Have you ever ridden in the mouth of a giant cosmic fish? No? Well let me tell you something, it’s not fun. I jostled inside this fat, wet mouth and the smell did me no favors. I cast a glance at my companion, the mage who was busy reading some scrolls while sitting on the tongue of the fish.

  “You couldn’t have taken a different way to our destination?”

  “What do you mean? Monchep is a smooth ride.” The mage looked at me confused.

  A smooth ride, really? As if to emphasize my point, the whole mouth shook. I steadied myself by placing a hand against the wall of the mouth. It’s slimy, like warm smelly jelly.

  He looks at me as I raise an eyebrow.

  “We are making great time, Finnbarr, and besides, I need to use Monchep or his contract becomes void.”

  Oh great, I’m inside a fish’s mouth because someone couldn’t bother to take them out for a swim every once in a while, I thought.

  “Do you even know where to go?”

  The mage nodded. “Of course. I already told Monchep to head to the waters of your home. From there we search for the cups.”

  “And you know you have to remove the wards, right?”

  “Wards?” The mage looked worried.

  “Yes, the wards on the chests that are holding the cups.”

  “Ahh… hmm… that may be a bit troublesome.”

  “What do you mean? Are you not capable of removing wards?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then?”

  “Well… theoretically.”

  “Theoretically what?”

  “I could do it. I just haven’t actually ever removed a cosmic ward.”

  My eyes widen in shock. “Wait, how in the hells have you never removed a ward?”

  “Usually someone else did, or I just never ran across them.”

  I gave a big sigh and rubbed my temple. “So the entire reason I’m in this stinky fish mouth, you can’t do”

  “Finnbarr, relax. I’ve seen it done. I’m sure I’ll get it in the first or third try.”

  I was about to say something when the fish gave a sudden jerk and stopped. I caught myself from falling over.

  “What the hell happened?”

  The mage got up and held up his hand. He cocked his head. “I see… interesting,” he said, but not to me.

  “Well?”

  “Monchep says the waters to your flower are blocked. We will have to travel the rest of the way by other means.”

  Of course. This mission just keeps getting better.

  Monchep opened his mouth to a green hazy sky and loads of orange trees criss-crossed across channels and pools of water. It was a dense mangrove. I stepped out, glad to be out of that damn mouth. The ground was soft under my boots. I knew we were in the Grey, but I did not know what part this was.

  “Any idea where we are at?” I asked the mage.

  He shook his head. “Monchep believes we may be just a couple of flowers away. However, between us, I wouldn’t trust his sense of direction too much.”

  I pushed the thought that we may have traveled in the wrong direction out of my head. “I’ll try to fly ahead, see if I could figure out where we are at.”

  I attempted to fly but couldn’t get any lift. Crap. I was in a dead zone.

  “No go. Looks like it’s a dead zone.”

  The mage took a swig of some flask and wiped his mouth. “I see. Well, ahhhem, I guess we walk.”

  “Oh no other creature whose mouth we could ride in?” I hope he catches my sarcasm.

  He turns and waves bye as Monchep disappears under the water.

  “Where is he going?”

  “Monchep is gonna try to see if he can find another way to your flower.”

  “Tell him to take his time.”

  I begin walking. The trees are thick and it makes progress a bit slow. The mage trudges alongside me.

  “Why don’t you use your sword and cut some of these trees to make progress faster?”

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  “Why not use your magic and clear us a path?”

  “You know the rules. When in a dead zone one should—”

  “One should avoid the use of any environmental override, up to and including Magicus and technoganic means, as to avoid alerting any enemy observers. I know the Alliance strategies, spell slinger. I was joking.”

  “I was not.”

  “Ha. You see, that was a good one.”

  We keep walking through the mangroves. The mage starts babbling on about some bad gefi fish he had or something like that. To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention. My eyes were constantly scanning. You see, the Grey is a weird place. It’s home to an endless expanse of Alfaere kingdoms and wilds and dangers.

  “This is definitely deep Grey territory,” I say as I jump over a stream.

  “I believe you are right, Finnbarr.”

  The mage fumbles around in his pocket and pulls out a compass. He opens it and furrows his brow.

  “What happened?”

  “Well, I… ahem… lost the tuning arrow.”

  Why did they even team me up with this guy?

  “Doesn’t matter. The sky is shifting.”

  I point up and the sky of the Grey and skies of the Garden for the briefest of moments pass each other like two windows, a slight sliver of clarity that my eyes drink in. I recognize the stars. I see some I have even spent time on.

  “We are somewhere near the Ashura Nebula clouds.”

  “Is that far from your world?”

  “It’s not close, but it’s fine. We can follow the river to the center. There should be a porting rock. We can use it to jump towards the flower.”

  Just then I catch a small flash of something. I use my second sight, the one that allows me to see through charms and illusions, to see what doesn’t want to be seen. Sure enough, I see these bright flashes. More of them.

  “We are not alone.” I put my hand on my sword.

  The mage looks around. “I can sense them. Oh no.”

  “Oh no what?” I ask.

  “Their imps.”

  Fleck!! Now for those of you not aware, wild imps are some of the old folk, near as powerful as wizards and a headache in numbers and trickier than seven cats, and there was a lot of them hiding and looking at us.

  “This is way too many to all be gathered. Something is up.”

  Then one of them emerged out of the trees. He was squat and wrinkly with big ears the size of dinner plates and a bulbous nose. He was dressed in roots and leaves and had a large mushroom cap for a hat.

  “Did yue think we wouldnae found ye?”

  The mage looked shocked. “Jop, I umm, well, it’s good to see you.”

  “You know this imp?”

  “Oh yes, Perhan knows us very well, don’t you?” The imp pointed a finger at Perhan.

  “Your name is Perhan?”

  “Yes, now please be quiet.”

  “You must have gotten teased a lot.”

  Perhan stepped forward. “Jop, listen about the last time—”

  “The last time when you stole from me own dear mudder, tha time?”

  “I wouldn’t say steal, I would say merely borrowed.”

  I shake my head. This moron had stolen from an imp, one of the few things everyone knows to avoid.

  “What did he steal?”

  “Borrowed. I borrowed a small necklace.”

  “He tricked us, made it seem like he was gonna sell us green elixir from the deep wood. Turned out he made us a sleeping draught, then stole the necklace.”

  “I told you that was an accident. The fairy gave me the wrong vial.”

  “Liar!!!” The imp looked ready to blast him with a magic bolt.

  “Whoa, whoa.” I stepped forward. “Listen, Jop, I’m sure your problems with Perhan are well founded and he probably does need a good kick in the ass, but for right now I need him, so y’all will have to finish this dance later.”

  “Too bad. He’s settling his debt today.” The imp snapped his finger and three other imps appeared and began to advance towards Perhan.

  I put my hand on my blade. “Try it and you’re gonna be missing hands.”

  The imps stopped and looked at Jop, hesitant.

  Jop looked at me. “Fine. We will settle later.” He reached out his hand to shake mine.

  I was wary, but I shook it. Jop gave a weird smile and wink. Suddenly this root wrapped around my arm and body like a tight vice. It continued to wrap all over like a cocoon. I fell to the floor.

  Jop whistled and four more imps appeared. Perhan made a move but they pelted him with mud balls so many, so fast he was buried in like some dirt statue.

  “We imps wait for no one,” Jop said as he walked past as I struggled. How the hell were these roots so strong?

  “Yo'll be free in a moment, but that’s all we need. Don’t worry about your friend. You can come get what’s left of him when we’re done.” The imps lifted Perhan and took off into the mangroves. One of them stopped and came to where I was. He was looking at me all over.

  “What are you looking at, big ears?”

  He ignored me, concentrating. Then he smiled. He reached into my cloak and pulled out the cup locator I was given. He smiled as he turned it over in his hands and then tucked it into his pocket.

  “Hey, hey, give that back!”

  Damn it. With a roar I finally broke the roots off and got up, dashing towards the mangroves, but they were gone.

  “Where are they?” I used my far sight to see if I could spot them, but nothing.

  “They are in the Imp underground.”

  “Who said that?” I turned around looking.

  “It’s me. Monchep I am in your head . Perhan told me to find you and to let you know the corja tree is the entrance to the Imp underground.” Monchep had a slow deep voice.

  “The Imp underground?” I groaned. I did not want to go there. “Monchep, where is the tree?”

  “Underwater.” Monchep disappeared under the water

  I remove my cloak, tucking it into my jacket pocket, and approach the bank of the channel. I dive into the water. It’s cold, refreshing, and clear. I can see a network of roots extending down to a canopy of trees, a forest deep under the water. I swim towards the forest. The corja tree had to be in there. I swam past the emerald leaves that glittered and cast a verdant light across the bottom. The trees are filled with holes and different colored fish swim in and out of their twisted trunks, and the water’s so clear it’s like I’m in the air.

  I spot a giant scale floating by. My eyes widen. That scale was the size of my fist. Please don’t be a river drake. I look around, swimming more slowly.

  Shit. Just my luck. I see a large green serpentine body moving like a ribbon in water far to my left, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s right by the damn corja tree. Its snout had a ring of boiling bubbles around it. Its eyes were purple and moved independently, constantly looking around. I swam low, hiding under this sea-glass-like grass. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him right now. I hoped to swim past him. The swaying grass kept me hidden as I made my way towards the tree. It was white and twisted like a screw.

  Just as I got near it, the drake’s eye stopped where I was at.

  Fleck.

  The drake shot right towards me. As it did, it turned invisible. My second sight struggled to discern him before he slammed into me, his teeth trying to sink into me, but I grabbed him by his fangs and we struggled in the water. It thrashed and snapped as I kept it from biting me by dodging its attacks and holding its mouth. It shot a jet of water at me. It hits square in the chest. Oof. I go flying back. The drake moves at me, twisting and sending another jet of water that slams me into the riverbed.

  My back throbs from the impact. This just isn’t my day.

  The drake tries again to bite me, but this time I meet him with an uppercut that sends him back. He shakes his head, flashing back to green. His purple eyes stare at me with murderous intent.

  It zigzags across the water, coming for me. I draw my sword. This time I’m gonna give it some witchsteel to chew on. I feel something tighten around my waist.

  “What? wait, another drake?”

  Fleck!! It snuck up on me. It pulls me down away from the forest and into a dark abyss.