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.
Chapter Twenty-One
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 saying, “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 turtleshell 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.”