The Serpent Sea

by Martha Wells

  Moon and Stone fell back across the big chamber, fighting warden after warden. Stone took them on directly. Moon darted in to slash at them, harried them into Stone’s reach, or finished off the walking wounded. Moon was peripherally aware of Chime and River doing the same, protecting their flanks. He kept getting glimpses of Esom, as he scrambled to stay behind them and away from the wardens. They must have killed dozens of the creatures but more came. Ardan was throwing every resource he had against them.

  Then River called out, “We’re nearly to the wall! What now?”

  Moon risked a look and saw they were nearly against the far wall of the chamber. There was a wide chased-metal gallery built across it, about thirty paces up, probably meant as an access to the tombs there. Unless Ardan had wardens who could fly, it would provide a needed respite. “Get up there!” he shouted to the others.

  River bounced up to the gallery, and Chime snatched up Esom and followed. Stone pitched one last warden across the chamber and climbed after them, Moon close behind.

  Panting, dripping with the creatures’ bitter blood, Moon gripped the railing, looking over the chamber. He couldn’t see the dome from here. It was lost in the shadows. He could see the scattered, bleeding bodies of the wardens. The dozen or so still on their feet edged forward. And past the first row of pillars stood a group of blue-pearl guards. They surrounded a single robed figure: Ardan.

  “He’s here,” Moon said, glancing at the others. “The groundling magister.”

  Chime and River were breathing hard, their scales covered with claw marks, the nicks and scratches of near-misses. Esom was flattened back against the wall, his expression numb with fear. Stone curled around the railing, most of him resting on the delicately incised metal of the gallery floor, tail dangling and deceptively relaxed. He snorted derisively, making his opinion of Ardan clear.

  The magister moved forward, to the last row of pillars, barely fifty paces from them. He called out, “Please, let me speak to you!”

  “We can hear you,” Moon said, pitching his voice to carry.

  Ardan stepped forward again, and shaded his eyes against the glare of the nearest vapor-light. Squinting up at them, he said, “Surely we can come to some agreement.”

  Moon hesitated. He knew Ardan had a talent for sounding sincere, but it was hard to resist the appeal. Ardan must not know Jade and Flower were trapped in the dome. If they could just talk him into letting them get back over to it…

  Esom whispered urgently, “Don’t believe anything he says.”

  River hissed in contempt. “He only wants to talk because we’re winning.”

  “We’re not winning by that much,” Chime said, keeping a nervous eye on the wardens.

  Stone jerked his head, telling Moon to go ahead and talk.

  Moon spread his wings and dropped down from the gallery to land lightly on the floor.

  Ardan regarded him for a moment. He was breathing roughly too, as if he had been in a battle. It must have cost him an enormous effort to send all these creatures after them. It was a relief that it wasn’t much easier to send them than to fight them. Ardan said, “I should have taken even more precautions, but I didn’t realize Esom knew where the seed was.” He hesitated, and looked up at the balcony again. “I didn’t realize there were so many of you here, or that one was so… formidable. I don’t see Rift. I assume he’s unhurt?”

  So all their speculation was right and the seed was here, hidden in the dome. At least all this wasn’t for nothing, Moon thought. “Why do you care about Rift? Worried you missed a chance to have a Raksura stuffed and mounted?”

  Ardan’s voice tightened. “He’s my friend. I don’t want him injured. He’s told me what he can expect from his own people. Your reaction to him was proof enough of that.”

  “He stole our seed. He knew what that would do to the tree,” Moon said, and thought, He thinks Rift is here. He wants him to hear this. “Give it back, and we’ll leave. That’s all we want.” It was worth a try.

  “I’m afraid I can’t.” Ardan’s voice was low and intense. “I persuaded Rift to help me take it from the forest because I had no other choice. It is a powerful artifact, and it means the survival of everyone in this city.” He stepped forward, and his men spread out to either side of him, watching Moon nervously. “Over the turns, our own magic has waned. We have to use substitutes, objects that carry inherent power that can be transferred to the devices that keep the leviathan from sinking below the surface or thrashing until it destroys the city. When I brought the seed here, the other magisters were only days away from losing what little control over the creature we have.” He spread his hands. “You must understand. Your people can find another place to live. Mine have no choice.”

  Moon said, “We both know that’s not true.”

  Ardan’s face went still, and a flush of heat darkened the blue skin of his cheeks and forehead.

  Moon’s spines twitched. He had meant the traders’ ships, that the people here could leave the city if the magisters and the other wealthy residents bought the use of them for an evacuation. But that wasn’t what Ardan had heard. Jade was right. It wasn’t a coincidence that the leviathan had moved further out to sea. Ardan is controlling it.

  Ardan said, thickly, “Then I’m glad we had this conversation.”

  Then the floor dissolved under Moon’s feet, crumbling to dust. He dropped, shot his wings out to stop himself. Air rushed straight up from below and he caught it, played it across his wings to stay aloft. Several of Ardan’s men weren’t so lucky, and flailed as they tumbled down toward a great dark space below, along with fragments of the floor.

  Moon couldn’t see what was down there, where the wind came from. The thick stench of the leviathan filled the air. Moon twisted enough to get a look behind him. The balcony had broken into a twisted mass of metal supports, and Stone clung to a post. River and Chime clung to him, and Esom clung to Chime. I’d tell Esom he was right, but I think he already knows, Moon thought, and looked back up at Ardan.

  The Magister had gone to his knees, his face turned dull blue-gray by the terrible effort of destroying the floor.

  The rush of air, the leviathan’s breathing, Moon thought suddenly. That wind came from the leviathan itself. There was some opening just below them, and in a moment it would— Moon flapped, tried to get out of the draft, shouted, “Stone, get away—”

  The air reversed with a terrible suction as the creature inhaled. It dragged Moon down, tangled his wings. The pressure was terrible, irresistible. It dragged the air out of his lungs and made the edges of his vision go black. He flipped over in time to see it yank River and Chime away from their grip on Stone. Stone made a wild grab for them. The suction jerked him off the remnants of the balcony, shattered metal hurtling down after him.

  Moon swore helplessly and used every bit of his remaining strength to wrench his wings in. The force of it rolled his body over again, so at least he could see what they were plunging into. He had the terrible feeling he already knew.

  All he could see was a great dark space, then his eyes adjusted. It was a crater, a giant black crater in the back of the leviathan, surrounded by a ridge of scaly skin. An air hole, Moon thought, sick with dread, as they dropped helplessly down into it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  They fell, dragged down by the powerful suction of the leviathan’s breath. Moon couldn’t even struggle, the pressure so intense he couldn’t breathe. He thought his body would snap in half before he had a chance to smash into anything.

  At first the darkness was complete. Then Moon caught flashes of blue light, just enough to show him that he was falling past a dark-gray surface ridged by scaly bone rings. He had a hard time believing this was really happening. He had always thought he would probably die by being eaten. Being inhaled by a leviathan wasn’t a fate he had considered.

  Then he slammed into something ropy and semi-porous, bounced off it with stunning force, and tumbled through an opening in the surface.
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  Knocked nearly out of his wits, it took Moon moments to realize he was falling free into a huge open space lit by an eerie blue glow, that the pressure was gone. He spread his wings and cupped them to slow his headlong plunge.

  Thick webs stretched from all sides of the big chamber and formed a shadowy, complicated architecture, as if he were surrounded by the towers and galleries of a near-transparent city. The moving lights were small bundles of blue-tinged phosphorescence, suspended on long poles and somehow attached to the heads of creatures like giant slugs that crawled ponderously over the heavy cables of the webs. The light from those ambulatory bundles lit other shapes, big ones, small ones, that moved through the webs, hopped from strand to strand, or glided on ridged wings.

  Oh, this is… different. Horrible and different. Moon’s throat was too dry to swallow, but at least he could breathe. He looked up, saw Stone not far above him, and the smaller figures of Chime and River. Chime had, somehow, managed to hold on to Esom. Moon wasn’t sure Esom was going to thank him for that; it might have been a kinder end to die in the fall down onto the leviathan’s skin.

  Moon looked down and spotted a solid mass below, some distance from the walls. It was an oblong shape, a couple of hundred paces long and wide, suspended near the center of the space. Moon aimed for it and landed on the rubbery surface, then pulled his wings in and dropped to a defensive crouch. River and Chime landed on either side of him, Esom still clinging tightly to Chime. Stone reached it a few moments later. He snapped his wings in and crouched low.

  The bulk of Stone’s body looming over them gave Moon what was probably a false sense of security. He peered into the dim blue light; nothing seemed to be coming for them, but that had to be just a matter of time. “What is this place?”

  “Didn’t we fall into the monster?” River said, a thread of panic in his voice. “Where are we?”

  “Parasites.” It was Esom who gasped it out. “Colonies of parasites…”

  “He’s right,” Chime said, sounding near the edge of panic himself. “These creatures live inside the leviathan. They could be animals, or intelligent, I don’t know.”

  Moon looked around again, his gorge rising, and wished he could unhear that.

  “They carved out this space, out of its body? Wouldn’t that hurt?” River said, clearly still dazed from horror.

  “Apparently they don’t care,” Moon snapped. Next to him, Stone made a low, soft growl and nudged Moon with a claw. Moon turned, saw Stone was staring at a thin column about twenty paces away. Glinting faintly in the blue light, it stretched up out of a ridged aperture in the gray rubbery ground. Moon looked up, traced its path upward… to where it connected with a thick strand of web crossing the chamber. Oh, no… This mass wasn’t suspended from the web; it was creating the web. “What are we standing on?”

  Chime and River turned to look, just as the surface under them rippled. From the near end of the mass, an immense head suddenly loomed up. It had multiple glaring eyes and a round, fanged mouth. Spiked tentacles stretched up from its sides, as the whole creature started to curve up and inward toward them.

  Stone surged over their heads and hit the creature’s face claws first. Moon yelled, “Up and over, now!” and sprang into the air.

  He couldn’t tell if Chime and River understood his incoherent command or if they were just blindly following him. As they took flight, Moon saw a tentacle whip toward Chime, who was still burdened with Esom. Moon twisted toward it and slashed at the slick surface. It twitched at him, missing Chime, just as another tentacle slapped at Moon’s leg and knocked him into a sideways tumble.

  He rolled, frantically tried to get his wings under control, and saw the tentacle dive toward him. Then River swooped past and swiped at the tentacle with his foot claws. It flinched, hesitating just long enough for Moon to drop out of reach.

  Still falling away, Moon looked up at the creature. From the bottom it had a beetle-like carapace, the edges bristling with tentacles. It roared as Stone whipped over its head and gave it one last swipe with his tail. Stone tore through the tentacles that reached for him and dropped out of its range.

  There was movement all over the web as the big creature turned ponderously on its supporting strand to follow them. There was no place to go but down, and Moon dove.

  He dropped until the passage narrowed again and the lighted webs were left behind. He had no idea where he was going, and the light was running out, when Chime shouted, “Wait, stop!”

  Moon swerved in toward the wall and found a perch to cling to. Chime hit the wall next to him and gripped it tightly. River landed on the far side of Chime, and Stone slammed into a spot just above them.

  “There!” Chime pointed urgently at something about ten paces below. “We’ll be safe if we go that way!”

  “Safe?” River growled. “We were standing on something’s belly!”

  “But we have to go that way!” Chime sounded frantically certain. “All right, it’s not safe, but it’s better than this!”

  Moon had no intention of arguing. He swung down, scrabbled along the wall, and felt the edge of an opening. It was a rough-edged hole in the creature’s flesh, about ten paces across. “This way, come on!”

  Chime climbed down and slipped past him into the passage, as Esom gasped something in his own language. River hissed reluctantly as he followed. Stone’s large form moved down, and hung onto the wall over the opening. “You’re too big,” Moon told him. “Shift, I’ll catch you!”

  For a long heartbeat he didn’t think Stone would do it, from stubbornness or fear of being so vulnerable here or both. “Come on!” Moon yelled. “There’s no other way!”

  Then Stone shifted. Moon lunged forward and grabbed his arm; the sudden weight nearly jerked him off the wall. Stone managed to grip Moon’s shoulder and dragged himself up. Moon heaved, lashed his tail, and hauled them both through the opening.

  They tumbled down over a bumpy surface, into complete darkness, and landed hard with Stone on top. Moon felt Stone sit up, heard him fumble in his pack for their light. Esom’s harsh breathing sounded from a few paces to Moon’s left, and Chime and River were putting out such a fear-scent he could smell them even over the leviathan’s stench. Stone managed to get the rock uncovered and the light glowed from between his fingers as he held it up.

  They were in a passage maybe fifteen paces wide, the rough, lumpy walls and floor a sickly blue color. Stalactites covered the ceiling, leaking a chalky-colored ichor. Moon pushed away from Stone and shoved to his feet. The passage wound off into the creature’s body and split into multiple tunnels, each disappearing into darkness. He could still hear, distant and muffled, the familiar rush-pause-rush of the leviathan’s breath.

  Chime and River crouched nearby, Esom huddled between them. “So where are we now?” River said. From his expression, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know.

  Chime turned to the nearest wall and ran his hand over it. “I think these are teeth marks. I think something gnawed its way through here.”

  Moon looked down the dark tunnel again. Revulsion made his skin creep under his scales. “Another parasite?”

  Chime nodded, his eyes wide and frightened. “Maybe more than one.”

  Stone pushed to his feet with a half-snarl. “We’ll follow it. Maybe it got out.” He paused and glanced at Moon, his expression opaque. “Thanks.”

  Moon flicked his spines in a half-shrug, avoiding his gaze. “We need to move.”

  River started forward and hissed in disgust as his frills brushed against a dripping stalactite. Chime followed, but Esom still huddled on the floor. Moon reached down, caught him by the shoulders, and pulled him to his feet.

  Esom stared blankly. The right lens of his spectacles was cracked and his eyes were shocky. “Esom, you have to stay with us.” Moon couldn’t think of anything reassuring to say. They were trapped inside a leviathan, standing in a tunnel gnawed out by giant parasites. Going blank with terror was a perfectly rational way
to react, especially for a groundling.

  Esom blinked, took a gasping breath. “I— Yes, of course.” Awareness came back into his eyes, and he nodded sharply. “I’m fine, I’m really fine. I just had a moment there.”

  If they ever got out of this, Moon was going to have a moment of his own. A long one. Tugging Esom along, he moved after the others.

  They picked their way cautiously along, the light making shadows leap across the weird shapes of the stalactites. The tunnels formed a honeycomb, split off, then rejoined again. Whatever had chewed out all this, it hadn’t needed to make an even surface to walk on, and they had to clamber over lumps and broken chunks. Esom had the most difficulty, stumbling and breathing harshly. Stone, hampered by his groundling form, couldn’t move fast either.

  The quiet wore on Moon’s nerves, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Jade, and Flower. And poor Balm. And it was his fault they were down here. He said, “Ardan did this because he thought I knew he’d been lying all this time. He can do more than just keep the leviathan from sinking, he’s steering it, telling it where to move and when and how far.”

  Chime said, “It’s not your fault. He was going to get rid of us anyway. He was just making sure Rift wasn’t with us.” He glanced at Moon. “He must really like Rift. That’s very creepy.”

  Esom said, slowly, “He wouldn’t be afraid of the people. He’s too powerful.” He sounded better, calmer, though his voice was still shaky. “It’s the other magisters, like Lethen. They must not realize he can send the leviathan anywhere he wants. He’s doing it to keep control of the traders, moving it so the ones who don’t pay him off can’t find it.”

  Too bad we can’t tell them about it, Moon thought bitterly. The resulting battle would be interesting to watch, but not much help to them. The other magisters wouldn’t want to give the seed back, either.