by Mel Odom
Just when he thought he could go no farther, his hand slid through the sea surface and into air. By the time he realized that, he was already taking his first breath. Treading water, he looked around and saw that Craugh, Cobner, and Jassamyn had made the swim.
“Raisho?” Juhg asked.
“He hasn’t come up yet,” Jassamyn answered. She released the draca, pushing the miniature dragon into the air. The creature quickly took flight and shrilled with the joy of being alive and once more in its element.
Juhg’s own surprise and happiness at surviving the swim from the sinking building was quickly dying with Raisho’s continued absence. Taking a few quick deep breaths, Juhg prepared to go back underwater.
“Apprentice,” Craugh called in a tired voice. “It’s too dark. You would never be able to find him.”
“I’ve got to try.”
At the moment, Raisho surfaced only a few feet away. He came up so fast and so hard that he was out of the water to his waist before sinking back down.
Juhg swam to his friend and threw an arm across Raisho’s broad shoulders. “I was beginning to think I’d lost you,” Juhg said. Craugh and Cobner and Jassamyn were all old traveling companions of the Grandmagister’s. They had chosen, for their own reasons, to come along on this adventure. But Juhg knew Raisho had come because of him. Neither of them had family and they had grown close over the last two years.
Breaking away, Raisho shook his head. “Ye won’t lose me in the water, scribbler. I’ll be able to outswim ye ever’ day of yer life. I got turned around ’neath that buildin’ fer a moment, is all. I got myself squared away all right.”
“Not to be going and disturbing your little reunion,” Cobner said, “but mayhap I need to remind you that we aren’t in safe waters here.”
They swam toward the broken bridge landmark that the Grandmagister had indicated on his map of Skull Canal. When they arrived, they discovered that they were nearly a quarter of the way around the island.
The boat was still tied up where they had left it. They also found out that Dusen and his crew of smugglers had evidently survived the sinking building as well. The smugglers had discovered the boat and were in the process of looting the supplies.
Dusen and his comrades looked worse for the wear. Most of them had lumps on their faces from the spider bites and all of them were drenched to the bone.
Cobner, bereft of his armor and his battle-axe—all of which lay at the bottom of the canal and probably under the sunken building as well—bent down and picked up a large rock in each hand. He showed the smugglers an evil grin.
Craugh clapped his hat onto his head after trying futilely to make it look more proper and stepped forward. He was a little unsteady. Bright green embers flickered at the end of his staff. Jassamyn stepped to the wizard’s right and unsheathed her longsword. Moonslight glowed pale blue against the blade. To Cobner’s left, Raisho slid free the cutlass sheathed down his back.
“That’s our boat,” Craugh stated in a cold voice.
Warily, the smuggler leader stared at the wizard. “You cost me a lot tonight. Men and goods. I figure you owe me. I’m willing to spare your lives and let you go.” He bared his teeth in a smile and pushed the long hairy tail of a rat skin from his face.
“As I recall,” Cobner growled, “we were in the middle of giving you a good thumping.” He slammed the rocks in his fists together before him. Sparks jumped. “I’d be glad to go back and get it done right instead of leaving off. I’m not much of one for leaving a task half done.”
Juhg swallowed hard, thinking that they had survived the sinking building and the swim to the sea surface only to step back into the fight with the smugglers.
“By the Old Ones,” Craugh said in a voice like cold thunder, “but I’ve had my fill tonight. And I’ll not suffer fools gladly.” He gestured and a wall of nearly invisible force gusted over Dusen.
The smuggler leader stumbled for a moment, then began to shrink. The other smugglers drew away from Dusen in fear, making signs of warding against evil. Dusen continued shrinking, shrieking out in fear as he dropped down through his clothes and ended up on his hands and knees. His hair slid back and changed, becoming mottled gray skin covered with dark blemishes and warts. Then he vanished entirely within his own clothing. A moment later, a mournful and piteous croak sounded from within the clothes strewn across the naked rock of the island.
A toad sprang out of the clothing and plopped to the ground. Dusen peered up at them with his one good eye and croaked again. By some whim, though Juhg thought it was by Craugh’s design, the smuggler leader’s eyepatch had shrunk with him, fitting the toad perfectly even now.
“Well then,” Craugh said in a mocking voice, “I’ve increased the toad population of Skull Canal by one. But I’m sure this place could stand a few more toads.” He glared happily at the smugglers standing nearby with their mouths hanging open. “Who’s next for a steady diet of flies?”
The smugglers dropped the supplies back into the boat and ran to the far end of the island, begging the wizard’s forgiveness the whole time. Taking a final last glaring look at the wizard, Dusen the toad bounded off after his fellows.
Cobner tossed his rocks to one side, put his hands on his hips, and arched his back. Vertebrae popped. “I do hate to miss out on a good fight, Craugh, and I would have put one up if I’d had to. But I’m thinking that rowing back to Sharz’s house is gonna be all I’m good for until I get a good night’s sleep.”
They quickly reloaded the supplies into the boat and boarded. Raisho and Cobner pushed the vessel out into the water, then hopped aboard and began rowing.
Craugh sat in the boat facing Juhg. Although the wizard had not asked, Juhg knew Craugh wanted to see the prize they had risked their lives to claim. Suspicion still darkened Juhg’s thoughts, though. The Book of Time represented power that few who were interested in such things could resist.
It was Raisho who broke the uncomfortable silence. The young sailor kept his oar moving swiftly and steadily through the water as he and Cobner propelled them back through the canals. “Well, scribbler,” he said, “are ye gonna keep us in suspense all night?”
Juhg looked at his friend.
Raisho grinned, his teeth white in the darkness. “Let’s see the swag.”
Reluctantly, but feeling somehow a little safer showing everyone the two blue jewels he had retrieved from hiding place instead of showing them to Craugh alone, Juhg reached inside his jacket and took out the portion of The Book of Time. He held them in the palm of his hand.
“They’re beautiful,” Jassamyn said.
“Probably worth a fortune,” Raisho agreed.
The others looked at him.
“Not that we’re gonna sell ’em.”
Everyone’s attention reverted back to the two curiously shaped gemstones.
“How do you know those gee-bobs are really part of The Book of Time?” Cobner asked. “They could just be part of a treasure that was never found in the building.”
“The Grandmagister found the gems,” Jassamyn said. “And from the looks of the building, others did, too. But I’m certain they didn’t know what it was they had found.”
“If they was treasure, I’m sure nobody would have left them behind,” Raisho said.
“I’ve seen Wick walk away from treasure before,” Cobner said. “I don’t even want to count the times we’ve up and left a place with treasure laying everywhere just for the picking. Why, the treasure we left in Shengharck’s lair in the Broken Forge Mountains would have taken even a dwarf ten lifetimes to spend even if he spent as hard and foolishly as he could.” He paused, frowning sadly at the memory. “That day I thought I took me a king’s ransom, but I spent it right fast enough. And the dragon was dead! You don’t have any problems robbing a dead dragon!” He blew out a breath. “If that volcano hadn’t erupted and brought the mountain down, we could have robbed that lair for years.”
Raisho dug in with his oar. “Them ain
’t just gemstones. I tried to get them out of that hidey-hole. I couldn’t touch them.”
Cobner reached for one of the gems on Juhg’s palm. “Looks like you can touch them now.”
When the dwarven warrior went to pick one of the gemstones up, his fingers passed through them as if they’d been made of smoke. Frowning, Cobner tried again, but only achieved the same result.
Not believing what he was witnessing, Juhg closed his hand over the strangely shaped gemstones. He still felt them, hard and smooth as glass against his fingers and palm.
“Let me try.” Jassamyn leaned in and tried to pick the gemstones up. She had no better luck than Cobner.
“May I?” Craugh asked.
Juhg hesitated, wondering if the gemstones were just an illusion. “Is this a trick of some sort? I mean, there could have been a spell back in that room. Like a mirage spelled into place there. Maybe you are only seeing the visual aspects of it, but I swear I can feel them.”
Craugh reached for the gems. Even before his fingers touched them, sparks shot up. Stubbornly, because that was the wizard’s nature, Craugh continued trying to touch the gems. Then a large eruption of power flared up that knocked the wizard flat.
For a moment, after the horrendous explosion of light and force and sound, Juhg feared that Craugh was dead. Then he saw the wizard’s skinny chest rise and fall. Jassamyn inspected Craugh and pronounced him fit enough, saying that there were no wounds and he’d only been dazed.
Cautiously, after a short time had passed, Craugh sat up and glared at the gemstones. He shot Juhg a suspicious look. “Did you do that?”
Juhg shook his head. “No. I didn’t know that they would do that.” His mind sorted through everything he had learned from the mantis. “The mantis said that magic was anathema to The Book of Time. Maybe that’s what caused the reaction.”
“‘The mantis?’” the wizard repeated.
“The praying mantis I met when I seized hold of the gemstones,” Juhg said. He wet his lips, wondering if everything he had experienced had been true or just an illusion. As carefully as he could, trying not leave out any of the details, he began telling his companions of his encounter with the mantis. Before he knew it, his journal and a piece of charcoal were in his hands. While he talked, he drew in the journal, working as best as he could under the moonslight while he captured details in quick sketches.
“Juhg.”
Barely awake, Juhg hoped that the voice was only his imagination or the leftover part of a dream. He ached all over from the abuse he had suffered at the hands of the Skull Canal smugglers the day before. He wasn’t ready to wake, and he didn’t want to face the impossible task of making sense of everything that had happened and putting it into his journal.
Yesterday, while Craugh went in search of supplies and Cobner and Jassamyn inquired down at the docks about buying passage aboard a trade ship bound for the mainland and Raisho watched over him in Sharz’s upstairs living quarters, Juhg had worked on updating his journal. Too many things, important things had happened that couldn’t be forgotten. The conversation he’d had with the mantis was the most important. He had copied the information the mantis had told him into a second journal that he intended to give to Jassamyn. It was insurance, in case something happened to him.
His work on the second journal detailed everything that had happened to him since he and Craugh and One-Eyed Peggie had left Greydawn Moors after the attack there. Although he was conflicted about sharing the wizard’s personal history, Juhg fully intended to put that into the journal as well. After the mantis’s story, Juhg knew that Craugh was tied too tightly to The Book of Time not to tell someone. If something happened to him or he got separated from the group, someone else needed to know.
Before going to sleep on the night they returned from Skull Canal, Juhg had made a shorthand list of events he wanted to cover in the journal. The Grandmagister had always taught him to plan out everything he intended to write. He was organized, had his tasks ordered before him, but he simply didn’t have enough time and energy to get them all done.
And now, he again awakened in the midst of his unfinished work on Sharz’s private work table. He was beginning to think he’d never again know what a bed and a good night’s sleep felt like.
“Are ye awake then?” Raisho asked. “If so, I’ll make ye a bite to cat.”
As he did every morning, and several times throughout the day, Juhg took the leather pouch from the strap he wore around his neck. Opening the pouch, he poured The Book of Time fragments into his palm to examine them.
In the light of day, the two blue gemstones took on an even more incredible luster. During his examination of them once he had returned to Sharz’s home, Juhg had discovered the gemstones had tiny slots etched into them that looked like they would allow the pieces to fit together in a tongue-and-groove assembly. However, no matter how he tried them, the pieces would not fit together.
The grooves presented yet another challenge and puzzle. There was no doubt that something was supposed to fit onto the pieces, or that the pieces were supposed to fit onto something else.
Feeling a little guilty about his own paranoia, Juhg dumped the gemstones back into the leather pouch. He knew he shouldn’t have been worried about anyone else stealing the gemstones because no one else could touch them. He still didn’t understand why that was.
Once, when he had left the gemstones in the pouch on the work table, Raisho had tried to move the pouch while he was looking through Juhg’s journal, looking at various illustrations to refresh his memory and get ready to add to Juhg’s notes as he’d been asked. He hadn’t been able to touch the leather pouch either. Further experimentation revealed that anyone could touch the leather pouch when the gems weren’t inside it, but not once the gemstones were safely put away. Only Juhg could do that.
“Juhg. C’mon, scribbler, rise an’ shine.”
“I’m awake,” Juhg protested.
“I know, but ye’re not up an’ about. Ye told me to make sure ye got up.” Raisho sounded guilty. “I’ve already let ye sleep later then ye wanted me to.”
Later? That sunk in. Juhg had too much work to do to spend all his time sleeping. He pushed himself up from the work table, checking to make sure he hadn’t left an open inkwell nearby. Yesterday morning, he had done that and ended up spilling ink over work he had just finished the night before. The setback had cost him hours of effort in work that had needed to be copied over. He had wanted to give up in frustration, but he hadn’t been able to let go the task.
“I capped yer inkwell after I found ye asleep this mornin’,” Raisho said.
“Thank you,” Juhg said. He felt guilty that he didn’t even seem to be able to take care himself when there was so much to be done. Raisho could have helped Craugh get the supplies necessary for the journey to the Smoking Marshes except the wizard asked the young sailor to watch over Juhg.
“What do ye feel up to eatin’?”
“Nothing, really.” Over the last two days, Juhg hadn’t had much of an appetite. Back at the Vault of All Known Knowledge, he had experienced the same kind of appetite problems when he became truly absorbed by his work. During those times, the Grandmagister had watched over him, taking time out of his day to eat a meal or two with Juhg.
“Well, ye ’ave to eat somethin’, elsewise I’ll never hear the end of it from Jassamyn.”
“A sandwich, then.” Juhg squinted at a nearby window. The bright light hurt his eyes. Then he realized the light was on the wrong side of the building for it to be morning. “What time is it?”
Raisho walked over to the potbelly stove and took down a heavy iron frying pan. “I’m not feedin’ ye a sandwich. Jassamyn wouldn’t be happy with that, so I’d end up not bein’ happy with that. An’ it’s afternoon.”
“Afternoon!” Juhg wheeled on the young sailor. “I told you I needed to be awake this morning.”
Raisho turned to face Juhg and crossed his arms over his broad chest. He frowne
d. “Ye’re me friend, scribbler, but I don’t remember takin’ ye on to raise. An’ if’n ye want to get up in the mornin’, see to it that ye don’t stay up till then. It’s ’ard to get up afore ye get yerself to bed.”
Shame radiated through Juhg when he realized how right Raisho was. “I apologize. I know it’s not your fault. You shouldn’t even be involved in this.”
Voice softer now, the young sailor said, “Well, ye’re wrong about that, scribbler. Ye’re me friend, an’ ye’re smack dab in the middle o’ this ‘ere mess. That’s one reason for me to be ’ere. The second reason is, Greydawn Moors is me home. Leastways, when I ain’t on Windchaser. The only home I can remember ever havin’. These people that are tryin’ to get The Book o’ Time, why some of ’em are responsible for that attack on me home an’ killin’ some of me friends. I reckon I owe ‘em whatever I can give ’em.” Raisho grinned. “Besides that, where else could I get the chance to be a legend by rescuin’ The Book of Time?”
Juhg looked at his friend and felt afraid for him. Sometimes he felt that the young sailor just didn’t recognize danger when it stared him in the face. “Raisho, you do know that most of the legendary heroes you hear about are dead, don’t you? And most of them didn’t die of old age.”
Raisho shrugged and smiled. “Well, I don’t plan on bein’ one of the dead ’uns. I think it’s better to be a legend while ye’re alive to enjoy it.”
“I don’t think you understand what we’re up against.”
A serious look filled the young sailor’s handsome face. “I know what we’re up against, scribbler. Mayhap I can’t read nor write like ye do, but I listen well enough when ye talk, an’ when Cobner talks, an’ when Jassamyn talks, an’ especially when Craugh talks because he knows enough about things that can kill ye to keep ye hard at listenin’ for years.” He frowned. “Plus, not listenin’ fast enough or hard enough could get me turned into a toad, an’ I sure don’t want that fer meself.” He cleared his throat and went on. “I ain’t seen as much of this kind of adventurin’ as the rest of ye, but I know when things is bad, an’ when the goin’ gets dangerous. But I can’t see no way to steer clear of any part of this. Unless ye’re seein’ somethin’ I don’t?”