41. Chapter 41

With a sinking heart I stared up at the bowed in ceiling. It was too many paces high to reach, making the holes inside of it appear like they were mocking me.

The walls around us were smooth, making it impossible to climb without gear.

“I don’t suppose you guys have any access to felmyr or any other metal?” I asked Arcoro.

“Ney, we would have used it to make spikes and climb up long ago,” he confirmed my suspicion.

We still had our tanks and the reinforced tubes, thoughtfully I picked one up. It could be shaped to make spikes to jam into the rock and climb up, the question was: then what?

Even if I made it up through one of the holes, and that was a big if, I would be inside a bowl, from which I would need to climb up even higher. Once I reached the top, I’d be on top of a mountain in the middle of the ocean.

I was sure Sarissa had already ordered the Nautica away, but even if she hadn’t the odds of my males seeing me atop the mountain from it were slim. Getting into the water and swimming to it was also out of the question. I was sure the ocean here was now teeming with sirens.

Ney, this needed more serious contemplation. Once I made the decision to turn the hoses into spikes, we lost our ability to dive and our chance to try and escape through the tunnels.

Snyg!

This place was a perfect prison. Thoughtfully I stared at Arcoro and his males who came to stare at the newcomers. The males had spent all their lives here, just as countless generations had done before them. They had never seen the sun or the moons. Never smelled a breath of fresh ocean air. I shook my head, unable to imagine what their lives had been like.

A surge of anger built inside me. I would be damned, if I spent the rest of my life here. Never to know Niara’s tender kiss again, feel her arms around me—abruptly I stopped. What would Sarissa do to her?

“Snyg!” I cursed out loud.

I needed to get us out of here.

And from the looks of it, there was only one way out, up.

“Do you have any rope?” I was still staring up, but Arcoro knew I was asking him.

“You can’t climb up there. Many males have tried, the lucky ones broke their necks.”

“We will turn these into spikes,” I held up one of the metal tubes, “and nail them into the wall, then attach rope to that. ”

“Pardon me Vissigroth, but I don’t think we have enough tubes to make as many spikes as will be necessary to get all the way up.” Samurg brought forth his objection.

That gave me pause, he was right.

“Snyg.”

“We’ve tried everything,” Arcoro reiterated.

“Not everything, otherwise you wouldn’t still be here,” I corrected.

He sighed like a parent did with a petulant child. I didn’t call him out on it. My head was occupied with thoughts of Niara and that I needed to return to her.

“How would you even nail the spikes in?” Arcoro asked.

“With my bare hand if I have to,” I replied harsher than I intended to. I added, “A rock should do,” to take the sting out of my words.

Arcoro still looked dubious.

I took the tube to the nearest rock to begin grating at one end, trying to sharpen it. The rock crumbled where I moved the metal back and forward.

“Snygging felmyr.” I cursed. It seemed the felmyr held up to its word, harder than anything.

Arcoro and Samurg wisely kept their distance as they followed me to the rock wall. Smooth as skin. I cursed again. Narrowing my eyes I followed the wall all the way up. It looked as if it was less smooth higher up, but I couldn’t be sure, neither could I be sure it would be rough enough to allow for handholds .

“We could heat it,” Samurg suggested. Interested I turned to him. “My father was a smith. If we can make a fire, hot enough, we can put the felmyr in and try to work it once it’s somewhat melted.”

“How would you hold it? It’ll be hot as the underworld.” Arcoro cautioned. He seemed genuinely intrigued by the idea.

“Layers of cloth, wet clothes,” Samurg said, we just need to switch them out frequently.”

“We still won’t have enough tubes,” I threw his words back at him, thinking.

“We only need to get one of us up there.” My neck was beginning to hurt from keeping it bent to stare at the ceiling. Then what ? My mind reminded me. I’ll deal with that once I’m up , I shut myself up. I wasn’t about to sit on my ass, waiting for Sarissa to show herself while my vissy was in danger.

Cursing I began to pull tubes from the tanks, so absorbed in my dark thoughts of Sarissa and fear for Niara, that Samurg had to call my name twice before I heard him.

“Vissigroth!”

Looking up again, my neck creaked and my mouth gaped open. Strong thick ropes unrolled as they were thrown through the many holes peppering the ceiling.

An aqua body appeared, carrying something pale in his arms. My breath caught in my throat and my heart plummeted into my stomach.

“Niara! ”

The male holding her tightly was Kyle— as soon as they’re down, I’ll kill him— I thought vengefully.

“By the gods,” Samurg exclaimed.

“Are those your people?” Arcoro whispered in utter shock.

It only took a few minutes for the males to reach the ground, but I was sure my hair turned white during that time.

Niara had her head tugged closely into Kyle’s chest, and I remembered her fear of heights. Pride and gratitude swelled my chest for her courage. She was the most astonishing seffy. Making me wonder not for the first time what I had done to deserve her love.

“Myles,” Niara shouted when Kyle’s feet hit the ground and she dared lift her head from his chest. She wiggled herself from his embrace and I rushed forward, as her first step nearly made her fall. I was sure her legs must have turned into butter from fear.

Kyle’s hands reached out to steady her, but I reached her first, enfolding her into my arms, I breathed in her sweet scent as her arms flung around my neck, pressing herself to me.

“Myles, you’re alive,” she cried into my chest, clinging to me as if she were drowning.

“Niara,” I choked out, overcome with emotions. I kissed her beloved face until I was sure I had covered each part of it, only then did my hungry lips claim hers. I couldn’t get enough of her. No matter how closely I crushed her against me, it wasn’t enough. And I realized that it would never be enough.

“What are you doing here?” I asked when we came up for breath .

“Rescuing you,” she said impishly with such an innocent expression on her face that I laughed out loud.

“Vissigroth, I’m glad you’re alright,” Kyle interrupted our moment, reawakening my urge to kill him for brining my vissy here. But holding her in my arms mellowed me somewhat. Plus he had brought a rescue team here.

So instead of killing him, I asked, “How did you know where to find me.”

“Not me, the vissy did,” Kyle nodded at Niara.

“How?” I repeated aghast.

“It’s a long story, but I found an old stone tablet and when I deciphered the writing I realized that Fall Island Mountain is all hollow inside, filled with caves, above and underwater. People called Zuten…” amazed she looked around, away from me for the first time since she came down here. “Are these Zuten? They’re still alive?”

“For generations, my lady,” Arcoro said, staring at her as if he wanted to eat her. And not only him, I realized.

I pulled Niara protectively behind me. These males had never seen a seffy in their lives, besides sirens. Their hunger for one was written all over their faces.

“Tell your males to back the snyg off,” I ordered Arcoro.

My tone of voice caught his attention. He shook himself as if awakening from a trance, “Let’s give these people some room,” he called out, making shooing motions with his arms. “Looks like today we’re getting out of here,” he added with laughter. A laughter that caught and moved through the other males like a wave.

“You are taking us with you, aren’t you?” Arcoro whispered.

“Zyn,” I nodded. “And then we’ll give the sirens a fight they won’t soon forget.”