darkened blade_ A fallen blade novel - Kelly McCullough Page 0,118

twist, he forced the idol aside. Before I could say anything, he dropped through the hole he had exposed.

“There’s something fishy going on here,” said Faran. “I don’t like the smell of it.”

Neither did I, but I didn’t want to risk the mission either, so I just sighed. “Not much to do about it now but follow him.” Then I dropped into the hole myself.

Below, a second circular chamber echoed the room above. Only this one was half-full of the bones of sacrifices—mostly goats, but here and there I spied a human skull. They covered all of the floor except for the space directly under the trapdoor and a path that had been forced through the bones to a rough hole punched through the back wall.

“What is this place?” I whispered—I’d never heard of Jealousy having the kind of following that would have produced such offerings.

“Trappings of a secret cult a thousand years old,” said Kelos. “A hidden priesthood concealed within the greater practice of the Spirit Fellows.” The Fellows were the priestly hierarchy devoted to serving all of the lesser denizens of Heaven—a motley bunch looked down on by the rest of the church.

“I’ve never even heard of anything like a separate cult of Jealousy,” Faran said as she joined us.

“No surprise,” replied Kelos. “It died here about the time you were born. That’s when I strangled the last of Jealousy’s exclusive priests.”

“Why do I think that I’m going to hate where this is going?” I said.

“Because you’re a soft-hearted soul, and occasionally a fool.” Kelos ducked through the low hole in the back wall. “You’ve never liked the expediencies of the job, and these people were an expediency, if a necessary one.” He stuck his head back through the gap. “You’re lagging, and you’re sentimentalizing. Needlessly, I might add. The followers of Jealousy were as nasty a set of bloody-minded old murderers as you could ask for, and they needed killing for plenty of reasons beyond mine.”

“How reassuring.” I sighed. “Given all the preparations here, and the fact that you didn’t mention any of them to anyone when we were gaming out our play yesterday, I have to assume there’s more to this visit than holing up and waiting for sunrise and Siri’s distraction?”

“Of course there is.” Kelos barked a sharp word of command then and spell-light flared beyond the arch. “I’ve just started the aqueducts draining. It’ll take some time and, flow rates being what they are, they’ll likely start to fill again before they finish emptying. In the brief window before that happens we have a clear road to the Son of Heaven’s palace and one chance to take it.”

Which brought us full circle to my, “You played me?” and Kelos’s response before he ducked back into the passage beyond the hidden chamber.

As soon as Kelos was out of sight, Faran whispered in my ear. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Fair enough,” I whispered back.

“But not till afterward, please,” Kelos called back. “The waterways are a maze, and I’m the only one who knows the way. You’ll need my help to get to the Son of Heaven.”

“Fine,” said Faran, no longer trying to avoid being overheard. “I’ll wait.”

“Deal,” said Kelos.

Beyond the rough hole, a short passage led maybe ten feet forward and three down before ending at a circular opening in the floor like a well. Jealousy’s shrine was built up against the outer wall of the temple precinct, which meant the well-like opening lay just inside the magical boundary of the precinct. Kelos was nowhere to be seen, but a rope ladder led downward. A glance over the edge showed a crudely dug shaft leading into the top of a vaulted channel nearly full of water. I started down the ladder.

“There’s about three inches of air clearance at the top of the channel now,” Kelos called up from below. “It’ll get bigger as we go along, but that’s enough to get started. We should be more than halfway to the Son of Heaven by the time Siri starts her diversion.”

I wanted to scream and rant, or simply call off the mission. Instead, I eased myself down into the chilly water. I had no doubt that Kelos was telling the truth about this being a one-time opportunity, and I wondered idly how long ago he’d set it up. His mention of strangling the priest around the time that Faran was born, suggested that parts of it went back many years. But that wasn’t all that important, so