covered him. He stared hard into the darkness.
'Do you know the direction?' Tarnar asked.
'East,' the young sailor replied. 'We need to adjust four points to starboard.' He felt the direction like a compass needle.
'Make it so,' Tarnar told the mate.
As soon as Steadfast came about on her new course, the sensation within Jherek's breast felt a little stronger.
'How far is our destination?' Tarnar asked.
'I don't know.'
The captain hesitated, picking up the small lantern near the plotting desk beside the wheel. He glanced at the compass, traced a map with his finger, and said, 'If we stay on this course, we're going to end up in the middle of the Alamber Sea.'
'When?'
'By the day after tomorrow. That's the very heart of the sea devils' empire. I can't ask these men to go there, and I won't order them to.'
'I understand,' Jherek replied. 'If the time comes that you're faced with that, I'll go on alone.'
Grim-faced, Tarnar folded his map and put it away. 'Let's hope it doesn't come to that.'
'There is another problem,' Jherek said. 'I was told we're not the only ones headed this way.'
'Told?' For the first time, doubt showed on Tarnar's face. 'Who told you this?'
'The whale who sings,' Jherek replied.
The young sailor noticed the look the mate swapped with his captain and chose not to respond to it.
'Who else is supposed to be coming?' Tarnar asked.
'The Taker,' Jherek said.
Confusion lit Tarnar's face in the glare from the small lantern he held. 'Do you know what the Taker is?'
While Azla pursued Vurgrom, mention had been made of the Taker. In fact, some of the people the pirate captain questioned suggested that Vurgrom was somehow in league with this mythological terror.
'A story,' the young sailor said. 'I've heard a few legends about the Taker.'
'And what if this thing is real?'
The possibility seemed overwhelming to Jherek. His life was troubled enough.
'How could the Taker be real?' he asked. 'The Taker is a legend. No one has ever seen him.'
'If you have spoken to a whale,' Tarnar said, 'then you know someone must have. Whales never lie.'
XVI
2 Eleasias, the Year of the Gauntlet
Follow me more closely, little malenti, Iakhovas ordered as they swam through the currents around Vahaxtyl. I would not have the princes know we are divided in any way.
Laaqueel obeyed reluctantly, drawing two feet closer to Iakhovas. The sahuagin princes of Aleaxtis had sent warriors to escort them from Tarjana. The great galley sat at anchor above the ruined city. All around them, the whale song echoed.
No one in the sahuagin city seemed happy to see Iakhovas return.
How easily they forget, Iakhovas commented as they swam to the amphitheater. During their absence, the princes ordered the amphitheater cleared so meetings could once again be held there.
Crews of sahuagin women and children still labored to clear the city of debris, but Laaqueel knew the area would never be fit to live in again. Black chunks, shelves, and mountains of cooled lava covered the place where the city had once been. Here and there were pockets, mostly intact, that left a few landmarks to distinguish where proud
Vahaxtyl once stood. Warriors stood guard and foraged for food to feed the populace.
The ringed seats around the amphitheater were only a quarter full but there were still thousands seated. The three surviving sahuagin princes stood in the center of the mosaic of black and gray stones. Fully four dozen guardsmen flanked them, outnumbering the warriors Iakhovas had brought four to one.
Iakhovas sank easily before the princes and stood to his full height.
As the malenti priestess gazed around, she saw that the princes were accompanied by their priestesses as well. Evidently it was hoped that all of their combined power might stand against Iakhovas's might.
Panic sailed through Laaqueel as she looked at the full-blooded sahuagin priestesses. They stood in stark contrast to Laaqueel.
Relax, the feminine voice whispered in her mind. Make no untoward moves. For now, let Iakhovas have his way.
Laaqueel glanced at Iakhovas, but his attention was on the princes.
'Honored Ones,' Iakhovas addressed them. His voice boomed, carrying easily throughout the amphitheater.
Ruubuuiz, as most senior among the three princes, strode forward. He planted his webbed feet flat on the amphitheater floor and held his trident beside him. The prince wore his best combat harness, adorned with sigils representing Sekolah as well as his own station. Made of soft gold and adorned with finger bones taken from enemies as well as bits of fire coral, his crown gleamed.
'You have journeyed safely,' Ruubuuiz stated.
'I have journeyed on a true sahuagin warrior's path,' Iakhovas countered with a warning edge in his voice. 'I have left broken enemies in my wake, feasted upon them that I might maintain my strength, eaten of my fallen brothers that they might forever stay with me, and created currents that will send all of our enemies cringing in fear.'
Ruubuuiz shifted uncertainly.
'I came back here,' Iakhovas roared, 'to lead the army you were supposed to have readied in my absence. Instead, I find you and your people grubbing around the corpse of this city long after the marrow is gone.'
Laaqueel held herself proudly, listening to the words Iakhovas spoke. Confusion vibrated inside her. As Iakhovas had stated, he moved more truly along the currents a sahuagin would, and he gave voice to thoughts only a sahuagin would have. She felt proud and shamed and conflicted all at once. How could he, who Laaqueel knew was not a sahuagin, be better at playing one of her kind than she was?
'Our people were not meant to live as carrion feeders,' Iakhovas yelled. 'In the days after the destruction of this city, you princes teach your people the way to live their lives. In turn will they teach their children. Now is not the time to be cautious.'
'Now is not the time to foolishly throw away the lives of our warriors,' Ruubuuiz countered. 'We must rebuild, and-'
'While you are rebuilding,' Iakhovas accused, 'you're going to allow the sea elves and mermen time to rebuild the Sharksbane Wall. You might as well help lay the stones yourself.'
'Carefully,' Ruubuuiz growled, flaring his fins and puffing up his chest angrily. 'Your words here this day will not be forgotten.'
'I will have my priestess put them in a singing bundle for you to remember always,' Iakhovas declared, referring to the strings of shells, rocks, and knots tied to bone or sinew rings that the sahuagin used as books.
Iakhovas turned to look at the amphitheater seats and called out, 'I did not come to Seros to free you only so you could trap yourselves again. The wall is broken, a world lies in wait out there to feel the caress of your claws and mighty teeth. Are you predators or prey?'
The crowd rose from their seats, clacking their claws against each other, shaking their tridents and spears. They hooted, whistled, and clicked their support of his words. Thousands made the cacophony almost deafening.
Iakhovas turned back to the three princes, strong and tall in triumph.
Maartaaugh stepped forward and gazed at the yelling sahuagin. 'Don't be easily swayed by his words,' he screamed at them. 'Remember the thousands who have left this place already under his guidance, and remember
