“He’s not breathing!” yelled Jeremiah, as the crew hauled Deacon’s body up to the deck of the ship.

“Is he really dead this time?” Sophie questioned under her breath.

All the gathered freed slaves on the deck helped to carry Deacon’s body to the captains quarters. At the same time several boats from the port were coming there way. Ralph remained on deck to coordinate the discussions with local authorities, while Sophie, Tantus, Jeremiah, Hani, and Alfred discussed what to do next.

“Alfred, is he really gone?” Tantus asked as they lay Deacon’s soaking wet body in a hanging hammock.

“No. My connection to him is still strong. I do not understand what’s happening,” replied Alfred.

“I’ve seen him come back to life before. Back in the capital. This is taking much longer,” commented Sophie.

“You’re kidding right? I know he’s powerful, but he can’t fight death. The man just drowned fighting what I think was the biggest Crustacio I’ve ever seen. What happened down there Jeremiah?” Hani asked.

“Shamir had him trapped in a whirlpool. Deacon started to freeze the water around us and that enraged Shamir. He started to choke Deacon to get him to stop while swimming deeper into the water. Then Deacon did the craziest damn thing. He pulled out Shamir’s eyes and all the corresponding flesh below it. I tried to help but I didn’t swim fast enough,” answered Jeremiah, his eyes looking at the floor during that last bit.

“Yea that sounds like a Deacon solution,” quipped Hani before being smacked in the arm by Sophie.

“What are we going to do? He’s still wanted by the city guard, and we are about to get boarded,” asked Tantus.

“I have an idea, but we’ll need Alfred and Jeremiah’s help,” Sophie said while gathering everyone close.

“Who’s the captain of this vessel?” asked one of the Deep Dwellers that just boarded the ship.

“Aye, that’d be me. I claim the right of salvage as written in the maritime laws of the Shattered Sky. Is there a problem?” said the captain dragging the borders attention away from the aft of the ship.

“This ship is under suspicion of slavery off the coast of the Shattered Sky’s port. That is a serious offense. I’m Caleb Smitehammer, Seargeant major of the port authority reserves. You are instructed to make your berth at dock seventeen within the hour. Thereafter a judge will hear your case. Since you have claimed the right of salvage and your beard is impeccable, I assume you had help taking this slave vessel. Where are they now?” asked the sergeant major.

“Here comes one of the brave adventurer’s guild members now. Ralph, the sergeant major would like to speak with you,” the captain called out.

“Hello, I’m from the guild. We were out on this his fishing vessel when we noticed the blockade. He was brave enough to sail us over so we could begin an assault. We wondered why no boats were launched from the port. Glad to see port authority made it to the fight,” explained Ralph without prompting.

“And where is your original ship?” asked sergeant major.

Ralph looked this Deep Dweller over. He had a braided black beard with a medallion depicting house Smitehammer’s insignia. He was wearing leather and plate armor. The hair atop his head was twisted up into a man bun. There were several of his men were questioning the ex-slaves milling around the deck. His demeaner was that of a professional civil servant. So Ralph decided to answer that question with the truth.

“It’s tied to the starboard side of this vessel,” answered Ralph.

“I will need to take a statement from everyone in your party. Can you gather them for me please? Also have you seen this human?” asked the sergeant major taking out several scroll cases.

Almost as if it was time, the rain stopped, and the clouds began to slowly part. This caused shafts of sunlight to spear down around the city as well as the shallows that held the remains of the battle. The two ships that engaged the defenders were crippled and boarded. After a fierce battle several of the pirates surrendered. A number of slaves were freed but many died in the exchanges of cannon fire. There was talk of a fifth ship but it either fled or was never here.

After assuring the port authority agents that Deacon wasn’t on board, the boat was towed into port. The freed slaves all had heroic stories to tell about the man that saved them but none of them knew what happened to the body they saw pulled from the water. When the sergeant major was done interviewing Sophie, Tantus, and Hani, they were released into the port on their own recognizance. Shortly thereafter, Sophie received a message from a Deep Dweller runner.

“It’s from Typhus. He wants us to meet him at the Monument to the Fallen. That’s all it says,” relayed Sophie to the others.

“I’ve never been here where is that?” asked Hani.

“At the east end of the city, I believe. We should take a trolly,” answered Sophie with a gleam in her eye.

“A whaty?” asked Hani as they continued walking down the dock toward the city proper.

“You’ll see,” answered Sophie.

They all transitioned from wooden planks to cobblestone streets. The architecture around the Shattered Sky was very boxy. Each of the main entrances to buildings were perfect squares with knobs in the center. Unlike human designs that were rectangular in shape. Most of the single story buildings in this district were squat tiled affairs. Outside of each home had multicolored tiles in the shape of which house they were affiliated with. Even if they weren’t part of the main five houses there was at least a family crest or a name in shiny tiles just outside the door. This gave the décor a uniform aesthetic.

After several minutes of walking, Ralph noticed the shadows on the ground moving faster than they should be. They all looked up to see several land masses sliding along tracks in the sky. Some of those rails run down toward the center of the city further up the hill. The sky tracks all seemed to be anchored into a mile long overhang from a nearby mountain range. In fact they were traveling toward that overhang right now.

Suddenly Sophie had them all stop at a street sign most of them couldn’t read. There were several other people standing around and waiting as well. Most of the Deep Dwellers gave the group of humans side eye but no outright hostility. Then Tantus perked up after seeing something in the street.

There were solid metal rail lines running through the middle of the cobblestones. Tantus’s enthusiasm got the better of him and he stepped out of line to get a better look.

“Hey, no cutting!” yelled one Deep Dweller.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just wanted to get a closer look,” Tantus replied.

“You can get killed on your own time. I’m not going to be late because the town guard wants to investigate a stain that used to be you,” complained another Deep Dweller.

“What do you mean by killed—” Tantus was interrupted as Ralph dragged him back in line just as a steam belching tube on four wheels screeched to a halt in front of the line.

The tube was made of iron and there was gnomish driver in the front of the vehicle. He wore grey and white stripped hat and what looked like Deacon’s overalls on his body. The tube had wooden benches on each side of the interior. The doors were opened up by another gnome who had a clipboard. He used one handle that hinged both doors open. The driver pulled on a string and steam puffed out from beneath the tube.

“Let’s go, we need to make two more stops before I hit the memorial site. Then I have to turn around and come back up this way. Hurry up now,” said the driver getting a bunch of muttering from those boarding the trolley.

Deacon awoke in his bed. Somehow, he’d made it back inside his dungeon. His chest was still sore from the fight and his health was only at ninety percent out of one fifty. This confused him since last time he died the reaper healed him back to full. He sat up and dangled his feet off the side of the bed.

“Oh good. You’re finally up. I assume you have questions,” Alfred said standing at the top of the stairs in his standard butler form.

“How did I get in here? Where is everyone? Are we still on the ship? Is Jeremiah alright? Why am I so hungry? Etcetera,” asked Deacon.

“Well we smuggled you off the boat in a shipping crate. I expanded inside the crate and your team brought you in here. Then they dropped me off the aft section of the ship. I bobbed up and down in the water for a few minutes before Jeremiah caught up to us. He pushed us to shore just off the cove the port is built around. We are currently floating under one of the unused docks,” Alfred explained.

“That didn’t answer the where is everyone question,” replied Deacon.

“Well the others stayed behind to distract the authorities. Jeremiah is downstairs in the pool,” answered Alfred.

“We have a pool now?” Deacon asked.