"Right, I'll go again," said Crow. "Don't follow too close, in case I slip." He climbed through the hatch, and his feet disappeared as he pulled himself up the ladder inside the shaft. His voice came echoing back down, along with another disgusting waft of awful smells.
Tal hesitated. Crow was warning him, and he appeared to be more honest and open than he had in the past. But was this all just an act to lull Tal into thinking he was safe?
"I'm not going," said Adras.
"Yes you are," said Tal, his voice very stern. "We don't have a choice. Stop your nonsense and follow me."
He climbed through the hatch. Adras did follow him, though the Spiritshadow made a small continuous noise that was very like a small child whining.
The smell was even worse inside, so strong that even with his mask Tal could only take shallow breaths. He knew if he really breathed in hard he would instantly vomit. The shaft was smaller than Tal had expected, and darker. He increased the light from his Sunstone, which was tied into the point of his collar, making it bright enough to shine through the cloth as if it wasn't there.
Crow was already a good twenty stretches higher up and making good progress. Tal watched him climb for a while, noting that the Freefolk boy always made sure he had one really solid hand--and foothold before he took another step.
The rungs were really greasy. If it wasn't for the grit on his hands, Tal wasn't sure he'd be able to hang on.
He looked down for a moment, but quickly looked back up. There was nothing below but darkness, the ladder disappearing out of sight. The smell already made him feel nauseous and looking down didn't help. Besides, with the danger of slops being thrown down from above, he would be much better off looking up.
He looked up and started to climb. It was a long way up to the Violet levels. Even if he didn't fall off on the way, once they got there he'd still have to find a way into the Violet Tower.
Then he would have to confront Sushin and the great shadow dragon who was Sushin's ultimate master.
Sharrakor.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The water was freezing cold. But the Shield Maiden who'd been through once already said that the flooded tunnel was only twelve stretches long before it sloped up into air again.
Twelve stretches wasn't very far, Milla thought. She suppressed a shiver as she took another step and the water rose above her waist. Something rippled in the water next to her and she almost struck at it with the Talon before she realized it was Odris swimming. Even as a Spiritshadow, Odris liked water. It was the stuff of life for a Storm Shepherd in Aenir. Or part of it, anyway. Air and water, that's what they were made of. Air, water, and magic.
Two Shield Maidens were close behind Milla, helping Graile's Spiritshadow with its mistress, who was still very weak. Milla was pleased with the shimmering globe of green light that surrounded Graile's head. It seemed to be working properly.
She took another step, and the water gripped at her neck. It was so cold it constricted her lungs. Still, she told herself, it was not as cold as a windstorm out on the Ice.
Milla breathed in and out slowly, several times. Then she took the breath that would have to last her through the flooded tunnel. As the last of it filled her lungs, she pushed forward, keeping one hand against the wall so she would keep going in the right direction. The water was too dirty and dark to see in, even with a Sunstone.
One step, two steps, three steps… it was hard going, walking underwater. The floor beneath her was slippery, too, so she had to be careful. If she slid over, she might get turned around, or smack her head and lose her precious breath.
Four steps… five steps… six steps… that had to be two stretches, surely? But she'd been taking smaller steps than usual, so maybe it wasn't. Already she felt short of air, the cold pressing on her lungs and throat.
Maybe she'd become weaker since she'd been to Aenir and lost her natural shadow. Maybe wielding the Talon and using Light Magic had weakened her, too. She was used to having magical or Spiritshadow help, and some of her toughness had leaked away. Surely such a small crossing underwater wouldn't have worried her before?
Ten steps. Or was it eleven? Milla tried to move faster through the water. Her breath was almost gone and she couldn't bear the shame of drowning or almost drowning and having to be rescued. That Shield Maiden Jorle had been through twice already and hadn't been bothered at all.
She had to keep going. It could only be a few more steps.
Unless she'd somehow found another branch of the tunnel. What if Jorle had been lucky and gone straight through, but Milla had somehow ended up taking a side passage? Maybe she was walking even deeper underwater, into blacker depths from which there would be no return.
A second later, she burst out into air and light, gasping a heartfelt breath. Ebbitt was standing farther up a ramp ahead, the green globe still around his head, not as bright as it had been.
"What took you so long?" he asked. "We have a locomotor to catch."
Milla climbed out of the water and up the ramp to Ebbitt. Then she shook herself, sending a spray across the old man. He flinched and grimaced and muttered about something called towels, but didn't retreat.
There was a loud splash below. Graile and the two Shield Maidens emerged--Graile completely calm but shivering, the two Icecarls spluttering and gasping for breath.
As soon as they looked up, Milla slowed her own breathing. She knew that a leader must try to appear calm and capable at all times. But she wasn't sure whether the Shield Maidens were fooled, particularly when they immediately tried to disguise their own panting for more air.
The next Icecarl to arrive was the Wilder, Jarek. He was still emerging from the strange condition that came when the berserk fury left. He seemed unaffected by the crossing, but did not speak or even look at anyone else. He trudged up the ramp and stood cradling his chain, his eyes blank.
Perhaps it was actually grief from the loss of his companion, Milla thought as she cast a cautious glance at him, and not the aftereffects of the fury. She did not know much about Wilders.
"Hurry up, hurry up," chanted Ebbitt. "I told you we have a locomotor to catch."
"This is not a time for hunting. We must get to the Violet levels as quickly as we can," Milla said impatiently. "What is a locomotor anyway? Some sort of beast?"
"You'll see, you'll see," explained Ebbitt. "But it is not for hunting. Oh, no. We will catch it to ride it, and it will take us the first part of the way we have to go to get to where we're going."
"The Violet levels," reiterated Milla. She wanted to be absolutely sure Ebbitt knew where they wanted to go. Though even with constant repetition there was no guarantee.
"We are all here, War-Chief," called Saylsen from the bottom of the ramp. As Milla half expected, the Shield Mother was hardly out of breath and didn't even look as wet, bedraggled, and cold as everybody else.
"Come," said Ebbitt. He led the way to the top of the ramp and then along a sandy tunnel that cut straight through the rock, without smooth walls or stonework. There were no Sunstones set in the ceiling here, and the only light came from the stones of Milla and Ebbitt, aided by a dim glow from Graile's.
The tunnel went on for a long way. After a while, Milla heard a strange noise coming from up ahead. It sounded a little like the metalworkers of the Firekeeper
Clan, the Icecarls who held the secret of turning rocks into metal. They were the only ones who could use the special rock that was sometimes found around the hot pools of ghalt, or which fell from the sky like Sunstones. The metal they made wasn't as good as the golden metal of the ancients, but it was prized just the same.
The ring of metal and the dull thud of stone grew louder as they kept on. Ebbitt obviously heard it but was not concerned. Milla decided that if he wasn't, she wouldn't be, either. The Icecarls took their lead from her.
"Careful now," warned Ebbitt. He slowed down and held his Sunstone higher. Milla tensed, her Talon-hand ready. Odris, seeing that, slipped back.
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"The tunnel ends above the locomotor road, up ahead," said Ebbitt. "We have to drop into one of the locomotor buckets, which will carry us along to a point where we can go by steam. Some of us, anyway."
"What is a locomotor and what is one of their buckets?" asked Milla.
Ebbitt didn't reply, but he gestured Milla to come forward and join him. Together, they walked slowly forward. The light from their Sunstones lit the way ahead, the tunnel walls giving way to a much larger open space where their light could only partly banish the darkness.
The tunnel ended at a cliff partway up the side of a large cavern. Below them, on the floor of the cavern, was a strange path that led into the darkness, a path that was marked by three metal lines, each about a stretch apart.
Something moved out of the darkness, something about the size of a juvenile Selski. It took Milla only a moment to recognize that it was not a living thing, but the source of the hammering sound. It was just a box of metal, open at the top, balanced on a platform that had two big wheels running on the outside metal lines. There were also little toothed wheels at each end, clacking along on the metal line in the middle.
"A locomotor bucket," explained Ebbitt. "The locomotor is at the back. It pushes the buckets around on those metal lines, which are called rails. There are many locomotors, each one pushing ten buckets. They come out of the darkness below, rise to where we want to go, and then disappear down into the darkness again."
Milla kept staring as more and more of the wheeled boxes Ebbitt called buckets came into view.
As he'd said, there were ten, all of them pushed along by the strange locomotor. Unlike the buckets, the locomotor appeared to be at least partially alive, a thing of strangely pulsing gray flesh that sat on the same kind of wheeled platform. The blob of flesh had powerful arms, each as long as a grown Icecarl, that turned the wheels. But there was no skin covering these limbs. Milla could see the muscles tensing and relaxing, and the sheen of bone.
"Line up along here," Ebbitt instructed. "When an empty bucket is beneath us, we just jump down."
"Where do we get out?" asked Milla. She had a vision of the strange locomotor pushing them somewhere they didn't want to go, deep beneath the Castle.
"There is a place ahead where the line steepens and the locomotors stop to gather their strength," explained Ebbitt. "We jump out there, right next to an Underfolk passage that goes to a steam riser and also out to Red Five."
"Where does the locomotor go after that?" Ebbitt shrugged. "Down again," he said. "I don't know where. One day I'll find out."
The first bucket drew level with them as Ebbitt finished speaking. It was traveling not much faster than a walk, and was only four or five stretches below.
An easy jump for an Icecarl. Even Graile, aided by her Spiritshadow, could do it, Milla thought.
"Everyone line up along the edge here," ordered Milla. "We'll jump in the last two buckets."
"No, not the last two," interrupted Ebbitt. "Stay at least one bucket away from the locomotor."
Milla looked at him.
"It has extra arms as well as the ones that turn the wheels," said Ebbitt. "And somewhere under all that flesh, I believe there is a mouth."
Milla wasn't sure whether to believe him, but it was better to err on the side of safety.
"You have done this before, haven't you?" she asked.
Ebbitt smiled.
"Get ready to jump," said Saylsen, who had kept her eye on the buckets and was timing their passage. "Avoid the last bucket, as instructed."
"You have, haven't you?" Milla asked again. Ebbitt kept smiling, but made no move to answer. "Jump!" Saylsen shouted.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Tal climbed wearily out of the hatch and fell onto the kitchen floor. It had been a longer climb than he could have imagined, much farther than when he had climbed the Red Tower. His hands were raw, blood mixing with the grit, and one shoulder was caked in the foul-smelling residue that had come flying down the shaft when they were about halfway up. Fortunately it had been cold.
Crow was sitting close by, his face pale, obviously even more worn out than Tal. Adras was sliding across the ceiling, trying to get as far away from the odorous slopdown as he could.
Unlike the kitchen they'd left so far below, this one was still in use. Fires burned under many pots, and there were even some old Sunstone-powered hot plates that glowed yellow and red with permanent heat. A breeze constantly blew through the kitchen, taking smoke and cooking smells up into holes in the ceiling. There were benches laden with fresh ingredients being prepared by Underfolk cooks. Tal saw belish root, cave fish, shrimps, orange and red yaribles, blue mushrooms, and more--enough to make him remember he was hungry.
All the Underfolk were gathered at the far end of the kitchen, clearly scared by these garbage-encrusted intruders who had emerged from the slopdown hatch. Tal raised his Sunstone and it flashed Violet. Instantly, they all turned back to their allotted tasks, ignoring the unexpected arrivals.
"A flash of light and they know who's master," whispered Crow. But he said it without the anger that would have been there before. He just sounded sad.
Tal looked at the stacked crockery on one of the nearer benches. It was all of violet-colored crystal, confirming that this was indeed a kitchen on one of the Violet levels.
"Where do we go from here?" asked Crow. "How do we get into the Violet Tower? I hope we don't have to climb the outside of it."
"I'm not sure," Tal admitted. He knew very little about the Violet Tower. He remembered being taught that it was much larger and higher than the other six. But he didn't remember much else. He had seen the topmost part of it briefly from the Red Tower, but it had been the farthest away, and he hadn't been able to make out any details.
"You must have some idea," continued Crow.
"I have one idea," said Tal. "I'm just not sure it's a good one."
Crow looked at him expectantly.
"Well," Tal began, "the Empress must be… must have been able to get into the Violet Tower. And there's a children's puzzle song that might have something to do with it, only I can't remember it properly. It has a line that goes 'The first sat here, the second spied here, the third flew here, the fourth ate here, the fifth was born here, the sixth sang here, and the seventh grew here.' All I can remember of the answering part is that the first was an Emperor, the third a bird----probably a crow, I guess--and then it ends with 'the seventh was a tower.' And `here' was the Audience Chamber, which has the Imperial Throne in it. Only I don't know where the Audience Chamber is."
"I know who we can ask," said Crow. He slowly got to his feet and looked at the Underfolk, who were keeping their distance. "If the Empress ever ordered a drink or food, someone from here would have taken it to her."
"I guess so," said Tal. He got up, too, ignoring the stabbing pains in the muscles of his arms and legs.
Crow singled out the most senior Underfolk, an old cook, and started to talk to him. Tal tried to stretch a bit, to ease the stiffness that he knew would come along sooner or later. He was tired, his weariness made worse by the aftereffects of the water-spider poison. He didn't really listen to Crow and the Underfolk cook until Crow called out to him.
"Tal! Come and hear this."
Tal pushed himself off the bench he was leaning against and walked over. Above his head, Adras glided across the ceiling.
"Tell him what you told me," instructed Crow.
The Underfolk man bowed nervously. He obviously didn't know what to make of Crow and he wasn't absolutely sure about Tal, even with his Sunstone and Spiritshadow.
"As it please you, Masters--"
"Don't call us Masters!" Crow interrupted.
The cook bobbed his head several times and cleared his throat.
"Yes, Ma--as it pleases you. The Audience
Chamber and the Imperial Throne are not used, haven't been used by Her Highness, not these many years. Well, never, I think, as my parents told me."
"
But it must be cleaned from time to time," said Crow. "Everywhere is cleaned."
The cook shook his head.
"No, no. The doors cannot be opened, save by the Empress. In my father's time, under the old Emperor, the doors were always open, and I am sure we cleaned it most thoroughly. It is not neglect, Masters, not at all. I am sure the Cleaners would be very happy, most ecstatic to clean the Audience Chamber again…"
"Can you show us where the doors to the Audience Chamber are?" asked Tal. "Can we get to them through Underfolk ways?"
"I am assigned here," said the cook nervously, casting an eye back over all the other Underfolk working over the fires and at the benches. "I cannot leave. But I could send one of our waiters, if it please you, Masters."
"Stop this 'Master' and 'if it pleases you' stuff," said Crow, some of his old anger returning. "You'll be free soon. The Icecarls have invaded the Castle and will win. The Chosen are losing."
The cook trembled at Crow's words and didn't answer. The confusion in his eyes was clear enough. He had only ever known one world and could not imagine it changing.
"A waiter will be fine," said Tal gently. "As long as he knows the way."
The cook bobbed and nodded and hurried off, calling out a name.
"I hope the doors are still closed," said Tal.
"Why?" asked Crow. "How will we get in?"
"I'd forgotten that the Empress never had the Violet Keystone," explained Tal. "Mercur--the old Emperor she deposed--managed to escape with it. He died in the heatways, and that's how we got the stone that Ebbitt split in two for Milla and me."
"So?"
"I bet you need the Violet Keystone to open the doors to the Audience Chamber and to get into the Violet Tower. That's why the doors have been shut since Mercur's time. If they're open now, it means Sushin has already used the half he stole from me to get in."
Crow nodded thoughtfully.
"What do we do if we run into Sushin?" he asked. "I mean, if he's still there?"