Bearer of the dragonfly? Karigan wondered.

“However,” the professor continued, “the Second Age historian, Havoness, relates the legend of Anschilde, who banished the sea kings by using his ‘dragonfly device,’ perhaps a weapon with arcane qualities. Anschilde was considered a great leader and was something of a king of his day after his defeat of the sea kings. The few historical references I can access disagree about whether or not armies and battles were involved or if it was just Anschilde and his dragonfly device. I was lucky to find that unpurged volume of Havoness.” He glanced fondly at his library of damaged books.

“What does this have to do with the tombs?” she asked.

The professor slapped his journal shut, and Karigan jumped, almost spilling her tea. “Patience, my dear, I am getting there. Now, there are other elusive references to this incident with Anschilde, but most interesting is what’s handed down orally in the east about him and his weapon. Stories are passed down, despite suppression by the empire, and tell how the dragonfly device became a revered heirloom of Anschilde’s line, later known as Clan Sealender. No one after Anschilde knew how to use it or even what it was capable of—if anything—besides sending away the sea kings.

“Oral tradition holds that the heirloom was hidden away during the Scourge after the Long War so it would not be destroyed, and then brought to Sacor City when the Sealenders ascended the throne. Then it vanished altogether about the time the first Sealender king died. One concludes it was interred with him in the royal tombs.”

“Ah,” she said, “so this is what Silk is after. This heirloom, this dragonfly device.” It seemed more than plausible to her such an object would be hidden in the tombs, if it really existed in the first place.

“Yes,” the professor replied. “You see, he too, did much research into the sea kings, trying to excavate along the coast. Back then we were still on friendly terms, sharing in our discoveries, so he, too, knew of Anschilde’s device. In fact, I suspect he may know more.” He glowered. “Little did I realize he was just using me back then, on top of his access to a library of forbidden books hidden away in the emperor’s palace. Naturally, as the scion of one of the emperor’s inner circle, Silk would seek ways to further the empire for his own benefit, to be rewarded with immortality as his father had been. Finding the dragonfly device would be a coup because by handing it over to the emperor, Silk would insure that the emperor could not be threatened by it. We, the opposition, of course, desire it in case the old stories are true. We would like to banish the Sea King Reborn. You were my best hope, my dear, for helping us to find another way into the tombs, a way to get there before Silk.”

She sat and stared at the steam rising from the teacup warming her hands. The vapor twisted and drifted in a ghostly dance, dissipating long before it reached the high ceiling. Was there a way to help the professor without giving away the secrets of the tombs? Could she do so while minimizing her entanglements in this world’s problems? If Silk was going to excavate his way into the tombs—and she could not imagine how he’d get through all the rubble and solid granite bedrock—wouldn’t she rather the professor reach them first? But if the tombs remained intact and contained powerful relics of the past, she preferred that no one enter them.

She found it interesting how forcefully the taboo concerning the tombs kept her silence. Few were permitted entrance: only royalty, the Weapons who guarded the dead, and the caretakers who tended the tombs. Rules had been bent to allow Karigan to enter and then leave again. Interlopers were not usually permitted to see the living sun ever again, and were doomed to live out their lives in the tombs assisting the caretakers.

If the tombs had survived the devastation of Sacor City, they were the last bastion of old Sacoridia remaining in this time, and she was reluctant to see them overrun and defeated as the rest of the realm had been.

“How does Dr. Silk plan to reach the tombs?” she asked. “How can he excavate through all the rock?”

Cade and the professor exchanged glances.

“A drill,” the professor replied.

“A drill?” Karigan was incredulous, trying to imagine workers pounding and pounding on iron hand drills. Even with a multitude of drills and workers, it would take decades to reach the tombs. The thought eased her mind until the professor explained.

“My dear, do not forget this is the modern age, the age of machines. Silk’s drill is not the simple tool of your era, but a gigantic instrument powered by a steam engine. Once the site is made ready and all is set in place, it will take no time at all for the drill to work through the castle ruins and bedrock. Weeks. A couple of months at the most.”

His words shook her, the idea of such inhuman power.

“Which is another reason why,” the professor said, “it is time to step up the opposition.”

“You must destroy the drill!” Karigan said.

“Even if it can be destroyed,” Cade said, “it can be remade.”

“Machines can be tampered with,” the professor said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, “and work sites compromised. Even if Silk can remake the drill, it would slow him down, buy us time. Unfortunately, the warehouse it resides in is too well guarded.”

“The work site will be, too,” Cade said.

“Perhaps, but Silk’s men can’t possibly secure the entire mount. We shall see, we shall see . . . I will have to consult with our brethren to find out what they know of such things, so we can prepare.”