Hinto frowned. 'Do you have any more silver daggers, Diran?'
The priest held up his holy symbol and smiled. 'I have this.' He glanced toward the central dock and the statue of Nerthatch-or more accurately, at the hilt of the dagger protruding from the statue's stone chest. 'And I know where there's another I can get hold of.' Before the halfling could question him further, Diran turned to Solus. 'Do you still have enough power to levitate the three of us onto the dock near Nathifa?'
'There is much ambient psionic energy to draw on in a city this large,' the psiforged said. 'Now that we are this close to Regalport, my crystals are growing strong once more.'
'I'll take that as a yes,' Diran said. 'Let's go.'
Diran stood on Solus's right, Tresslar on the psiforged's left. They each put a hand on one of the construct's shoulders, and Solus's psionic crystals glowed with power. The three companions rose into the air and soared toward the central dock.
Ghaji was considerably less enthused than Yvka to be flying through the air, though flying wasn't exactly the right word for the sensation they experienced. It felt more like they were in the grip of a giant invisible hand that was carrying them swiftly from the now lopsided deck of the Turnabout to the far end of the central dock.
As they descended to the wooden planks of the central dock, Ghaji did a quick estimate of the number of weresharks in their landing zone. Four. All of them big, overly muscled, and exceptionally ugly. But if Yvka and he could deal with them, or at least make it past them, they stood a good chance of reaching House Thuranni. He didn't know how long Nathifa had been summoning weresharks, but unless the streets were chock-full of the damned things, they could fight their way through. And if the streets were thick with the monsters, it wouldn't matter if they reached House Thuranni or not. Regalport-and likely the entire Principalities-would be lost.
Suddenly Ghaji and Yvka were falling. He removed his arm from Yvka's waist. Yvka would be far safer landing on her own that she would if held by him. He pulled his elemental axe from its belt sheath, willed it to burst into flame and fixed his gaze on the wereshark closest to where he was going to land, one with copper-colored hide. Ghaji wished he was going to hit Copper-Skin directly in order for his landing to do the maximum amount of damage, but he was going to come down two feet to the creature's left. Still well within striking distance of his axe, though, and that was all that mattered.
Ghaji bellowed a war cry at the last instant to get Copper-Skin to turn its face. The creature whirled and looked up, giving Ghaji a clear view of two curved sharkskin-covered mounds protruding from the wereshark's chest. Definitely a her, Ghaji thought, and swung his flame-wreathed axe blade at Copper-Skin's snout, directly between her nostrils. Blood sprayed, Copper-Skin shrieked, and the shock of impact jarred up Ghaji's arm, ran through his shoulder, and rattled his teeth. The half-orc held tight to his axe as he hit the dock, and as the blade was still embedded in Copper-Skin's snout, she was pulled down with him. The wereshark continued shrieking in pain and clawed at her snout, which was fast becoming a blazing inferno of its own.
Ghaji rose to a crouching position, ignoring the protests of various joints and muscles that weren't happy at how they'd just been treated. He was pleased at the effect of his axe on Copper-Skin. Lycanthropes couldn't be killed by fire, as Leontis proved in the forest of the shadowclaws on Trebaz Sinara, but they could still be injured by it, enough so that it took them a while to heal. He'd hoped that since weresharks were aquatic monsters, they'd suffer even more from being set aflame, and it appeared his hope had been born out. Ghaji smiled in grim satisfaction as he yanked the axe free from Copper-Skin's flaming face and stood, spinning around as he did so, ready to meet the next attack that was sure to be coming his way.
Another wereshark lunged at him, this one with hide colored bluish-black on the back and pinkish on the underbelly. Ghaji hit this beast with an upward swing that laid open his abdomen, causing wet loops of intestine to spill out onto the dock. Ghaji brought his axe down in a return strike and set fire to Pink-Belly's exposed innards. Pink-Belly staggered backward, his screams of agony added to those of Copper-Skin, and he threw himself off the dock and into the water. The flames generated from Ghaji's elemental axe were mystical in origin, and though water would extinguish them, it would take a few moments for it to do.
Ghaji turned to see how Yvka was faring. He hadn't seen her land, but she stood nearby in a fighting stance, and he knew she'd completed their descent without injury, just as he'd expected. She faced two weresharks-both possessing sharply pointed snouts and mouthfuls of long, sharp projecting teeth. Both of the creatures were hissing in pain and rubbing their eyes. Their heads were covered with fine yellowish powder, and though Ghaji didn't know precisely what substance Yvka had used to bedevil the monsters, he was grateful for the distraction. It was going to make his job much easier.
Ghaji dashed forward, swung his axe several times, and stinging eyes suddenly became the least of the weresharks' problems. Like Copper-Skin, these two fell to the dock, slashed, mutilated, and on fire. The flames from all three weresharks lying on the dock spread rapidly, merging to create a solid wall of fire. Good. Hopefully, the flame barrier would at least slow the procession of weresharks into the city. Ghaji ran forward and grabbed Yvka's hand.
'Come on!' he shouted, but the elf planted her feet and refused to budge.
'Wait! I want to try something.' Yvka rolled back her left sleeve to expose her dragonmark. She closed her eyes and as she concentrated, the mark grew black and seemed to spread down her fingers and up along her arm. The darkness moved swiftly over her body, and within seconds she was completely enveloped in shadow.
She spread arms black as night. 'Well? What do you think?'
Ghaji was impressed. Even with his night vision, he had a difficult time seeing her.
'I wasn't sure it was going to work, or else I might've asked Solus to transport me here alone,' she said. 'Then again, I couldn't have taken care of four weresharks by myself.' He couldn't see her smile, but he heard it in the tone of her voice. 'Cloaked in shadow like this, I'll be able to sneak past any weresharks without difficulty. I can make it to House Thuranni on my own, and you can go back to help the others.'
'I'm not sure this is a good idea,' Ghaji said. 'You have no experience with this new shadow magic of yours. What if it fails and you can be seen again?'
'Then I'd better get moving, eh?' She came forward, moving with such silent elven grace that she really did seem to be nothing more than a shadow. But when she put her ebon arms around Ghaji's waist, they felt real enough. 'I'll be all right. Trust me… please.'
And that's what it came down to, didn't it? Did he trust her? Could he? He thought of Kirai. He'd gotten to know her well during their time together on the Talenta Plains. In many ways he had known so much more about her-her past, her likes and dislikes. Where Yvka was secretive and reluctant to share information about herself and her work, Kirai had been an open book. But he knew how Kirai had made him feel about himself, and it couldn't compare to the way Yvka made him feel.
Ghaji wanted to hug Yvka, but he was afraid of disrupting the shadow-spell that concealed her. Instead, he smiled and said, 'Good luck to you, my love.'
'And to you.' She leaned forward, rose on her tip-toes and gave Ghaji a quick kiss on the lips. And then she pulled away, turned, and melded with the darkness.
Ghaji said a quick silent prayer for Yvka's safety-not that he'd ever admit it to anyone-before turning seaward once more, only to find himself facing the rising wall of flame that he'd created.
He sighed. Wielding an elemental weapon had its drawbacks sometimes.
He took a deep breath, held it, and ran toward the flames.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Diran, Tresslar, and Solus came to rest on the dock directly in front of the statue of Nerthatch. It appeared to Diran that Nathifa and Haaken had become integral parts of the enchantment the lich was casting, and neither would be able to move without disrupting the spell. At least, he hoped that would prove to be the case. All the trio needed was a few moments in which to act.
Coils of mist drifted in from the sea and wrapped themselves around Diran's body, and the priest knew he was under attack by Makala.
'Tresslar, Solus, forget about me! Go and-' Diran's words were cut off, and he found himself unable to breathe. He understood what was happening. Makala had filled his lungs with her vaporous substance, preventing
