With Marina alive, the relationship between the Stoneheart Horde and the Tidefang Clan was not beyond saving.
Orion offered a respectful bow to Lady Seraphina, then turned his ancient giant-horned whale and departed the Silvercurrent Sea. As for Vorluk and Gulas, still on the deck of the Sea-Devouring Warship, Orion had no intention of releasing them yet. He still needed them to navigate the labyrinthine trenches of the deep sea.
As Orion's fleet departed, Lady Seraphina's gaze swept over Phorcys and Jaklas.
"I am reclaiming the scale used to summon the Guardian," she announced. "When the Tidefang Clan learns to stand as one, I will bestow it upon you again."
With those words, her will-projection vanished. The Tidefang Guardian retreated slowly into the shimmering, scale-shaped portal before it, too, disappeared. Jaklas and Phorcys were left behind, one just inside the defensive formation, the other outside, both looking utterly wretched.
