Droust hesitated. He crossed the floor and took a crystal from a gold chain around his neck. As he pressed the crystal near a blank section in the bookshelves, a keyhole appeared. The scribe thrust the crystal home and twisted.
A moment later, a thick stone door opened on a stone box that suddenly appeared. Droust reached into the box with reverence and took out two books. He turned and carefully brought them back to Shang-Li.
Handling the books delicately, Shang-Li placed them side by side on the table and began flipping them open one at a time. With them juxtaposed, he hoped that he could pick up any redundancies Liou Chang might have used in his code work.
The passages were written in script that Shang-Li didn’t recognize from any of the languages he knew or was familiar with.
“They’re written in artificial languages,” Droust said.
“I know.” Shang-Li carefully turned the neatly lettered pages. “I’ve read some of his other books. Mv father made me translate much of Liou’s work while I was growing up at the monastery. He’s an authority on Liou Chang.” “Then why isn’t he here?”
“Because my father is an excellent academician, but I’m better at breaking codes. Besides that, the Blue Lady wanted me here.” Shang-Li looked at Droust. “I’m going to ask you a simple question, and I want you to think about your answer before you give it. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to escape the Blue Lady?” Droust’s face pulled tight in consternation. “What are you talking about? That’s foolishness. It can’t be done.” “But if it could?” The scribe held his tongue.
“It’s better if you live another seventy years or more in captivity to the Blue Lady?”
Droust lowered his gaze. “No. It’s not better.”
“Then let me secure these books so they won’t be damaged by the sea.” Shang-Li returned to the dressing screen for his bag. “Does the Blue Lady watch over you while you’re here?”
“Sometimes. But she’s going to be deep into the ritual she’s preparing to sacrifice your shipmates.”
Shang-Li thrust the books into the bag and they promptly disappeared. Despite the addition, the bag was still almost weightless. Then he dressed himself in his sodden clothing and armor.
Droust changed as well and stood ready, though frightened.
“Can you use a weapon?” Shang-Li asked.
Droust shook his head. “As I said, I’m only a scribe.”
“Then do your best to stay out of the way.”
Droust looked toward the door where the Nine Golden Swordsmen stood guard. Though the doors were closed, their voices outside were loud as they swapped lies and told of conquests with women and games of chance.
“They will never let us by.”
“That’s our second option.” Shang-Li crossed the room and began examining the walls. “Doesn’t it strike you as strange that in a room this large andonce upon a timeso important would only have one exit? Especially in a building as the size of this one?”
Droust looked thoughtful and scared. “I’ve never thought about it.”
That’s what comes of leading a cloistered life, Shang-Li thought. The edge on your curiosity dulls. He slipped a fighting stick from his sleeve and tapped on the wall.
“You think there’s a secret passageway?”
Shang-Li snorted. “Of course I do. Anyone in a citadel like this would want one in case of attack, or for the household staff to use to stay out of sight. Or perhaps for spying on guests.”
“I’ve never noticed one.”
“Have you ever looked?”
“No.”
“Perhaps that’s why. Now be quiet and let me listen.” Shang-Li worked slowly, taking his time as he went around the room. Finally he located a section he thought was hollow from the sound of his taps.
Slipping his knife from his boot, Shang-Li pried around the edges of the stones. Even after all the years of being at the bottom of the sea and surviving the Spellplague, the mortar remained tight and complete. After a while, he thought he’d been mistaken about the hollow space, that perhaps it had only been a void after all. Time leaked away from him, slid like oil from a clenched fist. He couldn’t bear the thought of his father and friends dying without having a chance to defend themselves or escape.
Then his clever fingers found a release near the juncture of wall and floor. The release only moved a fraction of an inch, and even after all this time it moved smoothly. Locks snicked open.
Droust let out a strangled crv and looked back over his shoulder at the entrance. For a moment Shang-Li thought perhaps the scribe was going to shout a warning. He tightened his grip on the fighting stick and readied himself to ram it into Droust’s throat to silence him.
Visibly shaken, Droust watched the door, then turned back to Shang-Li. “They didn’t hear that.”
“Good.” Shang-Li stood and opened the hidden doorway. It only moved a few inches, blocked by fallen stone. The opening wasn’t large enough to squeeze more than his head through.
“What’s wrong?” Droust pressed in close to him and tried to look for himself.
“The passageway’s partially collapsed.” Shang-Li held out his glowstone. “But the passage continues. What’s in the room next to us?”
“A sitting room. Perhaps a place where library guests went to eat and compare notes.”
“Is the door locked?”
“No. The guards use it to store provisions and clothing.” “All right. Then we go there.”
Droust stepped in front of Shang-Li. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m not staying here. Not when my father and friends are at risk and unaware of the danger they’re in.”
Droust pointed at the doorway. “There are four men out there. Warriors.”
Shang-Li shook his fighting sticks out into his waiting hands. “I didn’t say it would be easy.” He looked at Droust. “Now are you with me? Or are you the first opponent I have to take down?”
Apprehensively, Droust stepped aside.
“The Blue Lady won’t be quick to kill us.” Shang-Li strode for the door and forced his fear away. “Those men have standing orders not to kill you. You can wait here and claim that I overpowered you, or you can come with me.”
Droust hesitated only a moment. “I’ll come.”
“Try to stay out of the way. We’re going to the room next door and find the passageway there. Then we try to lose ourselves until we find a way out.” “All right.”
Shang-Li nodded toward the door. “Open it.”
Trembling visibly, Droust pulled the door wide.
The two Nine Golden Swords closest to the entrance turned to face the door, but they didn’t move as if they were expecting trouble. Shang-Li stepped among them, feeling the ocean close around him again as he walked from the dry room into the sea-filled passageway. A chill permeated him and he couldn’t resist the unconscious reaction of holding his breath when the water surrounded him.
He swung the fighting stick in his right hand in a backward strike that caught the man on the right in the temple. The warrior sagged and fell slowly toward the floor. The other warrior thrust his sword, but Shang-Li parried it with his fighting stick and pivoted on the ball of his left foot to deliver a roundhouse kick with his right foot that caught the man in the jaw and knocked him back into one of his companions.
Forcing himself to breathe, Shang-Li stepped between Droust and the other Nine Golden Swords warriors. “Move! Quickly!”
Droust scuttled out of the library and headed up the hallway to the next door.
“Big mistake, monk.” The warrior on the right advanced and readied his sword. “The Blue Lady only needs one of you alive.”
Shang-Li stepped toward the man, feinting to the right, then blocking the man’s sword thrust with both his fighting sticks. Spotting the second man up and swinging now, Shang-Li spun his head down to his knee and turned around to sweep the man’s legs from beneath him. As the man fell backward, Shang-Li went smoothly from the spin into a hands-free cartwheel over the other man’s sword. Using his left stick to shield his riffht arm from the man’s
