As the water crept higher and higher around them, the group began to move more and more slowly in the cave. Their steps became more and more deliberate, everyone watched where the person in front of them was stepping. Achilleus, who was walking at the head of the group, thought through each step ten times. There were also times when he caught the arm of Benkó walking next to him before a suspicious step, so that if something went wrong by chance, the Bokló boy could pull him back.
Before Achilleus was completely under water, he still took a deep breath out of habit. However, thanks to the clothes made by the blacksmith-tailor couple, the members of the group were able to breathe normally underwater as soon as water hit them. And they quickly experienced this when Achilleus could no longer hold his breath and suddenly took a deep breath.
"And I can really breathe." The Motumisz boy was surprised and although the others only chuckled at him, everyone shared his surprise except Rahul. The chüvigh hegin, wasn't surprised only because after the last time he would have expected anything from Marianne. This was the least of the many oddities.
However, their new discovery, thanks to which they didn't have to worry about the lack of air, did not stop them from taking the danger of the situation they had fallen into seriously. It was thanks to this caution that while it took them barely an hour to reach the water-filled part of the cave, it took almost two hours to get down to the bottom of the sea.
It must be admitted that Llyr was not the only one who was happy when they finally got out of the cave, which was only lit by the algae they held in their hands. Everyone experienced with satisfaction that after the dark cave, the depths of the sea seemed to have their own sun. The lighting conditions were exactly what the hegins were used to. Although with a slightly bluer cast than what they were usually saw.
No one seemed to be so happy by the fact that they had finally gotten out of the cave as they were than the team's undersea-walker. Llyr had almost completely changed, or rather, it was as if he had come to a new life. He almost shone as he walked at the head of the team with the quarreling pair. The reserved man's steps became confident, although his posture was still slightly hunched, his steps seemed to have become lighter.
The others, however, did not really notice this strange, constrained lightness in the man. They were much more occupied with what they were surrounded by. The world of the deep sea was a sight they had never seen before. The ground beneath their feet was mud, but not the kind of mud that sticks to human feet, but more like the sandy dirt road that the hegins were so familiar with.
Instead of trees, seaweed grew everywhere, both shorter and taller. Instead of birds, fish swam around their heads, as if the animals didn't mind the presence of humans. Small and large rock formations adorned the path they were walking on, and here and there they could see ditches, and in the distance, the shadows of mountains. They had fallen into a completely different world, a world that was strangely foreign to them.
Despite all this, now that they no longer had to constantly worry about stepping on the wrong spot on the cave stones and banging their heads or cutting themselves, they eagerly moved forward into the unknown. Achilleus even took out his map so he could tell which way to go if they wanted to reach the nearest populated area.
"I seriously need to make a separate map of every place we've been to." Achilleus said enthusiasticly after about an hour of walking.
"And what are you going to do with them? No one needs them." Benkó rolled his eyes.
"I'll make eight copies of them so that each of you has one, so that if you get lost by chance, you don't have to worry." The Motumisz boy shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"What's the eighth one for? You have yours there." The Bokló boy grimaced. However, his words had an unexpected result when his friend grinned.
"You get two if you loose one." Achilleus stuck out his tongue, thanks to which Benkó literally jumped at him.
"Boys!" Wandi interrupted them. "Don't make me go there." He added, in that typical tone of voice that mothers use with their children.
"We've stopped." The two boys said almost immediately.
"How far is that city, Achilleus?" Rahul asked the question, successfully diverting attention from the quarrel that had almost erupted earlier.
Hearing Rahul's question, the Motumisz boy raised his map and furrowed his eyebrows, then looked to the right, then down to the map again, then left and down again. He let go of the map with one hand and started pointing with the sequence of movements. It seemed that it was a little harder for him to find his bearings down here than up.
"So, is it that bad, mudbrain?" Benkó asked the question with his hands on his hips, for which he received a piercing look in response.
"I know where we are! I'm calculating how far away this city can be." He tapped his map, which was of course completely blank for the others.
"But there's nothing there." Llyr answered the question that was on everyone's mind except the Athamanas.
"This is Achilleus' special map, only he can see what's on it, but it's always accurate. It doesn't matter where we are." Razvan explained with a shrug.
"Oh." Llyr sighed, but only because he didn't want to show that he has no idea what it means, but he finds it too embarrassing to ask.
"What do you mean only he can see it?" Kamu asked the question instead of the undresea-walker.
"I haven't seen anyone else who has seen what's on it besides Achilleus." The Athamana leader left it at that.
"It's not like I'm showing it to everyone." The aforementioned Motumisz boy rolled his eyes.
"There's no need for that." Razvan waved, considering the situation settled.
"So how far are we from it?" Rahul drew everyone's attention back to the problem at hand.
"Yes. I'm on it." Achilleus nodded. "So, if I'm counting correctly and I usually do..."
"Stop beating around the bush Motumisz!" Suk interrupted their friend.
"Okay, okay." Achilleus grumbled. "The nearest city is about a week and a half away. But!" Here he raised his index finger, then grimaced. "There's a smaller structure about three days away, if I'm not mistaken, the size of a small yurt village." The boy explained and Llyr was about to open his mouth to ask another question when Razvan answered him.
"We live in places like that. Speaking of. Tell me, Llyr, how do undersea-walkers like you sleep on the road? If the place Achilleus sees is really three days away, then we will sleep on the road." The Zaukán boy folded his arms in front of him.