Bridge of Legends- The Complete Series

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Marielle

  The sound of lapping water against the side of a boat woke her and she sat up. Stars flashed across her vision and her head spun so quickly that she fell back again.

  “Easy,” the word was gentle but concerned. “Easy now. It’s not a bad wound, but it bled a lot. Maybe you should drink some tea. It’s fortifying. The kind my grandmother used to give me.”

  “Jhinn?”

  “Yes. It’s me, girl. Jhinn. We’re in my gondola.”

  She tried to sit again. This time taking it slowly.

  “Careful. Don’t want to knock over the brazier or the gondola will catch on fire.”

  She smelled the fire now that he mentioned it – smoky and woody, smelling of burning cedar. The lake – a mineral smell mostly, hardly even organic. If she had to guess, she’d say they wouldn’t catch fish here. This lake barely even smelled alive. And Jhinn – smelling of strawberry genius and hot, sudden flashes of smoked paprika – worry.

  “What are you worried about?” she asked, groggy. It took her a moment to remember that she’d been hit with Liandari’s sword. She hadn’t dodged quickly enough. She looked around her. Rajit lay beside her, his fur cloak wrapped around him. From the pallor of his face and the sweat on his brow, she guessed he’d been wounded, too.

  “If the boat burns down, I die,” Jhinn said simply as if speaking to a child. “That’s why I’m worried about you knocking over the brazier.”

  “No,” Marielle said, shaking her head. “I don’t mean that. I can smell you’re worried. What’s wrong?”

  She was looking further now. The beach they’d fought on was a long way off. She could just make out the broken cart – and a heap of cloth on the ground nearby. Liandari. Or at least, her body. It was Abelmeyer who had controlled her. The one-eyed King. He’d been so powerful when she was in the clock. It was shocking to think of him as gone.

  Jhinn had their gondola pulled up against the side of what could only be a large rock, though the water seemed to flow under it and from where they sat, almost tucked under the rock, it looked like you could float a long way under the rock – maybe a really long way. The light ended before the way clear did, and she smelled something – fresh air. Moving air. It wasn’t stagnant under here. The air and water could move.

  “Are you planning to go under this rock?”

  Her question only made him more agitated. He fiddled with his little motor on the back of the boat. The pedal one. Had it broken in all the madness? She didn’t think so. It looked whole from here.

  “Tamerlan was supposed to come back and tell me if it was safe to go under this part of the dragon,” he said and as he gestured above, she realized she could see a scale picked out on the rock in the light of the lantern. It was hard to make out. Just like the shore was. Which meant this was almost night. “That was many hours ago. And he has not returned. I’m reluctant to go. What if I do, and a moment later he comes flying around the corner to tell me it is not safe to take you and Rajit there? I worry not for myself, only for you and him. Tamerlan made me swear I would take care of you.”

  “And you have.”

  He nodded jerkily. His anxiety growing with her words, not reducing. It was all she could smell now.

  “But it’s been a long time. And this passage leads somewhere. What if he needs my help? What if by delaying, I am wasting the time I would need to help him?”

  She nodded. Yes, she understood the dilemma.

  “Perhaps you will go after him on foot? You can see if he is in trouble? If he has word about the passage here?”

  She shook her head. “Your brother doesn’t look well.”

  “He’s not. I worry his wound is infected.”

  She nodded. “And you cannot leave the boat.”

  “No.” He sounded a strange combination of certain and defeated.

  “I think I should stay with you for now, Jhinn. And I think we should try this passage. What if I pedal and you stay at the bow and watch for trouble? We can turn around if the passage narrows or the current speeds up.”

  He nodded, reluctantly though. Clearly torn.

  “We have to take a chance one way or another,” Marielle said. “And I think I’d rather take a chance at being brave than at being foolish, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” His eyes met hers, looking for support and she smiled encouragingly.

  She still felt shaky as she took her place at the stern of the boat on the little seat Jhinn had made, pedaling to power the boat. He set himself up in the bow, pole in hand, ready to push aside any obstacle he could.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  She began to pedal, and in minutes the lake behind them was lost and all they could see was within the circle of golden light provided by the lantern and the open brazier.

  Worry crawled through Marielle’s own belly and she hoped they’d chosen correctly. If not, no one would ever find their bodies.

  22: Where Journeys Take Us

  Tamerlan

  They’d crossed the magic bridge hours ago and now Tamerlan was beginning to worry. The lantern was low on fuel. He tapped the base, swallowing at how little fish oil sloshed in the bottom of the lantern.

  He should have turned back by now to tell Jhinn what was happening, but he just kept thinking that if he went a bit further he’d have something to report. And the further he went, the further he would have to go back just to tell his friend to stay put. Hopefully, Jhinn would know to do that on his own.

  “They hacked their way through the rock here,” Etienne said uneasily. Tamerlan raised the lantern higher, unsettled by where the gouges in the rock looked more like the work of metal claws than tools.

  He took a step toward them, nearly tripping over a skeleton. When the book had said that Ram had only returned with half of those who went with them it hadn’t said how the others had died. And Tamerlan still didn’t know – but he was pretty sure he knew where they died – here in this long, winding passage that led downward into the earth.

  On the other side of the bridge, they had walked right underneath the frozen, gaping jaws of a dragon, their heads almost brushing his great throat as they crept down into the earth. It was not a path – not a mine or a man-made cave but just the gaps between dragons. The only sign that they were headed in the right direction were the dead. The treasures they had taken out of the earth lay with them. Golden coins he didn’t’ recognize. Jewelry more extravagant than any he’d ever seen. Gem-encrusted sword handles. Strings of pearls. Even shells like Marielle’s yellow conch. There was a lot of evidence of fleeing people dying as they went – that and the signs of metal tools against dragon scales.

  Tamerlan and Etienne hadn’t touched the wealth. They didn’t even speak of it. Likely, Etienne knew as well as he did that it would only weigh them down.

  “I think the lantern is getting low on fuel,” he said, swallowing down a burst of fear.

  “Do you want to go back? Are you starting to see how foolish you are to think you – an alchemist’s apprentice – can save the world?”

  “I think the Grandfather is driving you mad,” Tamerlan said mildly. “I knew an Etienne who was cool and calculating – yes – but he was also clever and self-sacrificing and determined. You are not him. You are unfocused and you aren’t thinking things through. You know we both have to find a solution and that we are trying to do that right now.”

  Etienne spun, fire in his eyes, a hand raised as if to strike. Then he shook himself and nodded gravely.

  “You may be right. And yet, he never stops, never relents, never ceases.”

  “I know.”

  Do you know? Deathless Pirate’s voice in his mind was tinged with laughter. He and the others never stopped talking, suggesting, ordering or trying to seduce him into bringing them back. Never, not for even a moment, though he was getting better at ignoring it.

  Etienne gave Tamerlan an accusing look, sharp and angry, but after a moment it faded, and he just shook h
is head.

  “I feel magic up ahead. A lot of it. I think we should keep going. There isn’t enough fuel in your light to get us back, anyway. Our only hope is ahead.”

  His hand drifted up to touch the gouges in the scale above him.

  “What do you think happened here?” Tamerlan asked, horror in his voice. “It looks like – a battle against the rock itself. The scales, themselves I suppose. Do you think they were trapped here and had to cut their way out?”

  “Yes.”

  “What makes you think so?”

  Etienne’s eyes sparkled with a strong emotion that he was trying to suppress. “The Grandfather has seen this time. He tells me the dragon was not frozen when they took this journey. Not completely.”

  “That’s why they killed her,” Tamerlan said, understanding filling him at the thought. “The Lady Sacrifice – Anamay. They killed her to bind it, didn’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  Tamerlan nodded with him and they were both silent then as they negotiated a difficult climb down a steep, too-smooth wall of stone. The passage was tight here and it was all Tamerlan could do not to panic as the rocks felt like they were closing in.

  Soon you will understand. Soon you will see.

  Why couldn’t Ram just tell him? Wouldn’t that save a lot of trouble?

  I wanted you to listen. I didn’t want you to come here. But since you are here, you should see for yourself – see why we fight. See why you must replace the avatars and bind the free dragons. Why you must destroy them utterly.

  His voice seemed louder in Tamerlan’s head. And it made sense that they should bind the dragons. There were so many here – if they ever slipped loose of the magic holding them – well, he didn’t want to think of what would happen.

  DESTRUCTION! DEATH! CHAOS!

  His thoughts spiraled away and he stumbled. He barely heard Etienne cursing, though he felt the other man pulling him to his feet.

  They killed Salamay here. See where he lies? The dragon crushed him under his great weight. He fell as we fled. I wanted to go back but I dared not. I alone carried the great shell. I alone had the power to bind them.

  Tamerlan could see a man being crushed under the bulk of a dragon’s belly as his friends tried to hack him free – tried and failed. He gasped. Salamay. He remembered the man. He’d loved beef stew and girls with brown eyes.

  But that wasn’t his memory, was it? It was Ram’s.

  Tamerlan was staring at a skeleton. A skeleton with a crushed skull. Someone was yelling at him. But he could see Salamay’s face on the skeleton. See it as it was crushed under the dragon. He shuddered.

  Yes. They had to stop this madness before more innocents were killed. Ram was right. He’d always been right.

  He had a vague feeling that the other Legends were screaming now, trying to plead a different case, but he wasn’t listening because of course they were wrong and obviously Ram was right.

  He would go and see for himself and learn how to make the avatars that they needed to make. It was the only way.

  “Tamerlan! Tam! Legends take it! Listen to me!”

  He surfaced from his thoughts to see Etienne’s worried face swimming in the light. He blinked and the face became clear.

  “Are you with me? Dragon’s spit, Tam! Pull yourself together. You are Tamerlan Zi’fen, Alchemist’s apprentice. You are not Ram the Hunter, do you hear me? You will not be making avatars.”

  “Did I say that?”

  “Yes,” his tone was terse as he dragged Tamerlan along. He had the lantern now. His eyes were bright in its light, almost feral as he pulled Tamerlan along and his own flowing words were as worrying as the Legends’ were. “Just a little farther. I can feel it. I can feel the power. A little further. It burns my nose. It tickles my blood. It’s here, close. Here. Enough to escape. Enough to be free.”

  If they were both going mad, then how would they keep each other sane?

  There was a faint light ahead. Ram’s excitement filled him and he hurried forward.

  Here. We’re here! I see the light!

  Was that his thought or Ram’s? Did it matter anymore? Their purpose was one. Their dream the same. Etienne was running beside him, gasping for breath as fast and furious as Tamerlan. Maybe it just made sense to be this excited. His eyes held a wild look – half-intensity, half-madness.

  They emerged into a cave so large it could hold the city of Jingen. And at the end of the cave furthest from them a crescent of light – like a crescent moon – dipped so low that its lower edge skimmed the city’s skyline. Water flowed out of it as if the moon itself could cry a waterfall into the city.

  They paused, both of them awed to stillness as they looked at the great moon, While only a bare crescent was open and gushing water, the barest hint of an outline showed the rest of the circle against the blackness of the cave. It was large enough for a dragon to easily fly through, large enough to hold an entire city.

  Despite the distance, he could hear the flow of the water pouring down the waterfall. The acoustics in this cavern must be amazing. Perhaps the dragons arching over them had landed in just the right spots to make a sound carry through the entire opening.

  His eyes were adjusting to the light slowly. And as they did, his sudden gasp was a twin to Etienne’s.

  A city lay before them. Dark and massive. It spread out across the floor of the cavern – easily visible from where they stood on a ledge above it. Street upon street linked to square upon square. Endless rows of dark buildings, flowing bridges, soaring palaces, and carved terraces filled the empty space stretching from where they stood to the crescent far beyond.

  “The Dragonblooded,” Etienne gasped, catching Tamerlan’s eye. “Your ancestors. This must have been one of their cities.”

  Nothing stirred below.

  But as his eyes continued to adjust they grew larger.

  There was a pedestal on the ledge nearby. Tamerlan set the lantern down on it almost absentmindedly and stepped out of its sphere of light to get a better look.

  He couldn’t believe his eyes.

  “Are those –?”

  “People?” Etienne finished. “Thousands of them. Standing in rows along the streets. Men, women, children. They are still as statues.”

  “Are they –?”

  But he couldn’t say the rest. Not when his blood was frozen as ice.

  “Dead?” Etienne asked. “I do not know.”

  Tamerlan turned back for his lantern and realized it was not alone on the pedestal. Beside it, a book – the largest book he’d ever seen – stood on the pedestal, locked by a heavy iron lock with gears surrounding it. It looked like something Jhinn would build.

  Absently, he stroked the cover of the book, his wound from when he opened the bridge catching on one of the gears and opening again. He cursed quietly, sticking his finger into his mouth to soothe it but the blood had already spread across the page.

  The lock clicked and fell away and of its own accord, the book opened and settled on a page that read in the runes of the ancients: READ ME.

  He turned the page and began to read aloud, the acoustics of the cavern carrying his voice – he was almost sure – completely across the entire city.

  23: A Voice in the Darkness

  Marielle

  “I wonder if we made a mistake coming here?” Marielle said finally. She’d been wanting to say it for hours now. As the low-ceiling passage had gone on it had branched several times but though they’d marked their path she wasn’t sure that she could find her way back even with the marks. And the water was flowing more quickly now, taking them downstream with a speed that she wasn’t sure they could counter if they tried to turn the gondola around. Her pedaling had slowed until eventually, it had stopped completely.

  “Probably,” Jhinn agreed. His face was pale in the flickering light of the lantern. The brazier fire had run out of fuel an hour ago, though fortunately, the air here was warm – almost too warm for the fur cloaks. They wouldn�
�t freeze to death – though at this rate they might plunge over an underground waterfall.

  Marielle swallowed. “I don’t think we can turn around.”

  “Not successfully. Any move now will only capsize us. I think we should change seats. Let me steer the boat and take the motor out of the current. You can watch for obstacles. Hmmm?”

  His voice was like the skin stretched over a drum.

  “Yes,” Marielle agreed, waiting for him to come back and take the tiller before she moved forward, pausing to check on Rajit. He moaned lightly, sweat forming on his brow. Fever. He was not well. If he survived another day – well, he probably wouldn’t. She glanced nervously back at Jhinn wondering if he knew.

  She shouldn’t have glanced back. His eyes grew big and he barely managed to shout “Duck!” to warn her.

  She obeyed immediately, flattening herself on the gondola deck floor. She twisted to look up and had to clench her teeth against a scream. The ceiling had come down suddenly to where it was scraping along the gunwales now and the sense of speed had increased.

  There was no turning back. No way to even get an oar or rudder out of the boat to turn them one way or another. All they could do was hold on for the ride and hope they survived.

  “Try to secure the gear!” Jhinn barked.

  She felt confused, but direction as better than nothing. Trying not to choke on the scent of their combined fear, she scrambled to gather his things and jam them into the forward hatch. The brazier didn’t fit. It would have to fare as well as it could. Jhinn had the motor tied against the stern with a rope and he crawled forward giving Marielle the end of another rope.

  “Help me tie Rajit in place.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said, but she was obeying anyway, tying a knot to a securing ring as Jhinn wrapped the rope around his brother and secured it to another ring.

  “Hold on to the rope,” Jhinn gasped.

  There was a squealing sound and then the lantern snapped off the forward ferro and with the crunch of wood being splintered, their light was snuffed out.