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“Ana
I stepped away from the railing and whirled around. Naji came barreling across the deck, Marjani close behind. “What’s wrong?” he asked, putting his hands on my face and pulling me close. For once in their lives the crew didn’t hoot and holler when he did it.
“What’s going on?” Marjani asked.
“Sharks,” I said.
She stared at me like I’d gone mad. “Sharks,” she said. “Sharks have got the crew off the sails?” She frowned. “It’s like they’ve never been at sea before.”
I tried to figure out a way to explain it to her without sounding mad, but I couldn’t. Naji stepped up to the railing. Turned around again.
“They want you,” I said. “They can, uh–”
“They what?”
“This is getting absurd,” Marjani said. “Ana
“I’m not–”
“Are you Naji of the Jadorr’a?”
It was the shark again, his rough rasp of a voice calling up out of the water. Marjani shrieked and stumbled up against me, one hand on the butt of her pistol. Naji, though, leaned over the railing. “I am!” He sounded unconcerned, like he spoke with sharks all the time.
“We are in your debt,” the shark said.
“Why?”
“What is going on?” Marjani whispered.
“I ain’t got no idea.”
Marjani shoved me toward the railing. The other sharks were all facing us now, their heads bent low into the water. The head shark hadn’t bothered to answer Naji’s question.
“You must come down below!” the shark said.
“Below what?” asked Naji. “The water?”
The shark nodded.
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible, not if you’d also like to speak with me. I won’t be able to breathe–”
“We’ve made arrangements.”
I grabbed Naji’s arm. “Don’t do it,” I whispered. “It’s a trap.”
Naji wrapped his arm around my waist. “May I bring some companions?” he asked.
“What?” I hissed.
“Of course.” The sharks all bowed again, splashing water.
“Are you insane?”
“We shall send the device to the surface shortly,” said the head shark. “You may bring down as many of your crew as you like. In shifts, of course.”
Naji waved his hand. “No need.” He squeezed my waist again. I scowled at him.
The sharks disappeared beneath the water.
“What are you doing?” I shouted, smacking him in the chest. “You’re go
“Yes, I agree.” Marjani stepped forward, hand still on the butt of her pistol. “I’d prefer you not get my navigator eaten, thank you.”
“I’m proving to you – to both of you – how undangerous I think it is,” Naji said. “Ana
I peered up at him. He really did think it was safe; I could feel it creeping into my own thoughts. But that didn’t mean I agreed with him.
Naji’s eyes glazed over, like he was thinking. “Something about this,” he said. “It feels… right. Pieces falling into place.”
I wanted to hit him.
“You can come too,” Naji added, turning to Marjani. “If you’re truly concerned about Ana
“That wouldn’t be wise,” Marjani said quietly. Behind her, the crew shuffled and mumbled to each other. She was probably right. Captain and first mate disappearing beneath the waves with a bunch of talking sharks? Hell, I’d be hightailing it out of here too.
Frothy bubbles appeared on the surface of the water, followed by a low whining noise that reminded me of the Hariri clan and their machines. I yanked out my knife. The boat began to rock.
“All hands to stations!” Marjani screamed. “Keep her steady!”
The crew scrambled to attention.
Sea foam sprayed over the railing. Naji stepped in front of me.
Ha, I thought. Showing me how safe it is.
And then there was a hiss like the biggest snake you ever heard, and a big glass box erupted out of the sea, showering the Nadir with water and sea foam. Me and Naji and Marjani were soaked through.
For a minute the box floated in the open ocean, glittering a little in the sunlight. Then the top of it popped open.
“Naji of the Jadorr’a!” shouted the shark, who’d showed back up without his sentries. “You and one other must come inside the transport.”
Naji pressed himself against the railing. “Will we be able to breathe?” he asked.
The shark nodded. “We tested it on air-breathers. There are some among our number.”
Naji turned to me. “Air-breathers,” he said.
“Does he mean other humans? Cause I don’t breathe water.”
“I doubt it. There are certain sea creatures who only live half in the water.” His eyes sparkled. The closest he ever came to smiling. I figured he’d gone and lost his mind. “Please, Ana
“Course I’m go
“Me, neither,” Marjani said. “If you let her die, I’ll kill you.”
We were both soaked already, so me and Naji just dove into the water and swam over to the box. My heart pounded the whole time, cause I couldn’t quite shake the notion that the Hariris or the Mists were behind this somehow. Plus the thing kept hissing and groaning and the water around it bubbled like it was boiling.
Once we climbed in, I had Marjani toss me my gunpowder. That left me a couple of shots on my pistol, plus my sword and my knife, and Naji’s sword and knife and his magic too.
The lid lowered down onto the box.
“You want to kill me.” My voice echoed weirdly against the glass walls.
“I want no such thing.”
“You know what’s going on, then.” I looked at him. “But you won’t tell me.”
“I honestly don’t. Which you know, because…” He tapped his head.
“Still like hearing you say it out loud.”
There was a big hiss and the box began to lower into the water. I braced my hands against the glass and waited for the water to come rushing in and drown us. It didn’t. Just slapped against the outside of the box, blue and green and filled with sunlight.
“I have my intuition,” Naji said. “It’s surprisingly fine-honed.”
I thought about all the times he’d known the Mists was trying to seduce me. All the times he showed up at the last minute to save me from more worldly deaths. All the times he knew exactly what to say to piss me off.
His intuition. Yeah, I guess I could give him that.
We sank lower and lower. The water got darker and the air got colder, but at least we could still breathe. The shark swam alongside us.
“It didn’t strike you as weird they wouldn’t tell you what’s going on?”
Naji glanced at me. “It’s a little strange,” he said. “But not nearly as strange as a talking shark.”
I sighed.
Deeper and deeper. It was dark as night now, no sunlight to speak of, just the endless black press of the ocean.
And then a light glimmered off in the distance, tiny and bright.
“What’s that?” I asked, leaning forward. I was afraid to touch the walls of the box, afraid they’d shatter into a thousand pieces.
The light brightened and expanded.
It swelled, looking for all the world like the moon on a cloudy night. A big bright circle amidst all that watery darkness.
The box hissed and screeched.
And then we got close enough and I could see – it wasn’t just a ball of light.
It was a city.
“Kaol,” I said, my words forming white mist on the glass. Even Naji wasn’t so unconcerned no more. He pressed his hands against the side of the box, his eyes growing wider and wider.
The box slipped through the water, churning up bubbles behind us. I could see the buildings were made out of broken-up shells and something rough like sand and what looked to be glass. A fuzzy algae that glowed like a magic-cast lantern grew over everything, hanging off the edges of buildings like moss. And the buildings didn’t look like the buildings anywhere on land, cause they twisted and curled out of the ground like seabones, and they merged together and split apart without no definite order. Sea creatures flitted past us, some of ’em wrapped in strips of seaweed that fluttered out behind ’em, and some of ’em were decked out in the same shell armor as the sharks.