The Jade City

Chapter 25: The Cave

"Does anyone need weapons?" he asked.

"I'll take a knife," Cole said.

"No, you shouldn't fight yet," Nya said, pushing back the Earth Ninja's outstretched hand.

"Do I really have a choice?" he countered.

"Yes," Zane replied, "And that is to take care of your injury. Also, maybe we can negotiate, since we are not in any position to fight."

I watched as everyone tucked their weapons away. Having not summoned the sword yet, I simply stood up and held up my hands to signal to whoever was out there that I was unarmed. The others followed my lead, though when Cole tried to stand Nya didn't let him, so he remained in a sitting position. The blades of maybe a hundred spears were all above the water but nobody showed their faces yet. None of us dared to look down to see who was there.

"We don't wanna fight, we just wanna get to the shore," Jay said with a nervous smile, "Can you guys let us go? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

"We don't mean any harm," Nya called out.

I realized how silly this was, since these were almost certainly the water creatures who had captured us before.

Morro seemed to think of this as well, and said, "The Shadow Knight hasn't attacked us in days, meaning his mission was still somewhat successful so you don't have to serve him anymore."

"We would like to thank you for not harming us," Zane added. Jay shot him a look, but the Ice Ninja returned it with a warning glare.

"Yes, thank you very much." I was trying to sound as genuine as I could, despite the suspicion growing ever more present in my chest. Yet even as I was saying those words, the spears inched closer, leaving behind a thin trail in the water.

"We'd love to meet you..." Nya suggested, a slight quaver in her voice.

The water rippled, and in my head I formed images of merpeople, with faces ranging from human to scaly and skeletal. But I never expected to see an oversized fish head emerge.

I kept a straight face as the torsos of the... beings surface. From my right Jay let out a tiny squeak that did not go unnoticed. The leader of the beings shot him with what was probably a hostile look though I couldn't really read their facial expressions. They had the head and body of a giant salmon yet their fins were somehow able to grip the spears by wrapping around them. Something told me they weren't simply oversized fish.

"Hello," I said nervously as I crouched down so that I was at eye level with the leader. Trying not to recoil after looking at their foot-wide face (more like side face, since the leader was looking at me with one eye while the other stared off in the opposite direction), I smiled and continued, "We're just passing and we won't cause any harm to you or your citizens. Would it be alright if we went through these waters?"

The leader opened their mouth, letting out a foul stench. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Nya jab Jay sharply in the side, probably to keep him from crinkling his nose.

I didn't really know what I expected to hear when the leader spoke but was still surprised when their voice turned out to be a booming, deep growl. "You are the Chosen One, is that correct?"

Lloyd's POV

I peered into the cave. It was so dark I couldn't see anything inside. The entryway was so small that I would need to crawl inside. I ran my hand along the inside of the tunnel entrance. It was quite smooth, probably meaning that many had come here in the past and attempted to retrieve the blade.