Deadly Games

Amaranthe pushed off the bottom, sword raisedagain. She tried to be subtle, to hold the weapon back so the fishwould not see the attack coming, but it moved again. Or startedto-it froze in the middle of a fin flap.

Quick to take advantage, Amaranthe skeweredit. The fish’s inner light winked out.

You’re welcome, Akstyr signed.

She removed the creature from her sword andgave him a salute. You’re turning into a useful youngman.

I know. I should get more respect.Akstyr glowered, not at her but at Maldynado.

It’s hard to respect someone who can’tgrow a decent mustache, Maldynado signed.

Akstyr pointed at Amaranthe and propped hisfists on his hips.

True, Maldynado signed, hers hasn’tcome in yet either.

I imagine you’ll stop trying to set me upwith men when it does. Amaranthe continued forward. She lefther sword out, but she hoped no more trouble hid on the lake floor.She would hate to admit to Sicarius a fish had gotten the best ofher.

The thought of him sent a twinge of anxietythrough her. She had missed him more than made sense these lastcouple of days. It was not as if he were some cheery, warm presencein her life. Certainly the group had survived a few adventureswithout him, proof that, for all his skills, he was not somenucleus they could not do without. Professionally, she knew theycould go on without him, but personally… Her heart cringed at theidea of infiltrating this structure, only to learn they were toolate.

They neared one of the tunnels of thestructure, and she pushed stray thoughts from her mind. “Focus,”she told herself.

They had no trouble creeping up to the hullof the fortress, and Amaranthe worried that things were going tooeasily. She sidled over to a porthole, pushed off the ground, andrested a hand on the metal, intending to peer in.

Energy surged up her arm, thrusting her backeven as an electric jolt surged through her body. Spasms wrackedher muscles, she couldn’t breathe, and she swore her heart stopped.Panic flashed through her.

The convulsions ended as abruptly as theybegan, and her heart started beating again. She recovered with agasp, the experience leaving her shaken.

“Too easy?” she muttered. “I take itback.”

A hand gripped her shoulder. She realized shehad fallen back to the lake floor-and that she was clutching herchest as if to keep her heart from bursting out of it. She loweredher arm and nodded to Maldynado before he could ask after herhealth. Or perhaps after her sanity for presuming to touchsomething here.

I sense energy about the exterior,Akstyr signed.

Now he told her.

Amaranthe grabbed a rusty tin can sunken intothe silt and tossed it against the hull. Lightning crackled aboutit as it bounced off.

“Probably should have done that first,” shemuttered, picking up the can and tossing it again, this time at theporthole.

It clunked off without any sparks ofelectricity. She grabbed it and pushed off the bottom again. Withit in her hand this time, she prodded the clear window material-shewas hesitant to think of it as glass, since it might be somemagical creation. No lightning coursed through her body, so shedropped the can and rested her hands against the surface, kickinglightly to stay in place.

An empty, dimly lit corridor stretched ineither direction. She waited for a moment, in case a crew memberwalked through or something otherwise enlightening happened. Itdidn’t. She dropped back to the lake floor.

Maldynado had moved a few meters away and waslooking around a bend. He waved and signed, There’s a hatch overhere. Maybe we can get in.

Without getting electrocuted?Amaranthe signed.

Maybe…not.

I’ll look at it, Akstyr signed. Stillcarrying his keg, Books trundled after him.

Amaranthe popped back up for another lookinto the porthole. A naked woman darted into a nearby intersection,and her hopes rose. Was that one of the kidnapped athletes? Surelythe practitioners wouldn’t be running around nude.

She tried to press her cheek to the portholefor a better view, but her helmet clunked against it. The womanmust have heard the sound, for she crept closer. She came forwardin a slow, wary crouch. Snarls and knots tangled her hair, and herwide, wild eyes darted from side to side. Fresh scars marred herabdomen.

Amaranthe tapped on the glass.

The woman spotted her, and leaped back, eyeswide. She sprinted down the corridor and disappeared around theintersection.

Emperor’s bunions, that woman better not setoff an alarm.

Maldynado tapped Amaranthe on the shoulder.He was treading water beside her and grinning. You do look likea scary monster in that helmet.

Even without a mustache?

Oh, yes. Maldynado’s grin widened.

A tapping noise came from inside, andAmaranthe spun back toward the porthole. The woman had returned.She crouched in the corridor like a rabbit poised to flee. Narroweyes regarded Amaranthe with suspicion, but hope, too.

“We’re here to help,” Amaranthe said,exaggerating her words in hopes the woman could read her lipsthrough the face plate. “Can you let us in?” She pointed in thedirection of the hatch.

The woman sprinted away, not toward the hatchbut back toward the intersection, and disappeared around thecorner.

Amaranthe sighed and clunked her head againstthe porthole.

Maldynado patted her back. They’reathletes. They don’t have to be bright to win the races, justfast.

Several moments passed, and Amaranthe wasabout to give up and check other portholes when the woman joggedback into view with a crowbar in her hands. She nodded curtly andcontinued past, heading toward the hatch.

Amaranthe pushed away from the porthole andswam in the same direction. When she rounded the bend, she foundAkstyr sprawled on his back in the sand, a dazed expression on hisface.

Problem with that energy you sensed?she signed.

He struggled to sit up. I got a littleclose.

Amaranthe helped him to his feet. Thefive-foot-wide square hatch in the hull had a wheel-style dooropener, so it seemed one could get in if the defenses weren’t up.She wondered if the woman would be able to bypass them. Her snarleddark hair and bronze skin had appeared Turgonian, so she probablyknew nothing about the Science.

Scrapes and clunks came from the other sideof the hatch.

If she opens it, Maldynado signed,won’t water flood in?

Amaranthe shrugged. I don’t know. It’s myfirst underwater-fortress infiltration.

A shadow passed overhead. Dread sprang intoAmaranthe’s limbs, and she knew they were in trouble before shelooked up.

The kraken glided over the structure, itstentacles streaming out behind it. The creature had to be more thanseventy-five feet long from arrow-shaped head to tentacle tips. Aneye the size of one of the dive helmets rotated until it fixed uponthem.

Something that might have been a string ofcurses came from Maldynado. Amaranthe almost grabbed the wheel onthe hatch in a vain hope the woman had turned off the defenses, butshe did not need more lightning