"You underestimate yourself!" said Henes, sounding just as stunned as anyone else. "What you did was--"<br/><br/>He paused, scanning the ranks of the captives with obvious hope that went unmet. One of the slaves, an elderly man with a wispy beard, who still bore the bruises from what looked like a beating, spoke up.<br/><br/>"He's not here, Henes. They took him, and the others." He looked over to Mouse, giving a pained-looking bow of respect.<br/><br/>"They....they said it was in the estuary. That they were going to take some of us, and come back for the rest later. And they said--" He stopped and coughed heavily for a few minutes, two of the other captives supporting him. "Ah! They said they were going to the Unsunken Island....that little scrap of rock in the shadowland out to sea."<br/><br/>Henes glanced over in turn. "They say when the old city sank into the sea, one piece of it remained above water....but it is a cursed place. The ghosts that come from there have no wisdom to share and no thoughts, only the hunger of beasts for blood. Yet....that thing talked to you!"