The unseen companion!
With a shudder Demo closed his eyes, opened them once more. The vision was gone. Only the angry red lava remained. He shook his head, turned once more to the job at hand.
"Proteus, I am sent by Poseidon to reason with you."
The tentacles suddenly coiled spasmodically. The creature moved cautiously away, halted, then approached once more.
"Poseidon knows full well why I have left his service. I served him well as herdsman, and in reward the Golden Isles were to be mine. They have gone to another, Glaucus, who is only a trespasser in these watery depths."
"Glaucus, he who was transformed from human form to one such as
I?"
"Indeed! He whom I would drive from these waters with all good will."
Demo was silent. Suddenly a spume of molten lava shot from the peek of the volcano. The explosive eruption drove them back, even as the red liquid followed a steamy path, lighting the depths around them. Only Proteus observed nature's fury with equanimity.
With a shudder Demo ignored the roiled waters. "Proteus, let me deal with Glaucus. Should I convince him to return to the land from whence he came, can you in your wisdom return him once more to human form?"
"Willingly, willingly. I tell you, though, I know his kind.
He'll never give up the Golden Isles."