PreCursive

  It didn’t take me long to get ready for the fight. I’d had my leather armor set aside in my bunk, ready for this moment for a while now, just ready to rush into it. I didn’t quite o rush, but I did hurry. This was the armor that I’d used in the escape from Addersfield, if not improved a little bit. Far better than the everyday leathers I’d spped together for everyday use. They even had a few entments on them.

  Nothing major, not like the armor that Sylvia had. Just some durability ents, really. I’d dohem myself. I didn’t take the cloak, though. Holy, it just seemed like a bad idea to take that when I’d shortly be needing to take a dive in the o, from what Grey had told me. If I needed any kind of cealment, my Thorn Cloak would work better anyway.

  I also took a few wax sealed potion bottles with me in a sack. I’d brewed these with Grey a few days ago. They were mostly healing potions, as we had no idea what kind of shape the prisoners would be in. We couldn’t expect Aurum to do all of the work, after all. Even though, you know, that e had brought him. There were a few odds and ends in the sack as well.

  Finally, I grabbed my most ret creation, other tharangely non-funal gun. A sed colpsible spear. The first had mostly been a prototype, and had holy been a bit fragile and finicky. This one was better structed, and had a more robust design. Unlike my first, I wasn’t afraid this was going to fail after a jaunt through the sea water. Still, I took both that I had with me. I just sheathed my old o the small of my back. I wasn’t intending to dual-wield them or anything, I didn’t have that kind of coordination.

  Yet.

  Holy, I just wahe backup.

  When I was doh my preparations, I exited the cargo hold and headed up to the main deck. There, I found my panions standing around while Bel directed the crew with the preparations for the lifeboat. The sight of my friends gave me a moments pause. It had been a while since I had seen everyone dressed for battle. From Azarus’s full armor, to Sylvia’s ented leathers, to Venix’s robe. Hell, Grey was even wearing the bd silver outfit I’d seen him wear ba the marto Hollow Hill. He even had the sword he had told me was to for him in his weakeate, although he wasn’t carrying the staff. It was belted at his waist, radiating a subtle power. Aurum wasn’t much different, though. It seemed like he was always wearing his robes, although he was clutg his staff a bit nervously.

  It seemed like they had finished prepping the boat as I joihe group. At Grey’s instru, we all started piling into the boat that we would be using. The other ohat the Thorny Reef had would be used by the crew to sneak onto the isnd for sabotage. As I was climbing into the boat, I had to catch Fade before he lept into the boat with us.

  "Sorry, little guy," I told my pup with an apologetie. "You 't e with me, this time. I don't think you'd make it on the swim. You'll have to stay on the ship."

  Fade huffed at my words, but still backed down. As he turned around to leave, I swear I could see a scheming look in his wolven eye. Which was ridiculous, right?

  Right?

  Bel shouted over to her crew from her position on the lifeboat o me. “Curly!” She shouted. Curloch, who was standing not far from the railing of the ship, looked up. “Yer in charge! Give the bastards no quarter!”

  Curloch gave a bellowing ugh at his Captains words, and gave a zy salute. “Aye aye, Captaihose beasties to the hells fer me!”

  Bel ughed iurn, befesturing to the crew. At her order, they dutifully began to lower the lifeboat onto the open o. Before long, the lifeboat had hit the water with an oddly dull plopping noise. Without even being asked, Venix grabbed both the left and the right oars on the boat with two of his arms and began to row us away from the Reef.

  As we began to leave the ship behind, I saw the crew fully lower the sails and then begin to lower the mast as well. Without both of those, the profile of the Reef was much smaller and stealthier, which made seo me. I watched as rge oars sprouted from the sides of the brigantine, and started to row it away from us. Both of roups had oimate destination.

  The isnd of Caer Drarrow.

  ……………………………………..

  The ride towards the isnd was oddly tense. I think most of us were psyg ourselves up for the possibility of a long day of tetle. Hell, I know I was. The pn might not have been for us to fight our way through the prison and sughter everyone we came across, but we still had to fight and kill a herd of aurians and their Prime. We’d have to gh them before we even got into the prison.

  The only people who didn’t look like they were mentally preparing themselves for battle were Bel and Venix. Bel just looked eager, while Venix was as stoic as usual. Strangely, I took a little fort from my Antium panions steadfastness.

  As roached the isnd, the structure of the prison itself revealed itself to my eyes. If I could describe it in one word, I’d say ominous. It was built entirely of a pitch-bck rock quarried into massive stohat shined in the fading sunlight. The actual stru itself urely utilitarian, with not aowledgment of aesthetics at all. Frankly, it almost reminded me of unist block architecture from bae. It was just one massive bck cube, with openings in the walls for barred windows. There were five towers on the prison that I could see. O each of the four sharp ers, with er tower in the ter. I know it was silly, but it felt like the structure was judging us somehow on our approach, and we were found wanting.

  Well fuck you too, you moo misery. I was going to plunder your halls, soon enough.

  It took us maybe half an hour for the rocky cliffs of the isnd to begin looming over us. Grey examihe rocky walls in front of us with narrowed eyes, before direg Venix to tinue rowing farther up along them.

  “Stop,” Grey said suddenly, causing Venix to cease rowing. He looked up and down the cliff face before nodding to himself. I looked as well, but I didn’t see anything special about the walls. The only thing I saw was the massive fortification of the prison looming over us. “Yes, this is it. Directly below this cliff face is the cavern.” He turo face the group. “Into the water, now. It’s time for a brief jauh the waves.”

  One by one, most of us did as he said, hopping off the side of the boat to swim in p the water. The only two that didn’t were Sylvia and Aurum, which…made sense, now that I thought it. They were pure metal, and weren’t likely to float like Pete could. That guy was made of porous stoer all. Sylvia folded her arms, seeming like she was waiting for something, while Aurum smiled nervously at us.

  Grey looked at the rest of us, swimming ier o us. “I will be ferrying our Sculpted panions. Make sure you follow us closely, else you bee lost in the deep.” At that, he took a deep breath and csped his hands in front of him, visibly trating on something. Seds ter, a visible bubble of air began to expand from his form, causing him to bob to the surface. The old man was now standing in a rge bubble of air, seemingly strong enough to hold his weight and big enough for a few more people.

  Entirely uned, Sylvia hopped off of the boat and passed through the bubble without popping it. Onside, she took a positioo her Father, and id a hand on his shoulder. Aurum visibly took a deep, extraneous breath to calm his ent nerves, and then followed suit and jumped off of the boat. He passed through the bubble as well, to stand on Grey’s other side. Oh Sculpted were standing in the bubble, Grey let out the breath he had been holding. The bubble stabilized to my eyes, even if it didn’t freeze or anything. From his position ihe weird bubble, Grey those of us swimming outside of it, before making a downwards gesture with his hand.

  The bubble began to sih the waves.

  Those of us still on the surface look at each other for a moment in bafflement.

  Bel grumbled. “Man couldn’t do that fer the rest of us?” She sighed before taking a deep breath, and diving.

  Yeah, no kidding.

  I followed her lead, and dove beh the water. Azarus and Venix followed suit.

  ……………………………………..

  Grey may have told us that the waters near Caer Drarrow were shallow, but they didn’t seem shallow to me. All arouhe water was dark, and seemingly endlessly deep. If I was by myself, I don’t think I could have navigated this.

  Luckily, I wasn’t.

  Ahead of us, Grey had ignited a magical light of some kind in his moving bubble. Thank God, or else I couldn’t see an in front of my face. Even beyond the reach of his silvery light, all I could see was dark water.

  Odd.

  It wasn’t even fully night yet, on the surface.

  Still, I and my group were able to follow Grey’s bubble on the short swim beh the surface. It wasn’t long before he led us to a yawning mouth in the rock face, that must lead to the prison interior somehow. We passed through it no problem, although I almost wished I hadn’t. The mihat I passed through the uer portal, the water ged.

  The temperature plummeted, and the darkness around us grew pitch bck.

  The water hadly been warm before, but now it was dht arctic. Even uer as I was, it felt like the breath I was holding in my lungs could freeze solid any sed. God, I could see small ks of ice floating passed my eyes. That was almost the only thing I could see. Where before the waters were unnaturally dark, now it was like a veil of darkness had desded on the world. I couldn’t even see my fellow swimmers anymore.

  I o get out of this water, and soon. Or else I felt like I was going to freeze to death.

  Grey’s bubble was the only source of light in this darkness, and it had started moving upwards once assed through the entrance. I swam harder, and even mao pass by Grey in my urgency.

  I didn’t evehe surface of the water, before I breeched it along with the other swimmers. I was so stunned by hitting the surface that I involuntarily let out my breath, before taking in a shuddering new one.

  I immediately regretted it.

  The air in the cavern around me felt like it was even colder thaer I was swimming in. The breath I had taken i like gss running through my lungs it was so sharp.

  To my side, Grey’s bubble hurtled out of the water like it had been shot from a on. It had visibly frozen over, obsg those within. Thankfully, I could still see the light bring out from the bubble, frosted as it was. The light from the bubble illuminated a rocky shore, moments before it impacted it. The bubble shattered with a sound akin to broken gss, as it hit the stone.

  I didn’t see the impact though. I had immediately started swimming for the stony shore the moment the light had lit it up. I had to get out of this water.

  When I reached the shore, I hung on to it sluggishly, almost too weak to pull myself out of the water. The cold was sapping my strength at an arming rate. In a haze, I activated Sylvan Vigor at full power. Finally, with the strength granted from my skill, I mao crawl onto the shore. I flopped onto, rolling onto my back with closed eyes, trying to catch my breath.

  When I opehem again, I felt that breath freeze inside me. It wasn’t just the cold that was doing it, this time.

  Although the ceiling was obscured in darkness, I could still see lights twinkling above me like malicious yellow stars. Only, they weren’t actually stars.

  They were eyes.