Temple of the Traveler: Empress of Dreams (43 page)

“This is cheaper than what I had to pay as a criminal,” whispered Hindaloo. “About half my take went for laundering and bribes.”

“It shouldn’t be this way,” she complained. “We’re doing them a favor.”

“The Exchange profits no matter who wins.”

After they passed customs, Pinetto followed the gamekeeper Murali to his contact. As promised, the lightweight net was finished. The craftsman said, “Made of the clearest silken thread with just a hair of sesterina woven in.”

When Pinetto held it up to test it, he felt like he was hefting a giant cobweb. “You, sir, are a master of your art. Murali, pay his full price, no haggling. We may have more business for him before spring.” While coins exchanged hands, Pinetto draped the net over his shoulders, hidden beneath his cloak. “Perfect.”

After they left the snare maker, Murali asked, “What next?”

“I want my telescope, some ripe bananas, and for you to follow my lead. Pretend to meet me among the fruit trees near the old mine and we’ll walk back toward the school.”

Pinetto loitered around the trees where he’d first seen the clever monkey. The bananas looked good, so he had a couple. While he didn’t encounter the monkey, two more men tried to rob him at knifepoint. Murali snuck up behind them and cracked their skulls together.

The gamekeeper said, “Sir, this is too dangerous. Please return to the school with me.”

“I suppose,” Pinetto said more loudly than necessary. “I wanted a chance to try out this magic telescope I found in that alchemist’s treasure trove.”

“The infamous pirate, the Black Cloud? What does it do?”

“It can see through bamboo as if it were gossamer,” Pinetto stage whispered.

“Then why travel all the way up here?”

“To see through the rooftops into all the bedrooms. I guess I’ll come back tomorrow night.”

A while later, among another copse of trees, Pinetto offered Murali a banana and snapped his fingers. “I know where I can use this magic telescope. Don’t the teachers have a bathhouse with a bamboo roof?”

“Yes.”

“I could see right through it.” There was still no sign of the monkey.

At a third stand of trees, almost to the school, Murali stopped to take a rock from his shoe. “I have an idea. You wanted to watch the ladies in the bath with your magic telescope? I happen to know the perfect tree we could climb.”

“We?”

“In exchange for my expertise and saving your life, I would like a glimpse of fair Ava and her associates.”

Pinetto suppressed a grin. “Fine, but I get to look first.”

Murali led him to the aforementioned tree and Pinetto climbed. The monkey appeared in a nearby tree. Pinetto pretended to be preoccupied with the wonders of the bathhouse and made up shameless lies about the view.

After twenty bits, he climbed down and pointed out the monkey’s location with his eyes. Murali ascended and added several colorful comments to the wonders Pinetto had already proclaimed. When a door opened, Murali descended rapidly with a huge smile. “With so many of them inside, it is too risky. I say we bury the telescope here and when either of us returns, we can use it freely.”

“Good idea,” said Pinetto, wrapping the telescope in a cloth as Murali dug a shallow hole. He discreetly rubbed a little bootblack over the eyepiece. After placing the telescope in the hole and patting it down, the men departed in separate directions.

Seconds later, the monkey pounced on their hiding place and was unearthing the treasure. Pinetto tossed the net over the monkey. As it shrieked and struggled, Murali bound it tightly.

Pinetto extracted the telescope from the monkey’s hand. “Want to see what all the fuss was about?”

The monkey feigned ignorance. “Ook?”

“All you have to do is say so, and I’ll give you a look.”

The monkey stuck his chin out so his bottom lip pouted.

The gamekeeper smiled. “I’m going over this way so I won’t see a thing. It’s just another cracked wizard talking to himself.”

When Murali was out of earshot, Pinetto whispered, “Just a little nod. Surely, that won’t break any Dawn creature rules.”

After chewing on his top lip, the monkey slowly nodded. Pinetto held the normal telescope up to the bound monkey’s eye. The lens showed a close-up of the roof. “You bastard,” said the Dawn creature in a squeaky voice before he caught himself.

The wizard put his telescope away, grinning at the dark circle around the monkey’s white eye ruff. “I bet you wonder why I went through all this trouble. Answer me one question, and I’ll let you go free. No one ever has to know I tricked you.”
Once you wash off that circle.

The monkey nodded.

“Where’s Ashter Island?”

“Ashterah forbid us to tell,” the monkey screeched more quietly.

“She’s there and alive?”

The monkey swore in an ancient tongue, making the wizard laugh. The laughter got the monkey’s attention more than the net. “You speak the ancient tongue?”

“Only enough to curse. My mistress is fluent.”

“Ashterah was right to order us to watch the new wizards.”

“Tell me where she is, and I’ll talk to her for you.”

The monkey rocked from side to side, cooing nervously. “I can’t tell you. She’ll see. She sees everything through the Pool of Corialinus.”

“We’ll protect you. My mistress already has two demons and dozens of humans in her service.”

“She’ll find me anywhere I go. With a drop of my blood, she can find me anywhere with the Needle of Nostralia. I’m doomed.”

“What if there were a way to follow both vows?”

“Hmm. Would I get to see in the bathhouse?”

“That’s up to you. You’re going to watch me talk to an interesting teenage girl with a fascinating storybook. While we read her father’s journal, if we mention the name of the island where Ashterah’s staying, go report this fact to your boss immediately; otherwise, keep listening.”

“I could do that.”

“Swear by the foundations of the world and the laws written on them,” Pinetto demanded.

The monkey screeched, “How the blazes did you know about that?”

Pinetto jerked the net. “Swear to do this and not to harm any of our group.”

The monkey swore most colorfully.

****

Sarajah met with Ooma and Pinetto in the hayloft by lantern light. “Does it have to be tonight?” the seeress complained.

Pinetto looked out the open window at the monkey. “Yes. The anti-Imperial violence is very high here. I might not get another chance. My uncle and I will probably have to sleep aboard
Nothing Sacred
. I just want her to hit the highlights of the names and threats we can expect while I take a few notes.” He laid the charts out on the hay bales.

The girl opened her father’s book and read her father’s encoded pages. “The island here,” she indicated on the chart, “is run by summoners who . . . I think it says they turn invisible.”

“Let me guess,” Pinetto said sarcastically. “They smear themselves with lemon juice treated by the fountains of power.”

“What?” asked the girl.

“Just ignore him,” Sarajah said. “He thinks he’s funny.”

“On these islands, the people are lazy and will not bother you. They grow and eat the lotus flower. Beware the bees; their sting will cause you to fall into a deep sleep. Their honey is prized as a narcotic that can deaden any pain. Use smoke to lull the bees.”

Pinetto looked at the region on the map and winced. “That warlord traffics in drugs. I hear he uses lotus dust to control his rowers.”

Sarajah spat. “Despicable.”

“You did the same thing,” Pinetto whispered.

“That was Zariah,” she hissed back.

Pinetto shot a glance out the window. The monkey was turned away, scratching.

The girl ignored them. “This is the island where I got my mask. If the demons there see your face, they can steal your form. They can travel along the seam somehow, so we always wear our masks near the fountains of power.”

“Will we need masks?” asked Pinetto.

“The lady will. You, the spirits will kill outright.” Ooma smiled when he winced. “This one over here is Giant Lizard Island.”

“How big are the lizards?”

“As big as the tigers on Big Tiger Island.”

“Which one is that?” There’d been no change of the monkey’s status. He was good at covert eavesdropping.

“I’m not sure. It’s one of these three. Someone in the Crooked Isle will know. Over here is the land of the butterflies that drink blood.”

“Excuse me?”

“Near the seam, there is nothing impossible. Remember that, foreign dog.”

Finally, Sarajah intervened. “Treat him with respect, Ooma.”

“I obey you, lady; you come from the plague-lands and survived. What is he?”

“He is my prophet and wrote the text books you’re studying.”

The girl’s eyes got wide. “You have seen the mighty Archanos?”

“Yeah. I spoke to him. In honor of my service, he swore that he’d avenge me if anyone harmed me—I didn’t think I’d need it in his backyard.”

The girl bowed her head.

Pinetto waved his hand. “You don’t need to . . .” The monkey turned its head, and there was no black spot. He rushed down the ladder and ran to the tree. It wasn’t the spirit monkey. “Murali!”

When he found the gamekeeper, the man blushed at the deception. “I’m sorry. I only looked away for an instant, I swear.”

“Damn. We know she named the right island, just not which one.”

“We just hit them all in a row.”

When the girl agreed as if she’d be joining the expedition, Sarajah said, “Someone has to stay behind and make black cloud powder and medicines for the emperor’s war effort.”

Pinetto hastened to support her. “That could also raise the money we’ll need for supplies on our return to Center. We can leave the
Mallard
and a small crew behind. Once a week, Ooma can make a trip to her father’s workshop and manufacture more alchemical supplies.”

“I don’t have a way to pay a demon,” Ooma complained.

“I’ll tell Bagierog to assist as part of his babysitting duties,” Sarajah said.

The prisoners on the barge from Reneau rowed steadily out to the waters where the Deep began. Coasting to a stop, Humi Kragen Sandarac, Empress of the North, commanded absolute silence. Only two men in the iron cages on deck violated this decree by whimpering and bemoaning their fates. They and seven others in cages were dragon food. Everyone in the capital knew it. People questioning the empress went to the head of the line.

After midnight, Serog slid in for a landing on the large, flat surface. Humi noted that her scales were dull and she stumbled when she crawled toward her high priestess. “Are you well, Mother-goddess?”

“Exhausted. Are these the vilest criminals you could find?”

“Yes, Mother-goddess. Accept our grateful offerings.”

The dragoness sniffed the first woman by Humi. “She doesn’t have a taint.”

“She murdered the overseer at her place of employment, the place we weave fabric for uniforms.”

“She’s bruised . . . all over her body.”

“He may have beaten her for laziness, but as a noble it’s his right. Her actions cost us an entire day of quota.”

“You suspect what else he was doing to his workers. Set her free.” Serog shuffled to the next cage, barely able to lift her claws. Her head wavered. “Inside, this one is blacker than the stones from the City of the Gods, but he enjoyed his crimes. He’s been doing it for years. I will get no nourishment from his kind. Throw him into the waters and let the wild spirits feed on him.”

“Goddess, why didn’t you return last night?”

“The invasion did not go as planned. I tired myself with too much exertion. Flying here . . . wait till I feed to talk.” Serog licked her lips. The whimpering man screamed. “This is the one.”

“He ate one of his fellow soldiers—”

“Open the cage, and I will taste for myself.”

Humi unlocked the cage, and the man grabbed her hand, pleading. She prodded him with a wand that had a glass tip. He sank to his knees, screaming.

The dragoness clamped her teeth gingerly over the man’s head. Steam rose from the man’s naked body, and he screamed. Serog inhaled the fumes. Invigorated, the dragon increased her efforts. Colored thread unraveled from his arms, and the criminal disappeared into her, inches at a time. When all that was left was a husk, she spit him out. Her sides shimmered with new vitality. She smelled the other wailer and chose him next. This one, she held down with a claw as the center of his chest melted into a puddle, and she drank from him like a trough.

“Do they have to be conflicted about their deeds?” asked Humi.

“This generates the most power. Anything that would make them toss in their sleep grants me dream energy.”

“Why do you hide in daylight?”

The dragon cast a suspicious eye toward Humi. “My body is made of nightmare, which eventually melts away by the light of the mortal sun.”

The empress of the north quickly changed subjects. “Are you still hungry, Mother-goddess?”

“Maybe one more,” the dragon said after considering. She sounded like a woman trying to resist another sliver of peaches-and-cream pie.

Humi casually held the key aside as she asked, “What went wrong with the invasion?”

“Pagaose is too strong magically. He used a miracle from the Traveler to create a shield around the harbor of Center. It somehow repels the wards on the warships. Our only hope is that he only has one miracle left.”

“We can still land elsewhere.”

“Not on Center. None of the other bays are deep enough for the warships to enter, so they have to employ longboats. Only one longboat from each warship can load at a time. They’re not truly amphibious. Five longboats with eight people each aren’t a credible threat. Pagaose has been importing and arming archers all week. The natives were ready for us, awake with fires burning. Vinspar called off the assault because of the horrendous losses. Pagaose’s disciples are warding every beach to repel the longboats as well. We’re at a stalemate for now. While Sandarac lays siege with three ships, the other two seize the remaining Inner Islands, sailing in an outward spiral. He asks you to send more longboats.”