In a tenuous alliance of sorts, Leslyn and Kaleit continued to study Erin’s slabbet, the strange metal device that seemed to have a clairvoyance that was downright terrifying the further they read. By touching words and names that were colored blue, they were able to view what appeared to be detailed dossiers about anyone or anything that appeared on the slabbet’s face, including Prince Koben himself.
“What is ‘unlocked in future chapters’ supposed to mean?” Kaleit snapped, glaring at the metal slab in his hand. “There looks to be more to Koben’s dossier regarding the merling and the Queen, but it is blocked by a rectangular shadow with that same text written on it. It doesn’t vanish, even when I try to wipe it away.”
He showed the offending shadow to Leslyn, who shrugged. “Perhaps we shouldn’t bother with Koben, then. Let’s see if there’s anything useful in Coyrifan’s dossier.” Kaleit passed the slabbet over, then flopped back on his bed to stare at the ceiling with an accusing glare. Leslyn searched out the proper blue letters in Koben’s dossier to get to the merling’s information.
After reading a bit, Leslyn shook his head. “It paints the merling’s intentions in the purest light, of course.”
“Of course,” Kaleit deadpanned back.
“It says he’s doing all of this because he wants to protect his heartbeast Imyra from the Turning.” He glanced at the other youth. “What do you suppose that is?”
“A change of some sort, I would guess,” Kaleit said to the ceiling. “Could be a physical change, could be something to do with the turning seasons. It could be anything. Who knows?”
“Ah, here we are: ‘His human associate Erin is currently taking refuge in a secret cave system on the Mivusa-Ghaleri tribal border near the Nilvar Shallows. Tensions between the two tribes are currently high, and the chiefs have recently been meeting for reasons unknown.’”
“’Human.’ That word is in there often when speaking of Erin.”
“I’ve noticed it referring to other manlings as well. It must be what the merlings call our kind when speaking among themselves.” He skimmed further. “Only one other merling knows of Erin’s existence and whereabouts.” Leslyn frowned as he went on, “Zeriva, daughter of the chief of the Ghaleri tribe. Her trustworthiness in keeping such secrets is suspect, at best.”
“Great,” Kaleit snapped, abruptly sitting up. “The blabbermouth daughter of a rival chief knows where Erin is. That bodes well indeed.”
“There’s got to be something we can do.” Leslyn flipped through the dossier with swipes of his fingertip, looking for anything that might be of use. He came across an image that was just a series of artistic symbols on a white background, each one of them labeled with a specific meaning. One symbol looked like a ball with a series of curving lines around it. It was labeled, “OUT.”
Some blue text was just below, and Leslyn tapped it as soon as he comprehended what it said. As the next set of information appeared on the slabbet, his jaw hung in disbelief and a rush of determination flushed through his body.
“Kaleit, it’s a map!”
“Of what?”
Instead of speaking, he turned the device so that Kaleit could see the image on its face.
“Leslyn. No.”
“Yes. We’re doing this.”
----------------------------------------
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Kaleit muttered, leaning forward and back as he worked a pair of oars.
The two youths were in a rowboat, slowly making their way south on the open ocean. The sun would soon begin sinking, but it beat down on them with little to no relief from the sparse, billowy clouds above. The moon Crylis wasn’t helping the situation, his crystalline surface reflecting back even more heat. Leslyn was glad they’d brought plenty of water, but his pale skin was on fire. He would definitely resemble a cooked shellfish by nightfall.
“This is not how I wanted to spend my day off,” the tall one continued to complain. “We’ve been rowing for hours.”
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“We’re almost there,” Leslyn said absently, looking at a compass to make sure they were still going in the right direction. “Could you check the trap again?”
Kaleit put down his oars and reached over the side of the boat, pulling up length after length of rope until he held the dripping basket trap in his hands. “It’s full,” he said. “The bait worked. Who’d have thought they’d be attracted to apples, of all things?”
“The slabbet told the truth again. I don’t exactly like it, but I’m beginning to believe its knowledge can be trusted, even if it is cursed.”
Kaleit scoffed at that, but Leslyn didn’t hear. He was too busy feeling ill as the dark shape of a sunken island became visible below the distant surface, fading out of the darkest blue void. That valorous excitement that cropped up when he first saw the map on the slabbet had dissipated long ago. It had lasted roughly just long enough to get him past the point where turning back would have been acceptable. Still, a stubborn pride kept him going. There was no way he would let Kaleit have any more fodder to dangle over him when his cruel streak was stirred. Not when Erin’s life was on the line.
Once they were above the sunken island, Kaleit let down the anchor, then opened the basket trap. A writhing pile of gelatinous flesh, clear as glass, spilled out onto the plank floor in front of his feet. He experimentally poked at it, then tentatively scooped up a handful.
The creature he held was made of a small, transparent body that was a squishy little head the size of a large grape, fringed in thread-like tentacles no longer than a man’s finger. A larger blob formed its bulk, where its translucent heart could be seen beating, and traces of digesting apple slowly trickled through invisible pathways. Upon its back was what appeared to be a deflated bladder of sorts, which had a circular swirl of tightly-clenched flesh embedded into its surface. Bits of apple were inside the bladder as well.
“The slabbet said to touch the swirl,” Leslyn said, trying not to wrinkle his nose at the oozing thing in Kaleit’s hand.
He did just that, and the swirl opened, the bladder ballooning several feet outward towards Kaleit’s face with a snap. Next thing Leslyn knew, the thing was flying through the air and hit the water with a soft plop. It remained above water, floating upside-down on the air-filled bladder, its tentacles flailing uselessly in the breeze. A moment later, it expelled the air forcefully, sending itself shooting further away until it was empty and began to sink back into the depths.
“So these are sky jellies,” Kaleit said, picking up another one and staring at it with a dejected grimace. “Delightful.”
“Apparently they’ll give us a few minutes of breath, if needed.” Leslyn took one up himself, grimly touching the swirl to inflate it. Closing his eyes and scrunching up his face, he stuck his fingers into the opening, pried it apart, and slipped the surprisingly stretchy bladder over his head. He flinched with a shuddering grunt of disgust and a particularly nightmarish horror as the cold ring of jelly squeezed firmly against the tender skin of his neck.
“Well? Aren’t you going to try breathing?” was Kaleit’s impatient inquiry.
Still unable to bring himself to open his eyes, Leslyn shook his head emphatically. Somehow, he knew it would absolutely reek.
When at last he could hold his breath no more, he had no choice but to give in, his eyes flying open as he gasped for air. He was surprised to find that it merely smelt of seawater and apples. He was not surprised to see Kaleit smirking with perverse glee at the sight of him wearing the jelly.
“You look like an utter buffoon,” he said helpfully.
“You’ll look so good yourself in a moment,” Leslyn shot back, his voice slightly muffled by the transparent bubble. “It actually works.”
The smirk vanished at that, and was replaced by a sneer of disgust.
A few minutes later, the two were underwater, carefully climbing around a sheer drop-off at one end of the expanse of sunken land by grabbing hold of tiny ridges in the rock wall and pulling themselves along as they searched for the hidden opening. Leslyn had slightly slower going, for he held a second sky jelly in one hand, that one containing the slabbet.
Once they located the entrance, Leslyn woke up the slabbet to light their way by manipulating it through the gelatinous wall of the bubble. They then made their way through some flooded tunnels and into a large cavern, where they were able to climb out, leave their jellies behind in a small, shallow pool, and walk to the next set of tunnels.
“See, here are those same markings,” Leslyn said, holding up the slabbet next to some etchings on the wall beside the tunnel opening. “We just follow them in the same order as this list, and we’ll find Erin.”
Using the slabbet’s remarkably steady and bright light, Leslyn and Kaleit traversed the tunnels until they saw the glow of yellow lantern light flickering ahead of them. Leslyn resisted the urge to run, but he noticed that Kaleit’s pace picked up in the same moment as his own did. Either for joy of leaving the long dark, or eagerness to reach Erin, both worked for Leslyn.
When they entered the small, well-lit cave, they both halted, staring in disbelief.
It wasn’t the array of manling furnishings and other contraptions set up around the room that surprised them. Not one article of clothing, or the fleece-pile bed, or even the unexpected appearance of the painting of a dog.
The slight, fair-haired merling was kneeling in the middle of the room, slumped over so far that he was nearly bent double.
Leslyn ran over and took him by the shoulders, pulling him up. He was heavy, as if he had no strength left of his own. “Coyrifan? What is the matter? Where’s Erin?”
His golden eyes met Leslyn’s for a moment, then he hung his head again.
“She’s gone,” he said, his voice barely audible. “I failed. It’s over.”