Humbol mulled over what Maya told him for a few moments. He scratched his chin in thought before lowering his hand as he came to a conclusion.

“Huh. I think I would have preferred gold. But, if you can ask the water to do things, why didn’t you just have a tsunami wash Katrina’s fleet away?”

“I’m supposed to earn my abilities with Essence,” Maya replied. She nodded at the watery cloak around her shoulders. “This is the extent of my capabilities for now. I tried to ask for temporary assistance to save us…” The captain trailed off, her brow darkening.

“Given the fact that nothing happened, I assume that didn’t go well?” Cyll asked.

“It wanted me to be a slave for a year in exchange for saving all of us,” Maya growled. “We’re going to have some things to discuss very, very soon. I need an ability, but I don’t fancy one that isn’t truly mine. I don’t want anything on loan.”

“That’s…concerning,” Cyll said.

“I’ll deal with it,” Maya said firmly. “Don’t lose sleep over it. It’s just a stupid rock that’s going to catch a beating the next time I talk with it.”

“Now, now,” Humbol said. “This isn’t the time to be getting moody. We just survived escaping an entire fleet of ships! We should be celebrating. From my understanding, there’s still a week until we arrive at Dredd’s Tomb. Cyll, why don’t you tell us about what’s in store?”

“I think my information might be a bit…outdated,” Cyll said, scratching the back of his head. “Dredd’s Tomb is the dungeon, but there was a small outpost around it. They sold basic supplies and had some low-quality lodging.”

“Is there anything that interesting in that tomb?” Maya asked.

“You could say that,” Cyll said, letting out a bitter bark of laughter. “It’s also the tomb of a god.”

“Gods can die?” Patty asked, leaning forwards. The animated expression on her face almost made Maya forget that her crewmate’s skin wasn’t made of flesh.

“Anything can die,” Cyll said, his words measured and dangerous. “Some things are just harder to kill than others.”

He noticed the somber expressions of everyone around him and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Regardless, the Tomb was full of Essence and some seriously dangerous weapons. It’s only a mid-sized dungeon, so you wouldn’t think the loot would be that great. But, there was a trick to it. Once you get to the end of the dungeon, there’s a well-hidden secret passage that allows you into a lower level. That’s where the real loot is.”

“And the danger, I suspect,” Humbol said.

“Aye. A healthy amount of it,” Cyll agreed. “But I believe we can handle it. We don’t have to take the entire dungeon at once. We can make our way through slowly. A lot of Dredd’s Tomb is just learning how it works. Once we figure that out, we’ll be set.”

“Don’t you remember? You said you’ve been there,” Humbol pointed out.

“What did you have for breakfast one week ago?” Cyll replied.

“Fish and seaweed. I wasn’t lying about that.”

“Bah. Maya, what did you have for breakfast last week?” Cyll asked, turning to the captain.

“I don’t remember,” she replied, shrugging.

“Much better. It’s like that, but worse. You should count yourselves lucky that I remember as much as I do,” Cyll grumbled.

“So you don’t remember anything else?” Patty asked.

“Dredd’s Tomb wasn’t the only dungeon I went to,” Cyll said. “It’s just the only one that we might be strong enough to take at the moment.”

“How did you take them on, then?” Humbol asked, combing his hair back. A ring caught a strand and he cursed, yanking his hand back and patting his head with a grimace. “The dungeons, that is. You hardly seem that strong.”

“I can hold my own,” Cyll snapped. “But you’re right, I didn’t do them on my own. I was in a crew. A strong one. We’re no longer on speaking terms.”

Humbol wisely chose not to press any harder. The four of them lapsed into silence, allowing the gentle lap of small ocean waves against the Wavedance fill the air.

The rest of the trip passed easily. Their supplies had not been damaged in the fight with Katrina’s crew. Cyll and Humbol quickly realized they had competition for whoever could eat the most food in the shortest amount of time. By the day that they were due to arrive at Dredd’s Tomb, their supplies were dwindling dangerously.

Maya’s wounds had continued to improve, although Cyll still refused to let Maya remove the bandages on her face for more than a few moments to change them. It didn’t take Maya long to learn of a new, very annoying, issue that came with having one eye covered: depth perception.

The young woman lost track of the times she accidentally slammed her foot into a barrel or tripped over a rope that she would have sworn was nowhere near her.

Just as the sun reached its peak in the sky, Patty called out from the crow’s nest.

“Land ho!” The animated puppet yelled.

Maya and Humbol, who had been sitting on the deck playing with a deck of cards the man had procured from somewhere, leapt to their feet and dashed over to the bow of the ship. Humbol stuck his arm out, stopping Maya before she got too close.

“Let’s not tempt fate, shall we?” He said.

“Probably a good idea,” Maya agreed, her injured eye pulsating in pain, almost as if it had noticed she was thinking about it.

The two of them squinted out over the sea. It was a foggy day, which made it somewhat difficult to make out any details. However, as they grew closer, a large landmass slowly began to etch itself into the horizon.

Maya and Humbol’s eyebrows traveled up their foreheads and did their best to escape their faces.

“Holy shit,” Maya whispered.

“Say, Cyll?” Humbol called. “Just how small did you say Dredd’s Tomb was?”

Before them was no small outpost. Grey walls as high as those in the Sea City of Bulsen rose into the sky. Enormous spires scraped through the fog, glittering metal covering them in intricate patters that were too far out to make sense of.

Before it all, a massive sea gate blocked entrance to what could have only been Dredd’s Tomb. Two huge guard outposts the size of small islands sat on either side of it, a veritable fleet of ships docked beside them.

It was evident that the Tomb was no longer a small mid-sized dungeon. It was a fully fledged fortress.