Three amphoras later, her groans were loud enough to reach the navigation cabin.
“Problem?” Rias called.
“Unless this colonial captain was an utter lush, I think we’ve opened the wrong cabin.”
“It might be a steward’s cabin. I’ll move us forward.”
As Tikaya retracted the claw, she heard Mee Nar’s snort and utterance of, “If this ship is full of wine, then I’m sure it’s Turgonian.”
“Ceramic just happens to withstand the centuries well,” Tikaya said. “I’m sure there were other things in the room as well.”
“Like kegs of mead?” Mee Nar asked.
“Tikaya,” Rias said, “you were right. I believe my side trip to fetch this Nurian was in error.”
“At least I’m not the one foolish enough to contemplate firing a torpedo at some Maker’s exploding artifact.”
Tikaya sat up straighter. “What?”
“I wasn’t seriously contemplating it,” Rias said.
“I should hope not,” Tikaya said.
“Unless I could modify the torpedoes to shoot at a much greater speed, thus to carry the sphere out of range of the wreck before exploding.”
“Rias?”
“A joke,” he said. “I wouldn’t fire them at this depth anyway.”
Tikaya shook her head. “I’m ready for you to move the submarine forward.”
“Understood,” Rias said, soberness returning to his tone.
The hole she’d opened up slipped from view, and the Freedom stopped ten feet farther along the hull.
“Just so you know,” Rias said, “you’re directly under the sphere now.”
“How lovely.” Tikaya started sawing again. At least if the sphere dropped and exploded, she wouldn’t have time to know what was happening before it was over. “So comforting.”
“They’re right over us,” Mee Nar said. “They must be tracking us. Or the wreck. Or their orb.”
“It doesn’t really matter which,” Rias said. “Let me know if they start dropping more explosives.”
“If the creator is up there and figures out this one is sitting down here, waiting to be detonated,” Mee Nar said, “then they won’t need to drop more.”
Tikaya pulled out a hole in the hull, this one even more ragged than the first. She slipped the claw inside and fished about, hoping for something more useful than wine. A chest full of journals perhaps, though she admitted a book wouldn’t have likely survived the water, unless it had been sealed in something air- and watertight. She groaned when she pulled out another ceramic container.
“More wine?” Rias asked.
“This might be your mead. Or food. I don’t know.” Whatever it was, she didn’t think it’d be worth grabbing as their one item that they could haul to the surface.
“They’ve dropped a round of spheres,” Mee Nar said.
Tikaya thumped her fist on the console. “Cursed banyan sprites, I don’t have anything.”
“Go in again,” Rias said. “It’ll take a moment for them to fall down here.”
“Not that long of a moment,” Mee Nar said.
“Just let me know when I have thirty seconds.”
“They’re falling fast.”
Tikaya jammed the claw back into the hole, barely remembering not to knock hard against anything—not with one sphere already down there with them. She patted about on the slanted deck, wishing she could feel what the pincers touched, not simply sense that they were bumping against things.
“Now,” Mee Nar said.
“Tikaya?” Rias asked.
She grabbed the closest thing. It scraped and bumped along the deck slowly. Either the claw tool wasn’t working as well, or this was something heavy. Hope arose within her. Then it caught against something. She cursed.
“Tikaya, we need to go,” Rias said, his voice steady but underlain with contained urgency. “Is it safe to pull out?”
“One second...”
Tikaya yanked again, but her find wouldn’t budge. Remembering the second tool, she swung the saw in, hacking into the hull, creating a wider hole.
A thump and a grunt came from navigation. “Starcrest, get us out of here!”
“Calm down, Nar.”
Tikaya finished cutting and thumped on the new cutout with the saw. There was no time to worry about whether bumps would rattle the sphere on the railing free, not when dozens more were plummeting down. Cutting the wider hole let her find a better angle, and she was able to pull her prize free. Though gray with grime, it looked like a chest. Praying that she’d found something worth risking themselves for, she worked the claw through a thick metal—or was that stone?—ring on one end. She closed the pinchers, hoping they could pull it up with them without the contents being dumped on the—
“Starcrest, it’s falling!”
Before the words were out, the submarine was moving. It lurched forward so fast, Tikaya fell into her seat. She almost lost her grip on the controls, but, not knowing if she’d entirely secured the ring, she refused to let go.
“Look out,” Mee Nar called. “It’s—”
Tikaya held her breath. They must have knocked the sphere on the railing free. Had it struck the ocean floor? It couldn’t have exploded or she would have felt it.
The submarine pulled away from the wreck, turning as it went, and she caught a glimpse of it. The glowing orb had dropped into the mud beneath the ship. And it hadn’t exploded. Tikaya released the breath she’d been holding. More might be coming, but at least they’d evaded—
A flash of crimson light assailed her eyes. Tikaya stumbled backward, tripping on the chair, and going down. Before she hit the deck, a wave of force slammed into the Freedom. It flung Tikaya into the bulkhead, her head cracking against the solid metal. Dazed, she was barely aware of sliding down the wall to the deck. The interior lighting went out, and blackness invaded the cabin.
Shouts erupted from elsewhere in the boat, but a loud snap echoed from the hull, drowning out the men’s words. Tikaya had a vague sense that she needed to get up, to help somehow, but the boat continued to rock, as if they were in a storm on the surface, and she struggled to find her knees. Dampness covered her hand. Blood? She blinked and lifted it, as if she could see through the blackness to identify it. Wetness found her knees too.
“Not blood, you dolt—water.” The ramifications washed over her. Any second, the rest of the hull might snap, or it’d collapse in on them, crushing them. “Rias, leak!”
Tikaya scrambled to her feet, blood surging through her veins and pushing away the fog in her head. For all she knew, Rias was already busy with a leak, or he was injured. Or dead. “No,” she whispered and groped her way to the hatch. Maybe if it was just in that compartment, she could—
Something bumped against her torso. A hand?
Before she could identify it for certain, it gripped her and yanked her out of the cabin. Metal clanked, announcing the hatch being shut. A soft squeal sounded as the wheel was turned. A thunderous crack came from the other side of the hatch.
“You all right?” Rias asked, his voice brusque but concerned.
“Yes, but—”
He released her and pounded away, boots ringing on the metal decking. “I have to get us up,” he called back, already in the navigation chamber.
In the utter darkness, Tikaya couldn’t move as quickly, but she patted her way to the front. Heavy breathing came from a corner. Mee Nar.
“Should I close this door too?” Tikaya tapped the hatch leading to navigation.
“If anything besides the science station floods, it won’t matter.” From the sound of Rias’s voice, he was sitting at the navigation chair. Not an iota of light seeped in from outside. He wouldn’t be able to see the gauges, his instruments, or anything. “As it is, we’re rising slowly. I’ve pumped as much air into the ballast tanks as we have, but when there’s water inside...”
“I get it,” Tikaya said. Her ears popped. At least they were rising. For now. ??
?Does the lighting being out mean the power source is dead?”
“Dead or disconnected. That was quite a jolt. Mee Nar, I’ve still got some steering capability. Can you let me know if any more of those explosives are dropping around us?”
A rapid chain of Nurian curse words flowed from Mee Nar’s lips, punctuated by orders for Starcrest to shove his sword up his butt and laments for his choice to answer the door that morning.
“He says no,” Tikaya said.
“Yes, I got the gist.”
“Just doing my job as team linguist.” Tikaya snapped her mouth shut. Her words were coming out almost as quickly as Mee Nar’s. She probably sounded hysterical.
“I’ll try to bring us up as far away from the Kyattese ship as possible,” Rias said.
In the aftermath of the explosion, Tikaya couldn’t imagine how he had any idea of which direction they were pointing.
“Did you get anything more out of the wreck before we left?” Rias asked quietly, as if he was afraid of the answer, afraid to find out that this had all been a waste of time.
“A chest, but I doubt we still have it. If we do have it, I doubt it’s still shut with anything inside. I had the claw wrapped around a ring on one end.” Tikaya imagined them pulling up an empty chest, its secrets spilled all over the ocean floor, the depths too great for them to descend to again. If the submarine was even salvageable after this.
Rias sighed.
Tikaya thought she could see his outline in the shadows. Yes, shadows. There was a hint of light coming from the viewport. Her ears popped again. “Are we close to the surface?”
“I’m guessing fifty meters.”
“It must still be night,” Tikaya said. Otherwise, the water would be brighter, even that deep.
“Yes.”
Hard to believe they hadn’t been underwater longer. A great weariness weighed down Tikaya’s limbs, and she leaned against the hatchway. It seemed like they’d been down for days.
“I didn’t see any weapons on the Kyattese ship,” Rias announced a moment later, “but I suppose they could have more magical ordinance to throw at us. Tikaya can you man the controls? I need to see if the power supply is dead or can be brought back to life.” He sighed again, the sigh of a man who doubted it mattered either way.
Tikaya caught his arm as he stood. “We’re still alive. That’s something to be thankful for.”
“Yes.” Rias hugged her, but pulled away too soon. “But we’ve gained nothing and lost a chance to do it again.”
“You don’t know that. We could fix—”
“I saw two of those spheres drop on the wreck as we were pulling away. It’s gone.”
“Oh.” Tikaya stared at the deck. “Maybe we’ll have managed to retain that chest, and it’ll contain what we sought.”
“Maybe.” Rias didn’t sound optimistic.
CHAPTER 20
The Freedom bobbed on the surface, the stars telling Tikaya that dawn wasn’t that far off. Mee Nar hadn’t said anything since they’d come up, but she imagined he was thinking of opening the exit hatch and swimming to shore. It might not be a bad idea. The Kyattese ship wasn’t visible at the moment, but Mee Nar had nodded when she’d asked if it was out there. The dark sky and darker sea might hide the gray of the submarine for the moment, but it’d be easy to see once dawn came. They were about a mile out from the black cliffs and dead in the water unless Rias could get power flowing to the engine again. If the engine were the problem, she’d have faith that he could, but he wouldn’t have any experience fixing Kyattese energy sources.
“I wonder if he’d mind if I swam out and took a look at that claw,” Tikaya mused. She’d been musing upon the idea for a while, but hadn’t gotten further than that. As long as she didn’t go outside and check, she could hope they’d managed to pull up something. If she went out and found nothing there...
Rias appeared in the hatchway, holding a lantern turned to its lowest setting. “Something struck the power supply and there’s a hole in the exterior. I could patch it, but somehow I doubt that would fix it.” He shrugged.
“No,” Tikaya agreed. “You’d need to Make a patch with your mind.”
“If you have a technical manual that explains how to do that, I’ll give it a try, but I’m guessing such things aren’t taught in such a manner.”
Mee Nar snorted.
“They’re not,” Tikaya said. “Are we dead in the water, then?”
“There’s some energy stored in the battery. We may be able to make it to shore.”
May be able to make it. That didn’t sound promising. Where would they go that was safe anyway?
“I’m hoping the practitioners won’t be able to track us as easily with the energy source inoperable,” Rias said.
“They’ll see us floating on the surface as soon as it gets light,” Mee Nar pointed out.
“We’ll leave soon,” Rias said.
“Back to the cave?” Tikaya yawned. Back home to her bedroom sounded better. But would that ever be an option again? After she’d sabotaged a Kyattese ship and put her family in danger with her choices?
“We’ll see.” Rias eyed the sky outside. “Let’s see if we pulled anything up first. It’s doubtful the grasper kept its grip in the face of that explosion, but...”
“Yes, I was thinking about that too.” Tikaya rose from her seat and swung her arms to encourage blood flow—and to wake herself up. “It was my project. I’ll go check on it.”
“I’ll do it,” Rias said.
“You better stay in here incase there are more mechanical problems. Besides you’ve done enough.”
“I don’t know why you two are arguing,” Mee Nar muttered. “There are probably still sharks out there.” He’d lost his hysterical edge and didn’t seem to retain any of his animosity from earlier. He just sounded... defeated. Maybe he suspected he, too, would not be allowed to remain on the island—and with his family—because of his choice that night.
Tikaya hoped she didn’t sound that way. Rias was watching her.
“What?” she asked.
“I want you to stay in here while I take a look,” he said, his eyes intent, like he wanted to pass some secret message to her.
What couldn’t he say out loud? There was little left that Mee Nar didn’t know. Without waiting for her agreement, Rias tugged off his shirt and sandals, opened the upper hatch, and climbed out of the submarine.
“Are you sure he’s entirely on your people’s side?” Mee Nar asked.
“I’m entirely sure he’s on my side,” Tikaya said. “As for unswerving loyalty to groups of people en mass, I don’t think he feels that toward any nation any more. Akahe knows, my people haven’t welcomed him.” She lowered her voice and added, “Idiots.”
“Can you blame them? My people would have shot him full of arrows the moment he set foot on one of our docks.”
“I doubt that,” Tikaya said. “I think the Nurians are smart enough to see the value in a high-ranking officer who’s forsaken his emperor.”
“The Great Chief perhaps, but it’d only be luck if someone on the citizen protection force had that sort of foresight and didn’t shoot him on sight.”
The sound of water dripping interrupted Tikaya’s response. Her first thought was of the sealed science station, that it might be leaking somehow, but then a soggy Rias dropped through the open hatchway. Wet hair plastered his brow, and his trousers clung to his legs. He was empty-handed.
Tikaya’s hopes sank, but he immediately jogged into the rear, an intent expression on his face. Maybe he had found something.
“Need help?” Tikaya called.
Clunks and clanks answered her. A moment later, Rias reappeared, unwinding a coil of rope as he went. “Can you two turn the winch back there? This is heavy.”
Without further explanation, he climbed back outside. A splash announced his descent into the water again. Tikaya waved Mee Nar to follow the rope to its source, but she paused to stick her head outside. Eith
er the moon had set or clouds covered it, for there was little illumination. The only light came from the Kyattese ship, a mix of mundane firelight in lanterns and green-glowing Made lamps.
The craft didn’t seem to have moved from the area over the wreck. Didn’t they know they’d completed their mission? Maybe they were out there with spyglasses, searching for the submarine even now.
A clank sounded as something struck the hull. The rope had gone taut. Rias’s head popped out of the water.
Curiosity hummed inside of Tikaya, but she dropped back below. If they had pulled up something heavy, it might take two people to operate that winch.
She joined Mee Nar, who was indeed straining to operate the hand-cranked machine. He shifted to the side, so she had room to grip the lever. A lantern on the floor cast his face in shadow and light, illuminating the sweat moistening his skin.
“Still regretting that you answered the door this morning?” Tikaya asked.
“Technically, I think that’s yesterday morning, now,” Mee Nar said. “And yes and no. The Kyattese won’t be pleased if they learn I had a role in this, but we made it back up. If this boat starts to sink now, I can swim to shore. Having spent time in here, and taken a look at everything, I’m sure I could create detailed drawings should anything befall Starcrest before he can sketch the blueprints for me.”
Tikaya supposed she couldn’t be surprised that Mee Nar was more interested in relaying information to his people than finding out what they’d pulled from the wreck.
“I will also remember that throwing explosives into the water is a possible way to damage one of these boats,” Mee Nar added.
“If you get lucky. We could have easily avoided them if my people hadn’t known exactly where we needed to go down there.”
“Yes, I know.” Mee Nar paused to wipe his brow, and the effort required to move the lever doubled. “Imagining the empire with a fleet of these boats is terrifying. Especially after what he said about...”