The Quest

Chapter 10

~Di~
They made it to a hallway manned by several guards. After passing what looked like a dining hall, a banquet hall, and the throne room Di found a peculiar door. Compared to the rest, it was overtly ornate and asking to be touched. While the rest were nicely carved pieces of coral, this was a magicked piece of wood, with gold emblems—seahorses in suns. The royal icons.

Treth grunted at her, but no one was around. She was never one to pry or stray from a plan, but she was intrigued. I gave some magic to the barmen, shouldn't I get some back?

She opened the door and peeked in. Di did another look around outside and didn't see any shadows or mermen around, so she went inside. She left Treth to make his own choice. In the room, there were several shining pieces of splendor. Some crowns, plenty of armor pieces, but in the middle were two odd pieces; a man's head and a golden trident. Instantly her stomach flipped. She knew the stories.

Corban the Seafarer. She walked up to it. It was ghastly, bloated, and quite dead. Preservation magic kept his skin and hair alive but it didn't prevent the ghostly pallor nor the natural bloating after drowning. He might have been handsome in his time, but Di knew the fae part of the stories. Corban was one of the reasons for the fae's untied hatred of humans. For humans, he was the great conqueror and mystic fighter, but for the fae, he was a plunderer and a murderer. He and his crew were the death of the Sun Tribe and neared the extinction of water nymphs. Only King Geridone, of the Greater Seas, could kill him — after Corban killed his wife, Jenny.

She looked at the trident. Indeed it was Geridone's very one to kill Corban. There was a sun, right where the hilt and the sharp parts connected. She sucked in a breath of bubbles. This is wrong. She shouldn't have gone in. Their magic was somehow intertwined with the sun, the direct opposite of hers. Her hand was reaching for it when she heard a loud grunt. The dwarf. She hissed and ran back out, closing the door carefully and grabbing his chain at the same time.

Di went on, watching a mermaid in black swim past. She walked only a hundred feet more before they found a door that led to a long hallway. Each door in the hallway had a guard in front and windowless doors. She was sure they kept the prisoners there, the only reason to have so many guards. Along the way, she forgot to check for exits, as Matis would later chide her for she was sure.

Di gulped and pulled Treth's chains. He seemed a little resistant this time to move forward. She tugged harder and nearly tossed him over.

"Prisoner here." She held out the chain for any guard to take notice. All kept locked positions with eyes forward except the one closest to her. He used the hand not holding a spear to hold out for the chain. She handed it to him, then took a long step back, standing right next to the dwarf. Before she could hesitate any further, she tossed the potion she was holding in her left hand, ever since leaving the trophy room. The guards were too slow to react, as the vial cracked and released a slow bubbling. What would look like smoke up above was a set of bubbles in the water, although the effect was the same. It was slow, but massive in effect and cause most of the guards to fall forward, still awake but frozen on the ground. The bubbles dissipated. This left two guards, two angry guards. They were the last ones at the end and that allowed time for Treth to toss off his manacles and jump for the guard holding the chain connected to the manacles.

Di's heart was racing as she watched the men bound towards her. I hate this. I hate having to fight. She braced herself with magic in her hands and steadied for the merman. The first tossed his sword as he neared, with perfect aim, but she was able to deflect with a magicked shield. It clattered to the ground with a sharp clang. She was distracted for just a moment before the guard swam into her, forcing her into the ground.