Page 58 of Leviathan's Song
“Levi?”
“Hm?”
“What happened to my golems?”
“Mm... I was more concerned with getting the water out of your lungs than I was with checking on the indestructible rock monsters.” His voice was a drowsy mumble, his enchantments subdued well below the level my ward could handle. “But when I was searching for the bags to find that healing potion, it appeared your stony steed had fallen into a hole.”
I felt my eyebrows draw down as I considered that. The cave systems I’d been skirting around must have stretched farther south than the maps showed. I dreaded the task of inspecting Leothen for damage in the morning.
“Also, the jagged looking one is glowing blue now, instead of that yellowish-orange. And it’s kind of… pulsing.”
“It… what?”
Chapter 22
Levi’sinitial assessment proved correct: Leothen had fallen in a hole.
Actually, the ground had caved in and swallowed him up to mid-thigh, thus causing my precious family heirloom to face plant unceremoniously and launch me into the swamp of sorrows. That wasn’t its actual name; I’d made it up on account of the fact that at least half of my gem sets and power stones were now lying in the bottom of it.
I surveyed for damage and didn’t find anything other than a rather large, watery cavern with newly uprooted trees sliding into it, and aheinouslymuddy golem. Leothen had managed to catch himself before he had completely flattened—which was fortunate for Levi, who’d been anchored to the golem’s chest—and then straightened as best he could while waiting for further instructions.
Domm, meanwhile, was glowing with a pulsing, dusky blue light that caused different runes to light up on the faces of his boulders. We’d triggered some kind of signal, or maybe I had, when I’d sent that last panicky blast of energy out after I’d nearly drowned.
I had no way of knowing if the signal was doing something, or if it was telling me the golem was broken like some kind of primeval systems failure warning, because it was part of his ancient magic I didn’t recognize. It didn’t seem to be impeding my ability to control him—he responded to my attempts to interface with him just fine—but I couldn’t turn it off either.
I sighed, feeling more than a little creeped out by the unknown, and turned to find Levi a few steps behind me. He offered me a hand up as I scaled back up an uprooted tree to get back to our campsite, helping me over limbs and holding back vegetation to make it easier for me to navigate. Whether it was the newly formed bond or the trauma of pulling my unconscious body from the water yesterday, I wasn’t sure, but he’d been within arm’s reach all morning. I didn’t mind at all, but it took a little getting used to after his previous careful distance.
I blushed furiously at the memory of how thoroughly we’d erased that distance the night before and fought the urge to let my eyes linger on him overly long. I’d caught myself gazing, starry-eyed, at his mouth, his hands, the lines of his neck and shoulders all morning.
We have work to do, I reminded myself, scrubbing at the goosebumps on my arms.
I made my way back to our camp and stood on the muddy bank, staring out at the murky water with hard eyes. I knew I should be grateful simply for the fact that I was alive, but I was irritated about the magical gemstones I’d lost in the fall. I’d created most of them myself, spanning back years, and I didn’t have replacements for some of them. I’d wanted to have them when I created the new golem for the sprites, and I doubted I would have time to recreate them.
I gritted my teeth and sent my magic out in little feelers, curious to see if I could find any of them beneath the water. I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only could I feel a few of the stones down in the depths, but that the two wasps I’d been wearing yesterday were there, as well, and responded to me. I called them to me, excited I could at least retrieve those.
“What are you doing?” Levi asked a few beats before my wasps broke the surface.
“Getting some of my things back.”
He tensed beside me as the wasps came in, so I sent them to wait with their companions currently in our baggage.
“What all did you lose?” he asked distractedly.
“At least half of the amulets I equip daily, but at least I got my wasps.”
He ripped off his shirt and handed it to me, toeing off his boots as I gaped at his suddenly naked chest.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he stripped off his pants. My eyes darted around awkwardly, unsure where to look. Years of ingrained modesty couldn’t be erased in one night.
“Getting your stuff back. I don’t let water take what’s mine. Or yours.” He rolled his eyes and dove beneath the surface. The water was a dark, muddy green. I wouldn’t have been able to see my hand in front of my face, but he hadn’t hesitated.
I waited a minute, possibly two, before I began to grow concerned. How long could a non-water-breathing part-mer hold his breath? This seemed excessive. What was living down there?
My pulse was hammering when Levi finally broke the surface a few feet in front of me and stood to walk to shore. He wiped the water from his face with one hand as it poured from him in rivulets and extended the other to me to drop his finds in my palm. My hair chains, several clips, multiple loose stones. A small thrill broke through my anxiety at having some of my amulets back, but only just.
“That scared me,” I hissed at him. “What if something ate you? Do you actually have gills?”
He leaned to the side and shook his hair out. “No gills. There’s nothing living in there that I saw, other than some fish and a few terrapins.” His expression said I amused him. “I searched for more of your things, but I think anything else might have sunk into the mud at the bottom. I’m sorry.”
