Ususi discovered a few tins of dried fish in Yonald's cabin after she and Eined had made a casual investigation of every compartment and closet.
She couldn't sleep after her nightmare. She was haunted by the darkness and Qari's pronouncement that she should 'embrace darkness.'
Ususi shuddered as she imagined again the hollow orbits of her sister's vacant face.
The wizard consumed the contents of a tin of snapper as eagerly as if it were a fabled mithridate concocted by healing alchemists. Of course, she knew it wasn't really an antidote for nightmares, and it could not insulate her against future recurrences. A little oily, but salty, as she liked it. Perhaps the simple act of eating it gave her comfort.
The Datharathi woman quickly ate a similar portion of fish then fell asleep. Night ruled outside the cabin, but sleep eluded Ususi.
They'd reach Huorm in the morning, maybe before first light. If she was to be worth anything at all the next day, she needed her sleep.
The anxiety of not sleeping drove slumber further away.
'To the dooms with it.'
Ususi slipped on her shoes and went up on deck. Her uskura followed after, carrying a lantern. She hadn't unpacked her delver's orb-she didn't want to take the time to look for it in her pack.
Light rain fell, but it wasn't cold, and it wasn't falling hard enough to drench her hair or clothing-it was more of a mist, and it was bracing. The sea was black in all directions, but lanterns shimmering around the perimeter of the craft illuminated small areas of dark water. She saw only a single crewman high above, mucking with ropes. The impenetrable blackness all around reminded her uneasily of her dream.
A spot of warmth on her left hip caught her attention-her pouch.
She had many pouches, but this one held the three pieces of Celestial Nadir crystal Iahn had retrieved from the creatures in front of the ancient Imaskaran complex.
She reached her hand into the pouch-the stones, in their leather wrapping, were hot to the touch! She drew the wrapping forth and emptied one of the stones into her hand to get a better look at it.
The moment it was free of the leather, the crystal flashed a brilliant ray of purple light. The flash speared into the dark waters around the ship. Then the stone went dark and cooled down.
'Oh, dooms and damnation!' Ususi spat. The crewman in the rigging rewarded her with a startled look. She ignored him.
Unless it was her imagination, a faint violet radiance lingered in the sea where the light from the crystal had touched the water's surface. But the radiance fell behind as the ship plowed forward.
She threw the dark stone into the sea. She paused, grabbed the pouch that contained the remaining two Celestial Nadir amulets, and threw the whole thing in. She turned and rushed toward the prow, looking for Iahn.
The vengeance taker was wrapped in a light blanket, lying under a stanchion. When she was still ten paces from him, Iahn slipped free of his roll and bounded up on his feet, so quickly that Ususi almost didn't see him move.
'Yes?' he inquired.
'Iahn,' she breathed, 'We might have a problem.'
He waited, saying nothing, merely studying her with his pale, incurious eyes.
'Some… I don't know… magical probe found the three Celestial Nadir crystals I've been carrying. I felt the contact as it was made.
I threw the stones overboard, but we may be marked, nevertheless. We'd best be ready.'
The taker said, 'I'm always ready, Ususi.'
She sighed. Not everyone could be as thoroughly competent as vengeance takers were-or pretended to be. 'My mistake. I didn't mean to imply otherwise.'
She mumbled a quick protective enchantment, a minor ward of stone.
Her skin grew a mineral sheen that was unmistakable.
'Do you mind walking with me along the deck?' the wizard asked Iahn. 'I thought I saw something in the water, but it fell behind.'
'We move swiftly through the water,' observed Iahn. 'But let's be sure we remain ahead of what you saw. Which was…?'
'A glow.'
'Hmm.'
Ususi followed the vengeance taker down the deck toward the stern, stepping around coils of rope, barrels lashed to the railing, and other stowed supplies. At the stern, a short ladder led up to a rear-facing platform perfectly positioned for staring aft. Beyond the glimmer of the ship's lanterns in the foaming water, all was dark. The shushing sound of the vessel's passage through the sea wasn't as reassuring as Ususi had found it earlier.
'We'll wait here a while,' counseled Iahn, peering into their wave-tossed wake.
Ususi nodded.
A noise like tearing fabric caught Ususi's attention. She touched Iahn's shoulder but saw his head was already cocked, listening.
Ususi whispered, 'Was that a sail?'
Brilliant purple light flashed in the ship's wake. She was answered.
'Be ready,' mumbled Iahn. The vengeance taker held out his damos.
A light touch from his other hand opened an orifice in the disk. Ususi shuddered as she glimpsed the oily, resinous liquid quivering within.
Iahn smoothly removed three bolts from the bottom of his crossbow and dipped their points into the well.
Ususi moved back a pace from the vengeance taker-she didn't want to be nicked by accident. She rehearsed a few spells in her mind-Ususi was adept at producing blasts of fire and arcs of lightning, energies sufficient to deal with most threats. She preferred lightning…
Something squirmed in the darkness behind the ship, coming closer.
An awful shape oozed out of the night to stand before them on the edge of the platform. It was a creature formed half of bone and half of blackness so dense it possessed actual substance. In silhouette, it was a faceless, wingless demon. Its bony claws were long and tipped with the void. A needle-thin shard of Celestial Nadir crystal poked from a hollow in its forehead.
'Shadow eft!' said Ususi in surprise.
Iahn fired one of his poison-tipped bolts, which caught the creature squarely in the chest. It threw back its head, opened its mouth in a silent scream, and toppled off the back of the ship.
'What is a shadow eft?' asked the vengeance taker, nonchalantly cocking his crossbow with the second poisoned bolt.
After getting her breath back, she said, 'Shadow efts were assassins for the ancient Imaskari. Efts were kept in suspended animation until some noble needed to eliminate a rival. Then an eft was programmed and decanted. An eft assassin, being part shadow, could find and kill most creatures before they even knew they were being stalked.'
'I've never seen one before.'
'Shadow efts haven't been in the world since the Imaskari Empire failed,' said Ususi, a note of wonder in her voice.
'What about that crystal in its head?'
Ususi shook her head. 'Nothing in my studies connects shadow efts with Celestial Nadir crystal-although now that I think of it,' she said, 'maybe the old Imaskari stored shadow efts in the Celestial Nadir when they were in stasis. If…'
Iahn's shadow suddenly revealed itself as a monstrosity of bone and darkness. Night-dark claws plunged into the vengeance taker's back, and he stiffened with pain and surprise.
Iahn's blood dribbled onto the deck as he struggled in the monster's grip. The shadow eft rose straight into the night, its feet dangling, as if being reeled upward by an unseen rope. The retreating eft was taking Iahn with it.
