But the sea serpent cloak gave Trip greater speed and maneuverability. He raced away from his pursuers, darting in and out of the terrace’s pillars. Mik, Ula, Shimmer, and Kell tried to cover Trip’s position, but their enemies crowded between them, making it impossible for anyone to help the kender.
“Up the stairs!” Mik said. “The next plaza is above water. The fish can’t touch us there.” He and the others formed a tight group at the stairway’s base, using the pillars on each side to protect their flanks. Karista retrieved her fallen dagger, stained black with Mog’s sticky blood, but kept well back of the fray.
“Fight your way to us!” Mik called to Trip.
“Duck your head, little one!” Shimmer shouted.
The visor of the bronze knight’s helmet opened and his scintillating dragon breath blasted across the briny deep. Dragon-enthralled fish withered and died where Shimanloreth’s power struck them, cutting a path through the swirling predators. Exhausted, the bronze knight collapsed to one knee, nearly toppling off the edge of the plaza.
Trip darted through the opening toward his friends, but Mog rose up before him. The dragonspawn grabbed the kender’s cloak. His talonlike fingers raked toward Trip’s eyes. Trip struggled frantically in Mog’s grip.
Mik and Ula shot through the gap in their enemies and drove straight for Mog.
Ula thrust her spear under the dragonspawn’s arm, but , the point got caught in the armor of the dead guard that Mog had been impersonating. Mik cut at the creature’s head, but Mog ducked out of the way. He whirled in a tight circle, yanking Ula and her spear with him.
The sea elf smashed into Mik and the kender just as her spear yanked free from Mog’s stolen armor. The three of them tumbled back, limbs flailing, as a group of razorfish flashed past. The fishes’ sharp teeth missed the treasure hunters by mere inches.
The key flew from Trip’s hand and landed near the steps ascending from the plaza. Lord Kell snatched it up before anyone else could reach it. “Up the stairs!” he called, and he, Karista, and Shimmer began to climb.
“Give me the key, Kell,” Shimmer said. They’d gone a dozen steps, and the spell over the stairs was keeping the evil fish from following. The bronze knight looked pained and exhausted, but his orange eyes blazed. The bottom of his visor raised slightly, showing the scintillating energies within.
The brass lord gritted his teeth and handed Shimmer the artifact. “We’re all in this together,” he said, barely meaning it.
In a flash, Karista smashed the pommel of her dagger across Kell’s helmet. He reeled, dropping his coral lance, and tumbled down the stairs into the plaza where Mik, Ula, and Trip were still fighting for their lives. Karista picked up Kell’s fallen weapon.
“Why did you…?” Shimmer began. But he never finished his sentence.
Karista thrust the weapon between Shimanloreth’s ribs. The coral lance’s magic pierced the dragon’s bronze armor and drove deep into his side. Shimmer’s humanlike eyes went wide, and he dropped the bejeweled key. “Why… ?” he gasped.
The aristocrat gave the spear a final twist and pushed Shimmer off the side of the stairway. He disappeared into the dark waters below, Kell’s lance still protruding from his side.
Karista smiled, and spoke in a voice as much Tempest’s as her own.
“The key is mine!”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Mik and Trip stood frozen in disbelief as Karista pushed Shimmer’s bleeding body off the stairway.
“No!” Ula shrieked. She broke off fighting and leaped off the platform into the darkness after her wounded companion.
Karista picked up die ancient key.
“No!” Mog wailed.
Fire burned in Karista’s steely eyes. “You haven’t the strength necessary to open the Veil,” she said. “So Tempest has chosen a more suitable vessel.”
She clutched the key to her breast and began climbing the stairs once more.
“Lady Meinor! What are you doing?” Trip cried.
The aristocrat paused and turned toward her former companions. Her pretty face cold and distant. “What I must! She would have killed me if I hadn’t become her thrall. I didn’t want to die there, in the middle of the ocean, like Bok had. I had to do what Tempest wanted. She spared me, and put her leech on me, and made me one of her own. The world is so clear now.”
Karista held the key out before her, and in the temple far above, a bright blue-white light flared, and the island shook. “Protect me while I do our mistress’s will!” she called.
Immediately, the remaining enthralled fish swam across the plaza and formed a wall at the base of die stairs.
“It weakens, Mistress!” Karista called. “Can you feel it?!” Her steely eyes flashed with mad glee.
Lord Kell raised himself woozily from the coral flagstones. “By the Gods!” he cried. “She means to rend the Veil and let the dragon through! We’ve brought destruction upon all the Dragon Isles!”
Mik and Trip charged past the lord and began hacking at the phalanx of evil fish protecting the stairs.
Mik’s jaw tightened. “I’ve been a fool!” he hissed, cutting down a razorfish. “The treasure we sought-the great diamond-it wasn’t just part of the ceremony to create the Veil. It’s part of the fabric of the Veil. It’s a cornerstone of its defense!”
“The key is the key to the Veil?” Trip said.
“Yes,” Mik replied. “It opens the magic of the diamond.”
“What can we do?” Trip asked. He grabbed a Turbidus leech as big as his arm and smashed it into a redtip shark.
“We have to stop Karista before she reaches the diamond,” Mik said.
The water around them became a bloody cloud as Mik and Trip fought their way toward the stairway separating them from Tempest’s thrall.
The sea dragon’s mighty flukes propelled her toward the wavering barrier. Her evil hordes swam with her: sharks, razorfish, Turbidus leeches, and a half dozen dragonspawn-all ready to die at their mistress’ command.
Tempest threw herself against the Veil. It shuddered but did not break. Her mind remained clear, though; the barrier’s vexing enchantment had failed. Tempest roared with laughter.
Now it was only a matter of time. Her thrall’s power grew as she brought the key closer to the great enchanted diamond. As Karista’s power-and through her, the power of Tempest-escalated, the Veil weakened. After the sea dragon passed through, she would then snatch the key and use the great diamond to destroy the Veil once and for all.
Again and again, Tempest crashed against the barrier as Karista bent the Veil’s magic to her mistress’ will. Finally, a tiny rift formed in the shield’s magical surface. The sea dragon ripped it open.
With a hideous bellow of triumph, Tempest and her minions surged through the breach into the Dragon Isles.
“She’s coming!” the aristocrat cried. “She’s coming!” She held the key high overhead and rejoiced. Mog glanced from the glowing key toward the bright temple at the top of the stairs. The diamond within the temple flared as the key summoned its power. The sky opened up and lightning flashed.
Mik and Trip pushed forward through the cloud of blood, killing many of Karista’s fishy bodyguards as they came. Lord Kell charged the rear of the frenzied mass, but he was far behind the sailor and the kender.
“Fight it, Karista! Fight the dragon!” Mik shouted.
“Milady,” Kell called, “this is not you. You do not want to destroy the isles!” His voice sounded tinny and strained through the magic of his helmet.
“Of course it’s what I want, fool!” Karista shrieked. “It’s what Tempest wants, and I am her creature! The Veil will open to… to my ships, as well.” She turned and began to climb once more. The wave-tossed surface loomed just twenty steps over her head.