Protruding from the statue's chest was the hilt of a silver dagger. Both Makala and Haaken were most careful to avoid touching it. It took several minutes for the two of them to get the statue onto the dock and positioned facing seaward, as Nathifa wished.
Once the statue was in place, Haaken said, 'You still haven't told us what we're going to do tonight. But whatever it is, wouldn't it make more sense to do it out in the bay aboard the Zephyr? That way we'd be certain no one could interfere before we were finished.'
'Mere servants such as yourselves could never appreciate the full majesty of Vol's grand design,' Nathifa said. 'Suffice it to say that the mystic rite we are going to conduct needs to be performed on a passageway between land and sea.'
Haaken continued to look her with a blank expression on his face.
'A passageway such as this dock,' Nathifa added.
Haaken grinned as his face lit up with comprehension.
Nathifa sighed. If the imbecile wasn't so useful when in wereshark form, she might've slain him on the spot for his stupidity. But no, as satisfying as it would be, she couldn't harm the idiot. Haaken Sprull had a very important role to play in what was about to occur.
'I've never been to Regalport,' Makala said. 'It's impressive.' The vampire had turned away from Nathifa and Haaken and now stood gazing shoreward.
Nathifa had been too caught up in the excitement of knowing that everything she had sacrificed so much for was finally on the verge of being fulfilled to pay much attention as they'd approached Regalport. But now she turned and for the first time took a good look at the city that was known as the Jewel of the Principalities.
Nathifa and her brothers had traveled here once, over a century ago. Regalport had been a major city even then, one that both Kolbyr and Perhata had attempted in their own small, inadequate ways to emulate when they'd founded the cities that bore their names. But Regalport had grown a great deal since Nathifa's breathing days. Music and laughter drifted out from numerous dockside taverns, and everbright lanterns dotted the city like a field of stars that had fallen from the heavens. There were so many buildings that the cityscape resembled a mountain range silhouetted against the night sky, and Nathifa was surprised to find herself feeling a twinge of homesickness for her lair in the Hoarfrost Mountains. She'd thought herself beyond such emotions.
Regalport was full to bursting with life, and Nathifa could sense its energy, almost see it shining in the darkness like a miniature sun, warm and glowing and above all, alive. For an instant she questioned what she had come here to do. What purpose would destroying this life serve? How would it grant her desire for vengeance against her brother Kolbyr, dead now for a hundred years? How long had it taken for Regalport to become the great city it was now? How many men and women had worked to make it so? For the first time in her long life, Nathifa realized how easy destruction was and how arduous the process of creation, how fragile the result. Destruction was the act of a moment. Simple, mindless, pointless. But creation was complex, thoughtful, and shaped toward an ultimate goal: to make meaning. Destruction was, in the most profound sense, meaningless.
'Don't tell me that after everything we've been through you're losing your nerve.'
Makala's words startled Nathifa out of her thoughts, and the lich glared at the vampire with her sole remaining eye. 'Stand guard while I prepare the ritual. Once I have begun, I must not be interrupted. Kill anyone who approaches.' Without waiting for Makala to respond, Nathifa turned to Haaken Sprull. 'Stand behind the statue of Nerthatch and place your hands upon the shoulders. Once you've done that, transform into your hybrid form. I shall begin my spell shortly afterward.'
The sea raider looked skeptically at the sorceress. 'That's all? I just have to… stand there?'
Nathifa allowed herself a slight smile. 'Your role is a bit more complicated than that, but you are essentially correct. Now do it.'
Haaken gave Makala a look that said he was beginning to doubt their mistress's sanity, but he did at Nathifa commanded. He stepped behind the statue of the priest, placed his hands about the stone shoulders, and shifted to his transitional form of half man, half shark.
Nathifa then reached inside her dark substance and brought forth the dragonwand. She had carried the Amahau inside her during the entire journey from Trebaz Sinara, the artifact full to bursting with the mystic power she had drained from Paganus's hoard. Having that much magical force contained inside her had been uncomfortable, and she felt relieved that the dragonwand was no longer housed within her darkness. The Amahau fairly hummed, so full of power was it, but Nathifa knew that the dragonwand could've held even more energy. If only she'd had more time in the crypt. But she hadn't, so however much power she'd managed to take would have to serve. She only hoped it would prove sufficient.
The lich leveled the dragonwand at Haaken and concentrated on releasing the Amahau's stored energy. A bolt of crackling energy surged forth from the mouth of the dragonhead at the tip of the wand, lanced through the air, and struck the wereshark just below the point where his dorsal fin emerged from his back. Haaken bellowed in pain, muscles spasming as mystic power filled his being. He thrashed back and forth like a captive beast trying to escape a trap, but he was unable to remove his clawed hands from the statue's shoulders. His flesh was bound to the stone now, and he would not be able to let go until the enchantment was ended. Nathifa continued releasing magical energy into Haaken's body as she at last began chanting a spell that she'd learned a century ago.
The sorceress sensed the dark power contained within the statue of Nerthatch begin to respond to the magical force flowing into it through Haaken's body. Then, though Nathifa couldn't see it from where she stood, she knew the statue's stone mouth opened to emit a soundless cry, one that not even she could not hear. But the summons wasn't intended for her.
Several moments passed in this manner before they heard the sound of roiling water, as if something large were surging toward the dock at incredible speed. A few seconds later a pair of gray-skinned hands, fingers tipped by black claws, reached up over the dock's edge, took hold, and a man-shark pulled itself out of the water. It was followed by a second, and then a third. The weresharks regarded the bizarre scene before them for a moment and then, as if obeying orders only they could hear, the three aquatic lycanthropes stalked past and lumbered down the dock toward shore.
Toward Regalport.
Jahnu followed the flow of people out of the tavern, his wife at his side, her hand resting in the crook of arm.
'Did you enjoy the bard, my love?' Dirella asked.
Once outside, the tavern-goers began to head in different directions, strolling slowly in pairs or groups of three and four, enjoying the night air. It was somewhat chilly for a walk, Jahnu thought, but the buildings, two and three-stories, made an effective windbreak here. Plus he and his wife were hardy Lhazaarites who knew to dress for the weather in heavy clothing and fur cloaks.
Jahnu turned left and Dirella allowed herself to be led. She was a very independent person. Her family owned several dockside warehouses, and though it pleased her to defer to her husband at times, there was never any doubt between them as to who was the more dominant in their marriage.
He shrugged in answer to his wife's question. 'There's no denying the skill with which the man played, but his voice often seemed harsh to me, like he was… I don't know. Singing between the notes somehow.'
'That's because you're human, dear. Elvish music is composed for people with elvish hearing.'
Dirella spoke with a patronizing voice, as if she were pointing out something that should be blindingly obvious. She used that voice a great deal more than Jahnu appreciated. He worked to keep his tone neutral as he replied. He didn't want to spoil the evening by getting into a fight.
'But if I'm not elvish, then how can I…' He trailed off. Coming toward them, washed in the eerie green illumination of everbright street lanterns, was a creature out of nightmare. Roughly humanoid, though larger and more muscular. Naked, with slick, tough-looking hide, and clawed hands and feet. Most disturbing was its shark-like head with its maw full of triangular teeth.
Jahnu stopped and stared at the strange apparition walking down the street toward them. Dirella, still holding onto her husband's arm, stopped as well.
'Do you see that?' Jahnu asked in a hushed voice. He knew what he thought he was seeing-a monster stepped straight out of childhood bedtime stories-but such a thing couldn't possibly be here. Not on the streets of Regalport! High Price Ryger made sure his city was one of the safest in the Principalities. The city watch was well trained and well paid, and the Prince's Sea Dragons diligently patrolled the waters beyond Regalport.
