the place-and her satisfied smile.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Year of the Secret (1396 DR) Green Siren, Beneath the Sea of Fallen Stars
Raidon directed the ship downward, piercing Faerun's rocky foundations. He concentrated upon the needs of each moment, finding that the deeper Green Siren descended, the more difficult his task. The thread connecting his symbol and the city of Xxiphu remained constant, but the 'terrain' through which they traveled grew ever more treacherous.
On several occasions, the ship's path intersected air-filled hollows. The first time, Green Siren lurched and fell several man-heights before Raidon realized the danger. He yanked the mental reins yoked to the gleamtail jacks.
Instead of smashing into the floor of the unexpected vault, the ship descended as gently as a petal. He had dealt with several such hollows since the first one. However, each time they pierced a new kind of environment, the ship reacted unexpectedly.
He started upon finding Seren and Thoster standing near him, trying to get his attention.
'Uh, yes?' said Raidon.
Seren said, 'Thoster's suffering from poor parenting. How long before we arrive at our destination? I think I can… ameliorate the affliction of his birthright if we have an hour to spare.'
The monk shook his head, feeling dim-witted. He didn't have the first idea what the wizard meant. He said, 'What are you-'
A knot of harder mineral bumped the whole ship to starboard. Green Siren threatened to keel over, but Raidon's quick adjustment brought the deck level again.
The captain had grabbed the mainmast, but Seren had toppled over.
'What was that?' Thoster said.
'A symptom of your interruption,' said Raidon.
Seren picked herself up. She said, 'If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were being petty. Now, do we have an hour?'
'Probably,' said Raidon. 'Now leave me. I'm sure you can handle whatever it is.'
Thoster grinned and doffed his hat. Seren opened her mouth as if to argue, but then said, 'Very well.'
Raidon closed his eyes and instantly dismissed them from his consciousness.
They had already spent the better part of a day descending. His constant adjustment of the gleamtails was having an effect. Several of the tiny fish summoned from the Chaos had fallen from the school and gasped out their last on the planking. Seren had said the protective aura generated by them would last a tenday before it dispersed. Raidon was certain they had about half that much time, given his direct experience.
Thankfully, he sensed that the aberrant taint he traced was close. Perhaps only a few hours to go.
*****
The sound of Angul groaning brought Raidon back to the moment. He'd lost himself in the mesmerizing descent. The Sign burned with proximity. Xxiphu was nearly close enough to touch!
He called out, 'Captain Thoster! Seren!'
The wizard was seated on a pile of coiled hawser that lay on the deck along the railing. She closed a slender tome, then stood and slipped the book into a haversack. She said, 'Are we there?'
Raidon said, 'Close. Where's the captain?'
'Thoster's closed in his cabin with the ship's healer. After our session, he required a few stitches.' Seren turned to a nearby crew member and said, 'Go tell your captain we need him.'
Raidon slowed their descent to a crawl while they waited. 'Your session?' he said.
Seren sighed. 'It's not important, Raidon. I handled it, like you asked.'
The monk nodded, recalling the one-sided conversation. Something about the captain needing some kind of affliction removed?
When the captain showed up on deck, he was shrugging into his coat. The left sleeve of his linen shirt was pulled back, leaving room for a wide layer of bandages around his forearm. Blood marked the bandages. In his hand dangled a leather cord.
'Feeling better?' said Seren.
The captain scowled and said, 'I suppose, but no thanks to you. I didn't know you'd be taking a sample!' Seren said, 'Remember to keep that amulet close. It'll keep your change in check. Probably.'
Thoster just shook his head.
'Prepare yourselves and the ship,' Raidon said. 'The aboleth city is moments away.'
Thoster nodded. He slipped the amulet around his neck. Raidon noticed a fan of fish scales hanging at the cord's end. There wasn't enough time to pursue the questions that sprang to his mind.
The captain turned slightly to address his crew. 'Listen up! Get this tub shipshape! Prepare to ram and to board!
It may be some godsforsaken alien temple we'll find, but by Shar's black heart, I guess monsters bleed the same as men and elves!'
Green Siren plunged through the ceiling of a massive vault half drowned in an oily sea. The cavern was pierced by an obelisk wider than several city blocks and ten times as tall as it was wide. Its foundation was drowned in murky fluid, and the upper end was jammed into the ceiling. Rookeries, balconies, inscriptions, runes, and other features gaped like hungry mouths all across its face.
'Impossible!' said Seren. Her face was slack with incipient terror. The wizard moved so she actually stood next to the monk, inside the ritual circle. Raidon was relieved she didn't try, unconsciously or not, to wrest control of the gleamtails from him.
The half-elf concentrated to slow Green Siren's descent. He saw a gallery high up along the face near where the obelisk plunged into the ceiling. The opening looked wide enough to hold the entire ship.
But Green Siren was heavy, and he'd learned the gleamtail jacks were least adapted to air. The deck sawed left, then right, as Raidon tried to stop the craft's downward trajectory.
'What're you up to?' said Captain Thoster from his left. 'Trying to shake me off my own ship?'
Raidon glanced at the man. The privateer had both hands wrapped around the railing. His wide hat tipped over and began to fall. The captain released one hand and snatched it before it descended more than a couple of feet.
Then Thoster's eyes grew round in surprise as he gazed into the abyss.
'What is it?'
'That damned kraken!' said Thoster. 'It's down there in the water!'
'Gethshemeth?' said Seren. 'How can that be?' 'Damn your spells, how should I know? I ain't a wizard! I…'
The captain gasped. He smashed his hat down on his head, then snatched his sword from its sheath.
'It's coming up to give us a kiss,' Thoster yelled. 'Our little gleamtails ain't the only thing that's' learned how to swim in air.'
Angul released a howl of fury from its sheath on the monk's back. A couple of nearby crew looked around for the source of the atonal noise.
Even without touching it, Raidon sensed the sword urging him to confront the kraken. But if he released the leashed gleamtails, the ship might fall out of the air.
'Seren, take over,' he said. The wizard's pale skin had taken on a greenish cast at the news of Gethshemeth's presence. But she nodded and stepped nearer.
The monk released control of the ritual even as Seren took it up. Green Siren jerked down and to port, then hovered, slowly turning in place.
'Do you have it?' Raidon asked.
Seren nodded.
'Make for that gallery,' he said, pointing toward the high cavity he'd spied. 'I'll deal with Gethshemeth.'
