”
Pony rested the oars in the oarlocks and tipped the anchor over, so that we came to a stop, bobbing on the waves.
“How do you know?” asked Tamara, then quickly moved her hand to her mouth. “I mean, I don’t doubt you, but the bay’s so big, and The Hammer went down almost thirty years ago…”
“The bay is our home,” said Anacoana, her voice betraying amusement. “Its bottom is littered with the vessels of surface dwellers. Some so old they’re little more than silten humps, while others sit proudly on the muck, tattered sails filling with the currents. The Hammer is one of the largest to have gone down, and she must have been made with ironwood, for she’s in remarkably good condition. She was a favorite playing area for my kind when I was young; a marvelous hold, shot through with holes, filled with old cargo… I spent many joyous hours down there before we were driven out.”
“High time we learned about what we’re to face below,” said Yashara, rubbing oil along the length of her scimitar. “What exactly is this peril that has the other lampetramen so spooked?”
“She is but one creature,” said Anacoana, voice growing soft as if she feared being overhead. “Krakenia, she calls herself, the Crimson Queen. From the waist up she is like your kind, but from the waist down she is all tentacles like the great kraken. She is an alien being, and though we can - and have - conversed with her, she is beyond our understanding. She is powerful in the ways of water magic, and enjoys consuming the flesh of intelligent creatures.”
“Then you should be totally safe, Kellik,” said Cerys with a wry smile. And I was so glad to see a smile on her face at last that I didn’t even contest the dig.
“She sleeps for long periods of time,” said Anacoana, “but claims the mouth of the harbor here as her domain. Every ship we tug into the harbor must pass over her, and nine times out of ten she lets us be. But occasionally, when she is hungry, or annoyed, or… I don’t know. Just herself. She will take one of my people down into the darkness, and there eat them alive.”
“Great,” I said. “So you’re saying there’s a chance she’ll be asleep?”
“A chance, yes.”
“And The Hammer is right below us?”
Instead of looking around us to get her bearings, Anacoana dipped her hand in the water and sat still for a few moments. “Yes,” she said, as if returning to life. “It is.”
I looked around at my friends. Yashara had left her plate armor behind on the Bonegwayne, and wore little more than a tunic and her briefs. Cerys was in the process of taking off her pants as well, her long pale legs gleaming like bone beside Yashara’s muscled, dark-green thighs. Tamara and Iris had opted for more modesty, both of them wearing tunics and leggings, while Pony, of course, only wore his loin cloth.
“Here’s the plan,” said Yashara. “Pogo, you’ll stay in the ship at all times with Anacoana.” The lampetrawoman had revealed that she’d be detected the moment she entered the water. “If you feel us tug on the anchor rope, that means Pony’s to jump overboard and come help. Pogo, if you see any trouble coming, dunk the emergency bell in the water and hit it with the hammer. We’ll come up as quickly as we can if we hear it.”
Pogo gave a jerky nod.
“Pony,” said Yashara, “if you go over, try to help us. If for any reason you can’t, or once the fight is over, climb up the anchor chain. We’ll probably have to tow you back to the Bonegwayne once we’re done.”
Pony grunted.
“We’ll descend carefully. I’ll take the lead with Kellik. Cerys, does your bow work under water?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I was going to test it.”
“You will bring up the rear. Netherys, Iris, and Tamara, you’ll be in the center. When we reach The Hammer Kellik, Iris, and I will scout it out. You four remain clear and watch for this Krakenia. If you spot her, Cerys, ring the bell at your hip to alert us and then summon Pony. We’ll come out and fight. If we spot her instead, I’ll ring my bell, and you come in and help. If neither of us spots her, Kellik and I will search for the locket while Iris raises whatever dead she can find.”
Yashara paused, looking us each in the eye. “Everyone understand?”
Netherys stood and allowed her robe to fall away from her svelte form. She wore nothing beneath it but panties and a black strip of cloth over her full breasts. She reached up to bind her purple hair in a tight ponytail. “Sounds clear to me.”
I fought to remain casual. It was one thing to be surrounded by powerful, beautiful women all the time. Another for them to be in such proximity and all but naked. Wherever I glanced I saw the rounded curves of thighs, the swell of breasts, the flat expanses of toned stomachs. “Clear.”
“Kellik?” Netherys interlaced her fingers and then stretched her arms above, palms to the sky as she rose to the balls of her feet. Her chest rose, her stomach grew taut, and her otherworldly beauty became almost painful to the eye. “Is everything all right? You seem uncomfortable.”
“No, nothing’s wrong, everything’s fine,” I said, busying myself with pulling my blade free and checking it for notches. “Just great. Looking forward to diving into the bay. Very exciting.”
“How long does your spell last?” asked Yashara.
&
nbsp; “With this many of you? A little less than an hour. You should feel it begin to wane as it gradually becomes harder to breathe. It is not a sudden cessation. You should have plenty of warning and time to rise to the surface.”
“Good,” said Yashara. “Anything else we should know?”
“Make sure to take off any bracelets, rings, or earrings,” said Anacoana. “Small glittering objects attract larger predators. There are many dangers below besides Krakenia. I can’t warn you of them all. If you are swift and purposeful and stay together, you should be fine.”
“Should be,” muttered Cerys. “Lovely.”
“Everybody ready?” asked Yashara.
“May Blind Fortuna suck all your metaphorical cocks,” I said.
Yashara scowled. “Thank you, Kellik. Any last questions? No? Then let’s get that spell going, Anacoana.”
The lampetrawoman bowed her wicker helm. “Yes. The process is unpleasant for you surface dwellers. I shall begin.”
I frowned. Unpleasant? How unpleasant? But why ask? There wasn’t anything we could do about it now.
Anacoana slipped her hand inside her wicker cage. I didn’t see what she did, but when she drew it forth her fingers were glistening with a thick, clear jelly. She leaned forward to Yashara. “Open your mouth.”
I was immensely impressed with how quickly Yashara obeyed. Not a flicker of hesitation. By the Hanged God’s puckered asshole, that was discipline. Anacoana slid her fingers into Yashara’s mouth, all the way into the back so that the half-orc gagged, and all the while the lampetrawoman whispered something I couldn’t understand, that didn’t even seem to be words.
Yashara’s frame convulsed, but before she could bite down on Anacoana’s hand the lampetrawoman drew it free. A second later a film of slime manifested across Yashara’s body, coating her skin so that she gleamed as if covered with sweat.
“Quickly,” said Anacoana, “into the water.”
Yashara nodded, still looking like she wanted to vomit, and swung her legs over the gunwale to slide into the bay’s black waters and disappear.
Again Anacoana slipped her hand into her wicker cage, and again she drew it forth, covered in that clear slime. She leaned toward me. For a wild, crazy second I thought about refusing, but I gulped instead and opened my mouth.
Anacoana’ slid her fingers over my tongue and pressed them right against the back of my gullet. The taste was horrendous, like rotten fish, causing my chest to hitch and bile to come scalding up the back of my throat as I felt the slime smear across the base of my tongue. The urge to puke was overwhelming, and my whole body shook as I felt last night’s meager dinner seek to make a running jump out of my intestines and into my mouth. But I forced it down, and when Anacoana withdrew her hand the slime rippled around my throat, across the palette of my mouth, and then I felt my skin prickle as if with sweat. Glancing down at my hand, I saw it gleam with a thin coating of slime just like Yashara, only to then realize I couldn’t breathe.
“Into the water,” said Anacoana, voice urgent. I simply plunged backwards into the water, which exploded around me, enveloped me in the darkness, and I sank down into the warm, salty waters, down, down, down.
I kept my mouth tightly shut and drew my sword. I couldn’t see much of anything; the surface was a glimmery, undulating expanse above me, and I had a horrible flashback to fighting that monster from the Dead Man’s Trench. My heart rate surged and the urge to scream arose within me.
How the heck was Anacoana’s spell supposed to work? My need to breathe was growing, and I knew that soon I’d have to thrust my head above water - but I could no longer breathe air - what the hell was I supposed to do?
Yashara appeared before me, placed a hand on my shoulder, then punched me in the gut. Huge bubbles of air erupted from my mouth as I cried out in shock and pain, and then to my horror I sucked in a vast lungful of water, thick and silty, rich with salt and minerals - and found that I could breathe.
It was the weirdest feeling. My lungs filled with water, my chest grew waterlogged, and as they did my vision also cleared. What had been murky and barely illuminated by dawn light from above became, if not crystal clear, than much more lucid; I could suddenly see the vastness around us, the shadowy shapes of what had to be coral growths rising up close by like huge walls, and far below us the outline of a galleon lying on its side.
“There,” said Yashara, patting my cheek. No bubbles emerged from her mouth, but I could hear her perfectly. “Far quicker than trying to reason with you.”
“Damn,” I said, rubbing my sore stomach. “You get right to the point.”
Yashara gave me a wolfish grin, and with her black hair spread out behind her like a dark cloud, her body gleaming in the light from above, I was struck all over again by how ferociously beautiful she was. Her large chest, cleavage so deep I could lose my hand between her breasts, the rippling of her core muscles as she swam slowly to stay in place, the long striations of muscle that flickered into view down the length of her thighs - she looked like she belonged here, in this dark, dangerous place, a denizen that would put the others to fear.
Great splashes rang out above us, and I realized we’d sunken down a good three or four yards already. I looked up, saw the underside of the jolly boat, and that Cerys and Tamara had leaped below. Cerys adapted quickly to the water, but Tamara’s eyes were wide, panicked, so I swam up, finding it strangely easy to slip through the water to reach her side.
Tamara had opted to remain in her white tunic and leggings, and her shirt now billowed around her as she pressed her hand over her clenched jaw. Opting to not sock her in the gut, I instead reached out and peeled her hand away from her lips.
Her gaze grew wild. Instinct kicked in. I cupped her by the back of her head and kissed her. For a moment she remained rigid, and then she melted into my arms, her mouth opening, and water rushed in. She immediately began to thrash, but I took hold of her hands and swam back a pace, holding her gaze. Tamara stared wildly at me then nodded and exhaled a great cloud of bubbles. A moment later she laughed, the sound clear, and she turned in a circle, admiring the great submarine world around us.
“This is amazing!”
“It is, isn’t it?” I laughed back, lifted by her exhilaration. “Too bad we’ve got to go fight and kill things instead of just enjoying it.”
Tamara swam to the side, exploring her new freedom of movement, and then scowled and pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a band of cloth wrapped around her full breasts, her skin olive, her body full and curvaceous. A kick of her legs and she rose to the surface, then threw her shirt onboard before sinking back down.
Netherys plunged into the water head first, her dive trailed by a stream of bubbles, and with complete calm exhaled her bubbles to inhale water as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her thick rope of purple hair trailed behind her, and she moved with the ease of a fish, her long legs kicking and guiding her through the water as she turned several pirouettes.
“It’s been decades since I’ve done this,” she said, voice rich with joy. “Ah, Kellik. If you’d told me you’d lead me to such novel experiences, I’d have followed you from the beginning without a qualm.”
I grinned at her. “Somehow I doubt it would have been that easy.”
A flick of her legs and she coasted up to me, hands on my hips, her nose but an inch from mine, her dark lips pulled into a sly smile. “You never know. Dark elves live for such experiences. Being with you is positively rejuvenating.”
Her lithe fluid movements made me feel cloddish, and before I could respond her hand cupped my cock through my pants and then she swam away, laughing and spinning again, to gaze at the world beyond.
Iris dropped in feet first, coughed out her bubbles, then hovered in the water, blinking over and over again as if having trouble believing what she saw. Her black leggings and tight tunic coupled with the elbow-length gloves she’d opted to keep on and her black hair made her seem a fragment of night come to a
ccompany us; I gave her an encouraging smile, and to my surprise she gave me a thumbs-up sign, a slightly impudent smile curving her lips.
Our magical vision allowed us to gaze for hundreds of yards in each direction before the murk and darkness obscured what lay beyond. I couldn’t even taste the water anymore, I realized; I’d grown that rapidly acclimatized.
The coral maze rose up before us, a great channel in its center at least twenty yards wide that lead into the darkness of the labyrinth beyond. The coral itself was fascinating; endless swirls of deep grooves that beguiled the eye covered the huge walls that rose up from the depths, clothed in different fronds of kelp, with great shelves extending out every few dozen yards above which small worlds of revolving cyclones of tiny fish and other gleaming lifeforms lived. Those that swam farther below glowed with their own bioluminescence, so that they appeared to form pockets of magic, their green, blue, and rose emanations pocketing the great walls.
“Amazing,” said Tamara, drifting up alongside me. “I’d never have guessed this lay beneath the waves.”
“Over there,” said Cerys, bow in hand. “See that large school of fish?”
And I did. Perhaps a hundred yards away a dozen silver javelins were drifting with the current, seemingly inert, their prodigious jaws decorated with teeth so sharp and large they extended up and down over their faces.
“Stay focused,” said Yashara, voice all business. “Kellik, with me. Assume positions. We’re going down. Cerys, keep an eye on the anchor rope. If you need to summon Pony, you’ll need it close.”
And with that she dove down, kicking powerfully, and I struggled to catch up, sheathing my blade as I went so I could gain more speed.
Down we dove, the coral walls seemingly endless to our side. As we descended I felt a subtle but not unpleasant pressure begin to build up all around me. Was the water weighing down on me? Some other aspect of existing at a greater depth? I’d no idea, and no time to speculate; Yashara swam with great broad strokes down toward The Hammer, and following but a few paces behind her majestic form I felt a thrill of wonder and excitement.