“I AGREE,” FAEGAN SAID. THE WIZARD’S TONE WAS UNCHARACTERISTICALLY dour, his mood pensive.
“The outlook is not promising,” he added, “and it seems that whatever could have gone wrongdid go wrong. Who knew that Khristos and his Blood Vipers would be waiting on the shore of the Azure Sea, or that those rock walls might suddenly arise?”
He gave Shailiha a reassuring smile and reached out to touch her hand. “But take heart,” he added softly. “Tristan and his group are a sturdy and resourceful lot. If anyone can reach Shashida, it is they.”
Sighing, the crippled wizard lifted Nicodemus from his lap. But the still-sleeping cat was not ready to be dislodged from the warmth of his master’s care, and his claws remained hooked in the fabric of Faegan’s worn black robe.
With a smile the wizard called the craft to gently release the cat’s claws and he set Nicodemus down on the floor. Not to be denied, the cat stretched lazily and wended his way among the meeting attendees’ legs, rubbing his arched back against them.
The topics being discussed in the Archives of the Redoubt were worrisome. Faegan, Traax, Shailiha, Abbey, Aeolus, and Sigrid sat at a meeting table, each person’s face long with concern for their beloved friends who were sailing into the unknown. Three days had passed since Tristan’s message had reached Shailiha by way of their matching medallions, and the princess was becoming anxious. Compounding her worries was that little could be done until Khristos and his vipers surfaced. Faegan and Aeolus had explained Khristos’ history to everyone, and Shailiha had been surprised to hear of him.
Several times since receiving Tristan’s message, the princess had been tempted to contact her brother before finally deciding against it. When the Envoys of Crysenium had enchanted Tristan and Shailiha’s medallions, they had warned theJin’Sai that the gift could be easily overused, risking its loss altogether. And so Shailiha resolved to call on her medallion only if there was something of importance to convey to Tristan. So far, nothing had arisen. After getting Tristan’s message, Aeolus and Traax had led a group of Minion warriors deep into the Caves in a try to hunt Khristos down, but they returned empty-handed. Nor had Aeolus divined a hint of endowed blood.
Even so, the Vagaries wizard and his servants could still be hiding there, for the Caves were immense and the areas that Nicholas had excavated remained largely unexplored. Night Witch patrols searched the length and breadth of Eutracia, but they could find no sign of the Vagaries wizard or of his macabre forces. With no one to fight, Shailiha and her Conclave members felt stymied and frustrated. And so they anxiously waited for word from the Night Witches, for only then could a proper attack be planned.
But how does one fight a ghostlike enemy that can seemingly vanish at will? Shailiha wondered. And even if we find him and his vipers, will we prevail?
“Let’s review what we know,” Aeolus offered, rousing the princess from her thoughts. As she looked across the table, she found his calm manner comforting.
“First, Wigg and Jessamay are injured, but they will heal,” he said. He gave everyone around the table a little smile. “If I know those two, they’ll be back on their feet annoying everyone in no time.”
Shailiha looked over at Abbey to see the herbmistress smile for the first time in two days. She was terribly worried for Wigg, as they all were. But because she was Wigg’s lover, the First Wizard’s injuries struck a far more sensitive chord in her than in the others. After having been apart from Wigg for more than three centuries, she had no wish to lose him all over again. She had been desolate when it was decided that she would not accompany him on the journey, but she knew it was for the best. As she glanced back at Shailiha she tried to give the princess a hopeful look.
“The rock walls that rose from the sea floor are dangerous to navigate, but if Phoebe is right, the Ones might be funneling the Black Ships toward Shashida,” Aeolus went on to say. “If that is true and they can keep the ships clear of the walls, the path to Shashida is ensured.”
“Unless all this is a Vagaries trap, engineered by thePon Q’tar, ” Traax countered. “And even if Phoebe’s theory is right, problems remain. Their fighting force has been cut by a full one-third. That’s a staggering loss, and Tristan knows it. I can only imagine how savage the fighting on that beach must have been. Then there is this added business about the azure water perhaps damaging the ships’ hulls. I am fully aware that’s only a possibility, but should they lose those ships-”
“We can’t change those things,” Faegan interrupted. “So no matter how difficult it might be, we must not worry about them.”
Shailiha sighed and sat back in her chair. Faegan was right-worrying would do no good. Tristan had chosen his path, and nothing could prevent him from following it. It was what he was born to do, and everyone knew it.
She turned to look at Sigrid. The female warrior’s broken right arm was in a sling from tumbling through the bell shop roof in Tanglewood, but it was healing. Shailiha knew simply by looking at the devoted Night Witch that the pain Sigrid felt at not being able to lead her patrols far outweighed the suffering from her injured arm.
“There is still no sign of Khristos and his vipers?” Shailiha asked.
As Sigrid adjusted her sling, she winced. “No,” she said sadly. “It’s as though the earth swallowed them up. How does one move such a huge force without being seen from the air? It’s nonsensical-unless they’re still in the Caves. I fully understand that Khristos intended to kill Tristan’s group to keep them from reaching Shashida. And as Tristan’s message said, with Failee dead it is likely that Khristos has come under the control of thePon Q’tar. But Tristan escaped, so why would Khristos linger in the Caves? At any given time several Night Witch patrols search Eutracia from above. My witches are exhausted, but finding the enemy has become a matter of honor. They’ll keep looking until they fall from the sky.”
“What are Khristos’ plans, indeed?” Faegan asked. He pulled thoughtfully on his beard for several moments. “There can be but one answer. Having failed to kill Tristan and his group, he will come after theJin’Saiou. ”
“How can you be so sure?” Shailiha asked.
“With Tristan free from Khristos’ reach, you present the most important target,” Aeolus answered. “If thePon Q’tar cannot destroy your brother, they will settle for killing you. Khristos might be the last of the Vagaries worshippers on our side of the world whose gifts are powerful enough to commune with them and to do their bidding. They will surely use him to their greatest advantage.”
Shailiha’s expression hardened. “Then let him and his vipers come,” she said softly. “I welcome it! To reach me, he must first enter Tammerland. All the Minions have been put on alert, and the warriors patrolling the city streets have been doubled. If he and his forces enter the city, they will be seen. So I say let the fighting start! Anything is better than this infernal waiting!”
Just then an urgent pounding came on the Archives doors. “Enter!” Shailiha called.
The doors opened to show a Minion warrior standing there. Shailiha recognized Lars, the officer in charge of palace security. He was deeply out of breath. Running to the princess’s chair, he quickly went down on bended knee.
Realizing that something was wrong, Traax immediately stood. “Speak!” he shouted. “What is happening?”
“Tammerland is overrun by the Blood Vipers!” Lars cried. “The night is dark, but even so, we should have seen them coming! No one knows how they got into the city unseen, and their numbers are overpowering our street patrols! The citizens are at their mercy!”
“Are they marching on the palace?” Faegan demanded.
Lars vehemently shook his head. “That’s the strange part,” he said. “They seem to have no interest in the palace. The beasts are flowing down the streets like rushing rivers, burning buildings and killing people at random. The few warriors who survived the initial onslaught are fighting back, but they cannot last long!”
Snatching up his dreggan and baldric, Traax hurried to strap them on. “Has the Minion camp outside the palace walls been mobilized?” he demanded.
Lars turned toward Shailiha. “They have, Your Highness!” he answered. “They circle in the sky above the palace! Litters await you in the courtyard!”
Suddenly energized, Shailiha leapt to her feet. This was the moment she had been waiting for! At last the vipers had exposed themselves! Even so, she decided to withhold her orders until she and the Conclave could get into the air and take better stock of the situation.
As though of one mind, Lars, Sigrid, and the Conclave members charged from the room.