Vessel

hand closed around Sendar’s throat.

Liyana lunged forward. “No!”

Trance broken, Sendar opened his eyes. As he clawed at Mulaf’s hand, Liyana heard a snap. Sendar crumpled to the ground.

Sendar! Bayla shrieked.

“Don’t make me hurt you, child,” Mulaf said. Liyana froze, afraid to move. Sendar was motionless. She couldn’t see signs of breathing. “Liyana, you alone I do not wish to harm. Your companion, however . . .” He tightened his fist on empty air.

Beside her, Korbyn collapsed.

“And so you will not be tempted to follow me. . . .” Mulaf swirled his fingers in the air, and multiple man-size cyclones bore down on the camp. He rose into the air, and the wind swept him away.

Liyana heard herself screaming. Inside, Bayla screamed as well. Liyana fell to her knees next to Korbyn. “Don’t die! Oh, sweet goddess, don’t die!” Bayla, magic, now!

Bayla flooded her with magic.

Liyana plunged her awareness into Korbyn. She jolted his heart once, twice . . . “Please, oh please, Korbyn, wake up.” He opened his eyes as his heart began to pump again.

Sendar, Bayla thought. Heal Sendar!

Liyana spun around. Sendar lay motionless. She leaped to her feet and ran to his side. Using the magic, she dove into his body. His neck had been snapped. She poured magic into the bones—slowly, then faster, they began to knit together. His heart! She should restart his heart. And he needed to breathe. She poured magic into him.

Suddenly his chest expanded, and he coughed.

Oh, my Sendar! Bayla’s cry nearly wrenched Liyana in two. I forgive you! I know you cared for me. And I . . . oh, forgive me!

Liyana swayed. She felt Korbyn’s hands on her shoulders, steadying her. But she didn’t collapse. Around them, the other deities fought the cyclones. She watched Maara subdue one. “The magician escaped,” Korbyn said quietly. He nodded toward the mountains. “He’s entered the mountains. The sky serpents are coming.”

Liyana rose to her feet.

Over the mountains she saw hundreds of serpents lift into the sky, their translucent bodies distorting the stars and multiplying their lights by the thousands. She also heard hoofbeats behind her, and she turned. Flanked by two men, Jarlath rode into camp. Behind him, his army marched toward the clans, across the expanse between the remaining whirlwinds.

Korbyn shoved Liyana behind him, shielding her.

“Jarlath! I thought you were fleeing,” Liyana said.

“The empire’s army will fight the sky serpents alongside the desert clans,” Jarlath said. His eyes were on Liyana. “These are my generals, General Xevi and General Akkon.” He indicated two men. “Give them your orders.”

“I don’t understand,” Korbyn said.

“Give them your orders,” Jarlath repeated. “I will accompany Liyana to stop Mulaf. He used me and the Crescent Empire to achieve his goals. It is my responsibility to stop him.”

“Liyana isn’t—” Korbyn began.

“Of course I am,” Liyana said. She was going after Mulaf. Jarlath had known she would.

“Then I am as well,” Korbyn said. He turned to Sendar. “Old friend, it falls to you. Will you protect our people? And theirs? You are best able to lead.” For a moment the two gods stared at each other. Bayla stirred within Liyana but was silent. Liyana could almost feel the years stretching between them, these age-old relationships.

“I will protect them,” Sendar said. He clasped Korbyn’s arm, and then he faced the generals. “The sky serpents have few weaknesses. Here is what we must do. . . .” He led them away.

Liyana turned to Korbyn. “How do we catch up to Mulaf? The mountains are too steep for horses, and we’ll never catch him on foot.”

Korbyn flashed a smile. “Thievery.” He pointed to one of the magician’s cyclones. The other deities had collapsed several so far. “Far easier to hijack one than to create one. Come with me!” He ran toward the closest cyclone. Grabbing Jarlath’s hand, Liyana ran after him.

“Are you sure about this?” she said to Jarlath as they reached the swirl of wind. She had to shout to be heard over it. “Your people need you, and there’s no guarantee—”

“I have failed my people,” Jarlath said. “I will not fail you as well.”

Undirected, the cyclone tore through tents, consuming the sand. “Liyana, you’ll have to control it,” Korbyn said. “We will have to ride it like Mulaf, and you are the only one of us who does not need to enter a trance to work magic.”

“You don’t?” Jarlath asked her. “Fascinating.”

“Bayla pulls the magic,” Liyana said. “I direct it.”

“Yes, she’s very impressive. She’s also intelligent and beautiful, but perhaps now is not the best time to discuss it,” Korbyn said dryly. “Let’s move.” From the side, he wrapped his arms around Liyana’s waist. Jarlath mimicked him on the other side. She felt the breath of both boys on her neck.

Ready? Liyana asked Bayla.

Do it.

“Hold tight,” Liyana said. She let the magic flow into her. She expanded herself into the cyclone. She became the cyclone. She played with the wind, raising it higher and sinking it lower. As it sank low and wide, she stepped on top of it, pulling Korbyn and Jarlath with her. The wind bashed into them, and they were shoved up into the air. Wind whipped under her feet, and she felt as if she were skimming over water. She held the boys as tightly as she could, and she steered the cyclone toward the mountains.

Ahead she saw a sky serpent glow fiery red and orange and then white. Cracks ran through its body, and it shattered with a sound like thunder. Glass shards flew in every direction.

“He’s heating the sky serpents fast so they’ll explode,” Jarlath said.

Another sky serpent exploded, raining shards over the boulders below. Glass cascaded down the mountainside. Fire is one of their few weaknesses, Bayla said. Sendar knows this as well.

He has fought sky serpents before? Liyana asked.

Bayla was silent for a moment. He knows the sky serpents because we created them.

You . . . what?

We knew we could not protect the lake ourselves, not without a constant presence in the world, so we created the sky serpents to guard the mountains. It required the full strength of every deity outside of the Dreaming. We seeped magic into the sand, fused it with enough fire to harden. . . .

If you created them, then call them off! Two sky serpents dove at them. One skimmed near the top of the cyclone. Another plunged into it, and then spiraled up toward them. He spun out of the cyclone, roared, and dove again. Tell them to attack Mulaf, not us!

Alas, we cannot control them, Bayla said. Like the sand wolves—

You are to blame for them as well?

“Liyana!” Korbyn shouted in her ear.

Liyana saw a mountainside rushing toward them. She steered the cyclone to the left, around the serrated edge, and then she gasped at her first view of the mountain range.

Ahead was an expanse of peaks that stretched so high that they looked like they cut the night sky. Half the moon was visible behind one of them. It shed a silvery glow over the black rock mountains.

“Up ahead!” Jarlath cried. “The sky serpents are slowing him!” She veered through the peaks, around the rock faces and the spindly trees. In her wake, boulders rolled down the mountainsides and cliffs collapsed. She felt the wind pound her body as they rode the cyclone.

Suddenly Mulaf’s cyclone disappeared.

Faster! Bayla shouted. She poured more and more magic into Liyana. Liyana felt as