The Shadow Roads

Thirty-eight

The white eye of a nagar gazed at her, then blinked closed.

The moon, Elise realized, slipping behind a lid ofclouds.

She was sinking through liquid so black, it was like thespace between the stars. And then she was falling, hard, like a stone throughthe air. She struck and lay for a moment, dazed.

“Orlem? Orlem …?” Her whisper echoed in the dark. Shepushed herself up into a sitting position, the world spinning. “But I was withSlighthand ….” A flash came from above, and she looked up.

“Impossible,” she heard herself say. Another flash a momentlater showed the same thing-what appeared to be water, but above her, as thoughshe looked down into a pool. It took a bit of an effort to gain her feet, forher leg had been hurt in the fall. Elise tried to reach up, but what appearedto be water was too high-just out of reach. Another flash revealed hersurroundings. She was in a round chamber with walls of natural stone-but thefloor … the floor was an ancient mosaic, partly buried in sand and pebblesand old leaves. A dark arch led into a tunnel and opposite it a narrow stairhad been carved from the natural stone. It followed the curve of the wall upinto the pool overhead. Darkness returned.

Elise shook her head, trying to clear it, and hobbledstiffly in the direction she hoped the stair lay. Her hands found the stonewall in the darkness, then another flare of lightning illuminated the chamber.She had missed the stair by a good distance.

“I’m half in a daze,” she muttered to no one, and felt alongthe wall until she encountered the stair. It was almost impossibly narrow,forcing Elise to climb with her back against the wall and her toes off thetreads. She moved up, one step, then another, her stiff leg threatening tocollapse each time she put weight on it. In a moment she reached the water,which, when illuminated by a glare of lightning, appeared to wash back andforth above her like water in a glass. She took a step up and felt cold liquidtouch the top of her scalp. Another step, and she was in water-Sianon’s naturalelement for the last age of the world. A few more steps, and she kicked free,swimming up, up toward the world above.

“Bring the child to me,” she said, gesturing to Baore.

Toren Renne and his companions stared at Elise dumbly for amoment. A flash of lightning revealed her, up to the waist in water, skinunnaturally pale, eyes waxen and strange. The appearance of this half nagaramong them disturbed the men-at-arms, who all stepped back. Some made wardingsigns.

“We have no time for superstition,” she snapped, climbingout of the water and approaching Eber and Llya. “The pool is an entrance to atunnel. Below the water, perhaps eight feet, there is air, the water suspendedoverhead by a spell the likes of which I have never seen. I will take thechild, then Eber, but the rest of you must jump in. Carry your weapons orsomething heavy. Let yourself sink down, and be prepared to suddenly dropanother eight feet onto a smooth stone floor.” She swept up Llya. “He will besafe with me, don’t worry,” she assured his anxious father.

Elise took two steps and plunged, feetfirst, into the pool.No one moved to follow.

“We must do as Lady Elise says,” Orlem announced. Hesheathed his sword and leapt into the waters behind her, disappearing in asplash.