“Shut your yap,” Eshanai hissed as she quickly moved to stand in between her sister and the spirit. She struck out, trying to punch the catfish in the gut, but the big bastard glided away casually before she could connect. Her tail was not far behind, and it wiped the smug grin off the annoying bastard's face as it struck out like a whip against one of its eyes.

“Argh,” it yelped in pain as it cradled its eye with its remaining fin. It opened it carefully, blinking rapidly before glaring at Eshanai. “So uncivilized,” it huffed, and it looked like the eye was fine if a little red. “I only came to talk.”

“The only talking you’ll be doing is to get us out of here. I didn’t need a weapon before, and I don’t need it now,” Eshanai threatened, but it only seemed to bore the catfish.

“I would advise against that if I were you,” it drawled in its bored tone before smirking. “The only way you’ll be getting out of here is on my terms, if at all.”

“Why should we listen to a thing you say when we can just kill you and be done with it? Whatever you’ve done to the lake should end with your death, isn’t that right?”

“True, true,” the catfish nodded sagely, still as calm as can be. “But this is my domain. You would find the prospect a little difficult, I imagine. I take it that you’ve noticed this place isn’t exactly solid, shall we say? My dear Sikhez must have told you, she does so love to blather.” Eshanai did not like how the spirit was talking about her sister and thought about what would happen if she launched herself at it to end things here and now. But she was curious about this place, the catfish would get what was coming to it, and if it wanted to offer up free information, she would not complain.

“We talked about it,” Eshanai said and heard the stifled cry coming from behind her. Sikhez was looking wide-eyed at her as Eshanai turned away from their enemy to look at her, practically trembling.

“What are you doing?” Sikhez hissed in a whisper. “Do you know what he’ll do to me if he finds out I’ve spilled his secrets?”

“Relax,” Eshanai said without bothering to keep her voice down. “Have you forgotten that I’m going to, no sorry, that we are going to kill that thing?” She took the younger Naga’s hand and slithered to stand next to her, facing the catfish. She gave the hand a reassuring squeeze before glaring at the spirit. “I couldn’t help but wonder about the fish flopping about and the lights,” Eshanai picked up right where she had left off.

“Overconfident lout,” the catfish muttered, hovering well away from the two Naga by now. “This place doesn’t really exist in a corporeal sense,” it explained while plastering on a huge smile, flat teeth gleaming.

“Of course it does. We’re standing right in it,” Eshanai said, not understanding.

“This part of the castle, yes, but that’s because there are so many sentient minds here to give it form,” the catfish made a sweeping gesture with its fin to indicate the treasure-laden room.

“So, what? The rest of this place is just gone now that there’s no one there to watch it?” Eshanai asked. She sounded skeptical, but it would certainly explain all the fish and algae everywhere. Spirits had been known to do stranger things.

“Not exactly, the walls are still there, but they grow more malleable over time. The corridors were entirely filled with water and wildlife until you got close enough, and the castle remembered itself and expelled it all and grew solid.” It continued to explain, almost seeming to enjoy itself.

“That’s it,” Sikhez suddenly exclaimed from beside Eshanai, eyes wide in realization. “That’s why the treasury doesn’t move. You keep the talking glaive here to anchor it in place, to watch and make sure all your treasures don’t sink into the lake.”

“Probably why this room is so clean and free of fish. It has never grown malleable as you called it.” Eshanai reasoned as she looked around thoughtfully at their gleaming surroundings. So as they walked the halls, they were growing solid where they were and letting in water again behind them?

“Bravo, little snakes, bravo,” the catfish jeered. It almost looked like it wanted to applaud them, but it frowned as it caught itself, unable to clap with only one fin. “But the glave is not the only thing I keep in here to watch my treasure,” it started as the tinkling of falling coins accompanied by the catfish’s ominous laughter. The sound soon grew deafening as a literal wave of golden coins came crashing into the floor beside the spirit. They flowed together to form a shape that soon towered over both Naga and lake spirit. It formed two appendages it could use for arms, supporting itself on constantly shifting waves of gold.

The thing roared as two pits opened up on the front revealing gemstone eyes. The catfish laughed even harder at the noise as it looked up in glee at the golden goliath, but Sikhez and Eshanai had to cover their ears. The sound was reminiscent of two pieces of metal being ground together but deeper and cutting straight into your head.

“What is that thing?” Sikhez asked when whatever it was had stopped screaming. Eshanai had no idea, but it seemed angry, gemstone eyes fixated on Eshanai.

“This little beauty is a spirit of hoarding, and I’ve been feeding it. I don’t imagine it’s too happy about you taking from its body,” The catfish laughed, and Eshanai realized something. That’s why the lake spirit hadn’t appeared until now. It had all been a trap. It wanted them to steal something so that this hoarding spirit would be angered. Eshanai didn’t get more time to think as the hoarder swung its arm and a chunk of gold detached from it to fly at the pair of Naga. They flung themselves in different directions, and the ball of coins crashed into the spot that had just occupied, launching its payload everywhere.

The coins turned into little missiles stinging Eshanai’s tail and back and leaving angry purple bruises behind before rolling back to the hoarder. Sikhez had fared better, managing to hide behind a pillar to avoid the shrapnel. Eshanai flung herself in her direction before the next ball was thrown and joined her behind the pillar to take cover.

“How do you suggest we deal with this then?” Sikhez asked on the verge of panic.

“Not sure,” Eshanai answered, thinking. “If we could just get to the catfish somehow, but I don’t see us getting past that thing. You know this place better than I do. Got any good ideas?” She poked her head out to see what was happening but had to quickly dart in behind cover as a new ball came flying at them, impacting the pillar with a loud crash. Sikhez gritted her teeth at the noise, her eyes wide with fear. Eshanai did the only thing she could think of and kissed the younger Naga. It worked so far as it brought Sikhez out of her state, but it did little to improve their situation.

“Wha,” Sikhez began distractedly as their lips parted, but Eshanai only grinned at her as coins rained down around them and the world shook.

“I need you here beside me,” Eshanai said, holding on to her sister's arms and looking into her eyes. It seemed to bolster Sikhez a little, but she still cringed when the next ball hit.

“Ok, ok, think,” she said hurriedly. “It’s a spirit, right. What else do we know about it?”

“I got the impression that the catfish doesn’t control it,” Eshanai thought out loud, or else why set things up this way? Why not just sick its little pet at them and be done with it? “It’s only after us because we stole the glaive from it. Other than that, it seems to really like gold,” She added with a shrug.

“That’s it. If we can lead it away from its hoard, it might lose power,” Sikhez speculated and grinned at her.

“It might even make the rest of the treasure fall into the lake with no minds here to watch it. That’s genius,” Eshanai hugged the younger Naga, the voluminous red fabric bunching up as she was lifted into the air. Sikhez laughed in surprise and delight, the sound doing much to lift Eshanai’s spirits. “I’ll be the bait since it’ll probably go after me before you. Go for the door when it’s distracted.”

“What about the catfish?” Sikhez said when she was released from the hug. “Won’t he get in the way?”

“Didn’t think about that,” Eshanai frowned. “Guess I dismissed it as a non-threat.” Sikhez pouted at that, and Eshanai chuckled lightly. “Sorry, sorry, I’ve forgotten what it was like to be young and weak,” For that, she got a punch in the ribs, which made her chuckle again and look fondly upon Sikhez. “You might need to put on some more muscle, but you’re very quick, quicker than me when I was your age, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Quit messing around, or we’ll be stuck here forever,” Sikhez hissed. For a young Naga, she could be awfully serious at times.

“Fine, new plan, the catfish won’t go near me like the coward it is, so you are just going to have to stay close to me until we find a way to deal with the hoarder.” Eshanai suddenly smirked at Sikhez as she got an idea, “or I could throw you out the doors, oh, oh, oh, with your arms loaded full of gold. That’d get the hoarder's attention for sure.” Sikhez gaped at Eshanai and slowly closed her mouth before answering.

“We’ll keep that plan in reserve, I think. I’ll just stick close for now,” She was oddly thoughtful as if she was considering the idea.

Minds made up, the two Naga darted out from their hiding place just after a ball of gold was thrown. It flew in an ark over them and crashed against the pillar, but they were already heading towards the doors. Tendrils of gold and jewels rose up from the piles around them, slinking around arms and throats and pulling them away. They focused on Eshanai as she had thought, pulling her towards the pile to try and bury her. Tremor sense made them easy to predict, and they blew apart easily enough with a hard enough yank or flick of the tail. With Sikhez’s help, she was soon free of their grasp. They were many and still slowed them down, making the two Naga an easier target.

“Look out!” Sikhez shouted as a ball came hurtling towards them, and more tendrils than ever came to impede their progress. Eshanai only had time to push her sister out of the way, struggling against the tendrils attached to her every limb before the ball of coins landed. Pain split Eshanai’s skull as the golden boulder hit her directly in the chest, and she was slammed into the ground by the sheer mass of it all. Coins stuck to her stubbornly, writhing over her body, obstructing her entire face as she tried to rise but was pulled down again. She struggled, but her arms were slowly moved and held against her sides. Tendrils added more coins to the ball, weighing Eshanai down even more.

“Now we can finally have a conversation,” Eshanai heard the catfish’s voice, and the coins flowed away from her face to reveal that she was trapped in a ball of coins hovering in front of the looming hoarder and river spirit. Her chest and face radiated pain, and something wet trickled down her lip, a broken nose if she had to guess. “You look like shit,” the catfish sneered at the state of her, and she laughed before wincing at the sharp pain in her ribs, more broken bones. Her arms were trapped in vice grips, but her muscular tail had some give to it. She decided to not reveal that at the moment and instead waited for an opening. Sikhez was still free after all.

“That makes two of us,” she eyed the nasty scar where a fin used to be, and the catfish’s mirth faded slightly.

“I admit you’ve caused me a lot of pain, and perhaps you are more trouble than you’re worth,” the spirit of the lake then made a flourish, and Eshanai’s flute appeared, held in its fin. “Will you play us a song?” It held the flute up, offering it to her.

“Only if you let us out of here,” the catfish’s mood darkened even further at that.

“No,” it said simply, and Eshanai snorted.

“Well, then you can forget ever hearing me play again,” Eshanai refused, and the catfish flashed that too wide smile again.

“You might think that just because you are the only one on this island that has played this flute, it makes you valuable to me. But you see, you’re playing was, hm, subpar at best,” it waived its fin in the air, like scales wobbling back and forth. “How long do you think it would take your little friend to get to your paltry level, hm? A day, two? She’ll at least not cause as many problems,” Eshanai’s view was limited, so she could not get a glimpse of her little sister. She just hoped the two spirits didn’t spot her either.

“My playing isn’t that bad. What do you even have to compare it to?” Eshanai asked, actually curious to know the answer.

“Oh, please. It’s dreadful, bringing up completely the wrong imagery. People used to offer me art, woman, masterpieces of creation so complicated you wouldn’t even begin to understand them. And now I have to settle for, for this peasant trash,” the catfish had worked itself up into a state, entirely out of breath as it glared at the flute as if it had personally offended the spirit. Eshanai saw movement out of the corner of her eye then. It was Sikhez. Her arms were loaded full of gold, and she was heading slowly for the wide-open doors. Eshanai needed to keep the spirit’s attention fully locked on herself.

“I’m the best musician you are ever going to find in a long time. Face it, you won’t do anything to me unless you wanna kiss your precious masterpieces goodbye,” the catfish glared at her, going completely red in the face from trying to contain its anger.

“I have never met someone so ornery in my life,” it snarled through gritted teeth. “You are expendable. I still have Sikhez after all, and you are making the idea of killing you more appealing by the moment.” The spirit ranted but caught itself as if surprised by its own behavior, then chuckled slightly. “I forget myself, letting myself be goaded by the insignificant little snake that walked straight into my trap,” it swam right up to her face, smiling in self-satisfaction. “There are worse things I could do than kill you. We wouldn’t want to let things get unpleasant for you,” Eshanai didn’t let herself react to the bait. “Or for your little friend,” she tried to not let the unease she felt show on her face, but the catfish spotted it anyway.

“Leave her out of this,” Eshanai hissed as the spirit laughed in her face.

“Where is our little Sikhez anyway?” Then the catfish did what couldn’t happen. It turned around. It, of course, spotted Sikhez immediately on her way out of the treasury with her arms full. They both froze at that moment as the spirit put the pieces together, a Nightstrike staring down a mouse. Eshanai saw no better opportunity, and with the catfish’s back turned, she forced her tail out of the ball, coins flying, and wrapped it around its throat. The doors still slammed shut with a hasty wave of the catfish’s fin before Sikhez could get out.

“Kill her, kill her,” it choked out in a panic as it floundered desperately in Eshanai’s coils. There was some confusion about which Naga the catfish meant, the giant made of gold turning its head from one to the other, but with the coins still secured in the treasury and the glaive gone, it was easy to see where the hoarder’s ire would turn. A knife came flying out of it, heading unerringly for Eshanai. She tried to move, to struggle free from all the gold holding her up in the air, but it was useless. The only thing she could do was Squeez the catfish harder and hope it died soon.

A space opened up in the gold to make room for the knife, and it buried itself to the hilt in Eshanai’s gut, punching the air out of her lungs. The shock and pain made her forget about the catfish, and it managed to escape as the knife fell away. Blood gushed from the wound, soaking the coins around her and on the floor. The catfish gloated at her, saying something, but Eshanai couldn’t hear it. All she could do was meet the horrified gaze of Sikhez standing by the door and think about how she had failed her. Eshanai wouldn’t die, not at first, but she would need to rest to recover and would be less than useless to her little sister.

Something shifted inside Eshanai, intensifying the pain. She groaned in agony and looked down to see a vine sprouting from the bloody wound. It grew longer and thicker until it curled around something that wasn’t there in the air. With a bright light and a pop of displaced air, the object revealed itself to be the glaive. The vine uncoiled itself to let the weapon fall and clatter to the ground, and slunk back into Eshanai’s belly. There was a green light, and the grievous wound sealed itself shut, leaving behind just another pale scar.

With the glaive returned, the hoarder had no reason to fight, and so the coins started to fall away from her body, lowering her to the floor gently as they did. Eshanai was too stunned to do anything at first, running a hand over her taut stomach in wonder. The coins of the massive hoarder flowed away to once again become a part of the piles around them. The catfish’s placating voice reminded her where she was.

“Let’s not be hasty now. I had no idea you were claimed by another.”