The Way Into Darkness: Book Three of The Great Way (56 page)

One of them ducked into the chamber opening, and raced directly at them, its gaping jaws ringed with barbed teeth.

Chapter 36

Considering everything, it seemed obvious that the wand the alligaunt carried was similar to the one she’d seen in the oceanside fortress. She’d only caught a glimpse, but she was certain the end had the same sharp-edged cube as the lever Kinz destroyed. She felt an immediate urge to steal it. How many Plunders would that have made? Four? Five? She’d lost count.
 

But before she even had a chance to convince herself stealing it was an impossible task, the school of silver worm-fish swam into view. Then one turned and came straight at her. Its mouth was a gaping circle with a ring of nasty teeth around the edge, and it looked so like the massive Tilkilit worm that she froze in terror for a moment.
 

Tejohn grabbed her elbow and pulled her back. At the same time, he thrust the edge of his shield forward and caught the worm on the side of its “head”--really just a half foot behind those jagged teeth--driving it into the vertical support braid behind it.
 

It was a swift, hard blow, especially considering they were underwater. The sound of its cracking skull was surprisingly loud.

“Let’s hurry,” he whispered, and they loped from one chamber to another. After they’d reached their third, a dozen or so of those worm-mouthed fish zoomed by overhead, with alligaunts in close pursuit. Cazia and Tejohn stood against the vertical braces and waited for the danger to pass.
 

No one came close enough to discover them. After a few moments, Cazia heard an alligaunt screaming in agony, begging for someone to come and help it.
 

“Auspicious prey,” Tejohn whispered.
 

Time to move. They began swimming through chamber after chamber once again. Cazia was sure they were moving west, but direction didn’t really matter down here, as long as they were getting closer to the second support braid.
 

“Shouldn’t we have run into more alligaunts than this?” she asked in a low voice. Cazia hated to tempt Fire this way, as though just asking the question would lead them into a phalanx of alligaunts, but the waters of Lake Windmark were crowded with the things, and she couldn’t understand why they would build a huge city but not live in it. “Where are they all?”

“They’re hunting that auspicious prey.”
 

“So, it’s lunchtime?”
 

“I don’t think so,” Tejohn said, without slowing his pace. “When the king travels to another tyr’s lands, he travels with a retinue.”
 

“I never saw that,” Cazia said, feeling vaguely embarrassed for no reason. “But I did see tyrs when they visited the castle. They came with soldiers, musicians playing the drum and pipe, and sometimes mummers or acrobats. Tyr Holvos gave out sourcakes to hungry children.”
 

“Exactly,” Tejohn said. “This Examiner is a person of importance and intends to impress the locals--”
 

“--By sending exciting prey into the city ahead of their arrival. But to send creatures that actually
kill
locals?”
 

“That makes it all the better,” Tejohn said grimly. “All the more
auspicious
. How much farther to the next support, do you think? If they discover Bully, they may postpone our bigwig’s arrival, and these nice, distracting hunts would end.”
 

Cazia couldn’t really be sure of how far they had to go, but they kept moving, passing through another well-lit section. Luckily, there was no one here, either.
 

Tejohn’s breathing was labored, and so was hers.
Ha! Breathing! Down here in the depths!
She didn’t want to admit it, but the Fifth Gift had taken a lot out of her. Of course, she could do it again--of course she could--but she was hungry and her head felt light. Worse, swimming this long distance, even with the braces to grab hold of and pull herself along, was wearing her out.
 

Not that it mattered. It wasn’t
as if she was ever going to leave this place alive. She didn’t need to conserve her energy or worry about the next step. If she failed, the alligaunts would tear her apart. If she succeeded, she would be trapped inside this city as it buckled.
 

There was no coming back from this, and--
I haven’t even been kissed yet
--she was fine with that. If it made the alligaunts think twice about coming to Kal-Maddum, it would be worth it.
 

They passed from the dimly lit section into the darkness again. The only light came from the commons, and there was barely enough to see where she could grab hold or duck her head.
 

Still, glancing to her right, she could see more and more dark figures passing by. The alligaunts had begun to gather. Either the next wave of prey emerging from that portal was going to be extremely exciting, or Cazia would soon run out of time.
 

And then, suddenly, she was there. The chambers came to an end and the heavy horizontal braids wove into another main support. Cazia circled around it so she would not be visible to anyone looking in from the commons.
 

“Do you need this?” In the dark, Tejohn held out a small package wrapped in cloth. “I’m sure it’s disgusting right now, but if you need it…”

“I do.” As she suspected, it was meatbread, and it was thoroughly soaked with murky lake water. Cazia could barely unwrap it without it falling apart, but she pinched off pieces anyway. It was cold, lumpy, repulsive mush, but she forced herself to swallow it until she no longer felt light-headed.
 

She turned toward the braid and, without hesitation, began the Fifth Gift again. This time, she started with the massive trunks.
 

There was water inside the wood--there was water inside most living things--but purifying it this way took an unbelievable amount of concentration. It was like trying to breathe with a hand covering her mouth, using all the strength in her lungs to pull in any air she could get. It was incredibly difficult, but she drilled her attention into it, beginning at the center and making the wood pulp retreat toward the bark.
 

Finished. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and decided against having another pinch of mush. Fire and Fury, they were just about out of time. There was no time to waste on the small supporting braids; she started right in on the second massive trunk.
 

“You!” she heard from behind her. “What are you doing here?”
 

“What we were told to do,” Tejohn answered.
 

“What’s that?”
 

“Explore the city. We’re supposed to explore its wonders until the Examiner showed up. Is the name ‘The Examiner’ or just ‘Examiner’? I can’t tell if it’s a name or a title.”
 

He’s buying me time. Focus. Focus.
 

“It’s ‘Examiner.’” The alligaunt answered. “You shouldn’t be back here.”
 

“Well, you didn’t give us much choice!” Tejohn exclaimed.
 

“What do you mean?”
 

“We were attacked by one of those silver things. It just came through the opening and swam straight at us.”
 

“Fine,” the alligaunt interrupted, clearly annoyed with Tejohn’s tone. “What is that one doing?”
 

A chill ran down Cazia’s back.
Ignore them. Focus.
She could feel the wood pulp vanishing from inside the trunk, but it was taking too long to reach the edge. She was too tired and too distracted.
 

“I only just managed to knock it aside with my shield,” Tejohn said. “Lucky us. That’s why we decided--”

“I asked what that one is doing.”

“To come over here, where these huge structures would give us some shelter. This isn’t our native environment, after all. What is that big braid for, anyway?”
 

“What’s going on here?” This was a new voice, one with a tone of command.
 

“I was asking about this big braid,” Tejohn said. “And those silver things that almost killed us. What are they called?”
 

“Tell us what she is doing or we are going to tear y0u both apart.”
 

Tejohn was silent for a moment. Cazia shut her eyes, holding onto the thought structures that gave power to her magic. Then he said, “We were told we could travel freely without fear of attack. We were told you weren’t afraid of us.” A few moments of silence passed. “Okay, then. Fine. If you insist, I’ll tell you. The girl is meditating.”
 

The second voice said, “Make her stop, or I will.”
 

“Impossible,” Tejohn said. “These are sacred meditations we must do when we almost lose our lives. You see, one of those large silver fish swam through the chambers right at us, and--”

“Magic,” a third voice said, quietly. “I think she’s doing magic.”

The second voice spoke with simple finality. “Kill them both.”

Chapter 37

There were three of them. One was up high to his right but turned so that its tail pointed straight up and its underbelly faced away. The other two were low on his left, lying flat. It had already occurred to him that, unlike people, alligaunts might feel more powerful when they were below him rather than above.
 

They hunt from ambush. They’re cowards.
 

Before the new creature could finish the command to kill them, Tejohn was moving. He feinted toward the one up high, jabbing up with his spear. He almost made a touch, too, it was so slow to respond, but it jolted back at the last minute, fleeing into the darkness.
 

But he had already kicked against a nearby brace, pushing himself back. He lowered his shield and spun his spear to bring the tip around. The other alligaunts were already charging him, and there was no time to switch his grip to a strong overhand position. Tejohn thrust with all the speed and power he could bring to bear. The alligaunt ducked low, but not low enough.
 

The point caught it just behind the dome of its skull, and the momentum of the creature’s forward rush, along with the difficulty of penetrating that thick hide, nearly wrenched the weapon from Tejohn’s hand. He held on, feeling his whole body shoved backward until the butt of the spear finally caught on something behind him and the point plunged deep.
 

But even as that first alligaunt cried out, the other--the one that spoke with the tone of command--pressed him hard. It did not try to close its jaws on his shield as Bully had; it caught the edge and shoved it aside.
 

Grateful am I to be permitted to travel The Way.

The jaws gaped, showing red, wet mouth and black gums behind small jagged teeth. Tejohn had a glance of the alligaunt’s curling, tentacle-like tongue before the thing swooped onto him, black eyes rolling back white, and bit down on his cuirass.
 

The power of the thing was tremendous. It slammed him against the vertical brace behind him, making lights flash in his vision. The cuirass crumpled at the edges, pressing against his ribs.
 

Tejohn’s spear was no longer in his hand, but he’d already reached down to his right hip and taken hold of his short sword. The alligaunt twisted, trying to spin and disorient him, and it might have worked if he hadn’t been pinned against a brace.
 

Too long. This was all taking too long. Tejohn thrust his sword dead center behind the alligaunt’s skull. The creature shuddered and seemed to lose its strength. He stabbed again and again, desperate to free himself.
 

There was still a third hunter out there somewhere, and Cazia had no protection. He shook himself free, finally, and hurried toward the braid where she was doing her work. “Cazia!”
 

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I lost concentration when they started attacking. I--”
 

“It’s fine,” Tejohn assured her. He moved close and held his shield to protect her. “There’s a third one out here somewhere, and they like to attack from below.”