The priests’ first task was to make the High King aware of Princess Rosa’s presence in Pael’s tower, and set a trap for him. The trap, they determined, was the easiest part. They tried using Rosa’s fingertip to cast a drawing spell on Mikahl, but it didn’t work. Then they unpacked the library of spell books and journals they’d carried with them from the Isle of Borina, and spent the night scouring them for another way to draw their bait in. They didn’t find what they were looking for, but they settled their things into the comfortable gathering chamber they had been allotted and learned the reason why their first attempt had failed.
There had been an assumption. It had rendered the main component of the spell useless. It was this very component that they were now speaking about to Queen Shaella.
“What is it that you need to cast this spell?” asked Shaella. “I was told that the Princess’s finger would do.”
“We need a piece of her to mark her as the bait,” one answered.
“And a piece of someone that he truly loves,” added another. “It seems we misjudged his feelings for her.”
“And the finger I already gave you?” Her tone had an edge to it. “You told me that you could draw him with that alone.”
“That was our mistake, Queen Shaella,” the third priest said. “We assumed that the High King loved Princess Rosa, but apparently that is not so. As it is, we need another piece of her, and a piece of someone he truly loves, to correctly cast the drawing spell.”
“Find another way then,” she spat. She could think of no one that Mikahl might love. The only one he was close to was Gerard’s brother. Hyden was at sea, still alive because of Flick’s weakness. She wasn’t that angry with Flick, though. He had served her cause for years and was bringing her a grand surprise. Even evil queens like to be surprised every now and then. She was a woman after all.
An itch presented itself in her mind, like an insect crawling across the inside of her skull. It was insistent. She hadn’t been expecting anyone to reach out to her, and thoughts of Flick’s spinelessness caused her to think that maybe he had lost possession of the skull. She knew firsthand that Hyden Hawk Skyler was the trickiest of bastards. Flick should have killed him when he had the chance.
“A bowl of water!” she ordered the nearest priest. He grabbed the finger bowl from the table and set it before her. It was small, but it would do. She snarled at another of them. “Come now, a drop of blood. I know you can recognize a simple spell of seeing.”
One of the priests nicked his finger with a dagger and let a few drops fall into the bowl. Shaella’s deft chanting turned the dingy liquid into the distorted image of Lady Mandary.
It came as a relief that it wasn’t Flick, and Shaella couldn’t help but smile at the plump girlish image of the old marsh crone that was looking back at her from the surface of the water.
“My Queen,” Lady Mandary said reverently. “I only disturbed you because there is something you should know.”
“What is it, love?” Shaella asked sweetly enough to put the woman at ease. “I have a bit of a problem here that you might be able to help me with anyway. Tell me what you’ve learned.”
“It’s the High King,” Lady Mandary said with a bit of alarm in her voice. “He is in Westland as we speak. He has been for some time, though my General has no idea why.”
“How many soldiers are with him?” Shaella asked suddenly. How could he have invaded without me hearing of it? It made no sense at all.
“No troops, my Queen. Only a handful of men are with him.”
“Maybe our spell worked after all,” one of the priests said to his fellows.
“Who was that?” Lady Mandary asked with concern. If she was found to be spying for Queen Shaella, even in a roundabout way, she could lose her head. She had a good reason to worry about whose ears might hear her words.
“Just a Borinian priest,” Shaella said. “I assure you, the last thing on his mind is who, or where you are. Is Mikahl after the Princess?”
“The General isn’t sure why he’s there.”
“Tell me, dear,” Queen Shaella said, “who does that glorified squire truly love? We’ve learned that he doesn’t love the Princess just yet.”
“He hardly knows the girl,” Lady Mandary replied. “How could he love her? He loves his friends dearly, and King Jarrek too. No doubt he cares about the boy, Phenilous.”
“Wait!” Shaella snapped so loudly that the priests, as well as her spy, jumped from the sharpness of her words. “Oh, Mandary,” Queen Shaella giggled. “I think you’ve helped me more than you’ll ever know. You’ll reach me again if you hear anything else, won’t you?”
Shaella didn’t even wait for a reply before tapping the bowl of bloody water, causing a ring of ripples to evaporate the image on its surface.
“So you require a component that is a piece of someone he loves?” Shaella asked the priests with a smile on her beautiful scarred face.
“Yes, yes, Queen Shaella, we do.”
“And once this piece of that person is taken from them, it no longer lives. Is this correct?” The priests glanced at each other for reassurance, but finding no flaw in her reasoning, they nodded.
“Then this piece of someone the High King loves doesn’t have to come from a living body, does it?”
“There is nothing in the wording of the spell that requires the piece to come from someone alive,” one of the priests answered. “We are primarily necromancers. Most of our spells deal with the dead.”
“I think it’s time for me to designate a royal gravedigger,” Queen Shaella gave a haughty laugh. “For everyone who has heard Mikahl’s tale knows that there is no one he loved greater than his father. We will just have to dig up old King Balton’s corpse and take a piece of him.”
“And another piece of the Princess, Queen Shaella,” one of the priests reminded eagerly.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was hard for Talon to follow Phen and his captors through the thick overgrowth, but the hawkling managed it. Hyden watched on in helpless fury as Flick’s party made their way toward a part of the island that was nowhere near where the Seawander was anchored. He let Oarly lead them. They were headed back to the Seawande r so that they could sail around the island and pick up Phen. Hyden didn’t want to lose sight of the boy for a single second. He was concentrated on Talon’s vision. It was up to the dwarf to get them through the jungle. Deck Master Biggs followed them. Oarly had removed the crossbow bolt from the man’s back, but the traveling was taking its toll on the seaman, as was the humidity. The Deck Master’s breath was coming in great heavy gasps.
To Hyden’s great horror, just as the sun was beginning to set, Flick and his troop of grumbling freaks came out of the hills onto a gravelly shoreline. Their ship was anchored a short way from the island and a long gang plank led from it directly into the shallows. A dozen zard-men, all armored in studded leather vests emblazoned with Queen Shaella’s lightning star, scurried about. Hyden’s heart sank. He, Oarly, and Biggs still had a long hike between them and the Seawander, and that was only if the Deck Master could keep up.
A commotion at the zard ship drew Talon’s full attention, and Hyden watched. A streaking bolt of jagged yellow light leapt from Flick’s hand toward one of the breed giants. Was Phen trying to escape? Hyden wondered. He couldn’t tell what happened next due to the flash burn the wizard’s spell caused in the hawkling’s eyes.
Shouting and hissing from the ship could be heard, and then a painful shriek of boyish terror that could have only come from Phen.
Talon made out the stumbling shape of the breed giant that had been holding Phen. The man-beast staggered into the cover of the jungled hillside. The other breed giant was lying sprawled across the rocky beach. Hyden was confused. He couldn’t see Phen anywhere, but the bloody twisted form of a lizard-man lay not too far from the smoldering breed giant’s body. Were they attacked?
Talon’s flash blindness was clearing, but the boy was still nowhere to be seen. Not on shore, not on the deck of the zard ship that was starting to ease away from the island now; not anywhere.
In the dying light of dusk, Hyden could see Flick standing on the deck, fastening the dragon collar around his
