Chapter 190: True Places

Chapter 190: True Places

“It's not down on any map; true places never are.”

Herman Melville, Moby Dick.

Our spiral uncovered nothing new nearby Wester Levante, so we continued to work our way outwards, spiralling further and further out into the vast expanse of the Azimuth Ocean in search of treasure and sunken ships. I say spiral, but we were still relying on the wind over manpower, so it was hardly a perfect curve with a fair few zig-zags from tacking against the wind or following it. It was far easier to hold straight lines than an incrementally larger curve.

Yes, I was taking this trip to evade talking with the Western and Eastern envoys from the House of Lords, but after our success with Baron Corus, I felt I might have an advantage or two when I returned, so there was no need to be gone for months. A week or two would be more than enough. We headed south to Little Wester before repeating our search pattern.

Finally, as we ventured deeper into uncharted waters, my keen senses caught sight of something extraordinary beneath the waves off the southern coast of Little Wester. I had picked up something strange on the seabed floor.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

“Hold,” I shouted. The crew was swift to jump to the repeated command of the captain. They loosened the lines causing the sails to flap loose in the wind, and as the helmsman followed orders and turned us into the wind, the boat slowed.

“You’ve found something?” questioned Namir.

“What is it?” asked Arawn, equally bored if not quite as annoyed by the open ocean as Namir.

“Something,” I answered vaguely, unsure what my skills were telling me. My treasure skill had pinged, implying there was something of worth down below. But from what I could tell from mana sense and sonar, it appeared to be more of a set of structures than a sunken wreck unless other races regularly sailed rectangular-shaped boxes. Besides, it was not alone; I had picked out more as we had slowed. As far as I could tell, several ‘house-like’ buildings were on the bottom of the ocean in a circle around a central spire —a mysterious underwater village.

“You could be a little more specific?” Captain Kashif.

“It appears to be,” I paused, “A village underwater,” I answered cautiously. Was this a good omen or a bad one? There was supposed to be a noble underwater race, the Neriad, which would sometimes trade with the surface in a civilised manner. But then again, there was also supposedly an underwater base race, the Sirens which would happily drag you to a watery grave. Which was this, and how could you tell?

"By the tides! An underwater town? There’s one below.” Captain Kashif exclaimed, surprised. “A Neriad outpost here?” He seemed excited.

“I think so. I've never seen anything like it before.” I continued to ‘look’ beneath the water, trying to take in what I could see. It looked like there was a hidden realm beneath the sea, even if this village was only a small part of it. “How do you know it’s not a Siren’s?”

As we dived ever deeper, the village seemed to be bustling with activity, despite its submerged existence.

Limited by the water, we could not communicate other than to point at the approaching village as if to say, "Look.” I was not limited by the water in the same manner; I could still sense what my compatriots were thinking about as we descended, even if they were not saying it out loud.

Captain Kashif was dreaming of riches.

Arawn was scanning for threats.

I was amazed at the intricate craftsmanship of these structures. It was a testament to the ingenuity and adaptability of these underwater inhabitants. They had to have developed unique ways of living in harmony with the sea. Like Captain Kashif, I wondered whether we would discover treasures and what tradeable goods they might have.

As we sank towards the village, a group of what appeared to be guards swam their way up to meet us. Our arrival was hardly stealthy, but the rest of the village's inhabitants hardly seemed bothered by the vessel floating way above their heads.

The guards were distinctly blue unless that was just the lighting under the water. Not a dark indigo but a light cerulean, they would blend in with the water if looking down from the surface or with the sky if looking up from the sea bed. They had gills on the sides of their necks, and even though the light was still enough to see by, they had bioluminescent spots that speckled their skins like the stars in the sky. They did not have flippers or tails, though their feet looked webbed, and in their hands, they held tridents.

We stopped where we were and waited for them to approach.

They soon floated in front of us, eight of them facing Captain Kashi, a few of his crew, Arawn father and I.

They spoke, and although it sounded garbled underwater, we could still hear them. “Follow. We have a room with air.” He gestured at the central spire of their village.

We continued our descent, surrounded by the guards who swam in circles around us as we slowly descended. I could have swam faster, but there was no reason to leave the perceived safety of the group.

Swimming into the base of the hollow structure, we rose into a pocket of air and took seats on the spiral shell-like shelf that wound its way upwards. I looked around to find where the air that filled the place came from or how it was kept so fresh.

The senior guard arrived with someone new in two. An older Neriad in comparison to the younger guards. He did not look especially pleased to see us.

“What do you want?” he asked.