them. I walked behind him, careful not to step on his tail this time. Rio said a few more farewells and then followed.
“Be good!” I heard Ixnia yell before the door was shut and locked behind us.
For a moment I froze, the tunnel completely dark. My heart began to hammer as I tried to keep walking. A blue glow grew behind me and I looked back.
Rio held a crystal in his hand. He looked intently at it as the glow grew. Then he realized he was being watched.
“A gift,” he said.
I smiled. By the light of the crystal we made our way up the stairs. My breath was ragged by the time we reached the top and Levent pushed the door open.
Sunlight flooded the darkness and I had to pause and rub my eyes. No wonder merpeople had to adjust for a week. My eyes hurt with the change in light.
We crawled out of the tunnel as Levent shut the door. From the outside, it looked little more than a hump of grass. I smiled and looked around. We seemed to be on top of the cliff that the Lady Theatus had anchored by. However, the ship was not where we left it.
I walked to the opposite side of the cliff and shouted to the others, who were still trying to get their daylight eyes. There was a natural bay, a huge circular opening in the cliffs with just a small beach. The Lady Theatus was anchored there.
“Now how exactly –“ I began, only to be interrupted by the half-blood sticking two fingers in his mouth and whistling loudly. A few people on the deck and the beach looked up at us, tiny from the distance.
“…Thanks for that,” I finished, using the same tone Rio had earlier.
“I hope we can get down there. This could be very inconvenient.”
“Understatement,” the kin muttered darkly.
Though he was being particularly foul for just having gotten himself another relic, at least he was speaking. I crouched, looking over the edge.
“This way, I think,” I said.
We walked along the top of the cliff for a while until we could have jumped onto the Theatus’ deck if the fall would not have killed us. Finding a path down the slope, we began to climb down the steep cliff face. My hooves found holds easily. Though my hands shook, I was so ecstatic to be in the sun again that I did not feel the ache in my limbs.