"Yes, Jin'Sai," K'jarr shouted back. "It shall be done!"
Despite the madness and turmoil going on all around them, Tristan took a few precious seconds to look deeply into K'jarr's dark eyes. "All of our lives and the life of your nation depend on what it is you now do," he said. "You must not fail us in this!"
K'jarr unflinchingly returned Tristan's gaze. "I live to serve!" he shouted.
With a final nod from his lord, the warrior hid the small package beneath his leather body armor, took to the air, and slipped over the side of the ship. Tristan ran toward the bow, desperately fighting his way through demonslavers and screechlings as he went.
By now the situation had become so critical and the number of demonslavers so great that a thick horde of Minions had to surround him simply to ensure he would reach his goal. Many of them died. Blessedly, by the time he made it there the others were waiting for him inside one of the litters.
With Tristan finally aboard, the Minion bearers lifted the litters into the sky and soared upward, just as they were overrun. Some of the screechlings tried to follow, but were cut down by Minion escorts. Then the remainder of the warriors soared from their stricken vessels and followed suit, climbing into the sky after them. As they did, the demonslavers left on the bloody decks cheered and waved their swords in celebration of their great victory.
Wondering whether his plan would work, Tristan looked silently over at his sister. She was dirty and disheveled and her left arm was bleeding, but Wigg had apparently been able to close the wound for now. Tristan gave her a small smile, and she smiled back.
Looking down at the fleet he had just ordered abandoned, Tristan desperately wondered whether he had done the right thing. It was out of his control now, he knew. As he waited and watched, he closed his hands tightly around the hilt of his dreggan.
K' jarr soared low over the waves, desperately staving off the screechlings that tried to force him down into the dark, waiting maws of the Eaters of the Dead. Four times they nearly took him, and four times he fought them off. But the battle on the decks had tired him, and he wasn't sure how long he could continue searching for the right opportunity.
Finally, after several long moments of circling the waterline of the Savage Scar, he found a place clear of screechlings and Necrophagians.
Hovering near the bowsprit he took a supreme chance and turned his back to the sea. Reaching into his body armor he withdrew the oilskin pouch, then carefully stuffed its contents into the gap between the bowsprit rail and the hull, taking extra care to make sure it would not come loose.
Turning away from the hull he soared up and away, in search of the Jin'Sai's departing litters.
W hen Wigg thought they were finally high enough, he nodded to Tristan. Then the prince gave his litter bearers a prearranged signal and they stopped climbing, instead hovering in place. They were high in the sky, directly above the two opposing fleets. The bloody Minion decks were now empty of warriors, and the demonslavers were still swarming over their decks, raucously rejoicing in their victory.
Tristan anxiously waited for Traax to lead the remainder of his forces up. As they came, he was dismayed at how few of them had survived. Then K'jarr finally caught up with them.
"Is it done?" Tristan shouted out nervously.
"Yes, my lord!" the Minion answered proudly. "All is as you requested!"
A look of relief crossed the prince's face. Wasting no time, he gave orders for the two litters to separate and to put a good distance between one another. Then he looked back over at Wigg and Abbey. It was time.
"You can do this," he told them.
"If I can both hold the litter in place long enough and also sustain a warp, and if the process will actually work in reverse," Wigg replied. "But as Faegan and I told you before, there are so many variables-"
"This is no time for a lecture about the craft!" Tristan countered quickly. "We're out of time! You need to start now!"
Nodding, Wigg looked over at Abbey, and then out at the distant litter the Minions were still holding. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and raised his arms in its direction.
Azure bolts shot from his hands and flew toward the other litter. As the azure glow engulfed the litter, the bearers let it go and flew away from it. Two of the warriors were badly burned, but it couldn't be helped.
It was plain to see that the lead wizard was straining with all his might to keep the empty litter from crashing into the sea, while at the same time maintaining the azure warp he had placed around it. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and his arms shook.
Glancing over into Abbey's terrified eyes, Tristan gave her a look of encouragement. Then he looked out of the litter toward Traax.
"Now!" he shouted at the warrior.
Traax flew around to Abbey's side. The herbmistress stood up shakily, and Traax lifted her into his strong arms. Then he flew her toward the empty litter.
As she lay hundreds of feet above the waves in Traax's arms, Abbey carefully opened the leather cinch bag that hung from a strap around her neck. It held the ingredients required to start a gazing flame. Removing a pinch of herbs from it, she reached through the warp, dropped them over the side of the litter, and watched them fall onto the hot embers already burning on its specially constructed, metal floor. She then bowed her head.
As expected, almost immediately the familiar, golden flame came alive and started to burn away the sides and roof of the litter, leaving only the metal floor. Abbey cast a few more of the herbs into the flame and it roared higher, gaining color and strength. Raising one arm, she silently commanded the flame to split into two separate branches. The smaller of the two then obediently angled itself over toward her.
After carefully placing the first bottle of herbs back into the cinch bag, she removed the second one. Opening it, she took another pinch of herbs and dropped them down into the nearest of the two branched flames. The two branches rejoined, returning to the vertical. Placing the second bottle back into the cinch bag, she gently removed yet another precious item. Closing her eyes, she held it high.
It was a piece of vellum recently taken from the Scroll of the Vigors.
When the viewing window in the gazing flame started to form, Abbey opened her eyes again. Looking into the window she saw what the piece of vellum in her hands was searching for and had finally found: the same item K'jarr had just hidden in the gap between the bowsprit and the hull of the Savage Scar.
It was the other half of the vellum that Krassus had enchanted and hidden in Tristan's boot-the vellum the wizard of the Vagaries had hoped would destroy them all, but hadn't. It was also the item Tristan had shown the wizards that day on the balcony, when he had outlined his battle plan for them.
As Abbey watched, the vellum in the window-the twin image of the one on board the Savage Scar-began to emit pinpricks of azure light. With the birth of the lights came great screeching sounds, their noises so great that she and Traax could barely stand the pain in their ears.
Knowing the time had come, Traax immediately turned around and flew them both back to the waiting litter. As he did Wigg lowered his hands, and the remains of the other litter and Abbey's gazing flame fell into the sea. After Abbey was helped back inside, everyone looked down at the Savage Scar. Hoping against hope, Tristan held his breath.
From the bow of the flagship the screaming shafts of light broke free of the enchanted vellum and tore into everything around them. They lit up the sea and sky with massive, azure strikes, twisting and turning relentlessly as they sought out whatever they could find and destroy.
The Savage Scar went up first. The shards of light shot through her from stem to stern, and with a great, torturous shudder, she blew apart. Her masts and spars came crashing down, her decks ruptured mightily, and what was left of her rolled over, capsizing in the sea.