Fergraff tossed a black pearl into the room that descended slowly and burst into an oval a foot from the floor and just out of Shang-Li’s reach. “That way will take you to your ship.”
Shang-Li hesitated.
“You can trust me or not,” the eladrin said in a cold voice. “But what good would it do for me to give you a weapon against Caelynna and not allow the use of it?”
“Thank you.” Shang-Li stepped toward the spreading oval and felt the pull of it at once.
“You must hurry once you are there. Caelynna will not tarry.”
Just before he entered the black pearl oval, Shang-Li glanced back at Bayel Droust. The scribe hesitated and looked helpless.
“I’ve got the books,” Shang-Li said. “If they are not recoveredand I promise that I will see them destroyed before I allow them to fall into the hands of the Blue Ladyyou know she will blame you for this. There won’t be any reason for her to keep you alive.”
“I know.” Gathering himself, Droust followed Shang-Li into the blackness.
Once he entered the spell, Shang-Li’s senses whirled and he felt lost. Fear ran rampant within him, and he knew that was part of the dark magic touching him as it worked on him. Droust keened and moaned, and Shang-Li couldn’t find it within himself to fault the man.
Then, as quickly as it began, the spell ended. Shang-Li spewed out into the water above Swallow. His senses reeled so much that he at first didn’t recognize the ship. Then he spotted Thava standing at the ship’s prow gazing up at him. An instant later, Droust vomited forth into the sea as well. The scribe whirled end over end as he flailed awkwardly.
Turning in the water, Shang-Li tried to spot the Blue Lady and her horde above the forest but saw nothing. Shambles and the tentacled things moved within the trees and brush, but they kept their distance from Swallow.
The ship shifted and rocked on the undersea currents. Ropes tied to stakes driven into the sea bed and some of the nearby trees held her down. Shang-Li hoped Amree had been able to make enough air to allow them to surface. He swam toward Droust, grabbed the man by his shirt, and pulled him down toward Swallow.
Thava met Shang-Li as he dropped to Swallow’s forward deck. “How did you get up there? The last I saw you, you were sleeping. You’ve done so much lately that we let you sleep.”
“That wasn’t me. The Blue Lady took me and left an illusion behind. Get the others. We have to go. She’s on her way here now with an army.” Shang-Li ran to the prow and called the sailors in from their work on the hull. No more time could be afforded patching it.
He looked down at Red Orchid.
Red Orchid stretched herself on the prow and met his gaze. “We could have used more time, Shang-Li, but I am ready.”
“Mielikki willing.” Shang-Li quickly posted lookouts, then went below to find his father and Amree.
“We need more time.” Amree looked as though she was about to fall over as she stood within the air bubble she’d created inside Swallow’s hold.
“If I could make that happen for you, I would have. But all the Blue Lady was waiting on was the moon.” Shang-Li glanced at his father. “We brought Liou Chang’s books back with us.” He held out the bag that contained the books.
His father took the books and nodded. “You’ve done well.”
“Only if we live to tell of it.”
“No.” Kwan Yung shook his head. “Keeping the books from the Blue Lady was success enough. I would like to return them to the monastery”
“But if that doesn’t look possible, we have to destroy them.”
His father nodded and pain showed in his hazel eyes. “Of course, but I would rather concentrate on our escape.”
“So would I.” Shang-Li glanced around and saw Thava and Iados gearing up for contact.
“She’s coming!” someone yelled. “The Blue Lady is coming!”
Shang-Li dived through the bottom of the opening at the bottom of the hold and through the tear in the hull. The tear was much smaller, but it hadn’t been closed yet. They needed it for ease of access to get into the hold.
He shook the fighting sticks into his waiting hands and felt the power of them thrilling against his flesh as if they sensed the coming battle as well. His body flooded with blood and he cleared his head to ready himself mentally.
Over the top of the trees, the Blue Lady and her horde of creatures and Nine Golden Swords warriors swam toward Swallow. She rode the giant squid, which pulsed like a heart as it stayed at the forefront of the approaching danger.
“I see you have new toys.” Iados stood at Shang-Li’s side and nodded at the fighting sticks.
“Gifts.” Shang-Li brandished them and black lightning seemed to shimmer through the wood. “They’re supposed to be dangerous to the Blue Lady.”
“Gods willing.” Iados took a fresh grip on his blade.
“Remember the plan.” Shang-Li flicked the blades out of his fighting sticks. “We fight them off only as far as we can breathe. Then we have no choice but to crawl within the ship.”
Iados nodded grimly. “That’s one detail I won’t forget.” Captain Chiang stood in the sterncastle above. “Cut loose forward.”
Red Orchid picked up the command. “Cut loose forward.” Immediately Shang-Li cut three of the ropes holding
Swallow down. He grabbed hold of the last rope with one hand and quickly threaded it through the belt of his leather armor. Iados, Thava, and two of the sailors did the same. Swallow angled upward.
The Blue Lady and her group swam faster, closing inhumanly quick.
“Cut loose stern,” Captain Chiang ordered.
“Cut loose stern.” Red Orchid’s voice sounded strong and confident. Blue lightning threaded through Swallow and lit her up brightly in the water.
As soon as the lines were cut, Swallow rose toward the surface, slowly at first, but she gained speed quickly.
“No!” the Blue Lady shouted. She abandoned her mount and swam ahead of it.
“That squid is going to be a problem,” Iados grumbled. “You might have mentioned that she had that.”
The sharks reached Swallow first and attacked immediately. Shang-Li swung both fighting sticks, sinking the blades into the predators’ flesh again and again. Streamers of blood trailed through the water. Iados split one of the sharks open with his sword. Thava swung her axe and caught another in the teeth, then the heavy blade cleaved away the top half of the shark’s head.
The sailor in front of Shang-Li screamed in horror as a tentacled thing struck him in the face and a shamble grabbed him around the legs. Before Shang-Li could reach the man and offer help, the tentacled thing thrust an appendage through the man’s eye and deep into his brain. Racked by death throes, the man released his weapon and stopped fighting. Unable to do anything else, Shang-Li cut the dead man free.
Red Orchid grew large and fierce at the prow. Her arms reached nearly ten feet in length and she broke and ripped Nine Golden Swords warriors and sea shambles alike as she battled.
The Blue Lady swam for Shang-Li and avoided Red
Orchid. “How did you escape?” she howled.
Shang-Li ignored her. The water was already getting hard to breathe, and the darkness around him told him that they were rising out of the safe zone. He held onto his fighting sticks and slashed at a Nine Golden Swords warrior that tried to impale him with a sword.
The Blue Lady’s eyes blazed. She spun and threw a hand toward Swallow. Something shimmered through the water, then Swallow rocked violently onto her side. Blue lighting coursed through the ship as Red Orchid worked to right her.
“Shang-Li!” Iados scrambled up the line that led back into the ship’s hold. “Come on!”
“You’ve doomed yourself, manling.” The Blue Lady swam and effortlessly paced the rise of the ship dragging Shang-Li after it. “If you want to liveif you want your father to liveyou’ll surrender yourself and the books to me now. You can’t get away.” She threw another spell at Swallow. This time, in spite of the sea, part of the hull caught fire.