He saw no sign of serpent heads looming out of the water. Perhaps they were all under the surface, boring the holes into the foundation of the Chalice through which the seawater was pouring,
“I need to find out,” Haplo said to himself in frustration. If the snakes knew he was free and was planning to flee Chelestra, they’d stop him, if they could.
He weighed the alternatives. Taking time to talk to the mensch meant delay, risked revealing his presence to them. They’d welcome him with joy, want to hang on to him, use him. He didn’t have time to fool with the mensch. But not taking the time to find out what was going on with the serpents might mean an even greater delay—perhaps a deadly one.
He waited several moments, hoping for some sign of the snakes. Nothing. And he couldn’t stay on this damn wall forever. Deciding to trust to opportunity, Haplo plunged back into
the water. The dog, with a wild bark, splashed in beside him.
Haplo swam into the harbor. Hanging on to the wood, he kept himself low in the water, steered clear of the flow of traffic. He was well known by sight among the mensch and wanted to avoid them as much as possible. Clinging to his plank, he peered closely into the dwarven boats. It was in his mind to talk to Grundle, if he could find her. She had more sense than most mensch, and, though she would undoubtedly make a fuss over him, he figured he could extract himself from her affectionate clutches without too much difficulty.
He didn’t find her, however. And still no sign of any serpents. But he did come across a small submersible—used to rescue dwarves who had the mischance to fall into the water— secured to a post. He drifted near, eyeing it intently. No one was around; it appeared to have been abandoned.
A whale-driven raft had just arrived on shore. Numerous dwarves were gathered around, preparing to unload its cargo… Haplo guessed that the crew of this submersible were among them.
He swam over to it. This was too good to pass up. He’d steal it, sail to Draknor. If the serpents were there… well… he’d deal with that when the time came…
Something large and alive and slick-skinned bumped into him. Haplo’s heart lurched. He gulped in his breath and a mouthful of water at the same time, started to choke and
cough. Kicking himself backward, away from the creature, he struggled to breathe and readied himself to fight.
A shining head with two beady eyes and a wide-open, laughing mouth popped out of the water directly in front of him. Two more heads shot up on either side of him, four swam about him in rollicking delight, nosing him and prodding him.
Dolphins.
Haplo gasped, spit out water. The dog attempted a furious bark, which proceeding highly amused the dolphins and nearly drowned the dog. Haplo dragged its forelegs up onto the plank, where the animal lay panting and glaring.
“Where are the dragon-snakes?” Haplo demanded, speaking in the human tongue.
Previously, the dolphins had refused to talk to him or have anything to do with him. But that was when they’d assumed him to be—rightly enough—on the side of the serpents. Now their attitude toward him had changed. They began to squeak and whistle in excitement and a few started to swim off, eager to be the first to spread the news around the mensch that the mysterious man with the blue-tattooed skin had reappeared.
“No! Wait, don’t go. Don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me,” he said hastily. “What’s going on here? Where are the dragon-snakes?”
The dolphins squeaked and gabbled. In seconds, Haplo heard everything he wanted to know and quite a lot that he didn’t.
“We heard that Samah took you prisoner…”
“The snakes brought poor Alake’s body back to…”
“Parents prostrate with grief …”
“Snakes said you…”
“. . . and the Sartan…”
“Yes, you and the Sartan were responsible …”
“You double-crossed…”
“Betrayed your friends…**
“Coward…”
“No one believed…”
“Yes, they did…”
“No, they didn’t. Well, maybe for a moment…”
“Anyway, the snakes used their magic to bore holes in the Chalice…”