The Moon Temple
Page 9
***
The moon moved like a thief in the sky, edging down toward the sea as they waited.
Kai stood by the prow, staring at the temple hidden in fathoms of water and shadow, and cried. Tears fell into the sea, adding their salt to the waters. She stood there, unmoving, one hand limp on the railing, the other clutched in a fist between her heaving breasts, fingers twined around the shark tooth necklace. Elsu dominated her thoughts, both the good and the bad. Every argument and tenderness flitted across her inner eye like a progression of brilliantly lit butterflies dancing in random order, vanishing whenever she tried to seize one. She could not accept his death. Absence left behind a dull, empty ache she found unbearable.
Bane watched from behind her. Despite being the sole boy in a family of girls, when they cried or became upset, he tended to withdraw, rattled by the outbursts of emotion. Seeing Kai hurt and vulnerable twisted his heart, driving a sharp blade of pain deep in his stomach. Guilt burned his mouth like acid and made his head ache. He reached for her as her thin shoulders convulsed from a sob. His fingers brushed the black hair that fell long and straight to the small of her back.
Kai pivoted abruptly. Bane retreated a step.
She looked hard at him. Though clad in her raven hair and shark necklace, she stood tall with the glacial, regal calm of a queen, wearing her skin like a lioness, reminding Bane of the Empress of the West, who dressed in the simplest clothes but could never be mistaken for anything but an empress. For the first time Kai appeared to Bane as a woman and he wondered why he did not notice it before then.
“Where is that shark ointment?” she demanded.
He blinked, confused. “What? You can’t be...”
“Where is it?”
Bane looked to Akahele for help, but he seemed too stunned to say anything.
“Never mind, I see it,” she said, walking past Bane.
As if he roused from a dream, Akahele asked what she intended to do.
“Find Elsu,” she replied. “Here, you put this on me,” she told Bane. “My hands are shaking too much.”
“You don’t have to do this,” said Bane. “You don’t have to risk yourself. You could...”
“I could what? Sit around and wonder for the rest of my life?”
“The ebb tide is going out,” said Akahele, eyes full of worry. “To dive now is madness.”
“No, a life without Elsu would drive me mad. A part of me will always be down there.” She looked up at the broken top of the tower spearing up from the waves and shook herself as if tossing something away. “Bane, didn’t I tell you to put that oil on me?”
Bane gripped her shoulders. “You will die! Don’t you care? Is Elsu worth your life?”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “But I love him so much! It hurts! By the goddess, it hurts!”
“I’m not letting you do this! I love you too much to let you kill yourself over him!” Bane clamped his mouth shut, cursing himself, as he held on to her arms, unwilling to let go.
Her eyes widened. The whites of her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. She drew a short breath.
Akahele hissed and Bane dared not look at him, keeping his gaze locked on Kai.
In a sudden motion, she twisted, surprising him, and broke free. He reached for her, but lost his footing, his hand grasping empty air.
Kai scooped up a lead bar for ballast and the vial of ointment, pouring the contents over her head, breasts, belly, and shoulders as she ran for the prow.
Surprise slowed both men. Before either moved to stop her, Kai threw aside the little glass jar, took a deep breath, and dove into the cool water.
The sea slid along her skin like silk. Kai loved the water and swimming, but gave no thought to it now.
Although an excellent swimmer, she knew she had not trained like Elsu for an extended dive and could not hold her breath longer than a few minutes.
The sharks veered toward her, attracted by her swimming, but the scent of the ointment made them hesitate, allowing Kai to reach entrance of the temple, where she discarded the heavy lead bar.
The current increased, marking the changing of the tide, and swimming grew harder. Kai swam into the dark hall. She had looked over the maps, diagrams, and charts alongside Bane and knew the layout as well as he. Absently, she noted the hall seemed unusually clear of obstructions, but did not think about it, short on time. She pushed on ahead, refusing to be distracted.
When she entered the great chamber, most of it lay in darkness; indirect moonlight reflected through the skylights. The sight of so many nude statues made her stop and tread water, ignoring the burning in her chest, as her mind worked through the oddity of the scene.
There was enough light for her to see Elsu lying prone on the sandy floor. Wildly, she swam for him. Shock ran through her like cold needles when her touch found stone instead of flesh.
The water stirred. A tendril of cold made her shiver. The grating of stone crossing bare stone sounded in the darkened water.
Kai peered in horror at the growing white shape.
She saw the creature uncoil from the shadows, a length of shifting mother-of-pearl that shone with a deeper glow within the moonlight. Still lost in shadow as it blocked the exit, diamond eyes sparkled like twin stars of intense light, glittering and intensely alive.
The sight of the eyes slammed something cold and hard throughout her body, tightening a vise around her chest. Her muscles cramped as her limbs turned unbearably heavy.
Because she did not wear the pendant of a sacrifice, her body did not freeze at once, allowing her a few moments of motion, time enough to see no way past the moon white basilisk. Kai understood escape was impossible and let herself sink down beside Elsu, reaching out to clutch his stone hand in hers as skin, bones, and muscles constricted and hardened.
Before darkness claimed her, she felt the basilisk lift her in its coils. She sensed curiosity now instead of hunger as it examined her, working her still pliant body into a pose before placing her high up on a shelf beside so many others. In the last moments before all vision fled, Kai dimly sensed the basilisk pause as if in thought. It scooped up Elsu and placed him next to her, molding her arms around him before she hardened completely.
Satisfied, no longer hungry, the basilisk retreated to its pedestal to slumber.
***
The moon sank below the horizon. The wind tasted of storm and it was no longer safe among the ruins, not even as the sun rose pink and glowing like coral.
Bane continued to stare down at the temple, knuckles white as he gripped the railing.
“Come, let us go,” said Akahele in a gentle voice.
Bane looked at him as if unable to see the old man. When his eyes focused, Bane nodded, breaking his hold on the railing to rub his tired eyes. They raised the sail and put the rising sun behind them.
Ruins broke the surface of the waves in gray fragments while the rest lay indistinct below fathoms of reflections. Sharks glided among the remains, white and silent as death.
Fin
####
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