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The sirens took us through a labyrinth of tunnels that kept us swimming up for the most part, until we broke through the surface. For a moment I thought we were back out in the open, but that moment didn’t last very long. Our surroundings were dark, I didn’t see any stars or moons in the sky, just darkness interrupted by small circles so high up it could have been mistaken for stars in the actual sky. A faint light came through those openings, confirming that it was indeed still night on the other side. I removed my facemask and breathed in air that held the unmistakable smell of a cave. It wasn’t rotten or stale, just dank from no wind ever stirring anything in this place. It dawned on me that the sirens had led us deep into the heart of the mountain.
The water around us was calm, the only small waves lapping against the shore further ahead of us came from our bodies as we surfaced and swam toward it.
I checked my gage, the oxygen tank was still more than half full, but even if it would have been possible to carry two or even five, I didn’t think we would dive our way out of here.
The mantadors would be gone, but I doubted any of us would find our way out of this mace of tunnels back to the other side of the mountain. It would take days. We would drown before we even reached the cursed split.
Snyg. There had to be a way.
While we approached the shore, my brain worked furiously through scenarios, I could send scouts out, one at a time, start drawing a map, until all our tanks were empty. Only one of us needed to make it to the other side, then again, if it took us a week, I doubted the boat would be still waiting for us on the other side.
It was a day’s drive by boat to get from Fall Mountain Island to Aecor none of us would be able to swim that distance—even if the sirens didn’t pursue us.
We were doomed to stay here, for now, and I didn’t like that idea, at all.
As we swam toward the shore, I took in the mountain walls surrounding me from all sides. At some point either of them was too steep to climb up, but I decided to keep my mind open on that route of escape until morning, when it would, hopefully, be a little brighter in here. For now I still held hope that once I spoke with Sarissa, she would take us simply back to Aecor, albeit humiliated.
As we neared the shore, details became more visible, revealing the shapes of small huts. Suddenly, excited shouts reverberated through the cavern, causing me to furrow my brow. Squinting, I observed figures appearing from the huts, rushing towards the shore shouting and waving.
The sirens had taken our weapons, but we were still trained warriors. I whispered sharply to my dragoons, "Stay alert.”
It didn’t take long until my fins hit ground. Treading water I removed first one then the other, watching my dragoons contort themselves in the same way. I kept the fins in one hand, they would make a good weapon if needed be.
“Warcome, frunds,” a tall male stepped into the lapping water, greeting us. His words were laced with a thick accent, but he spoke Leander, enough for me to understand him.
“Who are you?” I stared at the aqua colored male with black hair and black eyes, looking very much like any other Leander I had ever met.
“Zuten,” he replied, “me nome is Arcoro.”
“Myles,” I shook his outstretched arm, while my mind turned into a tornado of questions. The Zuten were the very people who had been said to have lived on Oceanus before it filled with water, making it mostly inhabitable.
“You live outside?” he asked more clearly or my ears were getting used to his accent.
“Zyn,” I nodded, staring from him to the sirens, who had also slithered out of the water.
“Arcoro, make these males comfortable, give them a home, this is Vissigroth Myles, he is very important to Queen Sarissa. See that they are well taken care of.”
“Vissi… grath?” Arcoro asked, doubtlessly not having the faintest idea what the title meant.
“He is a king,” the siren snapped, coming to the same conclusion.
A loud whisper rolled through the assembled group that came to the shore to stare at us, all of them male.
“Queen Sarissa will talk to you in a few days,” the siren slithered back into the water, where her brethren waited. Sirens didn’t feel comfortable on land and avoided it wherever they could.
“What is this?” I asked Arcoro when the sirens were out of sight.
“Come to my home and I will explain,” Arcoro invited, not waiting for me, but moving with purpose, forcing a throng of males to step aside to open a path for him and us.
The males mumbled to each other, staring at us as if we were aberrations.
My dragoons kept watchful eyes on them, even though the welcome seemed friendly enough. None of us wore weapons, but neither did Arcoro’s males, I noticed, with them outnumbering us at least ten to one, it evened the odds considerably.
Arcoro led us to an array of caves, that didn’t look natural, the edges were too rounded, too polished. These caves had been carved out of the rocks over a long period of time.
“Some of my males prefer to live in houses, others, like me prefer the caves,” Arcoro explained, as I was getting used to his accent, making it easier for me to understand him. He gestured for us to enter. I followed him, but waved my males to stay outside.
“Collo, fetch some refreshments for the newcomers,” Arcoro instructed a youngling of about ten.
