traders of Saru Gnarl!” Slowin barked, growing angry as he floated with strange buoyancy in the pool, stars glimmering on his skin. Flaer ducked underneath the surface, disappearing from sight.
“I just can’t, you’re going to have to leave me here Slowin. I’ve failed this cause,” Adacon cried. As he stood defeated by the brink of the murky water a hand seized his leg from the depths. Adacon was pulled down into the water and held there by hands firmly clamped round his skull. He struggled in panic to free himself for nearly half a minute, until suddenly calm swept over him and he stopped twisting.
Above the surface of the water Slowin laughed heartily, and Flaer grinned thickly the width of his shaggy face. Finally, Flaer let go of Adacon’s head, and Adacon burst up to air once more, gasping the same as before. His eyes darted wildly as he regained his breath. After several minutes he felt composed again and looked at Flaer and Slowin. They were both smiling when Slowin broke the tension:
“That was at least as long as you’ll need to be under for. So, with thanks to Flaer for proving you can do it, shall we?”
Adacon did not respond to Slowin but looked down, his spirit bruised, his tension boiling. At first there swelled anger at Flaer and Slowin, but slowly it was replaced by a sense of acceptance; soon Adacon felt triumphant, and he laughed at himself for being so frightened.
“Come on lad,” Slowin winked, “We will need your orb of light.”
Adacon remembered the Orb and drew it from his pocket. Slowin and Flaer descended beneath the surface and Adacon quickly drew a breath and followed. The orb of light worked the same underwater as it did above, Adacon soon discovered. The water was lit green with the glow of the Orb, and Slowin led them through a large aperture in the rock wall of the pond basin. It was only a moment before they all came up for air on the opposite side of the pass, and Adacon quickly peered around at a winding edifice of underground rock. The ceiling was carved granite, stalactites hanging down and walls of smooth green slime. Adacon put his Orb back into his pocket but the cavern became death black, and he brought it back out immediately.
“Do you know the way Slowin?” Adacon asked.
“Surely, boy. Follow me so that I may prove fleet in caves as well as woods,” Slowin boasted, swimming forward. Flaer and Adacon fell in behind; Adacon clutched the Orb tightly to guide their passage. It seemed an impossible web of intertwining caves, and he was astounded to see Slowin navigate the maze, which forked every several yards in a new direction. After what seemed half an hour of twists and turns, they finally arrived in a corridor whose end had starlight, and in eager anticipation of getting out of the water Adacon paddled faster alongside the others.
“The exit!” Adacon cried.
“Yes. You see, golems know many tight and hidden passes, though our size belies that truth,” Slowin said.
They continued down the tunnel toward the light, and Adacon put his Orb away at Slowin’s command. Before them was a starlit expanse of bay, and deeper off under the bright moons towered many anchored ships, each a different color. Adacon gasped in awe at the sight of the port city. It seemed Slowin brought them through to the southern edge of Saru Gnarl’s bay; the city buildings loomed like spikes across the water, held up it seemed by an endless string of rose-colored torches. Their position at the back of the bay was cloaked from view; they shook the water from their garments under overhanging trees and tall reeds. A stony shore spread out on either side of them, several yards wide, separating the bay from the forest. Slowin led them forth to its bank and into a huddle behind bramble that grew high on the rocky shore.
“We must follow the shoreline, and take a boat ere the sun rises. We cannot afford to be seen in or around the city streets. We risk much as it is chancing the docks,” Slowin said, directing caution at Adacon. Adacon turned to glance at the boats in the distance again. They each had three girthy wooden poles harnessing massive sails, a rainbow of different colors and embroideries, softly visible beneath pearl moonlight; some were pure white, others mixed red and black, and others deep green. Some of the sails had