Had a hatred for shocks and surprise.
“If you startle me here,
You’ll get smacked in the rear!”
She would grumble while rolling her eyes.
- Goldie Honorhide.
When I surfaced, Goldie sat on the beach, carving some wood as she watched over the water. I waved, and she waved back. There was no signal, just the all-OK wave. I felt for Felix. He felt like he was asleep. My prodding through the bond roused him, and I got the impression he was grumpy at me. Yoboc was there with his bow, but all was quiet.
Makara seemed to be taking longer than usual. I stretched my senses, especially my Cosmic Aura and Void Sensing. As far as I know, nothing can get through that unnoticed. There are probably skills that can get past it, but not even Yoboc’s master-level stealth can do so.
I looked around in shock as a fast-moving object broke past the 21m radius of Cosmic Aura. I brought up my knives as Makara stopped in front of me with a smirk.
“Was that an emergency?” I asked.
“No. Just stretching my stealth skill,” she replied.
“I broke through,” I grumped at her.
Her eyes lit up, and a proper smile spread over her face. “Final stage?” she asked.
“Final stage,” I agreed. I unwound the rope from my waist, and Makara tied it around hers and left the end in my hand. I took several deep breaths and followed her down.
I braced myself at the entrance to the tunnel as Makara swam up and started chipping away at the rock to widen the opening. The plan was for Makara to widen it just enough for her to get her hand through to match the trigger rune with the Mercenary ID. If that disabled the traps, she would give two tugs on the rope and widen it enough to get through. If the traps were triggered, I would know, and I needed to pull her out in a hurry.
Chip, chip, chip, I heard the chisel. She will be doing smaller pieces of rock, so she doesn’t knock something in that would trigger the trap. The worst case is she cuts through the runes or their connecting links with the hole we are enlarging.
My Spiritual sensitivity is not enough to sense where these connecting links are, and neither is Makara’s. I have my Cosmic Aura and Void Sensing on most of the cave, so I know what is going on; it is just not covering Makara or the entrance.
I sensed small bits of rock falling to the chamber's floor. I waited for the traps to trigger, as this would be one reason the entrance was near the top. I watched the slow fall. Then, a more significant piece fell. I watched it both with my Void Sensing and my Spiritual Sensing, which showed me where the runes for the traps were. This was falling close to one, and I watched its path as it fell to a rune, unable to do anything about it.
Wait, I could do something, but would using my Frigid Void trigger the trap? The piece of rock is definitely going to hit the rune. Will the rock trigger the trap? I don’t know. Will Frigid Void trigger the trap? I don’t know.
I have no time to consult. I figure the runes are there to trigger when things fall to the ground, as that is the most logical reason for them to be there. I use Frigid Void and create an ice layer across the floor. I make sure it does not touch the floor and hope temperature changes do not trigger the runes.
I get the rope ready to yank Makara out.
The rock piece lands on my ice and sits there. I wait. The risk is not over, as the water under the ice will be cooling fast. I watch and wait. Some more grains of rock fall onto my ice.
I watch. The ice also cools the rock where it meets it. I wait. Will the ice cut the connection to the other runes and trigger the trap? I should have thought of that and not covered the whole area wall-to-wall.
Then, all of a sudden, the spiritual energy in the runes dims. I tense, and it takes a couple of seconds to realise they have all dimmed and nothing terrible has happened. Makara has turned off the trap. I would take a breath in relief if I weren’t underwater.
Then I realised that the plan had worked. We are in. That is a surprise. I was not expecting it to work without a hitch. Makara gave the tug of success. And I heard her speed up the widening of the hole.
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I gave her the tug to go for a breath and pushed off for the surface. When I got there, I immediately looked for Goldie. Something bad was going to happen. She was sitting there working with wood, and gave me the OK-wave. I waved back that the cave had been breached, and then I went back down.
The rope was pooled on the seabed below the tunnel, so Makara had removed it. I retrieved it and wound it around my waist to keep it. There was no point in my going in as there was barely room for one, so I waited and watched the area. Now would be a good time for an ambush.
I narrowed my aura to lengthen it and swept it around the area. It stretched out to about 40m, and nothing was detectable. I was worried it was so short-ranged. I pushed my Hearing Aid and smelled the water.
Something is going to surprise us, I can feel it.
I surfaced for a breath, then watched Goldie and felt for Felix. It was the quiet before the storm. Goldie was in the construction phase of her project, so she was not paying as much attention as she had before. I could see branches scattered around, but I couldn't see what she was constructing. She was a Forrester, so she was used to constructing from wood and had a lot of skills for that. Her carving skills helped to shape wood to fit firmly, as we had no nails. She had some resin from a tree that she was using as glue.
All was quiet. When you think about it, there is no reason today should be any different from all the days that have gone before. I just feel on edge. Is it just my nerves?
Then, the quiet was broken. Something hard was scraping against the rock below me. I took a deep breath and dove back down.
I got down there as the end of the safe was just emerging from the tunnel. I braced myself and helped extract it. It was heavy and crashed onto the seabed.
Makara’s face came next with a big grin. She swam down and tried to pick up the safe, but it was too heavy for her to swim with. I went down to help, but she waved me off. She then put her feet on the seabed, lifted the safe on her shoulder, and started walking to the shore.
I stared at her for a minute, wondering what it was like to have gills. She couldn’t be getting a lot of water flowing through her gills like that, but it must be enough.
I swept my senses around, looking for trouble. Now would be the time.
I sensed some spiritual items she had left in the cave. Since I was not otherwise occupied, I swam up the tunnel and emerged into the cave. It was not large. I am bigger than Makara, and it was tight.
One shelf had an oilskin wrap, and I could sense metal weapons in it. I grabbed it and used the rope around my waist to tie it to me. They were small weapons and not that heavy. There was a sack of coins. It was too heavy, so I emptied some of the coins into a pouch and then realised I could just drop the sack down the tunnel, and we could retrieve it in smaller lots. Or Makara could walk it out.
There were sealed clay containers that I assumed had potions in them, so I secured them with my belts and rope.
I saw some bone knives and spearheads. They were not special like the alchemically treated ones, but I grabbed them.
There was a bag of gems on another shelf, and then I looked for anything else, but the cupboard was bare.
I maneuvered down the tunnel and saw that the bag of coins was caught halfway. I had to release it and then guide it to the end. I let it fall to the seabed as I swam for the surface.
I looked for Goldie. There was no panic and no alarm signals. Felix was awake and alert but not stressed.
I started swimming for the shore with the loot I could carry. Only the coins are left.
I get there about the same time Makara wades out of the shallows with the safe. She still has a big grin. I am not ready to celebrate yet.
I looked at the safe. It is rectangular, an arm's length long and half that wide and deep. It is obviously made out of very dense material, as Void Sensing can’t penetrate it. It radiated a spiritual signature that I had never felt before. It was a dark green in colour. When Makara put it down, I could not see an obvious door. Every side looked the same.
“That’s it, huh?” Goldie said.
“That’s it,” confirmed Makara.
“Humph,” she grumbled.
“Did you get everything else?” Makara asked me.
“Except the coins. They were too heavy,” I replied.
Makara grinned again, and I caught a small, eager smile on Goldie’s face.
“Put everything on the sled. And we will go back for the bag of coin,” Makara said.
Goldie had made a simple sled for Felix to pull. It was big enough for all our gear, including the ore. It was barely more than a platform on two runners. It did have a push bar at the back for me. This is where Felix and I get to run together.
“Leave me the rope,” Goldie said. She had to make a harness for Felix and tie things down.
“We need a piece of rope,” Makara said. I looked at her quizically. “I want to set off the trap. It will make what was taken less obvious.”
“The owner is dead,” Goldie said. “Who is to know?”
“I shared the location of a couple of my caches with Nick,” Makara replied. “I doubt his partners in crime trusted him to hide them.”
I shrugged.
“Here,” Goldie said, cutting a piece of rope. She then sat down to tie everything down and make a harness. I noticed she was using some pack canvas, which used to be tent canvas, to make some padding for Felix.
“I am really surprised we have managed all this without being interrupted,” I said.
“Me too,” Goldie said. We are not quite done yet, though.”
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