Then Chime said, “Look, look at this!”
Moon turned around. It was too dark to see Chime, but it was obvious what he was pointing at: a faintly glowing shape outlined against the column. It was round, like a panel in the metal, with something behind it giving off a faint illumination.
Moon stepped close, stumbled on Chime’s tail, and moved him out of the way. He ran his hands over the panel to feel for seams under the encrustations. “Careful,” Esom said anxiously. “An arcane power source could be very dangerous.”
“The seed wouldn’t glow, would it?” Chime said, sounding doubtful. “Unless they did something drastic to it.”
Stone growled in frustration. “Get it open.”
Moon growled back at him and dug his claws into the crusted ooze to strip it off the old metal. River climbed back down the wall, bringing the light-rock. The glow from behind the panel faded as the chamber grew brighter, but Moon found the seams. He worked his claws in and yanked on the panel. It gave way so abruptly he stumbled backward. River pushed off the wall, landed beside Moon, and held out the light-rock. Behind the panel was a small compartment, and mounted in it was a discolored metal plaque set with rough crystals, about the size of Moon’s palm.
Esom said, “That’s it, that’s the arcane source I’ve been sensing!”
Moon paced away, too angry to speak. That’s not it. Jade and Flower are still trapped up there, Balm could be dead, and we don’t even have the damn seed to bargain with.
Behind him, Stone hissed with bitter disappointment. “It’s not the seed,” River said, pointedly speaking in Kedaic so Esom could understand him.
“I never said it was your seed,” Esom said, exasperated. “I said—”
“What is it doing to the leviathan?” Stone asked him, cutting across the budding argument. “It has to be doing something, or it wouldn’t be down here.”
“I don’t know.” Esom lifted his hands helplessly. “It could be helping to control the creature—”
“It has to be,” Chime broke in, his spines shaking with excitement. “Think about where we are. We went a long way down, but we’re not that far from where we started.”
“Maybe five hundred paces, give or take.” Moon tilted his head, and found that place inside himself that always knew where south was. “We’re below the mortuary temple, just in the center—”
Chime finished, “We’re under that dome, under that steering device.” He thumped the column. “This thing could be part of it.”
“Huh.” Stone looked up the column again.
“But we can’t get out that way,” River said impatiently. “There’s no opening. The flesh closes in around the top of this pillar-thing.”
“Yes, but…” Moon stepped back to the column, reached into the compartment and touched the crystal thing gingerly.
“I still think you should be careful,” Esom persisted.
Moon nudged the device a little. It wiggled back and forth, but didn’t seem to do anything. “Could this be how they control the leviathan?”
They all looked at Esom, who wiped his forehead wearily. “I don’t know. Our ship the Klodifore works by arcane power, using the metora stone as fuel. But it still has a wheel, a steering mechanism. There wasn’t anything like that on the device we saw. Not that I could tell, anyway.”
“But it’s not a ship, it’s a creature.” Chime eased forward and leaned close to the compartment. “Maybe the device controls a spell that lets the groundlings communicate with it.”
Esom nodded, preoccupied. “Oh, that’s a thought. Yes, I think that’s likely.”
If they were right… it didn’t matter how many seeds Ardan stole, they were all useless without this. This could be the whole key to Ardan’s power, the power of all the magisters. Moon reached for the crystalstudded metal piece, gripped it, and twisted it free.
As it snapped loose he felt the ground underfoot tremble. The rhythmic rush of the leviathan’s breath halted mid-inhale, the silence sudden and absolute. Stone cocked his head thoughtfully, listening. Esom and Chime were wide-eyed in alarm, while River’s spines twitched nervously. The moment stretched, then the creature’s breath whooshed out in a long sigh.
As the breathing resumed, Chime said, “It felt that. I don’t know what happened, exactly, but it felt that.”
Moon weighed the metal piece in his hand. “Good. Maybe Ardan felt it too.”
They went back down the Thluth tunnel, and took one of the vertical passages upward. The Thluth didn’t appear to demand tribute again.
The passage worked its way up through the leviathan’s hide along a narrow and twisty path. After a short distance it turned into a vertical shaft, too steep for Esom or for Stone in his groundling form.
Esom groaned but didn’t otherwise protest being carried by Chime again. River hesitated, looking dubiously at Stone. Stone hissed in annoyance and turned to Moon.
Moon supposed that if Stone had to be carried, he would rather it be by another consort, no matter how awkward. So they started up with Stone’s warm weight hanging on to Moon’s neck, and it was just as awkward as Moon could possibly have imagined.
The pocked surface was slick and pieces chipped off under their claws, but the leviathan’s breathing grew steadily louder, a welcome sign that they were nearing an opening to the surface. River, unencumbered, got a little ahead. They climbed in silence for a while, until Stone muttered, “I remember why the Arbora hate this.”
“It’s not like we have a choice,” Moon answered, concentrating on feeling for the next good claw-hold.
There was another long silence, broken only by whispers from somewhere below, where Esom seemed to be interrogating Chime about mentor abilities. Chime’s answers were tinged with irritation. Then Stone said, “I don’t kill solitaries just because they’re solitaries. And I would never have killed you.”
It was so unexpected, Moon’s claws almost slipped off the wall. Stone waited until he recovered, then continued, “If I’d decided you were crazy, or lying to me, I would have left you behind. I wanted you with me at Sky Copper so I could watch your reaction, make sure you’d never seen a court before. But by the time we got there, I’d already made my decision.” He added, “You little idiot.”
Moon hissed reflexively. After a moment, he said, “Sorry.” Deeply reluctant, he admitted, “I’m still not… good at this.”
“You’ll get over it,” Stone told him.
Above them, River hissed to get Moon’s attention. He looked up and realized they were very near the top. The space above them was dark, and the hole through the last layer of hide was small. A little ahead of Moon, River stopped just below the opening. He pointed to himself, then up. He was saying he should go first, since he was the only one not carrying someone. I hate it when he’s right. Moon nodded for him to go ahead.
River climbed to the lip of the opening, stopped to peer out, then scrambled over the edge.
After a tense moment, he leaned back down to whisper, “Come up.”
Moon gave Stone a boost, then followed him. As he climbed out, he knew where he was by scent and sound before his eyes adjusted to the dim green glow from the phosphorescent molds. They were in the underground space below the city, the stone of its foundations high above, supported by giant pillars and columns. The foundations were much lower here than in the area below Ardan’s tower, which was closer to the midpoint of the leviathan. The highest supporting arch was barely fifty paces above their heads.
Esom scrambled out with Chime right behind him. Chime stood and looked around, his spines flicking uneasily. Esom collapsed on the lumpy leviathan hide and said in relief, “I never thought I’d be glad to see this place again. Now it looks homey and welcoming.”