Tristan looked out to sea to find theTammerland and theEphyra sitting atop the waves about one hundred yards from shore, each twinkling brightly with subtle matter. One of theEphyra ’s masts and some of her spars had come down, but Tristan was sailor enough to know that she could be repaired. And then to Tristan’s amazement this subterranean world began to change.
It didn’t start slowly, or with prior warning. Instead, its coming was sudden and earsplitting. Because Tristan was being carried in Ox’s strong arms, he could do nothing but watch in horrified wonder.
The Azure Sea started to churn, and great steaming geysers exploded from its depths to launch hundreds of yards into the air. Tristan couldn’t believe what he saw next, but the irrefutable proof lay directly before him, bewildering his senses. The Azure Sea was literally boiling.
Suddenly worried for his fleet, he snapped his head around to see another geyser erupt just off theEphyra ’s port bow, sending the great ship dangerously rocking atop the waves. Nearly capsizing, she listed hard before righting.
Then Tristan heard terrible screaming, and he saw some Minion crewmen being tossed from theEphyra ’s pitching deck toward the boiling sea. The quickest snapped open their wings and took flight just before reaching the superheated water. But some could not and they hit the boiling waves, the sea immediately overcoming them, and they perished on the spot. Tristan watched in horror as their scalded bodies and limp wings bobbed atop the boiling sea, some of them bumping against theEphyra ’s hull.
As yet more geysers and superheated steam exploded into the air, Tristan soon doubted that he and Ox would reach theTammerland alive. As the sea birthed one geyser after the next, the rising steam had become so thick that Tristan could barely see his hands before his face, to say nothing of the Black Ships. Tristan suspected that Ox was straying off course, but turning around to fly back to the beach and its thousands of swarming vipers was unthinkable. And so they pressed on, the air becoming hotter and deadlier by the moment.
As he wondered how many loyal warriors had survived the beach only to be boiled alive in the sky and on the sea, Tristan’s stomach turned over. Soon the smell of cooked flesh reached his nostrils to confirm his fears. Then he heard more horrible screaming and saw hundreds of Minion corpses, their dark silhouettes barley visible in the fog, tumbling downward and splashing into the sea.
“Higher, Ox!” Tristan screamed, desperately hoping that the heat would dissipate with more altitude. “You must take us higher!”
Straining with everything he had, Ox angled upward and his strong wings started to climb. Tristan’s skin burned and there was so much hot water running into his eyes that he could hardly see. He knew that unless Ox soon climbed out of the steamy fog, the end would be near for them, too.
Just then Ox broke through the rising water vapor to find clear air. Desperately wiping the water from his face and eyes, Tristan ordered Ox to fly in a circle and search for the ships.
Soon the terrible geysers stopped, and the water vapor began to dissipate. The prince looked down to see the azure waves littered with bobbing Minion corpses, sometimes grouping like tiny dark islands adrift on a sea of death. Then through a break in the parting clouds Tristan saw theTammerland. He pointed to the ship and Ox immediately understood. Diving through the rent in the superheated fog, they plummeted toward the flagship.
As they neared theTammerland, Tristan was relieved to see most of the heated fog diffusing and some of the Conclave members gathered on the bow deck. The ship was covered with hot seawater, its main deck still steaming in the gradually lessening heat. Ox set Tristan down atop the slick deck and theJin’Sai immediately ran over to where Wigg stood at the starboard gunwale.
“What’s our situation?” Tristan demanded.
When the First Wizard turned around he looked hunched and frail. He stared at Tristan without seeing him, his aquamarine eyes glassy and unfocused. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
“I should have known,” he said faintly. “Jessamay and I knew that it felt like cloaked blood…so many warriors dead, Jessamay hurt, and it’s all my fault…how could I have been so blind…then the geysers came…so many more died…the water is full of bodies…”
Tristan grabbed the wizard by the shoulders and shook him roughly.
“Wigg!” he shouted. “Take hold of yourself! I must know our situation!”
With Tristan’s commanding voice ringing in his ears, the First Wizard seemed to partly regain his focus. His skin, hair, and robe were steaming and soaked through, telling Tristan that the wizard had nearly been killed. He collected himself, then he wiped the tears from his face.
“We have lost many warriors,” he said, “not just to the vipers but also to the terrible geysers. But the geysers have stopped, and it seems that the man-serpents will not swim into the superheated sea. Aside from Jessamay, the other Conclave members were not badly hurt.”
Tristan let go of Wigg and he took a quick look around.
Jessamay lay unconscious atop a Minion stretcher, being tended to by anxious warrior-healers. She was scalded and soaked, and her injuries appeared severe. Parts of her body could be seen here and there through ragged burn holes in her drenched doublet, boots, and breeches.
Tyranny stood nearby with an open wine bottle in one hand and a smoldering cigarillo dangling between her lips. She too was soaked, her dark hair matted. Her sword, its hilt stained with viper blood, lay sheathed on her hip. She said nothing as she looked into Tristan’s eyes, then lifted the bottle to take another long slug. Her left hand was bleeding, but she ignored it; viper blood covered much of her clothing. Scars stood behind her, his torso and trousers also smeared with viper blood and offal.
Tristan turned back to face Wigg. As he did so, he saw thousands of warriors winging their way back to the Black Ships. Many were so tired and injured that they were crash-landing onto the decks.
“What caused the geysers?” theJin’Sai shouted.
The First Wizard drunkenly shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ve never seen their like. Perhaps the release of the subtle matter caused them…”
“Where are Phoebe and Astrid?” Tristan demanded.
“They’re here aboard theTammerland, awaiting further orders,” Wigg answered weakly. “They are exhausted but unhurt. We cannot fly the ships out of here, Tristan. We are too exhausted, and Jessamay is unconscious.” Then Wigg finally managed a short smile. “But the wind is good,” he added.
Heartened that all the Conclave members had survived, Tristan returned Wigg’s smile, then affectionately placed one hand atop the wizard’s shoulder.
“You did the right thing by sending Ox to me,” he said. “Had we not retreated when we did, we might have lost everyone.”
Tristan turned to look across the waves. The sea had calmed and the fog was gone, but the water still steamed. Thousands of Blood Vipers still congregated at the shoreline, hissing and writhing about each other in an orgy of victory. The sight incensed Tristan, enticing him to return to the bloody beach and kill them all. He turned to again look at Wigg.
“Those monsters are under the control of a hideous-looking Vagaries wizard,” he said. “He seems to have been morphed by the craft for some reason. I had two chances to kill him but I failed.”
Wigg nodded. “Khristos,” he said.
“You know him?” Tristan asked.
Wigg nodded. “He is a dark part of my past-the past that I foolishly thought I had forever left behind. But even now Failee’s deeds continue to rear their ugly heads.” Tired and shaking, Wigg looked at Tristan with worried eyes.
“Khristos is a powerful Vagaries wizard,” he said, his eyes going glassy again. “He must be dealt with decisively…it seems that the craft has changed his appearance, but I recognized him just the same…Shailiha must be told about…”
Just then Wigg’s aquamarine eyes rolled back and he fainted away. Tristan caught him and handed him over to Ox. The huge warrior lifted Wigg into both arm
s as though he weighed nothing.
No sooner had Ox taken up Wigg than another unsettling sound tore through the cavern. Tristan wheeled around, looking and listening. This time the noise was different. Not only was the sea roiling again, but the entire subterranean cavern was shaking violently, and the rumbling sound grew louder by the second.
On and on the terrible rumbling came, causing the swelling waves to crash against the ships’ gunwales and once again put them in danger of capsizing. Tristan lost his footing on the slick deck, and only by grabbing some rigging did he keep from tumbling overboard into the deadly sea.
Tristan looked across the deck. “Tyranny!” he shouted.
The privateer and her first mate were already struggling to reach him, but the going was hard. Without warning another terrifying manifestation of the craft appeared.
On either side of the ships, two giant dark walls started rising from the depths. They nearly scraped the ships’ sides as they came roaring upward. Tristan, Tyranny, and Ox could only stand and watch, bewitched by what they saw.
The craggy rock walls rose straight up past the ships, thundering so loudly that Tristan thought his eardrums might burst. Their flat tops stretching for endless leagues, higher and higher they rose until they neared the ceiling, thousands of yards above. On reaching the ceiling, their flat tops ground agonizingly against the radiance stones. Tons of rock debris came crashing down into the sea, narrowly missing the ships and sending plumes of water high into the air. Then everything went deathly still.
Tyranny and Scars carefully made their way across the slick deck to stand beside Tristan. At first not one of them could speak, stunned as they were by the amazing sight.
The two Black Ships lay trapped in a narrow channel of aquamarine water that stretched away into infinity. The black rock walls loomed up from the channel on either side like dark giants waiting to crush the vessels between them. Sharp and forbidding, they seemed to stretch away forever on either side of the slim waterway.
As the channel water calmed and slapped gently against the ship’s sides, Tristan collected his senses and looked around. Ahead could be seen only the limitless expanse of the tunnel-like channel. Behind them lay the viper-infested beach. The ceiling radiance stones lying trapped between the opposing rock walls provided bright, constant light.
As the last of the rubble broke free and tumbled into the channel, the rock walls settled and the wind calmed. Then, as if some great pair of protective hands had just reached down from the Afterlife to grasp them, the two ships stopped drifting atop the water and hauntingly held their positions, well clear of the deadly walls. The sensation was eerie, unnatural.
Tyranny turned to stare at Tristan, dumbfounded. “What just happened here?” she breathed.
Tristan shook his head. “I am as much at a loss as you,” he answered softly, still awed by what he saw. Trying to focus his thoughts on the ships, he finally turned and looked at Tyranny.
“But whatever else has just occurred, the mystics are too exhausted to pilot the ships,” he said. “If we are to leave here, we must sail atop the waves. Are the ships seaworthy?”
Her hands shaking, Tyranny removed the cigarillo from between her lips and ground it beneath the sole of her boot. She tousled her wet hair, thinking.
“TheTammerland is,” she answered. “TheEphyra can probably also sail, but her fallen mainmast, spars, and sails must eventually be repaired. She’ll be slower without them, but our Minion shipwrights can repair them as we go. Either way, this discussion is meaningless, because there is no wind. Nor can I understand why the ships don’t drift. The craft must have done all this…” she added softly, her voice trailing away.
Taking another slug of wine, she turned to look back at the shoreline and its thousands of jubilant vipers. “Even so, we must somehow get away from here as quickly as possible,” she said. “I saw that disfigured bastard at work and I don’t want to suffer any more of his tricks. We must find a way to move these ships.”
Tristan nodded and looked at Ox. “I want a Minion casualty report as soon as possible,” he ordered. “Have Wigg and Jessamay taken below to their quarters and see that they’re looked after by warrior-healers. I also want a report on their condition as soon as I can get it. And have Astrid and Phoebe also tend to Wigg and Jessamay-their healing gifts will be useful. If they are not too tired, send the Night Witches out on staggered patrols down the length of this channel. I want to know what lies ahead of us.”
Ox snapped his boot heels together smartly. “I live to serve,” he said. He turned and hurried away, the First Wizard’s arms and legs dangling toward the steaming deck as Ox bore him belowdecks.
Tristan turned back to look at Scars. “You will serve as theEphyra ’s captain until our mystics can empower the ships through the sky. Make arrangements for a warrior to fly you there right away.”
He then turned to look again at the bloody shoreline. “We must somehow find a way to leave here,” he said. “Something tells me that we haven’t seen the last of that Vagaries bastard.”
As Tyranny walked up beside him she sighed and tousled her hair again, causing Tristan to raise an eyebrow. He knew that look-it always brought bad news. “If there’s something else on your mind, you’d best tell me right now,” he said sternly.
“I’m sorry to report that our instruments don’t work here,” Tyranny said. “They just spin crazily, as though they are being affected by the craft. Even the enchanted one that Shailiha and I used to find our way to the Citadel won’t function properly.”
After everything else that had happened, Tristan wasn’t surprised. “What about the sextant?” he asked.
Tyranny shook her head. “We should have realized back in Tammerland that our instruments might be useless on the Azure Sea. There is no sky here, Tristan-only radiance stones, and they show no discernible pattern. Even Faegan’s enchanted sextant needs changing points of reference to confirm our position. Even if we escape this channel we can navigate only by line of sight. I don’t like it any better than you, but there it is.”
“Then line of sight it is,” he answered.
Tristan turned to look down the strange channel. The air was motionless, ensuring that the ships would be going nowhere. Moreover, the twin walls that hemmed them in rose straight up and seemed impossible to land on.
Just then a strong offshore wind freshened, and with it the waves became restless. Whatever force had been holding the ships in place suddenly set them free, allowing them to drift across the waves. Recognizing the coming danger, Tristan quickly turned to look at Tyranny and Scars.
“Get the sails up so that we can maneuver, or we’ll crash into the walls!” he shouted. “Take the only course available to us-straight down the channel while the wind remains astern! If it changes direction it might blow us back to the beach!” Wanting to use Tyranny’s spyglass, Tristan quickly relieved her of it before sending her on her way.
Tyranny immediately ran to carry out the orders while a warrior picked Scars up and flew him over to the other ship. As the Minions hurried to unfurl theTammerland ’s sails, Tristan held his breath as he watched her drift ever closer to one of the deadly rock walls. Then her sails caught the breeze and she heeled over at the last moment, missing the rock wall by only yards. With Scars finally taking control of theEphyra ’s wheel and her sails starting to appear, she too narrowly avoided the other wall, then heeled over and began following.
Only once the great vessels were finally sailing down the mysterious channel and away from the bloody beach did Tristan’s frayed nerves begin to settle down. Finally alone with his thoughts, he started the long walk toward theTammerland ’s stern. As he passed by wounded and exhausted warriors they attempted to stand and pay their respects, but many simply could not. Giving them reassuring smiles, he walked on.
On reaching the stern deck he stood against the curved gunwale and looked toward the bloody shore. Thousands of vipers still milled there in joyful celebration.
They think they’ve scored a victory, Tristan thought. And in some ways perhaps they have. Many warriors died, but in the end we gave as good as we got, and the subtle matter and the Black Ships were spared. For those things we can be truly thankful. But what caused this strange channel, and where will it lead us?
Then he saw a dark speck on the beach. Raising the scope to one eye, he twisted its cylinders, bringing the faraway scene into focus.
Khristos stood on the shore watching the Black Ships make their escape. The right shoulder of the wizard’s robe was bloodied and partly burned away. TheJin’Sai smiled at that.
Tristan already knew why Khristos had led his vipers into the caves. ThePon Q’tar had ordered him to do so in an attempt to kill him and the Conclave and to destroy the subtle matter and the Black Ships.
He grimaced as he realized that this probably also meant that thePon Q’tar was watching Shailiha, causing his worry for her to grow. Her task of destroying Khristos and his servants would not be an easy one, and he must use his medallion as soon as possible to inform her of the danger. But many unanswered questions remained about Khristos and the Blood Vipers-questions that only Tristan’s mystics might answer. As soon as Wigg was strong enough, Tristan would press him for details.
Tristan raised the glass once more to the retreating shoreline. Khristos still stood there, silver staff in hand, angrily watching his prizes slip away. Despite the day’s horrific events, theJin’Sai remained optimistic. All his Conclave members were alive and his ships were finally on their way, despite the strange arrival of the rock walls and the narrow channel they created. As he watched Khristos’ dark form recede from view, he decisively closed the scope cylinders.
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