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

the doors joined, seven strides underwater. In the dead of night, Humi made the arduous swim under the sea doors and into the loading bay. In total darkness, she ransacked the first crates she could pry open. She took a blanket, several jars of the choicest fish eggs for later sale, and a week’s worth of soldiers’ rations. The job went so smoothly that she returned every night for a week. On the seventh dive, she met the owner’s thugs on inventory duty.
    One of the thugs laughed and held her head under the water, just like they did to kill wharf rats. When they pulled her up after a full minute, she spat in the soldier’s eye. They would have killed her on the spot if it hadn’t been for Lord Kragen. The grim-faced Lord had her pulled up and held between two gargantuan servants while he appraised her from crown to toe. Grown men had been known to wet themselves when held before the gray-eyed necromancer, but when Humi was held before him, she felt different. He was twenty-five, well-dressed, and handsome. Perhaps it was the way he’d given the order, “Stop that, you fool. You’ll hurt her. Can’t you see how rare she is?”
    The wizard meant rare in the valuable-commodity sense, but that’s not what Humi heard. As the young woman felt his gaze on her, a thrill went down her spine, and the room became too warm for her to breathe. “I have need of you,” he told her.

    “W-what can I do?” she shivered.
    Handing her a blanket, Kragen asked, “Have you heard of the College of Wizards?”
    She nodded, wrapping herself in the wool, and huddling on a crate. They were the pure-bloods of training who’d managed to ride out the tempests at the Center and remained to guard the sanctuary of the Miracle Throne from all manner of usurpers and thieves.
    She melted inside as he sat beside her and put a confidential arm around her shoulder. “I petitioned for return to the Center as next in line for the throne. They rejected me as unworthy—wanting some mystic sign to herald the next dynasty.” The arch-criminal couldn’t overcome their physical defenses or their magical protections so close to the source. He narrowed his eyes at the memory. No act was too despicable if it led one day to the restoration of the empire and the lifting of the curse. “I’ll give them a sign.”
    He whispered in her ear, “In my western palace, on the farthest of all islands, I’ve found a force that can overwhelm all the lesser men who doubt me. Then I can ascend to my rightful place.” Pausing to look her full in the face, he asked in suave tones, “Would you use your extraordinary skills to help me?”
    “Yes,” she said, without even considering that refusal would mean death
    Thus, Humi became the cornerstone of Lord Kragen’s project. The western palace was unique in that the waters were relatively shallow around it and the glass bottom was fractured. This meant that magic sand, glass, and fossils worth a king’s ransom were available to the first person to reach down and grab them. This information was so secret that no one who discovered it could leave the palace alive.
    Kragen had the magic and means to distribute the goods, but he lacked the people to do the actual procuring. For the promise of jewels, dozens of men had died trying. But swimming to such a depth, for that long, and in such treacherous water was considered impossible… until Humi broke into their meeting place. She agreed to dive and train other divers.
    The project involved Kragen, one other Imperial wizard, three spider-like ki mages, one short builder of artifacts from the steel-producing mountains of Kiateros, and an insane fire mage. To be sure, there were other types of magic, but none so violent. After years of effort, the lord had pieced together a complete sept. Others who wanted a place in the dark council could only obtain a seat by challenging an existing member to a duel. No one had succeeded at this feat in over three years, but even the