death had suffered horribly before being killed.
Faegan looked down at her face with bleary eyes. The herbmistress and partial adept had been instrumental in defeating Wulfgar and Serena, and in ensuring that the Vigors had not perished from the earth. Many of the people gathered here owed their lives to her several times over. She had been a handsome woman, with long dark hair lightly streaked with gray, a strong jaw, and a shapely figure. The only partial adept on the Conclave, her specialized use of the craft would be sorely missed. Faegan had enhanced her time enchantments so that her body would not immediately fall to dust, even though she had been more than three centuries old. Raising his head, Faegan looked out across the carnage-ridden neighborhood.
Wigg will be inconsolable, he thought. Because I am his oldest friend, the grim burden of telling him should fall to me. But how does one do such a thing?
Just then Faegan saw a Minion warrior approaching in the night sky. As the warrior neared, the wizard saw that he carried someone, the victim’s arms and legs dangling lifelessly earthward. On finally recognizing the warrior and his charge, Faegan’s blood ran cold.
Traax landed before the crowd and quickly handed the princess over to Aeolus.
“You must help her!” he shouted urgently.
As Aeolus and Faegan stared in horror at Shailiha, the blood drained from their faces. “What happened to her?” Faegan demanded.
“She was struck by viper venom!” Traax answered. “It continues to burn her even now! But I fear that her eye took the worst of it!”
“Hand her to me!” Faegan shouted.
As Aeolus quickly laid the princess in Faegan’s lap, Faegan looked at the burns and pockmarks on her face. Calling the craft straightaway, he induced a spell over the venom to try to stop it from doing further damage. He also called another spell to help control her pain and to keep her unconscious. Then he carefully lifted the damaged lid of her left eye. He closed his own eyes and bowed his head in sorrow.
“How bad is it?” Aeolus demanded.
“Very bad, I fear,” Faegan answered. “We might be able to help her, but to do so we must hurry back to the palace. There is no time to lose!”
Seeing Abbey’s corpse for the first time, Traax took a sharp breath. “Is she-?”
“Yes,” Faegan answered. “We can no longer help her. Shailiha is now our greatest worry. Summon a litter at once! Half of our forces will remain here and continue to quell the fires and help the wounded as best they can. The rest of our warriors will accompany us home. Duvessa and her group will remain here as well. Go and give the orders! We must leave now!”
As Traax hurried off, Faegan reached down and removed the gold medallion from Shailiha’s person and placed it around his neck. After doing so, he sadly rocked the princess in his arms, just as he might cradle a child who had been taken mortally ill.
“Why did you take her medallion?” Aeolus asked quietly.
“I did it for both Tristan’s and Shailiha’s sakes,” Faegan answered. “There is no telling when Tristan might again use his medallion to contact his sister. Do you want his next glimpse of her to be like this?”
“I understand,” Aeolus answered. “But doesn’t Shailiha need to be wearing the medallion for it to work?”
Faegan shook his head. “No,” he answered. “The needed spell is contained in the two medallions, not in their wearers’ blood. That is why the Ones cautioned Tristan so strongly about not letting the medallions fall into the wrong hands.”
“And you know how to call the spell?” Aeolus asked.
Before answering, Faegan cradled the stricken princess closer. “Yes,” he answered simply. “We can only hope that Tristan does not contact us before we have had some time to try and help her.”
Just then a litter arrived, its six stout warriors landing it quickly before the hushed crowd. With Shailiha still lying in his lap, Faegan levitated his chair up and over the litter’s sides. Aeolus joined him, and before they knew it they were soaring through the air toward the royal palace.
As the litter gained speed, Faegan looked down at the stricken princess’s face, then back toward the fires that were finally starting to come under control. Keeping pace alongside, Traax and half the exhausted Minion survivors accompanied the two wizards and their fallen leader. As they hurried on, Faegan sadly closed his eyes.
You have won this day, Khristos, he thought. We killed many of your vipers, but Abbey is dead and the Jin’Saiouwill likely never be the same again. If it is the last thing I ever do, I will hunt you down and kill you, I swear it. But where were you this night, you bastard product of the Vagaries? If attacking Tammerland was so important, why weren’t you there, leading your vipers?
All at once the terrifying realization hit him, and Faegan took a sharp breath. Looking over at Traax, he barked out new orders as fast as he could.
THE MINION SENTRIES DIED QUIETLY. AFTER SLITHERINGon their bellies up the banks of the Sippora, Khristos’ vipers had quietly flanked the camp. They then closed the circle to surprise and kill the unsuspecting sentries by first blinding them with their venom and then slitting their throats. Some of the warriors had seen them coming and fought back, but the several hundred Minions were no match for the thousands of Blood Vipers that commanded the element of surprise. Confident that the palace had not been alerted, Khristos again motioned for his vipers to slither their way through the dewy grass toward his next targets.
Watching from the safety of the camp, the Viper Lord wished he was going with them. But he would hold back where he could not be seen from the palace’s parapets. Nor could he use his silver staff to help his servants kill the Minions guarding the Black Ships, for that would certainly cause uproar among those warriors guarding the palace. While he stood alone among the Minion dead, his servants expertly went about his bidding.
Fifty warriors patrolled the area surrounding the two Black Ships, and they died as quickly and as quietly as had their more numerous brothers who had guarded the war camp. When one of his lead vipers slithered back to whisper news of their success, the Viper Lord rushed to where the others waited for him. As he looked up at the great ships, he knew that he must hurry in his mission, for once it started, those Minions left behind to guard the palace would surely see what was happening and attack him.
TheCavalon and theIllendium rested peacefully in their massive wooden cradles, their hulls and masts twinkling beautifully in the night. Deciding to steal theIllendium, Khristos ordered his vipers to stealthily board her in the darkness. Silently slithering their way up the cradle spars, the thousands of monsters took possession of the great ship.
Once they had all boarded, Khristos would remain on the ground as he empowered the ship into the air. Only after he had taken theIllendium a safe distance away from the palace grounds would he set fire to its mate, then fly through the air and land on theIllendium ’s topside to spirit her away. Those vipers that had secretly left the battle in Tammerland to slink back into the Sippora had been ordered to travel submerged downriver. Only after they were well away from Tammerland would they again surface to meet and board the piratedIllendium. Satisfied that his vipers would soon be aboard his new flagship, Khristos turned his attention to theCavalon.
She was equally beautiful, and in a strange way he almost regretted having to destroy her. Knowing that he must hurry, he looked back at theIllendium to see one of his lead vipers signal that all his servants had boarded, and he smiled when he saw their huge numbers crowding the gunwales and slithering quickly up the masts. With no time to lose, he raised his arms and called the craft.
At once theIllendium ’s black and red dark sails tumbled free of their spars. Expertly manipulating the craft, Khristos then summoned the first of the powerful forces that would lift the great ship and send her skyward. Her hull groaning and her masts straining against the pull of the sails, she slowly left her cradle to rise into the night air. Moving his hands, he expertly guided her to a safe distance from theCavalon, then set her hovering. With theIllendium airborne, he again gathered up his power to finish off theCavalon.
Raising his silver staff, Khristos pointed it at the great ship. Because of the many enchantments used by her builders to protect her, setting her afire would not be a simple feat, but once she started burning, her ages-old timbers would become a raging inferno. Summoning all his remaining power while also causing theIllendium to hover, he loosed the first azure bolt from the tip of his staff.
AS FAEGAN AND AEOLUS NEARED THE PALACE AND SAW THEfirst of Khristos’ bolts strike theCavalon, their worst fears were confirmed. How could we have been so blind? Faegan asked himself. Cursing the heavens, he
