Michael looked at the winged in front of him in confusion for just a moment, recovering from the sight of a giant bird-person landing next to him and asking him a question with a high pitched voice.

"What do I want? Uh, we were hoping to find someone who could take us out onto the lake."

The white winged snapped its beak together in a series of rapid clicks that Michael read as laughter.

"Dumb. None will take you onto the Lake of Beasts for free. Dumb. You would drown if you fell off a boat in that heavy armor. Dumb."

"I was going to pay," responded Michael. "And we wore the armor for travel through the woods, not for the lake itself."

The winged clacked its beak one more time. "Different then. For the right price, Greytip will take you. Yes."

"That's good to hear. Who's Greytip?"

"Dumb. I'm Greytip."

"Ah."

"Yeah, come on Michael, he's obviously talking in the third person. Get it together," said Ollie shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Michael raised an eyebrow at him before returning his attention to Greytip.

"How much to go out on the lake?"

"How far? Farness matters."

Michael focused on his Godseeker feelings. The pull was already very strong, so it probably wasn't much farther.

He pointed in the direction it was pulling. "A few miles that way."

Greytip shook his head and nibbled at one of the feathers on his arm for a moment. "Deep waters. Dangerous. Costly, costly."

Michael looked around and saw a number of other white feathered winged with fishing lines in the water or working on small boats in the dock.

"If it's too costly costly maybe I can talk to some of the other fisherman to see what they'd be willing to do."

"None have a boat so big as Greytip's to take all of you. Still, maybe not costly costly. Maybe just costly."

"I may be able to swing just…costly."

Greytip clicked his beak once and they spent a short period of time haggling. Michael had some trouble telling if the bird was a savvy negotiator or not, but decided that it was more likely that he just had different priorities. He actually charged less when Michael offered to pay with a number of smaller coins rather than just a few large ones. Once the negotiation was over, Greytip took the money and quickly flew up onto a nearby roof. For a moment Michael wondered if he'd just been had, but the feathered fisherman returned shortly after and gestured for them to follow.

While there was a central path that was solid, the majority of the stilted buildings and dock were disconnected with only a few wooden posts sticking out of the water. There were a number of winged making their way across the pegs easily with their taloned feet. When they reached the dock and got a better look at the boats, Michael once again wondered if they'd been fooled by the fog. They looked like nothing more than loose collections of driftwood. Once he got close through, he saw that the inside of them was a much more traditional shape for a boat, including a sail.

Greytip seemed to notice him looking.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Monsters in the deep attack boats, but not debris. We make boats look like nests, which look like debris. Lets us pass safely."

"Are all the fishing villages winged?" asked Davi as he knelt down to run his hand along the surface of the water.

"No no. Only three. Most humans. They die a lot."

"That we do," said Pyotr.

Greytip took them further down to a larger boat that Michael guessed would be called a sloop, but he wasn't exactly full of knowledge of boats. The bird hopped into his boat and started to prepare things, then he gestured for the rest of them to get in.

"You have somewhere we can put our packs and armor?" asked Marcus.

"Oh. Yes yes." He hopped back out of his boat and over to a firmer piece of shore on which were a number of large baskets. He opened one, letting out a powerful smell of fish, though there were none inside. "Here."

Marcus frowned. "I really should've stayed in Southwind."

"You can stay on shore if you'd like," said Michael.

"No, no. Eventually your gods are going to take you toward some kind of pile of treasure or something and I want to be there when it happens."

"Ah, the real motive comes out. I'm fairly certain they're just going to reward me with titles, deeds, and blessings."

"No…I'm certain there'll be gold involved eventually. I can feel it."

"I thought you were coming along to get away from gambling for a while," said Davi.

"The gambling wasn't the problem. It was the sore losers."

They all stripped off their armor, but kept their weapons. Ollie kept his longcoat of course, so this was one of the rare times where he was the best protected of all of them. Once everyone was ready they went back to Greytip's boat and got into it one at a time. It seemed to sink an appreciable amount when they got in, and Michael felt a bit disoriented, but once he settled he felt fine. Davi showed no discomfort as he got in, nor did Ollie which was odd given they were the two largest members of the group.

"My uncle would take me out on his boat a lot. Even as an adult we'd share a few beers on it," said Davi as he settled.

"Oh same, 'cept it was my grandpa, and we shared more beers when I was a kid than we did after I grew up," said Ollie, his knees nearly at his chest from where he sat.

Once everyone was inside Davi started looking around. "Do you need us to paddle?" he asked.

Greytip clacked his beak in laughter and held out a hand toward his sail. The air was still so Michael wasn't sure of what he was trying to say, but he could feel a gentle buildup of magicka being channelled in the air near them and a steady breeze began to catch the sail, pushing the boat out of the dock and onto the water.

"Interesting," said Ollie as they were brought gently out into a deeper part of the lake.

"Yes yes. Paddles disturb the water too much. We need to be calm and steady to avoid beasts beneath."

They all nodded and sat in silence, with Michael only talking to direct Greytip toward whatever it was his Godseeker was pulling toward. The fog was still thick, but as they moved they caught glimpses of strange lights in the distance, or saw a slithering tendril gently probe at the boat with a sharp proboscis. At one point Greytip actually asked that everyone be silent and still and they all saw the massive flank of some great serpent rise a short distance away and slowly coil back down beneath the water. Occasionally the sound of ethereal singing in a language none of them recognized would drift across them sharply drawing their attention.

The sights and sounds around them made them anxious, but also filled them with a bit of wonder. It was certainly a dangerous situation to be in, but that didn't make the things they saw less beautiful, or the sounds less hauntingly alluring. Davi in particular seemed very at ease, actually letting out a number of satisfied sighs after breathing in the air thick with moisture.

The mist cleared a bit as they neared Michael's goal, and they were able to start making out a number of small islands in the direction that they were headed.

"Never been here," said Greytip. "Never never."

"Any particular reason?"

The bird shrugged. "No good fishing in this part of the lake. Fish too smart in this area." He clacked his beak once. "Like my fish dumb dumb."

Michael could feel the pull strengthening even more and pointed toward an island near the center. He wasn't certain, but he thought he could make out what looked to be some rough structures on it.

Greytip glided their boat slowly over to it, weaving between a few of the smaller islands and some floating debris that were in the way before having it gently hit the beach. Once there he very gracefully leapt out of the boat and gestured for the others to do the same.

"Try not to break the water even on the beach. Beasts can hear it in the beneath."

Michael and the others nodded as they carefully and quietly disembarked onto the soft sand of the beach. Michael could see the outline of a small house amongst several trees and could feel the pull of the gods toward them.

He placed a hand on the hilt of his mace and gestured for the others to follow him.

They all fell in line behind him, while Greytip stayed behind with his boat. He flew lightly up onto a nearby tree so that he could take a nap while he waited for them to return.

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