Slowly, the flames died, leaving a mass of charred ubias in their wake. And a new wave of vines passed over the remnants of the others. Again, the Uloans retreated before the onrushing horde of ubias. And a new enemy emerged as tendrils from rapidly growing mwiti roots erupted from the ground and coiled around the Uloans’ ankles and up their legs.
Overcome by a sense of futility, some of the Uloans simply ceased their struggles and allowed the plants to pull them down. Others continued to fight for their lives, even as the water of the ocean lapped at their heels.
“Legaba! Legaba! Save we!” many of them shouted, even though they knew their god no longer heard them.
Others uttered screams of rage and despair. And still others bore their fate in bitter silence. The end of their existence was in sight ... but so, on the horizon of the sea, was something else.
Awiwi was the first to spot what was drawing closer to them.
“Ships!” she shouted, her voice soaring above the din. “Ships! Them come back to save we!”
The other Uloans turned and looked to the sea. At the sight of the line of ships in the distance, they let out a long shout of relief and joy. But the cries of elation died in their throats when they realized the ships were not Uloan after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Tiyana’s Task
1
Pel Muldure was glad to have a deck rocking beneath his feet again – even if it was the unfamiliar planks of a Matile vessel, sailing in the equally unfamiliar waters between the Abengoni mainland and the Uloan Islands. His White Gull had been damaged beyond any hope of repair during the battle against the Uloans. So had most of the Matiles’ ships. Much of the time between then and now had been spent repairing the ships that were salvageable and building others from scratch. The scuttled remains of the White Gull rested on the cluttered bottom of Khambawe’s harbor, along with many of Muldure’s regrets.
Muldure and some of his crew members who were knowledgeable about the ship-building craft had offered suggestions to their Matile counterparts as they worked. Some of the Fidis’ suggestions were accepted; others politely disregarded. The vessel Muldure now helmed, the Amdwa, combined Matile and Fiadolian design concepts. Newly built, it was the flagship of the Matiles’ refurbished war fleet. As such, the Amdwa was destined to carry the revitalized Empire’s war-commanders, and even Emperors, into future battles.
This time, however, the ship carried neither Gebrem nor Kyroun, only Tiyana and a group of other Almovaad Initiates, as well as soldiers. The rest of the sea-craft in the flotilla also held complements of Adepts and Acolytes who were proficient in the use of the magic provided by Almovaar. For the entire voyage, both the seasoned and novice Almovaads had engaged in intense preparations for what they intended to do once they arrived at the islands. Strangely, the ships carried only a minimum number of fighting-men.
Now, across the water that separated the ships from Jayaya, Muldure could see tiny figures, barely discernable as human at that distance, engaged in a desperate – and apparently futile – struggle against foes he could not make out. Many of the people were already in the water, as though something was striving to push them into the sea’s embrace. But he couldn’t make out the enemies they were fighting. He could only see that the islanders were being driven ever-deeper into the water.
Muldure shook his head in bewilderment as he considered what he was seeing on the island, as well as what had occurred in Khambawe in the days before the flotilla had set out.
“Hardly any soldiers,” he muttered. “No weapons to speak of. And a foe that is already beaten. What the hell kind of ‘invasion’ is this, anyway?”
At his side, Lyann shrugged.
“How do you know it’s supposed to be an ‘invasion’ in the first place?” she asked.
Now it was Muldure’s turn to shrug. The rulers of Khambawe had not informed him of the details of the mission to the Uloans’ homeland. Along with the captains of the Matile ships, he had been told only that the Emperor and the Seer had decided the time had come to put an ultimate end to the conflict between the mainlanders and the islanders.
But no one outside the inner circle of Almovaad Adepts knew what that end would be, nor how it was expected to be accomplished ...
Behind the captain and the first mate, the crew – half of which was Fiadolian and the rest Matile – toiled at tasks such as furling the Amdwa’s sails and securing its anchor. Shouts and curses in two languages accompanied the work.
Muldure chuckled as he listened to the chorus of complaints.
Sailors will be sailors wherever they are, he mused.
Tiyana and her fellow Adepts were still in the ship’s main cabin, just as Kyroun had been when the White Gull entered Khambawe’s harbor. With the Matile woman, however, Muldure experienced none of the uneasiness the Seer had always inspired. Despite the new power Tiyana had acquired, to Muldure’s mind she was still the vulnerable young woman who had first come aboard the White Gull to give aid to strangers in need.
A stiff sea-breeze stirred the single strand of beads in Lyann’s hair as she followed Muldure’s gaze toward the island. Jayaya differed little from the thousands of other islands she had seen during her travels in the seas off Cym Dinath. But she had never before seen vegetation that swayed against the wind ...
“Whatever Tiyana plans on doing, she’d better do it now,” Muldure said. “It looks like those people are going to drown before we get to them.”
Lyann nodded agreement.
A moment later, the cabin door opened. From it, Tiyana, Byallis, and a half-dozen other Initiates emerged and strode across the deck. On the way, Tiyana’s eyes met Muldure’s, but only briefly. After that brief contact, she looked straight ahead as she led the
