“IS THERE STILL NO NEWS OF KHRISTOS?” SHAILIHA ASKED.
“No, Your Highness,” Traax answered. “Night Witch patrols continue to scan Eutracia’s rivers from the air, but there has been no sign of him or his servants. Mashiro suspects that as long as the enemy remains submerged, Failee’s original spell will provide them with sustenance. If that is true, they have no need to surface until they wish to attack. They lurked beneath the water for three centuries before emerging to take the First Mistress’s revenge. Staying submerged for mere days at a time must be a comparatively simple feat.”
The hour was late and Shailiha was tired. Even so, she demanded that her Conclave members meet again to discuss the ongoing situation. This would be the last briefing of the day, and for that she was glad.
Khristos’ ability to raze Tammerland and to set fire to one of the Black Ships and nearly steal the other had enraged every Conclave member. The loss of theIllendium had been disastrous, and many days would pass before theCavalon would again be airworthy. With her two Black Ships unavailable and yet more Minions dead, Shailiha’s ability to fight Khristos had been severely compromised.
Moreover, her physical condition still plagued her. Her facial skin was healing, but her body ached badly from the effects of the viper venom, causing her to move like a woman twice her age. The vision in her left eye had improved slightly, but not enough to persuade her that it would ever return to normal. It will take time, Mashiro had told Faegan, and she clung to that belief. Of necessity she still wore the black eye patch, and by now everyone in the palace had grown accustomed to its presence. At least there is that, she thought.
Faegan, Traax, Aeolus, and Adrian sat with her at the mahogany table in the Conclave meeting room, deep in the Redoubt. It was not the first time that the remaining members had gathered since their friends had left for Shashida. Even so, the empty chairs still lent the room a desolate feel, and the chair that had once been Abbey’s seemed the most forlorn of all.
Sighing, Faegan placed his forearms on the highly polished table. “We can do little but wait, Princess,” he said. “We should continue to send out Night Witch patrols, but because our enemies can hide in the rivers, the likelihood of finding them before they again emerge is not great.”
Sadly, Shailiha was forced to agree. In Tristan’s absence she ruled Eutracia, but her inability to act was frustrating. She knew that if Tristan were still there, he would be equally stymied, and the advice being offered to him would be identical. Unlike her twin brother, the princess more carefully considered her options before acting. But because those options were so few, she was finding it increasingly difficult to stifle the same kind of impetuousness that characterized theJin’Sai.
Just then Faegan gave her a strange look, and she realized that he was staring not at her face, but at the gold medallion hanging around her neck. She looked down to see that it was glowing. Tristan! she thought. He’s reaching out to me from Shashida.
Rather than turn over the medallion, Shailiha hesitated. Tristan and the other Conclave members had yet to see her since she was injured. As at the moment when Morganna first saw her injured face, she worried about how they would react-especially her brother. The last thing she wanted from them was their pity. As the medallion continued to glow, she looked into Faegan’s eyes.
The crippled wizard reached out to pat her hand.
“He’s your brother,” he said. “He worries for you, as they all do. It is best that you put this behind you.”
Shailiha nodded, then turned over the medallion so that everyone around the table might see into it. Her first viewing of theInkai meeting room and the many people there took her breath away.
WHEN TRISTAN SAW HIS SISTER, HE FELT HIS HEART BREAK. He knew that she had been injured, but seeing her that way greatly disturbed him just the same. He knew that there was no use in speaking to her, so he tried to give his best smile of support.
“Has contact been established?” Mashiro asked.
“Yes,” Tristan answered.
“Please remove the medallion and place it on the meeting table,” theInkai elder said.
Tristan gave Mashiro a questioning look. “It was my understanding that the medallion must be worn by one of endowed blood to do its work,” he said.
Mashiro smiled. “That is no longer altogether true,” he said.
Tristan removed the medallion and placed it face up on the table. At once Mashiro caused the medallion to levitate about two feet above the table. Then the gold disc and its chain started to spin. Faster and faster they went until they became only a blur, then disappeared altogether.
In their place appeared another representation of what Tristan had seen in the medallion, but this time the scene was far larger. The images of the people sitting at the Redoubt table had become life-sized. Amazed, Tristan turned to gape at Mashiro.
“How did you do this?” he breathed.
“We altered the spells that Miriam cast over your medallions before she died,” he answered. “It took our craft researchers some doing, I can assure you.”
Tristan looked back at the scene floating before his eyes. The new image was about two yards broad by one yard high. It was so clear and sharp that Tristan felt he was there in the Redoubt and could actually reach out and touch his sister’s ravaged face. As he looked closer, he saw that the far wider scope of the new image allowed him to see everyone in the Redoubt chamber at once. Every Conclave member’s face wore an equally amazed expression. Because the new image floated above theInkai meeting table, everyone could see it easily.
“Has their view of us been similarly changed?” Tristan asked.
“Yes,” Mashiro answered. “This was made possible because Shailiha’s medallion is an exact duplicate of yours, created by the craft while she was imprisoned by the Coven of Sorceresses. Because of its origins, an enchanted connection has always existed between them. Miriam simply brought it to life, then we enhanced it. Now when either of you calls the needed spell, your medallions will create enlarged views, and they will not have to leave your bodies to do so.”
Still amazed, Tristan looked over at Mashiro. “I wish to communicate with her,” he said, “but I will need paper and ink to do so. May I be given some?”
Mashiro shook his head. “You won’t need them,” he said.
Wigg’s eyes narrowed and he leaned over the tabletop. “Do you mean to say-”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Mashiro answered.
Before Wigg could reply, Mashiro closed his eyes and called the craft. At once the image floating over the table glowed brighter, then blurred for several moments. When the scene came back into focus, Tristan heard an eerily familiar sound that did not originate from theInkai meeting chamber. He soon realized that it was the crackling of the burning logs in the Redoubt fireplace, far on the other side of the world. Mouth agape, he sat back in his chair.
“I beg the Afterlife!” he breathed. “I can hear them!”
Mashiro nodded. “That’s right, Jin’Sai, ” he said, “and they can hear us. Please accept these augmentations to your and your sister’s medallions as humble gifts from theChikara Inkai. ”
When she unexpectedly heard her brother’s voice, Shailiha reacted with a start. Faegan, Aeolus, Traax, and Adrian seemed similarly stunned.
“Tristan…?” Shailiha said.
“I’m here,” he answered. “TheChikara Inkai has augmented our medallions so that we may now also hear each other. I find the effect as amazing as you do.”
Pausing for a moment, Tristan looked sadly into his sister’s eyes. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly.
At first Shailiha didn’t answer. After pausing for a moment she bravely lifted her eye patch for all to see, then she put it back in place. A quick rush of air left Tristan’s lungs, but he did his best to stifle his shock.
“My vision is a bit better,” Shailiha answered. “On behalf of all of us, I wish to offer our condolences on the death of Abbey. We all miss her.”
Shailiha then cast her handicapped gaze about theInkai chamber and looked at each of the members in turn. “Which of you is Mashiro?” she asked.
Mashiro stood and bowed. “My apologies, Princess,” he said. “I should have made the needed introductions sooner. Please allow me to correct my mistake.”
Mashiro asked theInkai members to stand one by one. As they did, he introduced them to the Conclave members watching from so far away. When he finished, Shailiha did the same for her followers. Because of the
