“Bait meet you there!” The goblin said before dashing out the door first. Bait has secret plan. Need to visit mess hall. Drink lots of water. Bless boat with lots of pee! Shoalsotta must love pee; all boats have pee on them. The mess hall was easy to find and relatively quiet when Bait bolted through the tent flaps and rushed to the tables with pitchers of water on them. He grabbed one in his hands and defiantly threw his head back as he drank deeply from the pitcher. He struggled to choke down the water faster enough; dis pitcher made for humans, not goblins. Too big, not enough cheese. The few people in the room looked at him with concern but did nothing to stop him as he set down the pitcher and grabbed another.

“Is that safe?” One of the witnesses asked another.

“Probably not; it causes the brain to swell if you drink too much too fast. Though he is a goblin, they have big skulls.”

Bait finished the second pitcher and went for another. A robust human hand grabbed the pitcher before he could and pulled it out of his reach.

“Friend, you’re cut off.” Said a man who had a scruffy salt and peppered beard.

“Dat for wheat rot-water, not water water.” Bait said, hopping a bit, reaching for the pitcher just out of reach.

“It's for whatever I say it is. Now run along, please. I don’t want to clean up any vomit today.”

Bait looked at the man in his stern face. “K bye.” He said before scampering out of the tent and heading back to the docks. By the time he had arrived, so too had a few members of the Red Banner Army, each carrying some small instrument. Bait like the dwarf with the small drums best. Elf with a flute, human with a violin. Others with other small instruments Bait not know name of. Sad, no goblins here with rat sticks. Dey hiss lots, make great chorus. Blackpowder clan still resting and recovering. Crowley and she-devil work Blackpowder clan hard. Tend dumb Sticks-weed. Bait clan no gardeners or farmers. Dey hunters. Dey need time to adjust to the outside world again. Day hunt before long.

Bait joined his friends upon the boat, sneaking to the ship and gingerly relieving himself all over the back. Illaria would yet at him again if he pissed on the front of the vessel. The memory of the boat smacking him in balls sent a shiver up his spine. Dumb ghost boat.

The rest of his friends were busy preparing to visit the spirit. Mavec and Alvec had set up a shrine with the sword, Crowley’s hand, and a small pile of gold pieces. Illaria, Naya, and Sarbie were on their hands and knees, adding decorations to the boat. Painting the image of crabs and other favored creatures of Shoalsatta onto the ship. Bait not know how else to make Shoalsatta happy, but Illaria says we never dance so as not to draw da spirits ire. So Bait stripped down to just his undergarments. Traditional goblin dance would help get attention.

As the other boat followed them out onto the open seas, the music began, and Bait stomped around the ship, making hoos and ha’s as his feet slapped the wooden deck.

Mavec shook his head as he leaned against the railing of the boat. The seas were calmer than they had been the night before, but the seas weren’t a thing he was familiar with. For all he knew, this was how they usually were outside of storms. He hated this; relying on the spirits was about the last thing he wanted to do. To think that Akrixi had stopped the infernals was a bit of a gut punch. Spirits were fickle and ephemeral. Trusting them felt like rolling dice with their very lives. But the gods, as great as there were, were the newcomers in this land, historically speaking. Ageneon's reign had cemented them as the preferred beings of worship in the empire. Either way, helping set up the makeshift altar and decorating was all the bullshit Mavec could stand. He stubbornly tapped his foot to the makeshift music drifting over to them from the second boat a few hundred yards away. He could see LuCol watching them intently from the other ship.

Naya and Illaria swung around in a bawdy dance. Illaria belted the lyrics to one of her favorite sea shanties as they moved around the dance floor. Sarbie followed Mavec’s lead, hanging out near the entrance to the small captain's cabin. These last few weeks had been a blur. Constructs with spinning heads, giant salamanders, sleepwalking towns, devils and pirates, and spirits. You could write a good story about any of the topics she’d recently encountered. The group certainly seemed like the heroes of an epic tale. Illaria was so beautiful and swift, not to mention daring. Illaria’s vibrant red hair flashing on a background of swift steel was ingrained in her mind.

On the other hand, Naya felt like she’d stepped out of time or a folk tale. She and Echo cut a taller-than-life portrait of living in the hinterlands, where the spirits ruled more than the gods. Mavec was perhaps the least outwardly heroic, yet Picquora had come in the clutch many times, and her speed was dazing. Bait, well, he’d have been the comedic relief in any other story, but his lethality with his musket put him in some strange folk-hero category. A cheese-obsessed goblin should be the relief. And then, there was Alvec. The unyielding. She couldn’t help but smile. The nickname and the story circulating with it were the stuff of legends. While he’d certainly earned it, he was very different from the image they cut of him.

The hours with his head glued to books, enchanting projects, taking care of Rem, and teaching everyone here so many variations of gambling games was an image at odds with his reputation as Sha-Laial’s shield-wizard who had faced down 2/3rds of the red banner armies team on his own. She found her fingers interlaced with the clasp of the cloak he’d given her. The vial of Alchemist Fire is still safely on her hip. He’d been the one to get her into this mess, but every step of the way, he’d done his best to ensure she was as safe and protected as possible. He didn't leave her side when the devils focused on her during the last fight.

As if on cue, he broke her concentration by clearing his throat and looking slightly more jittery than usual. “So, if the world might be ending, would you do me the honor of another dance?”

“Wouldn’t you rather join in a dance with Illaria? I can hear it now, the bane of the dread pirate and the unyielding shield. Makes for a good story.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Alvec smiled too wide at her, exposing his slightly more prominent canines. “True, but I’m not writing the best fairy tale. I’m writing the one I want to tell.”

She couldn’t help but feel a slight flush creep up her face as he extended his hand. “I hardly feel worth your time. I’ve been nothing but a burden,” she said, glancing away from him. His hand quickly found hers, and with a swift tug, she found herself dragged out from the wall. He laced his fingers between hers and wrapped his other hand around the small of her back.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear a no,” Alvec said with a soft, nervous laugh.

“You didn’t hear a yes, either.”

“True, instead, you were saying you’ve been a burden. I’m not exactly sure how.”

“All of you have been protecting me so much; how am I supposed to feel like anything else?”

“Sarbie, you saved Bait’s life. Not even a question; that devil nearly caved his skull in repeatedly. Had you not been there healing him, we’d be one goblin companion short of our merry band. You’ve been an immense help.”

“I barely did that, one small hiccup, and he’d be dead.”

“No one expects you to accomplish things with heavenly grace,” Alvec said as he led her through the same tight square motions they’d practiced at the festival of blades.

“You guys make it look so easy.”

“I promise you it's not; you know what I was thinking during the Red Banner fight? When Mavec went down, it was just me and the familiars?”

“Sure, I’m skeptical how I’ll be made to feel better.”

“Fuck, fuck fuck, there's no way I make it through this.” He said with a grin. “There were four of them and just one of me. How on earth was I supposed to compete with that?” Sarbie gently slapped Alvec’s shoulder.

“I’m calling bullshit, Hoc wouldn’t stop raving about how you fought.”

“I doubt he could see me shaking from fear and adrenaline from the stands.”

“But you kept your cool and kept fighting. I can’t say I’d do the same.”

“Pretty sure you already did. You risked your life to save Bait. You had to be close enough to Bait to heal him, and that meant you were also in range of the thing trying to savagely kill him. He could have chosen to attack you just as easily at the drop of a hat.”

“But he didn’t, so it doesn’t feel like I was in danger.”

“If we all do our job right, you shouldn’t ever feel very threatened, but we can’t always protect you so effortlessly,” Alvec said before giving her hand a slight squeeze. “It's my fault you're in this, so I will do everything I can to protect you.”

Hearing those words with such sincerity made a blush creep up her cheeks as she coyly glanced away. She barely had time to enjoy the feeling before the boat shook. In a snap, she found herself held up by Alvec as he effortlessly shifted his weight, using his tail as a counterbalance to steady the two of them. The water beneath them was receding, and the ship was lowering. Strangely, it wasn’t all the water, just about a 30-foot bubble around them. The music from the boat stopped for a few seconds before resuming, the band growing more distant. As the ship settled on the seafloor far more gently than any of them expected, what seemed like an endless tide of tiny hermit crabs emerged from the curtain of water. They scaled the sides of the boats and began shuffling their way towards the valuables.

“The keeper of the depths is with us now; hermit crabs are Shoalsatta’s favorite animal. I’m not rightly sure how we be talking to her, but we should begin,” Illaria said.

“Naya, how do we talk to it?” Mavec asked.

“I mean, we could say a prayer?” Naya responded back.

“I think she’s onto something,” Alvec said as he closed his eyes and focused sharply on the question. He visualized the words and tried to replay the moment in his mind where Mangrove had spoken the name in the mortal tongue.” The crabs paused momentarily and rattled their claws skyward angrily before moving towards the loot again. An image invaded the edge of his mind. A bright purple light shone from the heavens, and Akrixi spewed thick black smoke into the sky, blotting out this strange light.

“Bait have vision, guys have vision too? Or was da cook right about drinking too much water?” Bait asked.

“Aye, we be seeing it as well,” Illaria confirmed.

“It's a purple light?” Sarbie asked.

“Quick, someone think about those monsters we’ve encountered,” Naya said.

“On it!” Mavec replied as he honed in on the memory of the strange flatworms with human teeth on both ends. The image that slowly overwhelmed his memory was a person and a spirit walking side by side. The light from the star shone upon them, and both transformed, flesh and spirit becoming monstrous under the influence of the light. “Fuck, that explains a bit,” Mavec said. Alvec focused hard, showing memories of fights with his companions and pushing another thought along with it: a desire for more. His vision was quickly overwhelmed with more visions, this time three flaming women, cats, forge sparrows, and owls. All of which blazed in golden red flame. Additionally, rainfall and the hiss of serpents dragged him out of the image.

“So, if I’m understanding this right. Kavaas is some light from space, and it mutates spirits and men into monsters, who spirits of fire and spirits of water fight.” Illaria recapped.

“Not just any fire spirits. Those were the three sisters. I’d recognize them anywhere!” Naya said. “Enner Jut, Enner Rel, and Enner Swa”

“What does that mean for us?” Mavec asked.

“I don’t know. That Kavaas is something very powerful. The three sisters are like Shoalsatta. They’re around, but you can’t interact with them.” Naya said. The boat was lifted as thousands of tiny crabs hefted the ship they were standing on off the ground and began to walk it through the water curtain.

“Time looks to be up for questions. Think she’ll let us out of here safely?” Mavec asked.

Naya crossed her hands in prayer and imagined the water gently filling around them and lifting them back up to the ocean's top. Less of an image and far more of a feeling swept over her: warmth and safety. She was sure that Shoalsatta would return them to the surface without harm. The waters did as Naya had suggested, calmly rising and pushing them up with it. Those who struggled to swim held onto Echo’s mane. When they reached the water's surface, LuCol was there, ready to fish them out of the water.

“Did you learn what you needed?’ He asked.

“Yes and no,” Alvec replied.

“Meaning?” He asked.

“We know more than we did a few minutes ago,” Mavec said.

“There's got to be something we be missing,” Illaria said.

“Can we maybe discuss this around a fire?” Alvec asked as he motioned to their sopping-wet clothing.

“Let's,” LuCol said as he ordered the boat to return to the mainland. Once they had returned to dry land, LuCol commandeered a tent on the outskirts of the camp, and the group began to dry out.