Mel Odom - Wrath of the Blue Lady

“Shang-Li.”

He recognized his father’s voice at once and snapped his head around. His father stood in the middle of a small transport boat along the river’s edge. He held a pole in his hands.

“Shang-Li. Here” His father waved him toward the boat.

Shang-Li reached inside his blouse and took out the journal. “Meet me at the ship.”

A grimace of displeasure tightened his father’s face, but worry showed there as well.

Quickly, Shang-Li looked up at the widow’s walk. There was no sign of the wizard, but light neared the edge. He held the journal up briefly so his father could see it, then he tossed it down and across the thirty feet of intervening distance. The cords around the journal kept it closed as it sailed. His father plucked the journal from the air.

Light dawned over the edge of the widow’s walk. The wizard peered down as the golem-spider closed on Shang-Li.

“Go!” Shang-Li implored. “I’ll meet you at the ship!” He ducked beneath the golem-spider’s leg and felt vibrations course through the tower. Mortar trembled from the cracks.

Kwan Yung shoved the journal into his robes and grasped the pole in both hands. He pushed hard against the river bottom and swung his craft into the slow current.

“Hurry,” his father admonished.

Even if he’d thought of one, Shang-Li had no time to utter a response. Moonwhisper brought him a moment’s respite when he flew in front of the golem-spider’s face. The creature struck at the owl but missed by several feet. The owl spun gracefully in the air despite the large wingspan and came back for another pass.

“Ignore the bird!” Kouldar leaned over the window’s walk. “Kill the thief.”

Across the alley, Shang-Li noticed a small balcony. From his precarious position, he couldn’t tell exactly how far the distance was. But he was all out of choices. He pulled his knees to his chest, planted his feet against the wall, and pushed off with all his strength.

He was awkward and ungainly as he sailed across the alley, but his aim was true. He flew toward the balcony-

His fingers grazed the balcony’s railing. It slipped through his grasp, but he managed to catch the bottom of the balcony and hang on. He dangled for a moment, not believing his good fortune.

Then, along the wall, the golem-spider crouched to pounce. In frozen disbelief, Shang-Li watched the long legs flex, and it leaped for the balcony as well.

Shang-Li swung forward and let go of the balcony. He crashed through a window and rolled across a hardwood floor just as the shriek of cracking timbers filled his ears. As he pushed himself up from the glass-strewn floor, the golem-spider and the balcony tore loose from the building and tumbled down.

Before Shang-Li could celebrate his good luck, a grotesque leg curled over the window’s edge. The golem-spider hauled itself up to the window.

“Goddess,” Shang-Li whispered miserably, “my father is with me on this quest. Haven’t you tested me enough for one night?”

Motion behind the golem-spider attracted Shang-Li’s attention and saved his life. He threw himself backward in the hallway as the wizard unleashed another fiery bolt from the widow’s walk. Heat roiled over Shang-Li as he rolled backward in a desperate attempt to increase the distance between himself and his attacker. Flames licked the hallway and swarmed outward.

A nearby door opened and an older man stood there with naked steel in his fist. “What’s going on? By the gods, you’re making enough racket out here to wake Kelemvor’s guests.”

Shang-Li silently agreed. Kelemvor, the Lord of the Dead, would doubtless arrange passage for several people in the building if they didn’t get out before the fire spread.

“Wizard.” Halting to face the man with the sword, Shang-Li pointed back toward the window.

The golem-spider pulled through the window and scuttled through the flames, pausing as if to get its bearings.

The man with the sword eyed Shang-Li with open hostility and disbelief. “You riled Kouldar?”

“Wake everyone,” Shang-Li entreated. “The building is on fire.” The golem-spider focused on Shang-Li again, then sprang.

The man with the sword dodged back into his room and slammed the door. Shang-Li fled down the hallway only a heartbeat ahead of the spider. Other doors opened but closed even more quickly.

Through the window at the other end of the hall, the peaked roof of another building, this one no more than a couple stories tall, stood out against the darkness. Without pausing, Shang-Li crossed his hands in front of his face and dived through the window. Mielikki willing, the distance wouldn’t be too great between the buildings.

Glass crashed all around him, spinning away and glinting in the moonlight. He landed on the other roof off-balance and tucked himself into a roll automatically. The night kaleidoscoped around him in a whirling mixture of night and stars.

On his feet again, he looked back and saw the golemspider break through the window as well. Chunks of rock plummeted into the alley. Flames illuminated the hallway behind the creature as smoke spiraled up from the burning building.

The rooftop shook as the golem-spider dropped onto it. By then, Shang-Li was in full flight, lunging forward and powering his steps. Startled shouts rang out around him, and he could only imagine the tales that would be told tomorrow of a giant spider chasing a man across the rooftops of the pirate city.

Despite his best efforts, Kwan Yung was no longer able to see his son’s frantic flight across the rooftops. The old man’s stomach tightened anxiously, but he made himself breathe through it until his strokes with the pole against the river bottom were once more smooth.

Only his attempts to spot Shang-Li allowed him to spot the waiting ambush. Three Nine Golden Swords warriors ran swiftly to a low bridge that crossed the river. They held weapons naked in their fists and stared at him.

They were watching, he thought. We did not succeed in routing them. Kwan Yung put more force into his poling efforts but the small boat remained sluggish. The Nine Golden Swords warriors gathered before him, standing on the outside of the bridge now as they prepared to leap down at him.

Kwan Yung was glad Shang-Li was not there to witness his embarrassment. He’d fallen prey to their trap far too easily. You should have stayed in the monastery, Yung, he thought. That is what you’re better suited for these days.

But he hadn’t been able to let Shang-Li step alone into all the danger that now faced him. As a father, Kwan Yung hadn’t been able to keep his son safe all the time, but this assignment was one of those times he’d had to try.

One of the Nine Golden Swords perched on the edge of the bridge and stretched forth his arm. “Give us the book, old man. Hand it over and you won’t get hurt.”

Kwan Yung snorted and took his pole from the water as the boat glided under the bridge. One of the men lifted a crossbow and fired. Moonlight glinted from the steel tip. Twisting, Kwan Yung let the deadly missile pass, then reached down for the curved boat anchor. With one quick flip, he threw the boat anchor and succeeded in wrapping it around the crossbowman’s leg. Then Kwan Yung poled again to gain speed.

The boat glided under the bridge and the anchor line drew taut. As the boat shot out on the other side of the bridge, the anchor hauled the crossbowman off and spilled him into the river. One of the remaining warriors leaped down toward the boat.

Turning, Kwan Yung planted the pole in the center of the boat and caught the man in the chest; then he levered him to one side. The last warrior thudded into the boat and drew two heavy knives, quickly weaving a razored dance before him.