Chapter 59: His First Ocean Campaign Was in a Lake

Dante began his first underwater campaign by landing on his knees in three feet of water while Jett explained that walking and swimming required different plans.

The breathing band around his neck gave a soft green glow. He drew a cautious breath below the surface, found that it worked, and immediately wished his dignity had received the same equipment.

Above him, Jett’s voice came through the attendant’s shell. “Get your feet behind you, mate. You’re trying to climb the lake.”

Dante rose, spat out water he had admitted before the band settled, and announced that checking the bottom had been a necessary precaution. Lucan thanked him for finding a perfectly ordinary patch of sand.

The game area lay beside the lifeguard station, inside a floating rectangle set apart from the other swimmers. Two scoring hoops hung below the surface at opposite ends. Nets beneath them kept the weighted ball from sinking into the deep lake beyond the cove.

Their opponents were the same three college students from the previous afternoon. They waited at the far marker while the mermaid referee checked everyone’s bands. Each carried a fixed charge, shown by its light, and she would stop play well before that charge ran low.

“The bands help you breathe,” she told them through the shell. “They don’t teach you to swim, and they don’t make the cold water past the buoys any warmer.”

Dante appreciated equipment that stated its limits before trying to kill somebody. His recent experience suggested this was an underused feature.

They were allowed one spell action per team during each short round. Before using it, the caster had to raise an open hand toward the referee and wait for her green signal. No pushing spells against people, no changing the breathing bands, and no touching the goal anchors.

Water pixies finished checking those anchors and climbed out of the marked area. Beneath the deeper net, bright blue fish moved together until a larger yellow one passed through them like an impatient customer.

Posey sat at the shallow end with the others, her legs in the water. She waved when Dante looked toward her, and he became so busy returning the gesture that Jett had to catch his drifting shoulder.

“I need you watching their left player,” Jett said. “You can admire Posey after we score.”

Dante accepted the advice from a man who had personally caused three delays on the walk down by saying hello to women.

The first round taught him why Jett spent so much time practicing. A movement that felt quick on land became a slow, obvious invitation underwater. Their opponents passed around him, reached the nearer hoop, and scored before he finished turning.

During the short break, Jett drew three positions in the wet sand. He put Dante close to the right boundary, with Lucan nearer the middle and himself moving toward the far hoop.

“Don’t chase everybody,” he said. “Make them choose where to look.”

Dante examined the drawing. It was a reasonable arrangement for a small army, especially one whose commander had recently lost a fight with the floor.

They improved in the next round. Lucan blocked a return pass with his body while Jett took the ball forward. Dante stayed wide instead of joining the crowd, caught Jett’s pass, and held it long enough for a defender to turn toward him.

Beyond that defender, Jett moved past the right side of the hoop. The player’s eyes followed him, leaving one hand stretched across Dante’s passing lane.

Dante raised his open hand. The referee flashed green from the side channel.

He used the same little lift he had practiced with Posey, holding one connection to the ball. It rose above the defender’s reaching fingers, moved forward a few feet, and stopped beside Jett’s hands. Dante released before Jett caught it.

Jett passed across the face of the hoop. Lucan, who had followed through the middle, caught the ball and pushed it through before the last defender reached him.

Posey’s cheer carried clearly when they surfaced. Dante had not commanded the lake or discovered an ancient form of underwater rule. He had noticed a gap, used a spell correctly, and helped his friends score. He enjoyed the result enough to want another.

They won the final short round by a single point. Jett celebrated with both arms raised and immediately sank, giving Dante a deeply satisfying chance to help him back toward the shallow entry.

During the break, Posey asked the attendant about a small practice float. Her cheer training used held air to soften a landing, and she wanted to see how it behaved beneath water. With the attendant watching, she formed a thin air pad under the empty float. It rose an inch before the air escaped around its sides in a ring of bubbles.

“I’d have to hold the edges differently,” she told Dante, smiling when he asked about the change. “Otherwise it just slips away.”

Anika made a small air pocket over the shallows where a guest had dropped sunglasses. Ripples bent around the clear circle while the guest reached down and collected them. She released the pocket at once, leaving the surface to settle.

Honey pushed a float carrying Rhae’s drink closer to shore. A water pixie climbed aboard to straighten the cup, apparently unwilling to tolerate poor service even on a private vessel.

Rhae pressed the cold cup against Dante’s shoulder before kissing his cheek. “For the winner, before the speech becomes longer than the game.”

Dante proposed that their opponents address the winning captain properly during the group photograph. Two laughed and called him Commander. The third rolled his eyes, then reached for his towel.

Dante waited. Posey smiled at the reluctant player and said it would only take a second. He looked between them, his smile fading slightly.

Before he answered, Lucan bowed so low that his forehead touched the water. He came up coughing, and everyone laughed, including the player Dante had been watching. The photograph happened without another title.

An attendant invited both teams to the evening’s floating-lantern dinner. Through the shell, she introduced their victorious commander, making Jett salute with a dripping towel.

Dante smiled for the second photograph. He had noticed how easily Posey helped people do what he wanted, and how quickly Lucan had spoiled it by making everyone comfortable again.