He seated himself on one of the room’s seashell-like chairs and rested his bearded chin on his hands. Trip plopped down beside him, and Ula pulled her chair in closer. Karista paced the room, running her long fingers over several potted plants that looked like stiff seaweed.
“What can you tell me about the guards?” Mik asked Ula.
“They’re as good as Lakuda’s rabble comes,” she replied. “We wouldn’t want to fight them without weapons-not in the water, anyway.”
“And this Shimanloreth?”
“You don’t want to tackle him,” Ula said.
“I’ve never seen a knight underwater before,” Trip said.
“And aren’t likely to see one again,” Ula replied.
Mik nodded grimly. “Maybe you can sway him to our side.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Ula said.
Mik rose and walked to the room’s sole window-round like a porthole and about the size of a ship’s wheel-and peered out into the deep. The sun had long since set, but many small life forms, like undersea fireflies, twinkled in the darkness. In their flickering glow and the light from the town’s windows, sea elves swam about their business.
“I will not participate in any plan to escape,” Karista said stubbornly. “We are lucky to be alive. We’ve had enough trouble already-and this Lakuda woman seems nearly as ruthless as the dragon. Do whatever you like, but I will stay here.”
“Suits me,” said Mik. “Trip, I’m guessing Shimmer didn’t search you well enough.”
“No one ever does,” the kender replied with a shrug, pulling another small piece of magical seaweed from an inside vest pocket. “I’ve got this, plus the wad you gave back to me.”
Ula smiled. “Shimmer isn’t very familiar with kender.”
“Lucky him,” muttered Karista.
“With three of us able to breathe underwater,” Mik said, “perhaps we could take those guards by surprise.”
Shimmer swam impatiently around Lakuda’s audience chamber. Occasionally, he dipped down to the pile of loot waiting to be divided and ran his orange eyes over it. How much was it worth, this pile of treasure? Was it worth Ula Drakenvaal’s life?
Lakuda’s guards paid little attention to the bronze knight They adjusted their grips on their tridents and pointedly looked the other way as Shimmer circled the big booty-filled shell tethered in the middle of the room. The guards knew his relationship to their mistress, and-even had they not-none would have dared to cross him anyway.
Several long minutes later, a circular side door to the chamber eased open, and Townboss Lakuda drifted in. Her green hair had been undone and trailed behind her like a long seaweed cape. In her left hand she held a stoppered flask of azure wine. In her right she carried the large shell of a half-eaten oyster. Her black eyes gleamed when she spotted Shimmer.
“Will you join me in a drink?”
“No,” Shimanloreth replied.
“Rest beside me,” Lakuda said, gliding into her golden throne and holding out one thin-fingered hand.
Shimmer didn’t look at her but kept gazing at the treasure-filled shell. “I was wondering if my share of today’s forage would cover the Drakenvaal’s ransom,” he said.
Lakuda’s black eyes narrowed. “So,” she said. “I knew you’d take an interest in her capture. You really shouldn’t concern yourself, though. She lost all interest in you long ago.”
“I know that.”
“And still your feelings for her persist,” Lakuda said sarcastically. “She’s beneath you, you know.”
“Some would say,” Shimmer replied, his tone careful and measured, “thatyou are as well.”
Lakuda laughed, her raspy voice echoing around the chamber. “A cut well placed! I won’t hold it against you though-so long as you join me in a drink.”
She dropped the empty oyster shell and unstoppered the wine. The shell drifted slowly down, but a servant appeared and scooped it up before it hit the chamber floor. The servant darted back out the door she’d entered through.
A small blue cloud formed above Lakuda’s unstoppered flask. The mistress of Reeftown took a drink and then closed the top with her fingertip. “Well?” she asked.
Shimmer nodded slowly.
“I will drink with you,” he said.
Without warning, the room shook. The water in the chamber quivered and Lakuda had to grab hold of her golden netting to steady herself. The guards looked around apprehensively, and even Shimmer adjusted his balance. Cloudy streamers of sand drifted down from the ceiling. A faint rumbling echoed through the room.
“What was that?” one of the guards asked nervously.
“Seaquake?” suggested another.
“Don’t just float there, fools,” Lakuda snarled. “Go find out”
Karista staggered, but Mik caught her before she fell. Ula jumped out of the way as a big piece of coral plummeted from the ceiling and smashed a driftwood table near one wall of the room. Trickles of sand drifted down from the ceiling.
“What was that?” Trip asked, rising and dusting himself off.
Mik walked to the window and peered out into the darkness. For a moment, he saw nothing. Then, swift shadows began to dart through the dim light surrounding the city. Giant razorfish, he realized, and sharks.
“Mik,” Trip said, “I think we’ve sprung a leak.” He held his small hand out under a trickle of water dripping from the ceiling.
The words barely registered on the sailor’s mind. There, at the edge of the flickering city lights, he saw something that made his blood run cold.
Mik’s mouth dropped open and he whispered, “The dragon!”
Chapter Fifteen
A mixture of anger and fear flashed across Lakuda’s gaunt face. “Tempest!” she gasped. Then her eyes narrowed. “It’s that accursed Drakenvaal!” she hissed. “Isn’t it?”
“Absurd,” Shimmer countered.
“Well… she’s been known to associate with dragons before!”
Shimmer said nothing, but his orangish eyes flared with anger.
Lakuda’s angular face softened. “I meant no offense,” she said. “Your choice of… friends is your own, of course.” Shimmer nodded slowly.
“Well?” Lakuda said, swimming to the exit of the throne room, “Are you coming?”
“I think,” Shimmer said, “that I shall stay here and contemplate your words.”
Lakuda’s dark eyes narrowed and her lean jaw trembled. “This is no time to be petulant.”
Another tremor shook the reef-villa. Pieces of coral drifted down from the hall ceiling, and a small pillar supporting a window arch crumbled.
“Suit yourself,” Lakuda growled. “With the dragon loose, I must tend to business. We’ll have that drink later, and forget our differences?”
“Yes,” Shimmer replied. “Perhaps.”
Lakuda frowned at him, then turned and swam out of the room, taking the guards with her.
Shimanloreth stood alone in the room, thinking.
“Give me some of that seaweed,” Karista said, reaching toward Trip. “After all, it’s mine.”
The kender handed her some; he’d already doled out other bits to himself and Kingfisher’s former captain.
“A moment ago, you had no intention of escaping,” Ula said slyly.
“A moment ago, we weren’t in danger of drowning,” Karista replied. She sloshed around in the rising waters of their prison chamber.
“We’d welcome any other aids you might have for the occasion,” Mik said.
“I’ve nothing to weave spells with here,” Karista replied. “It all went down with the ship. And, even if it hadn’t, with the gods so long departed, my powers are next to nothing.” She stuffed the magical seaweed into her cheek and glared at them.
“Maybe you’ll assist us in overpowering the guards, then,” Mik replied.
“If I must,” she said.
Ula laughed.
The chamber shuddered again, and another leak sprang up.
Mik glanced out the window. Flashes like lightning in the darkness silhouetted a terrible battle between Reeftown’s sea elves and Tempest’s forces.