CHAPTER XVI
AS HE WATCHED ENVELOPERS BY THE HUNDREDS UNDULATEtheir velvety sides, Reznik smiled. At first, traveling this way had seemed frightening.
He would have preferred sailing in comfort, aboard one of Serena’s war frigates. But the Citadel queen had ordered what remained of her fleet, manned by some of the consuls who had remained behind with her, to sail west and search for theJin’Sai ’s Black Ships.
At first she considered ordering the envelopers to perform the search, for they could range faster than her frigates. But Serena decided on her ships for the job, because her envelopers could not detect endowed blood. Most of her envelopers had stayed behind, guarding her island fortress from above.
As always, Reznik had been given no choice but to agree with his queen’s dictates. But as his confidence grew in the envelopers’ abilities, he soon enjoyed being carried through the sky.
Looking down, he watched the Sea of Whispers pass beneath him as its restless waves crashed against the Parthalonian coast. He hungrily breathed in the bracing sea air. Looking west, he saw that night would soon fall.
His group had been traveling north for eight hours, continually hugging the shoreline to avoid Necrophagian territory. This course also lessened the chances that they might meet theJin’Sai ’s fleet. Reznik’s impending experiments were paramount to the Heretics’ plans and had to be protected at all costs.
Reznik again regarded the hundreds of envelopers surrounding him. Despite their closeness, he could barely see them for their clever camouflage. Their backs were the color of the ever-shifting sea; their undersides perfectly mimicked the cloudy sky. Shaking his head, he marveled at them.
Many more enveloper pairs flew nearby. Between each pair stretched an azure net filled with supplies. Each net’s opposite sides were held fast to the envelopers’ backs by an especially clever spell. The elaborate spell calculations had been Einar’s handiwork, with Reznik consulting. Sitting on a net between another enveloper pair, Einar flew along beside him.
Reznik turned to look rearward. Dozens more camouflaged envelopers followed, each pair also connected by a net. More blue-robed consuls and Valrenkians sat in the nets, as did the various craft tools and treatises needed to conduct their experiments. Between another enveloper pair lay the consummately precious Scroll of the Vagaries. Reznik had cringed when he learned how it was to be transported. But as his fears for his personal safety subsided, so too did his concern for the scroll.
Waving an arm, Einar ordered a course change. Avoiding the port town of Everstill, the thousands of envelopers turned east. Soon they crossed the shoreline to go soaring over Parthalon proper. As green fields stretched beneath them, the envelopers’ backs quickly changed to mimic the new terrain.
Soon we will reach the great lake, Reznik thought. If things go as expected, Parthalon will be ours. The greedy partial adept could hardly wait. Grinning, he eagerly rubbed his hands together.
An hour later, Reznik could distinguish a huge lake lying in the distance. To his relief, he had seen no Parthalonians. That was welcome, because they wanted no alarms to go out. For the time being their mission was secret, but that would soon change.
Before the group departed, Serena and Einar had told him about the lake, and why it was so important. Even so, he was surprised by its massiveness. Its cold depths were said to be bottomless. As the envelopers descended, it came into better focus.
The lake’s waters were dark, and its shoreline highly irregular. A light breeze rippled its surface. Approaching from the west, Serena’s forces had also purposely avoided Trinity Downes, the town situated on the lake’s southern shore.
Waving a hand again, Einar ordered his envelopers to land at a spot on the western shore. No Parthalonians were about. As darkness fell in earnest, Einar, Reznik, and the handpicked consuls and Valrenkians jumped from their nets to the ground.
Einar pointed one hand toward the envelopers and relieved them of their nets and cargoes. In a flash they soared skyward. Their soft undersides quickly blended into the night, replete with perfectly simulated clouds and stars. Reznik looked back at Einar.
“It is time to bring them,” the consul said.
“How can you be sure that they have all gathered here, in one place?” Reznik asked.
“Queen Serena has made it so,” Einar answered. “Failee, First Mistress of the Coven of Sorceresses, was the one who first conjured these creatures. In her madness, she did so purely as an act of vengeance, in the event that her try to convert Princess Shailiha to be her fifth sorceress failed and caused her death. With her demise, these creatures would be unleashed in retribution upon the Parthalonians. The prince and Wigg defeated the Coven, killing the four sorceresses, and Failee’s spell was soon activated.” Pausing to gaze at the lake, Einar slipped his hands into opposite robe sleeves.
“With the beasts’ arrivals, pristine lakes suddenly sprang up all over Parthalon, to provide them refuge as they went about their grisly business,” he added. “The violent legacy Failee so painstakingly bequeathed to the world has been ravaging Parthalon ever since and fulfilling her warped sense of vengeance. The beasts’ numbers soon became so great that even the Minions occupying the newly rebuilt Recluse have been largely ineffective at controlling them. They breed so quickly that there are more than ever before. They survive by feeding off terrified citizens.”
“Why hasn’t theJin’Sai exterminated them?” Reznik asked. “To us, the people living here are little more than unendowed cattle. But Tristan’s misguided love of the Vigors forces him to care for them, does it not? Should he summon all of his forces here, even beasts in these numbers could not prevail.”
Einar smiled evilly. “That is true,” he answered. “But the prince and his wizards have been exceptionally busy of late-first with Nicholas, then Wulfgar, and now the Darkling. They have had little time for such lesser matters.” Smiling, Einar turned his attention to the crowd as a whole.
Happily, and in a louder tone, he announced, “As you will soon see, Failee’s hateful legacy is about to become our gain. Her creations are perfect for our plans.”
Scowling, Reznik bristled at not being told these things sooner. Serena had told him that, in the interests of security, Einar would inform him as events unfolded.
As the specially selected consuls and Valrenkians stood by, Einar lowered the hood of his robe. His expression was calm, bordering on smugness. Clearly, Einar was the only mystic Serena trusted with all the puzzle’s pieces, and he reveled in it. But the clever Valrenkian was starting to put those same pieces together for himself.
“It must be a powerful spell that can both collect the beasts and bind them to our wishes,” Reznik mused. “How did our queen come by it?”
Einar smiled in the darkness. The wind stirred, rippling the lake surface. A small portent of things to come? Reznik wondered.
“Can’t you guess?” Einar asked back.
Suddenly Reznik understood. He smiled. “I know that Failee possessed the Vagaries scroll during her exile here in Parthalon-at least for a while,” he answered. “The spells allowing the beasts’ creation and control over them must have come from it.”
“Precisely,” Einar answered. “Now the scroll is ours. Thanks to her ability to commune with the Heretics, Serena also possesses the scroll’s index, allowing her to choose the Vagaries Forestallments at will. As the Heretics revealed their plan to her, she realized that these creatures would be of great use to us. After indexing the scroll she invoked the needed formula. Her gifts have become so strong that she can activate spells over vast distances. At her command, all of Failee’s beasts have converged here. This lake is the only landlocked water body large enough to hide them all. Our queen’s timing is perfect. Because theJin’Sai travels with the Darkling, the Conclave is confused, and fearful for his existence. As a result, they will be slow to act.”
Einar smiled. “They have every right to fear for their preciousJin’Sai, ” Einar added. “The Darkling takes him to a place from where he might never return.”
“There are many things that you and the Citadel queen understand, but have yet to divulge,” Reznik pressed. “Why does the Darkling lead Tristan to the azure pass?”
