To Lyger 0: At a guess, someone with a grudge against whoever lives in said apartment.
Felix stepped out of the Airbnb that he and Dhuan had shared for the night in a small fishing village along the Welsh coast, stretching his shoulders to either side, and twisted his neck in either direction, waiting for the pop. Ever since leaving London, he had noticed that he wasn't sleeping nearly as well as he had back home – or even while they were in Angola. He yawned, grimacing in annoyance, the first hints of a headache starting to form in the front of his head. The sounds of the fishing village – fishermen talking on their way down to the pier, seagulls cawing, a couple of car horns going off – just made him miss the traffic noise he had become so accustomed to in London. Smelling the tang of salt and fish on the air, it was a poor replacement for the scent he usually woke up to.
He frowned, sipping on his tea, and looked down toward the sea, past the trio of fishing boats currently pulling away from the dock and motoring out into the channel. Somewhere out there, Dhuan was convinced, was this Atlantean outpost that he had visited, thousands of years ago, en route to Hy-Brasil. And he was absolutely intent on finding the stupid thing now, despite the sheer impossibility of it! Felix groaned. How on earth were they supposed to find this place, when they had no idea where it was, when Dhuan wouldn't share any information about it? Even with instructions, they had nearly crashed into the ocean when they flew to Hy-Brasil! And this time, they didn't even have directions; all they had were Dhuan's memories from millennia earlier, long before there even was an England or a Wales. Back when the British Isles weren't even islands, for all he could tell.
It was enough to drive a man mad. In fact, Felix had half a mind to call it here and now, to return to London.
A throat cleared behind Felix, and he shifted slightly to one side, offering Dhuan half of the doorway to look outside. "[How did you sleep, Hound]?" asked Dhuan, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.
Felix shrugged. "As well as could be expected, I suppose." He rolled his shoulders irritably and winced as he reached the extent of his range of motion, where one shoulder tightened. "Damn, do I miss my own bed," he grumbled, opening and closing his mouth in an effort to pop his jaw.
Hovering beside his head, Barkk's eyes widened in amusement. "Miss the bed or miss the company?" the Kwami teased, letting out a shrill giggle as she alit on his shoulder, her tail thumping against his shoulder blade. "I bet I know…" she sang.
Felix rolled his eyes, patting her on the head with one finger. "Both, probably. Though I'd take that bloody cot in Angola at the moment if it meant I was sharing it with Bri…"
Dhuan hummed sympathetically and took a sip from his mug. "[I apologize for taking you away from your beloved]," he responded. "[I had hoped that we would put this mystery to rest sooner, but I begin to wonder if it is even solvable]." He furrowed his brows. "[I thought there would be more clues, that I might catch a scent we could follow]…"
"I invited Bri to join us," Felix pointed out, arching one eyebrow. "She was busy back home, so she couldn't get away. But all the same, I wouldn't mind returning to London sooner than later."
Dhuan sighed heavily and nodded. "[If we do not find evidence here, we can return to London and do further research before making another attempt]."
"Well, let's hope we find something today." Or not, as the case may be… Felix furrowed his brows in thought. "You're sure we're in the right location?"
"[As sure as I can be of anything in this strange world]," Dhuan answered, leaning out of the cottage and looking around, sniffing the air. "[The scent of old magic became stronger when we arrived here]."
Felix quirked an eyebrow dubiously. "Say that that's the case," he began. "If your outpost was in this area, thousands of years ago, then it almost certainly has to be out to sea," he mused. "With the way the sea levels have risen, it could be a mile or two out to sea – boats could go right over it and never know. But…" He hummed, furrowing his brows in thought. "Maybe some of the fishermen have seen something. Or heard of something. I think I'll look into that down by the shore. This seems like the kind of village where all the gossip happens along the dock."
"[Should I accompany you]?"
Felix turned to examine Dhuan doubtfully. He had donned more human-seeming clothing before they left London, though even Adrien's best alteration specialist hadn't been able to adjust the pants and shirt so they would properly fit his large, muscular frame. He had slicked his hair back to lie against his head, though still it somehow retained the same wild, untamed appearance that it had had when they had first met him on Hy-Brasil. Dhuan watched Felix with a look between curious and predatory. Felix scoffed. "You look like the Highlander at best; like an escaped hippie at worst."
Dhuan cocked his head to one side in confusion. "['Hippie']?"
"I'll be fine looking into this on my own," Felix assured him. "You might raise more questions than you answer."
Dhuan shrugged. "[In that case, I wish to revisit that hill we looked at yesterday]," he decided. "[There was something in the soil at the base of the hill that… resonated… in a way]."
Felix nodded and gathered up his repacked bag, slinging it over one shoulder as Barkk dove into the front pouch to hide, her ears barely poking out. "I'll come and find you after I finish up by the docks – hopefully I'll have something good to report."
"[Very well]," Dhuan agreed, hoisting his own bag. "[I will wait for you near that hill if I find something]."
As Dhuan loped down the winding road leading out of town, Felix turned toward the shoreline, walking straight toward the docks where he could still see a handful of fishing boats close in, men bustling around the dock as they prepared the boats to depart. His mouth set in a thin line, his brows knit together in concentration as he studied the fishermen and their activities. Which should he approach? On the one hand, he was eager to find whatever this outpost was – if they could find it, then maybe there would be something valuable there for them to use. Dhuan certainly seemed to think that there was something to be found – a treasure, perhaps, or maybe even another miraculous! But on the other hand…
If he didn't find anything, then they could get home sooner – today, even.
But if he didn't make the attempt, what would Dhuan say?
Sighing in resignation, Felix climbed a couple of steps up to the quay and shifted his footing almost immediately as the dock rose and fell under the influence of the waves. It was only a small ripple, but still his feet wobbled for a moment as he waited for it to pass. Finally, the swell died down, and Felix strode along the wooden dock toward the first fisherman he could see, an older man coiling a rope. "Excuse me, sir," Felix greeting him. "I'm new around here – just passing through, really – and I'm curious about shipwrecks in the area. Do you know of anyone who goes diving around here?"
"You're looking for shipwrecks, eh?" the man replied, furrowing his brows pensively, pausing with the rope half-coiled. Humming, he slowly shook his head. "No… don't know of any of those 'round these parts." He shrugged noncommittally. "It's always been pretty quiet here. Not many ships go down."
Felix frowned, looking up and down the dock, a slight lightening in his chest. Finally, he thanked the fisherman and continued down the way, pausing next to a larger boat that looked to be casting off. The hands in the middle of untying the line paused for a moment to talk with him, but both gave him the same answer. However, the fourth man he talked to, a grizzled old sailor sitting beside a dingy old boat, started to shake his head but paused, cocking his head to one side and humming thoughtfully.
"You know," the man began, "I don't know about any shipwreck… but I did find something strange out beyond the shoal… must've been at least a dozen years ago."
Felix eyed him in surprise, trying to hide his level of excitement. "Really? What did you find?"
"It was a coin, I think," he answered, pursing his lips, looking down at the dock pensively. "It was in the net after we finished trawling – at first, I thought it had to be a rock or a shell or some aught, but it wasn't shaped right. Even rinsing it with water didn't do much good, not until I got it home and ran some vinegar over it. That finally got all the muck and tarnish off of it." He fell silent for a moment and nodded. "Yes… I'm almost certain it had to have been a coin."
"Could I see it?"
The fisherman laughed and shook his head. "Oh, I don't have it anymore; I sold it years ago – to a London collector, I think it was. Out here on holiday."
Felix's shoulders slumped. "That's too bad. It sounds like the kind of thing I'm looking for. Do you remember anything about it, what might have been on the sides? If it was a coin, there must have been something engraved on it."
The man started to shake his head but paused. "No–but wait… I think I remember something… Yes… I think it was some sort of bird – something with wings, anyhow. I don't remember anything about the other side, though – that wasn't as clear, I don't think." He chuckled. "At first, I thought it could have been Roman, but it weren't Latin written on it."
"'A bird'," Felix repeated. Barkk began positively vibrating in his pocket. Felix leaned forward. "That sounds pretty unusual."
The fisherman shrugged. "That collector was pretty happy with it – paid pretty good to take it off my hands."
"Any chance you could draw the bird?" Felix reached into his bag for a pad of paper. "Or maybe the words?"
"Naw." The fisherman shook his head. "I couldn't remember it that well."
Felix hummed. "Too bad. And where did you find it again?"
"Out that way," the fisherman replied, pointing out into the channel, a little to the south.
"Could you draw me a map?"
"A map?" He pursed his lips. "I don't know what I could use as markers. But, if you want me to, I could take you out there."
Felix nodded slowly. "Well… thank you," he told the man. "I may take you up on that offer sometime." Nodding back to him, the man turned his attention back to his boat. Quickly, hardly daring to breathe, Felix raced back along the dock toward the shore and rushed up the road leading out of the village as quickly as he could. The moment they were past the last cottage, Barkk flitted out of the bag to hover next to him, almost quivering, her eyes wide. "What did you make of that?" Felix asked the Kwami, scanning the hillside ahead of them for any sign of Dhuan as they neared the rendezvous location.
"It sounds really promising!" Barkk answered eagerly. "A coin with a bird on it… I didn't pay too much attention to the money in Atlantis, but I do remember the most valuable coin they used had an image of Anaa on one side!"
Felix hummed. "Well, hopefully this is what we're looking for," he mused slowly, his eyes trailing up, down, and around the hills encircling the village. "The sooner we find this stupid outpost, the sooner we're back in London." Spotting the hill in question, he hustled in that direction, frowning. "Now where did that rotten Tuatha get to?" he grumbled.
Barkk cocked her head, looking around in surprise. "I don't know!" she squeaked.
Reaching the hill, Felix stopped in front of it to listen for a moment, but only the distant cawing of seagulls could be heard. Finally, he walked around the hill once, twice, three times without any sign of Dhuan. Barkk flitted up to the top of the hill and back down again, shaking her head regretfully. "Dammit," Felix muttered, a shiver running down his spine. "Maybe we shouldn't have split up…"
Barkk hummed and started to open her mouth, but she froze as Felix's phone went off. "Is that him?"
Felix shrugged and opened his phone. "No; it's an alert from the Times – morning headlines. I–" He froze, his jaw falling open as he stared at the news image that had popped up. The words died in his mouth.
Barkk rose higher, watching him curiously. "What is it?"
Felix turned the phone slightly to show Barkk the image of a tall apartment block, fire and smoke pouring from a gaping hole in one side. In the background, he could just make out the trees lining the campus of King's College. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the image now seared into his vision. "I–I think that's Bri's building!"
