Since it was just a short distance to the small island, I cast a water-walking spell and headed on over to the small piece of land.

Just like in Aevar's story, there was a black horker waiting for me to arrive.

And just like in the story, as soon as I was close enough, the thing lumbered around and pushed itself towards the open waters behind it.

Since I had read the story, I knew what was coming up, though I wished the water was a bit warmer. I sighed, put on the Belt of Fish Gills, then plunged into the icy waters.

The horker pulled out a little ahead of me, but then stopped, waiting for me to catch up. I knew it had no intention of losing me in the sea.

Suddenly, something darted past my face, something that seemed to have very sharp teeth!

Slaughterfish! Several of them, in fact. I put on the Ring of Weapons, and thank the stars bound weapons are as light as a feather. The slaughterfish attacked the horker, biting it's fins. I swung at the fish, killing one of them. The rest of the fish then suddenly began to attack me, ignoring the horker.

Making myself the target probably saved the horker from certain death. In just minutes, six slaughterfish floated to the surface, dead at my hand.

We continued swimming north, the horker stopping to let me catch up with it.

After a few minutes, the horker came to a complete stop. I swam closer to the creature, but it didn't move.

I checked above the water, but there was nothing but floating ice there. Nothing to my right or left, either.

Finally, I checked below me. There was a small rock formation with what looked like a hole in it. A cave!

Slowly, I headed down to the cave entrance, keeping an eye out for more slaughterfish.

According to the story, the thing I was looking for would be in here.

Carefully, I squeezed my way into the cave, expecting to find a slaughterfish hiding in the entrance. Thankfully, none were found.

What I did find, however, was a very, very long tunnel. Were it not for my enchanted belt, I would have drowned shortly after entering the cave.

I pushed myself through the long, winding tunnel, grateful for the fact that my belt also gave me a small spell of Night-Eye, for there was barely any light at all in this cave.

Just as I arrived at what looked like the end of this long swim, I was attacked by a skeleton warrior. Very long blade, very nasty attitude. Once again, the Ring of Weapons came to my aid, and I put the guard down in no time.

Once I was certain there were no other skeleton warriors in the cave, I ventured out of the waters to seek out the cave's prize.

It certainly didn't take long, as there were only three bottles in the cave. There was a potion of water breathing as well as a potion of swift-swim. The third bottle, of course, held the Waters of Life.

I grabbed the bottle and headed back into the tunnel.

The tunnel was just as long going out as it was going in. Once I reached the exit, I checked around for slaughterfish, and once I could see that the area was clear, I headed back south, the way I came.

I touched the stone, and felt the bottle holding the Waters of Life vanish from my pocket. Then words appeared in the stone, as before:

"You have returned the Gift of Water to the Skaal. The Oceans again will bear fruit, and their thirst will be quenched."

With that, the words faded, and the Water Stone gave off a shimmering green light.

"That was five stones so far, right?" asked Laurenna.

"Correct." I replied, as we crossed the mountain side. "Now, we need to find the Wind Stone. We should also be able to find the Amulet that we originally came here for as well."

"But it was said that the rock formation showing the location was only visible from the air, right?" she asked.

"True." I said, "Once we get to where it might be, I can levitate up and take a look around."

I checked the map. The Wind stone was quite a way east, along a mountain range. It also looked like it would be near the Skaal village. At least, once that quest was done, it wouldn't be too long a trip to report our good luck.