Tina Daniell - Maquesta Kar-Thon

Hvel glanced up and smiled at his approaching captain. Nodding to her, he released the last clamp that held the morkoth's cage to the back of the ship.

"What have you done?" Maq screeched, as she slid alongside him.

Hvel looked at her blankly, and she spotted red flecks in his eyes. "The morkoth needed to be free," he said in a dull, monotone voice. "I couldn't open the cage, though. I tried real hard, too. So I let the cage loose. I thought maybe its impact on the sea floor might break it open. My friend the morkoth needed to be free. He told me so."

"All stop!" Maquesta bellowed at the top of her lungs.

Immediately the sailors on deck rushed to the rigging to lower the sails.

"Drop anchor!" Maq continued to shout orders. "Now!"

"Aye, Captain!" It was Vartan calling from the capstan, where he was fervently working to lower the anchor.

A pounding across the deck brought Koraf and Fritzen to the aft section where the cage had been affixed. Hvel grinned at them and quickly explained how successful he was in freeing his new friend. He puffed out his chest in pride. Furious, Maquesta shook his shoulders. The red flecks faded, and a dazed Hvel stood looking out over the water.

"What happened to the cage?" he asked innocently. "Why are we stopped? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Maq ignored him and whirled on the Dimernesti. "Tailonna, how long would it take you to mix up some more potions of water breathing?"

"Not long," the sea elf said. "But I likely have enough ingredients for only one." She rushed toward the armory, where the remainder of her herbs were being stored.

"Do it quickly!" Maq called after her. "I'm going after the cage." Then she wheeled on Koraf. "Get Hvel belowdecks. I want Lendle to look him over."

The minotaur half-carried the puzzled Hvel away, leaving Maq and Fritzen staring at the water.

"Let me go after the cage," the half-ogre offered. "I've faced the morkoth before-in his element. I know what to expect. Besides, I'm stronger than you, and that cage is heavy."

Maquesta firmly shook her head. "This task is mine. I have to do this." Her shoulders sagged. "And we were so close. How could this have happened?"

Fritz stood behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist. "We're not undone yet, but you'll have to give in to me this time. There is no way you can bring up that cage."

"Neither could you," she retorted, spinning and releasing herself from his arms. "Not even you are that strong. But I could use your help up top. Lendle has a collection of winches and pulleys down in the hold. I've seen them lying around next to his oar engine. If you could get them rigged up, anchored off the aft deck, I could hook a couple of cables to the cage and we could pull it up."

Fritzen stroked his chin in contemplation. "What if the cage has broken open, Maquesta? What if the morkoth is free?"

"Then we are undone," she said softly. "My father will die, and Ilyatha will never see his daughter again. But I'll not let another sailor die on this quest."

"Thebeastisfree?" Lendle hurried up behind them and poked his head through the aft rail. "Everyoneistalkingaboutthemorkothescaping."

"Temporarily escaping," Tailonna said, as she approached, holding up a vial. "Enough for one potion, and not a large one at that. I suspect this won't last you more than a few hours."

Maq stepped away from Fritz and took the vial in her trembling hand. "It will have to be enough, then." She downed the mixture in one gulp, made sure her short sword and dagger were firmly hooked to her belt, then vaulted over the railing and plunged into the choppy water below.

Tailonna glanced at Fritzen and Lendle. "I'm going with her," she said. Then the sea elf was gone, too.

The gnome peered over the railing to watch their forms disappear as they swam deeper.

"Ihaveabadfeelingaboutthis," Lendle jabbered.

The half-ogre tapped him on the shoulder, nearly sending the startled gnome into the sea, too.

"Winches and pulleys?"

The gnome nodded and led Fritzen into the hold.

The water became colder the deeper Maquesta swam. Her tunic was plastered against her skin, making her movements awkward, and after several yards she tugged off her sandals and let them float away. She felt the water move in and out of her nose, deep into her lungs. It was an odd sensation, but the potion was working, and Maq was amazed that she was breathing water as if it were air.

Dark shapes loomed up below her. Rock formations, a small coral reef, the wreck of an old ship. She batted her eyes and pumped her legs harder, her efforts carrying her deeper still. Another wreck came into view, and another. She gritted her teeth. The morkoth had chosen the center of the Blood Cup to make its move. These waters were rumored to be filled with all manner of aquatic life, lured by the empty husks of once-proud caravels, schooners, warships, and carracks. Divers who sought out the Cup to harvest the riches of the hulks were rarely successful. Most succumbed to attacks from bullsharks.

Sharks were the least of Maquesta's worries now. In fact, Maq didn't see any fish at all. Wait! There was one bullshark, a massive one. It lazily swam over the largest wreck, probably searching for food. That explained the lack of smaller fish, Maq decided. Bullsharks would try to eat anything smaller than themselves.

Trying to keep a good distance from the large shark, Maquesta hovered several yards above the sea floor and peered through the gloom, trying to find the morkoth's cage. All she could see was the graveyard of unfortunate ships and rocky spirals reaching upward amid them. Judging where the cage might have gone down before the Perechon could stop, she started swimming forward, skirting the ships, suspecting the cage might lie beyond them. With each stroke she prayed the cage was intact. If the morkoth was free, it could be hiding in any one of these rotting vessels-or it could be swimming as far away and as fast as its tentacles would take its ugly body.

As her half-elven eyes became more accustomed to the darkness, Maquesta began to pick out details. Most of the ships had sat on the bottom for decades. The barnacles and algae that flourished on their sides were thick and covered up the names on their hulls. Broken masts pointed in all directions, as if the sea floor were a giant pin cushion. Rotting pieces of sails fluttered from some of the masts, looking like ghosts hovering in the water.

The Golden Sailfish , Blood Sea Bounty , Felicia's Dream , and Red Roland were some of the names she could discern on the more recent wrecks. Perhaps victims of the Blood Sea imps, she mused, as her course took her around the edge of the graveyard and to a sloping coral ridge just beyond. Fortunately the morkoth had not hypnotized Hvel at night, when the imps are about, she thought.

Something brushed up against Maquesta's legs, and she drew her dagger, twirled in the water, and stopped herself from stabbing forward with the blade. Tailonna hovered there. The sea elf pointed toward the coral ridge. Maquesta followed the Dimernesti's gaze and spotted the outline of the cage, just over the edge of an embankment. Squinting, Maq could tell the morkoth was still inside. But it was getting some help to get free.

No! Maquesta's mind screamed, as she kicked her legs furiously to take her closer to the coral ridge. A squid, apparently under the control of the morkoth, was hard at work on the bars, trying to pry them apart with its tentacles. The morkoth was assisting it, using its tentacles to do the same.

Maquesta's eyes grew wide as she watched the bars start to bend. The sea elf shot past her, propelling herself at the squid, and hitting the creature's bulbous body, pushing it away from the cage and impaling it on a jagged finger of coral. Maquesta swam faster, too, her lungs aching from the exertion. She held the dagger in her teeth and dived toward the cage. As she landed on the ridge by the cage, the sharp edges of the coral bit into her feet. Ignoring the pain, Maquesta drew her short sword, moved forward, and thrust the blade through the bars to keep the morkoth back. She examined the bars that were swelled outward. Not enough space to let the morkoth slip through, she decided, though more than enough space for a tentacle to slip out.