“She’s a cargo ship, isn’t she?” Iados asked. Like Shang-Li, he carried a heavy spear.
“I believe so.” Shang-Li used his spear to test the ground in front of him. He stabbed the long blade experimentally into the silt to see if anything lurked beneath the debris.
Curious fish swam nearby, and a few of them fell prey to the tentacled things that hid in the nearby brush. The hunters brought the writhing fish to their maws and ate greedily. Sharks had followed the scavenging crew from Swallow and now circled lazily overhead. The predators were patient hunters but every now and again one would drop down and hit the unseen barrier. Whatever force contained them discouraged them time after time. Shang-Li hoped that continued to be the case.
Thava stood at the keel and brushed away the algae that covered the bowed planks. “Her name was Bokhan’s Pearl. Does that mean anything to you?”
“No,” Shang-Li replied. “The ship we’re searching for is called Grayling.”
“Judging from the shape of most of the ships that the Blue Lady took under,” Iados said, “I wouldn’t hold out hope that you’ll find much of her.”
“I don’t need to find much of her,” Shang-Li replied. “I only need the captain’s cabin to be intact.” And somehow airtight, he thought, gods willing. “Let’s see what we can salvage.” He swam down toward the broken ship but remained vigilant.
He touched down on the ground a short distance from Bokhan’s Pearl. With Thava on one side of him and Iados on the other, Shang-Li boarded the ship.
The interior was dark. Cargo lay broken open and in disarray. Nothing looked as if it had been disturbed since the ship settled on the sea floor, but the damage from the storm that had taken the vessel down was apparent.
Skeletons, their bones picked clean and gleaming in the blue glow that permeated the area, lay scattered around the hold.
“What killed them?” Iados shifted one of the skeletons with a foot, making certain it didn’t rise up to grab hold of them.
Shang-Li knelt next to the nearest one and surveyed the remains carefully. The skeleton was intact and didn’t show any signs of combat damage or residual harm from the ship’s sinking. Tattered clothing clung to the skeletal legs and ribcage. An amulet hung around the dead man’s neck.
“I don’t see any signs of past wounds,” Shang-Li said.
“This one suffered combat injuries,” Thava said from a few feet away. “Axe blows. A sword thrust through the ribs. But all the bones show signs of healing. This person lived through those attacks. Whatever killed them wasn’t violent.”
“Storms are violent,” Iados observed. He remained on guard and watched the ocean around them.
“They didn’t die in combat,” Thava said.
“Then how?”
“Drowning would be my guess,” Shang-Li answered, and he felt the grim reality of the situation close in on him.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Iados shook his head. “Why did they drown if we don’t?”
“I don’t know,” Shang-Li replied. He didn’t bother to point out that could at any moment since he felt certain the thought lingered constantly in their minds. “Perhaps they drowned before they reached the blue light. Maybe the Blue Lady chose not to help them.”
“And where is she?” Iados asked impatiently. “If it was so important for her to have us down here, why hasn’t she come to claim her prizes?”
Shang-Li couldn’t answer that either.
“I’m tired of waiting,” the tiefling declared with an angry snap of his tail.
“Until we know more about her,” Thava stated, “you’re only waiting for your death. Better we should take this time and learn. The battle will come.”
Most of the ship’s cargo was ruined, contaminated by the ocean or strung out in pieces across the floor. Some of it lay half-buried in the silt.
Shang-Li prized at one of the planks near the ship’s stern. The wood remained good, but the vessel had been constructed well and intended to stay in one piece.
Shang-Li braced himself against the ship’s hull and managed to rip the plank free. Handling it in the water was much more difficult than on land. Whatever magic allowed him to move and breathe beneath the ocean didn’t apply to the things they scavenged from the ship. The plank moved slowly through the water and made the job hard.
However, the water made the heaviest prizes easier to manage. Two sailors carried a mast that would have taken a block and tackle and a crew of stout men to raise on land.
A short distance from the ship, Shang-Li dropped the plank on a pile of others that had been salvaged. Thava stacked another.
“How long do you think we’ve been at this?” the paladin asked. “The men are tired, and they’ve been through a lot today. If it is still the same day.”
Shang-Li nodded. No one needed to be overtired, but the need to finish the task Amree had set before them remained on his mind. Staying focused was hard when he thought about the Blue Lady and how she might close in on them at any time. When he let himself get fatigued, he couldn’t help thinking she was deliberately letting them labor on their escape just so she could yank it away from them at the end. “Let’s finish up with what we have, tie it off, and get back to Swallow.” Thava nodded.
Swimming up, Shang-Li called the salvage crew in. They sorted through the timber, canvas, and cargo they’d gathered. Then they swam in freight teams to haul their salvage back.
Shang-Li held onto a corner of sailcloth and swam. The weight of pots and barrels weighed the center of the sailcloth. It also slowed progress because it fought the ocean in an ungainly fashion.
But it went.
Although he glanced around him and saw no one, Shang-Li couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched.
Shang-Li tracked the darting shadows all around him as a matter of course. Never before had he noticed how restless marine life seemed to be. It was always moving.
What are you doing, manling? The Blue Lady’s voice lay chills all along Shang-Li’s spine.
Looking around, Shang-Li realized he could no longer see his companions or the load he’d been tugging along. She has you in her thrall, he thought.
You’ve had time to think over my offer, manling. Now I want to know if you’re worth the time I’m taking to keep you alive.
“You’re not keeping us alive.” Shang-Li thought of the dead sailors they had lost over the last couple days. “We’re keeping ourselves alive.”
I’m keeping you from dying more quickly.
Shang-Li didn’t answer. No matter what he said, she would only turn it against him.
Do you see your friends? Are you even awake?
Hesitantly, Shang-Li hung in the water. He didn’t know if he was awake, or what had happened to the others or the salvage.
There is someone I’d like you to meet. He is my guest “Prisoner, you mean?” and I expect you to treat him with respect once I introduce you. If you harm him, I will kill everyone that is there with you.
Shang-Li didn’t have a response for that. “Who is the guest?”
You will know him. He will test you, your knowledge, and see if you are the one I need. If not, I will kill you and let my pets have you. But at least it will go more quickly.
Anxiety twisted Shang-Li’s guts but he kept his focus and forced himself to be calm. They were running out of time. “When is he coming?”
Soon.
Pain flooded Shang-Li’s temples as her power filled him. Then she was gone, and the sorrow of her leaving left him almost shattered him. He breathed through the feeling and it quickly went away. When he blinked again, he found Iados glancing in direction.
“Are you all right, Shang-Li?” Iados had him by the shoulder.
“Yes. I… what happened?’ As he looked around, Shang-Li saw they’d spilled the canvas with him.
“I don’t know. It was like you were in a trance.”