The eldest, gray-bearded and sun-beaten, pointed a shaking hand at the chain. “Are you out of your mind?” he said. “You want to bring the sea down on all of us?” Elias blinked, still gripping one of the rusted links. “It’s a chain,” he said evenly. “Probably from a wreck. Nothing more.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Then you don’t know this place yet.” The others nodded grimly. One of them spat into the sand. “We told the last one that too. He didn’t listen either.” Elias frowned. “The last one?” The gray-bearded man hesitated, then sighed.