Chapter 42: High Tide

"No," Mira said, grabbing Kai by the vest and stopping him before he could take it off. "I heard you tell that woman you couldn’t swim."

"I said I can’t swim well," Kai said. "There’s a difference. You can still swim if you’re bad at it."

"Really bad," Mira said.

"You can still swim if you’re really bad," Kai said.

Nerine was already standing at the edge of the ledge in a thin blue dress that barely covered her, with her shell necklace off and a small knife tucked into her belt. She had tied her hair up with a strip of cloth, and she was taking slow, deep breaths in through her nose, the same way Kai had watched divers do it on TV back on Earth.

"I can get to the chain," Nerine said. "But I will not be able to lift the anchor by myself, and it will be dark down there when your blessing wears off. I will need light, and someone to hold it for me."

"I can provide light," Kai said. "I guess."

"Your light flies away from you," Mira said.

"Not always," Kai said. "Sometimes it sticks to things."

Garrick had already found a coil of thick rope in the shrine’s storage room, along with a large iron hook that the fishermen used to haul in their nets, and he was tying the two together with a knot that looked like a fist made of rope.

"Hook the chain and yank on it twice," Garrick said, handing the hook to Nerine. "Sunny and I will do the rest from up here."

Sunny didn’t answer him, because he was standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, staring up towards the top of the steps.

"There is a boat approaching the island," Princess Seris said, rushing down the stairs with her notebook clutched to her chest. "It has a white flag with a golden sun on it. I counted three priests and four others who do not appear to be priests at all."

[They know you are here]

"Of course they do," Kai whispered.

"Go," Sunny said, without looking back at him. "I will hold them at the stairs."

Kai took off his vest and his boots and handed them to Mira, and then he stood on the ledge wearing nothing but his pants, staring down at the dark ocean water below. Mira looked at him for a second, and then she reached up and fixed his hair, which didn’t make any sense at all, since he was about to dive into the sea.

"Get back up here," Mira said.

"That’s the plan," Kai said.

"You never have a plan," Mira said.

"Well, I’m still going to get back up here," Kai said, and he dove.

The water was so cold that Kai gasped out half his air and completely forgot which direction was up. Then Nerine’s hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him downward, and below them, he could see the golden glow of his blessing still lying on the bottom of the cave, already beginning to fade.

[You have about one minute of air left. I will count for you]

Kai pointed his finger towards the fading glow and thought the words Minor Light as hard as he possibly could.

The orb flew out of his finger and shot sideways through the water, and Kai was sure it was going to disappear into the dark, until it smacked into the iron anchor and stuck there like a lantern, lighting up the whole bottom of the cave.

[That is the first time your light has gone where you wanted it to go. Do not expect it to happen again]

The seven clappers lay on the floor of the cave beside the anchor, all of them tangled in a thick chain that had been locked shut with a padlock stamped with a golden sun. Nerine was already at the anchor, trying to work her hook under the chain, but it was wrapped around a jagged piece of rock, and she couldn’t get it free no matter how hard she pulled.

[Forty seconds]

Kai kicked down beside her and grabbed the chain with both hands, and he pulled as hard as he could, but the rock wouldn’t budge, and his lungs were beginning to burn.

[Thirty seconds. Your heart rate is very high, Kai]

Nerine poked his shoulder and pointed at the padlock, and then at his hand. Kai had no idea if it was going to work, but he pressed his palm flat against the golden sun and thought the words Minor Smite with all of his might.

The blast didn’t fly anywhere, because there was nowhere for it to go, so the golden light slammed straight into the padlock and blew it apart. The chain slid free of the rock, and the force of the blast threw Kai backwards, spinning him around in the water until he lost sight of the bottom completely.

[Twenty seconds. Go, Kai]

Kai swam as hard as he could, but he couldn’t figure out which way was up, and his vision was beginning to blur at the edges. He was convinced that he was going to die in the middle of an ocean cave, in his pants, in front of a goddess, which seemed like exactly the kind of death the God of Failure deserved.

Then a hand grabbed the back of his pants and hauled him upward, and Kai broke through the surface gasping for air, with Nerine holding onto him with one arm as she floated beside the ledge.

"You swim terribly," Nerine said.

"I told you," Kai said, coughing up salt water.

Mira grabbed him by both arms and dragged him up onto the ledge, where he lay on his back gasping like a fish, while Garrick yanked twice on the rope and began to pull.

"Champion!" Garrick shouted. "I need you!"

At the top of the stairs, Sunny had drawn his sword, and the three Radiant priests and their men had stopped dead on the steps above him. The priest at the front of the group had a shaved head and a golden sun tattooed on his wrist, and he was pointing one finger at Sunny’s chest.

"You are the Holy Champion," the priest said. "You serve the Radiant Mother, and you must step aside."

"If the Radiant Mother wishes for me to step aside," Sunny said calmly, "then she can tell me so herself."

None of the priests moved, because none of them wanted to fight the Holy Champion on a narrow set of stairs, and Sunny slid his sword back into its sheath and ran down to help Garrick with the rope.

Between the two of them, along with Mira, Seris, Nerine and Elder Marrow herself, they finally hauled the chain up out of the water, and all seven bronze clappers came up with it, dripping and covered in seaweed. Garrick didn’t waste any time catching his breath. He climbed up onto the chains above the water, and one by one, he ripped out the wooden fakes and replaced them with the real bronze clappers.

By the time he hung the last clapper inside the great center bell, the tide had already come rushing into the cave, and the water was almost up to the ledge.

The first wave rolled underneath the bells, and the smallest one swung and rang.

It was the most beautiful sound Kai had ever heard, a clear, deep note that echoed through the cave and rolled out across the water. Then the next bell rang, and the next, until the great center bell swung and rang out over all the others, and Kai could hear people cheering from the docks across the harbor.

Elder Marrow had dropped her cane, and she stood at the edge of the ledge with tears running down her wrinkled cheeks.

"Five hundred years," Elder Marrow said. "And I allowed them to silence her for a pouch of gold."

"You didn’t know," Kai said, sitting on the ledge soaking wet.

"I did not ask," Elder Marrow said. "That is worse." She turned to face Kai and bowed her head so low that the shells in her hair rattled together. "The Shrine of the Deep will not oppose you at the Conclave, God of Failure."

[Faith gained. New follower: Nerine. Faith: 18%. Status: Grateful.]

[Faith gained. New follower: Marrow. Faith: 5%. Status: Ashamed.]

[You have also gained 61 new followers from the harbor district. They are mostly fishermen, and they are very loud]

Kai leaned back on the cold rocks and closed his eyes, listening to the bells echo out across the water, and for the first time since the tunnel under the arena, he felt like he could breathe again.

Then, as the last bell faded away, he heard something else in the echo, a woman’s voice as quiet and as deep as the ocean itself.

"Thank you, little god," the voice said.

Kai’s eyes snapped open, and he sat straight up. Nerine stood frozen beside him with her hand over her mouth, and Elowen had turned her blindfolded face towards the water, perfectly still.

"Did you hear that?" Kai whispered.

[Yes. Kai, that was not me]