Wrath of the Blue Lady (23 page)

Kwan Yung flicked two arrows away with his bow, then loosed an arrow of his own. Another Nine Golden Swords warrior fell into the sea.

“The helmsman,” Iados said. “Can you hit him?”

Shang-Li tried to ignore the fact that he didn’t know where his father was and concentrate on his targets. He found the helmsman, certainly less than one hundred fifty paces away, and drew an arrow back to his ear. He aimed by feeling as much as by sight. An archer operated far beyond simple visual information.

He loosed the arrow and reached for another. In disgust,

he watched the arrow deflect from a line, but took grim satisfaction when it lodged in the chest of another opponent. His second arrow sped from the bow and this one caught the helmsman under his right arm as he guided his ship into a parallel course beside Swallow.

The helmsman tried to maintain his hold, but death sapped his strength and he slumped over the wheel. Lotus Bee heeled suddenly to starboard and tracked toward Swallow.

“Hard to starboard!” Captain Chiang yelled.

Even though most of the crew responded to the summons, Shang-Li knew it was too late to avoid a collision. He hoped they survived it. They were very far from land, too far to simply hope they could get a longboat to shore, if they even got to one before the ship sank.

“Stay focused,” Iados growled. “Pick your targets. The fewer of them there are to attempt to board, the better.”

Shang-Li concentrated on his targets, selecting them ahead of time and never checking to see the effects his shafts had. He kept loosing until Lotus Bee slammed into Swallow. The impact knocked Shang-Li from his feet, but he quickly tucked and rolled to stand again. He rushed back to the railing as the Nine Golden Swords warriors prepared to throw themselves over.

Grappling hooks thumped against Swallow. The ships surged against each other again and again, making the deck hard to cross.

“Cut the lines!” the captain yelled. “Keep us clear!”

One of the Nine Golden Swords crew rushed back to the helm and yanked the dead helmsman from the wheel. He hauled hard to starboard to batter Swallow again.

Shang-Li stored the longbow with the ropes at the ship’s side and drew his longsword. He fisted a fighting dagger in his other hand.

When Lotus Bee collided with Swallow again, the Nine Golden Swords crew invaded in earnest. Blades and axes

caught the sunlight as they sought flesh. Cries, filled with fear and anger and bravado, echoed along the ship like the sonorous cry of one nightmarish beast.

Standing his ground, Shang-Li parried a sword blow, then opened his opponent’s throat with his dagger. Beside him, Iados fought like a whirlwind of steel and scarlet death. One of his attackers got too close and Iados blocked the man’s axe and gored him in the chest with his horns. The tiefling lifted the man from his feet and flung him as a bull might. The dead man sailed over Iados’s head and thumped onto the deck. He didn’t move again.

In the stern, Thava stood her ground as the Nine Golden Swords warriors attacked her. Her opponents looked like terriers trying to bring down a bear. She swept half of them away with her shield and the clangor of metal on metal pierced the screams and roars of rage. She swung her short-handled axe mercilessly, lopping off everything that came in contact with her weapon. Dead and dying spilled in pieces at her feet. She didn’t fight as she had back at the tavern. Here she strove only to kill and kill again.

Kwan Yung fought nearby and managed to slow some of the men that attacked Thava. He’d traded his bow for a staff and cracked heads and shins with equal aplomb.

Shang-Li gave himself over to the battle. His reflexes, trained in the temple and in the forest, made him incredibly fast and certain. But the sheer numbers of the invaders still forced him back.

Amree gave ground in the ship’s stern. She’d gotten separated from Thava and Captain Chiang and was quickly running out of room.

Iados,” Shang-Li called.

“I see her,” the tiefling replied. “Go.” His blade lashed out and plunged through a man’s eye. Iados yanked the corpse in front of Shang-Li to create a momentary barrier.

Taking advantage of the brief respite, Shang-Li retreated to the mainmast while sheathing his sword over his shoulder. He pushed off the mainmast with his feet and vaulted up into the yards. When he grabbed the nearest one, he flipped and propelled himself toward the stern. He ran lithely across one of the lines, then hurled himself at the nearest canvas on the aft mast.

Catching hold of the canvas, Shang-Li flipped between the sails and landed in the concave surface. When he let go the canvas, he slid down

toward the sterncastle just as three Nine Golden Swords warriors closed on Amree.

At the bottom of the sail, Shang-Li hit the boom with both feet and threw himself forward. He cleared the stern railing with ease and ripped free his sword in mid-air. He had the blade in his fist by the time his feet touched the deck.

Amree gestured and spoke a word that vibrated through Shang-Li’s skull and stomach. In response, a wave curled over the ship’s side and swept her three attackers over the railing.

“The last time I faced them, I was out of my element,” Amree said fiercely. “This is the sea, my chosen home. They don’t have the same advantage over me.”

Shang-Li nodded, but there was no time to talk. New attackers clambered over the railing as the two ships met again.

Suddenly, a wave of incredible pain blazed through Shang-Li’s head. He tried to push it away, but it speared through his temples and took away his balance and strength. He dropped to one knee on the deck and struggled to keep the sword up in front of him.

The sky clouded over instantly, or maybe it was a dark fog. Shang-Li tried to figure out which it was, but by then the sea was a roiling mass of water and icy wind that snapped yards and tore canvas.

The Blue Lady’s voice reverberated inside Shang-Li’s skull. You have come back, manling. Despite my wishes and my generosity in sparing your life.

The sea geysered at the ships’ sterns. When the gray-green mist cleared, the Blue Lady stood atop a column of water.

“By the gods,” Thava whispered as she took a fresh hold of her axe and set her shield before her.

Weakly, Shang-Li forced himself to his feet and faced the Blue Lady.

“I warned you,” the Blue Lady said. “I was gentle the

last time. This time I will not be.” Then she spoke in a language that Shang-Li couldn’t understand.

The storm’s intensity picked up. Lightning flashed through the dark clouds and the winds howled, yards snapped like branches and ropes tore liked rotted thread as Lotus Bee and Swallow were stripped from the top down.

“Archers!” Captain Chiang roared. “Loose!”

The archers overcame their astonishment and fired a ragged volley of arrows at the Blue Lady. The Nine Golden Swords archers reacted even more slowly, but arrows filled the air.

None of the deadly missiles struck their intended target. The howling winds knocked the arrows off course or stopped them cold in mid-flight so that they dropped into the heaving sea. The waves rose higher, until they surged over the bows and the sterns of the ships. All warring between the crews was instantly forgotten as the men struggled simply to survive and remain on deck.

The Blue Lady spoke again, and this time a whirlpool formed behind the ships. Incredulous at her show of power over the Sea of Fallen Stars, Shang-Li watched as the whirlpool widened and pulled the two ships toward the center of the swirling waters. The roar of the surging current nearly drowned all noise.

Men screamed and shouted in fear. Panic rose in Shang-Li and he barely controlled it. He gazed back over his shoulder, searching for his father. Kwan Yung stood at the stern railing and clung fiercely. He spoke, but the gale winds ripping across Swallow’s deck made communication impossible.

Shang-Li looked at Amree but found the ship’s mage remained surefooted even on the heaving deck. One of her spells kept her grounded to the craft and she walked the heaving wooden surface as easily as she might have crossed a tavern floor. She helped some of the sailors find better grips.

Amree gestured and spoke amid the whirling debris that tore free of Swallow. She threw her arms out to her sides

and Shang-Li felt a violent wrench pass through the ship as it was pulled in two different directions. The exhausted look of defeat on her brine-soaked features told the tale of her efforts. Swallow was trapped.

The ship shifted and jerked as it slid into the whirlpool and the raging waters took her. She stood almost perpendicular in the water as she was pulled down.

“Hang on!” Shang-Li yelled.

Thava tore free of the railing she clutched. The combined weight of herself and the armor proved to be too much for the railing. Despite her predicament, the dragonborn warrior held tight to her shield and axe as she plummeted into the center of the whirlpool. Shang-Li cried out, but she was gone in the blink of an eye. Her armor would drag her to the bottom. She wouldn’t be able to escape it.

None of them would.

The realization struck him just as Swallow shot down the whirlpool as if she sailed under a full headwind. The ship bucked and bristled as she endured the rough ride. The aft mast snapped off only a few feet above the deck. Then the mainmast shattered in a great crack that shoved lethal splinters through nearby crewmen.

The sails tore free and brought a snarl of rigging and broken yards with it. As Shang-Li stared into the yawning horror of the whirlpool, a tangled mass of canvas and rope struck him and knocked him from the ship. Unable to fight free of the knot of destruction, he fell into the water.

Time slowed down just for an instant as he struck the water. Sound changed as the sea filled his ears. He thought about the sapphire-colored water breathing potions he’d purchased while in Westgate and wished that he had one of them now. He held his breath and tried to swim up, but the snarl of rope and canvas bore him steadily down.

All around him, Swallow seemed to come apart. Crewmen fell from her deck, as did broken yards and weapons. Her

hull cracked and barrels and crates poured out into the sea. All of it fell slowly in the water, and most of it fell at different speeds depending on individual buoyancy. But it all went down. The noise of the destruction echoed curiously in Shang-Li’s ears.

He searched for his father but couldn’t see him. He hoped that his father had somehow managed to fight free of the stricken ship before it had gone under. He doubted that had happened. And even if his father had somehow gotten free, Kwan Yung would be left to the merciless nature of the Sea of Fallen Stars.

Shang-Li took his knife from his boot and sawed at the rope that bound him. The whirlpool wasn’t slowing or losing strength. Everything that had been on top of the water was now pulled toward the sea bottom. Nothing and no one escaped.

Shang-Li’s lungs felt like they were going to explode as he slashed at the ropes. Every time he cut a strand, it seemed like he found three more. The water grew gradually bluer and darker as he sank. The light above retreated. Shang-Li didn’t know how far down he’d gone, but he felt certain that it might already be too far to recover.

He finally got the strands figured out and slashed his way through just as he plunged toward the blackest depths. Several of Swallow’s crewmen floated in the sea then disappeared into the darkness below him. He glanced around but could only make out shapes. Finding his father was out of the question.

Then the heaviness of the sea closed in around him and swept away his senses.

<5> ŚŠŚ ŚŠŚ

Shang-Li woke slowly and saw the impossible world of the sea floor all around him. He didn’t know if he’d drawn a breath while he slept, but he didn’t now. Desperate, he

stared up at the blackness above him and wondered if the sea’s surface was up there or if this was death.

Lungs aching for air, Shang-Li pushed up from the sandy sea floor and floated in the water. Despite the knowledge that he’d never make the surface, he swam up all the same.

“Shang-Li. Wait.”

Turning at the sound of Thava’s distorted voice, Shang-Li spotted the dragonborn standing near a jutting cliffs edge. The paladin still had her shield and sword.

“Take a breath,” Thava said. She demonstrated, inhaling and exhaling easily. “It’s all right. You can breathe down here.”

Unable to hold his breath any longer but still horrified by the thought of drowning, Shang-Li sipped a breath and expected the taste of brine to fill his mouth. A salty tang tainted the air, but there was no water. Strange tentacled creatures the size of small boulders that crawled on the ground, then at schools of multi-colored fish. They were definitely underwater, but they could breathe and move easily.

“I thought you had drowned.” Shang-Li swam to Thava’s side and dropped to the sandy floor.

“So did I.” Thava glanced around uneasily. “I don’t know that we’re any better for not drowning.”

One of the tentacled creatures speared a passing fish. A brief explosion of blood colored the water and the fish fought for its freedom, but the predator stood on its tentacles and hauled its prize into its gaping maw. As it chewed, bits of the fish floated out into the water and other fish darted in for the tidbits. The creature managed to hit two of those before they got away.

“Loathsome things,” Thava said. “They thought they could eat me.”

Only then did Shang-Li spot the crushed carapaces of the tentacled things lying in the sand only a short distance away.

“Have you seen my father?” Shang-Li asked.

Thava shook her helmed head. “You are the first living

person I found. And when I found you, I feared you were dead as well.”

Some of the fear inside Shang-Li’s stomach unknotted. If he had survived, then his father could have as well. For the moment he chose to believe that.

“Who were the dead?”

“Four Nine Golden Swords warriors and two of our crew. None of them drowned. All were dead from wounds suffered in battle.” Thava paused. “I hated leaving our comrades unmourned and unburied in this harsh place, but I had to seek out the living.”