The Water Mirror by Kai Meyer

Author:Kai Meyer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

6

THE FLOWING QUEEN WAS SPEAKING TO HER.

“Merle,” said her voice. “Merle, listen to me!”

Merle started up, her eyes quickly searching the darkness. The old storeroom reeked of dampness and rotten wood. The only light came in through the broken door from the canal. There was a shimmer and shining in the air—someone was searching the water surface with torches out there!

She had to get out of here as quickly as possible.

“You are not dreaming, Merle.”

The words were in her; the voice was speaking between her ears.

“Who are you?” she whispered, leaping to her feet.

“You know who I am. Do not be afraid of me.”

Merle pulled the mirror out of her pocket and held it in the flickering torchlight. The surface was clear, the phantom nowhere to be seen. But she also felt that it wasn’t he who was speaking to her. She quickly slid the mirror back into her pocket and took out the vial. It fit comfortably into her hand.

“You?” If she only spoke in single words, not in entire sentences, maybe it wouldn’t be apparent how very much her voice quavered.

“You must get away from here. They are going to search through all the houses that border on the canal. And after that, the rest of the district.”

“What’s happened to Serafin?”

“He is now a prisoner of the Guard.”

“They’ll kill him!”

“Perhaps. But not right away. They could have done that already, in the water. They are going to try to find out who you are and where they can find you.”

Merle shoved the vial back into her pocket and felt her way through the darkness. She was miserably cold in her wet dress, but her goose pimples had nothing to do with the temperature.

“Are you the Flowing Queen?” she asked softly.

“Do you want to call me that? Queen?”

“First of all I just want to get away from here.”

“Then we should attend to that.”

“We? I see only one person here who has legs to run away with.”

In the dark she found a door that led back into the house. She slipped through it and found herself in a deserted entry hall. Floor and banisters were covered with thick dust. Merle’s feet left tracks in the dust as if it were a blanket of snow. Her pursuers wouldn’t find it hard to follow her trail.

The front door was nailed shut from the outside, like many doors in Venice these days, but she found a window whose glass she was able to break with the fallen head of a statue. By some miracle she climbed out without cutting either hands or knees.

What now? Best go back to the Canal of the Expelled. Arcimboldo would know what to do. Or Eft. Or Junipa. Someone or other! She couldn’t carry this secret around with her alone.

“If your friend talks, they will look for you there first,” warned the voice suddenly.

“Serafin will never betray me!” she retorted, annoyed. And in her thoughts she added: He swore never to let me down.

On the other hand, she had watched passively as the lion carried him away.

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