Of Sea and Stone (Secrets of Itlantis) (12 page)

I studied our master carefully. Merelus’s face gave no indication that he knew.

“I want to start with a few basic facts to cover anything you may not know,” he said. “Itlantis is composed of six cities: Primus, the capital and seat of trade and political power, Celestrus, the seat of learning, Arctus, the seat of science and medicine, Verdus, the seat of agriculture, Magmus, the seat of manufacturing, and Volcanus, the seat of military training and ship production.”

“I learned a little about them from Lyssia’s books.” I didn’t mention the device.

“Ah, yes. But you did not have this.” Merelus rose and pulled back a curtain to reveal an elaborate map carved straight onto the wall. Bumps and ridges rose from the smooth surface, creating a maze-like effect. He waved his hand over it with a flourish.

“This is the sea floor,” he said of the map. “We are here.” He indicated a vast, smooth area with few ridges. “The open ocean. The water is clear here, and thus we get so much sunlight through our windows. Primus is the closest to us, located deeper in the ocean depths. It is in the center of Itlantis, and all trade routes flow through it. Verdus is here, closest to the surface.” He touched a spine of ridges that appeared to be islands.

“Here, in the lower reaches of the northern pole,” he said, waving his hand at the upper portion of the map, “is Arctus. And here—” He tapped a deep groove in the bottom corner of the map. “—in this trench, lie Magmus and Volcanus. They draw their power for manufacturing from the volcanic activity in this area.”

He paused to look at me, and I nodded to show I was listening. Beside me, Nol shifted again. I refused to look at him.

“Celestrus, as I said, is regarded as the seat of learning. We have the most exquisite libraries and universities in Itlantis. Tens of thousands of books recording the histories of the nation, records of genealogies, trade routes...it’s all contained here.” He stopped. “Do you have any questions?”

I licked my lips. “Why is Itlantis underneath the water?”

Merelus laughed as if I’d asked why the ocean is blue. “Well, I—I’ve never been asked that before. But there is an answer. A millennium ago, there was a great cataclysm, and Itlantis sunk beneath the waves to protect itself. For centuries, the air was poisonous and the land ruined. Now, scientists speculate that it is safe to venture to the surface, but since our war with the Dron, it has not been possible. They patrol the shallow waters and prey on civilian ships. So we remain below.”

His answer was much the same as Tob’s. No new information there.

Merelus returned to his desk and scooped up the sparkling orb that I’d spent weeks examining in secret. My stomach twisted. Did he know?

Turning it over in his hands, he said, “I believe the best learning is self-guided, so I’m going to give you this. Play with it, absorb what you can, and I will test you in one week and see how you’ve done.”

He was giving it to me?

I took it from him. The orb was heavy and cool in my hands, and the light inside winked and flashed.

“What is it?”

“That is for you to discover,” he said, and motioned to the door.

I was dismissed.

I spent the rest of the evening in my bunk, playing with the device. It was wonderful having unfettered access to it. I read until my eyes wouldn’t stay open, and then I hide the orb under the farthest recesses of my bunk and slept.

~ ~ ~

“That wretched server is ill again,” Crakea said. “I’ll need you to serve at dinner, but if you spill food on the steward again, you’ll be scrubbing the kitchen floor for a week.”

Merelus entered as I was serving Dahn. He was accompanied by the steward, who looked disgruntled to see me.

I felt a small sense of triumph at this.

“I apologize for my lateness,” Merelus told Dahn. “I was overseeing the details of my trip to Primus.”

A trip to the capital? I paused in the middle of serving the steward, listening. I remembered Lyssia mentioning something about it.

The steward gave me an ugly look and then eyed the platter worriedly. I ignored him.

If I could somehow accompany them on this trip...

“How are arrangements coming?” Dahn inquired.

Merelus sighed. “I fear there are those who will oppose our appeals for peace.”

Peace? With the Dron?

I placed the steamed crab puffs on the steward’s plate with excruciating slowness so I could hear more, and he huffed in annoyance.

The conversation turned to other matters, and I had finished serving the puffs, so I had no other excuse to remain in the dining room. I returned to the kitchen to wait for the main course to be ready. Crakea was waiting, and she pounced as soon as the door swung shut.

“Did you spill anything?”

“No,” I said, and handed her the tray little too forcibly. She blinked at me, but I was too deep in thought to pay attention.

If there were peace, would citizens once again visit the surface? Should this have any bearing on my plans for escape? I dismissed this notion quickly. Any peace to be had would take too long. I couldn’t wait for it. I needed to find Kit. I needed to find Perilous.

And would a trip to the capital be a good chance to try and escape?

“Is the master going to Primus soon?” I asked Tob and Mella later as we ate our own dinner.

“It’s rumored that he will,” Mella said. “But I don’t know for sure. The steward doesn’t gossip much, and he’s the only one who would know.”

I needed to find out more.

AT THE END of the week, as directed, I returned to Merelus’s study with the device. He was at his desk when I entered, just as before. Nol was in the chair by the wall. Neither looked at me.

“Please sit,” Merelus said without raising his head. “I will administer your test shortly.”

I sat, cradling the device. I wondered if he was going to take it from me, and something in my stomach twisted. This portal of knowledge was precious to me. Knowledge was power, even more precious than gold coins, and I needed lots of it if I ever wanted to change my situation.

Finally, Merelus finished his task and stood.

“Have you been using the pryor?” he asked.

The pryor must be the device. I nodded, but said nothing. Explaining how I’d cherished my hours with it every evening felt too vulnerable to reveal. I’d let my learning speak for itself.

Merelus studied me. “You measure your words. I admire that. Too much talking leads one to reveal more than one might wish when speaking with an enemy.”

“Are you my enemy, then?” I asked. The words tasted bold on my tongue, but I wagered Merelus might appreciate my honesty.

Nol’s head jerked up. He looked at me with surprise and
perhaps
a little admiration. I didn’t care. I didn’t want his admiration.

Merelus’s mouth quirked in a faint smile. Apparently, my boldness pleased rather than angered him. “That remains to be seen. Perhaps it depends on what you’ve learned this week. Are you ready to be tested?”

I didn’t know if I was, but confidence seemed to impress him the most. “Yes.”

“Good.” He stood and approached me, carrying a book thick with pages of text. “I want you to answer every question as well as you can.”

He gave me paper and a writing stylus, and I spent the next hour scribbling across the page. The words flowed from me easily, and since I’d spent hours pouring over the device from Merelus’s desk and learning from it, I knew many answers and was able to guess many others. When I’d finished, I set the book and the pages I’d filled with my scrawl on his desk. Merelus eyed them.

“We’ll see how you did next week. You may go. Keep the pryor. I think it will be useful to you.”

I went to the door and stopped. I turned. My hands trembled and my heart pounded.

If he said no, then I would have no recourse.

“Excuse me, sir.”

“Yes?” Merelus raised an eyebrow.

“I heard you speaking about peace at dinner a few nights ago. I— I am interested about what that might entail.”

“Oh?”

“I’d like to know more.”

“I’ll take that under consideration,” he said, and I was dismissed.

It was the best I could do.

~ ~ ~

“The Festival of Lights is coming soon,” Tob mentioned one night as we stocked supplies in the closets.

“Festival of Lights?” I remembered Lyssia mentioning it. It sounded so similar to our Lighting ceremonies. For an instant, memories swelled over me and I was back in the village, seeing Kit’s laughing face and smelling the salt on the wind. Pain throbbed in my chest as I thought of my friend.

“Yes,” Tob said. “Everyone celebrates, even Indentureds. It will be fun. We might even get some decent food for once.”

That night, I consulted the pryor about the Festival of Lights and learned that it was a day of remembrance, observed once a year, to honor those who died in the cataclysm that had driven civilization beneath the waves. The city strung lights everywhere and released glowing orbs into the ocean, and everyone ceased work for the day and fasted to observe the ceremonies. At the end of the day, there was dancing and feasting.

Feasting made me think of Kit, and thinking of Kit made me ache. I turned off the pryor and tried to sleep.

~ ~ ~

Apparently, the usual server for dinner had the constitution of a diseased gull, for I was once again called upon to serve in the dining room due to his being ill. Crakea hissed and scolded as usual, but I was becoming more confident in ignoring her.

I wanted to hear more about Merelus’s plans to negotiate for peace, and the scheduled trip to Primus.

Dahn was still with the family. Once again, he caught my eye as I made the rounds at the table, and once again, my curiosity was stirred. Why did he look at me like that, as if he knew too much about me? Had Lyssia been telling him about our escapades?

I did not like having the attention of this man.

“Aemi,” Merelus said quietly as I served him. “I would like to speak to you in my study following the meal.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

When the meal was finished, I made my way to the master’s study and stood by the door. Merelus arrived shortly after, trailed by Nol.

Nol didn’t say anything. He just looked at me. I was struck by the way his eyes always burned now, the way his shoulders and back were straight like flattened steel, the way he held his chin like he was giving an answer to the world. He wasn’t the whining whelp he’d been in the village. Captivity had taken him and twisted him into something else, something defiant, angry, and purposeful. Or maybe it was the job he did now, and the fact that he had more purpose here than he ever had at home where he was just the younger son who would never be mayor. I didn’t know.

“You wanted to speak with me, sir?” I said to Merelus.

“Yes,” he said, unlocking the room. He opened the door and let us into the cool interior. “I wanted to discuss a possible addition to your new studies.”

“Addition?” I repeated, feeling stupid that I was not following. I hated parroting his words like an idiot, but I didn’t know what else to say. He was being obtuse.

“I need an assistant to accompany me at the preliminary talks for peace with the Dron that I’m holding this week with diplomats from several of the other Itlantean cities. You mentioned an interest earlier. So, I would like you to come.”

Success tasted sweet indeed.

MY HEART THUDDED as I accompanied Merelus and Nol to the Room of Diplomacy. It stood at the top of sixty steps. There was no lift, as Merelus explained, because the diplomats were meant to ponder the wishes of the people as they climbed. I wondered if instead they pondered strangling whoever had come up with such an idea. The room was round, edged with a wall of glass to keep out the sea, glass overlaid with decorative filigree. The filigree looked as delicate as lace, but I knew from the pryor that such material was as strong as stone. In the center of the room stood a table in the shape of a half moon, and a round dais stood before the table, with a wall of mechanical wonders behind it.

The representatives from the cities were already seated. They were a mixture of diplomats, whose duty was to represent their city in other cities, and senators, who served in the government for the entire nation of Itlantis. First was a woman dressed in pale purple, the color of Celestrus. Her brown eyes fixed upon us with a sharpness that indicated keen observance as she flicked her long black hair over her shoulder and lifted her chin.

“Senator Coral,” Merelus said, bowing slightly.

Beside her sat a bearded man dressed in a coat of shimmering silver. His hair and beard were yellow, like Nol’s. He was younger than the others, and his fingers drummed the edge of the table in agitation as he waited.

“Representative Jak,” Merelus murmured, with another bow.

The man to Jak’s left was slender, with threads of silver in his black hair and thin hands that looked like they belonged to a musician. He wore spectacles, and behind them, his eyes were shrewd. His robes were black and orange-red, the colors of Volcanus and Magmus, for according to the pryor, the two often shared diplomats and representatives since they were sister cities.

Beside the diplomat sat a younger man, also dark-haired and dark-eyed, with the same slender hands. He was lean, thin, and handsome. He caught my eye and half of his mouth slid up in a smirk, and I hesitated a moment, caught off guard by the flash of invitation in his dark eyes.

“Representative Renus, Assistant Valus,” Merelus said.

The representative for Primus was a dark-haired woman with skin like ebony and a face that looked ageless. She wore blue, and her eyes were clouded. She was blind, I realized. “Senator Annah,” Merelus said, reaching out and touching her hands instead of bowing. She smiled in response. Beside her, an assistant whispered Merelus’s name and description.

The final representative, for Verdus, was a young woman with bronze skin and golden eyes. She wore green threaded with gold, and she tipped her head in acknowledgement when Merelus bowed to her. “Representative Jade.”