but all they could see was the column stretching up into darkness. Stone said, “River, take the light, climb up there. Not the column, go up the wall.”
River took the light-rock, clutched it in his teeth, and started up the chamber’s wall. It was the first time Moon had ever seen him do anything without a bad attitude. They watched his progress, the light growing smaller, until they stood in heavy darkness. Moon estimated River had gone about a hundred paces up the wall when he stopped. Moon hissed out a curse. River’s light shone on the roof of the chamber, where the leviathan’s flesh had grown back to enclose the column and close off any passage or opening. “If there was anything up there, we can’t get to it,” he said, frustrated.
Then Chime said, “Look, look at this!”
Moon turned around. It was too dark to see Chime, but it was obvious what he was pointing at: a faintly glowing shape outlined against the column. It was round, like a panel in the metal, with something behind it giving off a faint illumination.
Moon stepped close, stumbled on Chime’s tail, and moved him out of the way. He ran his hands over the panel to feel for seams under the encrustations. “Careful,” Esom said anxiously. “An arcane power source could be very dangerous.”
“The seed wouldn’t glow, would it?” Chime said, sounding doubtful. “Unless they did something drastic to it.”
Stone growled in frustration. “Get it open.”
Moon growled back at him and dug his claws into the crusted ooze to strip it off the old metal. River climbed back down the wall, bringing the light-rock. The glow from behind the panel faded as the chamber grew brighter, but Moon found the seams. He worked his claws in and yanked on the panel. It gave way so abruptly he stumbled backward. River pushed off the wall, landed beside Moon, and held out the light-rock. Behind the panel was a small compartment, and mounted in it was a discolored metal plaque set with rough crystals, about the size of Moon’s palm.
Esom said, “That’s it, that’s the arcane source I’ve been sensing!”
Moon paced away, too angry to speak. That’s not it. Jade and Flower are still trapped up there, Balm could be dead, and we don’t even have the damn seed to bargain with.
Behind him, Stone hissed with bitter disappointment. “It’s not the seed,” River said, pointedly speaking in Kedaic so Esom could understand him.
“I never said it was your seed,” Esom said, exasperated. “I said—”
“What is it doing to the leviathan?” Stone asked him, cutting across the budding argument. “It has to be doing something, or it wouldn’t be down here.”
“I don’t know.” Esom lifted his hands helplessly. “It could be helping to control the creature—”
“It has to be,” Chime broke in, his spines shaking with excitement. “Think about where we are. We went a long way down, but we’re not that far from where we started.”
“Maybe five hundred paces, give or take.” Moon tilted his head, and found that place inside himself that always knew where south was. “We’re below the mortuary temple, just in the center—”
Chime finished, “We’re under that dome, under that steering device.” He thumped the column. “This thing could be part of it.”
“Huh.” Stone looked up the column again.
“But we can’t get out that way,” River said impatiently. “There’s no opening. The flesh closes in around the top of this pillar-thing.”
“Yes, but…” Moon stepped back to the column, reached into the compartment and touched the crystal thing gingerly.
“I still think you should be careful,” Esom persisted.
Moon nudged the device a little. It wiggled back and forth, but didn’t seem to do anything. “Could this be how they control the leviathan?”
They all looked at Esom, who wiped his forehead wearily. “I don’t know. Our ship the Klodifore works by arcane power, using the metora stone as fuel. But it still has a wheel, a steering mechanism. There wasn’t anything like that on the device we saw. Not that I could tell, anyway.”
“But it’s not a ship, it’s a creature.” Chime eased forward and leaned close to the compartment. “Maybe the device controls a spell that lets the groundlings communicate with it.”
Esom nodded, preoccupied. “Oh, that’s a thought. Yes, I think that’s likely.”
If they were right… it didn’t matter how many seeds Ardan stole, they were all useless without this. This could be the whole key to Ardan’s power, the power of all the magisters. Moon reached for the crystalstudded metal piece,