“What the hell is that oaf doing now?” Haftor asked as they watched the young giant doing his best to keep the fast pace of the ship.

“What does it look like?” Thorwald asked back with a chuckle as he shook his head. “He decided to spend his time training.”

“Training?” Ingrid scoffed. “He looks more like a red dog that’s trying not to drown.”

“He can sure swim fast. Though he does look like a wet dog.” One of the sailors remarked with the others laughing at his words.

“Let him train for another week,” Thorwald said with a firm tone. “And he might leave the ship behind even with the wind at our back.”

“Not everyone can swim as fast as you do, captain.” Another sailor noted, the others nodding in agreement.

A good half an hour later Einar managed to tire himself out enough to not think about his home. He grabbed the rope that floated straight in front of him in a near-taut state and pulled himself back on the ship. The youth managed to climb back on board, his wet boots squeaking while water was dripping from his armour and clothes.

“So,” Thorwald stepped closer to him. “Did you manage to clear your head?”

“I did,” the youth sighed. “It was one hellish swim though.”

“That I know,” the man agreed. “I used to do it myself as well during my younger years as a sailor. Being able to swim fast while in armour is a useful skill. As for us God-marked, it can be useful in many other ways.”

“You mean its ability to increase one of our attributes?” Einar asked, the older seeker nodding.

“There are many things you’ll get better throughout your life, but some skills are better to develop early. Swimming and diving are necessary skills for any seafarer. I take it you will keep swimming these next few days?”

“If it’s not too much trouble for the crew.”

“Not unless you drown,” Thorwald remarked. “There’s not much to do on the ship besides making sure that it reaches its destination. Spending that time training is the best thing one can do.”

“That and raiding other ships.” A sailor noted from the side wistfully.

“That too. Who knows, maybe you get lucky and get your first sea battle done before we reach the capital.”

He wasn’t that lucky. The following eight days went by uneventfully as they sailed across the sea toward the capital, Einar spending at least three hours swimming each day. When they got really bored, some sailors spent their time telling stories of their previous battles or trying their best to teach useful skills to the young God-marked aboard. They stopped at two islands on the way, staying for the night before leaving with new God-marked youths joining them.

On the ninth day of their journey, one of the men called out to Thorwald, handing him a bronze looking glass, a rare and precious item he supposedly gained as a trophy from a raid years ago. The sailor pointed to a distant place slightly toward their left, the older seeker’s voice immediately catching the crew’s attention.

“Ulf! Slightly to the left. Start pulling in the sail!”

“What’s going on?” One of the youths asked as the ship began to slow down.

“There’s something there,” another one replied. “Poking out of the water.”

As they got closer, it became clear that it was the top part of a ship’s mast that poked out of the sea a good yard and a half high with a piece of cloth stuck to it. Ulf had already mentioned earlier that they were sailing through shallow waters, filled with reefs, but Einar didn’t expect that they would come across a sunken ship on their way.

“It’s an eastern trader ship.” One of the sailors said in recognition as they looked down beneath the clear seawater.

When they got close enough, one of the men tied their vessel to the mast piece.

“Be ready to cut it if it begins to tilt!” Thorwald ordered his men before turning around to address the rest of the crew.

“It looks like today is our lucky day,” the man said aloud. “Whether it was through a storm or other raiders, the gods have blessed us with a chance to salvage something good before we reached a capital. Those who want to dive, line up!”

Einar was amongst the first ones to step out, hoping to make use of his recently honed skill to hold his breath underwater. A group of ten men and women lined up, Thorwald joining them for this endeavour.

“If it sank recently,” one of the young God-marked spoke quietly. “Why aren’t there any corpses floating around in the water?”

“They have been most likely eaten by the fishes and sharks already.” A mud brown haired sailor remarked from the side, the youth visibly shuddering after hearing the answer.

“Einar,” the older seeker called out to him. “You’re with me.”

Saying that the man lifted the hefty-looking anchor and stepped up onto the ship’s railing. The young giant followed him, climbing up beside him.

“This should help us get down faster. I know you can hold back your breath for a good while, but down there, every move you make will cut into that. Don’t waste your time with scraps. Try to grab what you think would fetch a decent price and if you come across any cargo that’s trying to float upward, try to help it get loose. Oh, and you might need this in case it gets too dark. Deep breath.”

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He said while handing over a thumb-sized pale yellow crystal. A deep breath later Thorwald gave the youth a nod as they both stepped forward into the air while holding onto the anchor, its weight dragging them beneath the sea at a fast pace. Einar felt the anchor pulling his already heavy frame under, his eyes trying to stay open as he watched the sunken ship grow closer by the second.

Thorwald let go of the anchor as they reached the height of the ship’s deck, the young seeker following his example. They began to swim toward it, a strange sight greeting him. The ship looked different from the ones he was used to. Its body was large with the upper section having what he believed to be windows, the vessel being wedged between the low reefs. It had two masts for sails but the one at the front was broken with the second being the one that poked out of the water.

There was a large hole on the side of the ship leading inward. He swam toward the hole and through it, finding himself in a room that had beds stacked atop each other at the sides. The beds had wooden chests in front of them, prompting him to open them in hopes of treasure. Inside he found the pair of coin pouches and a couple of knick-knacks he quickly stashed into his world eater pouch that somehow managed to keep out the water.

Einar hurriedly swam toward the door, opening it with surprising ease. He found himself in a dark hallway with doors along the path and a stairway at the end. It was quite hazy at first however the yellow stone he received from Thorwald began to glow faintly, shedding light onto the darkness. ‘I’ve no time for this’. The youth thought as he opened another door, finding the same kind of room inside as the one he just come from.

A strange glint caught his eyes as he looked toward the top of the bed on his right. The water shimmered near the ceiling the same way he used to see it shine when he was coming up to the surface. His curiosity got the best of him as he swam closer, finding out that the top of the sunken room had a small air pocket in it. It was just enough for the top of his head and his eyes to get out of the water, but as he shifted his body the right way, he managed the float up with his face upward.

Einar let out a rattled breath, breathing in stale air to fill his lungs before diving back down. As he checked the other rooms, he found one more such air pocket, making sure to remember it before heading down the stairs. He found himself in what seemed to be the cargo hold, barrels, crates, canvas-wrapped cubes and sacks filling the space. Some faint light seeped through where the side of the ship got damaged by the reef, but Einar mostly relied on his light stone.

The young giant couldn’t read the scribbles carved onto the barrels and boxes, so he had to use his seax to pry open a few of them. Wet grain, planks made out of some kind of dark wood, metal ores and the like revealed themselves for him, making and believe that this trading ship was hauling regular supplies. Some of the ore crates held metals that shone strangely beneath his light stone which prompted him to shove some into his world eater pouch.

He could feel his chest burning as he was running out of air, but the sight of a locked door at the end of the cargo hold made him push forward. A hefty lock hung on the door, forcing him to put one foot on the wall and another on the door and grabbed the lock, using all his might to pull at it. The wet wood soon gave way and broke, allowing him to open the door. The first thing he did after the door opened was to swim upward toward the air pocket which was trapped in the room.

His lungs burned as he breathed out between coughs, filling them with a somewhat stale but much-needed air. His mind slowly cleared, his nose finally catching the rancid stench in the air. From the corner of his eyes, he found its source, a blotted corpse floating not too far from him. A moment of panic made him push away which only ended with him sinking under and swallowing some water.

Einar swam back up coughing, trying to take a deep breath so that he wouldn’t drown. With his lungs now filled with the foul air he could sink back down to have a better look at the corpse. It wore a white shirt and dark pants with boots, a curved blade hanging from its belts along with a few pouches. ‘The poor bastard must have been locked in here to guard whatever they kept in this room.’ He thought with a shudder as he imagined being locked up in a room and drowning.

The one thing he couldn’t understand was how the air pocket ended up here and why the man didn’t use it up to prolong his life. Knowing better than to leave behind any valuables, the young giant steeled his nerves and swam closer, stripping the body of anything worth taking. Other than those, he found a few strange things on the table along with an even stranger hat which seemed to have been left behind by the dead man. He put those away as well, turning his attention to the three large chests in the corner of the small room.

Prying them open, two of the chests revealed ingots of some kind of shining metal, the third one being filled with neat rows of silver coins. ‘This must be worth the fortune.’ Einar thought to himself, his greed flaring up for a moment before he pushed it down, thinking that Thorwald would likely ask everyone to show their spoils. His father often mentioned that the captain of a ship had such rights. Letting out an inner sigh, he closed back the chests, using some rope to tie them together. Lifting the three chests added enough weight that he was now able to walk on the floor as if the ship was still on the surface.

Using the foul air pocket to fill his lungs one more time, he grabbed the chests and left, heading back toward the whole on the side of the ship. Once outside, he made his way to the anchor, hooking it into the ropes that have the chests together before swimming up and looking at the still-busy divers below. As he broke through the surface of the water, the fresh here came as salvation.

“There he is,” he heard one of the sailors yell as he reached down to help him climb aboard. “We were getting worried when you didn't come up for air after so long.” The man said as he patted the still coughing youth.

“I found some air trapped beneath the ceiling of some of the rooms of the ship.”

“Some of the others have found such air pockets as well.” Another man claimed.

“Help me pull up the anchor.” Einar said, earning a few raised eyebrows.

“The anchor?”

“I tied a couple of chests onto it.”

“Oh,” the sailors nodded, grabbing the thick rope. “Pull!”

The young giant had three other sailors pull up the hefty rope, getting the chests onboard.

“What’s inside?” One of them asked, but he quickly cut off the discussion.

“We’ll open them when Thorwald is here. He will decide what to do then.”

“Alright,” they backed off surprisingly fast. “If it needs the captain to decide, then it’s best not to bother it before he returns.”

“The captain runs a tight ship.” Another sailor whispered toward Einar as if to explain their willingness to leave the matter at rest.

Einar sat down beside the chests, closing his eyes as he took deep breaths, the world slowly spinning around him as a slight headache hammered at the back of his skull. Although he caught sight of Haftor and Ingrid staring greedily at the chests occasionally, neither dared to come close. Sometime later the rest of the divers came up as well, pulling up different pieces of cargo and other items. When Thorwald came up as well, he checked his men and the others, before one of the sailors said something to him that Einar couldn’t hear while pointing toward him and the crates.