Vahri squeezed her eyes shut and shivered at the very bottom of the lake. Some 20 metres above her she could make out the bottom of the boat.

She hadn't seen the freshwater shark until it had been right in front of her. She'd lurched upwards; fully aware that whilst it may not consider her a meal it could still consider her a threat. Unfortunately, Vahri had moved upwards with a great deal of force, her entire body smashing against the bottom of the boat and almost toppling it. She hissed loudly in pain.

Vahri swore that the 'hobbit' had looked right at her but she'd moved too far down into the depths for him to see much more.

The shark had long since disappeared but she had kept sight of the boat.

-X-X-X-

He'd searched far and wide for her. There was no sign at all. Narius dreaded to think of her, caught in some fisherman's net. Or worse, conversing with the boy.

It was official, he thought. He didn't like 'Tristan' one bit.

That being said, it was at least worth trying to talk to the boy. He could have some inkling as to where Vahri had disappeared to.

That is how Narius found himself in front of the market-place of Laketown, only his shoulders and head peeking out of the water as he spied the boy at his stall on the very edge of the square. He was right next to the waterside, fortunately for Narius.

The marketplace was starting to clear out as it reached the afternoon, the sun beginning its slow and languorous descent over the surrounding landscape. A few people remained conversing, but not buying, in the square

Narius yanked some damp, slippery water-weed off the post in front of him and flung it at Tristan to gain his attention. It connected with his face with a satisfying 'slohp' noise

"Aurghhhh!" Tristan shrieked, waving his arms and trying to swipe the surprise projectile off his cheek. It fell to the floor and Tristan watched as it disappeared between two planks, slipping back into the water. As Tristan leant down to try and work out what the object was before it disappeared into the depths, a marbled black and white eye quickly appeared between the slats and Tristan fell backwards in shock.

"Hey! Man-child!" Narius whispered loudly upwards "It's me"

Tristan pulled a face that seemed somewhat akin to astonishment but with an impossible amount of frowning "I can bloody see that! What are you doing? Is your sister down there?"

Narius blinked "She's not my sister. What's wrong with you?! She's technically my third cousin"

"Technically?!" Tristan asked "What does that even mean, 'technically'?"

"It means she is but she's also supposed to have my future children as well" Narius shouted

Tristan's eyes bugged out more "Man, that's disgusting! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"It wasn't exactly my choice" Narius shout-whispered, aware that people were still around them "It's kind of a family deal. Our parents chose our life partners so it's technically their fault"

"There we go with that word again" Tristan was about to start on a rant when he received a harsh jab in the ribs.

"Are you arguing with the floor?"

Tristan rolled onto his back, only to come face to face with the faces of Alesia and Artemis who were peering down at him with worry on their faces.

Tristan turned his head slightly to the right to peer between the wooden slats he was lying on, only to see Narius slip under the water after mouthing 'You're on your own' to him

"Quite… possibly…?" Tristan wondered why he had posed his answer as a question

Artemis placed his hand out to help him up and Tristan took it. As much as he wanted to hate the boy, he just couldn't fault him.

"Are you alright?" Artemis asked "You've turned very white"

"No, no…" Alesia reached out to dust Tristan's shoulders off "He always looks like that, the shocked expression too. It's his default"

There was a pause whilst Tristan stared at her

"Oh, it was a joke, Tess" she laughed "Do lighten up a little"

Tristan 'humphed' awkwardly in the back of his throat before pushing his hands in his pockets and staring down at his right foot. He twisted it about, backwards and forwards, on his heel before stopping and glancing back at the couple in front of him

"So… how about those dwarves, hey? Crazy, right?" He truly could think of nothing else to say

Alesia clapped her hands together and jumped, her hair bouncing slightly "Wonderful, isn't it? Our town can be restored with the gold from that mountain and everything will be perfect. They may even rebuild dale! I've never been there, father says it's too close to that dragon to be safe but I've heard that it could be rebuilt. It will be…"

"It'll end in tears"

Tristan and Alesia spun around to Artemis who just shrugged after cutting off his date's ramble.

"This can only go badly. I can just feel it" he insisted, almost supressing a shiver "That dragon is best left alone. I wouldn't want to be disturbing him anytime soon"

Tristan smirked slightly "Nobody has seen that dragon in forever. He could be dead"

Artemis just shrugged again "If you want to believe it, feel free. I'd rather we live out our lives as they are. We may be poor but we are alive"

Alesia seemed to consider this before frowning "It's probably dead, right?"

Tristan turned to peer over his shoulder at the mountain behind him. He wasn't sure if it was just Artemis' foreboding words or his own doubtful nature but he didn't feel as though this was going to go well at all. He turned back to Alesia.

She had always been a delicate thing, tiny in every single way. Tristan shot her a reassuring smile and Artemis pulled a hand around her shoulders to squeeze her close

"We'll be fine" Tristan said and waved as the pair turned to go

"Take care of yourself, Tristan" Artemis called back

He nodded slowly "And you"

Once they were both out of sight, Tristan strolled across to the edge of the market square to where the platform ended and he sat down, his legs dangling just above the surface. Narius popped up quickly, consideration on his face as it emerged from the cool water

"What's up?" Tristan asked, his head angling to one side "Where is Vahri? Should I be worried?"

Narius shook his head slowly "She's probably fine. I'm just over-reacting" He paused "I was going to ask about something else, though"

"Ask away"

"It came to mind whilst I was listening to you three getting all worried about that dragon" he stopped for breath whilst Tristan nodded for him to go ahead "What were the last four lines of that song? The one you sang earlier when I said you sounded like a woman?"

Tristan ignored this remark and just recited the end

"The streams shall run in gladness,

The lake shall shine and burn,

And sorrow fail and sadness

At the Mountain-king's…"

"Yeah!" Narius shouted "That's the one. The lake shall shine and burn. There's a prophecy just like that one that we have down below" he gestured to the bottom of the lake

"Oh, no. That's not a prophecy that's just a song" Tristan insisted but Narius just waved him off

"Prophecy, Song. They're one and the same where I come from" He frowned "But the issue is that my people have a prophecy that states that when the fire returns to the lake so, too, will they"

Tristan frowned "I don't understand…"

"You don't need to!" Narius was beginning to become panicked "It's a long story involving some drownings, a mass slaughter of my people and some magical mermaid woman from whom I may or may not be directly descended… but that's not the point!"

Tristan stared at his new friend, becoming worried by his usually calm and sarcastic demeanour

He continued anyway "My people aren't like Vahri and I. They're not nice at all. They want revenge for what happened all those years ago. It was a massacre! If that lake truly does burn when that dragon comes then it won't just be some overgrown lizard that you have to worry about. The merfolk will kill everyone they can get their hands on"

"Why would they do that?" Tristan's eyes were wide

Narius was now equally panicked "Because they think they have to! It's prophecy, almost a religion!"

There was silence

"We have to warn the town, now!" Tristan jumped up "Oh fuck, nobody is going to believe me!"

Narius considered for a moment, the blood rushing through his head, his conscience taking on Vahri's voice, trying to get him to see reason

"Yes they will" Narius insisted and Tristan looked confused

'Don't do it, you idiot!' He had to ignore the voice

"How? Nobody ever believes me!"

'Don't, Narius. For once, think about what you're doing…"

He took a breath and glanced up Tristan

"They will if I tell them…"