Ginger and Sylvia worked above deck, steering the Salacious Maiden through calm skies.

Adalhard briefed his team below. “The site is located several miles south of Southern Ponk, just above the ring of equatorial islands. It’s several miles east of the Melegan continent.” Adalhard finished unrolling the map and placed weights on all four corners. “The island doesn’t have an official name, and it’s not included on official maps.” On his map, Adalhard pointed to a circled bit of sea. “We’re going right about here. We’ll be somewhat close to Kiramek, a small island, with a small population. Normally, we would stop there and trade for supplies. But, we have an airship, and even though we left on short notice, we have enough stuff to get directly to the Volanter Site and back.”

Cernunnos added, “Which is good because the people of Kiramek are wary of visitors. They’re surrounded by hostile merfolk, which also used to be a problem for reaching our destination.”

“I’ve never seen a mermaid before.” Eder stared into space. His eyes frosted with the haze of fantasy.

“I don’t think you’ll like these very much,” Cernunnos warned with a wave of his hand. “They tend to be more aquatic than your average depiction.”

Eder frowned. “How so?”

“Well, for one – merfolk tend to be like the fish and underwater mammals in their region. So, northern merfolk are like seals – fat, big eyes. Overall a friendly if private group. Deep sea merfolk have big teeth, smaller eyes. Very terrifying,” Cernunnos said. “The ones around Tagtrum are some of the most friendly. Green backed, yellow bellied, and speckled up the side. Still, they’re all very streamlined. They don’t have curved hips or trim waists or bouncey breasts.” Cernunnos looked at Adalhard and raised his eyebrows.

Adalhard glared back. Did Cernunnos refer to their current pilots or a certain, missing anthropologist? Adalhard looked away. He should control his annoyance with Cernunnos. The man didn’t tell him to think of Camellia. That was his own fault.

“What are the merfolk like around Kiramek?” Inez asked.

Cernunnos sighed. “So colorful. They have spectacular striped spines. Hundreds! Unfortunately, those spines are poisonous, and they hate us.” He shook his head. “It’s a bad situation all around. But, they don’t come inland to the Volanter site, so since we’ll be flying in, we may not have to deal with them at all.”

“True,” Adalhard said.

“But...what about the other fish?” Inez bit her lip. “The poisonous ones that scare off mages?”

“We’ll have a problem with the freshwater creatures. They’re too stupid to know that the Volanter site is creepy.” Cernunnos smiled. “Most of them are harmless enough. The rest we can prepare for. Unfortunately, the region around Kiramek has freshwater sharks, not your average underwater beasts either. Big ones with arm-like fins.”

Adalhard pulled out a detailed, hand-drawn map of the Volanter island. The island curled in a fat crescent, and several lakes and rivers crisscrossed the small landmass.

“Where do we stand?” Eder joked, as his eyes perused the liberal bodies of water.

Adalhard gave Eder a stern look. “You laugh, but we do have to be careful where we stand. This half of the island, near the bay, is full of tidal pools.” Adalhard pointed at the inner curve of the crescent. “And, there’s a dangerous species of crab that inhabits them.” Adalhard stroked his chin. “Though…we might bypass those dangers.” Adalhard pointed to a large lake at the center of the island. “The Volanter site is inside this lake. There are several rivers that lead from the lake to the sea. Sharks often swim up into the lake, and the lake is full of freshwater fish. Those will be the main dangers.”

“So, basically crabs and sharks are the worst things?” Eder asked.

“Yes.” Cernunnos leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees. “There is one species of fish that will take the flesh right off your bones, but most of them are quite harmless.”

Eder and Inez exchanged a look.

Eder said, “And, we thought Grandfather’s goat was a bad animal. Maybe we should go roundup cultists.”

“We’re in the air.” Inez raised her eyebrows.

Adalhard put up a hand to regain their attention. “We’ve both been here before.” And survived, Adalhard added to himself. He checked through his materials and extracted some notes and a compass. Adalhard drew lightly on the papers and said, “If we’re flying in, we can bypass the merfolk and the crabs.” He marked a small spot on the Volanter island sketch. “Do you think we could land here?” He showed Cernunnos the proposed location. Adalhard remembered the place as a large rock, stuck into the sandy dirt. Trees didn’t grow on the rock, and Adalhard believed the ship could fit, though it would be tight.

Cernunnos looked at the map. He never asked for clarification or a description. He remembered the space too. “Hmmmm. If it hasn’t collapsed, then I don’t see why we couldn’t. We’d be right next to the lake.”

“Hmm,” Adalhard hummed his approval.

Eder pulled a paper towards himself. Adalhard took a quick look and recognized the temple floor plan.

The main floor had been laid out in a semicircle around a large central entryway. Stairs led up to a maze of living quarters. In the temple basement, a large hexagonal room occupied the center, and a geometric pattern of rooms radiated out. Some rooms were squares; some triangles, and some were rectangles and parallelograms.

“This place is a tangram puzzle.” Inez held up the paper.

“Was,” Adalhard said. “I’m glad we made such detailed sketches, now that the floorplan...”

“...has been rearranged?” Cernunnos suggested. He pointed to a triangular room near the center. “I think I found the wormhole circle in here, but I’m not sure. Just as well, we may have to look elsewhere due to the remodeling.”

“Well, if we can figure out where everything fell, knowing where the circle was will still help,” Adalhard said.

Eder wrinkled his nose. “Wait, if the whole thing fell into a sinkhole, won’t this lower floor be buried?” Eder tapped the sketch.

Adalhard nodded. “There has been some collapse, and some of it will be buried. We won’t know till we get there. It may or may not affect our dig. Still, the divers said that we can reach the lower floor or what’s left of it.”

“We may get lucky. If not, you two might want to think up a digging spell.” Cernunnos smiled.

“Who are these divers?” Inez asked.

“A couple of men from Southern Ponk,” Adalhard said. “They work on salvage vessels in the area and have often helped AAH members with digsites. About three years ago, I asked if they could check on the island when they went to Kiramek. They finally did so in the last six months.” Adalhard remembered sending the request. He had prepared to run for chair of the AAH and didn’t follow up right away. Besides, he knew that working sailors would only have a certain amount of free time, and if they couldn’t make it to the site, he would have to be patient. He never doubted they would keep their word.

Inez’s voice shook Adalhard from his memories. “If we can survive this place, we’ll be able to pick any assignment we want.” Inez, wide-eyed, nudged Eder’s shoulder. “We could go back to Tagtrum, maybe even pick Suen…”

“With any luck, your little guinea pig god won’t be there anymore,” Cernunnos said.

Inez grew quiet.

“On the bright side, you won’t have to keep your most advanced textiles secret.” Cernunnos raised his eyebrows. “And, if that isn’t exciting enough, maybe you can board a ship and follow my young Camellia through the wormhole.”

Inez and Eder exchanged a hopeful glance.

Adalhard furrowed his brow, not sure exactly why that statement bothered him. Regarding the wormhole, he was torn. He wanted to see what peoples lived outside, but he also wanted to stay in Groaza and achieve other goals – family-oriented goals. The wormhole would always be there. Camellia might not be able to wait, but he could. I wonder if she’ll come back.

Adalhard raised his eyes to find Cernunnos staring at him.