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Adalai flopped down next to a steam vent, enjoying the feeling of warmth for the first time in a day or so. “They really have thought of everything here.”

“You seem pretty relaxed given where we are,” Verina said, making herself comfortable next to him.

“The mines were worse. All that dark, not able to talk for hours? I’ll take this over that any time.” Adalai studied their leader, who was pacing back and forth and glaring at Marta and her Baron. “Sit down, Cassian. You’re tired and walking around isn’t a good way to warm up anyway. Not when we have our very own slice of volcanic activity.”

Cassian turned his ugly stare towards them but Adalai refused to acknowledge it. Finally his shoulders slumped and he walked over to the vent. As he took his seat there grumbled, “We’re wasting time.”

“Let her have her moment,” Adalai said. “We have to wait anyway.”

“Waiting won’t help us,” Cassian hissed. “There isn’t going to be any emissary from the Court in Torrence, they’re currently in the middle of a succession crisis. Fionni and a handful of the other major cities aren’t recognizing the new Prince. It could take months to a year to sort out. I don’t think the Court will have the time for us while a third of his subjects are in revolt.”

“We’re not waiting on the Court, we’re waiting on the Captain.” Adalai gestured towards the opening they’d entered through. “Remember what that patrol leader said? One of the Benthic captains is going to ask us about the sea dragon.”

“I… don’t see how that helps us.”

“Depends on how things shake out,” Adalai said. “But if all else fails we can just tell them we ate the sea dragon. You said yourself that paints a target on people’s backs and towns that don’t want a dragon attacking on a regular basis throw people like us out. I doubt the Benthic will be any different.”

Cassian’s eyebrows shot up and he nodded approvingly. “Not bad, not bad. You could have mentioned this before we get stuck waiting here but it’s a clever idea.”

“We were underwater at the time so I couldn’t bring it up. Either way it was worth coming here. Marta found her Baron. We needed to be sure your brother wasn’t here and this was the easiest way to be sure.” Adalai glanced at Marta. “What do you think of that ?”

“I’m kind of surprised she actually knew the Baron,” Cassian admitted. “I was expecting him to be her liege but not a personal acquaintance. But there they are, thick as thieves.”

“Think the Towers clan might be more important than she was letting on?” Verina asked.

“No idea,” Cassian said. “Hessex isn’t a place that concerns smiths or bravos in Fionni very often.”

“I’ve met the Heracleans, they’re Hexton mercenaries,” Adalai said. “Very down to earth people. I liked them a great deal and Marta’s not that different from them in dress or speech. They weren’t nobles by any stretch of the imagination. So if you’re thinking she might be a Baroness herself… I disagree.”

“So how does she know Baron Braxton Green?” Cassian mused.

“That you’d have to ask them,” Adalai said.

“Is this important?” Venina asked. “There has to be something more important that we should be focusing on right now.”

“According to Signore Carpathea waiting for the Benthic captain to show up and ask us about the dragon is the best thing we can do right now,” Cassian said. He laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back to look at the ceiling. “Do either of you see that?”

Adalai looked up at the ceiling but it just looked like plain reddish brown stone. “What?”

“If you don’t see anything I wouldn’t worry about it.” Adalai and Verina shared an annoyed look over top of his head. “If I were you two I’d try to figure out what ways I’ve changed since that thing with the dragon. Something tells me it’s more than what we’ve seen so far.”

“I would keep taking stock of it, too,” Adalai added. “It may take time for new abilities to settle and show themselves.”

“What makes you think that?” Verina asked.

He considered explaining that it took nearly four months for him to successfully use his Arminger’s Gift after the King of Dreams gave it to him. He hadn’t ever told that story to anyone. “I’m just saying that I haven’t noticed anything new except for the water breathing.” Adalai pointed towards the ceiling. “You think your seeing things might be one of your changes?”

“Possibly. I’ll need to find a chance to experiment but I think my Gift changed in some way as well as my lungs and eyes. Something for the two of you to think about.”

Adalai mulled that over. Armingers were a weird mix of abilities. They could glean information from objects, which was his specialty, and they could animate those objects to fulfill their purposes on their own. He had never been any good at that second one.

For six months after his arrival in Fionni Adalai lived with a mentor who had helped him understand the Arminger’s Gift. While Maestro Giorno wasn’t an Arminger himself his Symposium hosted a few of them from time to time. Adalai always envied the one who could make a broom sweep the floor on its own. It seemed like such a useful trick.

Unfortunately the animation of objects was never something he’d figured out. Sometimes he could tell what a man had eaten before throwing on the clothes he died in. Once he realized a waitress loved the drunkard in her tavern by picking up her serving tray. But animating that tray to serve drinks on it’s own? Impossible.

Perhaps that had changed now. He’d been told one of the simplest animation tricks an Arminger could do was making a pair of boots march on their own. However after an hour of tinkering with his own footwear he was nowhere closer to doing that than he was when he received the Gift. He was just starting to think about trying something different when Marta interrupted him.

She was alone when she rejoined their little group. Cassian immediately stopped tinkering with his armor and asked her, “What happened to your Baron?”

“He has some kind of direct line to the Benthic Captain.” Marta sat down next to Verina. “It seems he’s been acting as the lead prisoner for the last few months, serving as the warden and chief barrister all in one. Most people here don’t want to spend any more time in Benthic waters then we do and they’ll be happy if they can just get back to dry land safely. So Braxton has done his best to keep the peace. He didn’t know about the war brewing in Torrence so he initially thought most of the prisoners would be able to leave in a few weeks. If he’d known it would take so long he might have done otherwise.”

“Why doesn’t he try to escape now that he knows?” Adalai asked.

“He’s given his parole to the Benthic ,” Marta said. “To break it would tarnish his good name.”

“Reasonable,” Cassian said, much to Adalai’s surprise. “Did he say what brought him out here in the first place?”

“He said he was going to Renicie to deal with a pigheaded merchant.” Marta shrugged. “I hope that’s a saying that means something beyond the obvious in Nerona. Otherwise I’d have to say Braxton has become much more reckless than he was in the past.”

“How so?” Verina asked.

“Taking the Drownway just to speak to a merchant is wildly irresponsible based on what I’ve seen. Even ignoring all this,” Marta waved at the underwater fortress surrounding them, “the other hazards I’ve seen so far are nothing trifling. It’s not the kind of risk he’s fond of. He ran off to talk to the guard captain before I could ask him why he took it.”

“Because there’s only one pigheaded merchant in Nerona,” Adalai said. “Grigori Borgia, the head of House Borgia and one of the most powerful and least trustworthy men in Renicie.”

“Surely there’s more than one pigheaded merchant in all of Nerona,” Marta said.

“Only one who’s House uses a boar’s head on its coat of arms.” Adalai shot a glance over at the only native in the group. “You’re the resident expert here, Cassian, surely you’ve heard him called that before?”

“I never expected to spend much time outside Fionni,” he said. “Much less go all the way to Renicie. At least, not until a couple of weeks ago. I’m afraid the pet names of the wealthy and powerful in that city aren’t something I had time to learn.”

“No, of course not,” Verina said. “The Slavs aren’t natives to any place in particular anymore but I lived in Torrence’s territory most of my life and I’d never heard of him either.”

Adalai frowned, various small details swirling through his mind. Cassian clicked his tongue. “Well, Adalai, what is it? When you make that face it means you’ve some idea trying to work its way out.”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “If I’m remotely close with this idea it’s not important to what we’re trying to do.”

“Maybe you could let us in on the secret so we could decide for ourselves,” Marta said.

“I would have to get some answers from Baron Braxton before I’d be ready to share my thoughts with someone else.”

“I’d be happy to answer what I can.” Adalai swung his head around a hundred and eighty degrees so he could see the man in question, who stood near the middle of the cavern, holding a cluster of lumpy objects in one hand. “Before I can do that I’m afraid I have to ask you to come with me. Captain Trill wants to meet you.”

“This is the Benthic commander I’ve heard so much about?” Cassian asked.

“The same,” Baron Braxton said. He held out a handful of pale blue pearls. “I know one of you can speak underwater but the rest of you will need one of these.”

Cassian got up and took one, eyeing it with obvious suspicion. “We don’t have to put these in our foreheads, do we?”

“Just holding it in your hand is usually enough,” Braxton said with a hint of bemusement.

Marta and Adalai each took one as well. Adalai felt a cool sensation wash over his neck and the base of his skull. “Do I sound any different?”

Verina shook her head. “Just as raspy as always.”

“Wonderful.” Adalai tried to read some impressions off of the pearl, on the off chance it was human made. To his surprise he got the sensation of distant music. “These are Artifacts.”

“They are,” Braxton said, surprised. “As I understand it they were created somewhere in Torrence and both sides keep some on hand for these kinds of situations. How could you tell?”

“It’s what I do.”

As it turned out there was a back door to the cavern. Or perhaps it was the front door. Either way, it led up into Ursus Nest, into flooded parts of the mountain containing more and more Benthic. Along the way Braxton tried to give them an idea what to expect.

“Captain Trill deals with humans on a daily basis. Has for years. She’s not exactly good at reading our tone of voice or expressions but she can do it. Try not to give the wrong impression.”

“Any advice for how we’d best handle them?” Cassian asked.

“I don’t see them every day and I haven’t been here for years,” Braxton said. “But there is one thing – there are many more female Benthic than male. I don’t know why. But it results in some strange customs. Trill is female but she’s not a Lady, if that makes any sense. There’s a lot of Benthic females like that, it seems.”

“So what?” Adalai asked, struggling to keep his balance and match Braxton’s pace in the boyant water. “Are you just telling us to be polite?”

“I think that would offend her most,” Braxton said. “Best you just talk to her like she was a man.”

“Lovely, ” Cassian said. Whatever function of the pearls transmitted the sound through water so they could be understood apparently didn’t regulate volume. His voice had the tone of someone speaking under his breath but it came out in a normal speaking volume. Several pairs of curious eyes turned to stare at him for a moment.

The Benthic’s stares didn’t seem to bother Cassian but they gave Adalai an uncomfortable feeling. Maybe it was the blank eyes. Maybe it was the sheer number of them. Adalai guessed there were at least a hundred armed Benthic moving around the main chamber they passed through. None seemed surprised at the sight of five humans passing through. He still felt very out of place.

Most of the caves and chambers they’d seen so far were made of very natural looking stone. The captain’s chamber, located at the back of the main cavern, was the first one they’d seen that looked man made. Or Benthic made as the case may be.

All six sides of the room were flat and smooth except for a stone protrusion serving as a table and a sconce on each wall holding a glowing anemone. There were four Benthic in the room. Adalai guessed the captain was the one wearing bright green armor with a sash that looked like it was made of some kind of plant.

Sure enough, that was the one Braxton addressed. “Captain Trill, these are the four I told you about.”

Adalai didn’t know enough about Benthic to tell them apart. This could be the guard who found them at the mine exit for all he knew. But when she looked hard at him he felt something strange wash over him, different from the attention of other Benthic.

“How strange,” Trill said, her voice higher pitched than Adalai expected. “They are breathing the sea. Very different than you, Braxton. How is it you four can breathe the ocean?”

They all looked at Cassian, who took a deep breath of seawater and said, “That is because we killed and ate the sea dragon.”