Arryl stopped and put a comforting hand on Tiji's shoulder as she passed her on her way to the door, 'I sympathise with your fears, Tiji, but Declan Hawkes is not my concern. You have no concept of the trouble Kentravyon can cause.'
Without waiting for Tiji to respond, Arryl left the chamber in search of Lukys, leaving the little chameleon standing there wondering if she wouldn't have been better off staying in Senestra and learning to deal with her own kind than foolishly believing she could achieve anything by following a bunch of wretched Tide Lords to Jelidia.
Arryl was only gone for a few moments before Tiji decided to follow her, to hear what she had to say to Lukys. Perhaps, if Arryl could convince Lukys this ill- advised expedition to Glaeba was a bad idea, Declan would rethink his absurd notion about going off in search of Arkady. Tiji's plans hit a snag, however, when she ran into Azquil in the wide hall outside Lukys's chamber.
There were times when Tiji looked at Azquil and felt nothing but gratitude towards the chameleon Crasii who had kidnapped her off the streets of Elvere and brought her back to her own people. There were times when she thought she might burst with the love she felt for him.
And there were times she considered him a blind fool for believing any good could ever come from serving an immortal. Now, was one of those times. Acting just like the good little minion he kept insisting he wasn't, her companion was on his way back to Lady Arryl's room with a fresh set of linens for his mistress's fur-lined bed.
'Tiji? What are you doing?'
'Eavesdropping,' she said, inching a little closer to the entrance of Lukys's private chamber. There were no doors in the ice palace, and with a staff of mostly slavishly loyal Crasii to wait on them, the immortals had little need to worry about being overheard.
'You can't eavesdrop on the immortals,' Azquil hissed, trying to pull her away.
'Sure I can.' She shook him off and moved a little closer to the opening. The air reeked of suzerain, making her want to gag.
'... sending Kentravyon into the middle of a brewing war is a recipe for disaster,' she heard Arryl telling someone. Although she could smell the suzerain, Tiji wasn't sure who else was in the room until she heard Cayal agreeing with Arryl.
'That's what I've been trying to tell them,' the Immortal Prince replied.
'I disagree,' another female voice said, which Tiji guessed belonged to Maralyce. 'To ensure Elyssa's cooperation, you're probably going to need to help her win the war against Jaxyn.'
'I don't need Kentravyon for that,' Cayal said, 'I can beat that little prick with my eyes closed. Who's he got helping him, anyway? Diala? She's hardly a threat to a Tide Lord.'
'Don't forget Lyna is in Glaeba too,' Maralyce said.
'Still nothing and nobody I can't handle on my own. And, I suppose, if worse comes to worst, the Rodent will be there to lend a hand.'
'Exactly,' Arryl said. 'So why are you letting Kentravyon go with them? With the Tide coming in the way it is, the mere presence of that many immortals in one place is likely to cause trouble.'
Tiji wasn't sure what Arryl meant by that, but even though she couldn't see him, she could hear the smile in Lukys's voice when he replied. 'I do appreciate your confidence in me, Arryl, my dear, but why do you assume for a moment that I have any control over Kentravyon? He's heard Declan is leaving for Glaeba. He knows Elyssa is in Caelum and has the location of the Chaos Crystal. He also knows the only living soul she's likely to give it up to is our very own Immortal Prince. Kentravyon would like to move on, and he trusts neither the suicidally-depressed Cayal nor the dangerously inexperienced Declan Hawkes to retrieve the crystal before the Tide peaks and our chance is lost for another hundred thousand years.'
'He thinks he can do better than anyone else, I suppose?'
'The man thinks he's God, Arryl,' Maralyce pointed out impatiently. 'Of course he thinks he can do it better than anyone else.'
The little chameleon smiled. Even to Tiji, that sort of logic, however misguided, made perfectly good sense.
'Come on, Tiji,' Azquil urged in a whisper, tugging at her sleeve. 'Come away before someone comes out here and catches you spying on them.'
She shook him off, anxious to hear the rest of the conversation. A part of her wanted Arryl to convince the other suzerain to stay here in Jelidia. Another part of her wanted Arryl to agree to go with them. If Arryl left the palace, Azquil would want to follow his
immortal mistress to Glaeba and Tiji could finally get out of this cold miserable place too.
'Things are unstable enough already. This is going to cause nothing but trouble,' Arryl predicted. Although she was inside the chamber where Tiji couldn't see her, there was no mistaking her voice.
'Trouble we won't be around to add to,' Lukys replied, in a tone that sounded like a man soothing a skittish horse. 'We're not just leaving because we're bored, Arryl. We're doing the mortals of this world a favour. No world can flourish with so many immortals on it, constantly vying for power. You saw that yourself the other day. Look what having this many of us here with the Tide returning is doing to Jelidia.'
'Perhaps you should do what Kentravyon suggested to me once,' Cayal said. 'Each one of you should find your own galaxy to rule.'
'Didn't he mean his own world to rule?' Arryl asked.
'No. I'm pretty sure he said galaxy.'
'Kentravyon's desire to rule a galaxy notwithstanding,' Lukys said in an eminently reasonable tone, 'it gets down to this: we need the Chaos Crystal. Elyssa has the means to find it. You, Cayal, if you can swallow your pride — and perhaps your gag reflex — have the ability to get the information from her. Declan, for his own reasons — and they're reasons I don't necessarily agree with, I hasten to add — is heading in the same direction. Between the two of you, if you can manage to cooperate, I think you'll find you have the power to rein in Kentravyon's excesses, should he get a little fractious on the way.'
'Me and the Rodent?' Cayal said sceptically. 'Working in concert? Even if I was willing to do anything in concert again with that insufferable bastard you spawned, Lukys, the last time we iced Kentravyon it took half-a-dozen of us to bring him down.'
'It took that many of us to immobilise him,' Lukys said. 'That's not what's needed here. You just need to keep him ... reasonable. I'm sure you and Declan have enough between you to be able to curb his enthusiasm if the need arises.'
Tiji frowned. Just how powerful was Declan, now he was immortal? It was no secret Cayal was among the most powerful Tide Lords to have ever walked Amyrantha. The Great Lakes of Glaeba were testament to that fact. But Kentravyon was not an immortal to be trifled with, either. If Lukys thought Declan and Cayal between them could control the mad Tide Lord, that must mean Declan was either as powerful — or even more powerful — than Cayal.
Together, the two of them would be unassailable.
Will power corrupt Declan, the way it's corrupted the rest of them? Tiji wondered. And where does Arkady figure in all this?
Declan was in love with her. Cayal was obsessed with her. Would she come between them, even if she wasn't actually around, preventing them from controlling a madman's wrath, which could easily result in the death of millions? Or would the spectre of a mortal woman both men wanted, but neither seemed to be able to hold, actually save humanity from the frightening possibility of the two most powerful Tide Lords on Amyrantha combining their power, which might result in something even worse for the mortals of this world?
'Tiji!' Azquil hissed, tugging her backward much more forcefully than he had the first time. 'Come away from there, now!'
'This is going to end badly. You know that, don't you?' Tiji heard Cayal predict, as Azquil decided to take matters into his own hands and physically pull her from the entrance.
For the first time she could remember, Tiji found herself agreeing with Cayal, but if any of the other
immortals in the room answered him, Tiji didn't hear them. Azquil, his arm firmly around her waist, dragged her backward, her booted fee
t sliding on the icy floor as he pulled her away, down the hall toward Arryl's suite.
Tiji wasn't strong enough to fight him, and yelling at him would have given away her presence, so she settled for passive resistance, making him drag her all the way, her arms crossed grumpily, thinking, This is going to end badly, Azquil. You know that, don't you?
CHAPTER 9
'Can you swim, Rodent?'
Declan stood on the edge of the crumbling glacier staring out over the roiling sea and decided not to dignify Cayal's idiotic question with an answer. They were standing on the very edge of Jelidia once more, staring into the setting sun, facing several thousand miles of ocean between the Tide Lords and their destination. Declan had no notion of how they were supposed to cross the ocean to reach Glaeba on the other side of the world in the opposite hemisphere. There was no ship waiting at anchor for them. The vessel they'd commandeered in Port Traeker to bring them here was long gone, and it was too early in the year to flag down a passing fishing vessel, even if the likelihood of chancing across such a ship wasn't such a remote possibility. Nonetheless, Declan was quite certain they weren't standing here for the good of their health.
One way or another, Declan figured, either Cayal or Kentravyon had a way of crossing the ocean. He sincerely hoped they weren't planning to do it the same way Maralyce had arrived from Glaeba.
At the sound of an agonised yelp, he looked over his shoulder to see what Kentravyon was doing. To his disgust, the immortal was working his way down the line of dogs that had so diligently pulled their sled to the coast, breaking their necks as he went, leaving them lying on the ice, still in their harnesses.
'Is it really necessary for him to be so ... enthusiastic about it?'.
'You'd rather we left them here to starve after we're gone?' Cayal said beside him, apparently unaffected by Kentravyon's grisly task.
'Maybe we should have just let them go.'
'And they'd still starve, or fall down a crevasse and break something only to suffer a slow painful death over several days. Or they'll hang around the coast in the hope of finding fish to eat and be taken by a sea lion. Tides, Rodent, and you accuse us of lacking compassion.' Cayal turned, heading back to where Kentravyon was killing the last of the dogs. Declan winced again, glad Tiji hadn't come with them. She'd never forgive him for standing by and doing nothing about this. Even worse, she'd be mortified to realise Declan could see the necessity of not leaving the dogs here alone, however distasteful Cayal's logic.
Of course, there was nothing compassionate or humane about the gleam in Kentravyon's eye as he volunteered to do the deed, which was what sickened Declan most.
With some reluctance, Declan followed Cayal back to the sled. He'd wondered why they'd brought it and figured he'd finally find out now the dogs were taken care of. Kentravyon was pulling a large bundle from the sled. He sliced through the ties holding the package and with Cayal's help, unrolled the bundle onto the ice. Declan stared at it for a moment and then looked at the two Tide Lords.
'It's a rug.'
'Lukys is right, you know,' Cayal said to Kentravyon. 'The lad certainly doesn't miss much, does he?'
Declan ignored Cayal, directing his next question to Kentravyon. 'We're going on a magic carpet ride, are we?'
'Don't be stupid,' Kentravyon said, straightening out the edges. 'There's no such thing as a magic carpet.'
Declan wasn't sure he believed that. Many nations on Amyrantha had legends of Tide Lords with flying carpets, particularly in the Commonwealth of Elenovia where they had a whole festival devoted to their rug industry and the flying carpets of legend. There was even mention of one in the Tarot somewhere. 'What's this then?'
'A carpet,' Cayal said. He retrieved his pack from the sled and tossed it onto the rug. 'That we're going to ride. Using magic'
'How is that not a magic carpet ride?'
'The carpet is just an ordinary rug,' Kentravyon said, tossing his own pack onto the rug before taking a seat on it and crossing his legs. 'The Tide is what will move it along. It's that or riding the waves like Maralyce did, which is messy.'
'Why messy?' Declan asked, thinking it an odd description. Wet, maybe, or unpleasant, but messy?
'Because we're heading toward civilisation,' Cayal said. 'Not a good idea to make a tidal wave and ride it into a populated region when you're trying to be inconspicuous, Rodent.'
The ground rumbled as another chunk of ice broke away from the coastline and splashed into the water far below. 'You two coming,' Kentravyon asked, 'or are you just going to stand there admiring the view?'
Cayal needed no further prompting. He sat down on the rug facing Kentravyon, crossed his legs in a similar fashion and then looked over his shoulder at Declan, as he moved his pack around behind him so he could lean against it. it's this or swim, Rodent.'
With a great deal of trepidation, Declan stepped forward and dropped his pack onto the rug. A part of him was fascinated by this mode of transport, another part of him unable to shake the feeling these two were
having a wonderful time at his expense. Was this a prank that would follow him into eternity? Would his acceptance of a magic carpet be laughed about for aeons — the brand new, gullible Tide Lord who believed a rug could fly? He sat down facing Cayal and Kentravyon, cross-legged as they were, filled with apprehension. 'What now?'
'Hang on,' Kentravyon said.
Before Kentravyon had even finished speaking, Declan was thrown backwards. He felt the surge of the Tide as the rug took off across the ice and sped straight over the edge of the cliff, plummeting towards the ice-filled water below. Declan bit back the urge to scream, his senses still not adjusted to the notion that he couldn't die and was in no immediate peril. Cayal and Kentravyon were both grinning at him as they plummeted toward the ocean, either exhilarated by the fall or amused by Declan's reaction it — he wasn't sure which and didn't much care to find out. The ocean rushed toward them, so deep here the water appeared black, soaking up the twilight. At the last minute, and with only inches to spare, the rug levelled out, missing a freshly broken chunk of ice the size of a house by a whisker. Somehow, they stayed above the water, dodging icebergs, skating over the whitecaps as if the ocean was made of glass and the rug a sheet of polished metal skimming downhill over the waves.
Even more miraculously, Declan stayed aboard. The icy spray of the ocean stopped just short of them, hitting an invisible wall and falling away before it could reach them. His skin tingled, a reaction to being in such close proximity to Kentravyon swimming the Tide. Declan guessed he was also using it to protect them from the spray, while propelling the rug over the water at a speed that left him gasping.
Within minutes, the tall, crumbling ice-cliffs of
Jelidia were a blur on the horizon, yet the rug stayed flat and dry and after a few moments, Cayal stretched out, using his pack as a pillow.
'Wake me when you want a break,' he told Kentravyon, before closing his eyes with his arms folded across his chest. The ocean rushed beneath them silently, not so much as a breath of wind ruffling the hair of the three Tide Lords riding the magically- propelled rug.
The madman nodded and looked at Declan oddly. 'What?
'Nothing. I just wasn't expecting — well, this ...' 'Tides, you didn't think I was going to make it fly, did you?'
'Of course not.'
Kentravyon smiled and leaned forward a little. 'Do you want to know how to do it?' 'Yes, I would.'
'Then do what the rest of us had to do,' he said unsympathetically. 'Figure it out for yourself.'
Declan frowned, but supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Kentravyon wasn't renowned for his social skills. 'Does Cayal know how to keep us afloat?'
'Says he does,' Kentravyon said with a shrug. 'Probably doesn't do as well as me. Nobody is ever as accomplished as God.'
Until he made comments like that, it was easy to forget Kentravyon was mad. Declan had his doubts about that. Kentravyon seemed quite rational most of the time. He supposed
it came down to one's definition of mad. Did a man have to be drooling and incomprehensible to be called a lunatic? Or did he just have to believe he was God?
According to Cayal, Kentravyon's madness resulted from swimming too deep into the Tide, losing himself in it so much that he never really came back. The circumstances of his downfall remained disturbingly vague, leaving Declan with the impression that Cayal
hadn't told him the details, not because he was holding back on purpose, but because he simply didn't know himself.
'Are you the best at everything?' Declan asked, figuring it would be safer to broach the subject of his madness in a roundabout fashion.
'Yes, Declan, I am,' Kentravyon replied. 'That's why I'm God.'
is there no room for other gods in your pantheon?'
Kentravyon shrugged, 'I suppose. Provided they kill me first.'
'But you're immortal.'
The mad Tide Lord smiled, confirming Declan's suspicion that he wasn't as mad as he liked people to believe. 'Well, that takes care of that then, doesn't it?'
Despite himself, Declan smiled. Then he glanced across at Cayal's reclining figure, unsure if the Immortal Prince was really sleeping or just resting with his eyes closed, while listening to their every word. 'Do you really think Lukys has found a way to kill a Tide Lord?'
'The others have never come through when we did it before.'
That piqued Declan's interest. 'The others? What others?'
'The immortals we've left behind whenever we cross the rift.' Kentravyon rolled his eyes impatiently. 'Tides, lad, did you think that with millions of years behind us, and millions more ahead of us, the best the Tide can do is produce immortals the calibre of Engarhod?'
Declan stared at him, a little stunned by the idea. He had enough trouble trying to comprehend the notion that he might live for thousands of years. The realisation that he might one day count his life in a span of millions of years had never even crossed his mind, until now. Tides, no wonder Cayal is looking for a way to die.
'Are you telling me that you —- and Lukys ... and Maralyce — that you're millions of years old?'
The Chaos Crystal Page 7