No sooner had Corvan used the sleeve of his tunic to wipe the sweat from his brow, than a fresh trickle immediately ran back into his eyes, the salty sting causing his vision to blur even more. The passages from Kadir had become progressively hotter as he descended through the palace sewer into the network of tunnels running deep below the temple karst.
Saray had instructed him to watch for Jokten’s secret marks on the walls—patterns of black dots that indicated if a branching tunnel was a dead end or the only way through to the deepest city of the Cor. Without that knowledge, there would have been no way Corvan could have found his way through the tangle of passages and natural fissures.
He was fairly certain he had finally arrived at his destination for he was standing on the edge of a large underground lake, but the steam rising from the glowing water made it impossible to see more than a few yards.
A cooler draft wafted past him from off to his left and he took a deep breath to clear the excessive moisture form his lungs. The view before him cleared and Corvan took a step back before wiping his eyes once more to fully take in the spectacle. Dense mists swirling around the periphery created a scene just like the artwork on one of the covers of his science fiction magazines—an island city rising from glowing water in tiers until the very tip touched the ceiling of the cavern far overhead. On its left side, shattered pillars and segments of stone arches were all the remained of a bridge that had once connected the city to an arched entrance high up on the far wall. There, double gates hung askew on their hinges and from what Tsarek had told him, that was the entry into the darkened city of Bandur. Both the causeway and the gates had been destroyed after TaKalian had invaded Bandur.
Further along the cavern wall to the left of the broken gates, a waterfall plunged into the lake, creating a plume of vapor. The waterfall appeared to be the source of the cool breeze stirring the warm mist into eddies that swirled counterclockwise around the city.
He needed to get across to the city, but how? Both sides of his alcove swept away in cliffs so smooth, they reflected the light from the water below. Even if his krypin could grip the slick walls, with the city in the middle, all that would do was to take him behind it and around to the Bandur entry. Saray had not told him what to do once he got down to the lake so maybe he was to swim to the city. It was close enough but what sort of dangers lurked below the surface.
Lying flat on his stomach, Corvan trailed a finger in the currents slipping past the alcove. The water was warmer than his bathtub at home, even when it was freshly filled from the water heater on the side of the wood stove. The strong mineral odor reminded him of the hot pools at the national park in the mountains, some distance from his hometown. Twice they had visited the hot springs during summer vacation to watch the geysers belch their hot water and steam high into the air. Maybe that was where the water from the Cor River came back to the surface. It had to be going somewhere or this cavern and then all the cities of Cor would eventually fill up with water. No doubt that was why a fear of water was so deeply ingrained in the people of the Cor. On the surface, if there was a flood, people could flee to high ground. Down here, they would all be trapped and drown.
Cupping his hands into a circle to block out the ripples, Corvan peered below the surface of the water. Underwater gardens radiated out from the city like spokes on a wheel, as if they had been designed for the enjoyment of the schools of fish darting up the pathways and hiding in the patches of aquatic plants. Some groves of waving fronds produced tubelike stems that terminated in glowing underwater lumiens of various sizes. Other plants with thinner vines shot all the way to the surface, supported at the top by huge lily pads.
The gardens below the surface rivaled Anamir City for life and color but when he lifted his face out, everything above the waterline was a lifeless shade of gray. The warm water dripped from his nose as he raised his eyes to the uppermost tip of the city. A light came to life in the top tier and the shadowed figure of a man moved into a doorway and looked over the city. Corvan flattened himself against the stone, waiting until the man retreated and the light went out. The top level had to be the throne room of TaKalian, and it was where Corvan needed to go. It looked like a long swim was the only way to get there but that might expose him to TaKalian’s watchful gaze.
As Corvan stood to his feet, a massive shadow shot from the water, grazing his forehead, and knocking him back from the edge. Massive jaws snapped shut overhead, before a great fish flipped back into the water with a resounding splash.
Leaping back into the protected entry, Corvan watched as a dark shadow circled away under the water, then headed back in his direction, a double pointed dorsal fin slicing the surface. The fin slowed as it approached the shore where he had just been laying, the mist rolled back in, and it vanished. The sharklike creature was obviously hunting for something more substantial than the small fish in the underwater gardens. He would definitely not be swimming over to the island city.
Shoulders slumped; he sat on a benchlike slab of rock at the back wall of the alcove. How could he possibly follow through on his plan to rescue Kate if he couldn’t even get across the water. Saray hadn’t told him about this challenge and how Jokten had solved it but neither had she expected him to come here right away on his own.
Another cool breeze revealed only empty water swirling past his hiding place. As far as he could tell, the waterfall from Bandur was injecting cooler fresh water that created the current flowing past him to the back side of the city.
Another large shadow emerged from the mist to his left, but this one was flat on the surface and did not have a fin. One of the lily pads had broken loose and was drifting towards him, trailing a ropelike segment of its severed stem. If it could support him, he could ride the current to where it got closer to the city. Slipping quietly forward on his hands and knees and, keeping his head well back from the edge, he reached out, but the pad slipped past, just out of reach.
Something brushed his hand, but it was the only the long stem of the pad. Grabbing the end of the slippery tail, he retreated from the water’s edge, reeling in the lily pad until its thick rubbery lip crumpled in against the shore, piled up in folds, then flopped partially out of the water and onto the stone ledge.
The pad had to be at least twice his height across, and it was floating easily, despite having a ballast of water in its steeply dished center. Would it support him if he got inside? Did the large fish eat the lily pads? It didn’t seem likely, or by now they would have eaten the ones anchored in the water, or at least bitten a few chunks out of this free one.
Looping the stem around the rocky bench to hold it fast to the shore, Corvan, tentatively eased feet first into the lily pad until his toes touched down near the center. Sitting on the slippery edge to hold the pad in place he tasted the water in the middle. It was cooler and lacked the strong mineral taste, so the pad wasn’t leaking. It must have gone under the falls by the Bandur gate when it was making its way around the city. That meant the unlikely craft should at least take him fully around the cavern. If he did not make it into the city, he would at least return safely to this same place.
Scooping up more of the clean water in his hands, he drank his fill but as he sat back, he slipped on the slick surface and instantly was lying half submerged in the center well. The translucent plant flexed even deeper but didn’t tear. It bobbed about as he repositioned himself against its side and then noticed that the cliff wall was moving slowly past. His fall had pulled the steam free of its anchor point. There was not turning back now.
Gripping the lip of the pad, Corvan turned onto his stomach to look over the edge. At that moment, the large fish that had snapped at him rose silently to the surface between his leafy craft and the shore, its attention was focused on the rock shelf he had just left and as he watched, a powerful jet of water erupted from a short appendage on the top of its head, hosing out the alcove and tumbling small rocks into the water. Corvan retreated back into the middle of his lily pad. The last thing he needed was to be noticed by a fish easily capable of sinking his boat.
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Below him, a long shadow passed below the translucent skin of the lily pad, backlit by the lumiens at the bottom of the lake. Short legs hung from a thick body as a powerful forked tail undulated in long strokes to propel it through the water in the direction he had just come from. Even if he reached the city, there were dangers on land as well as underwater. He was fortunate to escape the cleaned-out alcove before the crocodile-like monster arrived.
Corvan lay back and looked upward as the topmost layers of the island city came into view. Dubok Kholm had been built up in tiers, like a rounded ziggurat or one of his mother’s attempts at a layered birthday cake. The roofline of the top section ascended to meet the ceiling of the cavern, as if it were anchored there to keep it from falling over. He had seen that happen with more than one of his mother’s lopsided cakes. Come to think of it, his mom was the only person he knew who made cakes that looked like this city. It was likely not a coincidence.
As he studied the upper levels, radial shafts of strong blue light burst out from a series of evenly spaced windows at the top level, like a lighthouse beacon in the midst of a dark sea. Closer now, he could make out a circular balcony with stone balustrades overlooking the city. The silhouette of the same man reappeared, walking the balcony, and peering out over the water in the direction of the broken bridge. Given the way the man moved and his hunched over form, Corvan was fairly certain he was observing TaKalian. After a short while, the man went back inside, and moments later, the blue light began to ripple and move about like waves on a beach.
The watery light cascading down the layers revealed that final segments of the city were crooked and poorly built. Lower down the walls were more symmetrical and decorated with intricate designs. Corvan sat up to examine where the city met the water and discover the bottom segment was partially submerged, with currents swirling past great pillars and into large gates that had obviously once been the entry into the great city. What was now the groves of underwater plants must have originally been the fields for the inhabitants of the city. Given the way the currents were heading inside the arches, the drain for the water had to be underneath it.
His leafy craft picked speed. It was darker on the back side as the underwater lumiens were obscured by a thick carpet of waving fronds. Shifting shadows and abrupt beams of light showed that the floodwater had taken over not only the lower level of the city but also smaller outbuildings, farms with walled gardens that rose in irregular levels to meet the cavern’s wall, much like the fields in Kadir. Here the city was also closer to the cavern wall—the velocity of the current steadily increasing.
Grabbing the lip, he looked directly below and found all the fronds bending around and in toward the city like the string algae when Fry’s pond overflowed in the spring. A dark underwater shadow loomed ahead, and the bottom of his lily pad stem snagged on it, spinning him around to face a larger arched opening in the city wall. With a rush of speed, he was swept beneath it and inside the city. The current slammed the soft pad against an iron gate, held it there a moment and then ripped it loose, spinning him about in erratic circles like the teacup ride at the county fair. The rounded ceiling of a wide passage contorted in dizzying sweeps as he shot forward. Up ahead he caught the roar of rushing water. Brighter patches of lumiens flashed past and then he was out in a huge room with a massive domed ceiling that was covered in detailed paintings. This could only be the great library of Dubok Kholm. Columns of bright from below glistened on spray covered the faces and scenes above making them appear as if they were freshly painted.
As the current twirled his lily pad toward the side of the room, Corvan discovered that in this library, the scenes above him were not painted. Instead they were mosaics made of tiny bits of glassy rock that reflected the light below and made the characters appear to move as he passed below. The characters in the scenes reminded him of Kael, Kira and the others of the royal family currently hiding out in Katay Alba.
The mosaics vanished as he was swept under a circular balcony that ran around perimeter of the library. Just ahead, a wide stair descended to a partially submerged landing. Corvan stood to be ready to jump across to it, but his lily pad bumped one of the pillars supporting the balcony and tossed him back to the bottom. The current squashed the pad against another stone support pillar and water rose against the trailing edge, threatening to overflow the lip and sink his craft. Pulling himself upright, he gripped the pillar and lifted the back edge higher to avoid being swamped.
Out in the middle of the partially submerged library, a tight whirlpool rushed around to disappear down a steep funnel. A smaller lily pad trailing a longer tail floated past him, gained momentum and then coiling itself around like a snake eating its own tail, it shot down the funnel in a swirl of translucent green. He could let himself be swept back into that main current but his lily pad was being pushed in deeper against the pillar and tipping dangerously to the inside. Uncoiling his krypin, Corvan quickly attached one end to the pillar and the other to the lip of his boat. No sooner was it in place than the pad spun free into the main circular current.
Tethered to the pillar his craft skated free on the surface, weaving back and forth, jostling him from side to side. He needed to get to safety on the balcony but the pillar he was attached not part of the balcony supports, it went up to the ceiling to a wide ring of geometric symbols that supported the main dome. Above, in the very center of the dome, a deeply shadowed hole appeared to lead upward, away from the library and into the city. If he could move the head of the krypin up the pillar and across the ceiling, he could release the lily pad and pull himself to safety inside the vertical shaft.
As quickly as he dared, he moved the krypin onto the ceiling, then eased his lily pad closer to the middle of the room. With the higher anchor point the pad began skimming over the surface of the water like an innertube behind a motorboat on Buffalo Lake. As the upper anchor point drew closer to the ventilation shaft, the water moved faster, stretching out the pliable rope. His heart pounded as he focused on manipulating the bumps on the control end. If he accidently let the top end come loose, he would be sucked down and drowned.
The closer the top came to the ventilation shaft the further his lily pad descended the downward curve of the funnel until it began running in circles, twisting the krypin like the rubber band on a balsa wood model plane. The rope began knotting up on itself and his stomach rolled in dizzy waves. He needed to drop the lily pad before it snapped his krypin in two. Desperately he punched the right button on the controls and instantly he was shooting straight up as the lily pad disappeared into the funnel below. He bounced a few times before the coiled krypin began to unwind, spinning him in the reverse direction. Shutting his eyes he held on as roar of the water surrounding him grew louder.
The spinning slowed, reversed a few times, then finally stopped. Something tugged at his feet and opening his eyes he found himself hanging directly inside in the center of the funnel, a solid wall of illuminated water slipping around him. He looked down to where the toes dangling feet were begin caught in the spinning wall of water. Further down the water was hitting the top of a round surface and flowing out over what appeared to be an immense lumien and yet inside it, smaller globes of light were moving about.
He was about to drop lower for a closer look at the strange sight, when the spinning funnel caught one heel and tossed him against the other side of the funnel. Pulling his legs in tight to his chest, he looked overhead to find the upper end of the double headed krypin was now barely inside the round shaft in center of the ceiling. Manipulating the controls he quickly sent it further up the shaft until he emerged from the whirlpool and drew closer to the mosaic scenes.
As soon as he was lifted into the shaft the sound of the rushing vortex faded away. At regular intervals, square shafts branched off horizontally to accept the air flowing past his body. The central shaft has been designed to move fresh move fresh air through the city. Higher up however the flow of air reversed, the hot air coming out of the horizontal shafts stank of rotting fish and raw sewage.
The vertical shaft ended, branching out in four wider oval shaped passages. The putrid air smell from the passages grew even stronger. Had he escaped only to go back into the sewers? Pulling himself into one of the passages he released the krypin and crawled forward as quickly as possible to get away from the nauseating stench.
A light at the end of the tunnel drew closer and he could see the ceiling of the cavern in the distance. Cautiously he stuck his head out into fresher air. Above him was the underside of a balcony, hopefully the one for the lighthouse section at the very top, but the view below made him immediately dizzy. Cascading out below, the stacked tiers of the city fanned out to the lowest level where glowing ripples, illuminated by underwater lumiens, lapped at the pavements of a partially flooded plaza.
He was about to roll over and send his krypin onto the upper balcony when a line of shadows emerged from a doorway below.
