“You scared a thousand years off me, at least. When Rone reported that you went into the water, we tried searching for you, but you were completely missing. All the seeking spells came back empty. I was about to dive in and search the entire sea floor when I saw you come back up.”
“Gong kidnapped me and took me straight to the ocean’s floor.” Which would give Mei Li even more nightmares. She owed Gong a good, swift kick between the legs for that.
Shunlei reared back to look at her, eyes crossing. “Wait, Gong? But his area is up in Tanguay.”
“Yes, well, he’s been roaming. I’ll explain in a second.” Turning in Shunlei’s arms, she faced Veles again and gave him a bow. “Thank you so much for your aid, Veles.”
“I am glad to return the favor,” Veles responded gravely. “The Tomes have always been kind to my people. Shunlei, well met.”
Shunlei stretched out a hand, and the two clasped forearms strongly. His voice was choked with strong emotion as he greeted the god. “Veles, you have done me a good service this day. My wife is my heart. I would have been lost without her. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Once I found out who she was, I wanted to restore her to your side with all speed. Her and the other Tomes.”
Mei Li could see the moment Shunlei properly took notice of the other man and realized who he was. He startled, then let out a booming laugh of delight. “Abe!”
“I wondered when you’d notice me,” Abe snarked back. He, too, held out a hand. “Shunlei, aren’t you supposed to get my permission before you marry my apprentice?”
Shunlei grasped his hand strongly, beaming from ear to ear. “I’ll ask now, if it makes you feel better. Wait, if Gong took Mei Li, does that mean he kidnapped you, too?”
“You’re quick,” Abe said approvingly. “That’s precisely what happened. He swept me off the ship I was on with a strong wave, then dragged me to the bottom of the ocean. I’ve been languishing like a damsel in distress for the past two years. It wasn’t until Mei Li came that we were able to put the pieces together, and I had enough information and paper to form a plan. Although our plan just involved calling on Veles.”
“I’m glad you did,” Veles assured them. “In many respects. I promise I will come back shortly and aid with the restoration of Kovel. I must go and hunt down Gong before he wreaks any more havoc. I don’t think, after all that he’s done, he’ll be shown any mercy.”
Mei Li requested of him seriously, “Take no prisoners.”
“My dear Tomes, I have no intention of doing so.” He gave her a wink, turned to leave, but stopped again. “That channel…is it meant to power the seals?”
“Yes, I was working on it when Gong took me.”
“It’s because he’s messing with my tides.” Veles growled out something in a language she couldn’t understand, but it was clearly a curse. He pointed a finger at the water, sternly, as if scolding it for obeying someone else. The tide retreated, and then came rushing back in, lifting back up to its normal levels. The massive channel that had been empty before quickly filled, water gurgling through the empty pipe.
Mei Li saw the difference within minutes. The sigils along the docks that had sat dormant lit up with life, three of them connecting, water gushing up and out in little spouts, and activating the magic with it. An area that had been on the brink of succumbing to Kovel Below steadied under her eyes, Kovel Above reasserting itself.
Veles saw this as well and said, “Human magic is truly ingenious. That design still works, eh?”
“Indeed, it does.”
He gave a grunt. “I suppose the phrase if it’s not broken, why fix it applies here. Stay away from the water until I return with news of Gong’s demise.”
“We absolutely will,” Mei Li promised, meaning every word.
Veles took a step off the rocks and disappeared straight into the ocean in seconds.
Mei Li turned and realized that people were now lining the dock nearby, all waving at her with relief on their faces. Mei Li waved back, but she needed a moment with Shunlei.
She urged Abe ahead. “Go on, go up. No one here knows you, I think, except for Rone. But she’ll fly you back and get you settled in if you want to take a day to orient yourself.”
“I might do that, but I want a good look at the situation up here, first.”
Once a Tomes, always a Tomes? Mei Li had to admit she would do the same in his shoes. “Take a look, but Abe, you need a bath. And a haircut. And different clothes. And don’t you want a proper meal that doesn’t include fish?”
He paused, expression turning wistful. “I’d kill to get out of these clothes.”
“See? You can get an overall grasp of the situation from the air. Go on, let Rone fly you back to the camp. Princes Cavanaugh and Pari are here; once they realize you’re back with us, they’ll be happy to get you settled into the camp. It won’t hurt to take a day and get your bearings before you dive into this problem.”
He didn’t have to be strong-armed into this. Abe relaxed into a smile and plucked at his own clothes as if they were dirty dishrags. To be fair, they practically were at this stage.
“You’ll stay and manage this, then?”
“I’ve got the docks to settle today, to at least give us a foothold in the city.”
“You don’t need to twist my arm. I’ll leave you to it.” Abe seemed to realize that the couple wanted a second, and he went ahead, calling out to Rone as he went. “Two years! You people can’t last two years without me?”
“Abe of Tomes, you are a sight for sore eyes!” Rone called back, clapping with sheer happiness. “Get up here, tell me what happened!”
Mei Li tuned them out as she returned her attention to Shunlei. He caught her mouth in a deep, sweet kiss, meant to reassure more than anything. Mei Li returned it, happy to reconnect with him. Besides, he was a joy to kiss, always had been.
Lifting his head, Shunlei murmured above her mouth, “Wife. We need to do that bonding ceremony sooner rather than later. My heart can’t take this.”
“I absolutely agree. If it helps, now that Abe is here, I think we can switch off duties, which will buy me a little time. He’s eager to dive back into things, I think. He was terribly bored the past two years.”
“And I know how well a Tomes handles boredom,” he teased back, his normal good humor returning. “You truly look unharmed to me. Gong just took you down and left you?”
“Didn’t even stop to gloat. Which struck me as strange at the time, but Veles told us he’s been chasing Gong for a while, now. Months, is my guess, although you know how bad the gods are at using mortal time. I don’t think Gong wanted to linger in case Veles caught up. He kept us close to the shoreline.”
“Ahhh. It would make sense.” Shunlei gestured to the city behind them. “I did wonder how Kovel got so bad. Veles helped us last time we put Below back in place, once we told him what was going on. I thought he would have been more proactive here, all things considered, but I don’t know if he’s a very active god in his region, truth be told.”
“He seems to have trouble tracking day-to-day events,” Mei Li agreed. “But he’s friends with you, obviously.”
“We worked closely together for three months the first time Kovel Below popped up. He’s a good drinking buddy.”
“Well, your good drinking buddy was willing to use me as bait to lure Gong out until he figured out I was his friend’s wife. And then he turned that attitude right around and shot me back up to the surface. So, buy him a round, alright?”
“I’ll buy him ten. I was…” Shunlei’s voice caught, and he had to clear his throat before he could continue. “I was frantic. I couldn’t find you. Even seeking spells couldn’t find you. If felt like you were gone for a decade instead of half an hour. We were trying to think of what else to do when you popped up.”
“I was very, very deep. I’m afraid to calculate how deep.” She soothed a hand up and down his arm. “Seas and I seem to have a bad relationship.”
“No more, alright? And from now on, if you’re working in a dangerous situation, I’m right at your side. I don’t care what else is going on.”
“Fair enough.” Mei Li couldn’t blame him for that. Nothing bad had ever happened to her when he was next to her. But the moment Shunlei left, bad luck seemed to come in like a tidal wave. Even she was tired of it.
He kissed her again, slow and lingering, keeping her close. With his forehead touching hers, he sighed. “I suppose we have to get back up there. I want to beat Kovel into submission.”
“It needs a beating. Fortunately, Veles will help us. I think we’d be here a good six months without his help. Now, we have a chance of getting Kovel back to rights before spring hits.”
Mei Li took his hand, holding onto it as they climbed back up to the docks, where everyone else was waiting on her.
She barely had her boots on the wooden planks when Rone greeted her.
“Tengfei flew Abe back to camp. He said he needed a steak dinner at all speed.” There was a smile on her face, but worry, too. “He seemed a little…excitable?”
“No real conversation or work to do for two years.” Mei Li shook her head in aching sympathy. “I was the same when I came out of that village, remember?”
“Oh, true. You were eager for any and all work. Well, he’ll settle in his own skin soon enough. I’m just glad to have him back.”
“Me, too, trust me.” Mei Li looked around at the docks, already seeing an improvement now that the water was flowing correctly. “Let’s get this done. I promised Abe a foothold by tomorrow.”
It turned into a long day, of course. It was well after sunset by the time she landed in the camp again. Mei Li was absolutely exhausted but determined to check in with Abe. And speak with him properly, not just that thirty-minute conversation they’d had while waiting to be rescued. She’d missed him dearly and she knew he had to be just as hungry for conversation.
Asking about, she found that he’d been put into a tent not far from hers. Gathering up a plate of food first, she went ahead and slapped at the side. “Abe!”
“Come in, come in!” Abe propped the tent door open, beaming at her. “I’ve been expecting you.”
She took in the sight of him with an approving whistle. Gone was the beard and the shaggy greying hair, the tattered clothes, and that pinched expression on his face. He was clean shaven now, his hair neatly trimmed to the collar, fresh clothes on. He was an entirely different man. The man she remembered from before the shipwreck, not the wild man who had greeted her below the ocean.
The tent had been hastily thrown together, but it held a bed, a small table, two chairs, and a burning brazier. She went to the table, happy to eat while she talked with him.
“You look so much better.”
“I cannot describe to you the pure, sinful pleasure of clean clothes.” Abe patted his new clothes, beaming at them all the while. “And clean skin. And the steak was delicious. Prince Cavanaugh was happy to catch me up on things while we waited on you. I think I’m almost up-to-date, in fact. I was happy to hear all that you’ve done. You mentioned some of it, but Cavanaugh had the reports, and I read through those. Most of what I worried about while I was down there has been taken care of very well. Catch me up, child, so much has happened since I last saw you. To you, anyway.”
Mei Li detailed how she’d had to orchestrate her own rescue once shipwrecked, convincing a dragon to fly her to Dragon’s Peak. How Shunlei had immediately taken her in, forming the help she needed to tackle all the problems on her list. She touched only briefly on the Sea Walls of Tanguay and Acala’s Flute, but lingered more on Jingfei and the injuries they’d suffered there.
He listened, his expression changing from anger to intense interest to shock, and a full gamut of emotions in between. He visibly cut himself off several times, warring between wanting to interrupt with questions and needing to listen.
So, she continued, telling him of her determination to have proper instructions for everything else, not wanting to lose another mage in this battle.
How she traveled back in time, with only Shunlei’s warning and advice to guide her, only to stumble into the group that would become the first Tomes party.
“Five thousand years?!” Abe interrupted, eyes bulging out of his head. “The spell sent you that far into the past?!”
“It did.” Mei Li shook her head, scratching at one cheek. She couldn’t help but smile at the memory now. “I initially thought I’d go back a few years in time, copy or at least read the records. Something quick and easy. But noooo, I got sent back five thousand years instead. Shunlei knew that. It’s why he prepared me as much as he did before I went. You remember the mage mentioned in the records, the one we never had a proper name for? That was me.”
Abe blinked at her, a basilisk sort of stare as he tried to process all of this and failed. “But that woman was Shunlei’s wife.”
“Yes, so I am,” she agreed equably.
Her teacher jerked abruptly sideways, holding his head with both hands as if it pained him.
She reached out and patted his side soothingly. “Take a moment. Let it sit for a while, you’ll be fine.”
“You really married him in the past?” he asked, voice choking from the shock.
“I really, truly did. He’s insisting we renew our vows in the present, too. Since the record of our marriage is long gone.”
“And I thought being kidnapped by a mad water deity was shocking.” Abe’s eyes closed for a moment. “The only dragon and human pairing turns out to include my apprentice.”
Mei Li was perfectly sympathetic. It had thrown her completely, too, when she’d figured it out. “Need another moment?”
“Yes. No. Yes. I don’t know. No, I need to hear what happened next. Go on.”
Amused, she picked the story back up. What they’d done together, how she’d established the tradition of the Tomes, and how after the first time she defeated Zaffi, she was sent back into the present.
Abe’s equilibrium returned, and he sat upright, listening intently. “So, Zaffi today?”
“Resealed.”
“Odom?”
“Destroyed.”
Abe blanched. “Destroyed completely? Not sealed?”
Mei Li nodded, taking pride in her mentor’s reaction. In all the good she’d been able to accomplish—in both timelines. “It took some work, and we almost lost a mage in the process, but we managed to get rid of him for good.”
“That was an excellent idea. There’s no guarantee the generation five thousand years into the future would have known what to do with him.”
“Sadly true. And it’s why we all voted to destroy him now. I might well go back and destroy Zaffi and Jingfei, now that I have an idea of how to do it. It’ll be easier since they’re already asleep and resealed.”
“That it will. Alright, are we caught up to the present?”
“We are, thankfully.”
“Good. Because Kovel—Mei Li, this is a disaster!”
“I know, trust me.” Mei Li gestured to the chaos in general, outside of the tent walls. “Why do you think I was so happy when Veles promised to help?”
“We’ll need divine help at this rate.” While Abe was frowning, he seemed delighted on some internal level.
But then, after years of having nothing to do, he must see Kovel as this amazing challenge. It was certainly the opposite of boredom.
Reading him well, Mei Li tried to keep a serious face, but a hint of a grin leaked through as she asked, “Want east or west?”
Abe’s eyes cut to her. “What’s east?”
“Wraiths, shadow imps, to name a few. There was a fallen deity, but Shunlei defeated that before I went playing in the ocean.”
Abe winced. “How much of the city did we lose in the process?”
“Only a building. Which is impressive, all things considered.”
“Your husband is very skilled that way.”
Mei Li
grinned at him. “Those words felt truly odd in your mouth, didn’t they?”
“So incredibly odd.” Abe sighed. “You’ll need to tell me the story again, with more details this time. Maybe then I can wrap my head around it.”
“I can do that, certainly. But before I tell you that, are you sure that you want to dive right in tomorrow? We barely got the docks under control today.”
“Before I answer, tell me what’s to the west. I don’t have a lot of stamina right now after sitting about for two years.”
“West, not sure. We’ve not managed to get far in that direction.”
Abe made a show of thinking about it. “West. Seems you have a good foothold in the east. Keep going with it.”
“You just said you don’t have a lot of stamina, but you’re going into the unknown?”
“Well, I know I don’t like shadow imps or wraiths, so west seems a friendlier option.”
And how could Mei Li even begin to comment on that?
“Just keep that dragon with me, Tengfei. He’s got enough spunk for a dozen people. I’ll be fine.”
“Heh. You’re not wrong. He’s the fastest dragon I’ve ever seen. Alright, but don’t overdo it tomorrow. It’s okay to take things slowly.”
He cracked his neck again, eyes alight with anticipation. “I’ve spent over two years storing up magical energy, and I’m antsy. I’m more refreshed than you are.”
Abe was in a fine mood. Mei Li actually felt a little sorry for anything that might pop up and try to stop him.
“Now. Tell me the story, from the top. You decided to time travel and met Shunlei on the road?” Abe prompted.
Mei Li ate her cooling dinner, shared the story, and enjoyed having her master home again at long last. And if they lingered a little longer than was prudent, well, no one blamed them for that.
Three months later
Mei Li had originally thought Kovel Below would be worse than facing Odom. Then she decided tackling the city wouldn’t be as difficult as fighting a fallen deity since she could take it piecemeal.
Master of Tomes Page 22