Wrath of the Blue Lady (31 page)

The Nine Golden Swords warrior came through the hold and slammed into the opposite wall.

Shang-Li ripped free his fighting sticks and propelled himself through the cargo hold as the three other men charged his position. Darkness above filled his peripheral vision and he turned swiftly as he swam.

Thava stood on the ship and held her battle-axe across her thighs. “We have guests,” the paladin announced.

“How many?” Shang-Li put his fighting sticks away and drew his sword.

“I’ve spotted at least a dozen.” Thava smiled grimly. “But you can subtract two of those.”

“I counted five inside. One of them is down but not finished.”

“It appears the Nine Golden Swords were more fortunate than we were after the storm.”

“Or the Blue Lady spared them,” Shang-Li responded, then he concentrated on staying alive as the surviving warriors boiled from the hold.

Despite their bristling blades and zealous nature, the Nine Golden Swords warriors weren’t used to fighting underwater. Shang-Li took advantage of his swimming ability and shoved himself into a long dive over their heads.

The unexpected move caught the men by surprise and they ducked back, but not before Shang-Li slashed through one man’s sword shoulder to disable him. By then Thava had leaped from the ship’s side and crashed into the other three. They fell, bowled over by her armored size and weight.

Thava kicked one of them in the head to render him unconscious, then clove another man from crown to the nape of his neck. The remaining man ran for his life but he didn’t get far before the paladin brought him down with a throwing axe. The flat of the blade crashed into the back of his head and he crumpled.

“What do we do with the ones that still live?” Thava asked.

“If I had my way,” Iados said as he stepped from the brush that hugged the canyon wall, “we’d slit their throats and have done with them. Let the Blue Lady’s little beasties fill themselves up on them for a while and buy us some time.”

Thava shot him a look.

“Except that I know that isn’t your way,” Iados went on.

“And it never will be,” Thava vowed.

Iados sighed. “I must admit, I sometimes long for the simpler days before I became your traveling companion.”

“You’re fortunate that I saved you from yourself.” The paladin recovered her throwing axe.

“So what then does wise Bahamut say? Do we take these men as prisoners?” Iados gestured to the fallen Nine Golden Swords warriors.

“No.” Shang-Li took a fresh grip on his sword. “Now that we know these men are out here, we’ll try to steer clear of them.”

“That could be difficult.”

“I won’t have their murders on my hands. It’s one thing to kill a man in battle, but I won’t slit his throat when he’s helpless.”

“That’s why you should kill them in battle when the chance presents itself.” Iados flashed an evil grin. “I assure you, I took no prisoners, nor did I leave any that I crossed blades with that live to challenge us later.”

Shang-Li swam up over the ship and spotted the sailor that had waved him over to Grayling. The man floated slackly in the water. Blood flowed in streams away from the sailor’s slit throat.

“You can tell that’s what they were doing,” Iados said as they swam past.

“We’ll gather our people,” Shang-Li said, “get what salvage and cargo we can haul this trip, and take it back to Swallow. If we’re lucky, it will be enough to tide us over until Amree gets us to the surface.”

As they swam back within sight of Swallow, the first thing Shang-Li saw was the blue energy of the Spellplague flickering through the ship.

“She’s alive,” Thava said as she leaped up from the ground to see across the dense brush.

At the front of the ship, Red Orchid shifted and moved as if coming awake. Amree still floated before her, gesturing and using a wand that glowed orange and wavered like a flame. Shang-Li took solace in the fact the creature was still alive, but he checked his hopes. Just because Red Orchid had survived didn’t mean she was whole, or even that she could help them keep Swallow under control once they started for the surface.

And the Blue Lady’s messenger had still not appeared.

He chased the dark thoughts from his mind for the moment and continued swimming toward the ship.

O- <§)Ś

Upon arrival at Swallow, Shang-Li swam into the hold and crawled into the air space Amree had created. The bubble was considerably larger and lines had been run to keep the ship from floating up from the sea floor prematurely. The feat buoyed the hopes of all aboard. But Swallow wasn’t yet seaworthy.

“You found Grayling?” His father abandoned the kitchen to one of the sailors, wiped his hands on his apron, and joined Shang-Li at a table they’d salvaged.

“Yes.” Shang-Li removed the oilskin pouch he’d found aboard the shipwreck. He hadn’t wanted to chance opening it anywhere else rather than chance the sea destroying the books after all these years.

“These are Liou Chang’s books?”

“Let’s find out.” Shang-Li untied the clever knots that kept the protective pouch sealed. It took effort to keep himself calm. He upended the bag and the books slid into his waiting hand.

All of them were journals written by Bayel Droust, and all of them were from times before Grayling had sunk beneath the waves.

“Regrettable.” His father clapped him on the shoulder.

Holding his anger and frustration in check, Shang-Li pushed the books away from him on the table. “They’re still out there. I failed.”

“No, my son.” Kwan Yung’s voice was soft and carried only to Shang-Li’s ears. “If this mission meets with failure, it is our failure. Not yours to bear alone.” He paused. “Besides, the books are still out there, as you have said. We haven’t failed yet.”

ŚŠŚŚŠŚ ŚŠŚ

Shang-Li returned to the world outside, feeling more tense, more anxious. Amree was still using her magic to soothe Red Orchid. A dozen sailors were checking nad

tightening the lines. If they didn’t find the journals of Liou Chang, all the efforts would come to nothing once the Blue Lady used the portal spells to escape her prison.

He approached Thava and Iados, who were explaining to Captain Chiang how they had found the Grayling and been attacked. Captain Chiang nodded to Shang-Li as he came near.

“Do you know where the Nine Golden Swords’ ship is?” Captain Chiang asked.

“No,” Shang-Li said. “We didn’t see them again after we left the canyon.”

“Gods willing,” Iados growled unpleasantly, “the ones we left behind became meals for some of the monsters we’ve seen down here.” He glanced at Thava. “I suppose you have no objection to that?”

“As long as I don’t have to watch, no.” Thava lounged against the ship’s hull with her helm next to her.

“Then we don’t know if our enemies are near or far,” Chiang stated. He didn’t look happy.

“Near enough,” Shang-Li said.

“But we don’t know if they’ve a mage that has figured out a solution to eating and drinking while underwater.” Chiang smoothed his beard. “They could be in dire straits. Desperate men make mistakes.”

“Desperate men,” Iados said, “also do desperate things. And they didn’t act like men thirsting to death. They were fit, able. We’ll do well to post extra guards until we’re clear of this situation.”

Chiang nodded. “Agreed. I’ll amend the roster. It will cut back on the amount of sleep the men are getting. They’re not going to be happy about that.”

“It beats waking with a knife in your throat,” the tiefling pointed out.

Chiang gave him a thin smile. “It would have been better if the survivor you brought back was a warrior. Or, gods willing, a wizard. That wav we would have had more

defensive capability instead of just another mouth to feed.”

“Perhaps, but I think it’s going to be a while before we see better?

Amree swam toward them. The ship’s mage looked worse than she had the last time he’d seen her, worn down and exhausted, but she was no longer favoring her injured hand.

“How is Red Orchid?” Shang-Li asked.

“Better. Getting stronger. I think she’s acclimating to the ship well. She seems to be herself and says her strength is quickly coming back.”

“How soon before we can float the ship?” Shang-Li asked.

“Come see,” she said, and led them back into the hold. Treated canvas, coated with tar so it was virtually airproof, covered the ceiling.

“We’ve nailed over the holds to contain the air as I make it,” she said. “And I’m continuing to make air every day, but I can’t do that and make repairs at the same time. Attending to Red Orchid has also set me behind in my schedule, but I think the good she will do will offset that.” Seated on a crate, she drew her legs up and encircled them with her arms. “However, as I’ve considered our situation, I’ve realized we have a new problem I hadn’t counted on.”

“What?”

“Ballast. In order to get Swallow to float faster, we’re going to have to rid her of the ballast. I can’t make enough air to overcome all that weight.”

Shang-Li looked at the rocks that covered the bottom of the cargo hold.

“What’s the problem?” Iados asked. “Getting rid of the rock only makes sense. There’s less weight to lift. Seems like the only set back there would be having to move all of it.”

“That will be a chore,” Amree agreed. “But ballast aboard a ship is important.”

“Only if you’re attached to all those rocks.”

“Those rocks,” Chiang said, “keep the ship balanced while in the ocean. If a ship is not properly weighted down,

she would turn over every time the wind blew. She’d float like a cork on the water and have no control. Every time we take on cargo, it has to be carefully configured. We take on more cargo, we offload ballast. We don’t take on enough cargo, we have to load ballast.”

“So if Swallow goes up without ballast,” Iados said, “there’s no guarantee she’ll be right side up on the sea surface. Even with Red Orchid’s help.”

“Or, if by chance we do go straight up, she might not stay that way. If she falls over on her side in the ocean, we could right her again because we have longboats that weren’t destroyed. And we’d need to be able to shift ballast to aid in that.” Amree glanced at Shang-Li. “Though I would like one or two more longboats. Supply boats filled with food and water. Just in case the ship doesn’t survive and we do.”

Kwan Yung came out of the dry area and stood beside them. Still embarrassed by his mistake, Shang-Li found himself watching Amree intently, rather than catch his father’s eye.

“We’ll have to pull them into the dry area and get them properly stored before we try to ascend.” Amree bit her lip. “There’s also another problem.”

“We seem to be harvesting a veritable bumper crop of them as we sit here,” Iados commented.

“I don’t know how far down we are,” the ship’s mage said. “I’ve seen what happens to men who stay down too deep too long and come up too fast. Sometimes they die, but when they don’t they are left with withered and weak bodies.”

A chill passed through Shang-Li as he remembered the sailors he’d seen that had suffered the malady while helping with salvage operations or treasure hunting. They’d gotten caught out in the depths when their water-breathing potions had become exhausted and had swum as quickly as they could to the surface. Most hadn’t made

it, but nearly all of the others had been left crippled. No one knew why the sickness struck.

“A person, maybe two,” Amree said, “I could protect from the sickness. But I can’t protect this ship’s crew from something like that.”

“We still have the water-breathing potions,” Shang-Li reminded. “We could all drink one of them before we begin the ascent. The potion should protect us.”

“Are you willing to bet your life on that?” Amree demanded. “The lives of this crew?”

Shang-Li looked into her eyes and remained calm. “I know that if we remain here,” he said, “we’re going to die. There are too many things in this place that are only too happy to hunt us.”

Amree gazed fiercely at the tarp. “I just wish I could create enough air now so I would know. One way or the other. I don’t like waiting. When I do, my mind has more than enough time to figure out all the things that could go wrong.”

Kwan Yung spoke softly but his voice drew all of them. “Once you have planned for everything bad to happen that you can, once you have made all preparations, it is always better to plan for things going right. Let planning take over when—and if—there is need.” He nodded toward her. “You should get some sleep. We all should. The time will come when we will need it.”

ŚŠŚŚŠŚ ŚŠŚ

“Awake, manling.”

Drowsy and worn, Shang-Li opened his eyes and was surprised to find that he was still in the hold. The light from the glowstones staved off some of the sea’s chill. He looked around and saw many sailors slumbering around him. His father sat at the table and read through Bayel Droust’s journals, though Shang-Li had read through enough of

them that he was certain nothing of consequence to their present predicaments would be found.

The Blue Lady stood in the center of the hold and looked around with casual disdain. “So this is what has been occupying your time?” She walked toward the canopy of air that had swelled so large in the emptiness.

Swallow twisted at the ends of the ropes anchoring her to the sea floor. Over the last few hours, she’d threatened to pull free of the moorings twice. Only Red Orchid’s warning about the slack had prevented that.

The Blue Lady touched the air-filled bubble with a long-nailed hand. She smiled coldly. “You fight against the sea. I had to accept it as my home even though it fought me at first.”

Soundlessly, Shang-Li rose to his feet. His fighting sticks dropped into his hands.

“You would only be wasting your time, manling.” The Blue Lady peered at him. “And if you wake your friends, I’ll kill them here and now, and I’ll destroy this ship.”

Shang-Li forced his breath out. “What do you want?” He spoke softly so he wouldn’t wake the sleeping sailors or alert his father, though he didn’t understand how Kwan Yung could be unaware of the Blue Lady’s presence.

“I have masked myself and you to them. If anyone looks, they’ll see you still sleeping there.”