The nightmare had been so vivid, so clear. Usually, in dreams, some of the senses were blurred, but in this dream every detail of smell, sound, touch, and taste had been present. Even though Arvin was wide awake, the dream wasn't fading. It hung in his mind's eye like a gruesome painting.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on Karrell's face, trying to contact her, but nothing happened. As before, his sending was blocked. The nightmare had left him more worried than ever-had the marilith found Karrell? Killed her? He remembered the prophetic dreams that had woken his mother, screaming, in the middle of the night. Was this what they had been like?
A hand touched his shoulder-Pakal's. The dwarf had been standing watch while Arvin slept.
Pakal muttered something, then spoke. Halfway through, his spell took hold and his words became intelligible. '-you dream?' he asked.
Arvin shivered. It was still dark, though the sky to the east was growing lighter. Almost dawn. 'A nightmare,' he answered.
Pakal grunted. 'I, too. Earlier, when I slept.' His faco was difficult to see in the gloom, but the shudder that ran through his body made his feelings clear. 'I dreamed of the jungle reduced to ash, like this place.' He waved a hand, indicating a blackened tree that stood like gaunt shadow a few paces away.
They were almost at the peak of Mount Ugruth. The mountainside was bare black rock, freshly spewed from the volcano. Gray ash and chunks of porous rock covered the ground where they sat. Hot, sulfurous gases vented from a deep crack in the ground a few paces away. The landscape was desolate, like something out of the Abyss.
Nearby, at the bottom of a crater in the loose volcanic rubble, was a stone dais, much like the one in
Sibyl's lair. It too was of glossy obsidian-red obsidian. Glyphs, carved in Draconic script, encircled its rim. When the sun rose, they would activate.
According to Pakal, the portal was ancient. It dated to the height of the Serpentes Empire. Despite its incredible antiquity and the recent eruptions that must have pelted it with hot ash and chunks of falling stone, the dais looked almost new. Its edges were sword-sharp. Not a single chip had been knocked from them in all the centuries since its creation.
Arvin turned to Pakal. 'Do you ever dream the future?'
The dwarf tossed back his braids. 'No.'
'My mother did. She dreamed of her own death- she couldn't prevent it.' Arvin took a deep, steadying breath. 'I dreamed about Karrell, and about our children. It was… terrible.'
'Something has happened,' Pakal said. 'Dendar is not doing her job.'
For a moment, Arvin wondered if the spell was translating Pakal's words incorrectly. 'Her job?' he echoed. 'I thought the Night Serpent was a monster who fed on mortal souls.'
'Should she ever be released, that is what she would feed upon,' Pakal said. 'For now, she sustains herself on our nightmares. The dream fragments we remember upon waking are the crumbs she has left behind. Last night, for some reason, she did not feed.'
Arvin sat up a little straighter. 'Does that mean Dendar is dead?' he asked. If she was, he wouldn't need to worry about the door to her lair opening.
Pakal held up a hand. 'I know what you are thinking,' he said. 'The answer is still no. The Circled Serpent must be destroyed.'
Arvin nodded, feigning acceptance. He noted Pakal's wary look and the way the dwarf shifted his
sack to his far hand. Arvin had been about to charm him but decided against it. He needed Pakal to show him how to use the portal. If the charm failed, Pakal would have even less reason to trust Arvin. As soon as they had stepped through the portal into the jungle, however, a charm would do the trick. If it failed, Arvin would take the Circled Serpent by force and amend Pakal's memory to erase any knowledge of the event.
Arvin glanced at the eastern sky. There was still some time before the sun rose. 'Do I have time to meditate?' he asked the dwarf. 'I need to restore my magic.'
At Pakal's nod, Arvin adopted the bhujan asana and began his meditations. It felt good to slow his mind; it helped push the terrible images of his nightmare away. When he was done, the sun was peeping out from behind Mount Aclor. Slowly, it climbed higher in the sky.
Pakal climbed down into the crater, sending small avalanches of loose rock and dust toward the dais. Arvin forced himself to wait a moment before rising-casually-to his feet and following. The dais was knee-high on the dwarf but came only midway up Arvin's calves. One quick step would put him on top of it.
Together, they watched as sunlight crept across the dais, illuminating it like a waxing moon. As it did, the ash that had settled on that half of the dais vanished.
'What do we do?' Arvin asked. 'Step onto it once it's fully in sunlight?'
Pakal nodded.
'Will Ts'ikil be waiting for us on the other side?' 'She will come once I call her.'
Good. That would give Arvin some time. As the sunlight crept toward the western edge of the dais,
the symbols that were already illuminated began to glow with a ruddy light. It looked, Arvin thought, as though their grooves had suddenly filled with lava. He passed a hand above one of the symbols but felt no heat.
'Does the dais work like the amber ring?' he asked. 'Do we need to be touching to go through together?'
The dwarf eased himself to the side, slightly increasing the distance between them. 'No. Once activated, it will transport anyone who steps onto it, but only for a brief time. Be ready.'
'I will.'
Arvin was glad the portal was almost ready. The tingling in his forehead had grown strong. If it was an iron cobra, it was getting closer by the moment. He risked a glance up at the lip of the crater but saw no sign of a snake, iron or otherwise.
As he started to turn back to the portal, something in the sky caught his attention. A creature flew toward Mount Ugruth from the direction of Hlondeth. It was big, with a serpent's body and four arms. With a sinking heart, Arvin realized who it must be.
'Sibyl's coming!' he warned. 'She's headed straight for us!'
Pakal glanced in the direction Arvin had pointed then back at the dais. 'She is still far enough away,' he said. 'We will be in the jungle, with the portal closed behind us, before she can reach us. The portal will not reactivate until tomorrow's sunrise.'
Arvin nodded, only partially reassured. Sibyl a day behind them was all well and good if the Circled Serpent was destroyed by then, but destroying it wasn't Arvin's goal. A day wouldn't give him much time to trick Zelia into telling him where Dmetrio was, steal the second half of the Circled Serpent, and rescue Karrell.
'There,' Pakal continued. 'You see? It is ready.'
He was right. The entire inscription glowed. Pakal placed a foot onto the dais. Arvin did the same. The tingling in his forehead turned into a steady burn…
A loud hiss and clatter of loose rock startled Pakal. One foot on the dais, one foot on the ground, the dwarf stared up at the source of the noise and cursed. Arvin, realizing it must be the cobra, grabbed the dwarf by the arm and boosted him onto the dais, leaping up after him. As the world beyond the inscription began to shimmer, Arvin saw the iron cobra he thought he'd defeated come skittering down the slope. Its hood was bent flat against its head and several of the iron bands that made up its body were jammed together, but it was moving again. Fast. With a screech of metal it heaved itself up onto the dais with them and bared bent fangs.
'Watch out!' Arvin yelled, yanking Pakal back. 'It's going to-'
The mountainside vanished. For a heartbeat there was nothing under Arvin's feet as he fell sideways through the dimensions, still holding tight to Pakal's arm. Then his feet landed on something solid. A roaring filled the air: water. It slammed into Arvin's calves, knocking him prone. He had just enough time to register the fact that the portal had transported them to the bottom of a narrow, cliff- walled canyon filled with a rushing river before the force of the water dragged him off the submerged portal they'd materialized on. Then the river swept them away.
Karrell heard something moving through the jungle off to her left. She froze. Rain pattered on the slab of bark she held over her head like a shield, making it
