The officials waiting for them at Osaka were friendlier than the ones they ran into at Kunlun; Tala recognized one of them as the kingdom’s prime minister. They were inside the National Diet Building, one of the major seats of Japanese government, but right now it was strangely deserted.
Horse had gone with them. If any of the officials had registered surprise at the sight of the powerful kelpie, stomping his hooves and looking about with eagerness, they were careful to keep their expressions neutral. They were more visibly awed at the sight of the firebird, who was showing off by surrounding itself in a halo of small flames, and at the adarna on Tala’s head, who was sleeping again.
Prime Minister Hamada was remarkably calm considering the battle currently going on underneath their waters. “Thank you for receiving us on such short notice,” he said through a translator, bowing.
“Thank you for not declaring war on Avalon when you discovered who your attacker was,” Lumina said, not bothering to mask her anxiety. “Bring us to where my husband is, and we will do our best to keep him from causing more harm.”
“You are Lumina Makiling Warnock-san, yes? We are aware of the circumstances involving Kay Warnock. Even if we were not, Avalon has been kind to us. Our kingdoms were once bitter rivals, and yet in the aftermath of war, your rulers showed us compassion. We hope to offer our support in turn, though many obstacles prevent us from saying so along official lines.” The man gestured at an ornately designed looking glass. “This should bring you to the Ryugu-jo. I have ordered our samurai to maintain their distance, to engage only when necessary, but your husband, Makiling Warnock-san, is a rather stubborn man.”
“Believe me, I intend to knock some sense into him.”
“My warriors have reported something unusual with regard to his person. They have caused him injuries, but the man shrugs it off like they are nothing. On the other hand, he has already put several of my soldiers out of action, though he is but one against many.”
Tala had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Beside her, Ryker slowly squeezed her hand just as Loki moved silently to stand beside her.
“I also must caution you about the Ryugu-jo,” the prime minister went on. “We cannot guarantee your safety inside. I cannot promise that you may even be able to leave the palace nor confirm the time period you emerge into. Even with your Nine Maidens on standby.”
“That’s a chance we’re all ready to take, Minister,” Lumina said shortly. “Unfortunately, we have little choice but to see it through.”
“I might pose a problem,” Zoe muttered. “My segen works using lightning. I doubt I’d be able to harm anyone given how vast the sea is, but…”
“You can always use your needle,” Cole said with a straight face.
“You are just full of ideas today.”
The firebird landed lightly on her shoulder and then squawked importantly.
“It says it’ll protect you,” Alex said drolly over the comm link.
“I am surrounded by gentlemen.”
One of the other officials posed a question to the minister. “He wants to know if this odd firebird will be accompanying them,” the translator said.
“The one on my daughter’s head is called the adarna,” Lumina said. “A similar species, though it is somewhat native to the Philippines.”
“It saddens me that we know so little about those outside our own kingdom,” the man who had originally asked said. “I hope that things can change in the future.”
The looking glass glowed. Everything beyond it was underwater. The connecting mirror appeared to have been installed at the bottom of the sea.
“We use looking glasses strong enough to withstand the pressure of our oceans,” the prime minister said with a grin. “We use them to analyze and predict incoming tsunamis and earthquakes, and also to guard against thrill seekers who come to search for our treasures.”
“All right,” Nya said, “pop in your breathables, guys. Even you, West, just in case. Not only will it help us breathe, but the additional pressure spells in there ought to prevent barotrauma.”
The spelltech tasted, oddly enough, like fresh mint. As Tala chewed, it felt like she could actually feel her lungs contracting, that weirdly refreshing sensation spreading throughout her chest.
“Don’t worry,” Nya said to Ken. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“There are no steps,” Loki said. “It might be easier for Ken to use the sea bottom to walk.”
“God bloody dammit, Sun-Wagner,” Ken growled.
Horse whinnied.
“Alex?” Lumina asked through her comm link. “How are things over there?”
“We’re about ready,” came the prompt response. “Japan’s Department of Spelltech has been monitoring the Ryugu-jo for close to a century, apparently. They can lock on to the time-lapse spells seeping out of the palace even if they can’t modify them. I can use those as a conduit to burrow in and slow it down. With the Nine Maidens and my enhancers, the Gallaghers are positive it will work.”
“All while it drains more strength from you,” Tala heard Tristan’s voice grumble. “I still think there has to be another way—”
“You had all the time to complain a couple of hours ago while we were hammering out the logistics. Now there’s nothing else for you to do but shut up so I can focus.”
Some more faint mutterings, but Tristan wisely kept his mouth shut.
Tala was completely in agreement with the Locksley boy. “You aren’t to exert yourself, Alex,” she snapped, taking up the fight in his stead. “The instant anything goes wrong, give us warning to retreat, whether or not we’ve found the tamatebako. Tristan, don’t leave his side, and make sure he does exactly that.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tristan said, sounding pleased. Alex merely grunted.
West was the first to take the lead, already shifting into dolphin form before he was halfway through the portal. Zoe and Cole promptly followed suit, and then Loki. Ken stood before the shining portal, visibly hesitating.
“You don’t have to do this,” Nya said again, worried.
“Bollocks,” Ken said, taking a deep breath. “If I went and backed out of anything that threatened me with a watery death where the air is sucked out of your lungs and you die choking and fishes come and feast on your eyes while you—what was I saying? The point is, I can’t claim to be worthy enough to hold this sword if I chicken out, right?” And then, summoning up his courage and making Tala so proud of him, he threw himself through the portal. With a sigh, Nya dove in after him.
“Ready?” Lumina asked.
Tala nodded. “Let’s go get Dad.”
“We will keep the port open indefinitely,” Prime Minister Hamada said. “May the gods give you victory.”
“Victory, my butt,” Tala heard her mother grumble just before she leaped into the looking glass. “I am going to kick Kay’s ass.”
Even knowing she could breathe underwater, Tala’s first thought was that she was going to drown. The faint shock of liquid filling her lungs and yet finding that she was still capable of letting out breaths felt like a contradiction. She should have felt cold this deep down, but there was a warm field around them, keeping her from hypothermia.
It was her mother’s hand on her elbow, a steady presence, that helped her calm down. The older woman directed her attention toward something in the distance, and Tala gasped.
The underwater palace was a stunning sight. She had been expecting something that was covered in barnacles and other sea debris, much like the pictures she’d seen of shipwrecks. The Ryugu-jo gleamed a pearly white, bright even in the gloom of the sea depths. It was beautiful in a strange, unearthly way.
“How?” she asked, and then realized she could also talk.
“The government hires specialized cleaners to fix it up every now and then,” her mother said. “It isn’t uncharacteristic of the Japanese to keep things tidy.”
More figures swam into view. The rest of the Bandersnatchers looked awestruck at the sight as well, but soon their attention was directed toward their left, where an army of Japanese soldiers were engaged in battle.
Tala saw him. His long hair was loose and he was still bare chested, sporting no other armor or weapons but the large battle-ax that he was swinging at the soldiers. Harpoons whizzed at him, but he simply cut them down without fail.
Around him were shades who glided through the water the same way they glided through air, and the Japanese had their hands full fighting them off.
“Kay,” Lumina breathed.
There was a whinny behind them. Horse cantered into view, Ken already clinging for his life on top of it. The boy’s face was a little pale, but he was holding up a lot better than Tala had expected. Beside them was Nya, resplendent with her tail, and beside her was West as a dolphin, greeting them with a faint screech.
“Hang on to Horse,” Nya told them. “It’ll get us there quicker. Or you can hang on to me, and I’ll get us there just as fast.”
She was true to her word. Horse sped on while the others clung tightly to its neck, astride its back, or anywhere else they could cling. Nya was right beside it, tail kicking out behind her as she propelled both Tala and Ryker to where the fight was at its thickest.
Lumina was the first to disembark and the first to throw herself in between the wall of soldiers and her husband. “Kay!” she shouted.
Kay showed no signs that he recognized her and continued to batter away at the shields. Lumina swam closer, lashing out with her arnis sticks. It was not a strike intended to injure, though it was more than just a glancing blow; Kay’s head whipped back from the force of it.
“What are you doing?” Tala’s mother shouted. “Snap out of it!”
Slowly, the man paused and then turned toward them.
Tala cried out. Her father’s eyes, normally warm and brown and kind, were now blank and colorless .
“She actually went and did it,” Ryker said beside her, sounding stunned himself. “She turned him into a Deathless.”
Lumina appeared frozen in disbelief, gaping at her husband, who was now slowly raising his ax.
Tala lunged forward, grabbing her mother and pulling her out of the way as her father swung, missing them completely. He moved toward them again but was shoved back by Loki’s staff, which had come spinning out of the air to block his blade.
“The sooner we can get into the palace, the better,” Zoe said.
“I don’t know if I can go in and leave my mom to face him alone,” Tala whispered. Her father was a Deathless. The Snow Queen had claimed that she was no longer interested in pursuing Kay, that she intended to have him pay like the rest of Avalon. And she had.
And the anger that had been slowly building up since learning that her father had been taken and now in a condition that had no cure—
Tala took it out on the shades who were approaching. She hadn’t been able to use salamanca since their fight with Nome and the Snow Queen, but Tala shoved out with her agimat all the same, forgetting everything in her rage.
The shade exploded. One minute, it was reaching for her in its uncanny humanlike form, and the next, it had erupted into nothingness like a slow-acting firework. The blast took out a couple of other shades who had strayed too close. Tala turned, pointed her finger at another, and shattered it as well.
The Snow Queen had won. She would never have her father back.
A sudden roar broke through the waters. It was a familiar, terrifying one.
“Again?” Zoe groaned as an ogre appeared out of the darkness. It strode across the seafloor, horrifyingly fast on its feet. One unfortunate soldier was caught in its grip and then slammed hard against the rocky ground.
Another roar, this time from Ryker. The water around him was slowly solidifying, a by-product of his anger. “She didn’t,” he rasped. “She wouldn’t.”
Tala looked, saw that her father was no longer alone. More people emerged from the darkness to flank him, most teens their own age. All had the listless blank stare of the Deathless, and all were armed.
“She turned them,” Ryker snarled. “The kids I couldn’t get out yet. She—she—”
“Surprised, Cadfael?” a voice purred. An ice maiden drifted into view, smiling cruelly. Sharp icicles formed to encircle her like a barrier.
“Jessika,” Ryker hissed. “What a surprise to see the Snow Queen’s most devout follower sent on such a trivial mission.”
“I obey Her Majesty always, though I agree. Anything that concerns you does not deserve my attention.” The ice maiden’s voice sounded like it was made entirely of chimes, a soft tinkling echo accompanying her cruel voice. “You were foolish enough to betray her.”
“I betrayed no one!” Ryker shouted. “She said she would protect them!”
“You promised her your fidelity. And yet here you are.” The woman patted one of the Deathless teenagers affectionately on their head like they were her pet dog. “She gave them a warm place to stay, food, and affection. And you responded to her generosity by conspiring with her enemies.”
“She broke her oath! She was to bring them back to their families!”
“To be neglected and abused again? To suffer through the system like you once suffered? You of all people know how cruel the world can be, Cadfael. They would have been safe with her. But your defection compromised them, and they can no longer be trusted. You are the reason Her Majesty had no choice but to turn them. Behold the consequences of your own selfishness.”
Ryker fired straight into the group of Deathless, turning the water around them into blocks of ice that trapped their legs and prevented them from moving. Several sank down, but the ice maiden only laughed and swept at the spaces before her, dispelling his magic with ease. Her icicles shot out toward him in retaliation, but the barricade he hastily erected took the brunt of her attacks.
Kay avoided the blast radius easily. Another of the Japanese soldiers shot a harpoon his way, this time tipped with a blazing fire enchanted to keep it aflame. Tala’s father reached up and caught it in his hand before it could hit him.
West was battling the ogre, making high-pitched shrill noises as he slammed a snout hard against the side of the ogre’s face, then nimbly swimming away when the ogre tried to snatch him. Ken was still riding Horse while all the others had relinquished their hold, and he seemed to forget that he was underwater. The kelpie neighed gleefully as it zipped around the monster, moving far too quickly for it to do anything beyond reaching with its mighty fists to grab at the space they were already gone from.
Kusanagi flashed, outshining even the Ryugu-jo’s gleam. One quick swipe cut deeply into the ogre’s shin, and its vile black blood came dribbling out, creating a small miasma around it.
“Wait, Ken!” Zoe was hurtling forward, her face strained. She lashed out with her Ogmios, and the whip wrapped itself around the creature’s wound.
There was a sharp spark of electricity, and Tala felt a strange tingling sensation that seemed to have come from everywhere. The monster roared, but the dark blood around it dissipated, slowly mixing with the water. It sank down.
Zoe was already swimming back toward them as fast as she could, but the girl looked strangely wan. The immense volume of the sea had protected them from getting shocked, Tala realized, but not completely for Zoe. Nya swam out toward the girl, grabbing her and bringing them both speedily back to where Cole was waiting, his own face stricken when he caught sight of Zoe.
“We need to get her back,” he said tersely.
“No, we don’t,” Zoe said immediately, letting go of Nya and drifting backward. “We need a way into the palace while everyone else is—”
Cole grabbed Zoe and yanked her away as a burning harpoon sailed past, only narrowly missing her. Horse blurred into view, Ken on its back. The boy’s left hand, white-knuckled, gripped at the kelpie’s mane while the other batted away the second fire-bespelled harpoon Kay threw at them. Cole grabbed at Ogmios, which was still wrapped around the wounded ogre, and black tendrils of smoke swarmed up its length toward the beast. The ogre hollered and then stood stock-still as the Nottingham segen did its work.
“That harpoon could have gotten me,” Zoe said shakily. “If you hadn’t moved, it would have—”
“I can’t control it for long,” Cole said brusquely, like she’d never spoken. “I can stall it for a few minutes at most, but that’s it. What do we do next?”
“I have a suggestion.” Loki held up the lotus lantern, which was glowing brightly. Light shot out of it, cutting through the darkness and into the Ryugu-jo. “If that’s not an invitation, then I don’t know what is.”
But Kay, too, was turning toward the palace, intent on following the light’s path for himself.
“No, you don’t!” Lumina blocked his way, and a well-placed kick to his shins sent her husband doubling over with a grunt. “Tala, you and the others need to get in the palace immediately.”
“But—”
“Trust me. I’ve sparred with Kay far longer than you ever have. I’ll keep him at bay, Deathless or not.” Her mother parried, ducked, delivered a quick swipe with her arnis that knocked Kay’s ax out of his grasp. “Hurry!”
“She’s right,” Nya whispered, tugging hard at the hem of Tala’s shirt. “We need to go before they beat us to the entrance.”
Swallowing, Tala nodded. Ryker was still exchanging projectiles with the ice maiden, but despite his initial anger, he seemed to sense that it was time to retreat. With a deep breath, he balled his fists and pushed them together.
The waters around him solidified into even thicker ice and expanded farther out. The ice maiden let out a small squeak of surprise when she realized she was no longer swimming but was instead frozen, trapped inside a giant ball of nearly solid ice that was at least half a mile wide. The other Deathless and many more nightwalkers were also caught within its confines, all struggling to move.
Ryker sagged down. Tala caught him by the collar and dragged him along while she fought to keep up with the other Bandersnatchers, all swimming briskly toward the path the lotus lantern had illuminated for them. “Let me help,” she heard, and then she herself was being dragged up, only to be deposited onto Horse’s back behind Ken. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“No problemo.” Ken still had a death grip on his kelpie’s mane like it was his lifeline. Nya swam beside them, her large tail lifting up and down behind her as she kept pace with them despite the speed of Ken’s mount.
Loki reached their destination first—the palace’s massive main doors. “Now what?” they asked once the rest had caught up.
“Didn’t one of the prophecies about this place say that it will need Avalon’s sword wielder to get in?” Ken asked. “Do I just wave Kusanagi and yell, ‘Open sesame!’ or something?”
“Wait,” Alex said, his voice unexpectedly loud and clear. “Give me another minute. I can feel the spells leaking out from the place through my firebird. I can use the Nine Maidens to grab hold of it and keep it locked down to within a year’s time frame.”
“Within a year’s time frame?” Tala asked.
“It’s a better alternative than throwing you a hundred years into the future, don’t you think? No, Tristan.” Alex’s voice faded slightly, like he had turned away from the comm to address someone beside him. “I didn’t test any of this beforehand because there wasn’t any way to. Now will you shut up and let me concentrate? Ken, are there any changes to Kusanagi that you can sense?”
“Nothing so far. Do I have to get closer to check?” Horse whinnied and inched closer so that Ken could reach out and take hold of the door knockers if he wanted. He touched the tip of the sword against the wood, then waited. “I guess that’s not it. What if we just kicked our way in? Would anyone inside take offense?”
“Whatever it is, Ken, we need to hurry.” Nya pointed. The ice maiden had broken down the sphere, and now she and the rest of the Deathless were streaking toward them rapidly. Tala could see her mother still locked in battle with her father, holding her own. “Because I don’t think they’re going to be as polite about it as you are.”
“Can’t Lord Suddene find any clues as to how we’re supposed to access the palace?” Cole asked as he, Loki, and West lined up to face the approaching threat, the first two with their weapons at the ready and West shifting into a larger, teeth-heavy great white shark.
“Nothing yet,” the duke’s voice rumbled in response. “The only mention of the residents of the Ryugu-jo was that they were hospitable and courteous, known for their good manners and sense of propriety. Most Japanese are the same, so it’s not an unexpected—”
Ken lifted his hand and knocked at the wood with Kusanagi. “Ojama shimasu!” he shouted.
The doors opened inward without warning.
Everything turned strange after that.