It was some sort of seashell. About eighteen inches long, spiraling from its finger-wide tip to its bell-shaped opening. Its colors were various shades of orange and white, all very glossy as if the shell had been fired in a pottery kiln. He thumped it experimentally and found that it was hollow.
Then he realized the shell was very much like the conch shell horns the musicians played in Hadin. Except long and narrow like a…
'A kind of trumpet?' he asked Jooli. 'Like the one in the spell verse?'
'The very same,' Jooli replied.
Safar started to raise it to his lips, then hesitated. 'Shall I try it?' he asked.
'I don't see why not,' Jooli said. Then she laughed. 'I've been waiting for this moment since I was a girl at Princess Alsahna's knee!'
In his hiding place, Iraj burned with curiosity. He was anxious to get on with whatever was going to happen next.
Palimak caught a whiff of strangeness. He sniffed the atmosphere with his magical senses, but couldn't trace the source. It must be the coffin, he thought. And turned his attention back to his father, who was lifting the shell trumpet to his lips.
Safar blew and the most wondrous music issued forth. It was as if a whole orchestra of musicians were playing-pipes and horns and silver-stringed lyres. With a single wild wailing trumpet swooping above and through and below all the notes like a glad hawk set free on the winds after a long period of captivity.
On the wall the mural shimmered. Then not only the painting but the entire wall dissolved. Except instead of looking out on a Syrapian night, they were gazing across bright rolling seas.
A tall ship danced over the waves, graceful sails billowing in a balmy breeze. Playful dolphins and flying fishes leaped high in its wake, making the whole a joyous scene. The ship flew a flag bearing the symbol of Asper: a twin-headed serpent, borne on jagged-edged wings. And soaring above it all was the unmistakable silhouette of the circus airship, suspended beneath its two painted balloons.
Safar lowered the shell trumpet, but the music kept playing-growing more haunting, more compelling.
Each note beckoning them to follow.
Palimak saw familiar figures moving about the tall ship's bridge.
'Look, father!' he said in awestruck tones. 'Don't you recognize them?'
'It's us!' Safar said.
Jooli pointed at a slender figure in armor. 'I'm there, too,' she said, pleased and amazed at the same time.
'I wonder where we're going?' Leiria marveled.
Safar indicated the red moon hanging low on the horizon. 'There's only one course that puts the Demon Moon so low,' he said. 'We're bound for Hadin.'
Leiria was startled at how grim he sounded. She looked at him. His face was pale, blue eyes hollowed and bruised.
Then the scene vanished to be replaced by the hard, blank surface of the fortress wall. And the mural of the Spirit Rider was gone.
Safar turned to them, slowly straightening his shoulders as if steadying a weighty burden. 'Oh, well,' he said, smiling brightly. 'It's not as if I didn't know that I had to go back.'
Palimak caught the worry hiding beneath the false surface of cheer. 'It'll be different this time, father,' he said. 'You were in some kind of spellworld before. It's wasn't the real Hadin.'
'I know,' Safar said. But he was shaking his head slowly, uneasy.
'Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way,' Leiria offered.
The world and everything in it could go to the Hells, as far as she was concerned. She'd do anything to spare Safar further agonies.
'How do we know that wasn't a false vision? Something concocted by Charize and her monsters?'
'It wasn't,' Safar said. 'To begin with, Charize had nothing to do with the mural. That's clearly Asper's work. Just as it was clearly Lord Asper's intent for Princess Alsahna-whom I've always thought of as the a€?Spirit Rider'- to help me discover a way to keep the world from destroying itself.
'As you can plainly see there is no sense denying-or fighting-our fate.' He drew in a long breath. 'We must go to Hadin. And as quickly as possible.'
Palimak became frightened. Not for himself, but for his father. Suddenly he saw him as a driven, tragic character. Doom was written all over his features.
'Let's not be so hasty, father,' he said. 'I think we ought to look into this some more. You know … Study the auguries … Re-read the Book of Asper. After all, Hadin is on the other side of the world! Thirteen thousand miles away. We need to look for other answers before we decide to do something so drastic.'
'Palimak's right,' Leiria said. 'We can't just abandon everything and everybody in Syrapis. Think of your family and friends. You brought them so far. And now you're going to leave them again.'
Desperate, she turned to Jooli. 'Tell him,' she said. 'Tell him there must be another way. Another answer!'
Jooli gave a sad shrug. She quite liked Leiria and Palimak and was loath to disappoint them. But what could she do?
'Princess Alsahna was quite clear,' she replied. 'The only one who can decide is Safar Timura.'
At that moment the floor heaved under them. The earth shock was so great that they were hurled flat.
It was like riding a giant bucking horse and they found themselves clinging to any surface they could dig their nails into.
Objects crashed to the ground, shattering. Plaster and stone rained around their ears.
Outside, people and animals panicked, screaming and bellowing in fear.
Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the earthquake ended. And all was still and all was silent as they braced for another shock.
Finally, they realized it was over.
Safar was the first to his feet. He looked around, surveying the damage. Furniture smashed, stone walls cracked, the floor split right down the middle.
'There's your answer,' he said. 'We go to Hadin!'
In his hiding place, Iraj knew fear. He'd just escaped from that awful place. He fought for calm.
Safar was right. There was no other choice: they had to return to Hadin.
Part Three
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Safar stood on the bridge of the tall ship watching the green rolling seas froth into white spume as they parted before the wooden prow. Hungry birds followed in their wake, filling the air with their gleeful cries as they swooped on fish stunned by the ship's swift passage.
From above he could hear Biner shouting orders to the airship crew. And-more faintly-the roar of the magical engines that kept the balloons taut and the airship aloft. He smiled, remembering just how much fun it was to be a member of the airship's crew. Everyone would be rushing to perform the tasks Biner set, laughing and joking with one another as they sailed through azure skies.
The atmosphere would be the direct opposite of what he'd experienced thus far on the tall ship. The vessel- named the
