“All right, and what’s the second challenge?” I asked.
“Arr, well, you only get to take on the second challenge if you make it to the final sections of the tunnels. That last section you have to navigate underwater. If you can hold your breath for five minutes, and you get the route right the first time, you have a chance of making it. That’s a big bloody if, though; one wrong turn and you drown in the darkness.”
“I like those odds,” I said cheerfully. “And the third challenge?”
Captain Thegramm roared with booming belly laughter. “Arr, I can see why you have so many bloody followers, God of Death! You’ve at least got a sense of humor, you do, unlike the bloody Lord of Light with that warship mast shoved so far up his arse he’s got splinters in the roof of his mouth! Ha! The third challenge is perhaps easier than the previous two, but then again, if you’re exhausted and disoriented from overcoming the previous two challenges, you might be too spent to fight ‘em off … and they’ll eat you then. Especially if it’s after dark.”
“What will eat me?”
He pointed at Talon. “Those bloody things. Harpies. The underwater tunnel comes out in on Prandish soil in a cave at the base of a series of mighty vertical cliffs. And those cliffs are full of harpies. It’s one thing trying to scale sheer vertical rock walls almost a mile high even on a good day; try doing it with those horrid things swooping around and trying to pluck you off the cliff like a ripe grape for their dinner. I don’t know how you tamed this one, but they’re vicious, bloodthirsty beasts, they are.”
“Oh, she’s not tame, she’s undead.”
Thegramm cocked his head and raised an eyebrow with surprise. “An undead harpy, you say … blimey, you see something wondrous every day on the High Seas!”
I thanked Thegramm for his help and bade him and his crew farewell; he’d told me all I needed to know. I flew back to the Death Ship and explained to my party what Thegramm had told me.
“I can’t say I’m surprised about what Elandriel’s doing,” Rollar said. “He’s nothing if not thorough, and he seems to be doing his utmost to make sure you can’t get back onto Prandish soil, and even if you do eventually manage it, that by that time it’ll be too late, with Brakith razed to the ground and the Temple of Necrosis outlawed and destroyed.”
“I know, he’s doing all he can to stop me, but like Thegramm said, there is a way.”
Percy frowned and shook his head. “Cap’n Chauzec, I know you’re capable of great things—I mean, you did get us and the ship through the most brutal storm I’ve ever seen at sea—but the Black Passage is another challenge altogether, and not one to be taken lightly.”
“It’s our only way onto Prandish soil,” I said resolutely. “I’m not going to float out here on the ocean like a lost turd in a river while Elandriel destroys my temple, burns my home to the ground, enslaves my people and becomes the living incarnation of the Blood God. I’ll do whatever the hell it takes to take Elandriel and the Blood God down, and save Brakith and its people.”
“So we’re definitely going through the Black Passage then?” Percy asked.
“You’re damn right we are,” I said. “Rami-Xayon, call up your wind and fill these sails! Percy, steer us toward Castle Island! We’re going cave diving…”
Chapter Eleven
We saw the harpies long before we saw Castle Island. After my encounter with Captain Thegramm the rest of the voyage took us less than a week, thanks to a relatively smooth ocean, clear weather, and the potent, constant wind in our sails courtesy of Rami-Xayon. Before we even got within sight of the Prandish continent, though, we saw flocks of huge flying creatures, far bigger than any bird, darkening the horizon. A quick scouting flight with Talon confirmed that what we were looking at were harpies—hundreds of them.
“I wonder how long it’s been since that pirate captain was anywhere near this island,” Rollar muttered, staring with narrowed eyes and a grim expression on his face at the swirling black clouds of harpies. “He seemed to think that the harpies would be the least deadly of the challenges, but perhaps there were far fewer when he was last there. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen so many of the damn things in one place before. And one of ‘em is hard enough to kill, never mind a few hundred. I don’t like the look of that flock of hellspawn, Lord Vance, I don’t like it at all.”
“I like it, Rollar, I like it a lot,” I said, a smile slowly breaking across my face as I stared at the ominous sight of the flock of harpies. “The past few days I’ve been racking my brain on how to handle two simultaneous situations that are hundreds of miles apart, and now I think I have my answer.”
“Wait, you’re not going to…” Rollar murmured, his eyes widening with surprise.
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Rollar, you’re a Death Knight now, and you need to start thinking like a necromancer. That flock of vicious harpies in the distance doesn’t represent a threat. Well, okay, they do in the immediate sense of the word. But more than that, they represent an opportunity. Every time we encounter a large body of enemies, I don’t just see men, beasts, or monsters we have to fight and kill.
