Crystal Doors Book 2: Ocean Realm by Rebecca Moesta & Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Rebecca Moesta & Kevin J. Anderson [Anderson, Rebecca Moesta & Kevin J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: steampunk, fantasy, other worlds, doors
Publisher: Word Fire Press
Published: 2013-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

THAT EVENING, THE FIVE apprentices were reunited in the tower room where Gwen and Vic had received their tattoos. All but one of the windoors had been blocked with a heavy mesh of woven doolya strands. The merlon guards carried the exhausted cousins through the only open windoor—then stationed themselves outside it to swim guard.

They were glad to see their three companions unharmed, but before Gwen or Vic could express their joy, they sensed that something terrible had happened. Sharif floated in place, staring at the floor in abject misery.

Vic looked back and forth. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“We bring sad news,” Lyssandra said.

Sharif looked up, and his voice was heavy. “Orpheon murdered Piri. It was my fault.” The prince turned his face away and hunched over in silent agony. It seemed to Vic as if he had barely had time to blink before Lyssandra, Gwen, and Tiaret were all gathered around the grieving young man, putting their arms around him and murmuring words of comfort.

Wanting to know the answers, but not willing to press his grieving friend, Vic joined the circle. “Whatever happened, Sharif, you can’t blame yourself for Orpheon’s evil.” Scanning the faces around him, he noticed that Tiaret appeared grim and somber, and Lyssandra’s cobalt blue eyes looked as if they might be crying.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Gwen asked.

Sharif’s throat worked with emotion, and then, in a halting voice, he told his story. As he relived the experience, the boy from Irrakesh grew more and more agitated. Vic found his own outrage building just to hear what had happened, and he questioned his decision to cooperate with Azric. He had every reason to hate both of the dark sages.

Cutting off the discussions, merlon servants brought in a meal of cooked fish and seaweed, perhaps roasted over a thermal vent, along with shell cups filled with a viscous fluid the color of eel skin. To everyone’s surprise, the thick silvery liquid did not mix with the ocean water, but stayed in the cups until they tilted them up to drink. Whatever it was, it had a pleasant sweet-sour taste. When the merlons left again, the friends ate and drank, and resumed their conversation. Though Sharif couldn’t have had much of an appetite, he forced himself to eat.

“We must escape and find a way to destroy these murderers before they destroy Elantya,” Sharif concluded. “Piri’s death must be avenged.”

The cousins briefly filled the others in on what they had learned. Even though everyone knew that the cousins had been the object of the merlons’ kidnapping scheme, Vic was uncomfortable explaining why, and that Azric had threatened their friends to ensure Vic’s and Gwen’s compliance.

Gwen said in an intentionally loud voice, in case the guards were eavesdropping, “It’s been a painful day. We should all get some sleep.” Then she whispered directly to her friends, “If we pretend to sleep, maybe they’ll leave us alone.”

Outside, glowfish lights were covered, so that the sea became as dark as the night sky.

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