He should have known that Raum was nearby – that nothing followed so closely to the heels of destruction as the grim silver Ghost of Denocte.
His brother-Crow had changed of late, but oh, Acton was too foolish, too preoccupied, to note the depth of the differences. The buckskin was unaware of Raum’s conversation with their patron goddess, unaware yet of the darkest of the plans that pieced themselves together in the man’s nimble, shadowed mind.
So he grinned at the sound of that dagger he knew so well (had wielded himself, against better sense) and turned toward his brother, nipping at his throat in wordless response. He thought nothing of the way that Raum considered Isra – when did the man’s blue eyes not look like a depthless lake limned in ice? If the Ghost’s question of their new queen is a test Acton is no judge of the answer; he only glances at the other stallion and then follows the unicorn out further onto the seabed.
He only paused once, to look back over his shoulder at Jezanna with a grin that felt too broad beneath the bright sunlight on the baking sand. “If we survive this I’ll open every vintage cask myself and we’ll drink until we can’t tell if we’re still living, anyway.” The flick of his tail was irreverent as a wink when he turned once more away.
Acton moved with little of the care that Isra did, and his focus was not on helping the small things. The mussels could watch over themselves, the starfish had little chance with the water vanished so long. Not even the fresh dead caught his eye, once he got used to the smell – but once he stepped through tangled, dried seaweed wound around the unmistakable ribcage of a horse, and that did give him pause.
The skeleton was far too bleached, too picked-clean, to have been from recent disasters. And for the first time in too long, Acton considered the other secrets the bay held – bodies he’d helped put there.
Unease settled over him then, heavy enough to force a swallow, and as he stepped past with the seaweed crackling under his hooves he almost shied when a gull shrieked overhead. He couldn’t say if it was fear of discovery or a fresh kind of guilt – but he was glad to finally reach the first Denoctian, scuffing at the seabed like a hen with a bag slung across his withers.
“Look,” he said, and the pinto glanced up at him. Acton indicated the distant shoreline with a jerk of his head. “Get back to the city. It isn’t safe here.”
“Why should I? I’m far from the only one out here. If the wave comes again, well, it’s what Tempus wants. Anyway, there’s riches out here.”
Acton grunted in response, ears twisting back, but he looked where the stallion indicated and damned if there weren’t a few worn-smooth coins, dim moons in the cracked seabed. He considered the man a moment longer, then shook his head. “Worthless junk,” he said (maybe a lie; he had no idea when the coins were from), “but I’ll pay you to get back to shore, and take as many as you can with you.” With a flourish he produced a sackful of money (all of it conjured, all of it sure to vanish within the hour) and the gleam of the stallion’s gaze in response was brighter than the gold.
“Done,” the stranger said, and took the money with a crooked sort of grin, one Acton couldn’t help but appreciate.
“A wise man,” he said like a clap on the shoulder, then let his expression slip into something conspiratorial. “But what were you looking for, anyway? Surely it’s not worth dying for a few ancient coppers.”
The pinto’s gaze turned reluctant, but he hefted the sack of money and finally said, “They say there was a ship wreck here, not far from the rocks where the sandbar drops off, decades ago. A smuggler’s load – gemstones and gold from the seasonal courts. Maybe it’s a myth, but –” with a showman’s flourish the man flipped one of the old coins before slipping it in with the false one’s Acton had given him. “It’s a time of miracles, innit?”
At that the buckskin had to laugh. “Miracles, sure,” he said to the stranger’s retreating back, but when he glanced back at the bare ocean floor there was something new in his gaze.
Suddenly the day was even more interesting.
you're italic, I'm in bold
@Raum @Isra @Jezanna @Araxes so this is admittedly random as hell but uh...anyone wanna go on a treasure hunt? (though obv all we need is a pegasus to fly over and go 'no you dummy there's nothing here')
