Chapter 1

Beneath the ocean surface, Wiley slid from the back of Elden the dolphin and placed his feet as firmly as he could on the ocean floor. He worked to steady himself in the moving current. With one hand on Elden's smooth gray back, Wiley surveyed the others in his caravan.

Keegan, the son of King Reginauld from the ancient city under the ocean, sat, with Arthur Bragon close behind him, on top of Beluga the white whale. Keegan's long, golden hair floated out behind him. Dressed once again in his royal clothing from The City of the Golden Sun, Keegan wore an oatmeal-colored tunic and toga, both trimmed in gold and purple stripes along the edges. On his feet, Keegan wore brown leather sandals trimmed in gold. Twelve-year-old Arthur wore a light brown tunic with a dark brown belt and brown leather sandals. His dark black hair floated in all directions around his serious, intelligent face.

On top of Colt the dolphin, rode ten-year-old Nevin and his younger brother, six-year-old Neil. Nevin wore a gray tunic and bare feet. With his light brown hair bobbing up and down around his face, Nevin wrapped his arms tightly around his younger brother's waist. Golden-haired Neil wore his favorite outfit: an oatmeal-colored tunic and toga, both trimmed in bright red stripes, with red closed shoes that looked like slippers.

Eleven-year-old Calder Torannen, with his vibrant red hair and pale, freckle-splashed face, sat atop Gladwin the dolphin. He wore a light brown tunic without a belt and brown leather sandals. Behind him sat twelve-year-old Kingston Ivers with dark brown hair, deep brown eyes and ruddy cheeks. Kingston wore a dark gray tunic tied at the waist with a brown leather belt and brown leather sandals.

Wiley thought about what he himself was wearing: a plain oatmeal-colored tunic and brown leather sandals. He realized that his outfit would hurt his chances to slip, unnoticed, back into his early nineteenth century, poverty-stricken village. He would have to change his clothes first chance he got.

As he stood, observing his friends, Wiley patted Elden's side fin. He did not want to see him go. As he looked from one friend to another, trying to find the courage to say goodbye to Elden and Beluga, and also to Colt and Gladwin, and to call the boys from the safety of their rides to the unknown of the ocean depths and their futures ahead, Wiley's attention was captured by a school of bright red fish suddenly swimming around Calder and Kingston. They swam briefly around the boys, then flicked their tail fins, and took off for another place. As Wiley watched the fish depart into the blue-green water thick with salt and seaweed, he noticed that a large sea turtle had come up behind Keegan, Arthur, and Beluga. With large, sleepy eyes, the turtle looked at the boys, as though waiting to see what they would do. Apparently bored, he turned and swam off when nothing interesting happened.

Wiley jumped when the sand a few yards from his feet exploded outward to release the head of a gray-and-black spotted eel. Even after all this time beneath the ocean, Wiley still startled when something moved from beneath the sand.

Wiley turned to Elden. "Well, what now?"

Elden looked at his friend with a warm gaze. "You must go back to your village with these boys. Don't introduce them right away. Wait until the time is right. Then introduce them; and, eventually, tell your people about The City of the Golden Sun. The people of your village need to know about the rich, ancient city submerged beneath the ocean. They need to know the story about their own village's incredible past. You and the boys must tell them."

Wiley looked into the watery distance, vaguely aware of humpback whales singing in the distance. He watched, without really seeing, a school of turquoise fish with golden scales like netting over the top sides of their bodies swim into the midst of their group. He looked down at the wet, darkened, solid sand beneath his feet and mumbled to Elden, " No one will believe us."

Elden looked into Wiley's deep brown eyes. "Do you think that I won't help you?"

"What do you mean? How can you help us? We'll be on land."

"But you can contact me, or Beluga, or Lucinda when you need help. We may not hear you the first time you call; but we'll be listening for you. Here, I have some things for you …"

Elden unfolded his top fin that he had kept tightly curled during the trip from the ancient city. Wiley had wondered why he had done that. He had thought that perhaps Elden had tried to make a pommel for him, so that he could hold on more easily.

"Catch them!"

Wiley noticed that two golden boxes fell from Elden's fin. One was small, square, and engraved. The other was large and round. Wiley quickly caught them with cupped hands.

Elden seemed to smile. "Open them."

Wiley opened the small square box as the other boys looked on. This box was engraved with the same words that decorated the golden goblet and the golden gate leading into the ancient city: "Drink deeply by land or sea. Earth comes only once." Inside the box were seven golden rings. Each ring held a different gemstone. Into the outside of each ring band, the same words had been engraved: "Drink deeply by land or sea. Earth comes only once."

Wiley looked up at Elden. "What are these?"

"Seven rings. One for each of you. If any of you dip your hand into the ocean while wearing your ring, Beluga and I will hear the song that it creates. If you do the same in the forest lake, Lucinda will hear a different song."

Copyright © 2005 Marilyn Peake