Chapter 15: Festival of the Equinox

 “Syndeeka!” Eshendisa looked at me with astonishment. She wore an orange cream colored dress maybe two shades lighter than her hair, and a large satchel hung from a leather strap worn diagonally across one of her shoulders.

 I’d once carried that satchel.

 My whole face felt like it was on fire and my heart was pounding in my ribs, but I couldn’t give anything away, not as long as they had Mala.

 “It’s…it’s good to see you again, Eshendisa.”

 Her face melted into a look of concern. “Are you okay? Tulonan and I haven’t seen you in weeks. Have you talked to Mala? I haven’t seen her in a long time, either.”

 “Oh, she’s around,” said Calendra with a toothy grin like a billy goat’s. 

 We were standing in the now crowded quadrangle of the philosophy academy. Calendra and Dusana (both dressed in black) had been guiding me in the direction of the fallen siblings and the great coiled serpent before Eshendisa had intercepted us.

 Most of the academy’s student body and instructors were present for the transition into spring and the new year, but many neighboring farmers, merchants, and laborers had also come onto the campus grounds to celebrate.

 The Deity Imperator, I knew, was stuck by protocol in his palace. Much as he would have liked to have gone into hiding on this day, his own superstitious fear of his court astronomers’ “magical” ways kept him planted in a spot where he was a prime target for the Sepulchral Giant.

 “Where have you been, Syndeeka?” asked Eshendisa.

 Oh, in a madman’s prison, I felt like telling her.

 “Um…I’d…rather not say.”

 I wanted so badly at that moment to throttle Dusana and Calendra, find where they were holding Mala and rescue her, then slaughter Medon and end this insanity. I felt like a blood vessel about to rupture. 

 “Tulonon’s missed you,” said Eshendisa. “We all have. But he’s going to be the master of ceremonies. Well, him and one of the Sabantehen Sisters of the Celestial Lady.”

 Juniusey’s connections must run deep, I thought.

 Eshendisa smiled. “I’m sure he’d be happy to see you again.”

 “She’ll get to talk with him soon,” said Calendra, trying to place a hand on my shoulder, which I immediately shrugged off. “Right now, she’s got a rendezvous with a reptile.”

 “Tell Tulonan I have his spyglass,” I added.

 Eshendisa waved goodbye to me as we resumed our journey. As if I wasn’t frazzled enough, that’s when Dusana decided to pull out his stupid flute and start playing.

 We weaved our way through crowds of festively attired men, women and children. Among the throng I could occasionally make out members of Joganda’s campus guard, but the Emperor’s soldiers (whom I’d expected to see given the size of the crowd and the threat to His Excellency’s life) seemed conspicuously absent. Smoke burnt my eyes as we passed a makeshift wooden stand where a beefy, bearded man in a leather apron took an older man’s coins, before handing him some kind of broiled meat on a stick he’d removed from a brazier cook stove.

 The long stone bench that ran the length of the western side of the quadrangle was packed with colorfully dressed revelers. We walked its length till we arrived at the two huge prostrate metal figures of the Celestial Lord and Lady, who lay on their backs staring at the sky. Both gods were hemmed in by rope barriers to keep potential climbers at bay. 

 Between them was of course the Cosmic Mother, coil upon coil of her scaly flanks rising up fifty feet. There was a wide wooden platform atop her which people accessed via a series of ladders leaning against the flanks of the automaton. This platform was about the size of an acting troupe’s stage and its hind area was stacked with several layers of barrels. As we neared the snake, I noticed people on different levels of the automaton who seemed to be kneeling and working on her metal hide with tools.

 “Are those your people?” I asked.

 Calendra chuckled. “Yes. And the best part of the whole story is those fools who’ve come to celebrate the Equinox just think it’s all part of the proceedings. Dear Sister Juniusey is such a wonderful tale-teller.”

 As we neared the reptilian base, I could see that Medon’s cult must be unscrewing the metal bolts that held the serpent in place. If only I could get Mala away from their clutches then I could warn everyone about what was transpiring. With such a large gathering of people for this event the level of carnage could be immense-- much greater than the deaths at the palace a few years ago.

 And I was assisting these demented people why? So they might spare the life of a foolish young woman who was still convinced they would make the world a better place? Was it like what Medon had told me? Some of us live. Some of us die. It would be no different if I chose to stay my hand.

 Maybe Mala could buy such a fatalistic philosophy and “change” her perspective, but I couldn’t. Even if I was being made to assist these people under duress, I would still be an accessory to mass murder.

 As we cut through the crowd in front of the serpent base, Bardrakeu weaved his way through several people before us and intercepted our party.

 “There you are, Syndeeka!” He smiled at me. “I was beginning to think the Sepulchral Giant’s people had gotten you, too.”

 Hearing that made me want to burst out laughing, but I just smirked. “Hello, Bardrakeu. Are your followers still scouring the catacombs?”

 My eyes quickly darted to either side of me to gauge Dusana and Calendra’s reactions. Sadly, they just maintained their idiotic grins.

 Bardrakeu’s eyes gave me a knowing look. “There are people down there right now. I’m smart enough to realize the Giant’s minions are bound to cause trouble on this of all days.”

 Dusana and Calendra’s grins wilted just a little.

 Just then Garsa and a tall, heavyset older man in red silk robes and a wide-brimmed hat materialized from the crowd. “I’d be down in the tunnels right now, but my patron, Sehendo, here asked me to be present for the ceremonies.”

 The older man was jowly and had tiny eyes squinting from the folds of a very wrinkled face. He extended a thick, wrinkled hand to me and I instinctively took it in my own.

 “Pray tell, who are you, my dark beauty,” he said, smiling.

 I returned his smile. “Syndeeka of the Ushe.”

 “We’d love to continue these pleasantries,” interrupted Dusana, “but we’ve an important appointment we need to be keeping.”

 He tugged my arm and I reluctantly moved forward.

 “Nonsense!” said Sehendo. “There’s no need for rudeness on your part, young man. When I was your age, if you disrespected your elders like you did just now you’d be flogged till your back was bloody.”

 The old man locked a hand on my arm and pulled me back to him. “Now, where were we, young lady? I can tell you’re not from these parts. I’d say someplace far more sunny, perhaps the southern--”

 “Forgive me, my beautiful uncle,” Garsa cut in, “I know how you’d like to get to know this dusky beauty more, but I need to talk to Syndeeka and the others in private. I can get you some more wine if you want.”

 Sehendo looked disappointed but let go of me. “Oh, very well. But I should like to talk with you further, Syndeeka.”

 I nodded. “Of course.”

 The old man put an arm around Garsa and kissed him on the mouth. “Don’t be long, my sweet boy. And make it two goblets of wine. I’m hardly drunk enough.”

 Dusana quickly led us away from Bardrakeu and Sehendo. He smiled at Garsa.

 “Your ‘uncle’ seems a bit forward.”

 Garsa growled under his breath. “That old man lacks the most basic social graces. And his face looks like a scrotal sack.”

 Calendra chuckled. “But here you are, Garsa, so he must be of some use to you.”

 “Garsa,” I said, “just how many of Bardrakeu’s followers are down in the catacombs?”

 The pit fighter laughed. “Only enough to cause a bloodbath.” 

 Garsa’s boast made me want to eye Dusana and Calendra with smug contempt, but then I realized I’d be down in the catacombs with them.

 And possibly Mala, too.

 Garsa followed us as we worked our way through the remaining throngs of people till we reached the base coil of the snake. That’s when Juniusey showed up

 She was dressed in the gray outfit and large hat she’d worn the last time I’d spoken with her. Seeing Garsa she placed her hands on her hips. “Who are you, young man?”

 “A friend,” said Garsa in a surprised tone.

 “Well, you certainly aren’t part of the festival proceedings, now are you? I have business to attend to with these three and I don’t need you getting in our way. Kindly leave, won’t you?”

 Garsa looked to Dusana and Calendra, but they merely shrugged.

 “Garsa,” I said, “I’d meant to ask you this earlier, but your patron distracted me with his attempts at conversation. Could you ask Bardrakeu if he could try to convince the people to clear the area?”

 The big man looked confused. “Huh? Why?”

 “He’s a senator’s son and people seem to listen to him. Please.”

 Juniusey sighed. “Young man, I want you to leave us be now. You’re interfering with the official ceremony and I can have the guard remove you.”

 Garsa’s eyes widened and he crossed his thick arms. “No, you can’t! Who do you think you are?”

 Juniusey’s eyes narrowed into pointed slits. “One of the most powerful people here, boy.”

 She raised a hand above her and signaled and two tall men dressed as we were in black tunics and cloaks came forward. They stood either side of Garsa and grabbed his arms.

 He tried to struggle but their grips were firm.

 “If you prove to be unruly or a threat,” continued Juniusey, “we do have legal recourse to deal with you any way we see fit.”

 The two men tugged at Garsa’s arms and he gave me a confused look.

 I spread my hands and held them up. “Please ask Bardrakeu if he can try and convince the crowd here to disperse.”

 As the two black-clad men led Garsa away he looked back at me, his eyes showing shock.

 I turned to Juniusey. “Did you and Medon consider the crowds of people who would be gathered here today to celebrate the New Year? There are children present, you know.”

 Juniusey scowled and took off her straw hat and pointed to the north. “We’ll be heading out the main gate. No one will be stupid enough to get in the path of a giant metal monster.”

 I sighed through clenched teeth. “People don’t always act rationally when they’re terrified. They could panic and start trampling each other to get away from the serpent.”

 Juniusey groaned disgustedly and redoned her hat. “We’ll warn them. If they’re still foolish enough to stand in our way or start knocking each other over to get to the exits, that won’t be our fault. Your precious Deity Imperator was given notice of Medon’s intentions months ago; he should have known better than to let citizens of the Imperium congregate here today.”

 “Oh, is this the mercy of the goddess you serve?”

 Juniusey raised a hand as if to strike me in the face, but held it in place before dropping it back to her side. “Shut up.”

 “There seems to be a steady breeze coming in from the east,” said Dusana, placing his flute in a cloth sack on his belt.

 Juniusey smiled. “Praise be to the Lord and Lady, then.”

 “What’s the significance of the breeze’s direction?” I asked.

 “You’ll find out when everyone else does, girl. All you need to know right now is where to place Suhodetan’s key in the king’s chamber.”

 I looked to the uppermost flank of the serpent where they’d set up the wooden platform and the wine barrels. “You don’t really need me for that. If you could just stack those barrels up there on the top rim of the snake so that they leave openings the same way the Samarthoph had configured their windows above the king’s tomb, then the sun would shine directly on the right spot at the time of Equinox.”

 Juniusey gave me a stern look. “Then how is it you were able to figure the keyhole’s position?”

 I smirked. “No more windowed dome over the chamber, right?”

 “Well, obviously.”

 A dry chuckle slipped past my lips. “So I figured I just needed to think like Suhodetan.”

 Juniusey’s eyes widened before squinting contemptuously. She glanced up the coils of the automaton. “Just start climbing the ladders.”

 We did and soon we were on the wooden platform where I was led through several stacks of wine barrels to an open space where I found Mala sitting cross-legged on the wooden planks playing dice with three young men in black. Juniusey ordered Dusana and Calendra to join Mala’s companions in dice as they collected the equipment we’d need for our mission. 

 Mala (her forehead now bare and slightly scarred) saw me, smiled, and ran up and gave me a tight hug, which I hesitantly returned. “Syndeeka! I’m so happy to see you again.”

 “How are you feeling, Mala?”

 “Oh, much better.” She released me and stepped back a few feet and nodded at Juniusey. “Our matron priestess has worked miracles on me with her wondrous potions. My back no longer hurts. Neither does my forehead.”

 Juniusey patted Mala on the back. “Your friend Mala and I have more than a few things in common, Syndeeka. I’ve been training her these past few weeks in herb lore.”

 This was the strangest hostage situation I’d ever seen.

 I looked about and noticed the wooden platform extended farther back than I’d initially realized. “How long is this stage your people have set up?”

 Juniusey’s warm expression twisted into a sly look. “All the way across the length of the chamber below us.” 

 She pointed ahead to a small square opening in the planks just a few feet before another stack of barrels began.

 “Unfortunately,” she continued, “all of your meddling these past few months has forced us to change our tactics. With Bardrakeu’s vigilantes scouring the catacombs, we realized we couldn’t enter the king’s chamber from below. You and your company are going to use ropes to rappel down through the trapdoor in the platform so you and Mala can finish turning the key in its slot.”

 I surveyed the stacked wine barrels surrounding us. “And obviously no one can see us descend… unless of course they were staring down at us from above.”

 Juniusey chuckled. “Praise be to the east wind.”

 “Tulonan is supposed to be joining you for the ceremony, isn’t he?”

 “He should be up here in an hour.”

 I placed my hand on my chin. “That makes sense. The Equinox this year doesn’t actually occur till the fifth hour after noon.”

 “Which, considering you’ve already discovered the keyhole’s location, should give you young ladies plenty of time to do what must be done.”

 “What about Bardrakeu’s men?”

 “We killed a patrol of them earlier today wandering into the king’s chamber. From what we’ve discovered, they tend to scour the tunnels in units of two. But the catacombs down there are vast so it should be a while before you encounter another party.”

 “Syndeeka,” said Mala, removing a stoppered glass vial from a small bag at her hip, “I want to show you what Juniusey gave me.”

 I took the vial from her and turned it about, letting the jade green liquid in it slosh about. “What is this?”

 “Only the key to immortality,” said Juniusey. “It’s a potion I concocted after studying ancient scrolls back when I lived with Medon at the palace. For all that place’s corruption, it always did have a nice library.”

 “The drug inside can slow down your heartbeat and other bodily functions,” added Mala, taking the vial back from me. “It can put its user into a veritable state of suspended animation.”

 “For how long?” I asked.

 “That I cannot say right now,” said Juniusey, “but from the tests I’ve done on frogs and reptiles, I’d say you could put yourself under indefinitely.”

 Mala touched my arm and grinned. “I want to give it to you.”

 I gave Mala a quizzical look. “Me? Why me?”

 Mala shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe you could find some use for it. Plus, I just wanted to reward you for cooperating with us.”

 I sighed heavily. “I’m not really a willing participant in all this.”

 “You won’t regret helping us with this endeavor, though. Here, I’ll go get our masks.”

 Mala practically skipped as she headed off behind the barrels ahead of us.

 I looked to Juniusey. “If she can remember where the keyhole is in the chamber then my presence here is redundant.”

 Juniusey crossed her arms. “Nevertheless, you’ll be with her in case she doesn’t.” She glanced at the returning young men who were now laden with coiled ropes and weapons. “And these servants here are under orders to deal with her if you decide to rebel against us.”

 “But she’s loyal to you and Medon.”

 “Yes.” The old priestess smiled. “She’s willing to die for the cause.”

 
 “Admit it, Syndeeka. This proves Riso’s assertion about racial memories influencing the myths of the world.”

 I looked at Calendra (all but unrecognizable in black mask and hood) and groaned. “I suppose you want me to ask you how that is.”

 His exposed mouth pulled into a grin. “You don’t have to ask. You know how. The heroes’ descent into the underworld. We’re about to act out that universal myth.”

 Mala and Dusana and Calendra and I stood around the trapdoor awaiting our respective turns to shimmy down the rope (secured by a metal hook lodged between two plank boards) and into the king’s chamber below. The last of the warriors who were to act as our backup should Bardrakeu’s vigilantes attack, was just disappearing out of view. Dusana soon followed and Mala stood by the trapdoor, anticipating her chance to participate in the “liberation” of the people. I was to follow her with Calendra taking up the rear.

 Down in the courtyard I could hear a cacophony of horns and drums as musicians warmed up for the official ceremonies soon to come.

 “You seem to forget, though,” I said, “that we are descending into a tomb with astronomical ties. If that wasn’t the case, you people certainly wouldn’t need me.”

 Calendra laughed dryly. “Regardless, you are still acting out the myth. People have been doing things like these since the dawn of Man. It’s in our blood.”

 I wanted nothing better than to slap the insufferable idiot standing before me, but there were far too many important things on my mind for me to waste time worrying about such nonsense.

 Mala soon began working her way down through the trapdoor so I headed to the opening in the platform. As I knelt down and got the rope in my hands, I decided to raise one point. 

 “But the catacombs are where Medon lived and had his base of operations, Calendra. This isn’t the underworld to you people; this is your backdoor.”

 Calendra burst into a shrill, horse laugh. “Medon never lived in the catacombs. None of us did. We had all our meetings down there, but that was simply because the tunnels were our means of getting around. Of course, he wanted everybody to think he was living down there-- why do you think he chose the name Sepulchral Giant?”

 I halted my descent with my head and shoulders still jutting through the opening in the planks. “Well, then why was Medon’s poem posted in the tunnels?”

 “Oh, well, he had that placed in the catacombs to remind us why we were going to all the trouble sneaking about in a place full of corpses.”

 Repelling down into the chamber below was fairly simple since Medon’s people had placed the trapdoor close enough to the rim of the snake’s body that I was able to run my boot soles across the inner coils for half the trip. Then came the pipe scaffolding which was almost like the rungs of a ladder. Finally, my legs struck cold water and I found myself wading waist deep in an underground pool.

 I surveyed my surroundings. The cylindrical chamber was illuminated from above by the half-moon openings either side of the platform, as well as the small square I’d just passed through. Additionally, one of Medon’s henchmen had pulled out a torch and lit it and was now standing underneath the faded painting of the Samarthoph king. 

 In spite of my grim mood, I had to admit the golden light scintillating on the water and reflecting off the chamber stones in crisscrossing lines was indeed beautiful.

 I looked to the opening leading out of the chamber and into the greater network of tunnels and saw that its stone arch framed one of the masked men, who held a crossbow up in one hand and a drawn sword at waist level in the other. That left the third lackey who was leaning against the wall opposite the dead monarch’s sad visage.

 Now I just needed to identify the others here. The dark figure wetly pacing the length of the chamber while toying with the wooden flute he’d just fished from his bag had to be Dusana. And Mala must be the one slowly working her way up the pipes. 

 Soon Calendra made his way down the rope and joined Dusana.

 My only real concern was my friend so I sloshed my way to the pipe scaffolding and whispered up to her: “Do you remember where it is?”

 She stopped and looked down at me, grinning under her mask. “At first I didn’t think I would, but now it’s all coming back to me.”

 “Lower your voice. Bardrakeu’s men could be nearby.”

 “Oh,” she whispered. “I forgot.”

 I didn’t know who was holding onto the key, but I figured it was probably her so I reached a hand up to a thick pipe and began my own hesitant ascent. When I got to her level, Mala reached out a hand, which I took, and she pulled me to a secure position next to her.

 “Aren’t you excited?” she asked in a whisper.

 I cleared my throat awkwardly. “That man down on the floor on the other side, is he under orders to kill us if we don’t perform this task?”

 Mala gazed down at the man leaning against the wall opposite us, who pulled a crossbow off his back and slid an arrow shaft into it. “Basically. Although, I’m pretty sure he’d plunge an arrow into me before he ever considered you. I’m the hostage, remember?”

 Above us, I could hear the musicians in the courtyard continue to practice on their instruments.

 I pulled my gaze up from the armed man and looked to Mala. “Do you have a weapon to defend yourself should Bardrakeu’s followers try anything?”

 Mala reached into the bag on her hip and retrieved the vial and handed it to me. “Here, take this now.”

 For some reason they’d given me a small bag to attach to my belt so I took the vial and placed it within. “Do you have a dagger at least?”

 Mala gently chuckled. “Better than that.” She pulled a small clay jar with a cork stopper from her bag and held it up for my inspection. “Should anyone come at us from below, we can sprinkle this on them.”

 “What is it?” I removed the jar from her hand and examined it. 

 “Remember that powder they blew in your face our first night down here?”

 I quickly shoved the jar into my own bag.

 “What are you doing?” asked Mala.

 “Let me hold onto it for now. You have a more important task at hand.”

 “Uh…okay.” She sighed. “Yes. I suppose you’re right. Let me just feel the stones right above me here and…”

 Her voice trailed off as Dusana’s flute trilled off the chamber stones.

 I gave the lanky fool a murderous look. “Shhhh….”

 He glanced up at me, waved and smiled and continued his circuit about the water-drenched chamber, Calendra eagerly tagging behind him. Soon his shrill playing resumed.

 I growled under my breath. “Does he just want to court disaster?”

 Touching a stone to the right and above her, Mala grinned. “Don’t worry, my dear. I think we may be out of this grim place sooner than you realize.”

 “You found it?”

 Mala ran her fingers over the stone above her. “Feels like it.”

 As she continued touching what she presumed was the slot, I reached a hand into her bag and grabbed something cold, metallic, and cylindrical. 

 Her grin collapsed. “What are you doing?”

 I yanked the key from her bag. “Let me have the honors.”

 “First you take my powder, then you take the key? What is this?”

 “Lower your voice.”

 “Sorry.”

 “Let me put on the finishing touches here. It’s the least I can do after all the grief I caused you and the others.”

 “Oh. Of course.”

 “You don’t trust me?”

 She pointed to the bottom of the chamber. “About as much as they do.”

 My eyes followed her finger down to the would-be crossbow assassin who’d now sloshed his way across the chamber to join the torch bearer beneath us. Both men’s eyes smoldered up at me from behind their upturned masks.

 I smiled at them and slowly returned the key to Mala. “That’s okay, my good woman. I need to free my hand up, anyway.”

 I reached into the bag at my hip and retrieved Mala’a powder.

 Mala gasped. Behind the black sheen of her mask were wide, pleading eyes.

 I ran my thumb along the rim of the cork stopper, suddenly realizing there was no way I could unscrew it one-handed. Nervously leaning my back into the stone wall, I let go the water pipe I’d been holding, grasped the stopper with my newly freed hand, and tugged with all my effort.

 A sweaty hand locked onto my wrist. 

“Don’t,” Mala whispered.

 She was too late.

 Like volcanic ash, a swath of powder spilled down upon the two men standing below. They immediately clutched their eyes, the torchbearer’s brand splashing into the water and sputtering into darkness, and the other man’s crossbow flying from his clutches just as he released the arrow shaft. I saw the bolt fly across the chamber before clattering against a set of pipes maybe fifteen feet across from Mala and me.

 Dusana’s flute cut off in mid-melody. He and Calendra stopped their trek around the chamber and stared at the two men who’d fallen into the water and were now screaming between wet, choking gulps.

 “Our student friends down there aren’t armed, are they?” I asked.

 Mala stared at me with slack jaw and bulging eyes. “Why? Why would you…?”

 “I think you know the answer to that question.”

 The rope was maybe ten feet to our right, and I figured Dusana and Calendra would splash their way in its direction. To my surprise, they headed to the catacomb entrance with the posted guard. 

 Soon the two young men were talking to the guard at the same time, their hands occasionally gesticulating in the direction of the chamber. The guard (who stood maybe a foot taller than Dusana) stared at Mala and me, his cocked crossbow changing position as he turned to face the chamber.

 Mala cleared her throat. “Looks like you’ve done it now, Syndeeka.”

 I stared across the chamber to where the rope hung. “Do you think we can make our way to the rope before the guard can step into firing range?”

 “What does that matter, you fool? If we somehow managed to climb our way up before he could get a shot at one of us, Sister Juniusey would be waiting when we got up topside. You hardly saved my life, love; you just condemned the both of us to death.”

 Realizing the weight of Mala’s words, I scanned the chamber for anything that might now give us an advantage, or least buy us time. The two men I’d drugged with Mala’s powder now floated on the water beneath us, dead. If I could just drop down into that water, maybe I could use one of their corpses as a shield while turning the crossbow assassin’s weapon against the guard. But there was the issue of jumping from this height and into a body of water that might not be deep enough to break my fall.

 I’m not going to be the hero who saves civilization, I thought.

 No, just an idiot. 

 A loud, continuous splashing echoed off the chamber walls and brought my eyes to our two young friends who were flanking the guard as they emerged from the entranceway.

 The tall man with the crossbow aimed his weapon up at Mala and me as he stopped into the center of the king’s chamber. “Is this treason to the cause?”

 “No,” replied Mala, holding the cylindrical key over her head like a torch, “there was certainly no intended betrayal on our parts, good sir. My friend, Syndeeka, was merely examining my jar of powder when the stopper accidentally slipped off and some of its contents fell below us. I’m afraid the two poor souls down there made the mistake of being in the powder’s path.”

 The guard used the sword in his other hand to slice the water before him. “How gullible do you think I am? Place the key in the slot and turn it so we can leave this wretched place, Mistress Mala.”

 He regarded the floating corpses of his compatriots in the water and growled before continuing. “Just look what you two have done. I swear, I’m tempted right now to kill the both of you.”

 “And once we do complete our assignment,” I said, “then what cause would you have to spare our lives?”

 “What?”

 “Mala and I die as soon as we’re finished here.”

 I was practically yelling now because I knew that might be the only leverage my friend and I had left.

 “I’ll do it now,” said Mala, reaching the key up to the stones above her. 

 “Here, let me help you with that.” I batted her arm with my hand and the metal cylinder went flying into space.

 “What are you doing?” screamed the guard as the thick, pipe-like key splashed into the water below us. 

 “Sorry about that,” I said. “Anyway, you can’t kill us yet. I’m sure you and our two friends only have the vaguest of notions where the key slot is. So, unless you all want to climb up here and feel the stones till you find it yourselves (and of course time is running low) then I suggest you retrieve the key and let us go about our task.”

 The guard looked to Dusana and Calendra. “You two, go find the key.”

 “But we’d have to search the area where those corpses are floating,” said Dusana.

 “Spineless worms.” The guard brought his gaze up to me. “You dropped it, Syndeeka. Why don’t you come down here and find the key? And remember, my crossbow is trained on your friend.”

 I glanced to Mala beside me. 

 “I hope you’ve finished with your heroics,” she whispered to me in Ushe.

 I smiled at her before beginning my descent down the scaffolding of pipes. The metal bar’s weight meant it wasn’t going to be conveniently floating before me when I got to ground level. I looked to the guard and he immediately nudged his head up at Mala to further communicate his intentions should I continue my mayhem.

 He then turned Dusana and Calendra. “Make yourselves useful. Go to the tunnel entrance and stand guard should we have any visitors.”

 “We have no torch,” said Calendra. “And the only weapon between us is a blowgun and a bag of sleeping powder.”

 “You’re not supposed to have a torch. They’ll have torches. You’ll be under the cover of darkness.”

 The two young men reluctantly trudged off to the entrance.

 The guard looked to me. “And those are philosophy students. Well, Syndeeka, get to it.”

 I pressed my lips together and let jets of air hiss out the corners of my mouth, then crouched down in the water between the two dead men and began sifting about with my hands. My right hand brushed the wooden handle of the other crossbow, but I knew the weapon was now unloaded so I continued my search. 

 From high above came a sudden merging of horns and drums in an Imperial fanfare.

 The guard looked up at the two half-moons of sky above us and then stared at me. “Do you want to hurry up, girl?”

 My fingers wrapped around cold iron and I smirked at him. “Of course.”

 I stood up holding the metal bar before me, heavy drops of water splashing off of it like rain.

 The guard sheathed his sword and held out his newly freed hand, his crossbow still pointed up at Mala. “Give it to me.”

 “It’s not going to fit in properly if it’s wet.”

 “What are you talking about?”

 “Let me dry it off first.”

 Behind his mask his eyes squinted contemptuously.

 I wrapped part of my cloak around the key and began rubbing it. As I dried the metal bar, I quickly assessed the guard’s position before pulling it out for him to see. 

 “Here,” I said, holding the bar by its skinny end and raising it above my head. “Catch.”

 I flung the cylinder at the guard and it swung end over end as it sailed through the air.

 The guard reached a grasping hand out to snag the flying key, but he’d based his movements on where I’d initially held the bar, not where I actually threw it. The spinning cylinder knocked the crossbow out of his hand. Both items splashed into the water.

 The guard’s sudden shock at being disarmed of his projectile weapon gave me an opening before he had time to unsheathe his sword. Charging him, I yanked the jar from my bag and hastily unstopped the cork lid and flung the last of its powder into his masked face. 

 He started screaming and slapped his hands over his mask. As he continued his agonized wailing, I returned to the two corpses and knelt down, feeling about me till I found the familiar shape of a sword hilt.  Discarding the jar, I pulled the blade out of its sheath and charged the guard.

 Soon the wet blade penetrated his chest and he gasped.

 It felt good to wield steel again. 

 I placed the flat of my hand on the guard’s chest and his expiring body slid off my sword and splashed backwards into the water. His heavy form displaced cold waves and I dipped my sword blade into them. I shook it till I was certain his blood had been washed clean of my weapon. 

 Then I turned my head to the catacomb entrance and was shocked to see Dusana and Calendra absent.

 “Where are our two friends?” I asked, looking up at the scaffolding of pipes where Mala had planted herself.

 But she was no longer there. 

 Instead, she had climbed down when I was occupied and now stood by the other two dead men.

 Meeting my gaze, she waded over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Syndeeka, you have to stop this now. These men didn’t need to die. And we have a mission to complete.”

 A sigh passed my lips, heavy with the weight of this exhausting argument. “Mala, we don’t have to do this anymore. You and I can just run through the tunnels till we get to Bardakeu’s house and explain we were hostages of the Sepulchral Giant. I can then contact Demitos and all three of us can flee by boat to an obscure island the Emperor doesn’t even know about.”

 Mala stared at the waves lapping her soaked hips. “No. It’s cowardly to just run away from that awful man. We came down here to destroy him. Let’s destroy him.”

 I stabbed the water with my sword. “We would destroy the Empire itself if we did that. Or if not, instigate a bloody civil war that would rage for I don’t know how long till some other madman was crowned Emperor. Don’t you understand? We can’t possibly make things better.”

 She stepped past me to where the guard floated and knelt, sloshing the water with her probing hands.

 “Mala, just let the key lie at the bottom of the king’s tomb.”

 She looked to me. “Are you at the bow or the stern? It’s your choice where you stand.”

 I placed my free hand on the corner of my mask, which I slowly pulled from my face. “I was never a part of this movement.”

 I dropped the mask on the water before me and it floated there for a brief moment before its eye holes filled with liquid and gravity pulled it under.

 Mala moaned in a low voice. “You won’t fight me if I try to finish this, will you?”

 I stepped up to where she knelt with her hands searching the waters. “I promise I won’t harm you, Mala,” I sighed through gritted teeth, “but I can’t promise I won’t lay a hand on you if you continue.”

 She smiled sadly. “You would--”

 A loud, shrill scream cut her off and we both looked to the tunnel entrance.

There was a dull orange glow growing out of the darkness, slowly illuminating a scale-like mesh of colorful skulls. Then a silhouetted figure stumbled through the entrance and managed to slosh halfway into the chamber before splashing face-first into the water.

 I couldn’t tell if the corpse bobbing on the waves was Dusana or Calendra, but he had an arrow shaft sticking out his back. 

 I glanced at Mala, who was slowly rising to her full height from the water, the key dripping in one hand.

 In Ushe I said, “Please, take off your mask.”

 She stared at me momentarily, then quickly worked her way to the pipe scaffolding and began climbing.

 I wanted to chase after her and tear her off that metal meshwork and rip the mask from her face.

 But I couldn’t turn my back on whoever was coming. Someone needed to reason with these people, and I at least had a weapon.

 Three men (a torchbearer, a sword-wielder, and a bowman) materialized in the arched entrance. They were young men with longish dark hair, gray tunics, and crimson cloaks.

 They stared at me, the bowman reaching behind his back to remove an arrow from his quiver.

 “Thank the gods you’ve come!” I said, holding my sword up in front of me. “We were kidnapped by the Sepulchral Giant’s people and brought here against our will. I’m a friend of Bardrakeu. My name’s Syndeeka.”

 They said nothing and did not step forward, but the bowman knocked the arrow against his bowstring and pointed the weapon in Mala’s direction.

 “No!” I shouted. “She’s with me. That’s my friend Mala. Please don’t shoot her.”

 “Why is she wearing a mask?” asked the swordsman.

 At that moment, I wished I hadn’t wasted all of Mala’s powder.

 The bowman lined her up in his sights. Diplomacy was no longer an option.

 I narrowed my eyes at the three young men. “If that’s how you want it, then your blood stains these waters.”

 I raised my sword above my head and charged them, screaming.

 The swordsman immediately brought up his blade in a defensive stance. But the bowman, alarmed by my actions, turned towards me and loosed his arrow.

 My heart was pounding and my time-sense stretched out till the archer seemed to move in a pantomime. I gauged the arrow sailing towards me and reflexively brought my blade down to deflect it. It bounced off my steel as my forward momentum brought me headlong into the path of the swordsman, who barely parried me.

 When our blades met, I realized this was no seasoned warrior before me, but only a naïve boy. Pity seeped into my breast.

 I quickly cast it aside.

 We disengaged and I stepped back. The young man raised his sword over his head in a wild swing, giving me the opening I needed. As his blade cleaved down at me I extended forward just enough to penetrate his exposed armpit. There was a squelching sound as my sword pierced his torso. It wasn’t hard to block his blade and it clattered off mine before falling into the water. 

 Mala cried out. 

 Startled, I looked in her direction.

 An arrow jutted out the side of her midsection and blood coursed down her leg. She stumbled on the pipes a little but managed to keep her footing. 

 “Mala,” I said, letting go my sword and allowing my opponent to fall into the water.

 Doubled over in pain, she worked her way across the pipes, the key still locked in her fingers, then reached up to place it in its slot.

 Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the archer trying to knock another arrow onto his bowstring. I ran up to him and punched the side of his skull. He tumbled over and I grabbed the bow from his hands as he plunged into the water. 

 A loud, metallic click echoed throughout the chamber. 

 I stared at Mala, who turned to face me, smiling.

 “We won,” she said.

 With the slow grace of a cliff diver, she toppled over and fell fifteen feet into the waves below.

 I snapped the bow in my hands and screamed out, “No! Mala…”

 The bowman floundered in the water before the torchbearer pulled him up and they turned to the entranceway and ran.

 I didn’t care about them. 

 I hardly cared about anything now.

 From above came banging metallic sounds, but they were like echoes in a dream.

 I quickly waded to where Mala floated, facedown, and put my arms around her torso and pulled her up. She didn’t seem to be breathing. I tore off her mask and turned her face to mine.

 Her eyes were closed and her dripping face was plastered with black, curly locks.

 “Mala!” I shook her shoulders. “Mala, are you still there?”

 I placed my fingertips to her neck. No pulse.

 Some years earlier, one of my mercenary companions had taught me how to revive a prone, half-drowned person by squeezing water out of their lungs and sharing my breath with them. I tried the technique now and was able to expel water from her mouth and nostrils, before I took a deep breath and blew it through her parted lips.

 She failed to cough.

 With shaking hands, I pried open an eyelid. A dark eye stared from her face, not at me but through me.

 The chamber suddenly felt so cold, and its shadows weighed down on my shoulders. My eyes warmed with moisture and my vision blurred.

 Why had it come to this?

 I’d at least hoped to say goodbye to her. Let her know that she was my oldest and dearest friend.

 Why had I taken her with me to meet Fodineo Quabeno? Why hadn’t I just left her in Lashikisha where she might have struggled for a while, but where she’d still be alive to hope and to dream and to plan for tomorrow?

 My legs felt like buckling out from under me, but I forced them to stay rigid.

 Taking Mala into my arms, I kissed her cheek, held her tightly, and wept. My guide, my confidante, my implicit sister.

 She and I had been the only two people to escape the massacre at Aki Gbijime, and I’d only recently found out she’d survived. And if she had never crossed paths with me again, none of this would be happening.

 Why did everyone I touch die?