by Dragon Lance
“What’s the matter?” hissed Gundabyr in response to her soft exclamation.
“These Dargonesti are strange elves,” she replied. “I just figured out that these three temples are sacred to Mantis of the Rose, Astra, and Zeboim.” This last name amazed the dwarf. In Thorbardin this goddess was called Bhezomiax, but there were no shrines dedicated to her. What use had a mountain race for a sea goddess? Daughter of Takhisis, the queen of evil, Zeboim was known to be impetuous, temperamental, and very, very dangerous.
“You mean they worship evil gods alongside the good?” Gundabyr asked.
“So it seems. Now I understand Naxos’s nervousness about using the water of Zura.”
Gundabyr smothered a groan. “Lady, you’re no lightweight, you know. Do we go on?”
Vixa nodded curtly. “We have to. I don’t know what else to do.”
They walked up to the entrance of the temple of Zura. The building was a truncated pyramid made of alternating bands of jade and blood coral. Striking but gaudy, was Vixa’s opinion. Monstrous carvings decorated the outer walls, depicting all the destructive forces of the sea: waterspouts, tidal waves, and the like.
A pair of priests came into view. Each wore on a thong around his neck a jade medallion decorated with Zeboim’s – or rather Zura’s – sign, a sea turtle. Vixa flinched when they drew near enough for her to see their faces. Unlike the usual blue tone of the Dargonesti elves, the priests of Zura had deathly gray complexions. Their eyes were strangely dull and colorless – much like the flat, gray shade of the ocean on a cloudy day. They walked with small, shuffling steps, their arms hanging straight and unmoving by their sides. No notice was taken of the tall, unknown acolyte who fell in behind them.
The temple’s interior was damp and fetid. Smears of phosphorescent slime on the walls provided what little light there was. Ahead, the two priests ducked their heads periodically. At first Vixa thought they were observing some sort of ritual, then she felt a cold, fleeting contact on her forehead. Looking up, she noticed faint tendrils of smoke floating in the air, writhing like the tentacles of some phantom octopus. Vixa felt no pain at the contact, but a horrid smell of decay permeated her nostrils.
The priests disappeared down a side passage. Vixa and Gundabyr forged ahead. She watched for other tendrils and dodged them when they appeared. At last they reached the center of the pyramid. The main chamber mimicked the form of the outer structure, being a flat-topped pyramid itself. In the center, instead of an altar, there was a fountain. Water dribbled from the mouth of a statue of Zura, which was carved from a massive block of white onyx. Depicted in Quoowahb form, Zura wore an expression of pure malevolence. Her eyes were set with blue-green jade.
“I need a jar,” Vixa said. “Turn around, Gundabyr.” The dwarf swung her in a full circle. “Whoa! Not so fast! Again, more slowly.”
Deep niches were cut into the walls. Piled in the hollows were white clay amphorae. Vixa pulled one out. It was empty. Smaller than a Qualinesti wine jug, it would hold perhaps a quart of liquid. She hoped that was sufficient for Naxos’s purpose. A fitted stone stopper was set in the mouth with the same kind of sticky kelp paste they’d used to seal the gnomefire pots. It had a long, braided seaweed loop for a handle.
Gundabyr took her back to the fountain. Since no one was around, he hiked up the hem of the long robe and took a breath of air, as well as a look around. When he saw the statue, his mouth dropped in amazement. “I hope we don’t meet her while we’re here,” he said, aghast at the dreadful image.
“Shh! Bend over so I can fill the jug.”
He leaned forward, resting his hands on the rim of the pool. As Vixa held the amphora in the water, Gundabyr was able to see what was lying in the bottom of the pool. Skulls. A great many of them.
“Uh, Princess, I’m not sure this is a good idea. Look down here.”
Vixa glanced down, almost dropping the jug. “By Astra! Where did those come from?”
“Sacrifices, maybe? Or all that’s left of people who drank the water?”
She shuddered. “We’ve got to trust Naxos,” she said, finishing her task. “He said to bring him the water, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
She plugged the amphora, smeared the brown jelly around the stopper, then handed the jug to Gundabyr. He put its braided loop over his neck, and they rearranged the robe over him and his burden.
They garnered a few sidelong glances as they crossed the square and left the temple precinct, but no one challenged them. By the ramp, they discarded the robe, and Vixa recovered her hidden spear. Gundabyr and Vixa descended a few levels, then got off at a residential floor evidently reserved for Urione’s more affluent citizens. The houses were larger and fewer, and the level had the advantage of being nearly empty just now.
“There are side stairs and ramps all over,” Vixa said, rushing ahead. “As long as we keep going down, we’ll find our way to the sea.”
Puffing a little, the slender amphora cradled in his arms, the dwarf commented, “Not to be argumentative, but the sea’s everywhere outside, ain’t it?”
Vixa pulled up short, her face reddening. “You’re right. I would’ve dragged us through the whole city, just so we could leave the same way we came in!”
“We have another problem, lady.”
“What?”
“I know you shapeshifted dolphins can hold your breath from here to midnight. Me, I’m running out of wind on these stairways.”
She clapped a hand to her head. “We need an airshell!”
“Yup.”
Dejected, the pair crouched in an alley between two fine houses. Through open windows occupants of the buildings could be seen moving about. Faint music came from inside.
“Let’s consider this logically,” Vixa whispered. “All an airshell is, is a container for air. We never knew how much air any one of them would have. Right?”
“Right. So?”
“A container for air,” she repeated, her eyes distant with thought. “Gundabyr,” she said abruptly, “how many breaths do you take in a minute?”
“Hammer me if I know.”
She urged him to find out. Breathing normally, the dwarf counted his exhalations while Vixa counted off the seconds in a minute.
“Stop,” Vixa ordered.
Gundabyr reported he’d taken thirty-one breaths. “How does that help?” he asked.
“It will take me fourteen – no, better say fifteen – fifteen minutes to get from the city to Naxos’s cave, swimming flat out. All we need is enough air to last you —” With one finger, she scribbled on the dusty floor. “Four hundred sixty-five breaths!”
Vixa stood and tiptoed to the back of the dead-end alley. She explained that what she was looking for was a barrel or sack that could hold enough air to last him until they reached the cave where Naxos was hidden. Gundabyr could take sips of air from the barrel or sack, just as they had taken air from the airshells. The dwarf rolled his eyes.
The rear of the alley was piled with Dargonesti household rubbish. Some sacks were woven seaweed, useless as it was not airtight. Others turned out to be made of catfish skin. Not bad. Vixa pawed through several such sacks until she found one of the size she wanted. She emptied it of rubbish.
“It’ll do,” she pronounced. Gundabyr looked more than a little doubtful.
They stole back into the street. A few residents were out at the other end of the lane but didn’t notice the two drylanders skulking about. At the end of the street, they came to the pink granite wall that was the city’s outer shell, unbroken by the arched openings found on the upper floors.
Vixa snarled at the bad luck. Time was running out. She’d been worrying constantly about Naxos ever since Coryphene’s soldiers had captured her. What if he was already dead in that cold, wet cave?
“Over here, Princess!”
Just a few yards away, Gundabyr had found a staircase leading down to the next level. He descended; Vixa hurried after him. She could see the flicker of ligh
t reflecting off water at the bottom of the stairway.
When she reached bottom, a glad sight greeted her eyes. There were pools in the floor of this level every dozen feet or so. Vixa sat on the edge of one. Before she entered, she said, “You won’t understand me when I’m a dolphin, but I will understand you. Once I change, fill up the bag with air and get on my back.”
She slipped into the water, picturing her dolphin form. The black-and-white shape was becoming as familiar as her elven one. She no longer felt afraid as her body stiffened. The immobility would pass quickly. She sank beneath the surface. In seconds, she was two-legged no more, but when her dolphin head broke the surface she saw that the situation had changed dramatically. A squad of Dargonesti warriors was coming on the run toward the pool. They had their spears leveled.
Since escaping the grotto, Gundabyr had been quite happy to stay dry, having no fondness for the water. Now, however, he didn’t hesitate, but leapt into the pool. In a heartbeat, he was seated on Vixa’s muscular back, clinging tightly with his knees. He whirled the sack about his head, filling it with air.
“Go, go!” he shouted, thumping his heels against her flanks. She shook her head side to side, gesturing with her beak toward the amphora still sitting by the pool.
“Reorx save me,” groaned the dwarf. He snagged the braided handle of the jug, slipping it over his neck. The Dargonesti were only twenty paces away. Clutching his inflated sack in one hand, Gundabyr grabbed her dorsal fin with the other.
“Now, go!” he cried. Vixa submerged, taking him with her.
Behind her, the princess could hear loud splashes as the Dargonesti dove into the pool. Her course was erratic, as the unfamiliar weight of the dwarf on her back made it difficult for her to swim straight.
They swam through an archway into the open sea. Vixa heard numerous cries as the Dargonesti shouted for her to stop and called for sea brothers to intercept her. She headed toward the ruined wall across the Mortas Trench and thanked all the gods that the spears would not travel far underwater.
Gray dolphins flashed by her. Sea brothers! Vixa stubbornly stuck to her course. The big shapeshifted dolphins zoomed before and behind her. What were they playing at? she wondered. With their speed and power, they could ram her into submission easily. But they didn’t.
“What are you doing?” she demanded in the high-pitched water-tongue.
“No need to shout,” said a friendly voice close by. Vixa cocked an eye astern and saw Kios keeping pace with her.
“Are you chasing me or not?”
Kios surged ahead of her. “If we wanted to catch you, Sister, we would.”
“Then what’s your game?”
“This is a show, for Coryphene’s troopers. We’ll tell them you evaded us. For now, take me to Naxos.”
Her only response was to swim harder. Vixa didn’t trust Kios, but what could she do? With Gundabyr on her back, she knew she had no chance to outrun or outmaneuver the sea brothers.
Six dolphins blasted through the breach in the wall made by the chilkit – Vixa, Kios, and four more sea brothers. Vixa headed directly for the tunnel leading to Naxos’s hiding place, all the while praying she wasn’t bringing him his death.
As soon as Gundabyr’s head burst into the air, he gave a glad cry. Vixa carried him to the pool’s edge, by Naxos’s hiding place. The dwarf clambered out of the water. Vixa reverted to elven form and joined him. Kios also resumed his two-legged shape, though the other shapeshifters remained as they were.
Naxos appeared to be unconscious. Most of the color had drained from his skin, and he wasn’t moving. Vixa knelt by him.
“What’s in that jug?” asked Kios as Vixa unplugged the amphora.
“The water of Zura,” she said bluntly. “He said it would cure him.”
“Oh, it will cure his wound. But he will become undead, like the Shades of Zura.”
Appalled, Vixa shoved the plug back in the amphora. She remembered the bloodless, empty faces of the priests she’d seen in Zura’s temple. Naxos would become like them!
“What can we do?” she moaned.
Naxos stirred. “Vixa,” he murmured, “and the Firebringer. Who’s that with you?”
“It is I, Kios.”
“Come to finish me off, Brother?”
“I could. Coryphene would shower me with riches if I brought him your head.”
“Traitor.” The voice was weak, but the anger very apparent.
“Ah, the things you say. Where is your famous wit, Naxos? I thought you would trade quips with Death himself when the time came.”
“I’m too tired to trade anything. Kill me, or give me the water of Zura. I am weary of pain and cold.”
Kios took the amphora from Vixa. Without hesitation, he dashed the jug against the stone wall. Into the stunned silence, he said, “It wouldn’t do for the chief of the sea brothers to become undead.”
“Chief?” Naxos whispered. “Am I still?”
“You’ve never been anything else.” Kios went to the edge of the pool and gave orders to the remaining shapeshifters. The four dolphins submerged. When he returned, Kios brought back seawater in his cupped hands. He trickled this over Naxos’s drying gills. Vixa and Gundabyr rushed to follow his example.
“Look here, my brother,” Kios said, as the other two continued to minister to Naxos, “you confronted Coryphene in the middle of a battlefield, surrounded by thousands of his loyal soldiers. By the Fisher, Naxos, he’d just led them to victory over the chilkit! I had to profess loyalty to him on the spot. You should have done the same.”
“Coryphene has no confidence in my sincerity,” Naxos murmured.
“But he does in mine. If I had defied him, it would have meant civil war, then and there. The time was not right for us to resist, but it soon will be. Coryphene and the queen are leaving the city.”
“Leaving?” Naxos was stunned. “To go where?”
“They are marching on Silvanost,” Vixa supplied. “Uriona says she’s received a prophecy that if she is crowned in the Tower of the Stars, she will rule all the elven nations.”
“Hail, goddess Uriona,” mocked Naxos.
Kios shook his head. “Don’t be so certain of her madness. I have seen the preparations. They will take ten thousand warriors to the dry land and attack the city of our ancestors. Uriona has persuaded four thousand of the Shoal Dwellers to join the attack as well.”
Naxos snorted. “Dimernesti nomads can’t be trusted.”
“No, but they have been promised booty.”
“What sort of troops does Coryphene have?” asked Vixa.
“Six thousand spearcarriers, two thousand netcasters, a thousand firelancers, and a thousand picked troops armed with drylander swords. Those include Coryphene’s personal guard.”
“All infantry,” she mused. “Have they no cavalry?”
“In the old country, the Waveriders fought mounted on hippocampi, but none of them followed Uriona into exile. The army is all afoot. Except for the sea brothers.” Kios grinned. Weak as he was, Naxos returned the wicked smile.
“What do you find so amusing?” Vixa asked suspiciously.
“Coryphene relies on us to be his scouts,” Naxos said.
“And once he’s on the march, he’ll find that all the sea brothers have vanished,” concluded Kios. He rubbed his pale blue palms together. “We’ll double back and seize the city!”
“No,” said Naxos, shaking his head. “You can’t hope to hold the city against Coryphene’s army. Better to disperse, live wild in the sea.”
Gundabyr, who’d remained in the background during this discussion, finally spoke up. “Hey, what about us? How are we supposed to get home?”
“I sent my brothers for bandages and healing ointments for Naxos,” Kios told him. “They will bring an airshell for you, little fellow. Our sister can carry you to land.”
They helped Naxos to stand, Vixa supporting him on one side, Kios the other. The wounded shapeshifter felt heavy as oak to th
e Qualinesti princess. They got him upright, leaning on a boulder by the pool’s edge.
One of the sea brothers returned, carrying a whelk shell in a bag clutched in his mouth. Kios took Gundabyr aside to adjust the fit of the airshell’s mouthpiece. Vixa had a moment alone with Naxos.
“Will you be all right?” she asked softly.
“With my brothers’ help, I think so. You’ve saved more than my life, Vixa. You’ve saved the sea brothers from servitude to Coryphene and Uriona.” That said, he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the cheek, barely brushing her face with his lips.
Surprised, Vixa raised a hand to her cheek. Color invaded her face. “I-I only wish Armantaro and the others could have lived to escape with me,” she stammered.
“As do I, Princess.”
At that moment, the pool erupted as four sea brothers arrived – three sent by Kios to fetch medicines, and the healer they’d brought with them. The four changed to Dargonesti form and came to help Naxos.
“This airshell should last you two full days underwater,” Kios was saying to Gundabyr. “To be safe, our sister should carry you on the surface as much as possible.”
“My thanks, Master Kios,” Gundabyr said.
“For the Firebringer, it is nothing.”
It was time for them to go. Vixa slipped into the water. Before she transformed, Naxos called out to her.
“I shall see you again, Lady Dryfoot!” His golden eyes stared into her brown ones.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to return. My life is on land.”
