"True." Shailiha did her best to smile. "But I trust in Faegan. What shall be, shall be."
Tyranny nodded. She looked up into the sky near the bow of the ship and called down the warrior who had been hovering there, waiting for her command. He was by her side in an instant.
"Tell Master Faegan that all is ready," she ordered.
The warrior clicked his heels together. "I live to serve," came the reply, and he launched himself toward the litter. From their places in the bow Shailiha and Tyranny could just make out Faegan's form. They watched the wizard raise his hands.
Almost at once the Reprise's anchor rose from the seafloor, its chain clanking as the anchor wheel took up its length. Then the anchor slipped itself up and into its mooring station. The unfettered Reprise drifted freely. That was when the howling began.
Just forward of the bow, a huge azure portal formed. Its swirling vortex was as tall and as broad as the ship.
Then the howling increased. Shailiha thought her eardrums might burst, and suddenly felt terrified. She had been through one of Faegan's portals before, but it had never made noise.
As the vortex engulfed the bow of the Reprise, Shailiha began to feel the effects of the portal making her sleepy and dizzy. She tried to call out to Tyranny, but she couldn't make her mouth work, much less make herself heard above the din.
Her head slumped to her breast.
Far above, Faegan and the others watched as the shrieking, whirling azure portal swallowed up the warship and then disappeared. stunned, bratach lowered his spyglass. he stood upon the invisible frigate, his endowed blood shielded from Faegan's senses, savoring the marvelous coincidence that had seen him checking his ship and its demonslavers the same day Faegan had used his portal. Initially, his interest had been piqued by the sight of Tyranny and the Minions making preparations to get under way. Then, when Faegan had unexpectedly appeared in a litter overhead, he knew he would simply have to stay to learn what he could.
What the crafty, crippled old wizard had just accomplished was impressive. Bratach could not be sure where the Reprise was going, but he had his suspicions. Still, if the plan was to attack the Citadel, why send only one ship? The Minion force aboard her was not sufficient to seize the island. Why weren't the First Wizard and the Jin'Sai aboard? But in the end, none of that mattered. Even if that was where the Reprise was headed, Bratach had no way to warn his lord in time.
Looking back to the sky, he saw Faegan's litter depart for Tammerland. As the litter shrank against the sunset, another thought occurred to him. Faegan had been very clever-but not quite clever enough. Now Bratach knew Faegan's secret of the portal. When his master arrived, together they would turn it against their enemy.
Smiling, Bratach turned and walked down the deck, feeling his way along the invisible gunwale until he found the gangway. He walked carefully down the stairs and went to confer with his demonslavers. more than halfway across the sea, an azure radiance grew and grew until the portal's swirling vortex formed and the deafening howling began. It was night and the seas were high. The sky was cloudy and threatening. In the distance the first branches of lightning were visible, scratching their way closer across the darkness.
Like some plague-ridden ghost ship from the past suddenly returned to haunt the present, the Reprise was vomited from the portal's mouth to land harshly upon the waves. Its job done, the portal vanished.
The ocean tossed the ship back and forth mercilessly. One of her masts was cracked and her bowsprit was gone. Her sails still furled and her ship's wheel tied off, she was helpless against the sea.
Then the first of the stressed planks in her keel suddenly let loose. Seawater rushed in. The storm arrived and the rain began in earnest, bringing with it thunder and lighting. White-capped waves rose higher as the storm-tossed ship began to list from the water invading her belly. Despite the storm and the ship's violent rocking, none of those aboard had yet awoken from the passage through the portal.
Her head lying upon her chest and the gold medallion around her neck swinging back and forth in the relentless rain, Shailiha of the House of Galland slumped forward in her bonds.
Then lightning clove the mizzen mast in two. When it came crashing down upon the deck it fell upon deaf ears.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Lying on his back before the campfire, with his head propped up on a log, Geldon contemplated all of the amazing things he had witnessed over the course of the last several days. In his heart he had to admit that none of it was good.
They were close to Tammerland. They had stopped to make camp just west of Tanglewood, near the still-smoldering canyon that the rampaging orb had gouged into the earth. The note he had sent by Minion messenger would soon reach the wizards. But after seeing the orb cut through the Tolenka Mountains, he knew that he had to return there to observe it again, if he was to have any hope of ever properly describing it. The wizards would have many questions. He hoped he could answer them.
He had wanted to leave Ox in charge of the Minion party remaining with the orb, but the huge warrior wanted to see Tristan again. Geldon had finally relented and left an officer of Ox's choosing in charge. His orders were to send a warrior to the palace immediately should there be any change in either the condition of the orb or its direction of travel. Thrilled to be in charge of his first command, the young Minion had clicked his heels sharply.
The destruction of Brook Hollow, the encounter with the birds and animals fleeing the forest fire, and then his escape from an onrushing glacier had all taken their toll upon Geldon's nerves. That was to say nothing of watching the orb cut through solid granite. It would be good to be back in the palace again, he thought, and to sleep in his own bed.
He smiled. He could already picture the vein in Wigg's forehead throbbing, and Faegan as he sat there calmly in his chair on wheels, stroking his dark blue cat while the two wizards listened to Geldon's every word.
He took another long pull of akulee from the carved stone jug he held. The Minion ale was exceedingly strong. Since traveling with the Minions, he had developed a taste for the bitter concoction. Taking another sip, he promised himself that he wouldn't become drunk.
The night was clear, and a million stars competed with one another for space in the heavens. A stag had been hunted down and killed by two of the warriors; the slowly roasting venison smelled wonderful as a cook turned it on the spit. The flickering firelight showed up the sides of the dozen or so tents that had been erected.
Geldon could occasionally see flying warriors on patrol, their dark silhouettes flashing spectrally across the faces of the three Eutracian moons. The mighty Sippora River babbled happily by only a few meters away. For the first time since leaving the palace the dwarf was beginning to feel relaxed.
Ox came over and sat down heavily in the grass. He picked up the akulee jug, took a long drink, and then wiped his mouth with the back of one hand.
Smiling at Geldon, he handed the jug back. His mood more sanguine than it had been in days, Geldon took another swig.
"Warriors say for one your size you drink akulee good," Ox said in his broken Eutracian. "You also brave. If you be bigger and have wings, you make good Minion."
Looking back into the fire, Geldon laughed.
Another warrior walked up. In his hands he held a plate that was piled high with freshly cooked venison. With a bow, he placed it on the ground between them, and Ox and Geldon ate greedily, washing the meat down with gulps of akulee.
The sound of music suddenly surprised Geldon. Looking around, he saw a warrior sitting on a tree stump near the edge of the camp and strumming a lyre. The melody that wafted through the air was lovely. Then the warrior began reciting something as he played. Other warriors gathered around him, listening with rapt attention.