Chapter 310: The Deep Water Region
With changes to their plans, Ashlynn and her companions spent an entire day on preparations before setting out for the Deep Water region of the Briar. Though the actual planning didn’t take more than a few hours, there was another component of preparation that Talauia declared vital for Ashlynn and Heila.
"You know, you know, without wings, it’s very dangerous to be in the Deep Water region. Falling in the water is as good as falling to your death. It doesn’t need to be a Giant Thornback Alligator to be dangerous and the water snakes will swarm anything that sinks beneath the surface so you shouldn’t, absolutely shouldn’t let yourself fall in."
"So, either we stay on the boat, or we stay on the island we’re on," Ashlynn said with a nod. "But no wading into the water. Are there places that suddenly drop off underwater that make it so dangerous?"
Sailors approaching Blackwell City had the opposite problem when navigating into the harbor. Without good charts, a ship could find itself running aground on a sandbar hidden beneath the waves or other places where the water suddenly became much, much shallower than they thought.
In the swamp of the Briar, however, the boats were all flat-bottomed and wide so they could have a very shallow draft. In many places, the water was so shallow that if Ashlynn had ever chosen to wade from one island to another in the complex waterways, she wouldn’t have sank deeper than her hips. From that perspective, a sudden dropoff was surely just as dangerous in the Briar as sudden shallows were off the coast of Blackwell County.
"If there are, if there are then it doesn’t matter," Talauia said. "In the Deep Water region, the water is so deep that our poles don’t touch the bottom anymore. I can just fly if I don’t need to carry much but with all of us, we’ll have to use oars. But if you fall in the water and one of the snakes or something else gets a hold of you, they’ll pull you down deep quicker than you can struggle."
"You know, I wasn’t jealous when Mistress Nyrielle showed me her wings because she always scooped me up in her arms like a princess and carried me away," Ashlynn teased. "But, Tala, you’re starting to make me wish I had wings of my own."
"Don’t you know sorcery to walk on air, my lady?" Heila asked, blinking at Ashlynn in surprise.
"I do," Ashlynn admitted awkwardly. "But, since I’m leaving my sword behind, isn’t it cheating if I rely on Mistwalker Dance when we’re hunting? Big sister wants me to fight like a witch."