'Who knows?' the madman said with another shrug. 'I don't bother keeping count any longer.'
'But you came through this rift from another world, didn't you? From a world just like this one?'
'Well, it wasn't exactly like this one,' Kentravyon said. 'Had more water on it, for one thing. And it was warmer. And no people, which was a bit of a bore after a while. We had a few species that were kind of intriguing, but they didn't really live long enough to be useful. Something in the air, Lukys postulated, that kept them dying young. It was very picturesque, though, as I recall. The whole world was like a riotous garden with creatures the size of sailing ships. And they had these really delicious little molluscs you could only find up around the Fianca Inlet —'
'How many worlds have you actually been to, Kentravyon?' Declan cut in, fearing he'd lose the madman's attention if he started reminiscing about long forgotten culinary delights.
The older man shrugged. 'I don't know. Must be a few. I was just a lad when I was made immortal.'
Declan studied him for a moment. He looked to be a man in his early forties. Lukys seemed to be in his late-thirties, Maralyce a woman nearer fifty. Declan had always assumed that was the age they were when they'd been immolated. That the immortals might be ageing, however slowly, was something he'd never considered before.
Declan glanced over at Cayal's reclining figure for a moment. He'd been alive for the better part of eight thousand years and didn't look a day older than he had when he was made immortal at the age of twenty- seven. How long must the others have been alive to have visibly aged?
'Who were the others?'
'What others?'
'The other immortals you left behind when you came through the rift?'
'I don't remember their names.'
'Did they really die?' Cayal asked, opening his eyes to look at them. Apparently he'd not been asleep after all.
'I suppose they did. I mean, there wasn't much world left after the rift closed. None of them have ever come after us complaining about it, that's for certain.'
Declan frowned, wondering if he'd misheard Kentravyon. 'What exactly does "there wasn't much world left" mean?'
Kentravyon treated Declan to a baleful glare. 'What I said,' he replied, speaking slowly as if Declan was too stupid to understand what he was saying, it takes a lot of Tide energy to open a rift between worlds, you know. Anything in its wake when it snaps shut is usually destroyed.'
Cayal gave up all pretence of being asleep. Rolling onto his side, he pushed himself up on one elbow and stared at Kentravyon. 'You mean that's how Lukys is planning to kill me? By destroying Amyrantha?'
'Well, yes, I suppose he is,' the Tide Lord told him with a shrug.
Declan was too stunned to speak. And so was Cayal, it seemed, for a moment or two. And then the Immortal Prince lay back down and adjusted the pack he was using as a pillow into a more comfortable position.
'Well,' he said, settling himself down. 'That explains a few things.'
Then he closed his eyes again and said nothing more, leaving Declan staring at Kentravyon, the ocean rushing by beneath their flying carpet, trying to deal with the realisation that he'd discovered what the Cabal had been trying to learn for several thousand years.
He knew the secret of killing an immortal. It wasn't opening a rift that would kill them. It was closing it.
Of course, there was one tiny complication that made the information less than helpful — apparently, it would kill every living soul on Amyrantha if they tried it.
CHAPTER 10
'They're so pretty.'
Boots grimaced at her immortal mistress. Warlock hoped Elyssa would think it a smile. Outside the frosted-over windows, another storm battered the thick stone walls of Caelum Palace. It was warmer inside, but not by much, although naturally the immortals barely noticed the cold. Why else would Elyssa take it into her head to set off on another expedition in this weather?
'Thank you, my lady.'
'Are they feeding well?'
'Very well, my lady.'
'You'll take good care of them while we're gone, won't you?' They were sitting on a rug on the floor in the centre of the suite of rooms Elyssa had claimed. This outer reception room, being slightly smaller, was a little easier to keep warm. The heavy red drapes helped, as did the thick rugs on the floor, but the furniture was cumbersome and uncomfortable. At least it looked uncomfortable. No canine slave would ever sit in the presence of an immortal to find out. Warlock glanced at Boots with concern. She was trembling, but it had nothing to do with the bitter cold.
Hopefully, the Immortal Maiden didn't realise that and would put Boots's shaking voice down to the temperature.
Boots nodded. 'Of course, my lady.'
'If they need anything, speak to Lord Stellan. I've asked him to keep an eye on you until I get back. He'll
make sure my brothers don't decide to claim you while I'm gone.'
She said brothers rather than brother, which meant Elyssa was referring to her stepbrothers, Krydence and Ranee, as well as her blood-brother, Tryan. Warlock wondered if it was a slip of the tongue. Her stepbrothers were here posing as friends of the family, after all, not members of it. Or maybe Elyssa simply didn't care any longer, secure in the knowledge that no Crasii could ever betray her true identity.
'I'll serve Lord Desean as I would you, my lady,' Boots promised.
Several days ago Warlock had almost fainted with relief when Elyssa had announced to him that she would entrust the protection of Boots and the pups to Stellan Desean, as she was leaving to take care of something to do with the defences they'd devised to protect Cycrane from an invading Glaeban army. Elyssa had made a gift of Boots and the pups to the Glaeban duke — in quite a showy ceremony — as a token of her thanks for his help in prosecuting the war against his evil countrymen who had stolen her precious niece-by-marriage from Caelum.
Her generosity had nothing to do with Stellan, and Elyssa couldn't have cared less about Nyah. Warlock knew that and so, he suspected, did Desean. Awarding Boots and the pups to Stellan Desean was meant purely to stop her brother getting his hands on something she owned and feared he coveted.
It was no mean feat to convince the Immortal Maiden that the first thing Tryan would do after they left was claim Boots and drown her pups as an inconvenient nuisance, mostly because the threat was a complete fabrication. Tryan had lost all interest in Boots and her litter after Elyssa had claimed them on the Cycrane wharf when they first arrived in Caelum.
But it served Warlock's purpose to keep Elyssa believing her brother still had some interest in them, so when Stellan expressed concern for the pups while Elyssa was away, it had taken very little persuasion to have the discussion end in the Immortal Maiden granting foster care of her youngling Crasii to Stellan, in order to protect them.
Even so, it was a very fragile protection Warlock had arranged for Boots and the pups. If another immortal took it into his head to be rid of them, neither Stellan Desean nor anybody else on Amyrantha could stop them. Protecting his family from the immortals wasn't the point, however. As soon as Warlock and Elyssa were gone from Cycrane — with the work parties they were sending out to the tar seeps — Stellan had promised to find a way to get Boots and the pups out of the palace and back home to Glaeba.
Warlock had no idea how Desean would manage such a feat, given the lake was frozen and they were on the brink of war. He couldn't afford to dwell on the problem, either. Desean had promised he'd get the pups and Warlock's mate away from here and that was all that really mattered.
'You may go now.' Elyssa climbed to her feet, dismissing Boots with a wave of her hand. She turned to Warlock. 'You have a few moments to say goodbye to your mate, Cecil. Take my babies back to the kennels and meet me in the courtyard. I want to get away within the hour.'
'To serve you is the reason I breathe,' he said, bowing low, before bending down to scoop up the two male pups into his arms. Holding their daughter Missy, Boots stood up, bo
wed to their mistress too, and then opened the door, anxious to leave Elyssa's chambers before the immortal changed her mind.
As soon as the door closed behind them, they hurried down the hall toward the servants' stairs,
saying nothing until they reached the safety of the landing on the floor below.
'How long do you think you'll be gone?' Boots asked in a low urgent voice, stopping to face him.
'Long enough for you to get away from here,' he assured her. 'Lord Desean knows of a ruin on the lakeshore north of the city. Nobody has been there in years. You'll be safe there until he can find a boat to take you across the lake.'
'The lake is frozen solid, Farm Dog,' she reminded him, rocking Missy gently to stop her from fretting.
'Then you'll have to wait until I return, and I'll —'
'You mustn't!' she cut in. 'Tides, Warlock, if you come looking for us, Elyssa will know something is amiss. You must do as we agreed. Once we're away from here, Lord Desean will tell the suzerain I perished with my pups in the snow. You need to act as if we really are dead when you get the news, not come looking for us and give the game away.'
Warlock looked down at his sleeping sons in his arms, wishing there was something better he could do to protect them than effectively abandon them in a foreign country. But Boots was right. Stellan Desean could spin a tale about the regrettable death of a few Crasii slaves and nobody would think to doubt his word. This was a one-off chance and he couldn't afford to do anything that might jeopardise his family's safety. He'd done enough of that just by bringing them to Caelum.
'You will be careful, won't you, Boots? I think Desean can be trusted, but there are others —'
She put a finger to his lips, shaking her head. 'We'll be fine, Warlock. With the pups away from the suzerain, we have nothing to fear.'
'As long as we can keep them away from the suzerain.'
'Well, that's your job now. If this talisman Elyssa seeks is of any use to the Cabal, maybe we'll live to see an end to the immortals.'
Warlock was almost afraid to hope for that, but Boots was right. The Cabal had been very interested to learn that Elyssa was seeking some long-lost Tide Lord talisman. His orders were to stay as close to her as possible, to discover what it was. The upside of his new orders was that everyone seemed to have forgotten about assassinating Stellan Desean. He had no further orders from Jaxyn, either. Perhaps he figured Warlock's value as a spy had been undermined by Elyssa, and had found other ways to make mischief.
Or maybe he had other reasons to keep Stellan alive.
Either way, in less than an hour it would no longer be Warlock's problem. He was heading out of the city with Elyssa, which would give Boots and the pups a chance to get away.
And that, in the end, was all he cared about.
'You will be careful, won't you?' he asked her, searching her face for reassurance. Her big dark eyes were shining, but she was too well practised at hiding her emotions to give much away. 'I'll come for you, Boots,' he promised. 'Someday, when this is over, I'll find you and the pups and we'll make our own Hidden Valley somewhere. We'll find a place where we'll be safe and no suzerain can bring harm to our babies.'
She smiled wanly. 'You honestly expect me to believe that, don't you?'
'I mean it, Boots.'
'I know you do, Warlock,' she said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek, her tail wagging gently. 'That's what makes you so damned infuriating.'
She kissed him again, this time on the mouth, and then relieved him of the pups, somehow managing to hold all three of them safely. Warlock still wasn't sure how she managed that.
'Boots ... I...'
'Go, Farm Dog,' Boots said without rancour. The name had long passed from an insult to a term of
affection between them. 'Go save us from the suzerain.'
'Tell my pups about me.'
'Tell them yourself,' she said. 'When you find us again.'
Warlock nodded, afraid to say anything more for fear he'd choke on the lump in his throat. He leaned forward, kissed each of the pups in turn, then with a last lingering look at his family, he turned and headed back up the stairs to help Elyssa with the last of the preparations for their journey south to the tar seeps.
Closing his eyes for a moment he took the stairs two at a time, hoping to preserve the image of Boots and his babies in his mind forever.
CHAPTER 11
By the third day of their magic carpet ride — Declan couldn't help-thinking of it as anything else, despite the objections of the other immortals — he felt he'd learned enough to try controlling the Tide by himself. The other Tide Lords, who'd been sharing the duty of keeping the carpet moving and afloat between them, were more than happy to allow him a share of the load.
It proved to be a balancing act, Declan discovered when he tried it; a delicate equilibrium between drawing enough of the Tide to keep them magically skimming the waves at a pace that ate up the miles and protected them from the spray, while not causing anything more than the most local disturbance in the surrounding elements.
Declan was rapidly learning why mastering the Tide was such a hit-and-miss affair, and why each Tide Lord was required to find his own way. Although they were performing the same feat, there were subtle differences between the way Cayal rode the Tide and the way Kentravyon did it. That left Declan wondering whose way he should try — a somewhat problematic decision, given one of them was mad and the other suicidal.
Still, when Cayal offered to let him try, Declan didn't refuse the opportunity. This was a skill worth acquiring, this ability to circumnavigate the globe at speed, and something he was quite sure the Cabal knew nothing of. The histories spoke of Tide Lords
wreaking local havoc, it even spoke of magic carpets, but nowhere did the Lore mention that the Tide Lords weren't bound by the rules of mortal men when it came to the speed with which they could cross the world.
Declan's first attempt at keeping them afloat on the Tide resulted in an icy dunking for all three immortals, something neither Cayal nor Kentravyon intended to let him live down any time soon. To add to his woes, Declan had lost his pack in the dunking, although Cayal had somehow managed to hang on to his.
Kentravyon had taken to glaring at him, sitting cross-legged on the now soaking rug, as Declan struggled to master the Tide. This was only slightly less disconcerting than Cayal's constant attempts to interfere, telling Declan to pull this way or that, until he was tempted to dunk them in the water once again, just to shut Cayal up.
'Keep it level,' Cayal warned for the thousandth time. Declan wondered how long it would take him to master this flying carpet business enough to tip just the one corner Cayal was sitting on, in the water.
'I am keeping it level,' Declan said. He'd been at it now for a couple of hours, and was starting to feel like he was getting the hang of it. Of course, the down side was that Declan had never ridden the Tide for so long before. His skin was on fire and he feared that soon he'd be as crazy as Kentravyon from the ridiculous ecstasy of it. He understood now why neither Cayal nor Kentravyon had objected to him learning how to do this. Riding the Tide for extended periods was beyond draining. It left one feeling bereft, ultra- sensitive and more than a little lustful.
And they were still thousands of miles from Glaeba.
if you manage to keep us heading north east,' Cayal told him several hours later, when Declan was on the
point of collapsing from the relentless thrill of the Tide, 'we'll be able to make landfall in Stevania tonight.'
It was raining heavily, the sky ashen and overcast, and occasionally split by lightning. Falling rain pockmarked the roiling water surrounding them. No raindrops fell on the immortals, however. After a shaky start, Declan had finally figured out how to protect them from the elements just as Kentravyon had done, so they travelled in a bubble of calm through the storm, untouched by its fury.
Cayal seemed to be in a rare good mood, perhaps still riding the exhilaration of the Tide left over from
his own stint as their magical guide.
'There's a small settlement on the coast near here named Blackbourn,' he explained, it's not much more than a fishing village really, but it has quite a serviceable brothel staffed by some tireless young ladies who deserve our special attention. A day or two's recuperation there, and we'll be on our way again.'
Declan looked at Cayal, wondering. He'd thought he was the only one ready to explode from the after- effects of this extended journey on the Tide.
Cayal must have guessed the direction of his thoughts. 'What, you think it gets better with time?' He shook his head, it gets predictable, Rodent. It even gets tolerable. But it never gets better.'
'Even for someone as old as him?' Declan asked, jerking his head in Kentravyon's direction. The older — perhaps millions of years older — Tide Lord had stretched out on the damp rug. He'd shed his wet clothes and was lying naked on his back, apparently asleep. Given he could have dried his clothes and himself instantly using the Tide, Declan got the feeling Kentravyon was soaking up the ocean's vastness as a reaction to being trapped in the ice for so long.
'He's mad, so I'm not sure his opinion counts.'
'And Lukys?'
Cayal shrugged. 'What? You think he went out and got himself an energetic young wife just because she can cook?'
Declan frowned. 'Tides, here I am thinking you're all bent on ruling the world and it turns out you just want to get laid.'
'Disappointing, isn't it?' Cayal looked at Declan for a moment, amused about something. 'Didn't you ever wonder how Syrolee and her lot got involved in all this? We immortals spend an inordinate amount of time hanging around brothels, Rodent. In fact, when all is said and done, we're really rather ignoble creatures.'
'I had that much worked out a long time ago.'
Cayal smiled at his dilemma. 'And yet here you are — one of us — riding the Tide as if you've been doing it all your life, and ready to implode from the ecstasy of it all. What a journey you have ahead of you, you unsuspecting fool, trying to reconcile your narrow-minded mortal sensibilities with the reality of your immortal situation.'
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