Mel Odom - Wrath of the Blue Lady

“We can give you a weapon to fight her. One that will be powerful enough to damage her. And we can get you back to your ship.” The eladrin’s face hardened. “Whether you live or die after that is up to you.”

“What weapon?”

“A very special one, and one that you will feel at home with.” Fergraff shoved a hand through the azure tear. In his hand, he held two fighting sticks.

“I already have those.”

“Not like these.” Fergraff shook the fighting sticks and blades flicked open to stand at ninety-degree angles to the sticks. “And together, they are more.” He flicked the blades closed again and shoved the two ends of the fighting sticks together. When he removed his hands, they’d joined and lengthened, becoming a staff a few inches longer than Shang-Li was tall. Then the eladrin shook the staff again and the blades shot out the ends of the staff. “You can use this?”

Amazed and impressed at the sheer beauty and chilling threat of the weapon, Shang-Li accepted the staff. The wood tingled and felt alive in his hands. “I can use this. But how-” Even as he wondered how he could separate the staff into two parts, it separated and became two fighting sticks the right size. He flicked the blades out, then in, then joined the staff and made the blades flick at the ends again.

“It is our gift to you,” Fergraff said. “Use it in good health, and we hope that you are successful.”

Shang-Li separated the weapon into two fighting sticks again and slid them up his sleeves in place of his original fighting sticks, which he shoved in the back of his belt.

“Thank you for the gift.” Shang-Li bowed slightly, but he never took his eyes from the eladrin’s cruelly beautiful face. The dead sharks floating through the room provided a grim reminder of the Feywild’s power. “Now about my return to the ship.”

Fergraff tossed a black pearl into the room that descended slowly and burst into an oval a foot from the floor and just out of Shang-Li’s reach. “That way will take you to your ship.”

Shang-Li hesitated.

“You can trust me or not,” the eladrin said in a cold voice. “But what good would it do for me to give you a weapon against Caelynna and not allow the use of it?”

“Thank you.” Shang-Li stepped toward the spreading oval and felt the pull of it at once.

“You must hurry once you are there. Caelynna will not tarry.”

Just before he entered the black pearl oval, Shang-Li glanced back at Bayel Droust. The scribe hesitated and looked helpless.

“I’ve got the books,” Shang-Li said. “If they are not recovered-and I promise that I will see them destroyed before I allow them to fall into the hands of the Blue Lady-you know she will blame you for this. There won’t be any reason for her to keep you alive.”

“I know.” Gathering himself, Droust followed Shang-Li into the blackness.

Once he entered the spell, Shang-Li’s senses whirled and he felt lost. Fear ran rampant within him, and he knew that was part of the dark magic touching him as it worked on him. Droust keened and moaned, and Shang-Li couldn’t find it within himself to fault the man.

Then, as quickly as it began, the spell ended. Shang-Li spewed out into the water above Swallow . His senses reeled so much that he at first didn’t recognize the ship. Then he spotted Thava standing at the ship’s prow gazing up at him. An instant later, Droust vomited forth into the sea as well. The scribe whirled end over end as he flailed awkwardly.

Turning in the water, Shang-Li tried to spot the Blue Lady and her horde above the forest but saw nothing. Shambles and the tentacled things moved within the trees and brush, but they kept their distance from Swallow .

The ship shifted and rocked on the undersea currents. Ropes tied to stakes driven into the sea bed and some of the nearby trees held her down. Shang-Li hoped Amree had been able to make enough air to allow them to surface. He swam toward Droust, grabbed the man by his shirt, and pulled him down toward Swallow .

Thava met Shang-Li as he dropped to Swallow’s forward deck. “How did you get up there? The last I saw you, you were sleeping. You’ve done so much lately that we let you sleep.”

“That wasn’t me. The Blue Lady took me and left an illusion behind. Get the others. We have to go. She’s on her way here now with an army.” Shang-Li ran to the prow and called the sailors in from their work on the hull. No more time could be afforded patching it.

He looked down at Red Orchid.

Red Orchid stretched herself on the prow and met his gaze. “We could have used more time, Shang-Li, but I am ready.”

“Mielikki willing.” Shang-Li quickly posted lookouts, then went below to find his father and Amree.

“We need more time.” Amree looked as though she was about to fall over as she stood within the air bubble she’d created inside Swallow’s hold.

“If I could make that happen for you, I would have. But all the Blue Lady was waiting on was the moon.” Shang-Li glanced at his father. “We brought Liou Chang’s books back with us.” He held out the bag that contained the books.

His father took the books and nodded. “You’ve done well.”

“Only if we live to tell of it.”

“No.” Kwan Yung shook his head. “Keeping the books from the Blue Lady was success enough. I would like to return them to the monastery-”

“But if that doesn’t look possible, we have to destroy them.”

His father nodded and pain showed in his hazel eyes. “Of course, but I would rather concentrate on our escape.”

“So would I.” Shang-Li glanced around and saw Thava and Iados gearing up for contact.

“She’s coming!” someone yelled. “The Blue Lady is coming!”

Shang-Li dived through the bottom of the opening at the bottom of the hold and through the tear in the hull. The tear was much smaller, but it hadn’t been closed yet. They needed it for ease of access to get into the hold.

He shook the fighting sticks into his waiting hands and felt the power of them thrilling against his flesh as if they sensed the coming battle as well. His body flooded with blood and he cleared his head to ready himself mentally.

Over the top of the trees, the Blue Lady and her horde of creatures and Nine Golden Swords warriors swam toward Swallow . She rode the giant squid, which pulsed like a heart as it stayed at the forefront of the approaching danger.

“I see you have new toys.” Iados stood at Shang-Li’s side and nodded at the fighting sticks.

“Gifts.” Shang-Li brandished them and black lightning seemed to shimmer through the wood. “They’re supposed to be dangerous to the Blue Lady.”

“Gods willing.” Iados took a fresh grip on his blade.

“Remember the plan.” Shang-Li flicked the blades out of his fighting sticks. “We fight them off only as far as we can breathe. Then we have no choice but to crawl within the ship.”

Iados nodded grimly. “That’s one detail I won’t forget.”

Captain Chiang stood in the sterncastle above. “Cut loose forward.”

Red Orchid picked up the command. “Cut loose forward.”

Immediately Shang-Li cut three of the ropes holding Swallow down. He grabbed hold of the last rope with one hand and quickly threaded it through the belt of his leather armor. Iados, Thava, and two of the sailors did the same. Swallow angled upward.

The Blue Lady and her group swam faster, closing inhumanly quick.

“Cut loose stern,” Captain Chiang ordered.

“Cut loose stern.” Red Orchid’s voice sounded strong and confident. Blue lightning threaded through Swallow and lit her up brightly in the water.

As soon as the lines were cut, Swallow rose toward the surface, slowly at first, but she gained speed quickly.