darkened blade_ A fallen blade novel - Kelly McCullough Page 0,116

would be able to function in the depths of the temple precinct, we’ve decided to assume that I can’t. That means I’m stuck in the outermost loop, and it would be foolish not to do what we can to take advantage of that.”

“Like what?” asked Faran.

“The temple of Zhen-Ki is in that outermost ring,” said Siri.

“Now I’m confused,” replied Faran. “What does the Binder of Demons have to do with anything?”

“In this case, everything,” said Kelos. “Heaven’s Reach is a church-state, and it has to fulfill all the functions of any government. That includes having someplace to put people who break church law. Mostly, they go to a stand-alone prison fortress operated by the Sword of Heaven at the far end of the great valley. But prisoners of the Hand stay here in the city, in a small dungeon below the temple of Zhen-Ki.”

“So, right before dawn,” Siri said, taking the lead back from Kelos, “I intend to lead our three observers here in to free as many of the prisoners as we can.” She nodded to Maryam. “I don’t know who’s in the dungeons there at the moment, but I’m certain busting them out will provide Aral’s crew with a hell of a distraction. If we’re lucky, it will provide us with some allies, too. I don’t know what their quality will be, but if the Son of Heaven has chosen to jail dissident members of the Hand and the Shadow instead of simply liquidating them, we might produce some major fireworks once we crack them loose.”

Kelos spoke again. “Then, after Siri starts making noise and calling down hell on the prison right as the sun comes up, you and Faran and I will make our run at the inner temple.”

“I really don’t like the idea of working in daylight.” Ssithra spoke from her perch on Faran’s shoulder.

“No Shade does,” Malthiss replied, without lifting himself free of Kelos’s tattoos, “but I don’t think we have any choice in the matter this time. There are simply too many of the risen in the temple precinct right now for us to do anything else.”

“Is that it?” I asked.

Siri shrugged. “Pretty much. There are a lot of details that we simply can’t plan in advance on this one given the time constraints imposed by that”—she pointed at the finger—“and the way the risen are swarming all over everything. Kelos has some very detailed maps of the precinct in general and the targets in specific. Looking over those, I haven’t seen any other good options.”

“Sewers?” I said. “I’m asking because I want to be thorough, not because I think you haven’t considered it.”

Kelos shook his head. “They’re kept brimful all the time, and even the best spells for breathing water won’t work in sewage. There’s just not enough of what we need to breathe in the stuff to start with. That’s a problem the risen don’t have, which makes it a perfect place for the Son of Heaven to hide an army. There are thousands of them down there.”

“What about the clean water supply?” I asked without much hope.

A city this size needed a lot of water, and being in a valley meant it would come down from the hills. Usually, in situations like this, water was brought in through stone-walled tunnels that mirrored a sewer system. But anyone with any sense of security made sure that wards against water-breathing were built deep into the stones of the walls wherever the channels passed under protected areas. Such things could be broken, but it was long, slow, tedious work and it didn’t buy you much even if it didn’t trigger alarms. While the main arteries of an aqueduct might be big enough to pass a man, well shafts were always heavily guarded, or made too small for a human to move through.

“The supply channel wards are even nastier than usual,” answered Kelos. “Some previous Son of Heaven convinced the Queen of the Waters to reinforce the wards with god-magic. They are completely unbreakable.”

I nodded. “That’s more or less what I figured. Let me think for a moment.” I got up and walked away from the others. I was First Blade now, and the call was mine. I wouldn’t make it lightly.

Well? sent Triss. What do you think about all this?

I think I want to go in and properly game the whole thing out myself and make my own damn plan. I also think that would waste time we don’t have given the way the