“We only saw three of them,” I said, and looked up to Lydia, who turned and disappeared at my look before popping back up a few seconds later.
“This one is still breathing as well, Lord Jax,” she called out, and Oracle immediately flew over to her, calling out behind to me as she went.
“I’ll heal him, don’t worry.”
“So,” I said, “We’ve got three still alive so far; what about the two that went into the forest?”
“I will call for them, but the others reacted as badly as they did to your appearance because they had lost contact with them already. Please, a moment.” Flux held his head up high, standing straight. I realized he was taller than I thought, nearly six feet when standing as straight as he could, and I felt a sudden spike of a headache as he did…something.
All my people backed away, grimacing, or drawing weapons, and I shook my head to clear it as…whatever Flux had done wore off.
“What was that?” I asked, and he spoke without turning, the tendrils around his head reaching out in all directions like a lion’s mane.
“My kind can speak through the water at great distances. While this works in the air, it is… imprecise, as a way to speak… I am sorry if this caused you discomfort; it is simply a deeper noise than you are used to hearing…” I thought for a second and snapped my fingers, grinning at him.
“It’s sonar! That’s how you see, isn’t it!” There was a long pause, but eventually Flux shook his head in reply, the tendrils still waving.
“I don’t know this word, but…there!” The tendrils on one side of his head suddenly went stiff and he twisted around to look higher up the valley away from the shore. “There! I felt it; one at least still lives!”
“How far?” I asked Flux, and he squared his shoulders in determination.
“A mile, two? I have not dealt in surface measurements in a long time, and even then, I was poor at it. It is difficult for many of my kind to go so far in the air; our bodies need the water. I will go, as will Cheena. That must be enough.” At the mention of the name, the second creature stepped forward, nodding its head, and I nodded in return.
“Was your youngling taken by the goblins?” I asked, and Flux nodded slowly.
“Most likely, yes. There are no other creatures in the valley, save the goblins and the cave trolls that we know of. Cave trolls would have killed them and eaten them immediately, not taken them alive. The goblins have a camp somewhere further up the valley, but that is all we know, so it fits.”
“Do you know how many there are of them?” I asked, and Flux shook his head.
“We have no idea; they arrived sometime last winter, and in that time, have tamed a family of cave trolls. There will have been losses from that, but goblins breed like the vermin they are. There could be dozens, or hundreds, or more. We have no way to tell.”
“Well, we do have one advantage…” I said, turning and looking out over the water. The others turned to follow my gaze, and we could just make out the warship ‘Agamemnon’s Wrath’ as she came around, still searching the lakeshore.
She was a mile or so out, and coming in at speed, having clearly seen that something was happening, a wide wave built before her as she raced towards us, water rippling out from the backwash of her engines.
“This is your ship?” Flux asked, and I nodded, a smile on my face. “I see…perhaps we can come to an arrangement?” He queried; his head tilted to one side. “The goblins have taken your crew from this ship, as well as my own younglings; perhaps we could make a deal to rescue them all together? We do not have much gold, but can pay in other ways for your assistance… fish, metals; there are also some amongst us that can craft items that are popular amongst the surface dwellers?”
“We can do a deal,” I said, frowning as I looked around. “You said there’s trade between you and the ‘surface dwellers’, but I don’t see any villages or…”
“Ah, no, Lord. We used to trade with the cities to the south, but there were…disagreements about value. We chose to leave several dozen years ago and migrated up to this lake. Our goods, however, were popular until then.”
“What kind of goods?” I asked curiously.
“Foodstuffs, armor such as I wear, some carvings… we also had a Runesmith, but age has robbed her of the ability now.”
“Age?” I asked quickly.
“She can no longer feel the shape of the world; without that sense, she cannot form her magic into the correct shapes. In the last attempt, her apprentice nearly died and she herself was gravely wounded.”
“Have you got healers?” I asked, a hope coming to mind, if I could recruit these people…
“No. The gift of magic is a rare one for my kind: we have had no healers in the pod for as long as I have known.”
“Okay, and this is going to sound rude, but what exactly are you?” I asked.
“Tia’Almer-atic is the name we use; surface dwellers generally just call us Tia or Mer,” Flux said, shrugging unconcernedly at the vagaries of the surface dwellers.
“Okay, thanks for that. Right…your people and ours are being held by the goblins, so we’re going to get them back.”
“We can talk about suitable rewards for saving your younglings later, but for now…” I said, looking up toward the hull of Decin’s ship above us. I’d felt Oracle cease to use our mana, and a second later, she flitted down to me, landing on my shoulder, and inspecting Flux before looking up at the railing overhead. Lydia moved back slowly, her hand on the hilt of her weapon as the largest and most heavily armed Mer appeared at the railing. It
