“HEAR ME, KHRISTOS,”GRACCHUS ORDERED.“YOU MUST COMMUNE with me, even if the battle has started! What I have to tell you is of the utmost importance!”
Waiting among some of his many servants in one of the dark tunnels facing the Azure Sea, Khristos immediately sensed the cleric calling out to his mind. His lead vipers had returned, saying that theJin’Sai was nearing the cave entrance. It would only be a matter of time now.
Cloaking his blood while also forcing the ocean sounds through one of the many tunnels was severely taxing his gifts, but he would prevail. As Khristos patiently waited he hungered for Failee’s killer to come nearer so that he might personally avenge her. Since learning that it had been Tristan who murdered his love, his need to face theJin’Sai had become overpowering. Clutching his silver staff in one hand, he fell to his knees and closed his eyes.
“I am here, Gracchus,” he answered silently.“The battle has yet to be joined.”
“Good,” the lead cleric answered. “TheJin’Saibrings with him prizes that must be destroyed at all costs. Two of his Black Ships have been shrunk by a craft device called subtle matter. He means to use the ships to cross the Azure Sea. I understand how badly you want to see the Jin’Saidie, for I share the same dream. But destroying the ships and the subtle matter is of equal importance. Destroy them, Khristos, and do not fail! ”
For a moment the Viper Lord was dumbfounded that the ships could be so radically transformed. Even Failee would have not dreamed it possible.
“We will not fail,” he said. “Consider the ships destroyed and theJin’Saias good as dead. ”
As he sensed Gracchus’ ken slipping away, Khristos opened his eyes and came to his feet. Knowing that time was short, he started urgently whispering new orders to his lead vipers, then concentrated again on sending the ocean sounds through the length of a nearby tunnel-the one theJin’Sai and his traitorous Vigors worshippers would soon exit. Then the Viper Lord smiled.
The game was afoot.
THREE HOURS LATER, TRISTAN STOOD JUST INSIDE THEentrance to a rough-hewn tunnel that looked out onto a sandy beach. The Azure Sea, white-capped and restless, lay beyond. On Tristan’s orders, no one had ventured outside the tunnel. Unlike the times before, this trip had been uneventful, something for which the prince and the First Wizard were grateful.
Sword in hand, Tristan could see and hear the waves strike the sandy shoreline about fifty meters away. Because of the ongoing ocean sounds, reaching the sea had been a far simpler matter than first assumed when the Conclave discussed this journey in the Redoubt. But that was not to say that the trip hadn’t been a confusing one.
Many intersections loomed along the way, most of which were unfamiliar even to Tristan and Wigg. The haunting ocean sounds whirling through the connecting chambers were confusing, forcing Wigg and Jessamay to use the craft to decide down which of the various tunnels they should travel. The last time Tristan and Wigg had come here they had been forced to descend a narrow circular stairway that hemmed them in on both sides. Tristan feared no man or the blade he carried, but tight spaces bothered him greatly. He badly wanted to leave this claustrophobic tunnel and set sail over the Azure Sea, for his destiny lay there and he would not be denied.
Wigg could sense Tristan’s restlessness to get moving, but the wizard remained apprehensive. Something tugged at his senses-something to do with the craft. The feeling had become stronger as he neared the tunnel exit. Perhaps it is the Ones’ spell, he guessed as he pondered the matter.
Wigg looked behind him to see the other Conclave members standing there. Farther down the tunnel, endless hordes of Minion warriors stood bunched together as far as the eye could see. Many more Minions still followed the trek’s strange path, their extended lines perhaps reaching as far back as the waterfall chamber.
Wigg could imagine Ox still trying to control the eager warriors with little at his command save his booming voice. Perhaps more than any of them, Ox would want to be here, standing beside hisJin’Sai. As Wigg looked down the tunnel, the millions of radiance stones in the ceiling added ghostly highlights to the warriors’ stern faces.
Tristan had been right about one thing, Wigg realized. Trying to move so many warriors through these tunnels was creating a monstrous logjam. They badly needed to exit onto the sandy beach, where everyone could get some breathing room. Still, something gnawed at the old wizard’s well-known sense of danger.
Standing just behind the Conclave, Taredd, Rhun, Arron, and Rafal had discharged their duties well and carried the two Black Ships without incident. At Wigg’s order the dark wooden crates had been set down on the tunnel floor. One crate still held the last of the precious subtle matter.
Tristan’s impatience was starting to overcome him, and he knew that Scars, Tyranny, Astrid, Phoebe, and Jessamay were also eager to walk out onto the beach. He gave Wigg a questioning look.
“Why are we waiting?” he asked. “We have arrived without difficulty. We must proceed!”
Wigg pursed his lips as he again looked out the tunnel exit. “There’s something strange out there,” he said, half to himself, “something more than the Azure Sea. There is a craft presence here that is eerily familiar yet also foreign.”
“Can you tell what it is?” Tristan asked.
Wigg shook his head. “Only that the craft is at work,” he answered.
The First Wizard glanced over Tristan’s shoulder, and he beckoned Jessamay to come forward. The sorceress squeezed through the crowd to stand with Tristan and Wigg. The First Wizard gave her a searching look.
“Do you sense anything unusual?” he asked.
Jessamay closed her eyes. When she opened them, a look of confusion crossed her face.
“I do,” she answered, “but it’s faint. How long have you sensed it?”
“For the last quarter hour,” Wigg replied.
Jessamay smiled. “Your gifts were always stronger than mine,” she said. “Had you not asked me to search it out I might have missed it altogether.”
“Can you identify it?” Wigg asked.
Jessamay narrowed her eyes while testing her gifts. “Sometimes the sensation feels like partly cloaked blood. But it changes from one moment to the next-it ebbs and flows much like the sea lying before us.”
Wigg nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “Would you care to hazard a guess about what it might be? I want us in agreement before we depart this tunnel.”
Jessamay thought for a moment. “I believe it is the spell that the Ones left behind to force the ocean sounds through these many passageways,” she finally answered. “It must be that because of the way it ebbs and flows. Otherwise I cannot say.”
Wigg again turned to look out the tunnel and toward the tempting sea. Its sounds still called to him, but now he was so close that it was impossible to say whether it was the sea that he heard, or the spell left behind by the Ones.
Jessamay must be right, he decided. Her analysis makes sense. Still…
Wigg turned to look at Rhun. “Bring me the crate containing the subtle matter,” he ordered. Rhun immediately came forward with one crate and placed it at the wizard’s feet.
“What are you doing?” Tristan asked.
“If Jessamay and I are wrong, I want the subtle matter with me,” Wigg answered. “The two ships can be replaced if need be. The subtle matter cannot.”
Wigg called the craft and pointed a bony finger at the crate. Soon the crate started to glow and the leather belts surrounding it unbuckled themselves and slumped downward. Wigg used the craft to slowly open the crate’s sides and lower them gently to the floor.
TheEphyra sat in her miniaturized cradle, still twinkling with subtle matter. By way of the craft, a glass vial containing the subtle matter had been attached to the ship’s cradle. The jar was about half full of the strange, twinkling material. Wigg reached down and freed it from its resting place.
Before his group had departed the palace, Tristan had watched as Wigg and Faegan transferred the subtle matter into the flat vial. They had then attached a stout leather cord to the vial’s top. The First Wizard now placed the cord around his neck, allowing the vial to fall to his chest, hidden beneath his gray robe. A faint outline of the vial could be seen, but it would hardly be noticed unless one knew what to look for.
Then Tristan saw something unexpected. A smaller glass vial containing still more subtle matter had been attached to the inside of the crate. Before he could ask Wigg about it, the wizard employed the craft to close and secure the crate with its leather straps.
Tristan scowled. “I saw a second vial,” he said. He turned and pointed at the other crate that stood among the warriors. “Does that crate have one inside it too?”
“It does,” Wigg answered. “Faegan and I fitted each crate with one before we left the palace.”
“Why do that?” Tyranny asked.
Wigg gave the privateer a wink. “Call them insurance,” he said simply. He then turned to face theJin’Sai. “It’s time to go,” he announced.
Tristan nodded and looked down the passageway. “Draw your swords!” he shouted.
At once the sound of several thousand Minion dreggans resounded through the tunnel, the combined ring of their blades unmistakable. Each armed Conclave member also drew his or her weapon.
“I want a group of warriors to surround the crate bearers and the Conclave members as soon as they exit the tunnel!” Tristan shouted. “Move toward the shoreline as quickly as you can! As the phalanxes grow in size I will issue further orders! Let’s go!”
Eager to be free of the oppressing tunnel, Tristan pushed past Wigg and led the way toward the exit.
UNKNOWN TO THE CONCLAVE, KHRISTOS HAD HEARDevery word.
The Viper Lord had first sensed theJin’Sai ’s supremely gifted blood nearly an hour ago, telling him that Tristan was nearing the shore. Forty minutes later, he and many of his vipers had quietly left their hiding places to flatten their bodies against the rock wall on either side of the tunnel. Its exit lay about one meter above the sandy beach and was the one from which the Vigors forces would soon spill forth to meet their deaths. Even now, more vipers slithered from other tunnels to take up places along the length of the rocky wall. When the Minions exited their tunnel they would be blindsided and slaughtered, their many comrades bunched up behind them ensuring that retreat would be impossible.
As Khristos stood eagerly waiting beside the tunnel exit, he called on the craft to linger over the great quality of theJin’Sai ’s endowed blood and listen to every spoken word. The sea waves crashed against the shore, and the beach lay pristine and unbloodied. But not for much longer, he thought.
For a moment he was tempted to simply stand before the tunnel entrance and loose bolt after bolt into it, killing as many Vigors worshippers as he could. Because of the enclosed space, he would surely destroy many of them. But he could not know whether Tristan, the two Black Ships, or the subtle matter were positioned farther down the length of the tunnel. If so, they all might escape. And so he waited patiently, determined to kill his enemies one by one as they exited the tunnel into which he had so cleverly lured them. Gripping his silver staff tighter, he held it steady alongside the rock wall, eagerly awaiting his prey. His enemies wouldn’t know what hit them.
Then he heard Tristan give his order to take the beach.
HAD TRISTAN’S GIFT OFK’SHARINOT SUDDENLY WARNEDhim of the impending danger, he would surely have died.
No sooner did he start to cross the plane of the tunnel exit than his blood started tingling wildly, signaling the rising of his unique gift. This time he followed Aeolus’ advice and he did not question it.
Leaping from the tunnel, he curled his body into a tight ball, presenting a smaller target. As he hit the sand he heard a deafening explosion. With his blood telling him that it was kill or be killed, he somersaulted twice across the beach, then came up swinging.
The bolt that Khristos sent raging from his staff had been meant to tear Tristan in half. Instead it missed him by mere inches, singeing his hair and skin. Unfazed, the bolt narrowly missed Khristos’ vipers that lay in wait on the tunnel’s other side, then went crashing into the curved rock wall surrounding the beach to send tons of rock shards crashing down.
Swinging his dreggan at the first viper he saw, Tristan sent the tip of the blade slicing across the monster’s throat. The thing’s head partly separated from its body and the viper crashed to the sand, its tail snaking about wildly before the beast died. But there was no time for Tristan to revel in his victory, for not only was Khristos again raising his silver staff, but several more vipers were charging him at once.
Turning on his heels, he let hisK’Shari take over again and quickly positioned himself so that the onrushing vipers were directly between him and the unknown being who so powerfully commanded the craft. Suddenly a shocking realization went through him.
No wonder our Night Witch patrols could not find the vipers! They were here waiting for us! But how…why…
Suddenly Khristos’ silver staff loosed another bolt. Employing his gift again, Tristan quickly fell to the sand. The bolt soared over the beach to crash into the vipers before him, then shot across the sea to finally fall into the waves, sending plumes of seawater and steam rocketing skyward. The three monsters facing Tristan exploded in a cacophony of blood, bone, and skin.
Tristan quickly came to his feet to find that he was covered with bloody offal, the grisly sight nearly causing him to vomit. Determined to stay alive, he hacked down one viper after another. But given the huge number of servants at Khristos’ command, he knew that his death would not be long in coming.
Cursing his luck as he crouched by the rock wall, Khristos saw Minion warriors leaping from the tunnel to land on the sandy beach at an alarming rate. He then saw the other Conclave members exit the tunnel, surrounded by even more ranks of warriors. In moments the beach became a riotous madhouse of death-dealing.
At first the valiant Minions were killed with deadly precision by Khristos’ bolts and the vipers’ flashing talons and sharp teeth the moment they left the tunnel. But then some of the charging Minion ranks began fighting back. As their numbers grew, so did their chances of survival. Soon a huge battle raged from which neither side could expect any retreat or quarter, as countless more warriors and vipers swarmed from the many tunnels to join their fellows.
In the midst of the melee, Khristos quickly looked around to try to find Tristan and the Black Ships. But theJin’Sai had become lost to him among the struggling multitudes, and the Black Ships were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the Viper Lord’s eyes caught something floating high above the Azure Sea. When he raised his face skyward he was stunned by what he saw.
“Wigg…” he breathed.
The hated Vigors wizard looked older than Khristos remembered, but there could be no forgetting Wigg’s craggy face or his highly arched widow’s peak. Wigg hovered high in the air some distance out over the ocean. A female craft practitioner hovered beside him-another Conclave member, Khristos guessed. The two cowards were looking down on the battle, refusing to engage. But then Khristos saw something else, and he immediately understood. A flood of emotions ran through him as he realized that Wigg might already have bested him.
Wigg held a wooden crate in his arms, as did the woman hovering by his side. Before Khristos could act, the First Wizard and Jessamay called the craft and set the crates free onto the air. As the crates flew farther out over the waves, Khristos realized what they contained, and he immediately raised his silver staff to destroy them.
But Wigg and Jessamay had seen the Viper Lord. Just as Khristos pointed his staff at the first of the hovering crates, Wigg and Jessamay raised their arms. The twin bolts that they sent streaking down at Khristos were met head-on by one the Viper Lord sent upward. The three azure beams collided in a great explosion over the Azure Sea, about half the distance to the hovering crates.
The explosion’s sound and fury were so massive and the resultant blacklash so great that Khristos was knocked off his feet and sent crashing against the rock wall, rendering him unconscious. Wigg and Jessamay were also affected when the echoing shock wave reached them and were thrown dozens of meters higher into the air as though they had suddenly being caught up in a hurricane.
Hovering weakly, his body and robe singed, Wigg desperately tried to regain his senses while the terrible battle raged on the distant shore. Jessamay was in still worse straits, but she remained airborne-at least for now. Knowing that Khristos would soon recover and attack again, Wigg summoned all the energy he had left, and he pointed at the nearest hovering crate.
Soon the crate turned azure and its leather belts slipped free of their brass buckles. But this time only one side of the crate lowered, while the other remained upright to reveal theEphyra. Again pointing his hand at the case, Wigg focused his energy on the small vial of subtle matter that had been fixed to the top of the crate’s upright side. He watched breathlessly as the vial stopper wriggled free, allowing the subtle matter to sprinkle with agonizing slowness down over theEphyra. The First Wizard then put the reverse forestallment into effect that would restore the Black Ship to her original size.
But before Wigg could turn his attention to the other case, he heard Jessamay moan. He turned to see her suddenly go unconscious and start tumbling through the air toward the sea. Wigg quickly sent a wizard’s warp toward her, catching her in midair. He saw her back arch violently, but there had been no other choice. She might have suffered a broken spine, but hopefully her life would be saved.
With Jessamay safe for the moment, Wigg turned his attention to the other crate and quickly duplicated the process he used on the first one. As the vicious battle seesawed back and forth on the bloody beach, he watched the two crates with wide eyes, desperately hoping that his and Faegan’s plan would work.
With a groaning heave theEphyra began expanding in midair. Soon she outgrew her crate, splitting it apart and sending it crashing to the sea. TheTammerland followed suit and also started growing, splintering its wooden crate into matchsticks. As the crate bits fell away, Wigg watched the craft do its amazing work.
Each ship agonizingly lengthened and grew taller, her spars, hull, sails, and masts groaning in exquisite pain like tortured souls being stretched on dungeon racks. On and on the spell went, continuing to enlarge the vessels until they regained their original size. Their huge bulk soon overshadowed the beach, the effect so mesmerizing that some of the desperate fighters paused for a moment to gawk up in abject wonder.
Although the ships had been enlarged, Jessamay dangled precariously some one hundred meters below Wigg, and the First Wizard’s plan was unraveling fast. Jessamay was to have empowered theEphyra and kept her aloft while Wigg did the same with theTammerland. But Wigg was still dazed, and the strain of simultaneously holding Jessamay and enacting the One’s spell had weakened him far too much for him to empower both ships.
He stole a few precious moments to look down at the battle. Even now, neither side had gained the upper hand. Explosive azure bolts streaked here and there among the fighting, but from so high up he couldn’t tell who was casting them. Nor could he learn whether Tristan or any of the other Conclave members had been killed. Knowing that there was little he could do to change the outcome, he concentrated what remained of his energy on saving Jessamay and the two Black Ships.
Just then the Ones’ spell ended, leaving Wigg’s rapidly dwindling gifts the only way to keep the ships airborne. To his horror, the massive vessels began plummeting toward the sea, listing crazily as they fell. With a monumental effort he empowered theTammerland on her way down, holding her steady in the air while she righted herself. With his other hand he lifted the warp holding Jessamay, then moved her toward theTammerland and let her fall onto the ship’s bow deck. But he had been too late to save theEphyra. As he watched her plummet toward the Azure Sea, he felt his heart rend in two.
I beg the Afterlife, he thought. What have I done?
Finally regaining consciousness, Khristos gathered himself up from the sandy beach to see that many of his vipers had surrounded him and were staving off the vicious Minions who wanted him dead. He quickly levitated into the air above the fray, then pointed his silver staff at the cluster of warriors ringing the vipers.
Khristos’ azure bolt launched straight into the warriors’ midst, sending blood, armor, and body parts flying. Landing in a blood-soaked clearing a few meters away, Khristos looked up just in time to see one massive Black Ship hovering in the sky and the other plummeting crazily toward the sea.
With a mighty crash theEphyra hit the waves, sending a plume of water high into the air. She bounced, then crashed violently down again into the ocean. As the seawater fell around her, Khristos strained his eyes, hoping that the ship had been smashed into kindling. When the scene cleared, he raised his fists and shook them at the sky.
TheEphyra had survived.
He watched transfixed as the Black Ship heeled over and nearly cap-sized. To his chagrin, she finally righted, her rigging swinging violently to and fro as she settled down. Many of her spars were broken and one of her masts lay across the main deck, but she looked otherwise intact.
Casting safety to the winds, Khristos cursed and ran toward the shoreline. Again raising his silver staff, he pointed it at the stricken ship’s bow. If he couldn’t destroy both ships, he would at least try to send one of the black bastards to the bottom.
But just as he raised his staff, a figure lunged across his path, blocking his view. Khristos snarled and was about to sidestep the fighter when he saw the pair of dark blue eyes boring into his and sensed the stranger’s supreme blood quality.
TheJin’Sai.
As the battle whirled around them, for a moment the two enemies glared at one another. Then Khristos screamed and pointed his staff at Tristan’s chest.
With the imminent threat washing over his senses, Tristan’s blood tingled with yet greater strength and his sword blade suddenly glowed with a bright azure hue. This had happened only once before, during the climactic battle to take the Recluse. But there was no time to think. With Aeolus’ warnings again ringing in his ears, Tristan widened his stance and stood his ground.
This second bolt Khristos sent at Tristan was again a narrow one, designed to cut theJin’Sai in half. Tristan raised his sword with blinding speed. As the searing bolt struck his dreggan blade, its power was immediately reflected back toward Khristos. Had the wizard’s reflexes not been so fast, it would surely have killed him.
Khristos wheeled but the bolt struck his right shoulder, causing him to drop his staff. Tristan lunged forward and kicked the craft weapon far across the sand. Weakened with shock and falling to his knees, Khristos again tried sending a bolt Tristan’s way, this time from his fingertips. But the bolt fizzled halfway to its target and crashed into the beach, sending charred sand high into the air. As the sandy cloud cleared, Tristan raised his dreggan high and charged in for the kill.
But again the wizard was too fast. Summoning his last bit of power, Khristos levitated from the sand and soared away to seek protection among his many vipers. As he left the ground, Tristan swung his blade at him, but it fell short.
Enraged, Tristan tossed his sword into his left hand, then reached behind his right shoulder to grip a throwing knife and let it fly. The silver dirk cartwheeled over and over, its double-sided blade a whirling blur.
Seeing the knife coming, Khristos twisted in midair, causing the blade to miss his heart. But he hadn’t been fast enough to avoid it altogether, and the dirk buried itself in the same shoulder that had been struck by his returning bolt. Screaming in agony, he pulled the knife from his shoulder, then crossed the sand and landed amid another group of battling vipers. Hissing and drooling, the hideous things quickly surrounded their beloved master and defended him with their lives.
Khristos could no longer be seen, but Tristan knew where to find him. TheJin’Sai was about to charge across the bloody sand and tear into the group of vipers when he felt a strong hand grip the back of his left shoulder. Knowing that he was being attacked by another viper, he had no choice but to forget Khristos and whirl around.
Reaching across his chest with his right hand and raising his bloody sword high with his left, he grasped the enemy’s wrist and swiveled left. As he came around he found himself staring into a familiar face.
There stood Ox, bloodied and exhausted. Ox immediately shouted out an order, and he and Tristan were quickly surrounded by more Minion warriors to keep yet another throng of advancing Blood Vipers from reaching them. The massive Ox gave Tristan a desperate look.
“Wigg say you must come now!” he shouted above the fighting. “Black Ships safe but we losing fight! Wigg say hurry! Must cross blue sea!”
That wasn’t what Tristan wanted to hear. Instead of sailing away, he wanted to kill the unknown Vagaries wizard if it was the last thing he ever did. Then Ox grabbed Tristan by the shoulders and roughly spun him around to face the rocky wall on the other side of the beach.
“Look, Jin’Sai!” Ox screamed. What Tristan saw sent icewater pouring through his veins.
The sand between him and the rock wall was covered with the dead and the dying, blood, and body parts from both sides. The casualties seemed to be roughly equally divided between Minions and vipers, but in the continuing melee Tristan couldn’t be sure. Then he looked to the rock wall, and he knew.
Thousands more vipers still poured from hundreds of tunnels, threatening to engulf the Minions once and for all. But no more fresh warriors were jumping to the beach to confront them. The tunnel floor from which the warriors had exited dripped blood down the rock wall, and vipers were slithering inside it to look for wounded stragglers. Some of the Minions still struggling on the beach had taken to the air to hack their dreggans downward on the vipers. Even so, it was clear that the odds were turning against them. Tristan knew that without an order to retreat, his forces would fight and die to the last. He swung around to look into Ox’s pleading eyes.
“Wigg say we must go now!” Ox shouted. “There be too many vipers! He say if we stay, all warriors die!”
“Where are the other Conclave members?” Tristan shouted. “Are any dead?”
“Ox not know!” the warrior shouted back. “But we must go!”
“Have all our warriors exited the tunnel?” the prince shouted. “I refuse to leave anyone behind!”
“Only warriors in tunnel be dead ones!” Ox answered. “I be last one out! Please, Jin’Sai! We must gonow!”
Finally surrendering to the desperate situation, Tristan angrily put aside his desire to continue the fight.
“Blow the retreat!” he shouted.
With a relieved look on his face, Ox quickly reached for his bugle. He sounded the retreat call twice, then scooped Tristan up in his beefy arms and took to the air. On hearing the bugle and seeing theirJin’Sai leave the beach, the surviving warriors also took flight, many of them carrying wounded comrades in their arms. As the warriors soared away, the thousands of vipers slithered toward the shoreline, waving their arms and hissing loudly in celebration of their bloody victory.
Tristan looked out to sea to find theTammerland and theEphyra sitting atop the waves about one hundred yards from shore, each twinkling brightly with subtle matter. One of theEphyra ’s masts and some of her spars had come down, but Tristan was sailor enough to know that she could be repaired. And then to Tristan’s amazement this subterranean world began to change.
It didn’t start slowly, or with prior warning. Instead, its coming was sudden and earsplitting. Because Tristan was being carried in Ox’s strong arms, he could do nothing but watch in horrified wonder.
The Azure Sea started to churn, and great steaming geysers exploded from its depths to launch hundreds of yards into the air. Tristan couldn’t believe what he saw next, but the irrefutable proof lay directly before him, bewildering his senses. The Azure Sea was literally boiling.
Suddenly worried for his fleet, he snapped his head around to see another geyser erupt just off theEphyra ’s port bow, sending the great ship dangerously rocking atop the waves. Nearly capsizing, she listed hard before righting.
Then Tristan heard terrible screaming, and he saw some Minion crewmen being tossed from theEphyra ’s pitching deck toward the boiling sea. The quickest snapped open their wings and took flight just before reaching the superheated water. But some could not and they hit the boiling waves, the sea immediately overcoming them, and they perished on the spot. Tristan watched in horror as their scalded bodies and limp wings bobbed atop the boiling sea, some of them bumping against theEphyra ’s hull.
As yet more geysers and superheated steam exploded into the air, Tristan soon doubted that he and Ox would reach theTammerland alive. As the sea birthed one geyser after the next, the rising steam had become so thick that Tristan could barely see his hands before his face, to say nothing of the Black Ships. Tristan suspected that Ox was straying off course, but turning around to fly back to the beach and its thousands of swarming vipers was unthinkable. And so they pressed on, the air becoming hotter and deadlier by the moment.
As he wondered how many loyal warriors had survived the beach only to be boiled alive in the sky and on the sea, Tristan’s stomach turned over. Soon the smell of cooked flesh reached his nostrils to confirm his fears. Then he heard more horrible screaming and saw hundreds of Minion corpses, their dark silhouettes barley visible in the fog, tumbling downward and splashing into the sea.
“Higher, Ox!” Tristan screamed, desperately hoping that the heat would dissipate with more altitude. “You must take us higher!”
Straining with everything he had, Ox angled upward and his strong wings started to climb. Tristan’s skin burned and there was so much hot water running into his eyes that he could hardly see. He knew that unless Ox soon climbed out of the steamy fog, the end would be near for them, too.
Just then Ox broke through the rising water vapor to find clear air. Desperately wiping the water from his face and eyes, Tristan ordered Ox to fly in a circle and search for the ships.
Soon the terrible geysers stopped, and the water vapor began to dissipate. The prince looked down to see the azure waves littered with bobbing Minion corpses, sometimes grouping like tiny dark islands adrift on a sea of death. Then through a break in the parting clouds Tristan saw theTammerland. He pointed to the ship and Ox immediately understood. Diving through the rent in the superheated fog, they plummeted toward the flagship.
As they neared theTammerland, Tristan was relieved to see most of the heated fog diffusing and some of the Conclave members gathered on the bow deck. The ship was covered with hot seawater, its main deck still steaming in the gradually lessening heat. Ox set Tristan down atop the slick deck and theJin’Sai immediately ran over to where Wigg stood at the starboard gunwale.
“What’s our situation?” Tristan demanded.
When the First Wizard turned around he looked hunched and frail. He stared at Tristan without seeing him, his aquamarine eyes glassy and unfocused. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“I should have known,” he said faintly. “Jessamay and I knew that it felt like cloaked blood…so many warriors dead, Jessamay hurt, and it’s all my fault…how could I have been so blind…then the geysers came…so many more died…the water is full of bodies…”
Tristan grabbed the wizard by the shoulders and shook him roughly.
“Wigg!” he shouted. “Take hold of yourself! I must know our situation!”
With Tristan’s commanding voice ringing in his ears, the First Wizard seemed to partly regain his focus. His skin, hair, and robe were steaming and soaked through, telling Tristan that the wizard had nearly been killed. He collected himself, then he wiped the tears from his face.
“We have lost many warriors,” he said, “not just to the vipers but also to the terrible geysers. But the geysers have stopped, and it seems that the man-serpents will not swim into the superheated sea. Aside from Jessamay, the other Conclave members were not badly hurt.”
Tristan let go of Wigg and he took a quick look around.
Jessamay lay unconscious atop a Minion stretcher, being tended to by anxious warrior-healers. She was scalded and soaked, and her injuries appeared severe. Parts of her body could be seen here and there through ragged burn holes in her drenched doublet, boots, and breeches.
Tyranny stood nearby with an open wine bottle in one hand and a smoldering cigarillo dangling between her lips. She too was soaked, her dark hair matted. Her sword, its hilt stained with viper blood, lay sheathed on her hip. She said nothing as she looked into Tristan’s eyes, then lifted the bottle to take another long slug. Her left hand was bleeding, but she ignored it; viper blood covered much of her clothing. Scars stood behind her, his torso and trousers also smeared with viper blood and offal.
Tristan turned back to face Wigg. As he did so, he saw thousands of warriors winging their way back to the Black Ships. Many were so tired and injured that they were crash-landing onto the decks.
“What caused the geysers?” theJin’Sai shouted.
The First Wizard drunkenly shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ve never seen their like. Perhaps the release of the subtle matter caused them…”
“Where are Phoebe and Astrid?” Tristan demanded.
“They’re here aboard theTammerland, awaiting further orders,” Wigg answered weakly. “They are exhausted but unhurt. We cannot fly the ships out of here, Tristan. We are too exhausted, and Jessamay is unconscious.” Then Wigg finally managed a short smile. “But the wind is good,” he added.
Heartened that all the Conclave members had survived, Tristan returned Wigg’s smile, then affectionately placed one hand atop the wizard’s shoulder.
“You did the right thing by sending Ox to me,” he said. “Had we not retreated when we did, we might have lost everyone.”
Tristan turned to look across the waves. The sea had calmed and the fog was gone, but the water still steamed. Thousands of Blood Vipers still congregated at the shoreline, hissing and writhing about each other in an orgy of victory. The sight incensed Tristan, enticing him to return to the bloody beach and kill them all. He turned to again look at Wigg.
“Those monsters are under the control of a hideous-looking Vagaries wizard,” he said. “He seems to have been morphed by the craft for some reason. I had two chances to kill him but I failed.”
Wigg nodded. “Khristos,” he said.
“You know him?” Tristan asked.
Wigg nodded. “He is a dark part of my past-the past that I foolishly thought I had forever left behind. But even now Failee’s deeds continue to rear their ugly heads.” Tired and shaking, Wigg looked at Tristan with worried eyes.
“Khristos is a powerful Vagaries wizard,” he said, his eyes going glassy again. “He must be dealt with decisively…it seems that the craft has changed his appearance, but I recognized him just the same…Shailiha must be told about…”
Just then Wigg’s aquamarine eyes rolled back and he fainted away. Tristan caught him and handed him over to Ox. The huge warrior lifted Wigg into both arms as though he weighed nothing.
No sooner had Ox taken up Wigg than another unsettling sound tore through the cavern. Tristan wheeled around, looking and listening. This time the noise was different. Not only was the sea roiling again, but the entire subterranean cavern was shaking violently, and the rumbling sound grew louder by the second.
On and on the terrible rumbling came, causing the swelling waves to crash against the ships’ gunwales and once again put them in danger of capsizing. Tristan lost his footing on the slick deck, and only by grabbing some rigging did he keep from tumbling overboard into the deadly sea.
Tristan looked across the deck. “Tyranny!” he shouted.
The privateer and her first mate were already struggling to reach him, but the going was hard. Without warning another terrifying manifestation of the craft appeared.
On either side of the ships, two giant dark walls started rising from the depths. They nearly scraped the ships’ sides as they came roaring upward. Tristan, Tyranny, and Ox could only stand and watch, bewitched by what they saw.
The craggy rock walls rose straight up past the ships, thundering so loudly that Tristan thought his eardrums might burst. Their flat tops stretching for endless leagues, higher and higher they rose until they neared the ceiling, thousands of yards above. On reaching the ceiling, their flat tops ground agonizingly against the radiance stones. Tons of rock debris came crashing down into the sea, narrowly missing the ships and sending plumes of water high into the air. Then everything went deathly still.
Tyranny and Scars carefully made their way across the slick deck to stand beside Tristan. At first not one of them could speak, stunned as they were by the amazing sight.
The two Black Ships lay trapped in a narrow channel of aquamarine water that stretched away into infinity. The black rock walls loomed up from the channel on either side like dark giants waiting to crush the vessels between them. Sharp and forbidding, they seemed to stretch away forever on either side of the slim waterway.
As the channel water calmed and slapped gently against the ship’s sides, Tristan collected his senses and looked around. Ahead could be seen only the limitless expanse of the tunnel-like channel. Behind them lay the viper-infested beach. The ceiling radiance stones lying trapped between the opposing rock walls provided bright, constant light.
As the last of the rubble broke free and tumbled into the channel, the rock walls settled and the wind calmed. Then, as if some great pair of protective hands had just reached down from the Afterlife to grasp them, the two ships stopped drifting atop the water and hauntingly held their positions, well clear of the deadly walls. The sensation was eerie, unnatural.
Tyranny turned to stare at Tristan, dumbfounded. “What just happened here?” she breathed.
Tristan shook his head. “I am as much at a loss as you,” he answered softly, still awed by what he saw. Trying to focus his thoughts on the ships, he finally turned and looked at Tyranny.
“But whatever else has just occurred, the mystics are too exhausted to pilot the ships,” he said. “If we are to leave here, we must sail atop the waves. Are the ships seaworthy?”
Her hands shaking, Tyranny removed the cigarillo from between her lips and ground it beneath the sole of her boot. She tousled her wet hair, thinking.
“TheTammerland is,” she answered. “TheEphyra can probably also sail, but her fallen mainmast, spars, and sails must eventually be repaired. She’ll be slower without them, but our Minion shipwrights can repair them as we go. Either way, this discussion is meaningless, because there is no wind. Nor can I understand why the ships don’t drift. The craft must have done all this…” she added softly, her voice trailing away.
Taking another slug of wine, she turned to look back at the shoreline and its thousands of jubilant vipers. “Even so, we must somehow get away from here as quickly as possible,” she said. “I saw that disfigured bastard at work and I don’t want to suffer any more of his tricks. We must find a way to move these ships.”
Tristan nodded and looked at Ox. “I want a Minion casualty report as soon as possible,” he ordered. “Have Wigg and Jessamay taken below to their quarters and see that they’re looked after by warrior-healers. I also want a report on their condition as soon as I can get it. And have Astrid and Phoebe also tend to Wigg and Jessamay-their healing gifts will be useful. If they are not too tired, send the Night Witches out on staggered patrols down the length of this channel. I want to know what lies ahead of us.”
Ox snapped his boot heels together smartly. “I live to serve,” he said. He turned and hurried away, the First Wizard’s arms and legs dangling toward the steaming deck as Ox bore him belowdecks.
Tristan turned back to look at Scars. “You will serve as theEphyra ’s captain until our mystics can empower the ships through the sky. Make arrangements for a warrior to fly you there right away.”
He then turned to look again at the bloody shoreline. “We must somehow find a way to leave here,” he said. “Something tells me that we haven’t seen the last of that Vagaries bastard.”
As Tyranny walked up beside him she sighed and tousled her hair again, causing Tristan to raise an eyebrow. He knew that look-it always brought bad news. “If there’s something else on your mind, you’d best tell me right now,” he said sternly.
“I’m sorry to report that our instruments don’t work here,” Tyranny said. “They just spin crazily, as though they are being affected by the craft. Even the enchanted one that Shailiha and I used to find our way to the Citadel won’t function properly.”
After everything else that had happened, Tristan wasn’t surprised. “What about the sextant?” he asked.
Tyranny shook her head. “We should have realized back in Tammerland that our instruments might be useless on the Azure Sea. There is no sky here, Tristan-only radiance stones, and they show no discernible pattern. Even Faegan’s enchanted sextant needs changing points of reference to confirm our position. Even if we escape this channel we can navigate only by line of sight. I don’t like it any better than you, but there it is.”
“Then line of sight it is,” he answered.
Tristan turned to look down the strange channel. The air was motionless, ensuring that the ships would be going nowhere. Moreover, the twin walls that hemmed them in rose straight up and seemed impossible to land on.
Just then a strong offshore wind freshened, and with it the waves became restless. Whatever force had been holding the ships in place suddenly set them free, allowing them to drift across the waves. Recognizing the coming danger, Tristan quickly turned to look at Tyranny and Scars.
“Get the sails up so that we can maneuver, or we’ll crash into the walls!” he shouted. “Take the only course available to us-straight down the channel while the wind remains astern! If it changes direction it might blow us back to the beach!” Wanting to use Tyranny’s spyglass, Tristan quickly relieved her of it before sending her on her way.
Tyranny immediately ran to carry out the orders while a warrior picked Scars up and flew him over to the other ship. As the Minions hurried to unfurl theTammerland ’s sails, Tristan held his breath as he watched her drift ever closer to one of the deadly rock walls. Then her sails caught the breeze and she heeled over at the last moment, missing the rock wall by only yards. With Scars finally taking control of theEphyra ’s wheel and her sails starting to appear, she too narrowly avoided the other wall, then heeled over and began following.
Only once the great vessels were finally sailing down the mysterious channel and away from the bloody beach did Tristan’s frayed nerves begin to settle down. Finally alone with his thoughts, he started the long walk toward theTammerland ’s stern. As he passed by wounded and exhausted warriors they attempted to stand and pay their respects, but many simply could not. Giving them reassuring smiles, he walked on.
On reaching the stern deck he stood against the curved gunwale and looked toward the bloody shore. Thousands of vipers still milled there in joyful celebration.
They think they’ve scored a victory, Tristan thought. And in some ways perhaps they have. Many warriors died, but in the end we gave as good as we got, and the subtle matter and the Black Ships were spared. For those things we can be truly thankful. But what caused this strange channel, and where will it lead us?
Then he saw a dark speck on the beach. Raising the scope to one eye, he twisted its cylinders, bringing the faraway scene into focus.
Khristos stood on the shore watching the Black Ships make their escape. The right shoulder of the wizard’s robe was bloodied and partly burned away. TheJin’Sai smiled at that.
Tristan already knew why Khristos had led his vipers into the caves. ThePon Q’tar had ordered him to do so in an attempt to kill him and the Conclave and to destroy the subtle matter and the Black Ships.
He grimaced as he realized that this probably also meant that thePon Q’tar was watching Shailiha, causing his worry for her to grow. Her task of destroying Khristos and his servants would not be an easy one, and he must use his medallion as soon as possible to inform her of the danger. But many unanswered questions remained about Khristos and the Blood Vipers-questions that only Tristan’s mystics might answer. As soon as Wigg was strong enough, Tristan would press him for details.
Tristan raised the glass once more to the retreating shoreline. Khristos still stood there, silver staff in hand, angrily watching his prizes slip away. Despite the day’s horrific events, theJin’Sai remained optimistic. All his Conclave members were alive and his ships were finally on their way, despite the strange arrival of the rock walls and the narrow channel they created. As he watched Khristos’ dark form recede from view, he decisively closed the scope cylinders.
Your Pon Q’tar masters will not be happy to hear of your failure to destroy my expedition, Khristos, he thought. But don’t worry.
The Afterlife willing, we’ll be back.