Rising Tide

XXII

7 Tarsakh, the Year of the Gauntlet

Seated atop the royal flier, skimming through the depths at top speed, Laaqueel looked out over King Huaanton's village. It was spread across the rocky seabed three hundred feet and more below the surface, located between the Nelanthers and the Moonshaes, as the surface dwellers termed the ground above water. By Huaanton's reckoning, those areas were still part of his domain, just held by invaders. Iakhovas, Laaqueel knew, had promised to bring those regions under Huaanton's control soon.

The terrain was broken, peaking and gliding in mismatched sections that left troughs and valleys scattered over it. The deepest section of it was the canyon that ran through the ocean bed. Perpetual murk hung over the area, masking the pale blue light that actually made it to that depth. Surface dwellers, even with their magic potions and items that allowed them to breathe underwater and withstand the crushing depths, wouldn't see the village with their weak eyes unless they were on top of it. By that time, sharks, sahuagin guards, and traps all stood ready to kill them.

The village was huge, lining both sides of the immense canyon. Buildings crafted of great blocks of stone sat barnacle-covered on both sides. Despite all the killing that had gone on by each sahuagin king who'd held court at the site, there still existed the rumor that the buildings had once been on the surface, and that immense changes had shaken all of Toril in the past.

The flier, propelled by sahuagin swimmers gripping the t-bars underneath, changed its glide approach to a steeper angle and slid down into the canyon. Dozens of sahuagin dwellings, looking like bumps and abnormalities, clung to the canyon walls. Sharks and sahuagin guards lounged in the cracks and crevices leading into tunneled labyrinths that honeycombed the village. More tunnels, likewise filled with traps and guards, twisted and threaded through the canyon walls and beyond on both sides. Over seven thousand sahuagin lived there.

The sahuagin tiller guided his craft down to the bottom of the canyon, then cut sharply into a defile that looked like a shadow against the uneven floor. They burst through into the darkness. Even with her vision, Laaqueel was hard-pressed to see through the gloom. It would take a little time for her eyes to fully acclimate to the new darkness. Even attacking sahuagin would be at a disadvantage to the palace guards inside.

The flier leveled out and slowed, easing into the tunnel the manta almost filled from side to side. The tunnel walls were slick from usage. Dozens of guards filled the receiving chamber, and Laaqueel knew traps covered every inch of the area. The water felt colder inside the passage. In all her life, she'd only been to the king's village once before, and never through the tunnels that led to the main palace.

Iakhovas sat beside Laaqueel in the flier, concentrating on another of the artifacts that his search parties had brought to him of late. The wizard didn't appear to be impressed by being invited to the royal village at all. The attack on Waterdeep was six days in the past, and Iakhovas was already planning his next steps.

The malenti was aware of how much the surface world was talking about the attack because Iakhovas had assigned her to gather information. She'd resented being taken from the village. From so far away she couldn't watch the wizard as closely as she want to. She was getting the feeling that Iakhovas was spending more time away, too, maybe on the surface. His casual disregard for all the history surrounding them now made her angry. "You should be more respectful," she said. He lifted his head from the object he was studying, fixing her with his one-eyed gaze. "I bid you to take care in what you choose to say, little malenti. It doesn't take much effort to detect a note of insubordination in your voice." She swallowed her anger but didn't break eye contact. "A true sahuagin would feel reverent about this place. It was the first home of the sahuagin." "How came you to this belief?" "It's what I've been told."

"Then it would probably shatter your certitude to know that everything you've heard about that is a fabrication." The announcement was like a sudden, unexpected slap across the face. Before Laaqueel could figure out how she wanted to reply and still ensure her own survival, the tunnel took a sudden turn to the left and up. At the end of the new tunnel, the largest clam Laaqueel had ever seen opened at their approach.

Fifty or more sahuagin guards, dressed in harnesses bearing the royal seal, a white shark set against the dark blue of the ocean, filled the area. Their tridents were black, cut from the shafts of obsidian that were mined from the veins created by underwater volcanic eruptions in the area hundreds of years ago. Serviceable and distinct, the weapon of each sahuagin guard of the Royal Black Tridents was never out of the bearer's hand from the time he was given it to the time he died. Even then, it passed from the guard to his hand-picked successor. They were ruled only by the king and the nine official Royal Tridents.

The sahuagin guards bristled, flanking the flier as Iakhovas gave the command for it to stop. In a heartbeat, the flier pulled to a full halt and hung suspended in the air, the fins of the sahuagin below maintaining the distance above the cavern floor.

One of the guards moved forward and set his trident deliberately on the front of the flier. He was one of the most fearsome sahuagin Laaqueel had ever seen. Scars lined his powerful torso and one of his ears had been bitten off in battle. Bite marks from another sahuagin pinched up his right cheek, giving him a mocking, cruel smile that revealed a few fangs. The flesh had turned dead white from the injury.

"I am Soothraak, First Honored among the Royal Black Tridents. No one goes any further without my leave," the sahuagin challenged.

Iakhovas stood and stretched to his full height, answering the challenge with his own. Due to his glamour, Laaqueel knew the sahuagin viewed him as one of their own. "I am Iakhovas, a prince of We Who Eat, and you will address me as your superior or there will be a promotion within your ranks, First of the Nine." His voice rolled over the assembled guard.

For a moment Laaqueel believed the guard leader's pride was going to be too much for him and he would attack, Iakhovas didn't back down, almost leaning toward the other in anticipation.

The guard took his trident from the flier and backed away, spreading his arms out away from his body, baring his vulnerable stomach and throat to attack. "In the Exalted One's name, I bid you welcome, Most Honored One."

"Meat is meat," Iakhovas responded. "I come with the preparations of a feast."

Soothraak stood at attention again. "So we have heard.

Many of our people died in the attack on the surface dwellers."

"They were inadequate and Sekolah found them wanting, ever reaving the weak from our blood," Iakhovas responded. "I bid you make certain to tell the other side of that tale. There were also a number of We Who Eat who successfully completed their mission, proving their worth. We have bared our fangs and claws, and we have tasted the surface dwellers' blood. A new fear has been installed in them, and they will pass that fear onto their children and their children's children."

The guard started to say something else, but Laaqueel interrupted him, putting the teeth of the office of priestess into her words. She'd come too far with Iakhovas to allow him to be brought down. Her future was directly tied to his, and there was no denying that, as well as Sekolah's guidance. "Do you think the Most Exalted One would like to know you wasted the time of one who waits to eat with him?"

"No, More Honored One," the guard said. "Do not dare be insubordinate at this moment," Iakhovas commanded. "Address this female as Most Honored One and show her the respect she is due as my high priestess. Know that not only is she my high priestess, but she is One Most Favored by Sekolah. She speaks his wishes, and to stand in their way is to bare your throat to the Great Shark himself."

When Laaqueel saw the chastised look appear on Soothraak's face, pride flared through her. After all her long years of devotion, Sekolah was seeing to it that she was properly honored. Iakhovas's demands that she be so honored offered proof that the Great Shark had put the currents before her. She felt ashamed that she'd had doubts. Even the attack on Waterdeep had gone exactly as Iakhovas had promised. Shipping from that city had all but stopped.

"Meat is meat, Most Honored One," the Black Trident said. "My address from this moment on shall be more adequate."

Soothraak lifted his hand and the Royal Black Tridents broke ranks around the flier. Iakhovas sat and ordered the craft forward again. The giant clam waited, open-mouthed, then the pealing tone of a great bell echoed through the chamber. Slowly, the clam closed, revealing the tunnel mouth above it that the open shell had hidden.

The flier barely fit through the tunnel, and the way became even darker. The dim blue glow of lichens stained the walls, allowing an ease in navigation. Twice, the flier nudged up too close to a wall, and the sound of the wood scraping against the rock echoed painfully in Laaqueel's ears. She felt the increased pressure of the current that overtook them before she realized what it was.

In the current's grip, the flier twisted through the tunnel, having no real choice about what direction it traveled or how fast it was going to get there. The flier came out of the tunnel in a rush, emptying into a great basin lined with white limestone rock. The rock along the bottom had merely been dropped into place, the rocks in the walls and ceiling of the enclosed space had been affixed.

Laaqueel knew the purpose behind the rock. Purely defensive in its design, the white limestone backlit anyone who entered the chamber, stripping away shadows that invaders could normally hide in. The next line of defense was the huge net that spanned the mouth of the other tunnel leading from the basin. Metal glinted, mixed with the dulled brightness of old bone, letting her know that hundreds of barbed hooks had been woven into the net.

More members of the Royal Black Tridents stood on the rock shelf protruding from the other tunnel. Most of them carried crossbows, bone shafts tipped with fish fins lay in the grooves.

Sudden motion touched Laaqueel through her lateral lines. Whatever had moved was huge, immediately threatening. She turned, pushing herself up from the flier's seat to find the source.

A white cloud seemed to lift and separate from the limestone wall on her left. Even with her vision, she found it hard to discern what the motion belonged to.

The drifting white cloud shifted again and a red eye flared into focus, fully ten feet across. Once she had the eye, Laaqueel recognized the rest of the creature as an albino kraken.

Laaqueel stood, immediately frightened. The kraken was the largest of its kind she'd ever seen. From the tip of its triangular head to the ends of its two longest tentacles, it had to be over one hundred fifty feet in length. All eight tentacles wavered in the water around it, floating on the constant current that eddied through the chamber. Still, they moved with frightening speed, slithering around the flier.

Besides the power the gigantic creature wielded with its tentacles, Laaqueel knew from experience that it squirted a poisonous ink cloud. There were other abilities as well, and the creature possessed a superior intellect. She'd only seen two before. Both those had ruled the regions they'd been in, allowing no habitation by aquatic elves or anything near human.

She eased into position, bringing her trident up in line with the creature. It wouldn't do much good against the kraken, she was sure, but having the weapon there made her feel a little more secure.

The kraken glided into position above the flier, dangling over it. The tentacles whipped languidly through the water, curling and almost brushing against the craft. The sahuagin bristled with weapons as they faced the creature.

"Ah, little malenti, this is truly a fascinating specimen."

Laaqueel glanced at Iakhovas, surprised to see the look of absolute joy that crossed the wizard's scarred face.

"I knew not if they yet lived, hadn't dared to dream that it would be so."

"Yes," she said, "and they also kill."

"This creature will not harm me," he told her confidently. "Once, when I was young and the world was too, I knew them all."

"Even so, this won't be one of those."

"Given the life spans the creatures have, there's no chance," he agreed, shaking his head, "but I guarantee you, little malenti, this creature will know me."

She looked at him, wondering if he told the truth. Kraken didn't stay anywhere near each other, much less near any creature that they didn't rule. She knew this one had to have been kept captive, forced to serve the sahuagin king. It was one of the secrets of the sahuagin royalty she was now privy to.

The sahuagin guard at the other tunnel hailed them.

Iakhovas gave the flier pilot orders to take the craft closer. The sahuagin swimming beneath surged forward, wanting to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the kraken, but the kraken drifted effortlessly in their wake, spreading out wide and resembling a net not quite closing around them.

King Huaanton stood at the forefront of the Royal Black Tridents. Almost nine feet tall and still growing slowly these days, the sahuagin monarch carried a body sculpted in wide and hard planes of muscle. He was old enough that his scale coloration was almost black, a natural camouflage at the deepest levels of the sea. His combat harness bore the shark seal of Sekolah and was festooned in shells and shark's teeth. He carried the ornate shark bone trident with inlaid gold that had been handed down for centuries from king to king. That trident, Laaqueel knew, was a guarantee that the sahuagin holding it would fight to the death to hold his station. Huaanton had stripped it from his dead predecessor after a challenge battle not far from the sahuagin city.

"Iakhovas," Huaanton called out.

The wizard turned at last, drawing his gaze from the kraken, but Laaqueel knew the observance of the command had been too slow. Huaanton wouldn't let that go.

"Exalted One," Iakhovas called back. "At your behest, I have returned to your august presence that I might serve you."

Laaqueel grew more afraid as the kraken continued closing the distance. Iakhovas didn't seem to care. The net stretched tight before them, the kelp laced with bone shards to prevent anyone from easily cutting through. Until it was lowered or removed, it trapped them with the kraken.

"You find yourself on the wrong side of the net," Huaanton stated with the hint of a threat. "One of my predecessors found that creature and captured it while it was young, then it was walled in here until it grew too large to escape. Now the beast is deliberately kept hungry. Only the fact that it knows we'd starve it to death if it attacked you unbidden keeps it from eating you now."

"Perhaps, Exalted One," Iakhovas said, "and perhaps there is more to this creature's behavior than you know."

He sprang from the flier, cleaving the water and streaking upward. He moved like a born swimmer, instinctively knowing how best to move his body.

The kraken's tentacles rippled in response to Iakhovas swimming closer. For a moment, it looked like the gargantuan creature was actually going on the defensive.

Laaqueel watched, hypnotized by the sight of the man looking so diminutive against the kraken's huge mass. She forced herself to stand in the flier, but she had a spell at the ready, willing to strike the creature with a scalding jet of heated water. If Iakhovas died, her ambitions and privileges died with him, and so did her ability to better serve Sekolah.

The kraken floated upside down, its arrowhead-shaped body pointed down toward the cavern floor so its tentacles splayed out around it. Iakhovas floated near one of the eyes, looking like he was locked in some kind of conversation with the giant squid.

Without warning, the kraken started glowing, outlined by a soft purple-blue light that shifted and moved like fiery flames. Iakhovas reached out and placed a hand next to the kraken's huge eye. The wizard grinned as he turned to face Huaanton.

"Just as I perceived," Iakhovas said confidently. "I, and my mission, have been given Sekolah's blessings.

Laaqueel has brought me the message and kept me in line with the Great Shark's desires."

Laaqueel believed the wizard was magically controlling the kraken. She didn't want to believe that he had some kind of bond with them that had existed before he'd been turned into stone and left for dead, or that Sekolah had offered the wizard protection. She wished she didn't have her doubts.

With a lightning quick flick, the kraken reached out a tentacle and stripped one of the sahuagin warriors from the flier. The warrior never had a chance, although he succeeded in burying his trident in the creature's flesh. While the warrior still struggled, the kraken brought him to its mouth and bit down, shredding the sahuagin's legs. Blood clouded the water, running in black swirls against the white limestone background.

The royal guard surged forward, hooking their webbed hands in the net separating them from the kraken and the dying sahuagin. They shouted out at the giant squid in anger and fear while the men in the back instantly surrounded Huaanton, urging him back into the tunnel.

The king shook them off, chasing them back from him with warnings. The guards pulled back reluctantly, caught between the need to do their job and their responsibility to obey the king.

The kraken chomped again, biting the dying sahuagin in two at the waist. Hunks of meat and entrails spilled out into the water. Slowly, the kraken raised Iakhovas toward its mouth.

Laaqueel shifted, getting ready to loose the magic she had awaiting her command.

As you were, little malenti. Do not try to take any part in this upon pain of death. Iakhovas's voice spoke into her mind. Huaanton has grown over bold these past few years and must be reminded of his true place in the events that are unfolding. I will not suffer him threatening me and undermining my authority while I go off to fight his wars.

Laaqueel forced water through her gills, flushing her body. She didn't act, but her spine became as tight as a bowstring. The wizard's insubordination was going to be the death of them both.

The kraken stopped moving the tentacle holding Iakhovas within a few feet of its maw. The wizard slashed out with a hand that resembled a hard ridge of bone for a moment. The bone ridge sliced through one of the chunks of meat from the sahuagin warrior.

Laaqueel knew the illusion of being a sahuagin that Iakhovas maintained on himself probably translated to using his claws.

Iakhovas opened his mouth wide and ate the gobbet of flesh he'd hacked off. "Meat is meat," he declared.

The royal guard stared at him in awe. The story, the malenti knew, would spread throughout the kingdom, then into the other villages. In the telling, as with all stories, it would grow, making the wizard a creature of myth. The truth itself was incredible, a tale that sahuagin everywhere would enjoy: a warrior prince of their own, held in the embrace of a half-starved kraken, and eating choice bits of a meal almost out of its mouth. She glanced at Huaanton.

The sahuagin king's features gave nothing away even to her practiced eye, but Huaanton had to have known the position the showdown had pushed Iakhovas into.

Iakhovas grabbed an arm that had been torn free of the dead sahuagin's torso and was floating nearby. He offered it to the kraken, feeding it the arm out of his hand. Carefully, the kraken took the gift of food, not even grazing the wizard's skin with its fangs. Once the rest of the sahuagin had been eaten, the kraken brought Iakhovas down to eye level again. A brief communication took place, then the kraken stretched forth its tentacle and replaced Iakhovas on the flier.

Laaqueel stepped back from the white tentacle, barely able to control the fight or flight instinct that filled her. She prayed to Sekolah to grant her the strength she needed and to not let any of her emotions show.

The kraken withdrew its tentacle but remained close, rippling in the currents that filled the huge chamber, Iakhovas turned to face Huaanton, and Laaqueel recognized the challenge the wizard had engineered. Huaanton had used the threat of the kraken against Iakhovas, hoping to show the power he had over him. Instead, Iakhovas had stripped that threat away and converted it into a threat of his own. Everyone in the chamber knew he was protected by Sekolah's blessing, and they knew he had some degree of control over the kraken.

Now it remained to be seen if Huaanton had the courage to drop the net that held the kraken back.

Facing Iakhovas, Huaanton lifted an arm and gave the order. Immediately, the net separated down the middle, drawn in two opposing directions by pulley systems that looked like they'd been salvaged from the ships of surface dwellers. The shrill of the support lines being taken up on the pulley drums echoed through the water with piercing harshness.

Iakhovas deliberately waited until the opening was larger than he needed. Although the royal guard shifted nervously around him, their tails twisting through the water, Huaanton let the net be drawn back even further. He stood, solid as stone, a sahuagin who exemplified the core of all that his people were taught to revere. There was a ferocity that clung to him in defiance of his own mortality.

Another moment passed, then Iakhovas gave the order to the flier's tiller. The flier surged forward and joined Huaanton and his group on the rocky ledge. Even the flier's crew quickly spread out, some of them swimming up to fill in the space in the water above the ledge. All of them held their weapons tightly and faced the kraken.

Swimming from the flier, Iakhovas never glanced back. The shrill of the pulleys sounded again as the net crews drew it closed.

Reacting a little slowly, her own attention divided in three different directions, Laaqueel swam to join Iakhovas. She dropped into place beside him only a heartbeat behind the wizard's own landing. She felt the hard stone of the ledge beneath her feet, worn smooth by centuries of usage.

"Well talk," Huaanton said.

"Of course, Exalted One," Iakhovas agreed. "I'd have this no other way."

Turning, the sahuagin king launched himself upward, his webbed hands and feet catching the water at once. He swam for one of five sahuagin-sized tunnels above him. Iakhovas followed.

Laaqueel joined them, swimming behind three of the royal guard who trailed Iakhovas. Only one of the tunnels would lead to the royal palace, and even it would only provide an entry to the maze of tunnels that eventually took a knowing swimmer there. The sahuagin mind loved mazes, and learning complicated ones was a challenge. The other tunnels led to other places, and some of them would lead only to certain death by traps or creatures. Underwater races knew to fear sahuagin mazes.

She followed their lead, marking each turn in her mind, knowing that she was swimming even deeper into Iakhovas's own maze of treacheries. Those, she felt certain, she'd never learn completely.