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It turned out they could all breathe water, presumably just one of the side effects of eating the sea dragon. That had its uses, the most obvious being salvation from sufication. It also made it possible for them to explore the flooded shaft for as long as it took to get back to the surface.

Marta was skeptical about abandoning their digging efforts but the air in the tunnel was already growing poor. The roof hadn’t caved in again but it was looking more and more unstable by the minute. Ultimately, Cassian made the decision to abandon the attempt to dig out and chose to swim, both because of the risk of a cave-in and because of the air situation.

Convincing the others to go along with this idea wasn’t easy. Even after they’d all climbed down the rope and stuck their heads under the water to confirm they could all breathe water as easily as air there was still resistance to the idea. Adalai wondered if the abilities they’d gained would wear off, leaving them with no way to breathe underwater. In many cases Cassian would have considered that a fine thing to worry about. However any Neronan familiar with dragon stories knew that it wasn’t possible to undo the changes brought about by eating a dragon so easily.

So they went down the mineshaft with Cassian in the lead. Along the way they discovered a number of new things about their condition. While they could all breathe the water the only one of them that could speak to the others while submerged was Verina which made keeping eveyone together difficult. Doubly so as Cassian was the only one that could actually see.

Clearly they had all had a different reaction to eating the dragon’s corpse. Doubtless Marta’s scales reflected some kind of change in her but whatever it was it wasn’t constant. In the time it took them to climb down into the water the scales on her skin had entirely disappeared. Adalai showed no obvious changes, which didn’t mean much given the circumstances.

Since he was the one who could see Cassian navigated with Adalai and Verina holding onto his shoulders. Marta took the rear, holding Verina’s free hand. That way Verina could tell Cassian if Marta got seperated from her and the extra weight of Cassian and Marta’s metal armor was distributed equally and would hopefully keep them from being swept away by a sudden current.

For the most part it worked. The group kept together and they managed to reach the first horizontal shaft without incident. However once they were there Cassian kept getting distracted by odd glimmers on the wall. He tried to point them out to Verina but he couldn’t explain them to her and she apparently couldn’t see them. That suggested there was more to his own changes than just seeing in the dark. He’d have to look into it more once they were on dry ground again.

In spite of their ability to breathe not everything about travelling under the water was easy. The shafts and tunnels had surprising currents and eddies in them. They were frequently forced to crawl on hands and knees in single file to make it through the narrowest parts of the tunnels. When struggling to ascend or descend a vertical shaft they frequently got seperated and Cassian found his stamina flagging after spending five minutes dragging himself up and down a particularly twisty vertical shaft, trying to pull the group back together after they were seperated working their way around a corner.

Behind it all was a constant, numbing cold. The mines had not seen the sun since long before Old Lum drowned them. The water within them was just as cold as the ocean without. If Verina had not known where a pocket of air was located thanks to the Linnorm’s scouting they might have given in to despair.
As it was it took them the better part of an hour to get down two mineshafts, cross two tunnels, climb up to their destination tunnel and emerge into the air again. At least the air pocket proved breathable. It wasn’t much progress but it was something.

They’d arrived at an intersection of two tunnels and whoever had built the mine had enlarged the area to create a staging ground. A few crates of half rotted supplies, piles of rusting tools and heaps of stones lay scattered about. One passage was collapsed and the other three were flooded. However there must have been a small passage out somewhere in the ceiling because they could feel a cold breeze washing over them the moment they scrambled out of the water.

It wasn’t much but after the night’s march, the frantic battle with the dragon and the grueling swim through pitch black tunnels they were all exhausted. Cassian picked through the debris, piled up the least rotted bits of rope, baskets and crates then doused them in lantern oil and lit it with his flint. After ensuring the smoke was venting through some crack in the ceiling they all flopped down beside the fire to dry out. Cassian wound up drifting to sleep as the warmth worked its way into his bones.

He woke up to the sound of a man dying. A deep, rasping cough echoed through the tunnels and, as he looked around through bleary eyes, Cassian realized it was coming from Adalai. The other man had withdrawn to the collapsed end of the tunnel and was in the process of trying to regurgitate a lung. Cassian dragged himself into a sitting position. Verina had collected a few more crates and was feeling them to the fire one board at a time. Their eyes met and he asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

She tsked. “He’s a man. Do you really think he would tell me? He has to pretend he’s tough even though we can all tell he’s teetering on the brink of Eternity.”

Cassian snorted. “Of course. If he despised you he would tell you all about his scratchy throat so that the feeling would be mutual. At least we know he holds you in high regard.” He spotted Marta lying at the edge of the firelight and gestured to her. “Has she woken up yet?”

“No.” Verina gave the Hexton woman a concerned look. “Her arm looks like it’s healed already but it’s taken a lot out of her.”

“It’s got to be better than making the entire trip here with a broken arm.” He dragged himself to his feet and shook himself out, trying to drive the last vestiges of cold and damp out of his feet and legs. After flapping his limbs around some to warm them he crossed over to where Adalai was hunkered down.

The Arminger didn’t look like he was dying. He wasn’t flushed or sweaty, he just sat staring at the fire with a glossy look in his eyes, a handkerchief over his nose and mouth. He didn’t seem to notice Cassian’s approach until the other man spoke. “Did you catch a chill in the water, Adalai?”

He jerked as if prodded with a dagger and his eyes slid over to study the Ironhand for a long moment. “Cassian?”

“Who else?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

Very cryptic but not at all helpful. “Are you sick, Adalai?”

His gaze wandered back to the fire. “No.”

Frustrated by the man’s obtuseness he plopped down next to him and said, “You don’t sound healthy, at any rate. Why are you sitting all the way over here? You’d do better to finish drying yourself out by the fire before we have to go back into the water later on.”

“Can’t.” Carpathia paused to lower his handkerchief and spit a wad of blood and phlegm onto the floor. “The smoke bothers me. I stayed as long as I could but I can’t. Not that close. Not in a place like this.”

Cassian frowned. That explaination did not really explain much. However it wasn’t really his place to pry into the lives and insecurities of the others. They were not really a company of bravos. They were just a handful of souls, joined together for the moment, trying to make it out of a bad situation. How one of them could be reduced to a coughing mess just by sleeping next to a campfire, a very common experience in Nerona, was not the most pressing concern. “Well, try to get some more sleep if you can. There’s not a lot left to burn and not much more left to eat. We’ll need to move on soon.”

Adalai nodded. “Has the Linnorm found a good place for us to head to next?”
“I haven’t asked yet. That is the next thing I need to look in to.”

As it turned out, the spirit had actually found two likely locations to head towards. Continuing in the direction they had been travelling would take them down below the water again but it was a fairly straight path. The Linnorm reported that, at the furthest reaches of its range the tunnel turned upwards again and may eventually return above ground. The surface was apparently only ten to fifteen feet overhead.

On the other hand, if they turned and headed to the left they would find a shaft leading down to a tunnel that exited into the Gulf only a short distance away.

“The Gulf will have more tides and currents than we’ve faced so far,” Adalai said. “It will be a lot easier to get separated out there.”

“But we know it will get us out of the mines,” Marta said. “Even if the other tunnel goes up there’s no telling if it will take us all the way out to the surface. Even five feet of dirt is a lot to dig through safely. We’re three times that deep now and we don’t even have tools.”

Verina nodded. “More than that, we’re here to try and find the caravan and Cassian’s brother. If the dragon took them then it would have stashed them with the rest of its treasures.” She pointed out towards the Gulf. “It’s lair is doubtless out there somewhere. The creature was far to large to fit down here.”

“What if it had its Benthic thralls hide its treasure down here?” Adalai asked.

“Dragons wouldn’t risk losing their treasure just because its servants die,” Cassian said. “It would keep them in a protected place, sure, but one it could get to on its own.”

Marla sighed. “I was hoping we’d be done with the water soon.”

“Aren’t your people great seafarers?” Verina asked.

“The Hextons? Yes. Clan Towers? We prefer the land.”

The journey out to the Gulf wasn’t as time consuming as the previous leg of the trip. Cassian estimated it was half are hour, no more. When they emerged into open water the others were excited to find that even they had enough light to see by. However that was the end of the good news.

Not all the light they found there came from the sun filtering through the waves. A great deal of it came from a ring of sea anemones that grew around the tunnel exit and glowed with a soft blue light from deep within. Each plant was the size of a large dog and they were grouped unnaturally close together. It was impossible to pass through them without brushing against one of their stinging fronds.

But keeping them contained was very much the purpose of the anemones. That and illuminating them for the six armed Benthic that swept down from above, brandishing spears.