Levi stared, and as Reyna watched, his ears turned the color of rubies. “Yes,” he said.
Her face had to be as red as his. She saw where his imagination had led him. It was not as he thought. This was what Ana-si had told her to do. Ensure Levi was in her chamber with her, alone, before the witching hour. Everything would be explained then. But there was no time to tell him this. Jian-so headed their way.
Levi saw him too. “I’ll be there,” he said, and went to meet the prince.
Ana-si rode behind Jian-so. Reyna kept her eyes on her the entire way back to the palace. A siren? A harpy? Villains from her childhood tales. Reyna had stumbled into someone else’s story. One that would not end well, not for anyone.
Once there was a cardinal, crushed beneath a boot.
* * *
The wait was excruciating, the sun’s descent impossibly slow when one checked its progress as frequently as Reyna had. By dusk, she had developed a crick in her neck. At supper, she missed half of what was said at the royal table. Part of her record that evening was pure invention.
Ana-si had said the men were alive. Stunned only. Reyna did not see how that could be true. She had looked into Lord Elias’s face, into Jaime’s. There had been no signs of life. Lunesian clay had filmed their eyes, coated their nostrils. In Jaime’s case, it had sealed his lips together. How did they see? How did they breathe?
When Reyna had told Blaise what had happened, her reaction had been a peculiar one. She had lowered herself onto a chair, slowly, and said nothing.
“What is it?” Reyna said. Blaise was rarely speechless.
“I’ve seen one of them before. A harpy.”
“When?” Reyna, sitting cross-legged on Blaise’s bed, was astounded. “Where?”
“Back home, a few days before I met you. Uncle Mori and I were walking on the beach. By the cove near your tower, and she was lying on the sand. It looked like a large bird had washed up.”
“Was she alive?”
“Dead.” Blaise grabbed a water goblet from her table and drank deeply. “Her face was human. And her hands and feet the same. But everything else was covered in black feathers. Most of them torn from her.”
“Torn? How?”
“Some animal had found her before we did. You’re saying Ana-si is like her?”
“She won’t say what she is,” Reyna told her. “What happened to the harpy? Did Master Mori bury her?”
“He wouldn’t touch her.” Blaise set the goblet on the table. “He fetched a torch and threw it on her. And he made sure every bit was turned to ash before we left.”
Blaise painted a hideous image.
“You’ve never told me this before.”
“I don’t like to think about it,” Blaise admitted. “It scared me. The captain is coming here tonight?”
“Yes.” Reyna told her of her conversation with Levi, and his misunderstanding. Blaise smiled briefly.
“He’s in for a shock. Reyna, promise me you’ll be careful. Uncle Mori isn’t easily frightened. I’ve never seen him so afraid of something, not before or since.”
Reyna had promised. In her chamber, she paced the length of the room too many times to count. The moon rose in the night sky. She could see it through the slits in her louvered windows.
At last, there came a knock at the door. One knock only. Very soft.
Reyna opened the door. Torchlight on the walls showed Levi dressed informally in a loose white shirt and trousers. Samuel, Hamish, and Benjamin were with him. All three appeared scandalized. Not one could look her in the eye. Farther down the hall, a door opened. A woman poked her head out, and then back in just as quickly. Levi slipped into the chamber and shut the door behind him, leaving his companions outside.
“I couldn’t get rid of them,” he said, apology in his voice.
Reyna would have been mortified if she had not already been frantic. “It doesn’t matter.”
“No? Listen to me, Reyna, about yesterday—”
“It doesn’t matt—”
“It does to me.” He came closer, rested his forehead against hers, looked into her eyes as he spoke. “I don’t mean to be this way. Turning into some kind of bear every time his name comes up. Jaime’s. I feel like a lump. There are a thousand other things I should be thinking about. Asher, for one. No, let me finish,” he said when she tried to interrupt. “All I can think of is that when this is over, you’ll go back to del Mar, with him. And I’m not sure I can—”
His words were like the rapids of a river. Fast. Impossible to slow down. Partly to silence him, partly because she needed to, Reyna leaned closer and pressed her lips against his. Shock coursed through Levi; she felt it in the arms that pulled her close. Then shock became something else.
She was the first to speak, later. She stayed close in his arms because she needed him to hear her. “Listen to me, Levi. And remember, someone might be listening.”
She told him all of it. From the moment she had come face-to-face with Lord Elias. Every word Ana-si had uttered, Reyna repeated. His arms around her had gone rigid. He said, “Asher?”
She cupped a hand to his cheek, shook her head. “I don’t know what your brother looks like. I’m sorry.”
A screen covered the wall behind Reyna’s bed. Mountains and cherry blossoms had been painted onto the rice paper. It shifted, the sound causing Reyna and Levi to spring apart. Both reached for their daggers. Behind the screen was a hole, a tunnel, no more than three feet high. Ana-si’s head emerged. She held up a lantern, and saw them standing in the middle of the chamber, gaping at her. She gestured impatiently. Come!
Reyna had frozen. The tunnel had been there all along. Right by her head! Levi said under his breath, “She’s Jian-so’s girl, Reyna. Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“I trust her.” Instinct told her Ana-si meant her no harm. She scrambled across the bed, then paused when she reached Ana-si, who pointed to the passageway behind her. Reyna crawled past and found, after ten or so feet, that she was able to stand. She dusted the grit from her knees and palms. Levi and then Ana-si appeared. The light from the lantern showed them to be at a juncture that led in eight directions, like the wind points on a compass.
Levi would have spoken, but Ana-si shook her head. Cupping a hand to her ear, she mouthed one word: Listen.
Somewhere down a tunnel came the sound of a man snoring. These secret passageways led to a great number of bedchambers. Reyna and Levi followed Ana-si through dark, twisting passages. Up a set of stairs and down others. A route so confusing Reyna knew they would not be able to find their way back without Ana-si’s help.
As for Levi, he did not miss the way Ana-si carried herself. Carefully, slowing once or twice to press a hand to her chest and breathe deeply. He turned to Reyna, a question in his eyes, but she could not tell him what she did not know. Finally, he stopped.
Ana-si glanced back, annoyed. “Come.”
“You’re hurt,” Levi spoke quietly. “We should rest. Or I can carry you.”
Ana-si turned around fully. Her entire frame had stiffened. “No.”
Reyna said, “It’s getting worse. I can see it. Let him help you.”
“Take my dagger.” Levi invited. “If I do anything you don’t like, you can stick me with it. I won’t hurt you, Ana-si.”
Reyna thought Ana-si would accept—there was a moment when she wavered. But she merely turned and continued on without answering. Levi’s expression remained troubled.
They descended another set of stairs. The air grew warmer, constricting. And once, when Reyna braced a hand against the rough stone wall, her palm came away wet. Not long after, she discovered why.
When they finally emerged from the tunnel, slipping around a jagged crack in the wall, they found themselves by an underground river. A narrow waterway with closed-in walls that glinted and sparkled from some unrecognizable stone. A small boat had been tied to a stake.
By now, Levi’s patience had worn thin. He was not accustomed to foll
owing blindly. “Where are you taking us?”
Ana-si pointed down the river. “Back to the tombs. Don’t speak.”
Reyna could almost hear his teeth grind. After they climbed into the boat, he untied the rope from its mooring post, took up the only oar, and pushed off.
Reyna was not fond of caves. Caves usually meant bats. Fortunately, the lantern did not reveal any nocturnal creatures hanging above their heads. At one point, the ceiling dropped so low they were forced to hunch over, hugging their knees tight to their chests, or risk impalement by jagged rocks. Ana-si extinguished the lantern as they emerged from the cave. The royal tombs were ahead. Reyna could see a pair of guards at the top of the steps. Behind them on the wall, two torches blazed.
Reyna and Levi dragged the boat onto the bank and hid it behind a large shrub. They crept toward the steps, Ana-si leading the way. One of the soldiers yawned widely, which provoked the other into yawning as well.
Ana-si’s smile was strange and unsettling. She whispered to Levi, “Do not listen.”
Levi’s eyes grew round. He clapped his hands over his ears just as Ana-si turned around and began to sing. Her voice drifted up the many steps. A strangled noise from Levi. Horrified, Reyna saw that covering his ears was not enough. His eyes had glazed over. He sank to his knees. She dropped in front of him and clamped her own hands over his, pressing inward to further hinder the sound. Blue eyes focused on hers; his pupils returned to normal. They were so close her nose brushed his and their breath became one in the darkness.
The Miranese soldiers did not have a chance. They pitched forward. Two thuds followed.
The singing stopped. Ana-si cast a disinterested glance at Levi. She no longer whispered. “We go.”
“Are you all right?” Reyna asked Levi.
“I don’t know.” Levi stared after Ana-si. But he did not protest when Reyna grabbed his hand and dragged him up the steps.
“What will happen to them?” Reyna asked as they passed the guards sprawled face-down on the stone.
Ana-si pulled one of the torches off the wall. “They will wake later. Hopefully after we have gone.”
They went through the doors and down more steps. The sunken pit was as Reyna remembered. Here the torches had not been snuffed. They burned as bright as before.
Levi said, “Where is my brother?”
“I do not know your brother,” Ana-si said, frowning. “What are you saying? Jian-so admires you. He leaves your ships alone.”
Levi glared at her. “Asher was on a Caffeesh messenger, not a Lunesian ship. It disappeared a month ago.”
Ana-si’s expression cleared. “I remember.” She looked over the men, shrugged. “He is here. Somewhere. There is no order to it.”
Aggravated, Levi spun around and went in search of Asher. Reyna could not help him. Feeling useless, she left Ana-si and made her way to Lord Elias’s statue. She sat by his boots, arms around her knees, and thought of Mercedes, home on del Mar.
Much later, Levi’s muffled cry had her leaping to her feet and running through the maze of stone men. She found him gripping a statue by its shoulders.
The resemblance was there, though Prince Asher looked much more like his sister, Queen Vashti. He wore full battle armor, his visor raised; otherwise Levi would not have been able to see his face.
Ana-si drifted over. “I can help you,” she said to Levi. “I can help both of you.”
“But we must help you first,” Levi said coldly. “That is what you told Reyna.”
“Yes,” Ana-si said.
“How?” Reyna asked.
Ana-si sat cross-legged on the dirt floor, and after a moment Reyna joined her. Ana-si said to Levi, “I will tell you. But do not hold him so. They are fragile.”
Levi snatched his hands from his brother. He crouched beside Reyna, his body turned so that Asher remained in his sight.
Ana-si folded her hands. “I have a sister named Mei. She is only eight. We lived on an island that is no longer our home. It is just the two of us now. Everyone else has gone.”
“You’re the last of your people?” Reyna asked.
“There are others, we believe. We hope it is so. We have heard whispers of them, far away. Mei and I went to search for them, but we were captured by Jian-so. He took my sister and hid her from me. He said that as long as I helped him, he would not hurt her. He would give her food. He would make sure she is not cold. She is small, you see. But he would only do these things if I listened.”
Ana-si spoke softly, without inflection, her eyes on her folded hands. “I sing to the ships and the men come. Jian-so makes them wear the Miranese armor. He leaves them in vats full of clay so they look like statues, not real men.”
“Why?” Levi asked.
“So many died during the last sickness. They do not have enough to sacrifice. The Miranese do not want to anymore. There has been unhappiness. There have been threats.”
“Against the royal family?” Reyna asked.
“Yes. That is why Jian-so promises no more sacrifices. He will use statues instead. It will be good symbolism. The people are happy. They will stand by him when he kills his cousin and takes back the throne.”
Reyna exchanged a look with Levi. She said, “But his father wants living sacrifices.”
“The king needs them,” Ana-si said. “If the sacrifices are not real men, there will be no one to protect him in his second life.”
“Is that true?” Reyna asked.
Ana-si lifted a shoulder. “It is what he believes.”
“Do the Miranese believe it?” This from Levi.
Another shrug. “I do not speak to the people. They are like every living thing, I think. They want to live. But they will not be pleased to know others are kidnapped in their place. It would cause difficulty.”
“How did Jian-so even imagine this could be done?” Levi asked. “Why clay? Why my clay?”
Ana-si hesitated. “I do not know this for certain. Jian-so keeps a book. A history. It has been done before, I think. There is something in the Lunesian clay that preserves them, makes it so they do not need to eat or drink. It is the thinnest layer of clay, but it is powerful. Their hearts still beat; there is no need for breath. When they wake, it is a simple, delicate shell to break free from. But if left too long, the clay will become part of the man. They will become real statues.”
Reyna turned to Levi. “Have you ever heard of this before?”
Levi had gone pale. “It’s just a story.”
For the first time, Ana-si smiled. “Am I a story too, Prince Levi?”
Reyna looked at him, and waited.
Levi said, “Our clay comes from the quarries outside Selene. Sometimes, during the worst storms, the quarries flood over. They become rivers of mud, torrents. Villagers disappeared, and it was thought they had drowned, been carried away by the floodwaters.” He stopped, looked around at the silent, staring men. “But sometimes, the villagers came back.”
Reyna rubbed at her chilled arms. “From where?”
“They all told the same story. They had woken up by the river, picked themselves up, and walked home. Once, a man went home and found that fifty years had passed. His wife was dead and gone. But some of the older villagers recognized him.”
“What happened to him?” Reyna said.
“The villagers were afraid of him,” Levi said. “His granddaughter lived in his home, but she would not take him in. I think he went mad. Ended up being cared for by the nuns.”
Suddenly Reyna clapped a hand over her mouth. She pictured Jaime strolling from the storage vaults, a clay head tucked under his arm.
Levi said, “What is it?”
Reyna had to take several breaths to keep the nausea at bay. “Jaime and I found a statue back home. A clay statue, like these. It fell over and broke. The inside was full of ash.”
Levi winced. “That was an old statue,” Ana-si said.
Reyna shied away from the memory. There was something else she needed to know.
“Where are the women?” At Ana-si’s blank look, she added, “The ones you capture. They’re not here. Where do you put them?”
“Jian-so captures no women.”
“There was one, Ana!” Reyna came to her knees. “Her name is Gunnel. On the Simona. A del Marian ship.”
Ana-si stared at her. Comprehension dawned. “That was you.”
It was not a question, and Reyna did not answer.
Ana-si said, “Jian-so was angry when you escaped. And he did not like the tall woman. She spat in his face.”
Dread swept over Reyna. She could picture Gunnel doing such a thing. “What happened to her?”
Ana-si was quiet.
“Please,” Reyna said.
“He made her go into the water.”
Reyna dropped her head in her hands. Gunnel had never learned how to swim. Reyna could not even grieve properly for Gunnel. Not yet. There would be a time for mourning later, when other lives did not hang in the balance. A hand came to rest on the back of her neck, warm and comforting. Levi.
Ana-si said, “We must leave soon.”
Reyna lifted her head as Levi asked, “You can wake all of them?”
Ana-si nodded. “It is just another song. Simple.”
Levi gestured to his brother. “Then do it. Please.”
But Ana-si shook her head, resolute. “You will find Mei first.”
“No, you’ll—”
Reyna touched Levi’s arm in warning. They must tread carefully here. She did not want him turned into a statue too. “Of course we’ll help you find your sister,” she said.
Ana-si had been holding her breath. She exhaled now, long and shaky. She was as much a prisoner as these clay soldiers. All alone in a hostile kingdom, separated from her only family. Threatened, scared. At least Reyna had Levi and Blaise and the crew. Ana-si had no one.
“Do you know anything that could help us?” Reyna asked.
Song of the Abyss Page 21