FROM THE BOW OF THETAMMERLAND, TRISTAN USEDTyranny’s spyglass to look north. What he saw worried him.
Under his orders, the four Black Ships had stopped at a point south of the Recluse and about three hundred meters away. Wigg was still empowering theTammerland. At theJin’Sai ’s order the ship hovered twenty meters in the air. Faegan, Aeolus, and Jessamay soon positioned the other three vessels to hover in a battle line on theTammerland ’s starboard side. As the rising sun cast its rays over the vessels, the massive Black Ships twinkled ominously in the growing light.
Tristan lowered the spyglass and turned to look at his friends. Save for Jessamay, Faegan, and Aeolus, all of the Conclave members-including Traax-were present. Rafe, Scars, Ox, and Balthazar were also there, waiting for orders. Thousands of Minion warriors and highlander horsemen crowded the ships’ decks, every fighter eager for the battle to start. Thousands more waited belowdecks. So far, the fleet had met no resistance.
Tristan handed the spyglass to Wigg. “Give me your opinion,” he said.
Wigg took the glass and focused its lenses on the Recluse. After a time, he shook his head.
“It looks deserted,” he said. “But every instinct in me says that it’s not. It’s a trap.”
“I think you’re right,” Tristan agreed.
Shailiha took the glass from Wigg to see for herself. To her surprise, the Recluse looked abandoned. Under normal circumstances, Minion warriors would have prowled the guard paths lining the tops of the walls. The drawbridge would have been lowered, and more warriors would be seen guarding the drawbridge and the arched bridge stretching over the island’s lake. Other warriors would have been flying patrol in the sky. But today not one could be seen, and the wooden drawbridge was raised. All the blue-and-gold flags displaying the heraldry of the House of Galland had been lowered. An ominous stillness commanded the entire structure and the surrounding land.
Seeing the Recluse like this was eerie, Shailiha realized. In some ways, its seemingly abandoned state was even more foreboding than if it had been swarming with Wulfgar’s once-powerful demonslavers. She lowered the glass and looked at Tristan.
“What are your orders?” she asked him.
Tristan leaned against the gunwale, thinking. He was about to speak when Wigg beat him to it.
“Serena might want us to risk it all on a full frontal assault,” the wizard said. “And I must admit that it’s a tempting idea. But I would caution against it. We still don’t know what kind of strength she has gathered behind those walls. If her forces outnumber us, we could lose this battle soon after it starts.”
Tristan agreed with Wigg. But he also trusted Traax’s opinions in such matters. He looked toward his battle-hardened commander.
“And you, my friend?” he asked. “What do you say?”
Leaving Duvessa’s side, Traax walked closer. Although the warrior was up and about, his left arm was still bandaged. The look on his face was thoughtful, cautious.
“I agree with Wigg,” he said. “If there are too many of them and we attack in force, we could lose everything. Better to let a small group of warriors approach the castle and draw them out to test their defenses. It could be a suicide mission, but we might learn much.”
Tristan gave Traax a wry look. “And I suppose you want to lead them?” he asked.
Traax smiled. “Who better?” he asked. “My left arm might be weak, but my wings and my sword arm are fine.”
Tristan thought for a moment. “We could send a force of one thousand,” he mused. “That would be small enough not to weaken us badly should the group be vanquished, but perhaps large enough to draw the enemy out. As you say, we must find out what we’re up against.” TheJin’Sai went quiet again as he looked back at the distant Recluse.
“All right,” he said to Traax. “You may lead them. But I want half of the warriors to walk toward the castle while the rest circle above, protecting them from the air. That way we might learn what threats await us on the groundand in the sky. If you meet overwhelming odds, sound a retreat. Leave as soon as you have assembled your group.”
Tristan turned to Ox. “You’re in charge of relaying our plan to the other ships,” he ordered. “Be quick about it. Tell Faegan, Jessamay, and Aeolus that they are to take no action without my direct order.” In a flash, Ox and Traax were gone.
Taking a deep breath, Tristan looked back at the solitary Recluse. Soon we will know, he thought. But I fear that Serena’s response will be swift and deadly.
Shortly after that, the Conclave members watched the Minion forces soar away from theTammerland. Traax led the ground forces. With their dreggans drawn they landed warily, then started to advance on the Recluse. The other five hundred stayed in the air as their eyes scanned the sky and the warriors beneath them. Like Tristan had ordered, the flying warriors circled slowly so as not to gain distance on the ground troops.
As the probing warriors approached the Recluse, Tristan looked over at Shailiha. She gave him a short smile, telling him that she agreed with his decision. After nodding back he took the spyglass from Wigg.
His face grim, Tristan watched his troops cross the field and near the halfway point to the Recluse. Still there was no resistance. As the troops advanced, Tristan started wondering if the castle was indeed abandoned. He lowered the glass and looked down at the deck, thinking.
Had Serena already managed to revive her dead child? If so, had she fled? He knew that she would probably not return to the Citadel, for the Conclave was well acquainted with its existence. With the help of her rogue consuls, she and Clarice could easily hide in Parthalon until Clarice was the proper age for the other part of the Heretics’ mad plan. The Conclave might search for decades and never find her. Suddenly he heard the sounds of battle, and he looked to his troops.
Rising from the castle lake and surrounding ponds, thousands of snarling swamp shrews raced toward the approaching warriors. At first Tristan was startled, but then he remembered that the Minions had battled shrews before. Raising the glass back to one eye, he watched the shrews and the warriors tear into each other.
Hundreds died on either side as shrews eagerly devoured their victims and frantic warriors cut the snarling beasts down with abandon. Twisting the spyglass cylinders, Tristan looked closer to see two shrews attack a struggling warrior. Pouncing on him from behind, they tore the warrior’s legs away, then dragged off the upper half of his body to start greedily feeding on him.
But five other warriors had seen his plight and took to the air. They soared over the two shrews to hack them apart with their dreggans. Amazingly, the warrior that had been torn apart was still alive, writhing in agony on the bloody grass. As a fellow Minion came to stand over the stricken warrior, Tristan knew what would come next. Without hesitation the warrior raised his sword high, then brought the blade down hard into his fellow soldier’s heart, ending his pain.
Tristan tried to find Traax but could not. As the battle progressed, Tristan tensed. His highly outnumbered ground troops were losing. He soon wondered why a retreat hadn’t been called, also forcing him to fear that Traax might have been killed. Blood and body parts from both sides lay everywhere as the killing went on unabated.
Tristan lifted the spyglass toward the five hundred warriors circling the sky. When he saw them fold their wings into place behind their backs, he knew why. Confident that no threat existed in the air, they couldn’t continue to watch their fellows being slaughtered. Plunging vertically into free fall, the warriors went to the aid of their stricken brothers.
Feeling more confident, Tristan lowered the glass and nodded. This will help even the score, he thought. If they can kill all the shrews, we will sail for the Recluse.
Raising the glass again, he turned it on the castle. Suddenly he saw something that he didn’t understand. Twisting the lenses, he brought the majestic fortress into sharper focus.
At first he thought he must be dreaming. Parts of the castle walls looked like they weremoving. Stunned, he watched thousands of small wall areas start to shimmer and shift. Soon they somehow lifted away to blend into the morning sky. Then they were gone. Had he not been looking directly at the castle walls as they departed, he might never have seen them. His heart pounding, Tristan shoved the spyglass into Wigg’s hands and pointed to the sky.
“Look there!” he shouted. “Augment your eyesight and tell me what you see!”
Wigg hurriedly put the spyglass to one eye. At first the wizard saw nothing. Then he applied all the power he could spare toward sharpening his vision. Even using his gifts he could barely see the thousands of shimmering shapes flying through the air.
Taking on the exact hue of the sky surrounding them, they started diving down onto the flying warriors plummeting to help those on the ground. As they lost altitude and Wigg’s viewing angle on them changed, the shimmering shapes started changing color to perfectly mimic the green grass over which they flew. Wigg shuddered as he realized that the unsuspecting warriors would never see them coming.
Then Wigg saw Minion warriors suddenly start disappearing. They weren’t being cut down by whatever was attacking them. Instead, they simplyvanished!
Trying to regain control over his emotions, Wigg twisted the spyglass cylinders to follow one warrior’s progress and see what might happen. He soon got his answer.
Like so many others, the warrior was nowhere to be seen. Looking closer, Wigg found the lower parts of the warrior’s boots, but nothing else of him. Then the boots were hauntingly lifted a meter or two off the ground. They shook violently for a few moments, then fell back to earth and lazily toppled over. To Wigg’s utter amazement, the warrior’s body armor, weapons, and bones materialized out of nothingness to fall into a ragged pile. He thought he saw a shimmering shape move, then nothing. Somehow, the grotesque pile was all that remained of a once-living, breathing warrior.
When Wigg lowered the glass, there were tears in his eyes. “You must order a retreat,” he told Tristan.
Tristan snatched the glass from Wigg to try to see what had so disturbed the wizard. But without the benefit of Wigg’s gifts, he couldn’t identify the threat. All he could see were scores of Minion warriors suddenly disappearing from view. Looking farther, his blood ran cold when he saw the growing piles of Minion weapons, armor, and bones. He was about to order a Minion bugler to fly to them and blow retreat when from afar he suddenly heard its call. Traax or some other designated warrior must have ordered it, he guessed. He was relieved to hear it.
As the few remaining warriors started retreating, it seemed that they were not being pursued. Letting go victory cries, the shrews lumbered back to submerge into the Recluse’s lake and surrounding ponds. Unseen by Tristan and his forces, Serena’s envelopers returned to the sky and again flattened against the Recluse walls, perfectly mimicking their color and texture.
Tristan scanned the killing field. The once-proud group of one thousand volunteers had been cut down to several score, and most of them were wounded and bloodied. Realizing that the defeat had been total, theJin’Sai sadly lowered the glass and closed his eyes. As the battered Minions started finding their way back aboard, Duvessa and some of the Conclave members rushed to tend to their wounds.
Tristan turned to look at Wigg. “What just happened?” he breathed.
Wigg shook his head. “I am as much at a loss to explain it as you,” he said. “But Faegan, Jessamay, and Aeolus were also watching. I suggest that you order them to theTammerland. Perhaps they can shed some light on this mystery.”
“I have your mystery right here,” they suddenly heard a familiar voice say.
They turned to see Traax standing there. He was covered from head to foot in some kind of dark gray slime. Four warriors stood by his side. In their arms they held a highly unusual creature.
At a gesture from Traax, the warriors dropped the strange carcass to the deck. With the thing’s death, its camouflage had gone. As Tristan hurried closer, Traax sheathed his dreggan, then pointed to the beast. Tristan had never seen anything like it.
“I was lucky,” Traax said. “When that thing surrounded me, I was sure that I would die. That is all the warning those bastards give. Two of my officers saw it morph and rushed to my aid. Not knowing what else to do, they started hacking at it with their swords. Being smothered by that monster was not an experience I would care to relive.”
Wigg squatted to look at the dead beast. After a time, he stood and walked to Tristan.
“I have never seen one of these,” he said. “It deserves further examination.”
“First things first,” Tyranny interjected. “How much longer can you and the others keep the Black Ships hovering?”
“For a few more hours, at best,” Wigg answered calmly.
“What?” Tyranny exclaimed. “The only known body of water large enough to accommodate all the Black Ships is Dark Lagoon, and that’s hours away!” Shaking her head, she snorted a laugh down her nose. “I suppose we could put them all down atop the lake surrounding the Recluse,” she suggested sarcastically. “But I doubt that Serena would approve! So what do you expect us to do?”
“Don’t fret,” Wigg said. “I know of an appropriate spell that will help us. It was formulated three centuries ago, as the ships were being designed. I didn’t suggest it sooner because I wasn’t sure whether Tristan was going to order the ships to attack the Recluse. When Faegan, Jessamay, and Aeolus see what we’re doing, they will follow suit.”
Tyranny folded her arms across her chest. “Then I suggest that you get on with it!” she ordered. “This I have to see!”
As Wigg walked to the starboard gunwale he brusquely ordered the warriors out of his way. Curious, Shailiha walked to stand beside Tristan and Tyranny.
“What is he going to do?” she asked. Tristan just looked at his sister and shook his head.
Looking over the side of the ship, Wigg raised his arms. At once bolts loosed from his hands to fly toward the ground. All the Conclave members walked closer to watch.
As Wigg’s bolts struck the earth, great mounds of soil exploded into the air. On and on the process went, until Tristan guessed what the wizard was doing. He smiled as he watched, knowing that Tyranny and Shailiha still hadn’t grasped the concept.
Wigg finally finished his task and lowered his hands. Everyone could see that the stress of keeping the massive ship airborne and performing his strange digging had exhausted him. But if Tristan was right, there was only one more thing for Wigg to do, and then he could rest.
Raising his arms again, Wigg strengthened his spell over the ship. TheTammerland started moving. But rather than rise higher into the air, she kept her altitude and drifted to port. Tristan again looked over the side of the ship to see that he had been right. Wigg had used the craft to dig a deep cradle in the earth that perfectly matched the shape of theTammerland ’s hull.
Wigg slowly lowered his hands. TheTammerland descended, and her hull lowered ponderously into the earthen cradle. Her timbers creaked as she shifted; then she finally settled to a perfect level both forward to aft, and bow to stern.
“We used this technique to great effect during the Sorceresses’ War,” Wigg said. “Sometimes we would burn away small stretches of forest, then dig these cradles and lower the ships into them. The surrounding foliage served as wonderful hiding places when the Coven’s forces were on the march.”
“Well I’ll be!” Tyranny said. “Well done, First Wizard.”
Just then they heard more explosions, and they turned to look. As Wigg had promised, Aeolus, Faegan, and Jessamay were doing the same thing. Soon all four Black Ships had settled into their forgiving earthen cradles.
Tristan looked over at Traax. “I want patrols sent aloft at once,” he ordered. “And ring all four ships with ground troops. If the slightest threat is noticed, alert me immediately.”
Traax came to attention and clicked his heels. “I live to serve,” he answered. He hurried away to give the orders.
As Traax walked off, Tristan returned the spyglass to his eye and gazed at the Recluse. Because he was already familiar with shrews from his previous visits to Parthalon, he was far more worried about the new creatures that Serena had conjured.
The unexpected creatures’ abilities to camouflage themselves would greatly impede his attempt to take the Recluse. If their numbers were strong enough, sailing the ships over the Recluse walls might be impossible. And he had already seen the results when he had attacked with a small force. Wigg had cautioned against a full frontal attack, and at first Tristan had agreed. But now he wasn’t so sure. They had just proven that sending forces against the Recluse piecemeal was suicide. What he needed was to find another way in, but there wasn’t one.
As he scanned the fortress an idea formed in his mind. Lowering the spyglass, he looked down at the deck, thinking. He knew his concept had merit, but he would need advice from his mystics before deciding. He turned to look at Tyranny.
“Order Faegan, Aeolus, and Jessamay aboard,” he said. “Bring them and Traax to the meeting room. We need to talk.” He pointed to the dead creature on the deck. “And have them bring that disgusting thing along,” he added.
Without further ado he led his remaining Conclave members aft, then down the stern stairway to await the others.