The Heist of Sigallah (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 3)

IV - The Anchor Falls

It only fully occurred to him what he was about to be a part of while standing on the rocky beach, staring out at the dark mass of the ocean. The moon was out, but compared to the well-lit center of the city, this out-of-the-way corner of it was dark and silent. They weren't too far away from the harbor, however. There were no ships docked at the moment, but the pier was in sight, illuminated by a couple of torches.

It was just him and Elaya here. Kaz had been asleep when they'd left, which was a small blessing because Rhenor didn't feel like listening to the other man trying to convince him to not do this, or potentially try to join them. And besides, Rhenor still felt angry with Kaz, so he didn't mind the distance for now.

The other two thieves—called Arion and Serina, as Rhenor had found out—had stayed behind as well. They must have already known very well where this underwater cave was, and so there was no reason for them to wake up a good while before dawn. But Rhenor didn't envy them at all. He felt too anxious and restless to sleep. He had woken up several times during his short rest, and each time, it had been difficult to fall asleep again.

"Ready?" Elaya asked, holding up her vial of luminous algae. Rhenor didn't like the sight of it. He didn't trust anything that glowed without a flame, but it would be necessary if they were to steal the money at night. Rhenor wondered where these people had gotten it originally, though. He'd never seen glowing algae.

"Yes. Let's go."

Rhenor took off his cloak and shoes, hoping that no one would steal them in the meantime. Elaya also took off her cloak, revealing that she was only wearing a tunic underneath, and not the armor. But that made sense. It would hardly do anything for her when swimming.

He followed her into the water, shivering at the coldness of it. It wasn't icy, or anything close to it, but it was still far from pleasant. Rhenor tried not to let that get to him and just kept up the pace as he slowly got used to the temperature and the pebbles under his bare feet.

The water was up to their waists when Elaya suddenly disappeared under the water, only to reappear right after, shaking water out of her hair. And Rhenor quickly found out why as his foot slipped, suddenly touching nothing.

Rhenor took a breath, taking a step forward with his other foot as well and gasping as he found himself up to his neck in cold water. But at least he didn't seem to have any trouble staying above the surface, which he took as a good sign.

Elaya raised the vial of algae, illuminating the water around them. "Hold your breath and follow me."

As she disappeared under the water, Rhenor took in a deep breath and did the same, opening his eyes under the water as soon as he did. Ignoring the uncomfortable feeling that came with it, he quickly found the glowing of Elaya's vial, noticing it was heading down, so he followed.

She was much faster than he would have thought, given the fact that she had to hold the vial with one hand, which limited her movements. Rhenor would have thought that Elaya had just been training for this mission, but by her own admission she hadn't been here for long, so he doubted that.

He kept swimming deeper and deeper, close to the stone wall that had been beneath their feet when they'd stood at the beach. It formed a sort of a cliff under the water, and Rhenor assumed this wall was where the cave entrance was going to be.

His lungs were starting to burn as Elaya finally showed him the opening in the stone—a hole barely large for a person to fit through, which he could barely see in the dark water. But once again, he just followed the light of the vial, watching it light up the cave entrance and move along its smooth walls as Elaya swam through it.

Hoping that Elaya had been right about that air pocket in the cave as his lungs burned more and more, Rhenor swam inside as well, using the narrow walls to get himself faster up the tunnel he found himself in.