Chapter Thirty Four

"Find Max," Harmony instructed Hyacinth, and the shadow toad took off through the water again.

Here was a problem she could solve tonight. A glimpse of true sight to find the troublesome Saccerate, and then she should be able to dissolve her out of Max's system. He might have to bleed a bit, but because he is alive and the chaos spirit is undead, he should only have light damage while the possessor is removed.

Planning might be premature, but it was a step in correcting the bad habit of winging it, and the seals necessitated it. When the games were all over and it was time to break them, the advances should be significant, even if subtle.

"You have that look again," Adric commented. His feet were draped over Hycinth's side, dragging in the water as the large shadow toad moved through the dark artificial lake.

"What look?" Harmony asked accusingly.

"That oh-so-serious look you get when you're planning the destruction of your enemies, be it gods or a stubborn stain. It's cute how the bridge of your brow scrunches every so slightly, and your lips purse. It also means your focus isn't on the here and now. It only seems peaceful because all the sharks are leaving your very intimidating familiar alone, and most of the fights are happening underwater."

Reaching through [Familiar Bond], she could taste the blood in the water metaphysically. The rat maze had brought them closer, but it still took intention and effort as well as care not to harm either of them when sharing senses. Letting go of that connection, she moved to Hyacinth's edge and plunged her fingers into the water.

Water always made things a tad more difficult. That was one reason why there was so much training at what once was her private pond at Coodly Manor. It was hard to say if this competition generated water or the seals were making necromantic senses more difficult, but breaking the plane of the water finally let her feel what was happening below.

Murder? No, she couldn't sense the past intent around death, yet. The idea popped into her head, though. Wouldn't that be grand? Death and plenty of it. Necromantic sense didn't discriminate between what died, largely. Undeath from bonds also lingered in the water. Not strong enough to be Hargreaves, but others had bonded spirits and undead creatures for this competition. The strength of it was maybe twenty percent stronger than what she felt through Hyacinth. Not perfect, but better than some of her other recent experiments of using him as a conduit for senses, skills, and such.

"Do you think we'll need to go under?" Harmony asked.

"I'm sure Hyacinth will give us a warning if we need to dive in. It's not like he'd…." Adric paused his thoughts, catching up to his words as he considered his experiences with the shadow toad's particular humor. "Be prepared for submersion."

Hyacinth did warn them they'd be going under. There was a heavy undertone of disappointment about a ruined surprise with that warning.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Both inhaled deeply and held on as their ride sank under the water. Physical skills greatly improved the ability to swim, hold one's breath, and generally survive underwater. The changes evolution brought increased it further. Not even calculating in her vital body, she'd easily hidden, submerged in the tub at The Dragonfly Inn for over thirty minutes during her final bath there to avoid Ambrosia lecturing her about her sudden departure at the court and how much effort it would be to arrange the staff and pack everything up on such short notice.

The water was dark, but soon it became clear that it was a feature in this competition, for a glow pointed the way. The underwater ring was a brilliant white circle easily large enough for Hyacinth to swim through. Approaching it revealed more about this contest.

Ring of Prosperity - Collect ten [gold coins, sigils of greed, or crystal hearts] to clear this ring.

Each one of them probably had some inane requirement to pass through them. Her tribe should be thanking her for skipping this water competition. They wouldn't, and sometimes the leaders' heads roll first. Before that, she had a spirit to deal with. "Where is Max?" She asked Hyacinth through their [Familiar Bond].

A heavy spiritual presence slammed into her, carried by an errant current. The surprise was more annoying than shocking. The water was clearly messing with her senses. She couldn't feel chaos in it. Has it been washed away? Abbess Violet might know how chaotic vibes might work in a liquid medium, but she wasn't around to consult.

"Lady White, what an unexpected visit. The heir prefers to talk with those she has invited." Hargreaves' voice was distorted by the water, but at least he could talk because the undead servant didn't need air to do it. Being hundreds of years old, he probably had plenty of experience conversing underwater.

It was frustrating to not be able to respond in kind. Hargreaves and Rose were on the same team as Maxwell, so it made sense for them to work together. Water sucked. Why couldn't this be done on land?

"Prince Adric, the queen's heir would like to present you with an invitation to talk. She hopes that, as her brother, you can find common ground. If you wish, I can take you to her."

Such a pointless, silly formal dance. It's not like he hadn't tried to reach out to Rose. She had been the one to reject him, and now that they're underwater and can't speak, he received an invitation? It was hard not to let the new heir get under her skin. Harmony swallowed her pride and nodded to Adric.

The prince, to his credit, bowed and did his best to extend his hand, signifying his acceptance. Harmony didn't think that blowing bubbles at each other would be much of a conversation. The butler dashed through the water and took Adric's extended hand and pulled him off into the distance, at a speed that sent them out of sight quickly as they left the area of illumination and entered the dark parts of the water.

Hyacinth sniffed the water and let out an extremely grumpy sigh about a minute after the pair disappeared into the dark away from the ring. The communication he relayed was more complex and complete than normal, clearly taking effort her familiar didn't usually want to give.

"What do you mean he smelled like Maxwell?

The toad had relayed that there were no other scents of her erstwhile agent in the area and that what he'd initially smelled had to come from the butler. Harmony couldn't imagine the uptight undead cuddling up with Max to the point where he'd pick up the singularly sworn's scent. What was going on here? [Keen Investigative Awareness] wasn't needed to inform her that this smelled like rotting fish.

"Well, go after him. I don't care if we don't have the heir's invitation. If Rose knows where Max and Saccerate are, then she'd better bleeding tell me." Tricky scent or no, Hargreaves and Adric merely had a head start. Between the two of them, there was no way the pair would escape them.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.