“Gigantic holes!”
“Huge!”
“Immense!”
“Floodgates.”
“Opened at once… a wall of water…”
“Tidal wave …”
“Nothing survive… Sartan crushed!”
“Flattened…”
“City destroyed…”
“We warned the mensch about the dragon-snakes and their bore holes…”
“Grundle and Devon returned…”
“Told the true story. You are a hero…”
“No, he isn’t. That was the one called Alfred.”
“I was only being polite…”
“Mensch were worried…”
“They don’t want to kill the Sartan…”
“They’re afraid of the dragon-snakes. Dwarven ships went to investigate …”
“But the snakes are nowhere in sight…”
“The dwarves opened the floodgates just a crack and…”
“Stop! Shut up!” Haplo shouted, managing at last to make himself heard. “What do you mean ‘the snakes are nowhere in sight’? Where are they?”
The dolphins began to argue among themselves. Some said the serpents had returned to Draknor, but the general consensus seemed to be that the snakes had swum through the holes and were attacking the Sartan in Surunan.
“No, they’re not,” said Haplo. “I just came from Surunan, and the city’s quiet. The Sartan are, as far as I know, safely inside their Council Chamber, trying to keep dry.”
The dolphins looked rather disappointed at this news. They meant no harm to the Sartan, but it had been such a great story. They were now all in agreement.
“The dragon-snakes must have gone back to Draknor.”
Haplo was forced to agree himself. The serpents had returned to Draknor. But why? Why had they left Surunan so abruptly? Why had they abandoned the chance to destroy the Sartan? Abandoned their plans to foment chaos among the mensch, turn them against each other?
Haplo couldn’t answer the questions, supposed bitterly it didn’t matter. What mattered was that the serpents were on Draknor and so was his ship.
“I don’t suppose any of you have been to Draknor to find out?” he asked.
The dolphins squealed in alarm at the thought, shook their heads emphatically. None would get near Draknor. It was a terrible place of great sadness and evil. The water itself was poison, killed anything that swam in it.
Haplo forwent mentioning that he himself had swum in the water and survived. He couldn’t blame these gentle creatures for not wanting to go near Draknor. He wasn’t pleased at the prospect of returning to that tortured seamoon himself. But he had no choice.
Now his main problem was ridding himself of the dolphins. Fortunately, that was simple. They loved to feel important.
“I need you fish to carry a message from me to the mensch leaders, to be delivered to every member of the royal family in person, in private. Understand? It’s extremely important.”
“We’ll be only too glad…”
“You can trust…”
“Implicitly…”
“Tell every person…”
“No, not every…”
“Just the royal…”
“Every person, I tell you…”
“I’m sure that’s what he said…”
Once he got them quiet long enough to hear, Haplo imparted the message, taking care that it was complicated and involved.
The dolphins listened intently and swam off the moment Haplo shut his mouth.
When he was certain that the dolphins’ attention was no longer on him, he and the dog swam to the submersible, climbed aboard, and sailed off.
CHAPTER 2
DRAKNOR
CHELESTRA
HAPLO HAD NEVER COMPLETELY MASTERED THE DWARVEN SYSTEM OF navigation, which, according to Grundle, relied on sounds emitted by the seamoons themselves. At first he was concerned about being able to find Draknor, but he soon discovered that the seamoon was easy to find… too easy. The serpents left a trail of foul ooze in their wake. The path led to the murky black waters surrounding the tormented seamoon.
Darkness swallowed him. He had sailed into the caverns of Draknor. He could see nothing and, fearful of running aground, slowed the submersible’s forward progress until it barely moved. He could swim through the foul water, if he had to; he’d done it before. But he hoped swimming wouldn’t be necessary.
His hands were dry, and his lower arms where he’d rolled up the wet sleeves. The runes were extremely faint, but they were visible. And though they gave him the magical power of a child of two, the faint blue of the sigla was comforting. He didn’t want to get wet again.