“It’s a bigger chamber, a little too round to be an accident. A source of what I think is water that formed a small pool in the center. Rocks around the pool kind of look like seats, and at the apex of the circle there are three more tall rocks, I can’t be completely sure but they looked to be engraved.” Nerice took a deep breath and leaned heavily on Ruby. “Sorry, I have to strain to do that, Tanya.” She tapped the sled with her cane. “I think I should stay out here and let you handle it.”

  “Probably a good idea. The only things out here are lizards and ants, you should be safe enough.” Ruby repyed the details in her head a couple more times before grabbing both of Nerice’s hands and squeezing. “I’ll get us out of here.” Ruby kissed the top of Nerice’s blue hair and then crawled into the cave entrance.

  Once she’d made her way through the small tunnel and into the main chamber, the yout was identical to what Nerice had expined to her. “Amazing.” Ruby commented to herself as she took in the feel and look of the well-lit cavern. Algae that both crawled up the slick walls and hovered overhead provided the area a soft green-white light that allowed the small group to observe the entire pce with detailed crity. Just as promised there were various rocks that were positioned as though they were seats and three longer ones that had different objects pced on the top. Along all three of the pilred stones, Ruby noticed the writing that had been etched into them which she identified as Latin. Getting a bit closer, but not touching the objects, Ruby saw a gold coin, a model of a ship in a bottle and finally a tarnished oil mp.

  While trying to decipher the words on the first rock tower, Ruby failed to note what her other companions were doing, other than screaming. It was the sound of piles of coins being tossed into the air and nding that caught her attention. “What are you…” She twisted to see the three men stuffing their pockets full of gold. “Guys.” She tried to get their attention and all they did was keep yelling about their success, Larry even talking about how he was going to open a tavern. “Guys. Please. Can’t you see that this is part of what’s going on?” She widened her eye at Ashton for possible support since he’d been the one along with her who had shown a shred of intellect.

  “Ruby, this is gold. Look at it.” Ashton had clearly lost himself in the sheer volume of shiny coins that made up most of the pool basin. “What’s to know?” He pointed to the ship in the bottle on the second rock. “Break that, and we should be out of the dome. Easy.” He pulled off his cloak and began to cover it in gold. “Come on guys, load it up and lets get the skiffs piled high. Damn, Larry…” He dumped a fortune onto his cloak. “...you finally did something right. Open a lemon stand or something.” Ashton ughed and patted the dirty man on the back, then folded up his cloak with the treasure then crawled out backwards through the tunnel.

  Undeterred with Ruby’s concern, Larry and Del had already pulled their shirts off and loaded them up with piles of gold and dragged their spoils out just like Ashton did. “Ruby. Come on, we gots the bounty. We gets to the boat and unload. Plenty of time ta be get’n it all.” He ughed as he disappeared from view.

  While she was very tempted to untie her bandana and throw on a small bit and carry it to Nerice, Ruby couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. Pulling off her bandana and dousing it in the water, she wiped her face with the cool liquid and rubbed her sweaty neck as she studied the words. “I haven’t seen Latin since before the wedding. Shit, Shit…Shit!” It was after the st little curse word that Ruby swore she heard ughter and quickly spun around on her heel and after not seeing anything, decided that the sound had to be the guys still ughing with their good fortune. “Alright, I am pretty sure this means offering.” She touched the grooves of the letters and used her eidetic memory to think about the books she’d read while still in school. “Okay, offering. Food, Draco.” She looked up and thought of the consteltion and then shook off the idea. “No, I can’t offer anything to a dead dragon that was never a deity in the first pce.” She paced back and forth and kept running the words through the filter of her mind and happened to look at her ungloved hand once more. “You little guys are flying lizards.” She tapped her lips, “I guess you could be called tiny dragons.” It was after she heard Nerice calling out to her that it occurred to Ruby that the ughter had in fact stopped. “Coming, Ner-Ner.” Dashing to the far side of the circle, Ruby crawled back through the tunnel and into her dymate’s arms. “What’s wrong?” Ruby frantically inspected Nerice and found she was as perfect as usual.

  “Do you see the guys, Tanya?” Nerice curled against Ruby tightly. “I think they just disappeared. One second they were dumping the gold onto the yers of palm leaves the next nothing.” Nerice reached up to feel Ruby’s face and felt herself instantly calm down when her fingers provided the certainty that her dymate was before her. “I’ve never been so powerless, Tanya. Don’t leave me out here again.”

  Doing her best to calm Nerice down from the experience, Ruby found that she was rather uncomfortable as well. Nothing remained other than the piles of gold and the lizards crawling on the trees. “No, they aren’t here and I doubt Larry could have gotten far without the raft.” Ruby kissed Nerice’s hands as they explored her face, “It’s okay, we will figure this out. Let’s drag this gold back into the chamber and go from there.” Ruby paused. “No, leave the gold. In fact, don't touch it.”

  “I didn’t have any intention. I am staying glued to you.” Nerice nestled into Ruby’s chest and listened to Ruby’s heart beating a little more rapid than normal. “You don’t know what’s going on either, do you?”

  “Still working on it. I really want to get off this isnd. Gold or no gold.” Ruby took a breath and realized that her companions didn’t even leave behind their gear. “How do three full-grown men just vanish?”

  Nerice lifted herself on her toes and kissed Ruby squarely on her lips. “Magic is all I can think of, Tanya.” She motioned back to the water. “I wonder if we can take our mermaid form and swim out of here?”

  Considering all of her options, Ruby pulled Nerice from her chest and held her hand. “I am not going to try. I think the answer is in that cave, specifically with the words in Latin on the pilrs.” Ruby chewed lightly on her lip, “The first one is about some kind of offering to Draco or a Draco, I don’t remember which. Either way it’s an offering of some kind.”

  “I don’t know Latin, Tanya. What’s more is I don’t have the power to assist.” Nerice walked behind Ruby and rubbed her shoulders the best she could through the armor. “What offering could you make that is better than treasure? I mean it obviously isn’t money or water since the chamber is full of water.”

  “Food.” Ruby blurted out before she really thought about it. “Basic needs are shelter, food and water.” She walked over to the raft and saw ants crawling all over the coconuts that she’d fashioned into wheel-paddles. “We have shelter and like you said water. Food, there are only three things on this isle other than pnts. Those nuts, the ants and the lizards.” Ruby untied one of the wheels she’d made and held the ring of open shells. “Okay. It’s a chance, but the only one I have at the moment.” Ruby entwined their fingers together. “I won’t let go. Trust me.”

  “Always.” Nerice felt her spirits lifting with Ruby’s change in tone. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Ruby pulled Nerice behind her. “Let’s get this over with.”

  It took a couple of minutes for Ruby to navigate the small channel while making sure that Nerice didn’t hit anything since she couldn’t use her hands. Assisting Nerice to her feet, Ruby led her lover to one of the rock seats. “Alright, don’t touch anything no matter how tempted you are to do so.” With Nerice’s affirmation via nod, Ruby walked back to the first column and after using her dagger to carve out the soft white meaty part of the coconuts, pced it at the base and waited with Nerice for something to happen.

  Knowing that pces like this were all about patience and thought, Ruby watched as a small mountain of ants covered the meat and began to haul it out in small chunks. By the time that half of the offering had been removed, Ruby felt a little bst of fresh air come through the passage and a line of little lizards nded almost on top of the ants and began to devour them in earnest.