by Mel Odom
“What do you mean?”
Droust took a breath and let it out. “Caelynna, the Blue Lady, sometimes sacrifices groups of those she has allowed to survive their plummet into the sea because she can use them for other things.”
Cold dread squirmed within Shang-Li’s stomach.
“That’s right,” Droust whispered. “She hasn’t let them live just because she wanted you to have company. She was waiting on the moon cycle. Tonight it will be full. And when it is, she can have her creatures descend on those people in that ship and kill them all. The ritual requires blood and power, and it allows her to reach into the Feywild for things-creatures as well as plants. She transplants them here and lets the spellplague residue change some of them into even more dangerous things.” He glanced at Shang-Li. “Perhaps some of your friends will come back as those morbid creatures.”
“The sea shambles?”
“I hadn’t heard them called that, but the name is a good one. As far as I know, they have no other name.”
“How long is it until moonrise?”
Droust shook his head. “I only know that Caelynna has been preparing for the ritual for the past few days. I knew she wouldn’t do it with you there. Not until she was certain you weren’t able to translate those books.” He paused. “And she may decide to replace me with you. Otherwise she’ll kill you.” He looked at Shang-Li. “I don’t know which to hope for.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
The citadel looked exactly as Shang-Li remembered it. Tumbled down and scattered, with only a few sections remaining, the edifice didn’t look grand or imposing, though a hint of past majesties remained.
“Did this come from our world?” Shang-Li asked. “Or from another or the Feywild?”
“I don’t know. There’s writing on some of the buildings, but I don’t recognize any of it. And there are three iterations of the same language, possibly generational changes, or there are two languages, and one possibly has iteration. I’m not certain.”
Shang-Li’s curiosity rose immediately, then died just as suddenly as he spotted the squid-looking thing lurking behind the main building. “What is that thing?”
Droust looked, then shook his head. “It’s another of Caelynna’s possessions that has no name.”
“She created that as well?”
“No. It was here from what I gather. She conquered and enthralled the creature. Now it does her bidding.”
Shang-Li looked at the creature. “But it’s not free?”
“Nothing,” Droust said morosely, “that lives within this place is free.”
Shang-Li swam after Droust. Together, they swam through the sunken remains of the citadel. What remained of the buildings was beautiful. The stone was mostly white and pale pink even in the blue glow. None of it was cut; all of a natural shape and size, chosen specifically to fit into the structures. Long covered walkways, some of them broken, ran on different levels from one section of the building to another, allowing for many outside areas that probably once offered magnificent views of the building and the grounds.
“I have another place where I work.” Droust alighted on a balcony that overlooked the collapsed center of the building. In the past, it might have overlooked a flower garden, judging from the space before it. “But this is where Caelynna keeps Liou Chang’s books under lock and key and guard.”
As soon as they entered the hallway, a group of Nine Golden Swords warriors waited with swords in their fists.
“Ah, the monk,” one of the Nine Golden Swords said. A predatory smile stretched across his face. “I’d heard you survived. For now.”
Shang-Li ignored the man as he walked past, but he listened to the man’s breathing to see if there would be a shift that noted movement on the man’s part.
“Another time, monk,” the warrior promised. “When you aren’t a protected plaything of the Blue Lady.”
Almost immediately, Shang-Li dismissed the man from his mind. The Nine Golden Swords were the least of his worries at the moment. Above the sea, the day was draining and the full moon would wax. He couldn’t stay inside the citadel without warning his father and his friends, and he couldn’t leave Liou Chang’s books in the hands of the Blue Lady.
The hall continued for some distance before turning to the right. Droust pointed to a door flanked by four Nine Golden Swords members. They bared their weapons at Shang-Li’s approach but offered no direct threat.
“They don’t like you.” Droust halted in front of the door and waited as one of the Nine Golden Swords members used an ornate key on the lock.
“We share a long and blood-soaked history,” Shang-Li said. “I have never cared much for thieves and murderers. Obviously the feeling is reciprocated.”
The Nine Golden Swords warriors merely grinned and cursed him. One of them spat at Shang-Li, but the effort was wasted under the ocean.
Droust led the way through the doors into a large, ornate library lit by massive glowstones. The sea remained locked outside the doors as though a wall of glass separated the interior of the room from the hallway. One of the Nine Golden Swords warriors stuck his head through the opening and his wet beard dripped onto the floor as he grinned evilly.
“Caelynna understands she has to keep this room dry if I am to work.” Droust walked behind a dressing screen, then pointed to another on the other side of the room. “You’ll find dry robes there. Get out of your wet clothing. You can’t get the books fouled.”
Shang-Li walked behind the other dressing screen and reluctantly took off his leather armor. He didn’t like being left so unprotected and unarmed in the midst of the Nine Golden Swords, but he didn’t want to ruin the books either. Once he was dressed in the simple gown, he joined Droust at a large marble table in the center of the room.
Despair filled Shang-Li as he looked at the empty shelves that lined the walls.
“I know,” Droust said. “I felt the same way. When I was given this room, the shelves were full of books.”
“Where are they now?”
“Molded. Ruined. A long time before my arrival. Caelynna chased the water from this room and set it up for me to work on Liou’s books. I had to throw away the old books. Nothing of them could be saved. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’ve worried for years about all that was lost of whomever lived here.” The scribe peered around the room. “I’d never thought I’d ever be cloistered away for so very long in one place.” He glanced at Shang-Li. “But you’re probably used to that.”
“No.” Shang-Li had loved the monastery, but he had loved the forests and even the cities more. Mostly he had loved the adventures, the new experiences that came on a nearly daily pace. “Where are the books?”
Droust hesitated. He crossed the floor and took a crystal from a gold chain around his neck. As he pressed the crystal near a blank section in the bookshelves, a keyhole appeared. The scribe thrust the crystal home and twisted.
A moment later, a thick stone door opened on a stone box that suddenly appeared. Droust reached into the box with reverence and took out two books. He turned and carefully brought them back to Shang-Li.
Handling the books delicately, Shang-Li placed them side by side on the table and began flipping them open one at a time. With them juxtaposed, he hoped that he could pick up any redundancies Liou Chang might have used in his code work.
The passages were written in script that Shang-Li didn’t recognize from any of the languages he knew or was familiar with.
“They’re written in artificial languages,” Droust said.
“I know.” Shang-Li carefully turned the neatly lettered pages. “I’ve read some of his other books. My father made me translate much of Liou’s work while I was growing up at the monastery. He’s an authority on Liou Chang.”
“Then why isn’t he here?”
“Because my father is an excellent academician, but I’m better at breaking codes. Besides that, the Blue Lady wanted me here.” Shang-Li looked at Droust. “I’m goin
g to ask you a simple question, and I want you to think about your answer before you give it. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to escape the Blue Lady?” Droust’s face pulled tight in consternation. “What are you talking about? That’s foolishness. It can’t be done.”
“But if it could?”
The scribe held his tongue.
“It’s better if you live another seventy years or more in captivity to the Blue Lady?”
Droust lowered his gaze. “No. It’s not better.”
“Then let me secure these books so they won’t be damaged by the sea.” Shang-Li returned to the dressing screen for his bag. “Does the Blue Lady watch over you while you’re here?”
“Sometimes. But she’s going to be deep into the ritual she’s preparing to sacrifice your shipmates.”
Shang-Li thrust the books into the bag and they promptly disappeared. Despite the addition, the bag was still almost weightless. Then he dressed himself in his sodden clothing and armor.
Droust changed as well and stood ready, though frightened.
“Can you use a weapon?” Shang-Li asked.
Droust shook his head. “As I said, I’m only a scribe.”
“Then do your best to stay out of the way.”
Droust looked toward the door where the Nine Golden Swordsmen stood guard. Though the doors were closed, their voices outside were loud as they swapped lies and told of conquests with women and games of chance.
“They will never let us by.”
“That’s our second option.” Shang-Li crossed the room and began examining the walls. “Doesn’t it strike you as strange that in a room this large and-once upon a time-so important would only have one exit? Especially in a building as the size of this one?”
Droust looked thoughtful and scared. “I’ve never thought about it.”
That’s what comes of leading a cloistered life, Shang-Li thought. The edge on your curiosity dulls. He slipped a fighting stick from his sleeve and tapped on the wall.
“You think there’s a secret passageway?”
Shang-Li snorted. “Of course I do. Anyone in a citadel like this would want one in case of attack, or for the household staff to use to stay out of sight. Or perhaps for spying on guests.”
“I’ve never noticed one.”
“Have you ever looked?”
“No.”
“Perhaps that’s why. Now be quiet and let me listen.” Shang-Li worked slowly, taking his time as he went around the room. Finally he located a section he thought was hollow from the sound of his taps.
Slipping his knife from his boot, Shang-Li pried around the edges of the stones. Even after all the years of being at the bottom of the sea and surviving the Spellplague, the mortar remained tight and complete. After a while, he thought he’d been mistaken about the hollow space, that perhaps it had only been a void after all. Time leaked away from him, slid like oil from a clenched fist. He couldn’t bear the thought of his father and friends dying without having a chance to defend themselves or escape.
Then his clever fingers found a release near the juncture of wall and floor. The release only moved a fraction of an inch, and even after all this time it moved smoothly. Locks snicked open.
Droust let out a strangled cry and looked back over his shoulder at the entrance. For a moment Shang-Li thought perhaps the scribe was going to shout a warning. He tightened his grip on the fighting stick and readied himself to ram it into Droust’s throat to silence him.
Visibly shaken, Droust watched the door, then turned back to Shang-Li. “They didn’t hear that.”
“Good.” Shang-Li stood and opened the hidden doorway. It only moved a few inches, blocked by fallen stone. The opening wasn’t large enough to squeeze more than his head through.
“What’s wrong?” Droust pressed in close to him and tried to look for himself.
“The passageway’s partially collapsed.” Shang-Li held out his glowstone. “But the passage continues. What’s in the room next to us?”
“A sitting room. Perhaps a place where library guests went to eat and compare notes.”
“Is the door locked?”
“No. The guards use it to store provisions and clothing.”
“All right. Then we go there.”
Droust stepped in front of Shang-Li. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m not staying here. Not when my father and friends are at risk and unaware of the danger they’re in.”
Droust pointed at the doorway. “There are four men out there. Warriors.”
Shang-Li shook his fighting sticks out into his waiting hands. “I didn’t say it would be easy.” He looked at Droust. “Now are you with me? Or are you the first opponent I have to take down?”
Apprehensively, Droust stepped aside.
“The Blue Lady won’t be quick to kill us.” Shang-Li strode for the door and forced his fear away. “Those men have standing orders not to kill you. You can wait here and claim that I overpowered you, or you can come with me.”
Droust hesitated only a moment. “I’ll come.”
“Try to stay out of the way. We’re going to the room next door and find the passageway there. Then we try to lose ourselves until we find a way out.”
“All right.”
Shang-Li nodded toward the door. “Open it.”
Trembling visibly, Droust pulled the door wide.
The two Nine Golden Swords closest to the entrance turned to face the door, but they didn’t move as if they were expecting trouble. Shang-Li stepped among them, feeling the ocean close around him again as he walked from the dry room into the sea-filled passageway. A chill permeated him and he couldn’t resist the unconscious reaction of holding his breath when the water surrounded him.
He swung the fighting stick in his right hand in a backward strike that caught the man on the right in the temple. The warrior sagged and fell slowly toward the floor. The other warrior thrust his sword, but Shang-Li parried it with his fighting stick and pivoted on the ball of his left foot to deliver a roundhouse kick with his right foot that caught the man in the jaw and knocked him back into one of his companions.
Forcing himself to breathe, Shang-Li stepped between Droust and the other Nine Golden Swords warriors. “Move! Quickly!”
Droust scuttled out of the library and headed up the hallway to the next door.
“Big mistake, monk.” The warrior on the right advanced and readied his sword. “The Blue Lady only needs one of you alive.”
Shang-Li stepped toward the man, feinting to the right, then blocking the man’s sword thrust with both his fighting sticks. Spotting the second man up and swinging now, Shang-Li spun his head down to his knee and turned around to sweep the man’s legs from beneath him. As the man fell backward, Shang-Li went smoothly from the spin into a hands-free cartwheel over the other man’s sword. Using his left stick to shield his right arm from the man’s backward blow, feeling the impact numb his arm, he stepped forward and dragged the end of the right stick along the man’s sternum. The Nine Golden Swords warrior screamed loudly and dropped to his knees right before he passed out.
The final guard sprinted backward and let out a yell.
Other guards came on the double, filling the other end of the hall.
Shang-Li turned back and saw Bayel Droust opening the next door. The scribe made it inside just before Shang-Li followed at his heels. Droust cursed helplessly as he fumbled his glowstone from his pouch and held it aloft.
Mold and debris filled the room. Broken shelving hung on the walls and a table looked like a squashed bug in the center of the floor. Someone had cleaned one corner of the room, and provisions were stored there as well as polearms.
“Check the wall.” Shang-Li slid a stone shard under the door and kicked it hard to set it. The stone wouldn’t hold against an assault for long, but he hoped it would last long enough. By the time he reached the opposite wall and the first blows and curses from the arriving guard
s beat at the door,
“Here.” Droust indicated a wall section that was almost a match in location to the one in the last room. He shoved timbers out of the way in his haste to clear the area. “I can’t find the locking mechanism.”
Shang-Li knelt, found the release, and swung the door open. Hinges creaked in protest at the unaccustomed movement. Thankfully they were fashioned of stone and not metal. Otherwise they would have rusted away.
The pounding at the door and the curses gathered intensity. The alarm was doubtless already being delivered throughout the citadel.
Droust peered cautiously into the passageway. “We don’t know where this leads.”
“Away from here.” Shang-Li shoved past the other man and took out his own glowstone. “For now, that’s enough.” He closed the door and locked it. The Nine Golden Swords warriors would struggle to find the secret of the door as well. Hopefully by the time that they did, Shang-Li would be lost to them within the passageways. He held the glow-stone up and went forward as fast as he felt he could across the debris-strewn floor.
Only a short distance farther on, the passageway forked. Shang-Li examined each of the new paths but saw no markings that indicated where they might lead. He chose the one on the right just so they could keep moving. Thirty feet later, as near as he could figure, he turned another corner and found a set of stairs leading down.
“Should we turn around?” Droust stood at Shang-Li’s back and peered down.
“No.”
“What do you think is down there?”
“Haven’t you ever prowled through a castle or manor house?”
Droust shook his head. “I think that would have been frowned upon.”
“Probably. The thing is, all passageways eventually lead to the kitchen or from the kitchen.”
“We don’t want to go to the kitchen.”
“Actually, the kitchen would be good. Kitchens lead to wine cellars with their own entrances from the outside, as well as sewers.”
