Brian Rathbone - Regent

"Then go get him," Morif said.

Bradley left in a hurry.

Morif nodded. "That's a good man."

Brother Vaughn nodded his agreement. Trinda tried to remain unseen. Millie was one of the people who couldn't stand the thought of her being in the hold, and Morif was conditioned to look after her interests. Somehow Trinda must have sensed that she was not welcome.

"And I suppose there must be something else, or I suspect you'd already be gone." He didn't look at Trinda, but he didn't have to.

"I need to borrow your herald globe," Brother Vaughn said.

"Why?"

"I just need to borrow it for a little while, and then I'll bring it back. I promise."

Morif harrumphed and pulled his globe from its stand. "Let's go see what we've got here."

He led the way back toward the God's Eye, never actually giving Brother Vaughn the herald globe.

At the docks, they waited for Simms to return. He'd been floating over the sunken herald globe when they arrived, and seeing Morif on the shoreline had him moving in a hurry. Morif didn't say anything, and it was clear by the look on Simms's face that he didn't need to. "Get me out there so I can see what all this fuss is about."

"Yes, sir."

Brother Vaughn and Trinda followed Morif onto the barge, and he felt the same sense of fascination this time when the mighty serpent came into view. He found entirely new details that he had missed before. The herald globe continued to glow brightly, though only an occasional fish now played in the light.

Morif said nothing; he just stood, stroking his beard. Brass adornments braided into the beard made a soft noise that seemed to soothe the old warrior. Brother Vaughn knew better than to try to get something out of Morif. The man would speak when he was ready.

Bradley returned with a man Brother Vaughn assumed was Logan. He was thin as a sapling with skin still sun darkened, something that was becoming increasingly rare. Bradley poled his barge to a stop not far away, and Logan spared not a word. He simply slipped into the water and swam toward the light. He moved like a seal as he swam, and Brother Vaughn worried he would drown. Even once the man had grabbed the globe, he appeared to rise to the surface far too slowly, but Logan broke the surface and seemed only moderately winded. He swam to Brother Vaughn and handed him the glowing orb.

Turning the herald globe in his hand, he watched as it dimmed to a softer glow. "May I see your globe?" he asked Morif.

The wizened veteran grunted and handed it to him.

"Was that the deepest you could dive?" Brother Vaughn asked Logan.

"No, sir. I can go deeper than that."

"Don't even think about it," Morif said, but Brother Vaughn was already moving, and before Morif could stop him, he'd thrown both globes back into the water.

Brother Vaughn hoped Morif didn't lose patience with him, and he wore an apology on his face for only an instant. Then he watched in fascination as the two globes cast slightly overlapping rings of light, and the first sailed down close to where the ancient shipwreck lay. The second soared beyond the dragon's eye and gave only the slightest glimpse of something else resting on the coils of the dragon.

"Do you think you can dive for those?" Morif asked Logan.

"I think so, sir. I just need a bit of time to breathe."

"Simms, get your butt back to the docks. There're people waiting." He turned back to the monk. "With all due respect, Vaughn , don't do that again."

"Yes. Um. Yes, of course," Brother Vaughn said, secretly hoping someone else would annoy Morif and take the focus off him. The barge was feeling rather small and more than a little crowded. A moment later, though, Logan disappeared under the water and moved into the light. First he went to the globe near the sunken ship, and Brother Vaughn nearly fell in as he leaned over to watch. Logan had the globe in one hand yet didn't start back up immediately. Instead, he glided along the side of the sunken ship and spent what seemed an eternity sifting through the wreckage. Brother Vaughn suddenly remembered to breathe, only then realizing that he'd been holding his breath as though he were underwater with the diver.

Even Morif rushed to see what it was that Logan brought back up. He handed the globe back to Brother Vaughn, and he seemed less enthusiastic about handing the object in his other hand over, but then he seemed to have a change of heart. "Here," he said.

Morif and Brother Vaughn both reached out at the same time, and it nearly sent Morif into the water. Brother Vaughn tried not to think about how that would've turned out but was distracted by the sight of a small, gold-trimmed box made of jade and wood inlay. The perfectly preserved artifact rested easily in Morif's hands. There seemed no apparent way of opening the box, and he handed it to Brother Vaughn.

"If that thing happens to entitle the bearer to wine, whiskey, and women, you'll give it back, right?" Logan asked.

"Deal," Brother Vaughn said. "Even if it's just two out of three."

"Fair enough."

Logan's dive for the second globe was as excruciatingly slow as the first, and it seemed he was having trouble dislodging the globe from where it had come to rest. Morif cast Brother Vaughn an accusatory glance, which Brother Vaughn did his best to pretend he didn't notice. After a few tense moments, Logan freed the globe and made his way slowly back to the surface.

"I don't know how you do that," Brother Vaughn said, "but it makes me breathe heavy just watching you." Though Logan's ascent had provided no new detail of what else waited on the lake floor, Brother Vaughn was thrilled by what he had learned. "Thank you all for your help! This is wonderful!"

Morif snatched both herald globes out of Brother Vaughn's hands. "You'll get yours back when we get to shore."

Chase shook his head. Before him stood Catrin in the craziest outfit he'd ever seen. She'd taken supple leather and created a tight but flexible body suit covered with straps, rings, and zippers. Her ears were covered, and over her eyes she wore clear lenses mounted in leather-wrapped iron rings, which were attached to a second pair of rings with flaps that tapered into a strap and buckle. "You look like Strom attacked an otter."

Catrin grinned back at him and turned around. Then she climbed up onto the saddle. Chase continued to shake his head as he watched her draw the straps and buckle herself to the saddle. The largest straps secured her at the waist, and other smaller straps formed an interplay. Cinching tight on one strap gave slack to another, and because of the clever design, Catrin could move around on the massive saddle while still being firmly tethered. It was brilliant and insane.

Hunching down as if she were in mid flight, Catrin moved her feet to an upper set of toeholds and wedged herself under the two massive shield flaps, which were lightly armored and apparently padded inside. "You see," came Catrin's muffled voice. "There's enough room for me and a few things."

"Even if we could make a thousand of these, we don't have a thousand dragons. We have one and we're not certain he'll fly again."

"Don't you say that," Catrin said, looking imposing despite her ridiculous garb. "Kyrien could fly now if he wanted to, but we are not ready. We are unprepared. And why are we unprepared? Because we did not listen to me ."

Chase let out a brief sigh, which was cut off by another sharp look from Catrin. How anyone could expect to be taken seriously with those goggles on was beyond him, yet somehow she pulled it off. The pair of knives holstered on each leg did help, he supposed. "Yes. You're right. Let's not have that argument again. My point is that I don't think this saddle provides a solution to our immediate problems."