Christopher Golden & Thomas E. Sniegoski - Outcast 02 by Dragon Secrets

Author:Dragon Secrets [Secrets, Dragon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-01-07T12:57:07+00:00

For several dreadful minutes Timothy was forced to entertain the idea that he and Ivar might have failed, that they might have to return to the surface and leave Verlis imprisoned. Abaddon had several entrances, each of which was guarded only by a magical ward that would prevent any mage from entering without the proper spell-key.

Caiaphas had told them that each of these entrances led to a short tunnel, which would itself end in a large emergence chamber, where they might surface and find themselves in a pool inside the prison. Timothy knew some of this, having been to the prison before, but he had been so overwrought with concern for Verlis that he had not paid as much attention as he perhaps should have, and so Caiaphas’s information had been quite welcome. There were very few visitors to Abaddon, the navigation mage had explained. And though he had himself used two of the entrances, he knew of a third which he believed was only ever used for the arrival of prisoners, never of visitors.

It was possible—and their only hope—that the prisoners’ entrance would be largely ignored if there was no new captive set to be brought to the underwater prison. Logic was on their side—no one had ever escaped from Abaddon, and no one had ever entered the prison without authorization. Not ever. The magic spells that guarded the entrances were the most powerful that the joined skills and strength of the Parliament of Mages could weave. It was inconceivable to them that anyone should attempt what Timothy and Ivar were about to attempt, and so it was likely they could be taken by surprise.

Even so, there was always the chance that the prisoners’ entrance would be monitored, that they would be discovered the instant they surfaced in the emergence chamber. But Timothy and Ivar had known the risk, known the odds against them, all along, and still had made the journey. They were not about to turn back now.

“Move slowly, Timothy,” Ivar whispered. The yellow skin of the sphere glowed now with the illumination of the underwater prison, and when Timothy glanced at Ivar, the Asura had blended, his skin tone taking on the gleam of those lights. “Do not let your nervousness force your hand.”

Timothy took a deep breath. “I won’t.”

His hands worked the levers slowly, and he vented a single spurt of water from each ballast tank. The submersible rose several inches and drifted forward. They had been at a complete standstill in the water. Now the sphere glided toward the prisoners’ entrance to Abaddon. They passed beneath an overhang, into a dimly lit, unpleasant alcove in the lower portion of the prison.

“Now,” Ivar said.

Timothy gnawed his lower lip, his breath coming in short gasps, and he let go of the levers and leaned forward. By stretching as far as his body would allow, he was able to place his hands on the inside wall of the sphere, the fish skin rough beneath his fingertips.

He closed his eyes.

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