I was beginning to get worried about Apis, I had to admit. It had been at least half an hour and he hadn’t showed up, a little damp but otherwise none the worse for wear, maybe with a few more pickles. Okay, Elysia. Stop being overly optimistic.

I wiped my blade again. I stared at the water. I stood up, then sat down. There’s no point. We shouldn’t-

“Oh, thank the goddess!”

I jumped, turning around and flinging my blade at the sound. Vita shrieked and toppled over, dropping her crutch. Duran woke up with a snort. Behind her, another man loomed out of the darkness. Not Herminius. I swung the blade over to him. “Is he threatening you?”

I realized, a little too late, that I probably still had blood all over my cloak. Oh well.

The man lifted his hands up in surrender slowly. “I’m not here to threaten anyone,” he said. “My name is councilman Domitus. I’m here to beg for help. I believe someone may be in serious danger. There is a pair of people within these walls who I have been told wish very serious harm on whoever they may find, and I worry about who might run into them unawares.”

He glanced at me. It was a very judgemental glance. “I suspect you may know who I’m speaking about,” he added.

I lowered the sword. “Blonde,” I tried. He nodded. “Axe,” I suggested. Domitus nodded again. “There was more than one of them?” A final nod.

“Two of them,” he said, “Siblings. A sister and a brother, although I never learned their true purpose. I fled their companionship when I learned they wanted to kill me.”

Curse it all to the gods. So it was the same people. And if there were two of them… “Duran, get up. We’re rescuing Apis.”

He was already standing. He flourished the paring knife. “I’m ready!”

“Put that down. You’ll be on scouting duty at best.” I turned to the two of them. “I’m pretty sure our companion has been captured by that pair. Do you know where they’re camping?”

For us to search this entire section of the temple, it would take most of the night- and they might move their space. If he knew, however…

“I was told where they planned on moving so I could avoid it,” said Domitus. “The brother was worried about my safety.” He frowned, looking between us. “But, ah, pardon my interference… are you sure you’re equipped for this? Your companion may already be, well. With the gods.”

“I’ve already fended that woman off, sword to axe,” I said. He didn’t need to know exactly how clumsy I had been. Technically there had been some succeeding involved. “As long as we can get in and get out fast, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Maybe I could swim away again. She had let me get away before.

The silence that followed my proclamation was notably long, followed by a groaning as Vita tried to pull herself up. I finally offered her a hand. “If you have Tears, we’ll be fine,” she said. “No need to run away. We can just take the next step.”

Domitus sighed. “What did I say about keeping information quiet?”

“Tears?”

Vita leaned on her crutch and fumbled in a pocket. When she removed her hand, it was to reveal a brilliant drop of diamond that matched the one I kept in my pocket.

“We have two,” she said. She grinned. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? They say that when Teuthida first came to surface, when she witnessed that the land had stolen her unmarked ocean, she cried four pure tears, one for each continent-”

“The other tale is, of course, that someone paid several hundred gold to carve pure diamonds into teardrop shapes,” said the man. He reached forward and closed her fingers over the diamond. “I would rather you not fling that around. They aren’t an easy commodity to find.”

“I’ll keep it safe,” she said.

“What does any of this have to do with where Apis is?”

“They have him at the statue!” Duran, as usual, caught up fast. He had already pulled on his outer cloak and boots. “I bet they’re waiting for us to try and leave. That way they can steal the other tears.” His hand clenched. “Those villains! Maybe they’re keeping him as insurance!”

“I…” I paused. “…sure. They’re keeping him.” Better to keep Duran in high spirits. I glanced over at Domitus. “Is that correct? He’s at the statue?” He nodded. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

“I was worried you might-”

I was already walking towards the nearest lilypad crossing. “Listen,” I said. “We have one of those diamonds. They stole one of them from us. They also stole our companion, so I’m not exactly feeling friendly right now. How many tears do you have? You need four?” The goddess had four hands, so it wasn’t difficult math.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“…two,” Domitus admitted.

“Right. So we’ll go, you can hide if you’re afraid, Duran and I will steal Apis and the remaining gem, and then we’ll all go through to the next level. Yes?”

“But you don’t even have a plan!”

“We’ll figure one out on the way.” I pulled my skirt up to my knees and got ready for my next jump. The abyssal sword was cold against my hip, making my movements awkward. I hadn’t strapped it against my back since it had nearly burned me. Andrena, it seemed, disapproved of my plan. He’s your ward. You’re not willing to help him, but you went rogue and grew plants in another Goddess’s temple? What’s that about?

As usual, she only interfered when it served her own purposes. I stared across the water for a moment before I made the first jump, barely steadying before I jumped to the next lilypad. We had tried a few of the different lilypads, Duran testing the different types. It turned out it was fairly easy to tell the true lilypads apart from the ones that could support your weight. The real ones were paler in the center.

I stopped on one, looking back to see who was following. Vita was swimming, slowly. Domitus was hopping. Duran was right behind me.

“Good to know we’re all on the same page,” I said. “Let’s keep it moving. I don’t want to think about what they’re doing right now.” Apis was probably trying to make small talk. If I was lucky, we’d get there before someone stabbed him for it.

----------------------------------------

“I don’t think we’re on the same page,” hissed Domitus. We’d huddled behind a tree and were trying to see through the smoke. All I could see was faint movement beyond. A blond man had come out and was drawing something on the dirt. “You want to just rush in?”

“I didn’t say that,” I said. “I said you should rush in and distract her, and I’ll get Apis.”

“You’re trying to kill me! I’ve seen the way that woman throws axes.”

“Fine,” I said. “We’ll send Vita. She probably wouldn’t kill someone who’s already injured.”

We both turned to look at Vita. She was hiding behind a stone column, trying to catch her breath. Domitus turned back to look at me. “She’s too young,” he said. “Besides, you wouldn’t.”

He was right. I wouldn’t. I sighed. “Fine. I suppose we’ll have to do it the hard way.” I leaned a little further forward, trying to see if there was any movement beyond the smoke. The inside of the stone tentacles was so shadowed, with the smoke obscuring everything else, that I couldn’t see a thing. “Did they have prisoners when you met them?”

“He’s probably dead,” he said. “Our best hope is to try and sneak away now. I really must-”

I held up a hand. “No.”

I had only known Apis for half a year, but we’d fought together. Mostly seagulls and half-coherant Voices- and a few horrible customers- but still. I wasn’t going to let some strange northerner end his life.

I pushed myself back against the trunk as the man went inside again, calling something out. Duran darted up to join us behind the trunk once he was out of eyeline. “Well?” he whispered.

I glanced up at the statue. “You think you can climb it?”

Someone had to put the tears in the hand of the goddess. Duran nodded. “Right,” I said. “Go. Now. Before anyone comes back out of there.”

Once, I’d thought Duran did everything slowly. That had been before I’d given him proper motivation. As I squinted out in the darkness, he darted across and scrambled up the stone tentacle. Apparently he had learned from his previous failures. After only a few seconds of scrabbling, he was up and out of sight. I risked discovery and stepped into sight of the clearing to stare up at the statue.

After a moment of holding my breath, I spotted a glint of blonde hair and a smile. He was waving at me. I shook my head. “Hide!” I mouthed.

He ducked out of sight. I went back behind the tree just in time; as I hid in the shadow, I heard footsteps and yelling. Camilla.

“You fools! You’ll regret this!” Her shouting was vague, angry. I kept myself behind the tree, but risked a glance when the commotion turned to just vague yelling. The woman from before had Camilla by the shoulder, yanking her towards where the man had been drawing on the ground. She was tied up. Behind her, two others were following. A taller man I vaguely recognized, her companion. Then, his skin smudged with dirt and his eyes wide with shock- Apis.

I felt my shoulders lower with a sigh I couldn’t quite release. He was alive, then. No problem, Elysia. All you have to do is fight the crazy axe-lady again. That’s going to go great.

I shoved that voice very firmly into a box in my head and pulled myself back into the shadow, staring up at the leaves and hoping I was tucked firmly out of sight. The leaves flickered. Behind me, the lights flickered green.

Above me, a face peered out in between the leaves. He waved at me.

The same ghost from before. What was he doing here? I looked over my shoulder, then back up at him. Domitus was staring into the clearing, tucked into the same shadow I was. It was like he hadn’t noticed the ghost at all.

The ghost jumped down from the branches, light as any feather. He bowed to me like it was a casual country party. I gave him another rude gesture, this one implying his mother was highly edible. He blew me a kiss in return and then grinned at me.

His teeth were sharpened. I shuddered. His chestplate was the same as I had noticed before; the rearing bear. Why is that so familiar to me? Where have I seen that before?

Behind me, Camilla began to scream. I leaned over, looking past Domitus’s shoulder. It was like he’d decided to completely ignore our plan of staying hidden.

As soon as I could see the clearing, I realized why. A rippling sheet of green light, almost flame-like, had encased Camilla. She was scrambling away from where the pale woman stood, but her shoulders thumped against the light. As if the light itself was holding her back from the rest of the clearing.

Advancing upon her, merciless, was a ghost. I couldn’t make out the features. Only that it leaned down, put a hand on her shoulder. The light flared even brighter, Camilla screaming louder- then the sound cut off. When I opened my eyes, she was standing. She rolled her shoulders, once, twice. Then she pulled her hands apart and the rope snapped.

I swallowed. That wasn’t Camilla. Not anymore.

I grabbed Domitus by the shoulder- he was stiff, frozen in fear- and pulled him back. “We have to get Apis,” I hissed at him.

He didn’t say anything. He was staring, barely blinking. Well, he was a failure. “Give me your tear,” I said. I held a hand out. He frowned, like he had just woken up, and fumbled in his pockets.

The diamond was cool in my hand. I clenched it tightly and stared over at the rest of the clearing.

The split second where it all went white. That was the best distraction. I glanced over the woman again. She wasn’t wearing her chestplate anymore- and that was where she’d stored the tear. Could I really be so lucky? Did she just leave it inside her camp?

Then again, she had ghost-warriors possessing people working for her. Did she need to be careful about her possessions?

I put a hand on the sword and looked up at the big woman again. Well, Elysia. Here’s your chance. Do something heroic for once.