"Perhaps Burel could," said Ferret. "He's strong."

Burel shook his head. "I cannot swim. Living in the stone canyons of the labyrinth, I never learned how."

Arin held up a hand. "Let us assume the scroll speaks true. If so, then the only way to reach the pool is to go past the Dragon."

"Ha!" barked Alos. "Not likely. He'd snap us up like morsels before you could say thimblerig."

"We could slip past," said Ferret.

"No you can't," declared Alos. "Dragons know when someone is in their domain."

"Why do you say that?"

"Why, it's common knowledge," replied Alos, glaring at Ferret. "Everybody knows that."

"I didn't know," rumbled Burel.

Arin held up her hands. "Peace, my friends. Let us not get into an argument over the powers of Drakes." She glanced from one to the other, and then said, "Even so, if we do have to win past the Dragon, let us review all we know of them. Mayhap therein we will find an answer to our dilemma."

Alos sniffed and jutted out his chin.

Arin sighed, then said, "This I know of Drakes: they ward the ledge at Dragons' Roost; they sleep four thousand seasons and wake for eight thousand; they are terrible when they raid, though their forays for the most part are to take livestock on which they feed; because of their foraging needs, they live isolated and far from one another and seldom gather but for the time of the mating with Krakens in the Great Maelstrom once every three millennia; the get of these matings are Sea Serpents, which, when their time comes, go to the deeps and enshell in chrysalides, which, when hatched, become Drakes or Krakes, depending upon their gender; Dragons seem to enjoy all that glitters, hence they value treasure, though some claim that Drakes draw power from gold and gems and precious metals, yet how that can be I know not; from the scroll and from the tale told by Arilla at Black Mountain, Dragons come from another Plane, from a world known as Kelgor, and the in-between crossing point would seem to be the ledge upon Dragons' Roost, which they guard jealously; Dragons are virtually unkillable, and but for myths I've never heard of a person slaying one, though it is said that they die at times in battle with other Drakes."

Arin fell silent and looked from one to another, finally asking, "Has any aught to add?"

Alos cleared his throat. Arin motioned for him to speak. "Hem," he said. "They can sense when so-called intruders are in their domain, and they can change shape to become anything they wish, at times passing among cities in human guise."

Ferret snorted, but otherwise remained silent.

"They breathe fire," said Aiko. "And in accord with Arilla's tale, I would deem them vain… some, at least."

"It is said they like riddle games," added Delon.

"They can see in total darkness," added Burel, "or so Mayam told me when I was but a lad."

"Speaking of that," said Alos, his white eye glaring, "they say that Dragonsight allows them to see things that are hidden, invisible, and unseen. Perhaps that's why they can see in the dark."

Quiet fell, and only the creak of rope and the plash of water along the hull broke the silence. Finally Egil said, "Most of the Dragons are pledged not to raid as long as the Mages guard the Dragonstone."

"Do you think they know that the Dragonstone is, um, mislaid?" asked Delon.

Arin shrugged, then said, "They haven't begun widespread devastation. Hence, mayhap they do not know."

"If so," said Ferret, "then we mustn't give that secret away, especially not to the Dragons."

A murmur of agreement muttered 'round.

"Is there aught else?" asked Arin.

Burel heaved a great sigh. "I have heard from others that Dragons have the power in their eyes to charm a being witless, and that their voices can beguile the wisest of men and women."

"Oh!" exclaimed Ferret. When all eyes turned her way, she said, "Old Nom said that there is a chink in the armor of every Dragon, and if you know where it is, well, you can kill it."

Delon raised a skeptical eyebrow but remained silent.

"Perhaps that's the way Gurd killed the Monster Kram," said Egil to Arin, harking back to the heroic song they had heard while at supper in the Silver Helm in Koniginstadt. "Found his chink and did him in."

Arin shook her head. "As with much about Dragons, I think 'tis but a myth Old Nom hath repeated. Even so, let us not overlook the possibility."

Again silence fell upon the group, and no more rumor or fact was forthcoming. Finally Egil said, "Then let us see if we can find a way to get past the Drake on Dragons' Roost."

Ferret took a deep breath and said, "If they value treasure, perhaps we can bribe the Drake to let us enter the cavern and make our way down to the pool."

"I tell y' he'll eat us and just take the tribute for his own," declared Alos.

"Well, perhaps we could hide it-the bribe, I mean- and only tell him where it is after we've got what we came for."

Alos shook his head. "He'd eat us still, and take not only the tribute, but the silver chest and Dragonstone as well."

"Well then," said Delon, "if they like riddles, how about this…?"

They debated until it was nearly noon, discarding plan after plan, until finally Egil said, "We're getting nowhere, and some of us need rest ere it is our turn to crew again. Let us sleep on it."

And so, Arin, Egil, Aiko, and Burel took to the bunks below, while Alos, Ferret, and Delon sailed the Brise onward and continued their futile planning.

Likewise that night, Egil, Arin, Burel, and Aiko debated at length to no resolution. Too, on this night Aiko suddenly took in her breath, then turned to Arin and said, "My tiger growls of distant peril."

Arin stood and scanned the waters all 'round by the light of the silver half moon setting in the west. Finally she said, "I see nought, Aiko."

The Ryodoan shook her head. "Nevertheless, Dara, peril is yon somewhere. I felt it last night as well."

"Is something trailing us, do you think?" asked Burel.

"If so, it comes only at night," Aiko replied.

"Perhaps it's a Rover ship passing by, just beyond the horizon," suggested Egil.

Aiko turned up her hands, for the peril was fading. And none saw the great dark silhouette high in the sky flap away among the stars above.

A week passed, and still the comrades had no viable plan, and still at night peril came and went, or so said Aiko. The Brise had now turned on a course across the wide northern strait toward the coastline of Vancha some two hundred miles away. She was making for the port of Castilla on the southern shores of that land, where they planned on restocking the sloop with food and water, and whatever else they might need, should they come up with a scheme.

"Damn, damn!" hissed Egil. "This is why that bastard Ordrune hid the chest by the Kraken Pool. There's no way to get in there and steal it back… guarded by Dragons and Krakens and a maelstrom-driven current you can't swim against."

"Perhaps we ought to go to the Mages on Rwn and get help," suggested Delon.

"Take these with thee, no more, no less," intoned Ferret. "I don't think the rede permits a Mage to go with us."

"Well, if they can't go with us, there may be a chance that they can suggest something," said Delon. "I mean, after all, Dara Arin sought their help once before."

"Perhaps they can give us a ring of invisibility," said Ferret.

"Ha!" snapped Alos. "Didn't you listen when I said that Dragons can see things hidden, invisible, unseen? Ring of invisibility, indeed. He'd just snap you up and swallow you whole, visible or not."

"Well," said Ferret, nonplused, "if not a ring, then something which would help us get into the tunnel past the Drake."