and Rift jumped up through the spray as the wave rolled across the floor.
The water had to be coming up the flooded street, obviously not hampered by the magical barrier over the door. But the floor still tilted down at a sharp incline. The leviathan is lowering its head, Moon realized in horror, getting ready to go under…
As the wave hit, Moon lunged forward, grabbed Ardan around the waist, and jumped down the incline to the side of the nearest pillar. Water washed over him, stale at first and then fresh. Moon shook Ardan and shouted, “What are you doing?”
“It’s not me!” Ardan gritted out, his hands digging into Moon’s arm. “It’s the leviathan! Those fools, when they used the firepowder so close to its head, they must have woken it. Without the bridle it’s free to do whatever it wants.”
It sounded horribly likely. The leviathan had lowered its head immediately after the explosion. “Can you stop it?”
“I can try. Get me the bridle, take me to the sanctum, and I’ll try!”
Moon looked around. Balm and Chime had joined Jade, perched on a pillar about a hundred paces away. They all stared this way, doubtless wondering what Moon was doing with Ardan. He couldn’t see Rift… No, there he was, holding on to the corbelled ceiling high overhead. Moon bellowed, “Rift, come here!”
Rift hesitated, long enough for Moon to think about where he would have to put Ardan while he flew up to drag Rift out of the ceiling, to wonder where Stone and Esom were. Water poured continuously in from the tunnel entrance, roared down the slope of the floor. Then Rift dropped down to the pillar and cupped his wings to land on it a few paces above Moon.
“Give him the bridle,” Moon said. “I’ve got to take him to the sanctum to try to stop this.”
Rift handed the bridle to Ardan, and said, “Good luck.”
Rift ducked away as Moon flared his wings and leapt for the next pillar. The sloped stone surface made for a difficult landing, and his claws slipped. He slid down a few paces before he caught hold of the carving. Ardan grunted in alarm, but didn’t struggle or panic. Moon pushed off again, more carefully this time, and crossed the room in long bounds. Halfway across, Chime caught up and landed above him on a slanting pillar. He said breathlessly, “Jade says to hurry up and do whatever it is you’re doing.”
Moon didn’t need to be told that. He leapt into the air again. He finally splashed down beside the sanctum’s open doorway. A moment later Chime landed atop the dome. Water poured down the slope of the floor, most of it flowing past the angled doorway, so the sanctum wasn’t flooded yet. He set Ardan on his feet. The Magister staggered, caught the wall to steady himself, and said, “Thank you. You can send your friend for the seed.”
Moon wasn’t buying that. “You said you could do it with the bridle. It’s a little late to change your story.” The man was as bad as Rift. Another wave washed down and sloshed partly into the sanctum. Ardan smiled tightly. “It was worth a try.” He pulled himself inside and staggered across to the plinth.
Moon climbed the side of the dome, up to where Chime crouched. The big room was even darker; the vapor-light stands in the lower part of the chamber had been swamped. Though it didn’t douse them, they didn’t put out much light under water. “Did you see Stone and Esom?”
Chime watched the swirling water below. A drowned groundling floated by, one of the blue-pearl guards. Chime grimaced. “No, where were they?”
“Behind a pillar, not far from the tunnel entrance.” Moon squinted to see through the shadows. “Esom lost the spell when the firepowder went off. They should have—”
A high-pitched roar echoed across the chamber. “Uh oh,” Chime said, nervously. “Now what?”
It came from the direction of the hole in the floor, the one Ardan had made above the leviathan’s blowhole. Moon had a bad feeling about that. “I hope that’s not what I think it is. Come on.” Moon jumped off the dome and headed toward the sound.
As they made their way from pillar to pillar, Moon saw Stone first, in the big dark shape of his Raksuran form. He was at the edge of the jagged opening in the floor, and struggled with something. Then they reached a pillar overlooking it, and the scene made Chime gasp in