AS KHRISTOS LOOKED AROUND HE REALIZED THAT EVEN his lost love Failee could not have created such an exquisite place. Silver staff in hand, he turned and ordered his thousands of hungry servants to wait behind.
Walking on, he crossed the ornate portal that granted him access to the magnificent chamber waiting beyond. As he entered, he found the room to be every bit as stunning as Gracchus had told him. Several hours ago, Khristos and his servants had not only entered the Caves of the Paragon, but with Gracchus’ help had found their way into its lower regions. These were sacred places that were once known only to a privileged few. Excepting the newly arrived Viper Lord, all the other mystics who knew of this place had taken their knowledge to their graves.
After killing the Night Witches in Tanglewood, Khristos had used the remaining darkness to herd his creatures south toward Hartwick Wood. Because he assumed that more of theJin’Sai ’s flying patrols were searching for him, traveling across open ground during daylight was unacceptable. But if he could enter the forest before sunup, his forces could hide amid its dense cover as they continued toward the caves. Pushing his servants hard, he and his vipers reached the forest’s edge just as dawn arrived.
Gracchus had unexpectedly reached out to touch Khristos’ mind once more, soon after the last of the female Minions had died. ThePon Q’tar cleric told him much-including how to safely navigate the labyrinthine caves. Most of what Gracchus told him sounded too fabulous for words. Even so, Gracchus’ guidance had brought Khristos to this place of places. As his servants hissed and writhed behind him, Khristos walked deeper into the room.
Like the many chambers and passageways that led him here, this magnificent underground room had been hewn from living rock. Measuring several hundred meters in both directions, the room’s walls and floor had been clad with light green marble shot through with streaks of black. It shone beneath the light of hundreds of enchanted sconces and chandeliers lining the seemingly endless walls; each light source had been enchanted by its maker to burn forever and without smoke. Despite the great size of the room, the air was stifling and the temperature was warm, even hot.
But even more amazing were the contents of the room. On the floor, stretching as far as Khristos could see, lay countless rows of huge, broken eggshells, their thin white sides translucent in the light. Just as Gracchus had predicted, what remained of the eggs’ contents still glowed brightly with the color of the craft.
It’s true, Khristos realized. Nicholas’ spell still lives. Taking several more steps, he looked closer at the shells.
Each of the broken, slimy eggs dripped a thin azure fluid down the outside of its shell. The fluid seemed fresh-perhaps as fresh as when Nicholas had first conjured these treasures of the craft three years ago. The stinking fluid from the many eggs had pooled on the floor, adding to the fetid odor pervading the room.
Singling out one shell for examination, Khristos levitated his body so as not to step into the stinking fluid. As he glided closer, he became even more impressed by Nicholas’ gifts.
Standing about five feet high and four feet wide, the shell had been pecked open at its top, showing how the creature that had grown inside it finally emerged to join the world. Conjured by the thousands, Nicholas’ hatchlings had been instrumental in his attempt to open the Gates of Dawn and unleash the forces of the Vagaries west of the Tolenka Mountains on Eutracia. But it was not to be, for Tristan and his Minions had battled Nicholas’ winged servants high in the sky over Farplain and then issued the final blow later, near the entrance to Shadowood. Khristos hadn’t the immense knowledge required to create such wonders, nor did he need it. His only concern was that these masterpieces of the craft still existed, and that they could be used to further his purposes.
Nicholas had been Tristan’s bastard son, Gracchus had said. A product of one of the Coven sorceresses’ rape of theJin’Sai, Nicholas had been one of the most perfect beings ever seen on this side of the world. Because of the quality of Nicholas’ magnificent blood, the spell used to conjure these eggs might survive for all time. So too would remain this wondrous chamber and the secrets that it contained. Secrets, Khristos began to realize, that would spell the final downfall of theJin’Sai, his twin sister, and the pompous Conclave.
Khristos levitated a bit higher so that he could peer down into the broken shell’s depths. He smiled, for what he saw relieved his worried heart.
The bottom of the egg still held some glowing azure fluid. That was welcome, but it was only part of what he needed. The real prize lay amid the fluid still trapped in the egg’s curved bottom. It was the red umbilical cord that had nourished the hatchling while it gestated in this egg, only to become detached and abandoned when the creature broke free to join its brothers.
Khristos did not know how the nurturing process had worked. Perhaps the azure fluid had been the creatures’ food and it had once nearly filled the eggs. The cords might have been the devices that supplied the fluid to the growing embryos. But that doesn’t matter now, he realized. What counts is that they are still here and they remain usable.
He looked down the seemingly endless rows of broken eggs and he smiled. Gracchus was right, he thought. There are more than enough here to serve my needs. He turned and looked at the thousands of Blood Vipers who waited behind in a room nearly the size of the one he had just entered.
“Come, my children!” he shouted. “Come and feast on the wonders of the Vagaries that have been left behind! Take your strength for the struggle that is to follow!”
As though they were possessed of one mind, the famished creatures slithered into the massive room to gorge themselves. As they entered, Khristos hovered higher so as to not hamper their feeding frenzy.
The famished beasts ripped into the eggs with abandon. The fluid ran down their faces and arms as they chewed savagely on the cords, and Khristos smiled as he realized that his great concern had been overcome. Before making his pact with Gracchus, Khristos’ only purpose had been to exact Failee’s revenge. But to his dismay he soon realized that his lost love’s goal would be nearly impossible to achieve.
Because he had been released from the river, he immediately knew that the sorceresses had lost the war, making his duty clear. But as Khristos ransacked Eutracian towns, it became evident that finding and killing enough persons of endowed blood to sustain his throngs of followers would be nearly impossible. So that their strength would continually grow, Failee had engineered the Blood Vipers to feed only on the livers of the endowed. After they had fed on enough endowed victims, even theJin’Sai ’s Conclave would be unable to stop them.
But Khristos soon realized that Failee’s plan was hopelessly flawed. Because not enough endowed persons could be found, Khristos’s vipers had begun to starve before his eyes. Then he made his highly unexpected pact with Gracchus and everything changed. Now there was a new foe to vanquish in Failee’s name. Khristos would do everything in his power to destroy Tristan and to see that the Vagaries ruled unopposed everywhere east of the Tolenkas, just as Failee had hoped. It gladdened his heart to know that the First Mistress’s great vision might yet be fulfilled.
Now there is plenty for my servants to eat, bringing the final victory even closer, he realized. Gracchus is indeed wise. As he watched the creatures gorge, Khristos’ consciousness drifted back in time to the previous night, when Gracchus had reached out from across the Tolenkas to again touch his mind.
Sensing Gracchus’ ken, Khristos kneeled reverently in the bloody cobblestone square. Seeing their master supplicate himself, all the Blood Vipers stopped what they were doing and bowed.
“Khristos,” the Viper Lord heard Gracchus say.
“I am here,” he answered.“Command me.”
“Go to the caves,” Gracchus said.“From your experiences in the Sorceresses’ War you know where they can be found. What you do not know is that while you lingered in the river, the late son of the reigning Jin’Saienlarged the caves, then set them to a particular purpose-one that failed but can still serve us. Because of the great power of his blood, Nicholas’ spell lives there still. Let your vipers feed on what nourished his growing hatchlings, for it will provide the same increased powers as that which you took from the bodies of the endowed. The Jin’Saiwill come soon, and you must be ready for him. He must be stopped from crossing the Azure Sea at all costs. Let your vipers feed and grow stronger, for soon the greatest struggle of your life will begin.”
“I will obey,” Khristos answered.
As his mind returned to the present, Khristos let go a smile. His vipers could gorge themselves to their hearts’ content and only increase their strength. As he watched his servants feed, he found himself eagerly waiting the impending fight.
Come to me, you filthy Vigors worshipper, he thought. Let us finish what was started so long ago.