by Mel Odom
“You’re not really here, Librarian Juhg. You only perceive yourself to be through the contact I have with you through the piece of The Book of Time that you have found.”
“So I am back in the basement?”
“Yes.”
“Am I drowning?”
“Not yet.”
Juhg swallowed hard. “Will I drown?”
“I don’t know. Things in your world are so much different there than here. That is why we were able to have our wars in your world: the outcome was never known for certain. Though some of them turned out to be terribly predictable. Then the various races started taking hold of their own destinies and escaped us.”
“How?”
“By creating written language and writing books, of course.”
“Books?” Juhg was puzzled.
“Yes. With books the various races that learned to read and write, that created means to do so, also created history. They learned how to avoid the situations we sometimes set up to challenge them. We created inhospitable weather, they read their books and found new places to go that they had once been or that explorers had written about. We tried to create war, which was sometimes largely successful, and they consulted books on politics and economics and found that war was not good for either side. They negotiated rather than warred. It all got very boring and we left your world to its own devices. It exists as an aberration, a place apart from this place, but nothing more. Everything that matters is here.”
“Except The Book of Time,” Juhg reminded, angry at the way the mantis could be so smug.
Grudgingly, the creature nodded. “Except for that.”
“This is all too much,” Juhg said. “I can’t do what you ask me to.”
The mantis regarded him with its dark eyes. “Do you wish to save Grandmagister Lamplighter?”
A sinking feeling opened in the pit of Juhg’s stomach. “Of course.”
“To accomplish that, The Book of Time must be gathered and returned here.”
“I can’t even pick up the first part of it in Skull Canal. My hand keeps passing through the gems.”
“You have hold of the gems, Librarian Juhg. You do have hold of them. That’s how I was able to bring you here. Your decision to feel the pulse of them and be drawn to them instead of attempting to seize them was correct. Gathering the other pieces will be simpler now that you have these.”
“Why was The Book of Time broken up?”
The mantis hesitated. “There are some things that I can’t tell you now. We will talk again. Later.” The creature stopped walking. “I weary of trying to stay attuned to your way of thinking. I find it very difficult. You need to go back.”
“Wait,” Juhg said.
The mantis looked at him.
“Where is the other being? Your peer? Would he or she or it wish to take part in this discussion?”
A troubled look, though terribly abbreviated with the lack of features the mantis had to deal with, fitted itself to the creature’s face. “Don’t concern yourself with that. Take the gems in your hand and go to the Smoking Marshes. The way will not be easy. There are many challenges, and you have many enemies.”
“What enemies?”
“Aldhran Khempus and the other Library. They all seek the portions of The Book of Time. They have begun to guess where the pieces are. The Book of Time can’t be allowed to fall into the hands of humans again.”
“Why?”
“Because they have such strong magic.”
“You have magic?”
“No.” The mantis shook its head. “I don’t have magic. I have only the powers that this place gives me. But the humans, and a few beings among the other races, developed magic. It was another unforeseen occurrence that surprised us. If we had known magic would develop, we would never have opened this place and allowed that world to come into existence.”
“Beware, because some of those humans who broke into this place and stole The Book of Time are still out there. Most of them are dead.”
I know, Juhg thought, and he couldn’t help thinking of Craugh, wishing he knew if the wizard was helping to save the Grandmagister or merely serving his own dark desires.
“Now go,” the mantis said. “Your time grows short.” It lifted a foreleg and gestured at Juhg.
The vaporous cloud settled around the mountain suddenly grew thick and closed in on Juhg. Before he could take a breath, the cloud was all that he could see. Dizziness filled his head and he felt himself falling.
14
The Blue Gems
The roaring, rushing, gurgling sound of a waterfall filled Juhg’s ears and he realized he was in water up to his neck. Someone was yelling at him. He turned around and saw Raisho and Cobner holding Craugh between them. The wizard was too weak to stand on his own, obviously exhausted by his efforts at keeping his spell in place holding the water back. Cobner and Raisho held up lanterns in their free hands, but their movements and reflection of the light off the roiling water made weird and warped shadows dance around the room.
“Juhg!” Raisho yelled. “Craugh’s spell is finished! We’ve got to get out of here!”
“Where’s Jassamyn?” Juhg asked, noticing then that the elven maid was missing.
“She’s trying to find a way out,” Cobner answered, having to yell over the roar of the rushing water filling the room. “She went up the hallway to see if we could get out that way. I don’t know if we can manage it carrying Craugh, though.”
At that moment, Jassamyn tumbled back down the hallway stairs, propelled by the incoming sea. Out of control, she slammed up against the wall on the other side of the room and disappeared beneath the waterline.
Juhg kicked upward and swam toward the edge of the circular opening that contained the hiding place for the section of The Book of Time. When he reached for the edge of the circle, he realized he had the two blue gems clutched tightly in his left fist. Hurriedly, he thrust the gems into his jacket pocket and clambered from the sunken area.
Standing on the basement’s floor, Juhg found that the water there was only up to his hips. The swirling water got much deeper as he approached the area where Jassamyn had disappeared due to the building’s tilt.
The miniature draca circled overhead in a panicked frenzy, squalling in its shrill voice. Folding its batwings tight, the creature dove into the water. A moment later, the draca reappeared, clinging tightly to Jassamyn’s left ear and fluttering its wings.
Jassamyn staggered to her feet. Blood streamed from cuts at her right temple and chin. Her eyes looked glazed and Juhg could tell her senses were reeling from the impact.
Juhg fought the rising water to get to her side. Before he reached her, the building shook and something grinded beneath the floor.
“Whatever is left of the building’s foundation is giving way,” Cobner yelled. “It isn’t setting on flat ground. It’s going to fall, and it’s going to take us with it.”
Jassamyn brushed the frantic draca from her ear. More blood glinted from the tiny wounds the miniature dragon had inflicted. “We can’t go up the hallway,” she gasped. “Craugh’s magical barrier is still holding some of the water back but it could give way any moment. If it does and we’re in the hallway, we won’t get out of here alive.”
“The hallway’s the only way out,” Raisho argued. “We have to go that way.”
Shaking her head, Jassamyn said, “We’ll never make it. The water’s building up in that room too fast.”
“Carrying Craugh is going to make getting out that way even harder,” Cobner growled.
“I can stand,” Craugh insisted as he lurched free of Cobner and Raisho. He had lost his hat as he had fallen and his gray hair matted to his head, making him look even frailer. He glared at the rushing water filling the hallway. “We’ve only got one chance. Gather round.”
Craugh’s hat floated near Juhg and he grabbed it. The water had now risen to his chest and he had to fight it to cross the room to Craugh.
Lo
oking at Juhg, Craugh asked, “Did you get the blue gemstones?”
“I did,” Juhg answered.
“Good,” the wizard said. “If you hadn’t, getting back down here to get them would be most difficult.”
The grinding beneath the building’s foundation repeated, sounding louder and more immediate. Juhg felt the floor slide beneath his feet and he lost his balance. For a moment, he floundered in the water and was unable to get his feet under him.
“’Ere now,” Raisho said. “I got ye, scribbler.” The young sailor knotted a fist at the back of Juhg’s jacket and helped him get his footing.
“Thanks,” Juhg said in a choked voice.
“Foller the wizard. I’ll watch yer back.”
Juhg fought his way through the water, trying desperately to catch up to Craugh. The wizard halted against the wall where the floor tilted down. By the time Juhg reached him, the water had risen past his chin. With the way the water slapped around the room, he found himself choking on it often.
“What are you going to do?” Jassamyn asked.
“I’m going to make an opening for us in this wall.” Craugh spoke harsh words that came from deep within his throat. His right forefinger glowed a deep, rich forest green. Working quickly, he inscribed a series of glowing symbols that formed an oval on the wall.
“The wall you’re planning on opening up is pointed down toward the sea bottom,” Cobner said.
“I know,” Craugh said irritably. “Trying to make a hole in the wall facing up would be too hard. The outside sea pressure would prevent the spell’s explosion from blowing the wall outward. The air pressure has increased in this room with the water rushing in, and that will aid us as well.”
“Explosion?” Juhg repeated, spitting water. The water had gotten too deep for him to stand. He had to tread water to stay in place. “I don’t think any kind of explosion in this place would be a good idea right—”
At Craugh’s command, lines spread in a circle from the symbols he’d inscribed and filled and the rest of the oval’s shape. Satisfied with his work, the wizard turned and fought back against the rising wall of water that was rapidly filling the room. Not even looking, he reached back and caught Juhg’s arm, dragging him after.
Stopping in the center of the room, just short of the open circular area, Craugh looked at his companions. Water dappled the wizard’s face, running down his cheeks and dripping through his beard.
“This will happen very quickly now,” Craugh cautioned. “I will have to divert energy from the spell holding the water back in the upper room to make the spell here strong enough to knock out the wall. Once that upstairs barrier goes down, we will be at the sea’s mercy. I will not be able to resurrect that barrier, nor will I have much left to give toward our protection.”
Cobner shook his head. “We can’t stay here, that’s for sure. And I’d rather risk my life on a chance to live than to stay here and drown like a rat slowly.” He glanced meaningfully at the dozen or so rat corpses that already floated on the water’s surface.
Juhg felt slightly sick, understanding now what the soft bumps that had hit him below the waterline had been. Several other bunches of rats clung together and fought for survival, biting and scratching one another to climb to the top of the flesh and blood islands they created with their bodies.
“Get to it,” Raisho said.
Nodding grimly, Craugh turned to the marked wall and raised his staff. He spoke and a glowing green ball formed in the palm of his right hand. Drawing his arm back, he threw, then turned and shielded his eyes.
Juhg took the hint and shielded his own eyes. He’d just closed them when the fiery explosion lit up his lids. As it was, he still saw spots in his vision when he opened his eyes. The building sagged drunkenly, tilting even more toward the sea floor. Juhg couldn’t help but wonder how far the drop-off was. Some of the places around Imarish were quite deep. Even now, they might be deeper than they could safely swim up even if they were not fighting for their lives against the pull of the in-rushing water.
Two knots of rats had caught fire from the magical explosion. Green flames lapped at them as they screamed death cries and boiled apart as they sought to save themselves. Beyond them, the wall remained in place although huge cracks now showed on the surface.
“The way isn’t open,” Raisho said.
“It will be,” Craugh responded. “Just stay ready.”
With the magical barrier removed from the floor above, the water drained into the basement with ever increasing speed. In seconds, all of them were swimming for their lives and battling frightened rodents that tried to climb up on them.
Craugh kept hold of Juhg and used his staff to push them both above the rising water. Even now, the staff and the wizard’s arm were well below the waterline. Although he was wet and bedraggled, Craugh smiled a little with anticipation.
“Don’t fret, apprentice,” Craugh yelled hoarsely over the rising tide of water. “I didn’t come here to die. Neither did you.” He spat out a mouthful of water he had inadvertently gulped. “The hallway is filled with water now. There’s no air escaping from this room. The air pressure in here is increasing. It has to go someplace, and it will find the weakest source of resistance.”
Feeling the increased pressure inside his ears, Juhg fathomed the wizard’s desperate ploy. “Munyar’s Fifth Principle of Hydraulics: air compresses but water doesn’t.”
Munyar had been one of the Steelgray Tidal dwarves that lived in the north before the Cataclysm. Interested by hydraulics and how compressed air could be used other than in a forge bellows, Munyar had developed small boats powered by compressed air. Unfortunately, he’d never been able to successfully build an iron container to contain enough air to propel even a small boat more than a few feet.
The dwarven engineer had dreamed of building a ship powered by compressed air that could sail against the wind and allow a decisive military advantage against enemies on the sea. The best that Munyar had been able to develop was a small compressed air tank that hurled a small boat two hundred feet and emitted an obnoxious noise. In his lifetime, Munyar had been known as the dwarven master builder who had invented the flatulent rescue boat that specialized in offshore salvage.
Sadly, no one really knew that Munyar’s personal journals yielded some of the first recorded experimentation and understanding of hydraulics. Most of his contemporaries and the generations that later followed only knew about the flatulent rescue boat he’d invented.
Scarcely a foot of space remained above the waterline when the wall gave way with a rumble that could be felt through the water. Cobner swam nearby, dressed only in his underclothes because he had taken off his armor. Curse words had fill the air as he had stripped out of his gear. He had also lost his lantern while undressing and now only the lantern carried by Raisho barely lighted the room.
“Now,” Craugh ordered. He looked at Juhg. “You seemed to be affected by something while you were trying to get the gemstones. Can you swim?”
“Yes,” Juhg responded, but he worried about the distance they would have to swim.
“All of you,” Craugh said as he turned his face up to the ceiling because he no longer had room to hold his head upright, “fill your lungs and swim through the hole in the wall. Once you’re in the open sea, stop a moment to get your bearings. You won’t be able to see the night’s darkness. Your natural buoyancy will pull you toward the surface. Follow that. There may be air bubbles that are forced from this room, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to see those either.”
“Old Ones protect us,” Raisho said.
Juhg bumped his head on the ceiling and had to turn his face up as well.
“Go!” Craugh ordered. He took a final breath and submerged, disappearing at once in the murky water.
Cobner went under next.
Jassamyn caught the draca in midair and cupped the miniature dragon in one hand, holding shut its beak and blocking its nostrils. She looked at Juhg and said, “Se
e you soon.” She pushed off the ceiling with her free hand, turned upside down, and kicked against the ceiling with her feet to propel herself down and forward.
“Well, looks like it’s just ye an’ me, scribbler.” Raisho held the lantern against the ceiling. Water already lapped at the glass.
“I’ll see you soon.” Juhg reached his friend, clasped his hand, and let go only when they both started to sink.
“Soon,” Raisho agreed.
Feeling as afraid as he ever had in his whole life, even as afraid as he had been in the goblinkin mines, Juhg turned upside down in the water and duplicated Jassamyn’s feat of kicking off the ceiling. He went deep at once. Water filled his ears and reminded him that he taken the first step toward drowning.
A moment later, Raisho dropped the lantern into the water and swam after Juhg. The lantern remained lit for just a moment and created a ghostly golden haze against the murky water. Then, just when Juhg spotted the open hole in the wall ahead, the lantern extinguished and darkness claimed the room.
Is the mantis watching from wherever it is? Juhg wondered. Is it concerned with whether I live or die? Or does it already know the outcome of this?
Juhg pushed the questions from his head and concentrated on swimming. As the water had filled the room, he had shoved Craugh’s pointy hat inside his jacket to keep it safe, but it still created drag as he swam.
In the darkness, he bumped his head and shoulder against the rough edges of the broken rock that framed the hole the wizard had blown through the wall. The sharp pain almost made him cry out, which would have made him take in a breath of water.
Once through the hole, Juhg looked up but could see nothing. Clamping down on the fear that filled him, he forced himself to go limp. At first he thought nothing was going to happen, that Craugh had been wrong and that the sinking building was negating the natural buoyancy he should have been experiencing. Then he felt it; just a slight upward tug.
Heartened, Juhg dug into the water with both hands and kicked his feet. He promptly smashed his head against the building above him. Even the dark mass of the building was invisible in the black water. Using his hands, he negotiated his way around the building. His lungs were near to bursting by the time he reached the corner of the building. When he looked up, though, he could see a faint silvery shine of moonslight against the surface of the sea. Under the circumstances, he had no idea how far the distance was, but he still felt hopeful. He kicked out and swam upward, letting out some of the air in his lungs as he went.
