“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.
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.”
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.”