I sighed resignedly, feeling the pressure of the kin’s gaze from across the small chamber. We had gotten this far, not by my choice of course, but it was more than obvious that this was the true reason I had been brought along.
“I suppose,” I said reluctantly.
“Prepare yourself,” Rio said ominously before taking me below the surface with him again.
Forcing my eyes open underwater was like trying to dry a cat off in the rain. After several tries, I was able to open them and keep them that way, but it stung in new and horrible ways. As I suspected, we were surrounded on all sides by jagged grey rock. Just imagining the weight of it above us made me feel ten times more trapped.
Abruptly, our way was blocked not only by seaweed, but a thick net of all sorts of water plants. I may not have been familiar with the ocean, but even I knew that these were not here by coincidence. If we truly were nearing the entrance to Eigiollys, it was likely that the merpeople cultivated this mess to keep intruders out. This journey would probably get us all killed.
Certain death ahead or not, these plants were what now stood between me and air. With every fiber of my being screaming for the plants to get out of the way, it took only a matter of seconds to convince the swirling tendrils to move once I had gotten my grip on one of the slippery mass.
Rio then ushered Levent through the gap I made before latching his arm around my waist and quickly pulling me through. The net quickly returned to its former state, but I did not mind. Air was up ahead. That was all I cared about.
Coughing once I broke the surface, I crawled onto the solid ledge that was in front of us. I lay there for a several minutes, exhausted, before I got the chance to look around.
The walls around this room were host to some of the most intricate designs I had ever seen. A pair of fascinating glowing crystals provided light enough to see. Clearly I had underestimated the merpeople’s magic abilities before this point.
Rio walked toward one wall; mouth wide with awe and eyes busy trying to pick up every detail. The dragon-kin stood beside me and surveyed the room from that point.
Now that the shock of being in the water had worn off, I found it easy to