"Had enough?" Nasser asked, lowering his hands.
From a sitting position she sprang three feet in the air, driven upward by the power of her fingers and toes alone. She spun, using the centrifugal force of her turn to make her feet into lethal weapons. Her left foot clipped the tip of Nasser's nose. Her right met his jaw, which shattered under the impact. His hands flew up, and he reeled away. Flowstone greased his tread, and he fell face down on the platform, on top of more silver globules. With a single deep scream, he slid feet first into the furnace.
Belbe wasn't much better off. Completely out of control, she too landed face down, but because she was astride the platform, she was able to grip the edges with her hands and feet, avoiding Nasser's fate. Even so, her right hand, forearm, leg, and calf were singed by the energy beam.
Pain was nothing. She carefully got up, brushing away the deadly droplets beneath her.
"Ertai!"
"You won," he said, vastly relieved. "Can you get me out of here?"
"I'll try."
She crouched beside the cube and blew on the scattered silver pellets. One by one the frictionless spheres skittered into the furnace. When the platform was clean, she put her shoulder against the cube and pushed it back from the edge. It was enormously heavy, but she shifted it back far enough that it wouldn't easily topple over the ledge.
Belbe rattled down the steps to the control dome. There were all sorts of implements there, and she found a cabinet of heavy tools meant for dealing with accidental spills or accretion problems. Belbe grabbed an ax, a wedge, and a sledgehammer with special flowstone cutting heads. She tucked these under her arm and ran back up the steps to Ertai.
Belbe put down the hammer and wedge and attacked the cube with the ax. Using both hands, she swung the heavy ax in a wide arc from behind her head. It struck the cube with a loud clang, cutting an inch deep gouge in the surface. Belbe swung again, and without realizing it, let out a hoarse, angry yell. The cube shifted slightly from the blow. She hit it again, and again. After eight terrific hits, the ax fell from her hands.
Her shoulders were dislocated. Wincing from the unsuppressed pain, Belbe climbed atop the cube. She crawled to Ertai, now resting his chin on the metal.
"I can't do it," she gasped. "Not with these tools. I'm sorry, Ertai."
"It's all right. I'm about gone anyway," he whispered.
"Don't you dare leave me," she said, grasping his cheeks in her hands. "You're my friend-my only friend! I won't let you go."
When he didn't answer, Belbe tried clawing the stone around his neck. He'd loosened it a bit with his own magic before fatigue had claimed him, so there was just enough room for her to hook her fingers inside and pull. Her shoulders burned, and her nervous system sent out insistent warnings for her to stop.
"Need help?"
She jerked around and spied Crovax on the furnace cone. A halo of residual energy was fading around him. He'd teleported from the coronation ceremony. The intense blue glare of the energy beam made his dark skin look gray, and his white garments glowed with reflected radiation.
"Don't taunt me, Crovax!" Belbe said. "I disposed of your man, and I can dispose of you!"
"Threats, Excellency? And here I came to offer my help."
She slid off the cube. Her arms were almost useless, hanging at her sides like dead weights.
"Release Ertai," she demanded.
"I will, on one condition."
"No conditions! Release him!"
Crovax folded his arms. "You know I can command the cube to squeeze him to jelly from where I stand," he said. "Or I can have it throw itself into the furnace."
Breathing hard, fighting the pain, Belbe glared hatefully at Crovax. She was beaten. As long as she cared what happened to Ertai, he had her.
"All right. Name your condition."
"I'll dissolve the cube and leave the boy here, if you return with me to the ceremony directly and do what you promised to do."
It was too simple.
"Is that all?" asked Belbe.
"That's all. Of course, whether or not the boy survives his close exposure to the energy beam is a matter out of my hands."
Belbe made two fists. The effort made her shiver. "I'll bring him with us!"
"No," said Crovax. "You must leave him here. That's my condition. Say yes now, or the offer will be withdrawn."
She lurched toward him and was gratified to see him step back.
"Why do you need me so much?" she said. "You have the power to rule Rath. Why are you so set on me proclaiming you evincar?"
"Stupid question. You're the emissary of the overlords. What I am, I owe to them, and I need their stamp of approval. I can rule Rath as I am now, but there are factions within the Stronghold that will not recognize me as evincar without your declaration.
"Time is short, Excellency. Our conjunction with Dominaria is just days away. I don't have time to suppress rebels, woo support from the local population, and prepare for the invasion of Dominaria all at the same time. Your announcement that I am the true evincar will save me much effort. Now come. There's no more time for banter. My crown awaits." "Free Ertai."
Crovax nodded. The cube promptly began to melt, like a pat of butter on a hot griddle. Silver rivulets of flowstone spilled off the edge into the furnace. In seconds, Ertai's shoulders were visible. Belbe held onto him as the liquefied flowstone sluiced away.
She kissed him lightly on the forehead. He cracked his swollen eyes.
Ertai's voice was a hoarse whisper. "I heard what he said. Go. I'll be all right."
"I'll come back for you."
His head lolled to her shoulder. Ertai whispered in her ear, "Let's use your portal and escape."
Belbe lowered him carefully to the platform. "That may not be possible," she said.
"We must."
Strong arms pulled her away. Crovax put an arm around her waist and held her close. With her injured arms Belbe did not fight.
"I hate you, Crovax."
He smiled quite pleasantly. "Good. A strong ruler should be hated and feared. Now that I've achieved the one, I'll see what I can do about the other."
Before Belbe could respond, he teleported. Everything was blanked out in a fierce white flash-vision, hearing, all her senses. Even Belbe's hatred was extinguished for the duration of the trip.
The rebels reentered the Citadel easily enough, but fifty yards inside the palace they ran smack into a cordon manned by a large contingent of Rathi soldiers. Takara dropped back from her lead position to walk beside Eladamri.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"Bluff. What else can we do?" He whispered to the others. "I'm your captain-say nothing, but follow my lead."
A breastwork of boxes had been erected across the circular junction, and at least a hundred soldiers milled around behind the barrier. At the rebels' approach, the commander of the cordon came out and ordered them to stop.
"Identify yourselves!"
Eladamri stepped out from the ranks of his band.
"We were called to the prison a few hours ago," he said. "Something about a breakout. We caught this one walking around loose." He took Takara roughly by the arm and shoved her forward. "Some of Lord Volrath's creatures are free in there, too, so we had to clear out."
"There are rebels at large, disguised as royal army soldiers," said the commander. "See anyone suspicious?"
"Not a soul. There was some kind of trouble in the mogg warrens, though. We got as far as the Map Tower, and we heard a commotion from there."
The commander laughed harshly. "Ha! If the damned rebels went to Mogg Town, that's the end of them!" He braced a scrap of parchment against his knee and made some notes using a charcoal stick.