The Gods Awaken

Then his spirit self heard a voice whisper, Safar, Safar.

It came from quite close-just at his ear. He even imagined he could feel warm breath stir his hair.

And then the voice came again, whispering, Look to the heavens, brother!

He looked up and saw nothing but the night sky. A cloud bank partly obscured the Demon Moon, dimming its red light. Surrounding it were only the stars-cold and pitiless as always.

Then he noticed a faint golden shimmer beyond the night. As if the darkness was a thin black veil drawn over a sheen of some ethereal surface.

Reflected in that sheen was the dim outline of two enormous faces. He couldn't make out who they were, only that they were watching.

And then there was motion. A disturbance. First it pierced the golden surface. Then the black veil that was the night.

A long, slender needle of flame pushed through and descended toward the Nepenthe. His eyes followed its course, the needle growing thinner, sharper, hotter.

And then, with a jolt, he realized it was aimed directly at Jooli!

Suddenly, his spirit self vanished and he was back in the midst of the battle. Slashing and cutting as the three creatures closed in on him and Khysmet.

But now he knew why he was losing this battle.

Fighting all natural instinct, he ignored the long tendrils of death reaching for him and sheathed his sword.

With forced calm he drew out Asper's shell trumpet. And lifted it to his lips and blew.

The sound was world-shattering. As if a thousand war trumpets-set close by-blared all at once.

Everyone on the ship-including the creatures-froze, as if they'd been suddenly turned to stone.

Floating high above the Nepenthe he saw the mural of the Spirit Rider. It was hazy, ghost-like and of enormous size. Then he saw the beautiful Princess Alsahna and her black mare come alive.

The Princess shouted, 'For Safar!' and horse and rider soared out of the mural into the night sky. They charged, up and up-Alsahna pulling a javelin from a loop on her saddle.

And then, just before they reached the golden shimmer, the Princess hurled it at the Watchers.

An intense white light flared, then was gone. Taking with it the faces of the Watchers, the shimmering gold surface and the ghostly mural.

Now there were only the cold stars and the grinning Demon Moon to observe what followed.

Immediately, Safar sensed a subtle shift in the atmosphere. And then a settling. It was as if the very particles that made up the air had rearranged themselves into a more normal pattern.

But he could still hear the sounds of battle and human cries of pain and defiance all around him.

A long, thick branch filled with chattering teeth reached for him. Safar roared in a fury and slashed it away. Then he kicked Khysmet forward, cutting at the beast's trunk with his sword.

But this time, when the blade bit the creature screamed and died!

All over the ship the besieged humans experienced similar results.

Biner, spattered with blood from dozens of cuts, swung his great club, bursting a tree-beast in two. He shouted in glee as it writhed in agony, then grew still.

Arlain hissed a long tongue of fire at one of the creatures. To her delight it burst into flames, then toppled over the rail into the sea.

Kairo the acrobat clung to a boarding rope and swung along the deck, slashing at the creatures with a sword. Amazed that this time they remained where they fell and didn't get up again.

Renor and Sinch netted their attacker, then slung it over the side.

Leiria and Jooli had found ropes. Together they lassoed one of the creatures, toppling it. Then, with sword and spear, they slew it where it fell.

But even without the magical assistance of Clayre and Kalasariz, the beasts were not easily defeated. It took an hour of furious fighting and many tricks before the humans had killed them all and hurled them into the sea.

As Leiria and Jooli dealt with the last one, Safar and Khysmet thundered up to them.

Safar shouted, 'Have you seen Palimak?'

Leiria's heart jumped as his question sunk in like a wide-bladed spear. Dismayed, she shook her head: no.

Safar leaped off Khysmet and raced toward the stairwell leading down to Palimak's cabin, Leiria and Jooli at his heels.

He didn't bother with the stairs, but jumped ten feet to the passageway below. Immediately he saw a large, ragged hole where the door to Palimak's cabin had been. He also heard movement-a dry scraping sound-and knew another of the tree-creatures lurked inside.

Leiria and Jooli had joined him by now and he signaled silence. Then the three of them crept down the passageway, weapons ready.

When he reached the cabin he peered inside. Lying in the wreckage of the room was one of the beasts.

Many of its branches had been ripped away and its trunk had enormous chunks torn from it. The creature was weak and dying.

Heart racing, Safar looked about the cabin and saw no sign of Palimak. He sagged against the broken doorway, overcome by grief.

It was Jooli who finally killed the beast, running it through with her spear. Leiria called for help and several crewmen came to drag the thing away and dispose of it.

By the time it was gone, Safar had recovered some of his sensibilities. And with them came hope.

'Palimak wouldn't die so easily,' he said.

'Of course not,' Leiria agreed, soothing herself as much as Safar. 'Perhaps he managed to get out of the cabin.'

Safar winced and shook his head. 'I heard one of the crewmen say that no one has seen him since he went to bed.'

He studied the cabin, looking for some sign. At first all he could see was the broken debris-smashed furniture, shattered bunk, scarred walls and deck. Then he spotted something peeping out from under a ruined plank.

Safar lifted the plank away, revealing a strange little object in the shape of a man. He squatted down to examine it more closely.

'It's been molded from dough or something,' he said to Leiria, who was looking over his shoulder. He touched it. 'It's still wet,' he said.

There was an impression in the belly of the dough man where a navel might be. There was slight movement in the depression so Safar gently pulled the dough away from the edges. To his surprise he found what appeared to be part of a still-living worm. At the same time his magical senses caught a faint spark of sorcery.

Safar grinned. This was Palimak's work.

'It's a cheese beast,' he said.

'What?' Leiria asked. 'I thought you said it was made from dough.'

'Never mind,' Safar said.

He moved some other planks and found another dough man, but this one was missing a leg. However, he found the worm's other half wriggling within. An idea of what Palimak had intended started to come to him.

'Over here!' Jooli said.

Safar turned to see her pulling a blanket through the porthole. She held it up and he saw that one end of the blanket was tied to a broken stool. Jooli placed it across the porthole, measuring. The stool was larger by several inches than the opening.

'He used the blanket to hang outside the cabin,' she said, 'so the creature couldn't get at him.'

Safar came to his feet. 'Go tell the captain to turn the ship about,' he said to Jooli.

Then, to Leiria: 'Ask Biner to get into the air as fast as he can. Palimak is out there someplace-and I mean to find him if I have to search every inch of sea from here to Aroborus!'

Palimak tightened his grip on the blanket. He said to the twins, 'All right. Tell him to come in!' And he dived head-first through the porthole.

Slender though he was, he stuck at the hips and found himself in the ridiculous position of hanging half in and