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“Nothing is impossible,” Dax said grimly. “If we didn’t think that, we wouldn’t be here.”

The three ships, which had previously been in a tight formation, now split up as though trying to surround their flotilla. They were even larger than Dax had initially thought—no way would even the big guns Threldigan had “installed” make a difference to them. Several new targets had just appeared on the navigation screen when Ava let out a yell.

“Holy moly!” she exclaimed. “There are five more ships behind us, coming up fast!”

“Yep, we’re doomed,” Waroun said, slumping to the deck. “Might as well just sit tight and go peacefully.” He smiled weakly. “Been nice knowing you, Ava. Just wish I’d gotten a better sample of your essence before I died.”

“We aren’t doomed,” Ava said fiercely. “And I’m not just going to hand the keystone over to these people.”

Joss’s men gaped at her in astonishment.
“You have the stone?”

“Yes, and they’re not going to get it!” Before anyone could stop her, Ava leaped onto the railing and dove into the sea.

Chapter 22

Ava’s entire body rejoiced at her decision. Kicking off her shoes, she swam deeply into the cool water, delighting in the silky feel of it on her skin. The Rhylosian Sea had been fabulous, but diving into this ocean was like coming home. As she descended, she was amazed at the brightness of the light filtering down to the sea floor. Visibility was much sharper than in the waters of Rhylos, and the sea was surprisingly shallow. She could swim to the bottom with no difficulty whatsoever and wondered if all Aquerei seas were as shallow.

Recalling that Joss’s base was halfway between Mirolar and Rhashdelfi, she glanced up at the
Juleta
hovering above her, noting the direction of her bow. Her eyes then searched the ocean floor until she spotted a trail carved through the rocks in the same direction. Despite the convenience of this discovery, a frisson of fear swept through her. A trail meant that this was a frequently used route—a route that could be watched by anyone from any faction. Her keen eyes swept the vicinity, alert to any danger. She saw nothing more frightening than a few solitary fish. If any Aquerei lived in these waters, there was no evidence of it. This was simply the road between the two cities.

Ava drifted downward, pulling herself effortlessly through the water. The tug on the webbing between her fingers and toes thrilled her, and her ears quickly adjusted to the depth, enabling her to hear strange underwater sounds. Schools of gleaming fish swam past with no apparent fear, and she felt her own fears begin to subside. Knowing that her pulse pistol would function under water gave her added courage, though the knife thrust through her belt would have been more useful in an underwater fight. Even so, she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Shallow though it was, it was still a very big ocean, and she would be very difficult for anyone to find.

Bottom dwellers and crabs scuttled aside. Eels moved ribbonlike through the water, only to disappear into crevasses in the rocks below. As her eyes adjusted further, she could see the trail stretching on ahead. Rolling onto her back, she swam as effortlessly backward as she had going forward. The
Juleta
remained stationary, hovering just above the surface as she left it behind.

When she strayed from the path to discover where an eel made its home, Ava began to realize why she had moved so much more quickly along the trail. A strong current flowed at that depth, propelling her toward Rhashdelfi. Still, fifty kilometers was a long way, and though it was early in the day, she couldn’t hope to arrive before nightfall. The thought of being trapped beneath the surface in the dark frightened her. Who knew what dangers lurked that her humanoid eyes couldn’t see?

A shadow passed over her. For a moment, she feared a leviathan might be on her tail, but quickly realized the shadow had been cast by the Aquerei ships cruising toward the
Juleta
. She felt a moment’s anxiety for the safety of Dax and the crew but doubted they would face any real danger as long as she held the keystone. Between Dax’s competence as a commander and Threldigan’s gadgets, they might even escape.

The Aquina hung safely around her neck, hidden beneath her shirt. Ava felt the stone’s power flowing through her as she swam, and her confidence grew. She had seen a map of the island and knew where the temple was located. With any luck, she would be concealed in darkness when she made landfall. She might even be able to get to the temple unnoticed. After all, even the Aquerei had to sleep.

They had to eat, too. Hungry, she noticed a fish nibbling at a fleshy plant growing between the rocks. She had never tried to eat while submerged, but this seemed to come as naturally to her as breathing the water. The plant was sweet and tender, and she picked more of it, munching as she swam. After a bit, she grew tired and allowed her body to drift with the current, feeling a oneness with the sea and the pulse of the planet.

At last her Aquerei nature was being given free rein. She was the daughter of two different worlds; her Terran side was just that, “of the Earth,” but her Aquerei side was of the water. The stone floated against her chest as she swam, reminding her that she was only present in that glorious ocean because of it. Sharing this experience with Dax would have been a joy, but it saddened her to realize that, even with diving equipment, he would never be a true creature of the sea.

Time seemed to have no meaning there in the depths, until it began to get dark. If there were underwater signposts showing the number of clicks remaining in her journey to Rhashdelfi, Ava couldn’t read them. How many clicks could a girl swim in one day, even with a current to carry her onward? Joss’s reply had been vague, which implied he’d never made the journey himself.

As darkness fell, Ava’s fears were eased by the luminous quality of everything surrounding her. The fish she’d seen during the day were gone now, replaced by bioluminescent species that swam slowly while tiny points of light gleamed from their fins and raced over their bodies. Plants that had been dull and colorless in daylight were now aglow with brilliant colors. Pulsating with the flow, they marked the trail while the current carried her on.

Ava wondered if the current was natural or contrived, though its location, strength, and convenience made the latter more likely. There was a different sort of technology at work on this world. With the probable dearth of conventional building materials, water construction made sense. Ava could scarcely imagine the majesty of cities made entirely of water. The Temple of the Aquina would surely be among the most beautiful structures in the galaxy.

Just as her impatience to see these wonders reached its peak, she saw the lights.

***

Dax stared at the spot where Ava had jumped, still unable to grasp the enormity of what she had done. Part of him wanted to dive in after her, but, fortunately, his sensible side overruled that impulse.

Waroun’s eyes bugged out of his head. “I can’t believe she did that!”

“How very selfless of her.” Teke spoke with such reverence that Dax half expected him to say a prayer. Quinn, on the other hand, was jumping up and down and screaming at Joss to do something.

“She’ll be fine,” Joss said. “However, it might be best if we were to lure these ships away from her.” He looked pointedly at Dax. “Trust me, she will make it to Rhashdelfi.”

Dax lost the tenuous hold on his temper. “In the middle of the ocean with nothing to show her the way? You must be out of your water-breathing mind!”

“I assure you, if I thought she was in any danger—”

“There’s a road down there,” one of Joss’s men interjected. “We’ve been living along it for a several days and haven’t seen a soul. We can only guess at what’s happening in the cities, but there’s been no one traveling between them.”

“I can tell you what’s happening there,” Dax said fiercely. “Your people are killing each other in the streets.”

The man paled visibly. “Are you—how can you be sure?”

“He had a vision, Rolst,” Joss said.

Rolst snorted his skepticism. Dax was about to enlighten him when Waroun took a dive to the deck. “They’re shooting at us!”

“Hopefully they’ll go for the decoys first,” Threldigan said. “I have one other gadget that might help…” Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a teardrop-shaped vial and sprinkled a drop or two on Waroun. He scattered the rest of the contents about the deck. Nothing happened.

Waroun stared at the droplets on his arm and snickered. “My, that was useful.”

“Actually, it was,” Dax said. “Take a look.”

The men on board the nearest ship were running in all directions, screeching as though all the hounds of hell were snapping at their heels. The high prow of the ship swung around as the streamlined vessel began a hasty retreat.

Threldigan looked quite pleased with himself. “We now appear to be a gigantic version of Waroun. The effect will dissipate eventually, but until then, for all they know, we’re basically a sea monster.”

“Oh, thank you very much, Threldy,” Waroun sneered as he jumped to his feet. “Just
had
to pick the one Norludian in the bunch, didn’t you? Oh, no, couldn’t
possibly
have used the Drell! He’s much scarier than I am.”

“That’s very good, Waroun!” Threldigan said. “Keep waving your arms and wiggling your fingers. That’s what they’ll see. Stick your tongue out and look fierce!”

“What?”

The blank look on Waroun’s face had Dax howling with laughter. “Way to go, Waroun! Scare the piss out of ’em!”

“You mean they’re really seeing me right now, only huge?”

“That’s right,” Threldigan replied. “This is your big chance at stardom. Get it?
Big?
”

Waroun cackled with glee and did his best imitation of a terrifying monster—which wasn’t much of a stretch for him—and soon, the three ships that had been coming from the direction of the temple began backing off. The five that approached from the south, however, didn’t slow down one iota.

“I’m not sure that helped us very much,” Teke observed.

“No, wait!” said Quinn. “They’re changing direction!”

Everyone held their breath as the elegant vessels sailed past their little “flotilla” as though they didn’t exist.

“I don’t believe it!” Waroun exclaimed. “They’re going after the other ships!”

“Can’t say as I blame them,” Threldigan said dryly. “I’d steer clear of a giant Norludian too.”

“We should head straight for the temple now,” Joss urged. “The port is on the north side of the island, but this vessel would have no difficulty landing on the shore at Rhashdelfi.”

“And you think we’ll find Ava there?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” Joss replied. “Trust me. She can’t miss it—she might even get there ahead of us.”

Joss’s men seconded this, and though Dax still had his doubts, it wasn’t as if he had the ability to go after her. “What about you guys?” he said. “Couldn’t you go down there and help her?”

“I doubt if she would trust us without some explanation,” Rolst replied.

Joss nodded. “He’s right. Ava doesn’t understand our underwater language—”

“And if we don’t have the stone, no one will have any reason to bother us, will they?” Waroun was still snarling and gesticulating madly at the departing ships. “We can just cruise on to Rhashdelfi.”

Threldigan chuckled. “You can stop that now, Waroun. I don’t think anyone is looking this way.”

“I’m having fun, though.” Waroun blew a big raspberry at the ships and grinned. “It’s not often you get to be a sea monster.”

“True,” Teke agreed. “But you’re starting to look more silly than fearsome, and they’re probably more afraid of being outnumbered than they are of you.”

Dax waved at the departing ships. “So, Joss, would you mind telling us what that was all about? Do you think they know who we are or what?”

“No clue,” said Joss, “but I think we should get going, regardless of who they were.”

Dax suspected that Joss wasn’t telling the truth, but if Ava was already on her way to the temple, he saw no reason to hang around waiting for anyone else to find them. Nodding, he aimed the
Juleta
toward Rhashdelfi and opened the throttle.

***

It was fully dark when Ava waded through the shallows onto the sand. There were lights in the city above, but the beach was dark and deserted. Dax and the others were nowhere to be seen. She had felt safe in the sea, but she now felt alone and vulnerable—a feeling compounded by the sound of pulse rifle fire from the city above. Though the route to the temple was ingrained upon her mind, something told her she wasn’t meant to go it alone. Not so much that she couldn’t have, but that she wasn’t supposed to.

As she emerged from the sea, the weight of her land-based self dragged her down, sapping the remainder of her energy. Exhausted, she found a sheltered spot near a cluster of large palm trees and lay down to rest, but sleep was elusive. Her mind was awhirl with snippets of thought, chief among them the fact that she had never spent so much time submerged before—on any world. It had been exhilarating but further demonstrated the differences between Dax and herself. Waroun had jokingly called her the Fish Lady, but his jest held more than a grain of truth. Dax could no more have followed her through the water than he could have leaped from a cliff and sprouted wings. He had visions too—something else that set them apart. Never having had an experience even remotely similar, she couldn’t begin to relate to it.