24: Map of Deeds
Marielle
SLEEP DID NOT COME for Marielle. She didn’t even try. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the recipe on the page Tamerlan had asked her to hold and thinking about what he’d said.
He liked her too much. She wasn’t sure why he’d decided that she was valuable. Why had he saved her back in Jingen? Why did he tell her now that she didn’t need forgiveness? Why did he have to be so beautiful and such a devil all rolled into one? A silken-tongued tempter and a blood-slicked murderer. A sincere, hopeful boy and a man who’d seen too much.
Tamerlan was complicated and Marielle didn’t need complicated right now. She needed solid things.
She shivered as the word ‘solid’ brought back the memory of solid blocks of stone whirling through the air and sweeping people off their feet, crushing them, battering them, destroying them. Her life since the beginning of Summernight had been nothing but chaos and destruction, death and tragedy. Perhaps, when Jingen rose into the air, the world had actually ended? Perhaps she was just living in the dried-out husk of what had once been the world.
A knock on her door sent her leaping to her feet.
“Come,” she said, a little breathlessly, stuffing the paper back into her boot.
Anglarok opened the door. He was bent with weariness and his clothing was dirty and torn.
Marielle spoke first. “Would you like me to take a turn watching over Liandari?”
“It is not honorable to trust the care of the Ki’Squall to anyone not of our people,” he said.
Marielle nodded, not knowing what to say.
“You saved her life.” Maybe it was hard for him to concentrate on just one thing. After all, he’d just lost four companions and his leader’s life was still in jeopardy. “That makes you honored among us.”
Anglarok dropped to his knees. Marielle gasped, reaching forward to steady him, but he waved her away.
“Honored one, please receive from me this gift in payment of the debt of honor we owe you.”
He held out a shell – a conch, like his turquoise one, but this one glowed a canary yellow with a sparkling silver rim. Again, she couldn’t determine its scent and yet she could see colors with it. It was small enough to fit in her palm. A quarter of the size of his other conch, but still magnificent.
“I can’t,” she protested. “Really.”
He drew a knife from his belt, lightning fast, his face hard. “Then, take what you are owed.”
“The knife?” she asked, confused. It looked almost as valuable as the shell. Carvings of ships in high seas covered the aged ivory handle and the blade was sharp.
“My life. As her Windsniffer, it is my duty to pay her life debt. You may take my life in return for the one you saved, or you may take an object of equal value.”
He was joking, right? But he didn’t seem to be joking. He seemed to be deadly serious.
Gently, hoping that he wouldn’t suddenly lunge with that knife at either her or himself, Marielle reached for the shell.
“You think this shell is of the same value as your life?”
He nodded. “It is smaller and untested, unbonded, but it has the same potential as the conch I carry. The magic it contains is worth more than a single Windsniffer life.”
Marielle swallowed. Was it more troubling that he held his own life in such poor esteem or that he was offering her a magical object for no other reason than that she’d saved a life? She would have done that for anyone.
“When someone saves a life,” Anglarok said, as if explaining to a child, “the value of that life belongs to the one who saved it. If it is not purchased back, then the work and life of that person will belong to the savior. The Ki’Squall must not be in your debt. That is why it is my duty for the sake of her honor and my own to buy her life back from you with my own, or with an object of equal value. It’s a matter of the Real Law.”
And there it was again, this Real Law that she never seemed to be able to nail down.
“I would be honored to accept the conch shell,” Marielle said as formally as she knew how. No one was going to die just because she had saved Liandari, and no one was going to be a perpetual slave, so accepting this gift seemed like the best option. Even if Jhinn had warned her not to accept anything. Even if she was more than a bit nervous that it had a color in her monochrome vision without any scent attached to it. “Thank you.”
The gift left her shaken. She’d just been thinking about Tamerlan and the undeserved regard he’d showed her. And now the most honorable people she knew were telling her that she owed him the debt of her life. What gift could she give him of equal value to her life?
“And there is the matter of recording your honor,” Anglarok said, standing finally. “Come, we’ll do it together as we watch over Liandari.”
“Recording?” Marielle repeated, trying hard not to stare at the conch. It was so beautiful that she was having trouble looking away from it. She kept it in her palm as Anglarok led her to Liandari’s room and sat with her in the chairs beside the bed where Liandari lay, insensate.
“Your Wind Rose was the start, but we record the maps of our lives, a representation of everywhere we have been with honor. You conducted yourself with honor in this city today, so today we will add this city to your map.”
“You mean you’re adding to my tattoo?” Marielle asked, feeling the sting of the one she already had as she spoke. She hadn’t been prepared for additions. It gave new significance to the tattoos all over Anglarok’s skin.
“Yes. It is a matter of honor.”
And what could she say about that?
25: Open Eyes
Tamerlan
DEATHLESS PIRATE HAD taken complete control of Tamerlan’s body and Tamerlan could feel his exuberance in the way he ran across the sand island.
I haven’t been this young in a long time.
He’d yanked the gondola lantern off the ferro before he went – much to Jhinn’s irritation – and was scrambling over the sand island, the lantern bobbing with every long stride. He was looking side to side, though what he could be looking for was beyond Tamerlan. The island had no clear shape, no structure, no trees or rocks or anything to make any part of it stand out.
Many have sought my treasure, but I did not make it easy to find.
He reached the other side of the island quickly, Etienne following in his footsteps.
“Where are we going ... Tamerlan?” Etienne asked, pausing before using Tamerlan’s name, almost as if he suspected that was not who he was really speaking to.
“Under the side of the island. Only good for low tide,” Deathless Pirate said through his mouth. His voice was breathless with excitement. “Why don’t you come? We’ll show you a sight you’ve never seen, hey?”
“And the lantern?”
“Good construction. Made to keep water out. Should burn long enough to get us there.”
Etienne shivered, but Tamerlan was already stripping. Great. The Legends never seemed to care much about his modesty. They dressed – or undressed – him like a doll they played with.
He was down to his smallclothes before he knew it, tossing his clothing at Jhinn with a laugh.
“Hold onto these for me, sailor!”
Jhinn mock-saluted with a saucy expression but the look in his eye was sharp. Did he see the spirit? Did he know Tamerlan was possessed? Probably.
“Ready?” Deathless Pirate asked, but he didn’t wait for Etienne to finish undressing. He waded out into the water.
One step. There was cursing behind Tamerlan as Etienne struggled out of his clothing.
Two steps.
“Hurry or you’ll lose him!” Jhinn urged him.
The sand shelf dropped suddenly and Tamerlan plunged into the water, sucking in a deep breath the moment before his mouth and nose were submerged.
The pirate had better know what he was doing! He’d better be a good swimmer. Tamerlan could swim, but he wouldn’t say he was expert at it
.
I’m an expert at most things – all things, if we’re talking about the water. One month on my ship and I’d make a man out of you, too. Your hands are lily soft.
He was kidding, right? Tamerlan’s hands were calloused and worn from his work as an apprentice.
Not like they’d be if you were hauling on rope all day!
But now Tamerlan was too distracted to argue with the Legend. They were sinking deep into the water, only the light of the lantern showing the way. The rock of the island was porous with great big bubbles on the surface of the rock. Strange.
Tentacled creatures fled from the light and the edges of fins or tales would flicker briefly along the edges of the lantern glow. Tamerlan mentally shivered at the thought of being down here without the lantern. What would it feel like to have those tentacles brush his leg? Or wrap around his neck?
Deathless Pirate seemed unconcerned. He located a small hole in the rock almost immediately. It was small – no wider than Tamerlan’s body. He’d better not try to wiggle into – no! No! No!
Terror gripped him as Deathless Pirate plunged the lantern ahead of them into the tunnel and then shoved Tamerlan’s shoulders into the narrow space. He was too wide! His shoulders too thick! He’d never fit!
Stop whining. Or I’ll send you for twenty lashes to sober you up! You’ll fit. You have no belly. It’s just the shoulders to maneuver.
Which wasn’t making him feel any better. Sharp rock dug into his shoulders and chest, scraping and ripping painfully at his skin.
Something grabbed his foot and fear shot through him like an arrow.
It’s just that skinny one – the one in black who followed us. He can’t see the light of the lantern with all your bulk in front of him.
Etienne. Okay. At least he was human. Mostly.
And now his lungs were burning, and his heart was racing. There was no way he could get to the surface in time to fill them!
You need to develop more tolerance for holding your breath.
No way he could back up through the cavern in time, either. He was almost wedged as it was, and Etienne was behind him. This had been a terrible idea! He would die possessed, not even in control of his own decisions that led him to this place!
Forty lashes unless you spare me!
The tunnel bent upward suddenly, widening and as soon as his shoulders shoved into the wider tunnel, he shot upward, his hand with the lantern leading the way. It was flickering, but still burning.
His hand broke the surface, the lantern flaring brighter, and then his head broke through and his burning lungs gasped in stale air.
It had been so close. He’d almost died!
You would have died if you were piloting this ship, but lucky for you, I was at the helm.
Etienne burst up through the water, sucking in his own deep breath. The look he gave Tamerlan made it feel like he’d been weighed and graded in the Trade District.
“What is this place?” he asked.
“My lair,” Deathless Pirate said grandly, spreading an arm. “But take a care. There are traps.”
They scrambled to the edge of the pool where a rock lip – smooth but rippled like it was made from water rather than stone– spread out around it. The smoothness went up far above them, but rough steps were carved into the rock leading above.
“When the tide is high this is all much more difficult,” Deathless Pirate said, running a hand over Tamerlan’s face to wipe the water away.
“I imagine that’s the charm of the place,” Etienne said dryly.
“Indeed!”
Deathless Pirate was already sprinting up the stairs avoiding every third one. Hopefully, Etienne was noticing that. It seemed to Tamerlan that the pirate was snickering inside far too much for that not to be a trap.
They raced up the steps and Tamerlan heard Etienne bite back a curse. It must not have been too bad, though, because his footsteps were still right behind them.
The stairs topped out just above the high-water mark, and then they were in the cave.
“You can hide out here if you really have to,” Deathless Pirate said aloud almost as if he was musing to himself. “There are holes in the rock that I drilled in there when I made the place. They let air in and out at low tide and you can close off the doors at high tide. No food or fresh water, obviously, and you can’t fit the whole crew, but in a pinch, it will do.”
Tamerlan wasn’t listening to him. He was gasping mentally at the treasures laid out on shelves and spilling out of chests all around the room. Deathless Pirate’s eyes skimmed over them as if taking inventory. Diadems and coronets crusted in jewels, long sabers with gem-encrusted handles, and ivory carvings lay on shelves or stood in racks. Jade statues made to look like dragons, lions, octopuses, and a thousand other creatures were decked in pearl necklaces, or emerald pendants. Vases with scenes of battle inlaid in their walls stood neatly in rows.
It was everything a treasure room should be.
“Touch nothing,” Deathless Pirate said, breathless as he surveyed his wealth. “The wrong weight on any shelf will open a sluice and fill the cavern with water.”
It must have been difficult to get so many heavy, priceless things in the cavern.
I put them in here before I sealed the island up with the coconut fiber. We dug down to place them here. Some of those chests wouldn’t ever go through that cavern. Even you won’t fit if you put much more muscle on these shoulders.
“And the Eye?” Etienne asked from behind them. There was tension in his voice as if it were all he could do to stay frozen in place in front of so much wonder.
But as he said the words, Tamerlan’s eye caught a single ruby the size of a human eyeball. A flaw in it made it look like a narrow pupil resided inside it – shaped like a cat’s pupil. Or a dragon’s. He gasped at the same moment that Deathless Pirate laughed. The Eye hung from a fistful of chains wrapped around each other to make a cord thicker than both Tamerlan’s thumbs put together.
“That has a special protection. I knew that someone would want it. Which means you might be out of luck, little man,” Deathless Pirate said, grinning widely at Etienne.
“And why is that?” Etienne asked carefully.
“I rigged the protections on that one with magic – cost me enough, that’s for sure! – and they can only be dispelled with magic.”
“What kind of magic?” Etienne asked. Tension sang in his voice.
Deathless Pirate eased past the items on the shelves to a small fissure in the rock to one side. In all the wealth before them, Tamerlan hadn’t noticed the fissure before. It glowed softly – a blue glow that flickered like light beaming through water. Deathless Pirate moved carefully around the shelves to make sure he didn’t bump any as he leaned toward the fissure.
“Blood magic. Only a drop of blood from the Dragonblooded will release the amulet from where it sits. But you don’t look like you have the blood.”
“I don’t,” Etienne admitted.
Deathless Pirate leaned forward until his face was right in front of the fissure.
“What’s that?” Etienne asked, carefully inching forward until his face was pressed up against the fissure, too.
Someone had set glass into this part of the rock and through the glass, you could see through the dark currents of the ocean to where someone had sunk a tall man-sized iron cage. It sat on a slight angle from where it struck the ocean floor. So close to the island, the floor was shallow, close enough for them to clearly see the cage, clearly see the blue light glowing from what was within – close enough to see the man with eyes wide open and a look of horror on his face. His clothing wafted gently in the current. His long black hair swirled in the motion of the sea. But his hands were frozen where they clutched the bars. His mouth frozen in a rictus of pain and his eyes frozen wide. His flesh had not deteriorated or been eaten by fish. If he wasn’t so still, Tamerlan could have sworn he was alive.
Tamerlan’s mind shivered in horror. Someone had sunk th
is man and he hadn’t died.
“You can’t kill avatars,” Deathless Pirate said in his voice. “You can only trap them. And when they are finally free, they roam the earth again.”
Tamerlan tried not to think. After all, Deathless Pirate could read his thoughts. But it was no use. His own voice whispered the words he was trying so hard to avoid.
“The time has come for me to stride once more on the tide of man.”
Tamerlan gritted his mental teeth. He never could have predicted this possibility. Letting one of the Legends out into the world of men would be so much worse than just letting them out to play from time to time through the Bridge of Legends!
He felt a sting of pain and then Deathless pirate was whirling as Etienne scrambled back, the tip of his knife dripping with blood – Tamerlan’s blood. Dragonblooded blood.
He gasped as Etienne flicked it onto Abelmeyer’s Eye, snatched up the Eye, and tore out of the treasure room and down the stairs.
With a roar, Deathless Pirate chased after him, lantern in hand.
You didn’t tell me you were of the blood!
He hadn’t asked.
By the time they’d reached the stairs, Etienne was diving into the pool. And by the time they reached the pool, the lantern flickering, he was out of sight. Tamerlan sucked in a huge breath and then dove down. He tried not to feel panicky at the thought of making this swim a second time. After all, hadn’t he done it once before?
He was surprised that Deathless Pirate was chasing the Eye with such fervor. After all, he’d seemed taken with the idea of freeing his avatar.
Fool! Don’t you realize that the Eye has the power to bind and free? Why do you think I wanted it in the first place? It wasn’t like I was interested in helping you toward your petty goals! I was always here for what is in that cage. You should have told me you were Dragonblooded!
They pushed through the rock, Tamerlan wincing at the pain as the sharp edges bit and dug into his skin, the brackish water stinging his open wounds.
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