Temple of the Traveler: Empress of Dreams (50 page)

Tashi bowed as he accepted.

The six climbed into a longboat, accompanied by two extra rowers who would guard the boat on the beach. Pinetto passed the first three hours interviewing Gloriana and writing notes for a history of the Greens. When the sun passed into midafternoon, he worried. He couldn’t weigh anchor to search with the ship or he might miss the party when they returned. He also didn’t dare send more people into potential plague territory.

Pinetto was just about to send out a longboat with a hunting party when Tashi appeared on the beach, bloody and scratched all over. It wasn’t a good sign when the longboat came back with just him and the two rowers.

“What happened?” the wizard demanded when the longboat tied off to
Nothing Sacred.

“Weigh anchor and get the sails ready. Hindaloo’s pirates were on the other side with the
Mallard
,” Tashi panted. He’d rowed the hardest. “He lured Sarajah away with some story about a mermaid in one of the tide pools. It was afraid of men and couldn’t speak Imperial. Since she can communicate with anything using that damn cape, she ran off to get what information she could from the creature, some clue about Ashterah.” He accepted a waterskin and drank. “As soon as she was gone, little men who blew darts from tubes ambushed us. All three of the Greens are dead. I killed the assassins and made it to the shore to see Hindaloo carrying Sarajah over his shoulder. Must have used darts on her while she was bent over the pool talking. Hurry over there; we’ve got to catch them!”

Pinetto shook his head. “They have too big a head start. They’re over the horizon by now. We have no idea where he’s taking her. What took you so long?”

Tashi glared. “I had enough poison in me to kill a human. The only reason I woke up this soon was those damn scavengers. I don’t know how big barn cats are where you come from, but one of them covered my chest.” He swore at the traitor again. After a moment, he added, “Oh, here’s your sword. Sorry I lost the sheath. I had to use it to beat off the scavengers on my other side while I backed into the water. Stung like blazes, but it was the only way I could keep them off me.”

Tashi looked down at the blood- and salt-crusted hilt. “Don’t worry; I’ll clean it.” He grabbed a rag and started wiping the borrowed Honor. “But we have to find Sarajah. You can do it. You’ll think of something.”

“This wasn’t Ashter Island?”

“No, Hindaloo knew it wasn’t. He just wanted Sarajah for . . .” Then he twisted the cleaning cloth till it ripped. “She’s queen of two countries. He wants to control her. Hindaloo wouldn’t dare harm her.”

Pinetto shook his head. “His definition of harm and ours are different. You haven’t heard him bragging to his arkie buddies. He’s molested his female adoptees repeatedly.”

“You let that monster on our ship?” Tashi said, grabbing the front of the wizard’s chainmail. The metal crackled with suppressed energy.

“You insisted over my objections.”

Tashi stared forlornly at the horizon. “Sarajah’s been raped before. I want to reach her before it can happen again. Pagaose says you’re the best thinker he knows. Please. Think hard.”

Pinetto rubbed his temples. “If we had the Needle of Nostralia, this would be simple. I have a sample of her blood. I’m sure that Ashterah would jump at the chance to prevent an assault on her sister. The Chorus of Archanos could chase him down faster than we could and wreak holy vengeance on his ass. But we have no idea where the goddess is hiding. I mean, we’ve been
everywhere
that Ooma mentioned.”

Tashi nodded. “Yeah. Even the Crooked Isle.”

“What?”

“Ooma mentioned the Crooked Isle, but you would’ve known if . . .”

The men stared at each other. Pinetto swore in seven languages. “That’s why the damn monkey always went back to the old copper mine. That’s why everyone thinks it’s haunted, because it is.”

Tashi grinned as his friend assembled the clues. “Back to the marina, as fast as we can!” he bellowed. “The queen’s life depends on it.”

Green sailors as well as their normal crew hastened to obey.

Pinetto said, “The rest of the crew will need to stay with the ship through customs. You can help me jump off onto the crates like the panther always does. Do you think the demon will come when you call? This would make an excellent final service for him to perform for Sarajah.”

Tashi replied, “He won’t hear my voice at a distance, but he’ll be there waiting at the docks with Nesu, making sure he doesn’t misappropriate the war money. I’ll convince him to come with us.”

“The three of us against a swarm of demons that scared Osos into a treaty. Are you sure we can do this?” the wizard asked, nervous. Home was looking farther away than ever.

“I’ll do it without you if I have to,” Tashi said grimly. “I’ll force Ashterah to help.”

“Without me, you’d fall down the shaft and embarrass yourself. I’ve been charging my light ring for just such an occasion.”

Tashi knew that enclosed, dark places terrified Pinetto. Bumping fists, he said, “Brothers.”

Tashi slung Pinetto over his shoulder, jumped ship, and ran toward the inspector’s offices. An invisible panther met them in the alley. “No priestess? This can’t be good.”

“How’d you know we were coming?” Tashi asked a spot in the air where he imagined Bagierog to be.

“I could feel that sword of yours crawling up my spine.”

“I should let it crawl up your ass for the goose chase you sent us on.”

They heard a laugh in a different location. Had the panther moved or were there more spirits? Pinetto squinted and looked for shadows from the Compass Star.

“You could’ve told us Ashterah was here all along,” Tashi complained.

Pinetto pointed and Tashi lunged for the furry tail as soon as Bagierog began his excuse. “We have rules. I can’t just . . . Watch it! That’s attached.”

“Not for long if you don’t listen,” Tashi threatened. “Sarajah’s been kidnapped.”

“The plague-lander?”

“Sure, everyone sees it in hindsight. Not important right now. I want you to agree to take us to Ashterah.”

The cat growled. “You can’t force me.”

Pinetto laid a hand on the Dawn creature’s back. “This would discharge all your obligations to Queen Sarajah.” When Bagierog didn’t reply, he added, “If you refuse, I’ll have to explain to Archanos why he needs a new high priestess.”

“Profound logic: I’ll tell Dad if you don’t help me. If you’ll recall, this is the one place in the world I’m safe from him.”

“I’m going to true-death Dawn creatures until I find someone who’s willing to help,” Tashi said, drawing the Defender. “Or she’ll come to me. I don’t particularly care how many of you felons it takes.”

“Someone will kill you.”

“Then I’ll continue my hunt in my next incarnation.”

“Enough already. I’ll help, but I won’t bleed. The spirits there are hard-core military.”

Together, they climbed to the abandoned mine. The monkey shrieked and ran ahead into the shaft when he saw Pinetto. “Grab him; he’s trying to warn the others.” They chased the monkey through a maze of narrow, half-collapsed tunnels by the faint, orange light of the tiger’s-eye ring.

A camouflaged door was sliding shut at the end of the hall when Bagierog materialized, holding it open. “These gentle-beings want to see the boss’s wife.”

“Humans can’t meet her. You know the rules.”

“The one with the sword isn’t mortal, and the other one is the boss’s prophet.”

As if on cue, Pinetto closed his eyes to reveal blazing-white tattoos.

“It doesn’t matter,” the monkey said. “She can’t come up here; she is bound to guard the great geyser.”

“Then you take them down to her,” insisted Bagierog. “I’ll stay here and guard the escape route.”

“Scaredy-cat,” Tashi mocked. “Pinetto’s eyelids are glowing so bright we don’t need a torch, and he’s continuing.”

“That’s an argument for staying up here.”

Pinetto could see a deep, round shaft like a well, lined with odd rocks that functioned like steps. “These steps are made for giants, almost twice the height of the natives. We’re in the right place.” The others could smell the wizard’s shoe leather baking as he approached the edge of the shaft. “I don’t feel so good.”

“The closer we get to the rift geyser, the less stable you’ll feel,” the black, panther creature explained. “You’re used to a sun and this is like a pulsar.”

“What?” asked Pinetto, looking ready to throw up.

“Close your eyes and feel the wave wash over you,” Tashi said to encourage his friend. “The energy at the juncture of four countries must be enormous. Even I can taste it from here. Is there another Door?”

The monkey shook his head in a comically wide arc. “We tried. The Door binding takes a week of chanting, and the geyser goes off every day. You’re standing over the biggest power source on the planet.”

“Speak Imperial, would you?” Tashi complained.

“He is,” said Bagierog. “Doesn’t it bother you that the monkey has a bigger vocabulary than you?”

“No, because I have the bigger sword. Now, move!” Tashi ordered. When Pinetto staggered after a jump between stepping stones, his friend caught him by the mail shirt and received a slight static shock. Removing the mail shirt and dropping it down the hole, Tashi said, “Bagierog, carry him, would you?”

“Why me?”

The monkey turned around and raised both eyebrows. “Because the sword crackles every time he gets near the wizard, and I’m too small. Now who’s dumber than a monkey?”

“Me-ow. Touchy,” Bagierog muttered, giving Pinetto a ride on his back.

Ten steps from the bottom, Pinetto shrieked and removed the dagger from his boot. The weapon exploded when it struck the polished-onyx floor.

“Ssh!” Tashi cautioned.

A red lamp over a wide door at the bottom of the shaft lit the room. A deep voice said, “What’s the password?”

After Bagierog lowered Pinetto on the polished floor beside the last step, the monkey was gone.

The others looked at the wizard expectantly. “How should I know how to open the
kranack-drahk-ehnack-un
door?” Pinetto continued in a stream of elder-language curses that sounded like he was trying to swallow an epileptic squid.

The light turned green, and the door slowly rose.

As he walked the five paces to stand beside the door, Tashi said, “Good guess.”

On the other side of the door, they could see a pair of large, brown feet. The legs had tan stripes like a tiger and ankle spurs like a rooster. The tan loincloth started at the knees. When Pinetto noticed that the cat had vanished, he cursed again in another forgotten language.

“Now you’re just showing off,” Tashi said, crouching in his fighting stance.

Hyperventilating, Pinetto grabbed his bolo and swung it up to speed.

When the giant’s brown arms were revealed, they had fighting spurs and bronze bracelets with amber studs. The right hand was cupped into a C shape aimed at them. The left forefinger reached over to press one of the studs. A low rumble shook the room, causing Tashi to clutch his chest.

Pinetto released the bolo, which spun wide and snagged the left wrist spur instead of the finger. The detonation had the same result, however, obliterating the giant’s left hand. In the silence, Tashi was able to reassert control over his heart, which had skipped a beat.

“Put down your weapons,” demanded Tashi. “We come from Archanos.”

The brown brute bellowed and charged. Tashi sidestepped and cut its foot off at the ankle. “Two chances left.”

Something invisible grabbed Tashi’s arms from behind.

“Let him go,” panted Pinetto. “Or I’ll go Osos on this place, and it’ll be known as the Ocean of Glass.”

“Interesting,” said a woman’s voice. “Bring them to the armory . . . without the sword.”

The giant had come from a dimly lit dome. A third of the walls were full of charts. Colored symbols and flecks of magical light decorated the maps. Another third was full of armor and weapons made of Sacred Amber. In between were tunnels heading off in all directions.

“Parley,” said Tashi.

“You do not bargain with the Queen of the Heavens.”

The Defender raged in his mind to kill them all. His arm tried to move of its own accord to cut down the guilty. Instead, picturing the bound Sarajah over the traitor’s shoulder, he dropped his weapon. It didn’t want to leave his right hand. Whimpering with the effort, he shook the hilt free using his left hand. Leather tendrils tried to affix themselves as it fell, but the brown giant pinned the rogue sword to the ground.

Pinetto closed his eyes to show the holy marks and observe the rule about no humans seeing the goddess. In the center of the armory was a bowl-shaped depression. Demons carried the two friends to the lip so Tashi could gaze in. The bowl was full of brilliant cracks that glowed purple and green. Calcium deposits layered over the floor like a graveyard for giant wedding cakes. Puddles of orange and yellow liquid bubbled and steamed from one level to the next. In the center a black, star-shaped hole in reality beckoned. He recognized the undergirding, the heart of Nightmare. Standing beside the cascade of pools was a woman wearing gray robes and a ceremonial, silver chain that went from her chest to her right wrist. Other than her great age, she was unremarkable.

Pinetto announced, “Archanos is newly freed and has defeated his enemy Eutheron. He bids you to bring him the Amber Scythe. We summoned the Fish of the Ocean, and they await the journey to answer his Call.”

“Indeed, the hour we have awaited for millennia is upon us. Pity we can’t leave,” said the old woman. “Why isn’t my beloved here himself?”

The wizard explained, fighting out every word, “Osos changed his body so he couldn’t return. He’s allergic to the metals in the seawater.”

“Enough, child. You’re overwrought. Sleep,” she commanded. Pinetto collapsed and the glowing ceased.

Tashi said, “Look in my mind. I know you can. Your sister Sarajah needs your help immediately.”

“I see and would intervene with thunderous might. I’ve been aiding her from afar ever since she left the protection of my mother’s wing.”