What a Wizard Wants - Chapter 22 - Encantus (2024)

Chapter Text

As soon as I entered the metal tunnel I knew right away that this was an airlock, not an ordinary tunnel. There was no airflow, and under the metal grate floor there were medium-sized pipes leading away, clearly meant for draining the airlock. I did an about face before I’d gone too far and went right back to the Mansion. No way was I getting my clothes wet again after I’d just got them dry. My wings were still damp so I had them spread out to dry, but I quickly returned to the Mansion to change.

Ethan called out to me, “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

I spun around and yelled back, “I just got these clothes dry! I’m not going in the water with them on again!”

Even from 10 feet away, I could hear three groans of exasperation. I just smiled and resumed my brisk walk back to the Mansion, the sounds of two sets of feet and the padding of tiger paws close behind me as they caught up to me.

Cam murmured to me, “At least wear a suit this time.” I grinned wolfishly at him, winking suggestively, but said nothing. In the Mansion, which Cam decided to deactivate and move closer to the airlock, I wasn’t the only one changing to something more suitable for the water.

I did wear a suit, mainly because Cam reminded me that in a fight I was more likely to receive injuries “down there,” as he not-so-subtly reminded me. I shrugged but pulled on my bathing suit.

Now properly prepared for the water, I took the extra precaution of looping my belt around my waist, cinching it tight. I made sure that the potion bag and wand holder were there as well. It would weigh me down a bit, but you never knew when you might need a potion. Ethan and Cam copied me, commenting that it was a smart idea.

Cam looked at me playfully, waggling his eyebrows. “We should just stay like this while we’re here, it’s so much easier. Plus, can you imagine how flustered Edith would get, trying to ignore three shirtless boys right in front of her?” I laughed at that mental image; Edith, her eyes averted but ears perked, tail wagging, as she talked a little faster than necessary.

We returned to the airlock, this time prepared for an underwater excursion. The inner door opened as we approached it, then closed behind us as soon as we moved away from it. I pulled out my wand and conjured a small ball of light, tossing it at the ceiling. It bobbed above us, moving with us.

The airlock wasn’t long, about 30 feet or so, and at the far end was a door identical to the one we’d just gone through. It reminded me of a camera lens that spiraled open from the center. This door didn’t open automatically, though. There was a button on the right-hand wall labeled ‘Door control’. Ethan pressed it and the door slowly opened, letting in the water from outside. It filled the airlock and we plunged in, taking deep breaths of fresh water.

Kehar sent a thought to me. ::I grow weary of all this water, little cub.:: I snickered, almost choking on the water. When Cam noticed me gagging, he gave me a questioning look. I just responded, “Kehar’s getting tired of the water,” an amused smirk on my face.

My Familiar had a long-suffering look on his face, like a parent whose child is begging for them to participate in whatever game they’re playing. He was ready for some dry land, and honestly I was as well. I should know that look though, because my parents had worn it often when Lucas was still young. It was mostly because he was so rambunctious that I had been saddled with keeping him amused when we were young.

I shook off those thoughts and swam faster, once again using my wings to propel me forward. We were in a large underwater cavern in what appeared to be fragments of a ruined Celestian city. There were steps leading to a patterned floor, made of tile and stone like we’d seen so often, but beyond it was a deep pit.

Over that pit floated the largest crab I had ever seen. He was so big that I could’ve put my entire bedroom suite on top of him and had space leftover. A ramp, made of what looked like the spinal column and ribs from some large animal with boards filling the gaps, spanned the space from its head to the floor.

I thought perhaps it was dead but its eyes moved to follow us, the giant claws snapping reflexively as we approached. It didn’t move towards us, though, and we came to a halt in front of it. Above us and out of sight a voice called, “Halt, strangers!”

I watched in amusem*nt as an old crab slowly stumped forward from somewhere over the hump of the giant crab. He descended the ramp and stood in front of us, waving one claw at us in greeting. The other gripped a gnarled staff. He only came up to our waist, so he wasn’t very intimidating, but he made up for it with the fierce look he gave us.

He spoke up, no trace of old age in his voice. “Your reputation proceeds you, mighty Wizards. The Piscean Guards from the Carved Caverns spoke in fear of the Wizards who defeated them. My name is Nestor.”

I bowed as gracefully as I could underwater. “Thank you. I am Jacob Sunstalker, and these are…my companions, Ethan Greenriver, Cameron Dunestrider, and my familiar Kehar.” As I spoke, each bowed to Nestor briefly, though Cam shot me a quick glare at my use of his full name. He hated being called Cameron, but I felt it only right to use his full name in formal settings like this.

Introductions completed, Nestor wasted no time and began to speak. “As I said, I am Nestor. I am the advisor to Pontus, emperor of the might Crustacean Empire. The Crustacean Empire was once great and our wisdom was famed throughout the sea, but our allies have betrayed us. The Pisceans and the Lophians, two tribes of savage barbarians, were once allies to us. Now they threaten us with war! If you will aid us, I am your ally. Please defeat a few of each, that should send a message to them!”

I nodded as calmly as possible, despite the knot of tension growing in my stomach at the thought of more fighting. I still wasn’t emotionally recovered from killing Karolak this morning, and I wasn’t exactly eager for a repeat now. Ethan must have noticed because he scooted closer to me, gently squeezing my hand. It didn’t erase the tension, but it did help, as did the tiny trickle of mana into me, a small reminder that he would always have my back.

So we swam off to the left, using my compass to find some Pisceans. It pointed us down a tunnel into a long, low cavern. The ceiling was only about 9 feet, which felt cramped to me but suited the Pisceans just fine. They were in there, standing around with their weapons in hand and talking. As soon as they saw us the attacked, swimming in our direction as we frantically raised shields.

It wasn’t a difficult fight; Cam shocked them with a blast of electricity and Ethan and I used our Life Magic to tie them up with seaweed that was growing nearby. We wrapped them up tight until they looked like sushi rolls, tightly bound in bundles of seaweed. They struggled to free themselves, but we’d disarmed them and bound their mouths as well, so they couldn’t bite themselves free either. Someone would find them eventually, or they would eventually use brute strength to loosen their bonds enough to escape.

We then returned to the first cavern, passing Nestor and letting him know what we’d done before continuing on in the other direction. We were looking for Lophians now, and none of us knew what they even were.

As it turned out, the Lophians were a type of Anglerfish. Well, sentients of course, but they had bulbous eyes, slimy skin with patches of scales, webbed hands and feet, a webbed fin on their backs, and a fleshy antenna on their foreheads with a small, bulbous gland that glowed brightly.

They were also even smaller than the Crustaceans, who were only 3 feet. The Lophians were only knee high, but we soon found out they had sharp teeth and wielded spears. Both hurt, a lot too, as I found out the hard way when I commented they looked almost cute. It had bared teeth at me, bit my shin, then stabbed me in the gut.

Cam healed me as Ethan proceeded to demolish the remaining Lophians, who fled before his berserker rage. This time I didn’t need to ‘distract’ him; once the Lophians had fled, Kehar simply swam up to Ethan, got in his face, and roared. That snapped him out of it and he came to check on me.

“Thanks, babe. I feel fine, really.” I winced, and Ethan instantly upped his healing, putting more power behind the Healing Touch spell both he and Cam were using. I watched as the bite marks on my exposed shin disappeared. The gut wound had been more serious, so Cam had dealt with it first.

“Next time, maybe don’t call the fish with a spear ‘cute’, ok?” Ethan chastised. I just nodded meekly. I’d gone all goo-goo-eyed when I’d seen the Lophians, who looked like cute, fishy children. Until I’d gotten hurt. They were still cute, but I knew better than to point it out. Cute, but keep your distance. And for the love of Raven don’t call them cute.

Once I was healed we returned to Nestor to report our success. “Thank you! Already I sense a new current is on the way!” Since I didn’t feel any current changes, I could only assume it was a metaphor, akin to the “winds of change” humans were prone to using sometimes.

Nestor then sent us on a short series of errands: first he asked us to return some of the weapons stolen from their armory by the Pisceans and Lophians. Fortunately, neither group was very good at subtlety and so they simply piled the weapons in the middle of the floor. We didn’t even have to look hard for them; they were just off the main cavern we’d entered, stacked on the sandy floors. Why no one had gone to retrieve them before was a mystery, but we managed it easily enough.

After that, he asked us to fight Lophians and recover a specific ring they’d stolen from the Treasury. Among the gold and gems they had taken—and Nestor dismissed as both unimportant and replaceable—was a ring called Neptune’s Seal. All the Crustacean Emperors wore it as a sign of their authority, and without it they were lost as a people. I added “overly dramatic” to the list of qualities the Crustaceans displayed, alongside “simplistic” and “weak.” No wonder they couldn’t subdue the Pisceans or Lophians, they were practically helpless.

It took a few tries to find the right Lophian, but we managed it after a few fights. As Nestor had told us when describing it, the ring wasn’t magical. At least, I couldn’t detect any magic in it. It must be purely symbolic, and given that Crustaceans had claws and not fingers I wasn’t even sure how they could wear a ring. Ethan wisely suggested I not bring that up as we returned to Nestor.

The old Crab thanked us profusely, promising to return it to the Emperor and make sure he knows who returned it. He then asked us to seek out the rebel Lophian Nuncio, who was leading his fellow Lophians in their rebellion against the Crustacean Empire. All attempts at arranging negotiations had been spurned; he begged us to see if Nuncio would see reason.

So we tracked him down using a compass and attempted to reason with him as best we could, saying that war with the Crustaceans was unrealistic and counterproductive to both parties, a point that Nestor had suggested that we make. It didn’t work, though. He scoffed at us, saying we were little more than pawns of the Crustaceans. He then attacked us.

That didn’t go over well, as you might expect, and he was soon stunned, fast asleep thanks to a quick sleeping charm from Ethan. We returned to Nestor to report our failure. The old crab was shocked. “He wouldn’t listen to reason? He attacked you? Oh, my, this is troubling!”

I waved dismissively. “He tried to attack us, anyways. Right now he’s taking a little nap, but he’ll wake up in a few hours. I’m afraid it might have made it worse for you, though.”

Nestor sighed. “Ah well, it was unavoidable I suppose. I appreciate that you tried at least.” He shook his head, then raised it again with a more confident expression. “At any rate, you have proven yourself to be a true ally of the Crustacean Empire! The Emperor will be pleased at what you’ve done. You should speak to your strange friend, Sir Thurston Plunkett, to learn more of our people and how great our empire is!”

He extended one claw up and behind him, half-turning to allow us to pass up the ramp and over the back of the living crab-platform. We nodded to him, muttering a quick “Thanks” as we proceeded to swim up and over the crab.

At the top, I looked back and saw that, from this angle, the Celestian structures in this cavern must have been a single room at one point. Up here was clearly one doorway, with two columns flanking it and a floor much like the ones we’d seen elsewhere. The lower segment of the cavern had the other half of the room, as though it had been broken in half by some cataclysmic event. The Deluge, I presumed.

Ahead of us was a dark cavern. Hoping there was some sort of light inside, we swam into what must be the Emperor’s residence. Inside, the central cavern was lit with glowing moss. The natural bioluminescence gave everything an odd greenish color, but it was easy on the eyes. I’d noticed that same moss growing in other caverns but never thought much of it aside from being grateful for some light in an otherwise dark cave.

In the center of the cavern, on the floor, was what appeared to be a Celestian Mosaic, though it wasn’t a pattern we’d seen before. The center was a pink square, which was familiar, but around it was what appeared to be a stylistic representation of a fish tail, a thick base and bifurcated fins. The entire design was circular, and on it stood two people.

One was a Crustacean, who introduced himself as Emperor Pontus. The other, no bigger than the Lophians, was a Frog that introduced himself as Thurston Plunkett. I shook his hand firmly. “So you’re the one we’ve been trying to find! Everyone in Base Camp is looking for you, you know. You should really get back to them, they’re lost without you.”

He smiled and just chuckled. “Yes, I was afraid of that. However, as of right now I can’t leave unless the Emperor allows it. He’s shut the borders thanks to this blasted crisis! Plus I’ve been studying them. Don’t worry, I’ll be able to return soon enough, and do tell the expedition where I am when you return.”

I nodded once. “Right. So we’ve been helping the Crabs here and we’re also looking for the final piece of the Solarium portal. Have you learned anything useful here?”

Plunkett began to speak quickly, reporting what he’d learned. “So kind of you to help these Crustaceans! Poor souls. They’re not very good at building empires, I’m afraid, but they do try! I’ve been advising the Emperor, giving him some basic advice on proper governing and what not. However, I fear a darker power is at work here. Morganthe has returned, and I worry that we may have inadvertently opened the door for her.”

I shook my head. “I was afraid you’d say that, but I don’t think it’s all your fault. The good news is we’ve managed to recover the Star of Celestia and the Moon of Celestia, so those two schools are safe from her. The portals are secured as well. But we haven’t got the Sun of Celestia yet.”

Plunkett paused, blinking in surprise. “You’ve unlocked the Star and Moon Schools? Fascinating. I may have to return to Base Camp sooner than I’d planned—but never mind that for now. We haven’t much time if we hope to stop Morganthe from gaining access to the Sun of Celestia. You must get to the bottom of this revolt; I fear the Pisceans and the Lophians are her dupes. Go into their city if you can. Oh, and you should pay honor to their Emperor over there. Let him make some proclamations and feel important, will you?”

He cleared his throat and began to speak. “Greetings, surface dweller! I am the leader of the Crustacean Empire, the greatest empire to have ever existed. We have been betrayed from within…the Pisceans and Lophians were once our loyal allies, now they have turned against us! As an Emperor I could order you to aid us, but I will humbly ask this favor of you. Would you speak to Senator Xanthus in the Senatorium and see what aid you might grant to our great empire?

“The Pisceans and Lophians have seized parts of our great capital city, which we made completely by ourselves! Someone must be behind this. Emperor Pontus, leader of the Crustacean Empire, has spoken! As it is said, so it shall be done.”

With his proclamation finished he resumed his previous stance and ignored us. I shot an amused look at Thurston, who was suppressing laughter, and the four of us swam out through a rear entrance in search of Senator Xanthus.

Once through the door and into more Celestian ruins, the snickers began. Snickers turned into laughter, and we all cut loose. Oh, that was something! I really did feel bad for laughing so hard, but the little Crab was so full of hot air it was a wonder he didn’t float away! Even Kehar was chuffing his strange laugh.

Finally we regained our composure. I turned to Ethan. “Well that was…something. Shall we go? After all, we are on a royal errand.”

He followed my lead, bowing gracefully and extending one hand. “No, after you, good sir. After all, it was you who was officially charged with this errand.” I snorted, almost losing my composure, but I took the lead, using my compass to find Senator Xanthus.

We swam through what seemed to be a large building, with a plaza on two levels. I wondered out loud, “What do you think this used to be?”

Cam answered, “Well, and this is just a guess, I’d say this used to be a Celestian building.”

I glared at him, unamused. “No kidding, really? A Celestian building, in Celestia! What a novel concept.”

He just winked flirtatiously at me, setting my heart to fluttering. How does he do that, I wondered to myself. He was cuter than he had the right to be sometimes, in my opinion. He could go from ordinary to flirty in an instant, and I wanted to know how he did it.

Cam shrugged as he responded, “Hey, I answered the question you asked. I don’t know what the Celestians would have used it for, if that’s what you were wondering. Living quarters, perhaps? A mall of some sort? There’s no telling.”

We continued on, swimming up a set of stairs and through a hall off the upper platform of the plaza; then down a curving, sloped staircase that was in a rounded tower. Half of the wall had been shattered in the Deluge and was open to the sea.

We swam on, through more rooms and finally arrived outside an open archway. Steps led up into an entrance hallway lined with Celestian Statues, leading to a set of double doors. A quick check of the map in my journal confirmed that this building was indeed the Senatorium of the Crustacean Empire.

To the left was a Crab, wearing a toga of all things. We’d seen Crabs in armor, Nestor had been wearing a type of long tunic, the Emperor had been wearing a similar garment but much nicer, and now a Crab in a toga. Why not?

He greeted us, introducing himself as Senator Xanthus. When Ethan mentioned the Emperor had sent us to help, his voice grew more friendly. “Oh good! So the Emperor has finally decided to do something about this mess?”

I just nodded. He continued on. “The Lophians are the most unpredictable of the forces at work against our people, but they have a curious weakness: they cannot stand the smell of a certain type of sea-mold. It is full of vitamins and makes you strong when you eat it! If you would gather some, it would be most helpful to us in our fight against them!”

I took a moment to let that sink in before responding. “You want us…to get you some mold. And this is helpful to you?” Xanthus just nodded in agreement. “Fine, if you insist. Which mold?”

“Oh, do not worry, my young air-breather. You will know it when you smell it. Only our people are strong enough to withstand the smell!” Well ok then, that didn’t sound very appealing. Still, if it meant we eventually got the Solarium piece…

We soon found some of the mold. I freely admit that I wasn’t aware you could smell underwater if you have a water-breathing spell, and when I got a good whiff of the mold, I wished I couldn’t smell it. It was the foulest, most rotten thing I had ever had the displeasure to smell, worse than my brother’s stinky week-old socks, (don’t ever agree to do a teen boy’s laundry, just saying) worse than a number of plants I’d encountered on the few trips I’d taken back on Earth, and the scent was so pungent that I nearly threw up.

I let Ethan scrape the mold off the rocky floor and kept a good distance from it. We had agreed that one sample was more than enough to make more, and Ethan quickly turned that small pile into a large pile. He created a bubble of water around it, using a levitation charm to steer it in front of us as we returned to Xanthus with it.

He popped the bubble eagerly and several pounds of odorous mold floated to the floor in front of him. “Wonderful! So much of it! Wherever did you get it all?”

I gagged at the smell. “We grew it. Please, put that away somewhere else, it smells foul.” Xanthus swept it all up and carried it into the entranceway, stashing it behind a column before returning to us.

“There we go! I’ll store it properly later. In the meantime, I have another task you can help with. The Pisceans use shell horns to scare the Lophians; the noise keeps them in line. You wouldn’t mind going to the Crustacean Halls and collecting a few for me, would you?”

We grudgingly agreed and in 20 minutes we were back, arms full of shell horns. Xanthus thanked us and led us to a small storeroom nearby where we deposited them. Then we were led to the doors of the Senatorium. Xanthus explained that now was the time to strike at the Lophians, while the iron is hot. Their leader, he told us, was named Glauco and he was currently hiding in the Senate Chamber.

Xanthus held out four small pieces of sea-mold. “Eat this. It will give you strength, and the smell will revolt Glauco. It will keep him away from you. Go on! Eat up.” At his urging the three of us ate a piece of the mold. It tasted worse than it smelled, and I went from a little sick to kinda sick. Amazingly I didn’t regurgitate the noxious substance, but I probably turned a little green. I know Cam and Ethan looked like I felt.

Kehar refused when offered a piece, informing Xanthus out loud that his claws and teeth were sufficient, and in any case if three wizards couldn’t handle an overgrown fish, he doubted the mold would help much.

Xanthus blinked, then shrugged. “As you wish. A strange companion you have, young wizard. Now go inside. I will sound the shell horn to announce you. Glauco has been given word that three Wizards are here to defeat him. Good luck!” I wanted to know when he’d had time to inform Glauco about our arrival but decided it didn’t matter.

We waited outside the door for a moment at Xanthus’ request. A horn blew nearby, the sound making the water shiver subtly. It was surprisingly loud for only one horn. I wondered if they were somehow enchanted. The doors creaked and opened seemingly of their own accord at the sound and we swam forward.

The Senate Chamber was round, with four sets of steps leading down into the lowered central floor. Around the room were more Celestian statues, but as with all the other ruins there was evidence of sea life too. Starfish and algae coated the walls; smokestacks and branching bushes of coral were everywhere, and seaweed was sprouting from many of the cracks in the floor. Even underwater, nature could reclaim the ruins of civilization.

Glauco was twice as large as other Lophians and wielded a trident. “What’sa that smell? I heared sumna puny little wizards froma da surface is a gonna defeat me. Lets a see em try!”

With a hoarse yell he charged at us. We raised our shields and retaliated, doing our best to not hurt him. Ethan and I used various spells: Ethan a centaur, I an Imp; meanwhile Cam used blast after blast of controlled lightning to make Glauco yield.

Finally he relented. “Enough, I give! You got the wrong guy! I was set up by the Shadow Weavers. Dey was a callin’ the shots, I was just a patsy!” I exchanged troubled glances with my boyfriends and Familiar.

I thrust my wand at Glauco. “What Shadow Weavers?”

“Please, mercy! The big bugs! They helped me, told me what to do! That’s all I know!”

I pulled my wand away. “Very well. Come on, Thurston needs to hear this.” So there were more like Karolak and his ilk around, were there? That couldn’t be good. We left the Senatorium behind, stopping only long enough to let Xanthus know Glauco had surrendered. He was waiting with guards already, and he quickly sent them in to detain the large Lophian.

We returned to Thurston, who was most surprised to hear that the Shadow Weavers were behind all this. “It’s as I feared, this is all Morganthe’s doing. The final piece to the Solarium is sure to be in the Barbican, the capitol of the Crustacean Empire. The secret of Sun Magic must be kept from her at all costs! If the Lophians are working with the Shadow Weavers, that means Morganthe can’t be far behind them. You must enter the Solarium and recover the Sun of Celestia before Morganthe!

“The Crustaceans haven’t let me enter the Barbican, though. Perhaps Nestor will tell you how to get in…and past the Pisceans!”

So we returned to Nestor, who informed us that the Barbican had been seized by the Pisceans when they revolted. The Crabs had been locked out ever since! He suggested that we “convince” the Pisceans to tell us how to get in.

Great. More intimidating. Well, if it got us answers, I could get behind it. So we went to intimidate the Pisceans, who informed us that they too had been locked out of the Barbican by a strange group of Pirates. Wait, Pirates? Oh, great.

So we went to intimidate the Pirates, who turned out to be zombies. Lovely. Fortunately they didn’t take much convincing; a quick compulsion spell by Cam and one of them told us to talk to their leader, Lieutenant Dafoe.

Cam used one finger to lower Dafoe’s sword, in the process causing it to snap in half. “Oops. My bad. Anyways…We’re wizards, how do you think we did it? Magic. Relax, we don’t want to hurt you. We just want to get into the Barbican, and apparently you lot can help us with that.”

Cam spluttered, “Wha-, bu-, oh fine. Come on.” We quickly did as he asked, and Dafoe thanked us. He informed us that the Power Motes would make good cannonballs. I had to laugh at Cam’s expression when he realized they were using such a valuable and useful item as nothing more than a weighted ball. His expression was priceless, I just had to Photomance it to show him later. He wasn’t amused, but Ethan was.

Dafoe also told us that they were the crew of the good ship Calypso, a Pirate vessel that had sunk in these waters long ago. He then asked us to help with another matter; when they had first been stranded down here, newly dead, the Crustaceans had struck a blow to their very heart and stolen their treasure!

When the crew demanded it to be returned, the Crabs had threatened to destroy it. Ever since it had been peaceful, but they grew ever more hungry for the return of their gold.

We returned to Senator Xanthus for information about the treasure. He informed us that the Lophians had stolen it long ago and hidden it somewhere, then divided the map into four parts. Each was given to a trusted Lophian.

Cam almost went to go fight Lophians but I stopped him. “Hey Cam? Aren’t you forgetting something?” He just blinked, looking at me confusedly. I held up my compass. “We can just use this, dummy.”

Understanding dawned on him. “Oh, right. That would be easier, wouldn’t it?” He blushed, embarrassed. We used the compass, which ended up pointing us to…the Treasury. Weird, I thought the Lophians had stolen it?

We found the treasure outside the area known as the Barbican, according to the map. It was in a wooden chest, which somehow hadn’t rotted away, and it was incredibly heavy. Ethan suggested that we carry it in one of our packs, but Cam insisted that we leave it out in the open. “The Pirates have been looking for this treasure, right? They’ll want to see that we have it. Trust me, this will work.”

So Cam and I used levitation charms on it (yes it took both of us; gold is HEAVY) and we slowly made our way back to Lieutenant Dafoe, who was fortunately not very far away. He saw us coming, the treasure chest floating in front, and his eyes grew wide.

When he spoke, it was in a respectful tone. “That’s a sight for sore eyes, that is. Well done. While ye was away I spoke with our captain, Queen Calypso. She agreed to help yah, but only if one of you duels her. She’s waiting for ye at the bow of the ship…he he he. Right this way.”

He gestured to the cavern mouth behind him and we entered. It was dark but as we went deeper in the light grew stronger. We emerged in a spacious cavern, bigger than any we’d yet seen. Part of the wall to our left was open to the sea, revealing endless water with little more than the odd jellyfish or school of fish swimming into view.

Down a steep slope and to the left was a Pirate ship. It was a galleon, with two masts, a single bank of cannons, and two boarding ramps lowered to the floor of the cavern. It was broken in half close to the bow and the wood, though seemingly solid, had a look about it that made me think it wasn’t as sturdy as it seemed.

I muttered to my boyfriends, “Maybe don’t walk on that deck, eh? It doesn’t look very solid.” They both agreed quietly, not wanting the Lieutenant to overhear us and be offended.

He must have overheard us, though, because just then he said, “Oh don’t you worry, young’un’s. She’s plenty sturdy. Here we are, the Captain is waiting just up there for ye. Good luck!”

Dafoe stopped at the foot of the closer boarding ramp. He gestured upwards, beckoning us to ascend and face the Captain. As we got closer, I felt a strange sensation of power. It was as though the entire ship was alive, somehow, emanating magic like a living person.

Cam commented, “You sense that, right? What do you think it means?”

I replied in a flat tone of voice, staring at the ‘Captain’ on the deck, “I think it means the ship is alive. You must be Queen Calypso. We brought your treasure back, ma’am.” Cam and I lowered the chest to the deck carefully and watched as the Captain glided forward to admire it, cooing over it like it was a lost child who had returned.

“We have longed for your return! We counted the minutes you were away from us, our gleaming treasure! It is nice to see you as well, Wizards.” That last part was directed at the four of us. I swallowed hard and faced the unusual person before me, if “person” was the right term.

After all, if someone is made of wood, and obviously supposed to be part of the ship, are they still a person?

Queen Calypso was indeed a woman….half of a wooden woman, strapped to the bow of the ship. Part of the ship’s bow was still attached to her, and instead of legs, where the boards from the ship ended there was an anchor as a kind of tail. Her arms could move freely, and right now she was idly running her fingers through her treasure even while maintaining eye contact with us. I now understood why there was a large hole at the bow, a small detail I’d noticed but ignored.

“Thank you for returning my Treasure. Now, before I will ally with you, one of you must duel me. Swords or wands?”

Cam stepped up. “I’ll duel you. I choose a wand.” He drew his wand and faced the captain as Ethan, Kehar, and I backed away, giving them some space.

“Very well, we duel with magic. Be warned, I am skilled in both spells and the blade. And…begin!” As soon as she called for the duel to begin, she began to sing. It was an eerie, haunting song that made me want to lay down and sleep…forever. Why not join the ranks of the unliving?

Kehar pressed one heavy paw on my back, four small points pricking my skin and causing pain. “Ouch! What the hell, Kehar?” I whirled in the water, the duel forgotten now. Kehar just blinked and said nothing, but in my mind I sensed he had done it to help me snap out of it.

It was a Siren song, one that compelled the listener to join the undead, then. I was tempted to warn Cam but I noticed it seemed to have no effect on him. His shield was raised and he had a grim expression on his face as he worked to summon a strong enough spell. There were already patches of ice and scorch marks from where his Ice and Storm spells had failed, so he was probably working on something more dramatic.

I sensed a swell of power from the deck and saw his wand glowing. A large shape appeared in the space between him and the Queen, that of a three-headed serpent. It had four legs, though, and each head was a different color. It was a Hydra.

The first head, the Fire Head, blew a massive stream of flames at the Queen. She screamed, breaking the Siren song, as the Ice head froze her solid. The Storm head sent massive bolts of electricity coursing through the small glacier and it broke apart.

She collapsed to the deck and lay still for a moment. The Hydra vanished and Cam waited, wand pointed at the Queen as he waited for her to rise. She held one arm up, waving it back and forth. “I surrender. You are most powerful. The rest of you may approach now.”

I swam forward to check on Cam as Ethan went to check on Calypso. He wasn’t injured, but I sensed his vitality had been drained. Not just his mana, but his body’s energy too. That Siren song had taken its toll on him for sure.

I reached into my potions pouch, looking for a Vitality Restoration elixir. I’d brewed a batch just last month when I realized it would make a nice supplement to the Mana Restoration potion I’d already brewed.

I pulled out several vials before I found the one I needed, and then I pulled out a Mana Restoration potion as well and handed them to Cam. “Here. Drink this, and don’t even complain about the taste. I worked hard on them.”

Cam rolled his eyes but wearily drank first one, then the other. His skin, which was paler than normal, began to return to its normal pinkish color. “Auggghhh! By Bartebly, what the hell is in those vile concoctions?! Blech!”

I just grinned. “Oh, you don’t want to know. I’ll take those vials, thank you, I can reuse them. The taste will fade…eventually. You’re looking better, though. How do you feel?”

“A bit better now. Thanks. But those potions taste awful, dude.”

“So I hear. But I bet you’re glad I have them, huh?” I waggled my eyebrows comically, eliciting a chuckle from him.

“Yeah, ok. It’s nice to have them around. That song almost got me. Whew! That taste just will not go away, will it?”

Cam was making faces, trying to get a swallow of water to get the taste out of his mouth. Unfortunately the water-breathing spell was turning it into air before he could swallow it. I snickered but sobered quickly as Queen Calypso approached us, Ethan supporting her from one side and Dafoe on the other.

“Well fought, Wizard. Unexpectedly strong, I might say. You have my respect. I have a gift for you as our new ally. One that will do you far more good than our blades, I hope. Dafoe, you know where it is.”

Queen Calypso gave a knowing look to her Lieutenant, who had clumped up the ramp in a hurry when she’d gone down after Cam’s Hydra. He stumped over to the chest, lifted the lid, and rustled through the gold and gems, looking for something specific no doubt.

He pulled out a small, slender item whose shape seemed familiar. As he came closer I saw that he carried a key. He extended out one dead hand to Cam, who took the key. The Queen informed us that this was the key to the Barbican. They had stolen one of the keys long ago and hid it among their gold. It was very fortunate, she said, that the Lophians had not discovered it.

“Travel now to the Barbican, near where you found our gold, and you will find the leader of the Pisceans. He is a brutal and savage tyrant named Praetor Mako. No doubt his defeat will put an end to the Piscean uprising; all Sharks are cowards, and defeating their leader will bring the rest of them in line.”

We thanked her and were on our way, hopeful that this would be the end of it and that we would soon be able to leave. We made our way back to the Treasury and through the double doors that led into the Barbican. The key slotted into the doors neatly and they opened, revealing the inside.

On the far side of the room was a throne. It looked like a Celestian chair, with the high back splitting in two halfway up, made of a light gray stone, but it was decorated with shark teeth. It sat in front a shark hut, which looked like, you guessed it, a shark’s head.

The hut was framed by an arch made of bone, with more shark’s teeth affixed to it decoratively. There were crimson banners on the walls that bore a design: a shark’s fin emerging from light blue water, inside a circle topped by a crown. The bottom edges of the banner were lined with jagged stripes of black, dark grey, and light grey, the primary colors of most sharks.

Praetor Mako was sitting on his throne, wearing light armor but wielding a long, wide-bladed spear. A crown rested on top of his head. He stood, leaning on his spear as he addressed us: “The scent of Wizardry is on the current…soon there will be blood in the water. Guards, attack! Kill them!”

His two guards rushed forward and the battle commenced. It lasted a couple minutes, and at the end of it the guards were frozen solid while Mako was pinned to his throne by a menacing, snarling Kehar. Cam was healing Ethan’s arm, which had been slashed by one of the guards, and Mako very reluctantly surrendered.

As we left, leading him back to the Emperor’s residence, I noticed there was a piece of the Solarium in one corner, almost invisible amongst the sea life that had been obscuring it. I swiftly retrieved it, stowing it in my pack. It hummed with power, like a small sun.

Back at the Emperor’s cave, we endured another ovation as he praised our bravery, declaring that we would never be forgotten. Mako was led away by two guards, the Emperor following them. No doubt he wanted to speak with the Praetor in private about peace and what not, now that he had the leaders of both the Pisceans and the Lophians in custody.

Meanwhile I informed Thurston Plunkett that we had managed to find the last piece of the Solarium portal. “Huzzah! At last!” He cheered, reminding me very much of the excitable Storm Professor at Ravenwood. “Well, don’t let me stop you, go repair that portal! Oh, and do tell Edith where I am. I’ll be back at Base Camp soon, now that things here have simmered down. I’m sure the Emperor will open the borders again; in fact, I’ll go ask his permission to leave now, before I forget. Thank you again, Wizards.”

I assured him we would and we quickly returned to the Base Camp. As soon as the airlock had been drained, I instantly sighed in relief. I shook my wings out, spreading them as far as I could in the tunnel.

We didn’t bother changing clothes, we just went straight to the Solarium portal, slotting the final piece in. It clicked into place and the portal began to hum, the familiar blue oval springing to life in between the two columns.

“Yes! We did it!” We congratulated each other and reported our success to Edith.

She thanked us, and when we told her that Thurston was just beyond the airlock and would return soon, she gave a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness! Finally I can take a break. When he gets back, that is. Thank you all.”

Edith was talking to us, but she was looking above us. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that we were standing there, dripping wet, in nothing but swimming trunks. I had red skin-tight trunks on and Ethan’s suit was a pair of green board shorts, but Cam had a maroon Speedo on. A small one, the kind that you wear to show off “the goods” as he’d put it.

I didn’t mind, personally. I thought it was rather cute, and given the fact that Edith was almost hyperventilating, sneaking glances at all of us while pretending otherwise, I guessed I wasn’t the only one.

“Well, we’re heading into the Solarium. Do you need us to get you anything while we’re in there?”

“No—oh wait, yes, hold on!” Edith rummaged through a sheaf of notes she was holding. “Here it is! Thurston left some notes and he mentioned that the Keeper of the Solarium was a Celestian named Phaeton. Would you mind describing it for me?”

“Yeah, sure Edith. We can do that, no problem.” I tried to sound as genuine as possible, and it must have worked because Edith didn’t react to my lack of enthusiasm. I’d only asked because so far she’d asked us to get something from the Stellarium and the Lunarium. Well technically it wasn’t Edith with the Stellarium, but still.

We headed into the Solarium, which was fortunately NOT underwater. It was, however, infested with Sharks. We all groaned in frustration as we saw that the Sun of Celestia, which should have been on the circular pedestal just inside the portal and was clearly made for it specifically, was missing. Given that there were shark teeth around it…and shark skin….and Sharks…I guessed that a Shark took it.

The four of us “convinced” the nearby Sharks to tell us where the Sun was. They reported that their boss, Big Salgio, had taken the Sun of Celestian into the sanctum and had ordered them to keep anyone out of the back.

I smiled grimly. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to force our way in, then. Come on, I want to get that Sun before Morganthe catches up. We can’t stay ahead of her forever.”

We made our way down a hallway, and I absently noted that unlike the rest of Celestia, the walls here were a sunny yellow and not boring, drab grey. There were still the usual Celestian motifs of teardrop shields, finned sconces, and square pillar pedestals everywhere, but at least the colors were different. It also had another enchanted night-sky ceiling.

We passed through one hall, a side room with more Sharks that we quickly knocked out, and down another hallway. Halfway down there was a side hall to the right that led into a circular room. The center of the floor was sunken, and around the walls of the room there were six pedestals, each with…something on it.

It was an arched object, pointed at the top and made of the grey stone we’d seen elsewhere. I looked at it, wondering why the shape seemed vaguely familiar. Then it hit me: it looked like a fountain pen nib, or a wishbone split down the middle. I Photomanced one of them, knowing I’d never be able to describe it later.

There was another hallway on the far side of the room, leading further down. At the base of it, though, an energy barrier blocked us from going further. We backtracked and investigated. It was Cam who realized that the six pedestals needed to be primed with Sun magic. Except we didn’t know how to summon any.

I held up one hand timidly. “I think I might be able to, actually. Just give me a second.” I sat on the floor, closed my eyes and looked deep within myself. I searched for a connection, one I knew I shouldn’t use but was willing to risk using anyways. I contacted the Dragon Titan, sending my thoughts echoing down my mental ties to him in the hopes that he was listening.

::Hey! Listen up, you overgrown lizard. I need your help. Please. I need to connect to Sun magic. It must be related to Fire magic, right? Can you help me?::

For a moment, I heard nothing. Then I sensed his presence, so close I could feel his breath on my neck. Not literally, as this was a mental presence, but he was very close, much closer than I expected. ::I can aid you…for a price::

I hesitated. Was it worth it? I knew that it was dangerous to accept help when you didn’t know the cost, but I decided to take a risk. ::Very well, name your price.::

He chuckled darkly. ::Oh, this will be fun. I will exact my price later, youngling. For now, simply allow me into your mind. I can guide you better from within.::

Reluctantly I lowered my mental barriers, letting him into my mind. I squirmed at the close contact but tried to not resist as he opened my eyes and stood my body up. I didn’t like watching my body work like this, without me telling it what to do.

The Titan sensed that and adjusted our…positioning, I guess? I suddenly found myself able to control my body. ::Apologies, youngling. Habit. Now, do as I say.:: The Titan walked me through the process of connecting with Sun magic, then lighting each of the six pedestals with a small globe of Sun magic.

As the sixth and final pedestal was lit, I severed my connection to the Titan, shoving him from my mind as hard as I could. He was already withdrawing, but I wanted him out faster. Before I cut the ties, he sent me one final message: ::Soon I will take my price. Do not forget, you owe me…::

Now that the Sun Stands, as we later learned they were called, were active, we easily passed through the barrier and into the inner chambers of the Solarium. Here we found yet more Sharks, yay. Another 15 minutes of quick fights and they were all asleep, leaving only one more to deal with: Big Salgio himself.

He hadn’t made it easy to reach him, that was sure. Every step of the way here we’d had to fight Sharks, or open Celestian energy barriers. Now only one final barrier stood between us and him, and it was easily opened. All I had to do was use a little Sun magic on three obelisks and it vanished, allowing us to cross the bridge that led to the sanctum of the Solarium.

It was a gazebo suspended at the end of a bridge, surrounded by a magically created void of space. In that space, what must have been a very large room enchanted to look like open space, there floated many worlds of the Spiral. It looked like a larger, three-dimensional version of the map we’d seen in the District of the Stars. The worlds moved and shifted, presumably in a preset pattern that seemed random to me.

As we drew closer I sensed a faint, familiar sensation. Shadow magic, just ahead. Sure enough, behind Salgio was Morganthe. She was dressed differently than before, though her base color was still black. Now her dress had red in it too, and from her back protruded four spider arms. Between each pair of arms were woven spider webs, draped with crimson banners that fluttered and moved with her every movement.

Her dress was cinched up at the waist by a belt, its buckle made to resemble a spider’s face, and on her head she wore a crown. It was evil-looking, with spider legs and a high spike over her forehead. Like her it radiated Shadow magic, its metal a purple color I didn’t recognize.

She chuckled evilly as we approached, petting a white spider like a pet. I might add that it was larger than both her hands put together, but it acted much like a dog with her. I shuddered. “I should have known Ambrose would be too much of a coward to face me himself, but I had no idea he would send mere children after me! We meet again, young Dragonkin.”

I snapped, “That’s not my name! Wait, how do you know that? Never mind. Surrender the Sun to us, Salgio, or we’ll take it by force!”

Morganthe laughed, a cold, cruel laugh that echoed around us. “Oh, the arrogance of youths! I have crossed the seas of centuries to claim what is rightfully mine…turned this ridiculous Crab empire against itself…You cannot keep Celestia’s magic from me! Now destroy them, my pet!”

Her orders given, she watched as Salgio attacked. There was only one of him and four of us, so it wasn’t a long fight. In the end, we spared his life and took the Sun. As he collapsed to the ground in defeat, Morganthe shrieked at us, “No! This is not over, fools! It has only begun!”

She closed her eyes and began to recite words that sounded suspiciously like a prophecy: “The Mirror will break…the Horn will call…from the Shadows I strike, and the skies will fall! Mark my words, all of you. You will pay for this! I shall not forget you!”

She slammed her staff dramatically on the floor and shadows flocked to her. The sickening sense of Shadow magic grew to an almost unbearable point as she melted into them, vanishing as she had only four days ago in the Headmaster’s office.

There was a pause of silence as it sank in: we’d done it. We’d recovered the final artifact! So why did it feel like there was more to do? I knew we’d have to take Morganthe down, but somehow I had hoped we would face her here, in Celestia.

Cam spoke first. “Jake, I meant to ask you. How did you manage to connect with Sun Magic earlier? You never did say.”

I blinked. “Oh. Uh….” Should I tell him? I pondered that, then decided to just tell him the truth. “I asked the Dragon Titan for help. He agreed, but he warned me about a ‘price’, though he hasn’t said what that price is yet.”

Cam stared at me in shock. “The…Dragon Titan? You can talk to him?!”

I was taken aback by the ferocity in his voice. He was angry, and it felt directed at me. “I’m sorry! I couldn’t tell you before because it’s a family secret! Well, Ethan knows about it, but that’s because he was there that night when I came out and well…I’m sorry. I should have said sooner. He contacted me recently, when I was passed out after the Star Forge. He wants something from me, and I think I just gave him what he wanted because I owe him now.”

I was talking fast, trying to defend myself now. Cam listened calmly, nodding in understanding. Only when I was done speaking did he respond. “Jake. I’m not upset with you, I was just surprised. But I’m also worried. He’s not the kind of person you want to owe a favor, and it’s likely that he’s using you.”

Ethan added, “You didn’t mention he spoke to you again.”

“Again?” That was Cam again, surprised once again.

Cam took me by then hand, a bemused expression on his handsome face. “Jake, sweetie, there’s no convincing a Titan. You don’t reason with them, you don’t fight them. Unless you’re as strong as them, they won’t even listen to you. But it’s cute you want to try. Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid. And tell us the next time he talks to you!”

Ethan agreed, and Kehar added in his thoughts. He let me know in no uncertain terms that he didn’t trust the Titan and called me a fool. I just smiled, glad that Cam wasn’t mad at me, and mentally reminded Kehar that I wasn’t naïve and that I was confident things would go my way. He was more skeptical but chose not to comment on that, though he gave off a strong sense of disagreement with that statement. Not me, just the fact that I was foolish enough to meddle with a Titan.

I spoke aloud, deliberately shifting topics away from my mental dialogue with my Familiar. “Ok, deal. Now can we PLEASE get out of here? I’m tired. I’m taking tomorrow off, you guys. I need a break. Yes, I know. Morganthe. She waited centuries, she can wait one more day.”

We all laughed as we returned to Base Camp, the final Astral artifact held close to my chest. That night, as the three of us cuddled in our bed, I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly the Titan wanted. I hoped I was wrong about what he wanted. I finally fell asleep, to dream of the Titan.