43. Chapter 43

Most of the Zuten decided to return to Fall Mountain Island, to cope with their sudden freedom. Assisted by my dragoons, they opened several exits into the mountain, so they would never be trapped inside again.

While Sarissa, Niara and I had held our little chat, I had ordered the siren’s nest plundered. All viable embryos were taken to a safe place. In time we would give the sirens their seffy offspring but keep the males to raise among us like we had done for so many rotations.

I extended invitations to Thyre and human seffies to the delight of my males and within the first two months I presided over many new mating bonds. It seemed with the sirens’ retreat the curse had been finally broken and even the Thyre seffies liked Oceanus.

One more obstacle lay ahead of us. Aecor needed to be moved.

I was looking forward to having the Zuten as our new neighbors and Arcoro had expressed his happiness over it as well. He said in time, his people would integrate into our society, already, every day Zuten left Fall Mountain Island to live in Aecor or to explore Oceanus by boat. As their leader though, he would be the last one to join us and I promised him a position of leadership in my realm when the time came.

I suspected he would take it only because he wanted to set a good example for his son, but the reason didn’t matter, he was an asset and would make my realm much stronger.

Niara was busy exploring the underground cave system of Fall Mountain Island. Recovering many treasures from the Zuten past and she and Arcoro were working together closely to inspect and catalog everything.

Every morning she left on one of the transporters going back and forth and every night she returned. I hated being parted from her during the day, but we each had our own responsibilities. She had offered to help with mine, but I knew her heart was in the ruins, plus there wasn’t much she could do that couldn’t be done by Nathan or the hundreds of dragoons busy with the move.

Slowly Aecor emptied of its citizens, as they packed some of their belongings and moved to transporters, boats, Horn and Fall Mountain Island for the time being.

I missed having her by my side during the day and at night we didn’t get much sleep, too busy talking about our day and… other things. But it was only for a short time, so we would make it work.

Nathan had mapped out all of Aecor, had trained several of my dragoons and we had ordered specially treated, water-resistant leather from our surrounding neighbors. The other vissigroths had been more than happy to help us out. We bought the leather from them, but their prices were fair, nobody tried to take advantage of our desperation .

Nathan’s citizens built giant pumps to fill the bladders as they were placed in precise locations he had mapped.

When moving day finally came, there were only a handful of Leanders and me inside Aecor. Nathan was in charge of the ships that would begin pulling as soon as Aecor rose from the ocean floor.

“It’s going to work,” Niara assured me, gripping my hand.

Against my better judgement and protests, she had insisted on being here, with me. The male in me rebelled against the idea, but the vissigroth in me was not only proud of her, but understood that we needed to stand united and show that we believed this would work.

The massive pumps began to work, their noise was ear shattering as we stood on one of the piers, watching and waiting.

“Do you think the tall towers will hold?” Kyle asked, looking up skeptically.

“Nathan assured us they’re sound,” I strained to portray more confidence than I felt for my brother in law. There were so many things that could go wrong. One miscalculation on his part could shatter all of Aecor.

If just one of the many tunnels cracked and filled with water, my entire city would go under. If any of the giant towers crumbled, it could crack the tunnels as well.

“There,” breathlessly Niara pointed at the water as we slowly began to rise.

I craned my neck up to the towers as a giant moan moved through the entire city. Niara’s hand holding mine was clammy and her nails dug into my palm, betraying the calm she tried to portray.

More groaning followed, the pumps seemed to become louder as we kept slowly rising.

“It’s working,” Niara screamed triumphantly.

This part did seem to work. Nathan had confided that the risky phase would be once he started the boats to move Aecor, that’s when the structure would be tested to its breaking point.

More groaning followed and I held my breath as all the boats turned their engines from idle to speed.

Another groan accompanied a violent jerk that challenged our balance as my city began to move. I didn’t even dare to breathe as my ears strained for a louder sound that would indicate any part of the structure breaking.

Divers surveyed the domes and kept their eyes on the walkway tubes, which were all supported by airbladders.

Now and then a diver would come up, to give us the thumbs up gesture Niara had taught them and as the hours passed, divers came up for a break and others took their places.

“Come on, let’s have a looksie,” Niara nudged me in the side.

My stomach turned at the thought of Niara down there, among the many domes and tubes, held up by airbladders. If one broke, the suction would pull anything and anybody in who was unlucky enough to be too close. Right before everything collapsed.

“It’ll be alright,” she smiled, reading my mind by my expression.

I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer, “Any chance you’ll sit this out? ”

“What kind of example would I set?” she retorted.

I pulled her against me, “I love you.”

She grinned, “I love you too.” She rose to kiss my lips. Then she slapped my ass, “Now let’s go see how we can help move our city.”

We changed into diving gear and got into the water. The deeper we dove, the more awed I became. Aecor floated several paces over the ground, moving majestically forward. Tubes protruded like giant tentacles, connecting domes. Large airbladders carried the entire city, attached to every level of domes and tubes.

The place was a hive of activity as divers swam in between the tunnels and domes, checking the structural stability and making sure none of the bladders sprung a leak. If one deflated, it could be devastating to the rest of the city. More divers held long hoses, to refill airbladders occasionally. All the while Aecor was moving toward Fall Mountain Island on a carefully planned out route Nathan had chosen and mapped. It wasn’t the shortest route, but one without large coral reefs, mountains or any other rising environment, to allow keeping Aecor leveled.

It was an enormous undertaking, but from the looks of it, it seemed to be working. We just needed to make sure none of the divers became exhausted, we couldn’t afford for anybody to lose their focus.