Crossroads 04 - The Dragon Isles (21 page)

 
          
“Another
storm’s coming,” Shimmer said, gazing west.

 
          
“Maybe
it will pass us by,” said Ula.

 
          
“I
doubt it,” Mik replied. “Let’s keep rowing. We can always abandon the skiff if
the seas get too rough.”

 
          
Ula
smiled. “Most humans fear the deep,” she said, “but not you.”

 
          
“The
sea’s been my life for a long time,” Mik said. “I’m comfortable above or
below—with a little help.” He patted the enchanted fish amulet at his neck.

 
          
The
coming storm blotted out the stars, making the night black and chilly. Dismal
fog swirled over the waves, dancing before the wind like wraiths anticipating a
funeral.

 
          
Ula
peered into the darkness. “Which way to Aurialastican, Shimmer?” she asked.

 
          
Shimmer
turned his bronze-helmeted head from stem to stem. “We’re headed in the right
direction, more or less. We’ve a long way to go, though.”

 
          
Ula
cursed. “I’d turn back for Jaentarth if I didn’t think we’d find Kell waiting
for us.”

 
          
“With
peril ahead and astern,” Mik said, “perhaps we should take the shortest route.”

 
          
“The
sailor makes sense,” Shimmer said.

 
          
Ula
frowned and sighed.
“To me, too.
Trying for
Aurialastican was a mistake.” Glancing at Mik, she added. “Pull with me, and
we’ll turn this boat around.”

 
          
“Aye
.. .
captain
,” Mik replied.

 
          
Ula
laughed and the two counter-rowed the oars a moment and turned the skiff
around. Waves coming from the west rocked the boat precariously, making it
difficult to stay on course. As they regained their bearings, a huge dark shape
surged up out of the waves to stem. It flashed through the air overhead and disappeared
into the swirling fog.

 
          
Ula
cursed.

 
          
Black
gloved hands suddenly appeared atop the skiff’s gunwales, and with one sudden
tug, the small boat went under.

Darthalla

 
          
The
fish amulet’s ancient magic enveloped Mik as steely fingers pulled him down
into the deep. He felt his stomach swirl and his eyes cloud over—sure
indications that he’d worn the necklace too long. Abusing the power of
artifacts like the necklace could be perilous—even deadly. Mik clenched his jaw
tight and concentrated, trying to shake off his fears.

 
          
Shadowy
shapes flashed through the water around him. He reached for his cutlass, but
strong hands grabbed his wrist

 
          
Something
cold and rubbery wrapped itself around his lower body. He felt as though he were
encased in a clinging blanket. A huge, bat-like form flashed by his face.
Something struck him, and he felt a stinging, burning sensation in his cheek.

 
          
Only
an arm’s-length away, Ula and Shimmer were struggling against their attackers.
A strange, warm sleepiness began to steal over the captain. He blinked and
found it hard to keep his eyes open.

 
          
“They’ve
drugged me,” he realized. He discovered his hands were pinned to his side by
the same rubbery blanket that encircled his legs. He glanced over his shoulder
and saw the alien face of an enormous ray peering back at him. “I’m trapped,”
he thought, only slightly surprised not to be disturbed by that fact.

 
          
He
heard Ula shout something, but he couldn’t make out the words. Shimmer’s bronze
armor flashed brightly in the ever-deepening darkness. The knight turned, light
blazed from under his visor,
then
Mik remembered
nothing more.

 
          
*****

 
          
Mik
awoke, lying on a golden platform encased in a large, transparent bag. He was
underwater, floating in a wide chamber with glass walls—which formed enormous
windows— extending from curved floor to domed ceiling. Fist-sized * glowing
pearls lining the chamber provided the room with light. A huge pearl, as large
as a man’s skull, shimmered at the dome’s apex. Mik’s transparent cell was
anchored near the chamber’s sole exit.

 
          
Beyond
the glass walls lay an amazing underwater city. This was no rag-tag settlement
like Reeftown, but a beautifully realized whole. Buildings looped through the
ocean outside the window, curving like graceful shells, some reaching toward
the unseen surface far above. The architecture sprang from the huge reefs
dominating the landscape, each structure seeming as though it had grown
organically from the surrounding coral. Blue, green, and pale white lights
streamed from the windows of the houses outside, dappling the water in shifting
patterns.

 
          
All
of the buildings appeared to be meticulously maintained. Some were clearly
inspired by terrestrial architecture and seagoing ships, but most had a submarine
beauty all their own. Great undersea gardens wound through the structures,
providing the city’s inhabitants with both privacy and beauty.

           
Blue-skinned Dargonesti swam around,
between, and through the amazing structures. The sea elves’ slender bodies
darted in and out of the settlement’s indigo shadows. Turbidus dolphins
accompanied some of the fair folk, while other elves rode on the backs of huge
manta rays. The rays drifted gracefully through the city’s canyons like titanic
bats.

 
          
Most
of the elves Mik saw were dressed in a manner similar to Ula: Scant pieces of
silky fabric held together by elaborate chains of jewelry. Some, however, wore
armor of golden shells and pieces of turtle carapace. A few covered themselves
in sinuous wraps of glowing seaweed. And some eschewed clothing altogether;
only their long, sensuous hair obscured their considerable physical charms.

 
          
Mik
was so entranced by the view outside the huge windows that, at first, he didn’t
notice the people floating near the far side of the room. Two shell-like
thrones hung in the water at the
chamber’s
opposite
end. Perched in one of the chairs was a handsome warrior elf. Jewelrylike armor
covered his muscular form, and a gem-studded diadem sat upon his forehead. The
other chair sat empty.

 
          
The
handsome elf regarded the two figures floating before him with grim majesty.
One of the people Mik immediately recognized as Ula. The other was a tall,
blond man in orangish armor. It took Mik a moment to realize that this second
person was Shimanloreth, shorn of his helmet.

 
          
A
female elf with flowing pearly hair hovered to the right of the enthroned man.
This woman strongly resembled Ula, though she appeared older and somewhat
fuller of figure.

 
          
On
the
throne’s
other side swam an elf in turtle-shell
armor. Mik recognized him as the guard they’d met at the gates to Reeftown. He
was Volrek, one of Lakuda’s sentries.

 
          
Ula,
the man on the throne, and all the others were engaged in an animated
discussion. Shimmer, cool and distant, hovered off to one side, near Ula.

 
          
Mik
turned and spied a sea-elf guard in golden half-armor treading water behind his
baglike prison. “Where am I?” he asked. “Is this Darthalla?”

 
          
“It
is, and you are ordered to remain silent,” the female guard said. “Only Ula
Drakenvaal and Shimanloreth have permission to speak before Lord Aquironian at
this time.” Her exquisite face looked stern, brooking no arguments.

 
          
“Your
pardon,” Mik said with a slight bow. He cautiously pressed his hand against the
transparent wall of his prison. To his surprise, his fingers passed right
through into the water beyond. He checked for his fish necklace and found it
missing. He spotted it resting on a coral pillar behind the guard.

 
          
“Am
I a prisoner?” he whispered to the guard.

 
          
“That
is yet to be determined.”

 
          
“Then
return my necklace to me that I may silently observe this audience as a guest.”

 
          
The
guard looked skeptical.

 
          
“Do
you have orders against it?” Mik asked.

 
          
“My
orders were that you should cause no trouble.”

 
          
“And
I
shall
cause no trouble. I wish
merely to observe as, I believe, is my due.”

 
          
“Very
well,” the guard said. She fetched the necklace and handed it to Mik through
the bubble.

 
          
Mik
put it on and fought down the familiar wave of nausea. He steadied himself,
stepped through the bubble, and took a deep breath. For a moment, he felt as
though he were suffocating. At first the water pressed in around him and no air
came to his lungs.

 
          
A
moment later, though, another gem scale crumbled and the enchantment kicked in.
He took a deep breath and swam—with as much decorum as he could muster— toward
the group assembled near the throne. He took up a position hovering in the
water just behind Shimmer, who barely acknowledged him. He noticed that the
guard came with him and stationed herself on his flank.

 
          
“Ula
Drakenvaal,” Lord Aquironian was sayinng, “the guardsman Volrek has ridden here
on the fastest draken ray at the behest of his lady Lakuda. He suggests that
you may have had a hand in some trouble in Reeftown recently.”

 
          
“The
Landwalker led the dragon Tempest to our doorstep,” Volrek said, shaking his
fist so hard that his turtle- shell armor rattled. “She—and her
companions—caused the massive destruction of Reeftown.”

 
          
“That’s
absurd, milord,” said Ula. “Why would I lead the dragon to Reeftown? I still
have friends there.”

 
          
“One,
perhaps,” Volrek said, “though I see
he
is at your side now—as we suspected. Milord, they are in this together.” “You
have some proof of this?” the lord asked.

 
          
“All
know the grudge the Landwalker bears against Reeftown and the lady Lakuda,”
Volrek said.

 
          
“Lakuda
is a self-righteous, covetous bitch,” Ula shot back. Lord Aquironian, reclining
in his shell-like throne, looked slightly amused. “A common trait among the
scavengers of the outer reefs, it seems,” he said.

 
          
Ula
flushed.

 
          
“The
dragon has never before penetrated so deeply into the Veil’s enchantment,”
Volrek continued. “It does so shortly after
she
returns to Reeftown, and when it attacks she is nowhere to be found. I say that
it clearly adds up against her.”

 
          
“It
was Lakuda’s foragers who brought me back to the city,” Ula replied. “Why don’t
you blame them? Or blame yourselves? I had no desire to return to Reeftown. And
what would I gain from its destruction?”

 
          
“You
are a well-known malcontent and rabble rouser. Is that not so, Lord
Aquironian?”

 
          
Mik
glanced at Shimmer but still the bronze knight remained impassive.

 
          
Before
the lord could speak, the woman hovering near the throne swam forward.
“Milord,” she began, “while it is true that my sister is something of a rebel—a
fact which has made her less than welcome many places, even in the house of our
father—I find it difficult to believe that she would consort with this evil
dragon.”

 
          
“She’s
consorted with dragons before!” Volrek put in. “Perhaps ...”

 
          
“Enough!”
Aquironian cut him off. “You may be an envoy from our kin in Reeftown, Volrek,
but there are still protocols to be observed. You interrupt me or members of my
court at your peril.”

 
          
The
turtle-armored elf bowed low.
“Your forgiveness, lord.
We who live beyond the Veil are sometimes brash and ill-mannered. I intended no
offense to you, or the lady Lyssara Drakenvaal.”

 
          
Ula’s
sister, Lyssara, nodded in reply. She turned her gaze upon Ula and Shimmer and
seemed slightly surprised to find Mik hovering next to them. “Though my sister
has associated with some ... disreputable types in the past,” she said, her
purple eyes straying to Mik, “she has no love for evil creatures, dragon or
otherwise.”

 
          
Ula,
noticing Mik for the first time, gave him a discreet wink and motioned that he
should keep silent.

 
          
“Perhaps
your sister has changed since you last saw her,” Lord Aquironian suggested.

 
          
“I
do not doubt that she has,” Lyssara replied.
“And possibly
not for the better.
However, her Drakenvaal upbringing should not be
entirely forgotten. No one of our line could intentionally harm either the
Dragon Isles or the Dargonesti. She cannot possibly be causing the trouble with
the dragon, nor the weakening of the Veil.”