The others caught up one by one and Moon reached them and landed beside Chime and Delin. It wasn’t just a bridge, it was a junction. Standing on Stone’s shoulder, Bramble held her net-light up as high as she could, revealing a giant seven-sided space, with tall doorways in each wall.
Chime set Delin on his feet and stepped over to a large oblong of crystal set into the floor. He crouched to peer down through it. “So does the main canal split into seven branches, and one of these hallways follows each branch?”
Jade flicked a spine in Root and Song’s direction and they both jumped over the edge of the bridge. After a few moments they climbed back up and Song reported, “Seven canals, each right below one of these doors. They aren’t nearly as tall and wide as the hall we just came up, and it would be tricky to fly along them. They all look big enough for the groundling boat, though.”
Jade said grimly, “Yes, but which one do we follow?” She turned to look at the doors. “There isn’t a middle one. That would have been helpful.”
There were a few dismayed hisses as the realization penetrated. All the doors were set at angles, none obviously a continuation of the main hall.
Rorra stepped to the edge of the bridge to look down at the canal, angling her light to let her see the sides. “If the halls parallel each canal all the way along, that’s easier than having to trace them by water. Particularly if the canals are inhabited by those waterlings. It’s just a matter of picking the right one.”
“‘Just a matter?’” Delin echoed.
“I didn’t say it was an easy matter,” Rorra admitted, stepping back.
Jade showed her fangs in a brief grimace. “So we may have to follow each one to see if there’s an outer door at the end.”
Moon didn’t think the task was that enormous. “The city’s tall, but it isn’t that wide. It would take, what, maybe a couple of hours to cross the top? The outside walls taper in, but not that much. So searching each canal shouldn’t take that long.”
“They might connect to each other,” Chime added. “That should help, too.”
Jade paced away. “It would still be better if we picked the right one first.”
With Bramble on his shoulder, Stone moved to the first door, letting the light fall down it a little. It was a hallway, on a smaller scale than the big one that led here, with carvings on the arching walls and maybe pillars farther down. Stone moved to check each door, but the halls seemed all the same. There were bands of carving around the doors, but they were all the same size, and nothing seemed to indicate one door was more important than the others. Bramble reported, “I don’t see any of the symbols we found on the entrance.” She added wryly, “That would have been handy.”
“Maybe we should have brought Vendoin to see the writing,” Root said. “I mean, if there’s writing.”
Delin stood near a pillar, examining the carving. “She would still have to translate it, which takes time. And the Hian interpretation of foundation builder language is greatly disputed.” His voice dry, he added, “I heard a great deal about that on the way to the Reaches.” He looked around again, squinting in the dim light. “The designs are asymmetrical. And the entrance was toward the eastern end of the escarpment, not in its center. There is less room for the canals on the eastern side.”
Jade’s tail lashed slowly as she considered it. “So it’s more likely some of these canals dead-end, or get smaller.”
Briar said, uncertainly, “There’s enough of us. We could split up to search each. That would take less time.”
Bramble snorted. “There’s stories that start that way and they all end ‘and then they were eaten.’” Stone grunted in agreement.
Everyone was looking at Jade, waiting for a decision. Trying to give her some breathing room, Moon said, “Do you want to go back and wait for Merit to scry?” He didn’t expect her to say yes, considering how badly Merit’s attempts to scry had been going.
“There’s no telling how long that will take.” Jade hesitated, her tail still moving slowly. “Chime, which hall should we start with?”
Moments like these were when Moon felt Chime’s former life as a mentor came in handy. A warrior would have balked at taking the responsibility; at this point, Moon would have picked a door at random. Chime moved forward, studying each doorway intently. “Asymmetrical,” he murmured. “And the gate into the city was toward the east, and a lot of these carved designs have a focal point toward the left . . .”
Moon, with Jade, Stone, Rorra, and the warriors, turned to stare at the nearest carvings. Bramble and Delin just nodded. Once it was pointed out, Moon could see that many of the carvings seemed to look better if you tilted your head to the left, but he had no idea what that meant. Chime finished, “So I’m guessing we should try that door first.” He pointed to the one third from the left. He turned to consult Bramble and Delin.
Bramble said, “It could be that one or the one to its right, but . . . Yes, I think we should start with it.”
Delin nodded agreement. “Your theory is sound, Chime.”
“What just happened?” Rorra asked Moon.
He said, “I have no idea.”
The hall wasn’t tall or wide enough to make flying or leaping feasible, and while a bounding gait would cover ground faster, it wasn’t a good way to travel through a place as strange and potentially dangerous as this. So they walked.
Moon was worried this might be hard on Delin and Rorra, but Delin seemed more interested in trying to study the wall carvings their lights revealed, and Rorra didn’t seem fatigued. Moon still meant to remind Jade to call for a rest sooner than she normally would need to.
Every fifty paces or so there was another oblong crystal inset in the floor. The glass was cloudy with age, but still allowed a dim view down to the canal below, just enough to see Rorra’s distance-light glinting off the water. With the others, Moon kept tasting the air, but all he could detect was saltwater, rock, nervous Raksura, nervous sealing, and Delin. Keeping his voice low, Chime said, “This isn’t the worst place we’ve ever explored. If it wasn’t for the possibility of a monster locked up in here somewhere, this wouldn’t be so bad.” He was clearly trying to keep his spirits up, because even as he said it, his spines twitched uneasily.
Walking ahead of them, Briar added, “And that we might starve to death if we can’t get past the Fell.”
“Right, I forgot about that one,” Chime said sourly. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“Remember the foundation builder writing,” Delin said. “This place is probably not of the forerunners. Unless they took control of it somehow, before or after the foundation builders departed.”
“Then why did it let Chime open it?” Bramble asked.
“Good question,” Delin said wryly.
Ahead, Stone stopped, and Bramble held up the net-light.
A staircase twisted up a pillar, leading up through an open shaft in the ceiling. Across the hall, an opening showed another set of steps curling down to the canal below. Moon ducked around Stone’s big furled wing to see the steps. Each was broad and flat across the middle, with two raised sections to either side, one a little higher than the other. Delin and Rorra moved up beside him, and Rorra said, “More than two legs? Or just decorative?”
“I don’t know.” Delin leaned into the stairwell, holding his light. “Odd.”
Stone set Bramble down, then shifted to his groundling form. Rorra flinched away from the abrupt transformation, but Delin just stepped closer to take advantage of the unobstructed view. Bramble’s frills brushed Moon’s scales as she pushed between him and Chime to see.