David Drake - Out of the waters

Hedia drew the dagger with her free hand and stabbed at the block. Even with no more than her strength, the sharp orichalc point chipped a noticeable divot from the stone. She turned the weapon in her hand and offered the hilt to Lann.

The ape-man snatched it. Using both hands, he attacked the block.

Hedia had stepped away, but she had to back still further. Dust and chunks, some of them fist-sized, sprayed from the soft limestone. She had seen when Lann freed the lens that orichalc wasn't unbreakable, but gouging through what seemed to be hardened clay wasn't an excessive strain.

The block split crossways. Lann dropped the dagger and gripped the lower portion. Hedia ducked low, knowing the risk she was taking, and retrieved the dagger just in time.

The ape-man waddled backward, dragging the half-block with him. It scraped along the floor of the tunnel, then crashed flat in a cloud of choking dust. The top portion hesitated for a moment, then slid after the part which had been supporting it. Rubble was piled beyond, but at least for a distance there was room between it and the tunnel roof.

Lann clambered up the pile on all fours and started through the choked passage. Hedia hesitated a moment, but there wasn't any choice. She sheathed the dagger-which would have been buried under the slab of rock if she hadn't grabbed it in time-and followed.

The gap wasn't as tight for her as for the ape-man, but he was more agile and she was carrying the lens. The ape-man seemed to have forgotten for the moment that he'd given the device to her, but Hedia had seen how important he considered it.

She decided she would give up the dagger before she would drop the lens. It might not be directly useful, but any woman knew the importance of symbols. If you lack physical strength, you quickly find other tools to give yourself an advantage over those around you.

The floor beyond the blockage again glittered with shattered Servitors. Hedia pressed her lips together as she followed. She had hoped that by shuffling her feet, she could avoid the worst of the pain, but the tunnel floor was too irregular for that to help. The next time, she'd wear hobnailed army sandals of the sort Alphena affected.

She laughed. The next time!

The tunnel straightened and the walls became smoother. It was marginally wider as well, though Hedia still could not have walked alongside the ape-man. The problem wasn't only his broad shoulders but also the fact that he tended to weave side to side as he shambled.

She smiled affectionately. She stretched her right hand out toward Lann's hip, but she didn't let the fingertips touch his coarse hair. He needed to pay attention to what was in front of them, not to his companion's whim.

They came out into an underground chamber. It seemed to be roughly circular, though roots had penetrated from above and brought down part of the ceiling. Many-certainly more than a dozen-tunnels led off from the chamber.

Most were like the one Hedia had followed, but almost opposite her was a wider, taller opening with an arch rather than being crudely cut square. That one was noticeably brighter. Lann dropped to all fours in his haste to reach it.

Hedia followed, suddenly excited that there might be a way out of this place, this world. The only reason for her hope was that this was a change from what she had been through since the Servitors took her from Carce; and the change that she most desired was to be back in her home.

This short tunnel was lined with crystal, though Hedia could see the texture of the limestone beneath. They entered an enclosure the size of an amphitheater, also of crystal. Originally it had been open, but the forest had grown up on all sides to overhang it, turning sunlight into a green haze. It had seemed bright only by contrast with the dim glow of the tunnel.

They had reached the foundations of Procron's spire, left behind when the assembled Minoi drove their fellow and his fortress out of Atlantis. Hedia realized that the battle between Lann and his neighbor had involved a warren of tunnels, not just the one she had followed. Procron had created the underground gallery so as not to have to pierce his own quartz walls for each attack.

Though the floor was thick crystal, impermeable to roots, the enclosure's interior was covered with forest debris. Leaf mold was ankle deep everywhere, and even Lann chose to skirt a tangle of fallen branches which reached over the wall to the right.

Lann stopped. Hedia, fully alert now, stopped and moved to the side to see past the ape-man's broad body. She thought for a moment that she was looking at a pool ten feet in diameter in the middle of the enclosure, but what she had taken for water was instead a colorless blur. It hung in the air six inches above the level of the floor around it. She saw no sign of the rotting leaves, bark and branches which otherwise carpeted the enclosure.

The ape-man turned. He gestured urgently toward the crystal he had given her. Hedia held it out with both hands; he took it with the delicacy which had already surprised her.

Lann squatted with the device. Hedia turned, largely because the shimmering disk her uncomfortable. It didn't have real color, but she got a feeling of blue when she looked at it.

Someone shouted. The sound was faint and distorted, but Hedia was sure it was human. She had learned it was impossible to tell where noises came from in this jungle, but she thought it was out of the tunnel.

They did come after us! Of course they had, but with the difficulty of her journey through the tunnel, she had forgotten to worry about pursuit.

Hedia looked at the ape-man, apparently peering through his crystal toward the disk before them. She licked her lips, wondering if she should warn him about- She straightened in disgust at her presumption. She had seen how keen Lann's senses were. If there was something he needed to know about his surroundings, he knew it.

The whop… whop… whop… of beating sails sounded; distant but seemingly approaching. Certainly approaching.

Lann lurched upright with a warbling cry. The hazy disk was spinning into a maelstrom, spiraling down into infinite distance.

An Atlantean ship drove into the canopy of trees, cracking through branches and sending down a shower of leaves and fragments. Two humans carrying nets pushed through the arch from the tunnel complex. Behind them was a Servitor with an uncertain device

Lann took Hedia's wrist in his huge right hand. Gripping her firmly, he jumped into the whirl of light he had just opened.

David Drake

Out of the Waters-ARC

Corylus frowned. Though the moon had set, the sky ahead had become noticeably brighter than it was behind them, where the sun was fully above the eastern horizon. Rather than a blue that would grow paler as the day wore on, it looked as though the ship was flying into the white heart of a furnace.

The sprite curled at his feet in the far bow. His toes projected between the straps of his army sandals; she was playing with them. It was disconcerting, but it didn't actually hurt anything-Corylus had initially kept a careful eye to see if the Ancient reacted; he hadn't-so he didn't object.

"Cousin?" he said. "There seems to be something odd about the sky."

The sprite continued her game, touching his nails in a pattern that he felt sure must be meaningful. He didn't have a clue what it meant, though.

"Is there?" she said in a disinterested voice. She didn't look up. "It isn't going rain. I'd know if it were going to rain."

Corylus caught his response unmade. The sprite was being forthcoming within her limitations; which, regrettably, were of considerable extent.

He turned to look back at the Ancient. The sprite chirped an objection when he moved his feet out of her reach. That hadn't been Corylus' whole purpose in turning, but it had been part of his purpose. He suppressed his slight grin quickly.