Page 97 of Night's Reckoning
Ben said, “So Meili was definitely on track to find Harun’s glass.”
“Do you think that’s why…?”
“Why would that put her in danger?” Ben asked. “That’s what I don’t get. It’s just glass. There are mountains of way fancier glass pieces all through the wreck.”
Just as he turned his radio off, Johari’s hand stroked through the water, moving a broad swath of sediment and rock to reveal…
Not an ingot.
Ben swam closer.What on earth?
From the outside, it looked like the other ingots, but instead of being one round lump, this was long. It must have been three feet at least. It looked like an enormous loaf of bread made of frosted red glass.
“Fabi, I found something weird.”
“Tell me more.”
“I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s a few ingots fused?” He looked at Johari, who shrugged and shook her head. “Yeah, Johari has no idea what it is either.”
She motioned toward the main part of the hull where Kadek and Cheng were working. Then she curved her arms and made a carrying gesture before she swam away.
“I think she’s going to get a basket.”
“Good idea.”
Ben went closer to the glass object. He wished the glass wasn’t so frosted, but maybe if he shined his light closer…
Ben turned his headlamp off and brought up his smaller flashlight. He pressed it to the surface of the glass and saw a shadow.
What the hell?
He moved the small flashlight around, trying to illuminate the ingot. It was fixed to the ocean floor, so he couldn’t lift it. Ben put his flashlight on the far side of the object, propping it on the rocks and lying flat on the ocean floor to look through the other side.
The outline of a hilt was unmistakable.
Laylat al Hisab.
The sword was encased in glass, sealed away from the elements by the fire master who had forged it. Ben moved the flashlight down, seeing the shadow of a perfectly preserved blade.
He nearly cried with joy. It wasn’t ruined. Despite everything, despite the years and the miles and a thousand years of corrosive seawater, it had endured.
He pushed the microphone button. “Fabi, you’re not going to believe—”
The pain in his back was quick, silent, and unmistakable.
Ben gasped. Then everything went numb. He couldn’t move his arms or legs. He couldn’t push the button on his microphone.
“Ben?” Fabia’s voice on the radio.
He felt an odd tugging in his belly, and he looked down to see a silver blade pinning him to the ocean floor. His body drifted in the tug of the current, and a black flower bloomed beneath him.
“Hey Ben, get back to me.”
Johari swam in front of him. She didn’t look at him at first. She methodically removed the sword case from the sediment that held it, then she looked up.
Her eyes weren’t sad, but they weren’t empty either, and Ben felt oddly grateful that she felt something as she killed him.
“Ben, what’s going on? I need to hear your voice.”
