Wille tunnel was half collapsed and flooded. Crassus sighed as he held the firefly enchanted ball over his head and ventured forth. When he asked about the tunnel, people had told him it was in a good condition. Yet now it was like this.

Crassus blamed Clotilde and counted down the days until he got rid of her. He waddled in the waist deep water and looked around to make sure that not something as ridiculous as an electric Eel in the water.

He kept going forward with only the light of the ball to guide him. Not only that, but he held on to the walls of the tunnel and stepped carefully to not fall down and break the ball.

He heard a wailing sound in the distance, and he groaned. The tunnel went one way and whatever it was, he would need to see it. He kept moving, more carefully than before, and soon he saw a rock and a siren on top of it.

The siren was crying bitter tears and looked starved. Crassus felt a sudden surge of pity for the creature, but he pretended not to see her in case she was a man eater.

The siren raised her head and looked at Crassus and then spoke.

“Who are you to come here? I was driven from my home, and now I stay in the tunnel, dark and drear.” Said the siren in such a melodic voice that Crassus wanted to stay and speak to her more.

But then he shook his head. That was how sirens got you. They lured you in with their sweet voices, and then they snapped your neck. No, Crassus thought to himself as he kept walking, think of Esmer.

“Human, wait! Do you have a bite to eat? I eat not human flesh!” Said the siren, and Crassus stopped in his tracks.

Well, he had some fish to spare. He had left everything else outside the tunnel, so it wouldn’t get wet. He took one fish out and handed it to the hungry siren, who tore into it with gusto.

“Thank you.” Said the siren as she chewed on the tail of the fish. “My name is Ann. My home was the secret springs of mount Licht. But the tunnel was blocked, and I am not strong enough to uncover it.”

Crassus cursed his luck as he heard Clotilde’s snicker. Of course, since she couldn’t do smaller things with any effect anymore, she did major hurdles. And what was worse than barring his way completely?

“Maybe if we both work together, then we can uncover the tunnel, Ann. Then you can go home.” Said Crassus, and the siren nodded slowly.

“Yes, you humans are clever, and we sirens are strong. Let us uncover the tunnel together human…”

“Crassus.” Replied Crassus and Ann moved behind him. He thought of her plight some more and decided to give her a second fish, which she readily and hungrily accepted.

The water was reaching their necks by the time they reached the closed off tunnel. Crassus saw that it was sealed off by rubble and that water was leaking in from the various cracks.

Now, he was not a magician, so he couldn’t say a clever spell to remove the rubble. But he was a merchant with a keen eye. He saw that there was a hole, a small one, in the tunnel’s ceiling.

And he had a siren with him. They didn’t need to clear the tunnel at all!

“Ann, can you sing towards that hole, so it can extend?” Asked Crassus. Ann placed her finger through the hole. It was not bigger than that.

“Well, I can try. But what if I collapse the tunnel?” Asked the siren. She placed a hand on the tunnel’s ceiling and noticed how soft it was. The upper plates must have fallen off. Such a tunnel was going to collapse anyway.

“There are columns near the exit. We can stay next to them as you sing. Ann, if we don’t do this, we will drown.” Said Crassus. While sirens and mermaids were distantly related, sirens couldn’t breathe underwater like their cousins.

For the water to be reaching their necks, someone must have closed off the entrance behind Crassus. It could be a landslide that happened while they were half-way through the tunnel. Crassus cursed Clotilde again. She cackled.

“I will sing, but your ears will hurt. Cover them as good as you are able, Crassus. On five, I sing.” Said Ann, and she cleared her throat.

“One.” Said Ann and Crassus took out a wet scarf from his dimensional bag and began wrapping it around his head.

“Two.” Ann counted as Crassus kept wrapping. He disliked the feeling of wetness around his head, but reasoned that if this kept his hearing, it won’t be so bad.

“Three.” Crassus finished tying up the scarf and began rummaging around his bag for a hat.

“Four.” He took out his white hat and made the piece that it would be ruined until it got washed by the scarf. And he had put it in a fire enchanted bag to keep it dry too.

“Five. Ah, ah, AHHHHHHH” And Ann began to scream rather than sing. With each ah the hole became bigger, but there were cracks in the ceiling now and small sections of it further in the tunnel were falling.

Finally, with a big grumble, a part of the ceiling collapsed right where the hole was and light steamed through. But with the bigger hole came more water, and soon Ann and Crassus were submerged.

Crassus took the hand of the now panicked Ann and began kicking towards the light. At least they were not under ice, as the ceiling’s soil was easy to distinguish. He placed Ann right under the hole and pushed her up. She broke the surface and began kicking towards the edges of the hole.

The merchant stealthily dodged all the kicks and too surfaced. He swam to the other edge, just in case Clotilde decided to do something to him. This way, at least Ann would get away. When he got out of the tunnel, he saw a neat row of crow ferns pointing the way to the secret springs. He was finally coming close, so, why did he feel dread in his stomach?