shoulder.
The two throwing knives came into his right hand so quickly that he had grasped them even before Xanthus finished his strike. He took one dirk into his left hand.
Tristan lashed out. As he backed away, he heard a scream.
One knife handle protruded from each of Xanthus’ eyes. Screaming again, the Darkling waved his arms and staggered about blindly. Blood ran from his eye sockets and down onto his black robe. His axe and shield stopped glowing and went clattering to the floor. Then he fell forward, dead where he lay.
His chest heaving, Tristan stood there for a moment, staring at Xanthus’ bloody corpse. Facing certain death and having no other alternative had finally forced him to learn how to let go, and to trust his new gift entirely. It was a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.
When he walked to collect his dreggan, he thought he heard someone softly call out. As he picked up his sword he heard the wind moaning through the shattered ceiling in the other room, but nothing else.
“Tristan,” someone whispered. This time there could be no mistaking it.
Holding his sword high, he crept down the hallway. He took a deep breath and stepped quickly into the next room.
The meeting chamber was a bloodbath. Eleven of the twelve Envoys lay dead. Azure blood was splattered everywhere. Bodies and body parts were strewn about the room, and the transparent panel that had once graced part of the curved wall had been destroyed. Dark smudges dirtied much of the chamber, telling Tristan that azure bolts had been used in the recent battle.
But if they are all dead, who called my name? Tristan wondered. He was about to check each body for signs of life when he heard the lone voice call out again.
“Jin’Sai,”a woman whispered.
Tristan looked across the room to see Hoskiko lying on the bloody floor. She had raised herself up onto her elbows and was trying to crawl toward him. Sheathing his dreggan, he ran to her and cradled her in his arms.
A deep wound lay beneath Hoskiko’s once-immaculate white robe. Dried blood lay crusted on the garment and in her long gray hair. Her eyes were losing their luster. As she gently reached up to touch his face, she smiled.
“You’re alive…,” she said. “I heard the fighting. Did you kill Xanthus?”
“Yes,” he answered gently. “What happened here?”
“The Imperial Order came,” she answered. “When thePon Q’tar learned about Crysenium, they sent them to destroy us. Xanthus came with them. We tried to fight back, but there were too many of them.”
“How did you survive?” Tristan asked.
Hoskiko managed a weak smile. “I fooled them,” she answered. Then she coughed, bringing up some blood. As Tristan felt his heart tear in two, he held her closer.
“I used a spell to slow my heartbeat and mimic death,” she said. “It might have been cowardly of me, but I had to stay alive long enough to see you return. There is so much that you still do not know…”
“I don’t understand,” Tristan said. “If the Imperial Order was here, why didn’tthey kill me? Why would they leave, and trust the job to Xanthus?”
“Because Xanthus had been compromised by the Envoys, he had become more expendable,” she answered weakly. “You must always remember that thePon Q’tar ’s paranoia knows no bounds. But there is another reason why the Imperial Order left so soon after finishing their dirty work. They boasted about it as they watched the others die.”
“Why?” Tristan asked.
“With what strength I have remaining, I am cloaking your blood,” Hoskiko answered. “At the same time, thePon Q’tar is trying to sense your blood from afar. When I die, they will succeed. If they sense it long enough, they will know that Xanthus failed to kill you. Their only choice will be to summon the Borderlands to destroy you and Crysenium. That is why the Imperial Order didn’t wait.” Raising herself up a little, she looked sternly into Tristan’s eyes.
“You must leave here immediately!” she begged him. “When I die, thePon Q’tar ’s rage will know no limits! The form the Borderlands will take will be savage, and all-encompassing!”
“I will take you with me,” Tristan insisted.
“No!” Hoskiko answered. “I am too far gone-we both know that. My time is over!”
“But where am I to go?” Tristan asked. “If Crysenium is destroyed, I will die in the Borderlands!”
“Go home!” Hoskiko said weakly. “Call forth the Forestallment that we granted to your blood and go back to Eutracia! But you must leave quickly! As the Borderlands near, magic will become useless and you will lose your ability to call forth the Forestallment!”
Tristan’s mind raced as he turned to look through the empty space where the viewing panel had once been. The deceiving scene on the other side remained idyllic. But if Hoskiko was right, it would soon become a living nightmare.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll go back. But I’ll never forget you.”
“What you must remember above all is the true nature of your and Shailiha’s destinies,” she said. “Because thePon Q’tar knows that you finally understand this, they will do everything they can to keep you from coming back. Despite their great power, they fear the coming of you and your sister more than anything in the world. You must find a way to cross the Tolenka Mountains, or to conquer the polar ice caps that imprison the Sea of Whispers to the north and the south. Return and seek out the Heretical splinter group. Only then can you start to heal the terrible wounds on this side of the world.”
Tristan nodded. “Somehow I will find a way,” he answered.
As he held her, he saw a tear leave Hoskiko’s eye. She weakly reached up to touch his face.
“You are the firstJin’Sai to reach us,” she said softly. “And now that you have, we failed you. There is so much that we had planned to tell you-so much that you and your sister deserve to know.” As Hoskiko coughed again, Tristan could see that she was nearing the end.
“The rebel group you seek is called the League of Whispers,” she said. “That is all I can tell you about them, because only Faxon knew their many secrets. But before I die, there is something else that you should know. It’s about your parents, Nicholas and Morganna. They weren’t…” She gasped. “They weren’t…”
His eyes wide with anticipation, Tristan clutched Hoskiko harder. “They weren’twhat?” he shouted. But then Hoskiko closed her eyes, and her head fell to one side.
He knelt there for too long, mourning the loss of the Envoys and wondering what Hoskiko might have told him about his late parents. Then the rumbling noises started, and they suddenly brought him back to reality. He gently placed Hoskiko’s body on the floor and quickly turned to look out the gaping hole in the wall.
The Borderlands were forming.
Tristan stood aghast as he watched the sky darken. Suddenly the ground shook violently, and Crysenium trembled with it. To his horror, the distant earth was starting to heave itself upward into dozens of volcanic cones. As more cones erupted, they started forming a path toward Crysenium.
The dark cones erupted so quickly that they rose to maturity in a matter of seconds. With their coming, Crysenium shook even more violently, and part of the meeting room ceiling came crashing down.
On reaching their complete heights, all the volcanoes erupted into raging infernos, spewing tons of ash and molten lava into the air. As the lava cascaded down their dark sides and poured across the valley, it immediately vaporized everything it touched. In only moments it would engulf the entire structure.
For the last time, Tristan looked at the other dead Envoys, then back down at Hoskiko. She seemed peaceful, and finally at rest. Leaving the room, he tore down the hallway as fast as he could.
By now Shadow had become nearly mad with fear. Tristan ran across the shattered floor and untied the stallion. He threw himself up into the saddle just as the molten lava touched one of Crysenium’s outside walls.
With a mighty explosion, the crystalline wall burst into flames and crumbled inward, allowing the lava to invade the room. Several columns crashed down, narrowly missing Tristan and Shadow. As lava washed across the shattered floor, Tristan wheeled Shadow around. Praying that it would still work, Tristan called on his Forestallment.
The azure mist blessedly appeared, but he knew it wouldn’t last long. Spurring Shadow for all he was worth,
