Free Temple of the Traveler: Book 01 - Doors to Eternity by Scott Rhine

light, the divers would begin searching the glassy bottom in pairs, attached to the safety rope. Two swam, two watched, and two rested at all times. The watchers were always next to go into the water while the previous swimmers rested. At midday they’d return to unload their cargo, and the bell would ring for the next crew. The second shift would stay out until the divers could no longer see. Often the rowers had to be guided in by great lamps in the towers. The two towers were also used to keep an eye on her boat in case of an emergency.
    She hummed as she went through her chores, thinking of when she first met the lord wizard.
    Humi had been born two years before the last emperor’s demise. Without the emperor, they had no protection from the wrath of the Inner Island spirits. People all over the world had felt the ground shake and saw the sky turn black with ashes as the Imperial race was punished for its failures. Apart from the College of Wizards, the only known survivors were the ones who’d been on the outer shores: merchants, diplomats, soldiers, and exiles.
    Humi’s father had been an Imperial, master glassblower at the port, and her mother had been his exotic and elegant, bronze-skinned mistress. Humi had been able to apprentice in her father’s workshop, but as a woman, she’d never have been permitted to take the master-craftsman exam. She would’ve gladly borne the restrictions for some small fraction of her mother’s devastating beauty and the attention her father paid her. Humi learned more about the art of manipulating men watching her mother in one stroll through the market than most women did in a lifetime. It wasn’t a balife.
    Then, about the time of her twelfth birthday, King Zandar began annexing former Imperial lands into his own holdings. The glassblower objected and, after long months of legal battles, he proved clear title to his family lands before the magistrates. In answer, the royal tax collector of Innisport assessed them for ten years’ back taxes. Her father died in debtor’s prison, all properties and possessions forfeited to the crown. Her mother had been killed when the king’s men beat the front gate open with a battering ram. Humi barely escaped.
    Humi wasn’t a beautiful woman by her own standards. In her mind, her mixed ancestry made her too tall, flat-chested, and pale for any proper man to marry. Had she the time to develop her form and practice the skills her mother taught, she might have made a living as a harlot. People were starving in the streets, and Lord Kragen had crates of food rotting unused in his private warehouse. One of the last, pure-blooded, Imperial wizards, anyone crossing him would become a plaything for unseen minions and then hung from the walls by his own intestines.
    Two decades ago, before the Scattering, Kragen had been a ship’s warder, little more than an apprentice. But his greed, together with his organizational skills, made him an underworld figure of prominence. He used his magical abilities to build a loyal cadre of thugs and to acquire considerable private holdings. He either killed or subjugated anyone else who showed the slightest magical talent. No one else would have risked encountering the fearsome guards that patrolled there, but Humi found a way in that no one had considered.
    Ships that unloaded at this warehouse used great doors in the center of the building that faced out into the sea. Whenever the doors were opened or closed, they brushed against the sand bar, wearing them down over the years. No one dared go into the dark, life-draining waters, not since the Scattering.
    Her lungs were strong from glassblowing. Her Imperial half and the charm around her neck gave her some hope of immunity from the spirits, while the numbness inside made her immune to all other fears. Although the gigantic bolt mechanisms that locked the sea doors in place were still latched securely, Humi had discovered a gap over three hand-spans high where