The Cinders of Dezu

17th: The Ancient of the Lake (2)

Julian repeated a few more times. Talia then had him try it across the room to each wall. While he practiced, the clams lid cracked open slightly for the two tentacles eyes to get a peek at what was happening.

"This is uh... way easier than I thought it would be."

Talia nodded.

"Harper says dilinium abilities fuse to you. Like you've always had them. It takes practice to learn more complicated techniques. But once you learn them, it sticks."

Julian was smiling as he swayed his hand back and forth, guiding the clam to and fro.

"Yeah! Man it's like muscle memory or something! I'm gettin' this."

The clam was hovering now in the middle of the room as Julian experimented with balancing it between two surfaces. Talia approached it and pushed it to the ground. She lit her hand and rubbed the outer edge of the mouth of the shell. The clam popped open again.

"Get in," she said.

"Oh geez, no, please," Julian said with a disgusted look on his face.

Talia sighed.

"Do you have to be difficult about everything? Cairo needs you. This is how you help him."

"How about you tell me what the plan is before I snuggle up again with an oyster."

Talia's eyelids fell as the clams tentacled eyes rose up again and began looking around. She made her way over to the other clam in the room.

"After you got shot by the seemee dart, I dropped too. I faked sleep to make them think one of them had already shot me. The Gilled bought it and carried us both to the clams at the edge of the lake."

Talia tried the same fire trick on the other closed clam and it popped open. The tentacled eyes inside blinked like they had just woken up.

"You can see through the shells," she said as she stepped onto the clam whose eyes now looked confused, "So while you were sleeping, I was watching. They took us way too far for us to swim back. You're going to need to move us out of here inside them so we don't drown."

She laid down and pulled the clam shut over herself, this time with ease due to a much more cooperative clam.

"I'll point us and you float us!"

She was yelling at him but it came out muffled. Julian nodded at a blurry version of the girl through the shell of the clam. He went over to his own and reluctantly laid on his squishy bed with curious eyes. He pulled and pulled until the clam understood and closed over him. He looked to Talia. He could still see her through two layers of warped clam shell, even if it was just barely. With intent he focused and the two rose up in unison. He carefully moved them to the pool at the other side of the room. In they dropped with a splash, followed by the muffle of dark waters.

Sometime later, a pool on the surface of the island began to stir. Two clams bubbled up. Julian reduced the gravity in both clams so the muscles floated within their shells. They popped open.

"Ha! I'm amazing!" he said, putting his arms up in the fresh air.

The clam tilted with his shift in weight and Julian flailed as he fell into the water.

"Ugh!" He said between gulps of air as he tried to keep his head above water, "It's a friggin maze down there!"

Julian waded to the edge of the pool. He looked up to see Talia reaching down to help lift him out.

"A strangely empty maze," she said.

Julian stood up next to her on solid ground.

"How do you consistently manage to make bad things sound worse?"

The sound of drums came in loud and all at once. The two whipped their head in their direction.

"We need to hurry," said Talia.

She started in the direction of the rhythm. She was walking fast and Julian tried to keep up.

"What's happening? You know about this? Where's Cairo?"

"The Gilled are almost a myth. They're rarely seen. People tell a lot of stories but, ultimately, everyone knows... it's not good what happens on this island."

They were weaving through the trees and around brush moving farther inland. Julian was looking around more as he began to notice netted water vine, baskets made of something like wicker hung in the trees and little wooden effigies that looked like people with fins.

"Well, that's not surprising. You've successfully pulled off making me not expect good things to happen around here."

Talia scoffed.

"A creature owns this lake, and this island. He has for as long as anyone can remember. Then Gilled came to live here. So now he owns them too."

She stopped in her tracks. Julian was looking at his feet when he bumped into her. He looked up. Before them stood a beast of a man, and not simply because he looked like a fish. He was a very large Gilled warrior, draped in a mesh skirt and a shawl of large fish teeth. He held a spear that was double bladed with serrated ends on each side. His mane of fins were splayed out, with eyes like a starry night sky bearing down one them.

Talia reached back and pushed Julian behind her. Julian quietly obliged. Talia put her hands out in front of her and made a shape like a house above her head. She then lit her finger tips and drew a large shape like an 'A' the size of her body. The fire kept its form hovering in the air. She continued to draw until Julian recognized the shape as the star symbol made of bones she had shown him at the cabin. The warriors eyes widened with concern. Then she began to speak.