Deadly Games ee-3

by Lindsay Buroker

  “We’ll surrender,” Amaranthe said.

  “We could swim out before we get to the top,”Maldynado said.

  “With the kraken waiting out there?” Booksasked.

  “Kraken?” Sicarius asked mildly.

  “Er, yes,” Amaranthe said. “Did you not knowabout that?”

  “I thought you’d have to slay it to get inhere.”

  “No, the kraken-slaying is still on my to-dolist.”

  Sicarius’s eyebrow twitched.

  “Don’t worry. We have a plan. Sort of. Books,meet us back at the transition chamber once you have these peoplesecured. Sicarius, let’s go see to these tanks.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Basilard led the way to the laboratory fromwhich he and Sicarius had escaped mere hours earlier. Books,Akstyr, and the athletes followed, grunting and panting as theytoted the unconscious practitioners. Clunks and thumps sounded aslimbs-or heads-collided with pipes and bulkheads. Despite thedamage the vessel had taken, the barrier remained in place,blocking the laboratory entrance.

  “Do you know how to get past?” Booksasked.

  Basilard stared at the eyeball-readerthoughtfully. He had no desire to try Sicarius’s method.

  “Akstyr, do you know how to get past?”Books asked over his shoulder.

  “That work’s beyond me,” he said.

  “Can we hurry up?” a man asked at the rear.“This bloke’s stirring. I think they’re going to wake up soon.”

  Basilard pointed at an unconscious womanstrung between Books and Akstyr. Lift her up, pry her eyelidopen, and wave her face in front of that device.

  “That’ll work?” Books asked skeptically.

  The alternative is to gouge her eyeball outand wave it on a stick.

  “Let’s…make the first thing work,” Bookssaid. “And please don’t tell me if you know for a fact the othermethod works.”

  He and Akstyr jostled the woman into place.Basilard used his good arm to pry her eyelid back and held hisbreath. Nothing happened. The iris was rolled back in her head.Grimacing-and worried she would wake up-he used his finger to slideher eyeball downward.

  The barrier winked out.

  Before he could let his breath out in relief,something tinkled to the deck inside. Basilard had no idea how manyof the crew had been accounted for. Not everybody, apparently.

  He drew his knife and motioned for the restof the team to wait inside the threshold.

  Only tables and equipment occupied the firstaisle. Basilard tiptoed toward the second and paused at a tank onthe end.

  In case someone waited around the corner witha pistol, he stuck his hand out as a decoy, then whipped it back.No shots fired. He listened but heard nothing. Knife in hand, hepeeked around the corner….

  Only to find it empty. He ducked to see ifsomeone might be hiding beneath the beds. Nothing. The hairs roseon the back of his neck, and some instinct told him to look up.

  A pair of black boots swung toward hisface.

  Basilard dropped into a crouch so low, hisrump smacked the deck. He bounced up instantly, whirling as agray-haired soldier hanging from the ceiling pipes swung past him.Taloncrest. Before he could release the pipes and drop down,Basilard jammed his knife into the man’s kidney.

  Taloncrest snarled as his boots hit the deck,and he whirled, a pistol in hand.

  Basilard dropped again, this time hurlinghimself onto his back. He kicked up, sending the pistol flying withsurprising ease. Taloncrest stood there, face slack, a bulky toteslung over one shoulder, papers fighting to escape the flap.

  His eyes grew glazed, and he toppledforward.

  Basilard scrambled backward in the tightaisle and barely avoided having the man land on top of him. Asecond knife protruded from his back.

  Akstyr stepped forward and removed it.“You’re welcome.”

  Thank you, Basilard signed.

  “This goon’s waking up,” someone said.

  A loud thump sounded.

  “Never mind,” someone else said.

  Let’s get these people strapped to thebeds, Basilard signed.

  Books stuck his head around the corner intime to see the message. “Do you know how to sedate them?”

  Basilard pointed to one of the globes thatperched beside each table. I saw it done.

  “So, that’s a yes?” Books asked.

  Basilard hesitated. Not really.

  “This should prove interesting then.”

  After retrieving their swords, Amaranthe andMaldynado wound through the corridors, following Sicarius. Shefocused on carrying her helmet, not tripping over her oversizedboots, and watching for guards; she most definitely did not focuson Sicarius’s bare rear end as he jogged ahead of them.

  “If Deret’s on board the Saberfist,”Maldynado said, “he might be able to keep the marines from shootingus when we pop up.”

  “Why would Mancrest be there?” Sicariusasked, his tone as friendly as the edge of that black knife ofhis.

  “His brother is the captain of the marinesalvage and rescue vessel dropping explosives on us,” Amaranthesaid. “I had to chat with Deret to make that happen.” Anothercharge blew nearby, and the corridor trembled. “Which has been aboon and a bane, I’ll admit.”

  A second blast went off, this time rightoutside the wall. The floor heaved, pitching her sideways. A lighton the wall bounced out of its holder and shattered on the deck.Sicarius caught Amaranthe before she smashed against thebulkhead-nothing so mundane as a shock wave would throw him off hisfeet-and she nodded a thank you. It was good to have him back evenif the return look he gave her was on the cool and disapprovingside. She hoped it was because of Deret and not due to her ownclumsiness.

  “Don’t worry about Mancrest,” she said. “Youwere right about that meeting at Pyramid Park being a badidea, but we’ve come to an agreement since then.”

  If anything Sicarius’s gaze grew cooler.

  “He gave me his word,” Amaranthe said. “He’snot trying to turn me over to the military any more.”

  “No.” Maldynado snickered. “He’s just tryingto date you now.”

  Sicarius threw a sharp look at him.

  A snap sounded, and a hairline crack formedin a wall seam next to Amaranthe. A bead of water appeared at thebottom.

  “We better go.” She grabbed Maldynado andSicarius by the elbows, trying to hustle everyone down thecorridor. “There’s a lot of pressure down here. I don’t want to bearound if anything implodes.”

  Sicarius strode forward, breaking free of hergrip. He led them around two corners and past a massive bulkheadsealing off a corridor. Water pooled on the floor before it.

  “Must be that wing they closed down,”Amaranthe said. Too bad nobody was left in the navigation room todrop more doors in case other sections flooded. “Is it possiblethese ballast tanks won’t be enough to lift us if too much of theinterior has taken on water?”

  “Very possible.” Sicarius stopped before apanel filled with levers and smaller versions of the wheels thatopened the hatches. Though it looked like Turgonian technology, thewords etched on plaques were nothing she could read.

  Sicarius handed her the manual, turned awheel, and twisted one of the levers in a half circle. A grindingnoise came from behind the wall, followed by a muffled hissing. Airbeing forced into the tanks? Her thoughts tangled as she tried tograsp the science-or perhaps Science-behind the system.

  “It’s working.” Sicarius tapped a gauge. “Butthere’s another tank along the other main corridor, and then twomore used for leveling the ship. We may need to open the floodvalves on those, too.”

  Before he finished talking, he was joggingagain. Amaranthe and Maldynado hustled to catch up.

  “What happens if we’ve taken on too muchwater and this doesn’t get us off the bottom?” Maldynado asked.“Everyone without diving suits drowns down here?” He seemed torealize he was talking to someone without a suit, for he added,“And, er, just so you know, this wouldn’t fit you, Sicarius, sothere’s no need to stab me in the
back for it.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Sicarius said as theyturned into another corridor.

  “That’s a relief,” Maldynado said.

  “It would compromise the suit.”

  Maldynado grew pale, as if he were imaginingSicarius forcing him out of the suit at knife point and thenstabbing him.

  Amaranthe elbowed him. “I think that was ajoke.”

  Maldynado shook his head. “Given the source,I doubt it.”

  They reached a set of controls identical tothe first.

  “How deep are we?” Sicarius asked as hechecked the gauges.

  “Books estimates three to four hundred feet,”Amaranthe said.

  “I’ve studied free diving. I can make itout.”

  “What’s free diving?” Maldynado asked.

  “Employing mind-body control techniques tomaximize the effectiveness of the mammalian diving reflex.”

  Maldynado’s brow furrowed and he mouthed,“What?” at Amaranthe.

  “I think it means he’s good at holding hisbreath,” she said.

  “Oh.”

  Sicarius twisted a wheel, turned a lever, andthey moved on.

  Amaranthe was about to ask him if the vesselshould be lifting yet when they rounded a corner and entered anoccupied corridor. Two guards stood before a set of controlssimilar to the other ones.

  The men carried pistols, but Sicarius neverslowed. He strode toward them as determined as death. One of theguards reached for his firearm, but he took one good look atSicarius and backed away. Both men turned and ran.

  Sicarius must have deemed them no threat, forhe stopped at the controls without bothering to hurl knives intotheir backs. Maybe Amaranthe’s influence was mellowing him. Right.Or maybe their situation was so dire there was no time for knifeplay. As far as she could tell, the vessel had yet to budge.

  “How come no guards turned and ran from uswhen we were infiltrating the place?” Maldynado asked.

  “Their employers were conscious,” Amaranthesaid, “and their ship wasn’t half-destroyed, so they had highermorale.”

  “Oh, good. I’d hate to think that even naked,Sicarius is scarier than us.”

  Sicarius finished with the controls and tookoff.

  They threw the last lever in the forwardsection of the vessel and returned to the transition chamber wherethe team had first entered. Akstyr, Books, Basilard, and some ofthe athletes waited there. All of Books’s charges had foundclothing, if only the white jackets the practitioners wore, whichleft Sicarius as the soul nude member of the group. He did not seemto care.

  “Are the practitioners subdued?” Amarantheasked.

  “You mean those stinking wizards?” oneathlete asked with a sneer. “They’re taken care of.”

  “They’re strapped down so the marines canpick them up when they board,” Books said. “We weren’t sure how tooperate the drugging mechanism, but we tossed a couple more ofthose vials into the room before we left.” He shrugged. “Best wecould do. I left a couple of women there to warn us if anyonestirs. I didn’t know if one of us should stay or if you’d need usfor the next phase of your plan.”

  The next phrase of her plan. That soundedvery official and organized. If only that were the truth.

  “Thank you, Books. Sicarius, how long shouldit take for air to fill the tanks and for us to rise?” Ifthey were going to.

  “Soon,” Sicarius said.

  Some of the athletes stirred again at themention of his name. They were probably wondering why the city’smost notorious assassin was helping them. Maybe it was time to makesure her charges could tell the journalists about theirrescuers.

  “I’m Amaranthe Lokdon,” she told them. “We’rean outfit called The Emperor’s Edge. I bring this up in case youwant to mention it to someone later on.”

  Books chuckled. She wondered if she shouldfurther tout their merits. There wouldn’t be a chance once theywere on the surface and the marines were swarming onto the foreigncraft. Amaranthe certainly wasn’t planning to stick around then.Just because Deret had talked his brother into checking out thelaboratory did not mean-

  The floor tilted.

  Amaranthe caught herself on the wall. Was itanother attack? No, she had not heard an explosion.

  “We’re rising,” Books said.

  The floor titled further, and Amaranthebraced herself.

  “Lopsided as a drunken marine,” Maldynadosaid. “Who’s driving this boat?”

  Basilard signed, Are there still people innavigation?

  “No,” Amaranthe said. “We convinced them tocome out and join the others on the deck in front of your hatch. Itseemed logical at the time.”

  Convinced? How?

  Amaranthe twitched a shoulder. “A littlepalavering.”

  Basilard lifted an eyebrow at Sicarius andsigned, No eyeball required.

  Amaranthe frowned, wondering if she hadmisread a sign. Eyeball? That did not sound right.

  Sicarius’s eyes glinted though, and he signedback, As predicted.

  It felt strange to be on the outside of ajoke between Sicarius and someone else. More than strange-a twingeof jealousy reared its head. She stomped it down. It was good forthe men to bond, those two especially.

  The vessel left the lake bottom with ascrape. Amaranthe checked the nearest porthole.

  The orange exterior lights still shone, but acloud of sediment was rising with them, and dust swirled about. Astartled school of fish flitted close enough to the porthole tosee, but more than a few feet away, the haze obscuredeverything.

  Amaranthe started to return to the group, buther men had come to join her. She rapped her knuckles on herhelmet. “Everyone with suits, get ready. We’ll assume the kraken istroubling the marines and take the harpoons out to help with it.We’ll exit roughly twenty feet before reaching the surface.”Assuming the dust cleared and they could tell when thesurface drew close. “Based on what I’ve seen of this place from theoutside, it’s the sort of craft most sane people would shoot at onsight and wait to investigate until it’s capsized and dragged up ona beach. Any questions?”

  “If the marines are handling the kraken, wecan use that as a distraction and swim away,” Sicarius said.“There’s no need to risk ourselves against it.”

  “We’ve already had a run-in with the thing,”Amaranthe said. “It may be more than the marines can handle unlessthey get creative with their thinking.”

  “Like we’re going to.” Books smiled.

  “Explain,” Sicarius said.

  Books launched into his spiel about thepoison and how they meant to get the kraken to suck the keg intoits vulnerable core. Amaranthe checked the porthole again. Thesediment cloud still swirled about, though the density hadlessened. They were making progress, albeit slow progress. Shehoped the ship didn’t get stuck mid-ascent.

  “That plan is dangerous,” Sicarius said.Though he was responding to Books, his gaze settled onAmaranthe.

  She spread her arms. “They usually are.”

  “What if I can’t swim?” a young womanasked.

  “Find someone who can and who thinks you’recute,” Amaranthe said.

  “Why does cuteness matter?” Books asked.

  “Would you let a woman drown if you thoughtshe was cute and would be utterly grateful to you for saving herlife?”

  “I wouldn’t let a woman drown under anycircumstances,” Books said.

  Amaranthe arched her eyebrows.

  “But especially not ones such as youdescribed,” he admitted.

  Sicarius took Amaranthe’s arm and guided herseveral steps from the athletes. “I assume you are planning on thiscourse of action regardless of what I do or say.”

  Amaranthe thought of Books’s advice. Was shebeing reckless again with this plan? “We’ll only do it if themarines look like they need help.”

  “I’ll take the keg then. You’ll be clumsy andslow in that suit.”

  “Thanks,” she said dryly. “Me specifically,or anyone in a suit?”

  “Anyone,
but you were planning on taking therisk, I assume.”

  She blushed. True.

  “Since I have no suit to drag at me,” hesaid, “I’ll be the logical choice.”

  “So that’s why he’s insisted on runningaround naked all day,” Maldynado muttered to Akstyr.

  Sicarius leveled a coolback-out-of-our-conversation stare down the corridor. Maldynadolifted his hands and turned to gaze out the porthole.

  “All right,” Amaranthe said, drawing him afew more steps away, though part of her did not want to let himtake the role. Emperor’s teeth, she had just rescued him, and nowhe wanted to risk his life again. But he was her most skilled man,not some vulnerable neophyte. It made sense to use him for thedangerous work. “You’ll take the keg, but be careful, please. Don’trisk holding your breath so long that you pass out and sink to thebottom.”

  “You don’t believe I’m cute enough torescue?” he asked, deadpan.

  “Oh, you’re decent.” She gave him a once overbefore remembering how nude he was. Her blush belied her offhandtone. “But we’ll be busy shooting harpoons into this beast todistract it for you. At least take someone to help you.”

  Sicarius raised his voice to say, “Basilard.”He pointed upward.

  Amaranthe would have picked someone whowasn’t injured, but they exchanged nods of understanding. Shewondered what the two had talked about while incarcerated downhere.

  Maldynado cleared his throat. “Just in caseanyone was concerned we wouldn’t get to play with the kraken, it’sstill alive, and-” he leaned closer, cheek pressed against theporthole, “-it’s got the marine ship wrapped up tighter than loverstangled in the sheets.”

  Amaranthe darted to the porthole. Thesediment cloud had disappeared, and they were thirty or forty feetfrom the surface. The depth did little to mute the brilliantmorning sunlight, and she had no trouble making out the black hullof the Saberfist. It had to be a substantial ship to do itsjob, but the tentacles curled along the bottom of it made it appearinsignificant. To the side of the vessel, more tentacles swirledabout like live snakes in a pit.

  The current brought something large in tothump against the porthole. It must have bumped the hull, too,because lightning streaked out, surrounding it and illuminating itall too well.