The Lost Library of Cormanthy - Mel Odom [104]
The potion worked just as Vlayn said it would. Moving rapidly, Baylee swam straight down. As well as the potion worked, it would only last an hour, but with the other part of the magic allowing him normal movement even beneath the water, traveling two hundred feet below the ocean's surface was a matter of minutes.
Three other splashes sounded in his ears. Normally much of his hearing would have been distorted by the water and the pressure. With the potion active in his system, the sounds were almost normal.
He glanced up, spotting Uziraff and two of his men swimming after him. Evidently they'd drank vials of the potion as well. At two thousand gold pieces a potion, the pirate had evidently invested heavily in the expedition.
The depth took the light away, turning the water darker. Baylee reached into his bag of holding and took out the other article he'd purchased before leaving Caer Callidyrr. The lantern was small, almost on every corner of the city, but at three hundred gold pieces each, not everyone was going to have them.
He opened it, knowing it would be protected by the same magic from the potion as the rest of his gear. The lantern contained magic that filled it with light. He opened the shutter, unleashing a cone of light that shot down through the darkness. He followed it.
*****
A few moments later, so far from the ship above that everything looked black overhead except for the three pirates following him, Baylee spotted the first coral-covered planks of the shipwreck sticking up from the silt of the ocean floor.
Fish moved away from him, curious at first, then afraid. Luckily, none of them were big enough to consider themselves predators.
Baylee turned and landed in the silt on his feet. He held the lantern up high, trying to get his bearings. The bulk of the fishing net thrown Windchaser's side was behind him.
Uziraff and his companions touched down not far from the ranger's position. Together, they had enough light to penetrate the gloom and illuminate the first few feet of the large ship that protruded from the ocean floor.
"Gods," Uziraff said, "I've never seen the like. That's an elven ship, isn't it, Baylee?"
The thrill of the discovery dulled the fear and wariness in the ranger. He felt the siren call of the ship. "Yes," he replied. "Yes it is." He walked across the uneven plain of the ocean floor.
"What was her name?" Uziraff asked.
"She was called Chalice of the Crowns."
"What happened to her?"
The ranger shook his head. "I don't know."
"By the gods, she's old. Look at the coral covering her."
"I know." Baylee kept going forward, less than fifty paces from the shipwreck now.
She had broken into two main pieces. Planks and spars, masses of rigging, and sailcloth lay strewn across the ocean floor. The chill at this depth, negated by the potion Baylee had drank, had preserved what was left of her. Parts of the ship had drifted away with the currents, torn free as the ocean had claimed her.
"Was she from Myth Drannor?" Uziraff asked.
"I believe her to be." Baylee answered to the excitement that he heard in the pirate captain's voice. He couldn't believe he had only Uziraff to celebrate the moment with. Golsway should have been here at his side. Thoughts of the books that would have been in the shipment from the library swirled in his head.
"Gold!" one of the other pirates yelled. He crouched down, letting go of his lantern as he reached for the gold vase that thrust up from the silt
No longer in contact with his body, and out of the reach of the potion's magic, the lantern extinguished immediately, then collapsed in on itself as the pressure crushed it.
The display was a grim reminder to them all.
"You fool!" Uziraff snarled at the man holding the urn. "Now we've got one less light down here to work with." He continued berating the man, using up even more time. Finally he ordered them to bring the net and start filling it.
Baylee