When they arrived Sethriss was carrying Naerith in a sling on his back.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience but I'm unable to swim just yet and thank you for carrying me." She said as everyone left the island.
Arriving at the west side of the river they rapidly crossed the swamp till they could see scalebreak bastion just over an hour later.
It was a triangular section of a fort, but the back end and the whole fort had collapsed into the river as the swamp shifted around it.
Looking around, it seemed their team could easily retreat deeper into the swamp, while the merfolk could just as easily escape into the river if either side chose to attack.
Now they just needed to wait for Lysira to arrive.
As time slowly ticked past Chronos heightened his senses as much as possible, shortly afterwards he faintly heard a screeching coming from the water. Followed by Naerith giving out a high-pitched screech that nobody else could hear.
Sooner or later, he would have to learn what all of this screeching meant. It was embarrassing to not understand what they were saying when they were right in front of him.
They continued to secretly screech at each other for a while then Chronos got tired of listening to them.
"You know I understand wanting to check on your companion, but this constant screeching is giving me a headache. Why don't you come out and join us warden-singer Lysira?" He shouted while looking at the exact spot he heard the screeching coming from.
A few minutes later the water a short distance from shore moved unnaturally as another mermaid emerged from it. A small snake was coiled around her neck when she appeared, it uncoiled and slithered over to Vaelith taking its place around her arm.
The mermaid's skin looked like light blue sea-glass and had faint ripples of magic flowing through it. Her long hair was a deep indigo blue that drifted around her like it was caught in a current while her blue eyes seemed to reflect anything she looked at.
She was wearing what looked like layered pearl and shell plates with a flexible coral mesh. She had several small, enchanted shells on her body with a much larger conch on one hip. Slung across her back was a coral harp but Chronos couldn't see any weapons on her.
Was she that confident in her magic that she didn't need a secondary weapon? Hm, no she was called a warden-singer, perhaps her main weapon was her voice, and her secondary weapon was the harp?
That made some sense, but it meant that Chronos was going to have trouble with any singer he met as he could hear their songs better than other people.
Once they knew that they would probably create songs specifically for attacking werewolves, he would need to be ready to block his ears with aura just in case.
As she rose from the depths of the river Sethriss placed himself between her and Vaelith while Lyla's hand drifted to her mace.
Seeing that everyone else was wary of her, Chronos chose to speak first.
"Greetings Madam Lysira, I'm Chronos and these are my companions for this negotiation. The Priestess Lyla, the naga Matriarch Vaelith and her bodyguard Sethriss. Lady Naerith is being carried by Sethriss right now, unfortunately she wasn't quite able to outswim a deep-sea razorjaw and needed to be treated by the Matriarch's people."
Each of them bowed as they were introduced. While Chronos bought some time for Vaelith to consider the best way to go about this meeting.
"How do I know that it wasn't your people that harmed her?" Lysira accused him.
"The tribes of Dracon Fen have no reason to harm Lady Naerith but every reason to work with the merfolk. We are already facing an army of trolls on top of the threat from the tears; we do not need any more enemies at this point in time." Vaelith said.
Lysira squinted at them, unsure if she could trust their words or not.
"Even if that is true, how do I know that you aren't threatening her or using some strange magic to control her?"
Lysira seemed to be a very cautious woman but if they had to stand here and go back and forth like this, they would never get anywhere.
Frowning Chronos walked over and picked up Naerith. This sudden action caused Lysira to swiftly take out her harp.
"So, I was right, the harp is a weapon." Chronos thought to himself.
"I'm coming into the river with Lady Naerith. You can examine her yourself. I'm not a lizardfolk or naga which means I will be at a disadvantage in the water." Chronos said.
Carefully carrying Naerith in a princess carry Chronos walked into the river until the water was up to his chest.
Swimming forward cautiously Lysira cast several harmonic magics that allowed her to check Naerith's condition. Finding no magic or other methods of compulsion on her, Lysira finally relaxed.
"How did a razorjaw catch you Naerith? A mermaid should be able to outswim one of them several times over."
"While a dark beast's magic or special abilities can run out of energy, their physical form never feels fatigue. They can keep chasing a target for weeks or months without rest." Chronos stated.
Naerith nodded, indicating that she had indeed escaped the razorjaw at first, but it had continued to chase her down until it caught her.
"I see, I'm glad you're safe. Now what can I do for the tribes of Dracon Fen?" Even when she relaxed, she seemed very strict.
Maybe she was always high-strung and to the point.
Vaelith slithered closer to the water's edge, making it easier to speak with each other.
"We wish to negotiate for a united front with Lord Kaelvar. The troll army outnumber the merfolk nearly three to one and if our suspicions of a devil leading them are true then Lord Kaelvar will need our help to face them. Additionally, Lady Naerith carries an emergency message for him regarding the tears." Vaelith informed her.
Her brows drew together in concern but in the end, there wasn't much she could do for them, sighing she explained.
"That is troublesome news. Before we even consider convincing Admiral Kaelvar reaching him is going to be a problem, captain Varkesh is in charge of the orca guard and has recently increased his protection detail, he isn't willing to let people he can't confirm as safe near the admiral."
"Is the captain really that difficult to deal with?" Chronos asked.
"Un, during his younger days he led a team of orca guards to defend a location but lost control of the situation. As a result, his entire pod was wiped out except him, now he worries that losing control of the battlefield will result in a similar situation. Make no mistake he is very good at his job, and I doubt that the camp would operate even half as efficiently without him but his paranoia to anything new on the battlefield will be a problem."
Lysira informed them of the camp's daily operations and the admiral's usual schedule as they looked for a time where they could try to meet him without Varkesh interfering.
After reviewing all of the information they came to the conclusion that the best time to meet him was when he returned from his morning inspection.
He would be on the border of the commander section of the camp and despite Varkesh's impressive skills he couldn't stop Lysira from bringing people into the outer camp for construction negotiations.
If they could meet him in the outer section when he was nearby, they could speak with him then and Lysira couldn't get in much trouble as it was an official negotiation with the residents of Dracon Fen.
"So, I'll bring you into the edge of the commander's section of the camp as a part of construction negotiations and from there, you'll need to find a moment to meet the admiral. Hopefully captain Varkesh won't hear about you until the admiral is nearby, otherwise, he'll definitely find an excuse to throw you out."
She looked concerned at how rough the plan was, but they didn't have enough time to make a better one before the admiral returned from the morning inspection. As a final reminder she gave them a warning.
"I'll say this now, if anything goes wrong with this plan I'm taking Naerith and claiming that you are a threat."
"That's fine, we have our own escape plan if things don't work out." Vaelith said with a smile.
With their plans made they left scalebreak bastion for the Marshward camp. As they got closer Chronos could see merfolk running left and right across the walkways.
Fixing the kelp bladders after they had been punctured by sharp reeds, repairing the wall where it had sunk or been pulled apart by the shifting of the mud. And trying to keep the entire fort afloat despite the fact that it was not made for a swamp.