Thromar jerked his head so sharply that water hurled from his soaked hair. 'Brolark!' he cursed. 'I don't understand. I thought Pembroke worked for Zackaron!'
'For many years,' Moknay replied with a curious grin. 'For too many. I'd guess Pembroke thinks the Jewel is his. He doesn't even recognize his master.'
Servant-boy, Logan's mind hissed. Servant-boy.
Pembroke scuttled like a lizard down the hill and into the mud. He eagerly grabbed the blazing Jewel and unsheathed his Triblade, facing his dark-eyed master. Both men ignored the lightning and the shifting earth as they peered at one another through the tempest.
'Who are you?' questioned Zackaron.
'He is Pembroke!' the lithe servant replied. 'Pembroke is father of this Child. Infant of Pembroke and the multiverse, she is!'
Logan glanced back at his horse that pawed at the sodden path. Pembroke had been lurking nearby all this time! the young man realized. It had been the servant's radiation of fear that had been affecting the horses-not the magical duel or the unnatural storm.
'I still don't get it,' Thromar mumbled beside him.
Logan ignored the fighter and turned his gaze toward the sky. The black clouds were churning and boiling like an angry sea, and lightning constantly pierced the darkness. They were wasting precious time, he noted. The Wheel was tilting farther and farther with each passing second as more and more energy escaped from the Jewel.
'Return what you have taken!' Zackaron commanded Pembroke. 'It is mine.'
'No! No! Mine!' the servant spat. 'My Jewel!'
The bedraggled servant's shriek stabbed through Logan's mind, and all the horses skittered backwards nervously. The mountains also quivered in fear as the ground continued its gradual shift.
A yowling bolt of magic vomited from Zackaron's fingertips. Silver glinted in the downpour as Pembroke knocked the mystical blow aside with his Triblade. There was an abrupt shout amidst the chaos and Groathit flung himself at Pembroke. The wiry servant screamed in rage and surprise as they splashed into the mire.
You must remember, a rasping, disembodied voice whispered, Pembroke was Zackaron's servant-boy.
Logan wheeled toward the source of the voice, and his blue eyes locked on his yellow-and-green mount shaking its head in the rain. A sudden daze sunk its fangs into the young man's neck, and all the blood drained out of his face.
'Friend,' Moknay asked, noticing him go pale, 'are you all right?'
Still dazed, Logan's lips said, 'We need the Jewel.'
Moknay raised an eyebrow at the entranced young man. 'Huh?'
Logan broke free of his trance and grabbed Moknay by the front of his shirt. 'We need the Jewel!' he shouted frantically. 'The Wheel is tilting!'
'We know that, friend-Logan,' Thromar said, trying to soothe him, 'but we're powerless to prevent it.'
Mud squished underfoot as Logan turned on the fighter. 'I've had the ability all along!' he yelled. 'We need the goddamn Jewel!'
The heavens screamed as if torn apart.
Moknay fixed his steel-grey eyes on the forms struggling through the storm. Cataracts of mud spilled from the mountain peaks, and precariously set boulders began to sway as the Hills shuddered.
'You need the Jewel?' he asked.
Logan nodded his head desperately.
Moknay took a cautious step forward. 'I'll do what I can.'
Groathit ducked under the jagged point of the Triblade and reached for the mud-concealed Jewel. 'The Deils take you, Vaugen!' he cursed. 'Order your men to help!'
'Order your men to help!' parroted Zackaron, sliding further into his madness as he grappled for the blazing gemstone.
The black-chestplated Imperator swung on his men. 'You heard him!' he barked. 'You four! Aid the spellcaster! Get that Jewel at all costs!'
As the quartet of warriors dismounted, Moknay slid through the shadows of the mountains toward the battle. His fear of magic swirled in his eyes as he spotted the filth-smeared Jewel and crept forward. A misguided shaft of sorcery exploded behind his head and the Murderer cursed as he dodged forward. Mud, wind, rain, lightning, and tremors all worked against him as Moknay rose into a crouch and started forward again.
Thromar watched apprehensively, gnawing on his lower lip; Logan scrambled to his horse.
The four rain-spattered Reakthi jogged around the struggling forms. One released a cry as Pembroke's Triblade winked silver and neatly severed the soldier's foot from his ankle. In a splatter of blood-mingled mud, the Reakthi pitched forward and fell screaming into the slime. His companions swiftly scampered backwards, pelted by the insistent rainfall.
'The Jewel!' Groathit was cursing them. 'Get the Jewel, you fools!'
Moknay gave the storm-torn sky a worried glance and charged headlong for the gleaming Jewel. He glimpsed back at his friends and saw Logan wading through the sludge toward him. A sword almost took off the Murderer's head as he swung back around and narrowly ducked under the blade. The Reakthi who had attacked toppled off balance, deceived by the treacherous mud. Lightning whined through the black stormclouds as Moknay attempted the dive for the Jewel but also lost his traction.
The Hills seemed to crumble beneath them as the tremors intensified.
'Moknay!' Logan was screaming. 'The Jewel! Get it!'
One of the remaining Reakthi reached down for the glaring gem when a magnificent funnel of energy spiraled heavenward. The chestplated soldier was knocked backwards by the eruption, and a searing, magical wind tore at Moknay as he inched nearer to the scintillating Jewel.
A boulder rumbled down the hill and crashed over the side; lightning illuminated its route.
The world moaned as if dying.
'Moknay!' came Logan's voice again.
The Murderer gave the flaming Jewel a suspicious stare. His fear was even stronger than back in Plestenah when they had gone across the bridge. And with good reason! The Jewel had not been traitorously spewing columns of Cosmic fire!
Moknay swallowed his fear and lunged.
'Logan! Catch!' he yelled, throwing the Jewel high into the rain-filled air as soon as his fingers clamped around it.
Time was suspended as the glaring Jewel spun through the tempest. Vaugen, Groathit, Pembroke, Zackaron, Thromar, and all the Reakthi stared in hushed awe as the incandescent gem spiraled through the rain on its way toward Logan.
The Hills rumbled and thunder shattered the sky as the Jewel splashed at Logan's feet. Hastily, Logan flipped open the lid of the tin he held in his hand and gathered a handful of the bluish powder inside. A dense fog of blue energy spumed up around the young man as he smothered the blazing Jewel with the foul-smelling dust, and a lightning bolt shrieked in protest.
The Hills dimmed as the golden flame of the Jewel wavered… and went out.
The harsh rain slackened as Logan fell to his knees, peering at the docile Jewel. The blue powder had miraculously disappeared on contact with the golden gem, but it had worked as Logan had guessed. That was what the Smythe had implied when he said Logan had had the ability all along. Pembroke, the businessman had reminded them, was no spellcaster, so Zackaron had to have given him a way to keep the Jewel in check himself. The way of doing that was the small tin of foul-smelling snuff, something so trivial it had constantly been overlooked-yet carried by Logan through almost the entire trip.
A portion of sky forced its way through the rainclouds.
'He did it!' Thromar roared cheerfully. 'Friend-Logan, you've stopped the Wheel!'
Logan inhaled deeply, wiping rain and sweat from his brow. For some reason, he did not feel like celebrating. He was cold and wet and had lost his hope of returning home. His love had been rejected and misguided, and two more people were lying dead because of him. No, he certainly did not feel like cheering.
Zackaron got up from the mud as the rain let up even more. 'That's it?' he inquired, crestfallen. 'The game is
