The first shark chewed the priestess's face from her skull in passing while the other disemboweled her. The sharks returned to their positions overhead.
Laaqueel glanced at Iakhovas.
It's no work of mine, little ma lent i. His human face, when she saw it, even held a trace of suspicious hostility.
Laaqueel had no doubt that he'd taken part in neither attack. It was something else, something divine. She was certain of it. Feeling more confident, she returned her attention to the priestesses.
"If you don't live and teach as the Great Shark would have you," Laaqueel preached, "live in fear of Sekolah's wrath. As always, the weak will be culled from true warriors. So shall it be for the priestesses who stand in the way of the path the Shark God has chosen."
With fierce gazes and open hatred, the priestesses bowed their heads in acknowledgment.
Savage pride burned through Laaqueel. As she took her place at Iakhovas's side, she held her head high.
You've acquitted yourself well, little malenti, Iakhovas sent her, though I'd like to speak on this matter later, and at greater length. We are still not out of danger here.
Even that did not dissuade Laaqueel from the joy she felt. Sekolah had defended her, stepping in and destroying the priestesses who challenged her. It was unheard of.
"Warriors make war," Iakhovas roared. "Leaders lead." He spun slowly in the amphitheater, his arms thrust straight out and his claws fully extended. "When I first arrived here, I declared myself as your deliverer, the one who would set you free. I have not done that yet."
Laaqueel glanced at the princes as they conferred among themselves. They knew where Iakhovas was headed as well as she did. There was nothing they could do to prevent it.
"I tore down the Sharksbane Wall," Iakhovas said. "I opened a path to the outer Serosian world, to the seas the surface worlders depend on."
Clicks and whistles of agreement echoed around the amphitheater.
"But I failed to truly set you free," Iakhovas went on. "I left, handling errands of my own, taking the first steps to build We Who Eat a conflagration that would end the empires of our enemies, to leave them broken and shattered in our wake. I will not fail you again. I will be the king that you deserve, the one who will make savage warriors of you all in name and in deed."
The shrill sahuagin applause rippled across the amphitheater, growing steadily.
"No!"
The hoarse shout rang over the amphitheater. Laaqueel felt the movement along her lateral lines. She turned and found Maartaaugh striding toward Iakhovas.
"You will not be king here," Maartaaugh swore. "You are not from our sea. You are not of our heritage. You will not usurp our waters."
Silence immediately filled the waters as the sahuagin audience waited to see what would happen. Only the throbbing crescendo of the whale song continued unabated.
"Would you die then, Maartaaugh?" Iakhovas asked. "Would you challenge me and lose your life as Toomaaek did, unable to even fight for your people or the place they deserve in Seros?"
Maartaaugh slammed the butt of his trident against the inset stones that made up the amphitheater's floor.
"I will not die," the prince said. "Aleaxtis will have one of its own as king."
"I would kill you," Iakhovas stated flatly. "I would rend your flesh from your bones and feed it to those you claim to lead."
That remains to be seen."
Maartaaugh's courage held him despite the carnage he had seen Iakhovas do.
Laaqueel felt the tension in the water, could feel Maar-taaugh's heart beating rapidly through her lateral lines. Surely Sekolah's will would be served now.
"If you wish to dispute my right to the throne," Iakhovas said in a soft, deadly voice, "then I will name the challenge."
Maartaaugh nodded.
Iakhovas swung to the crowd. "In order to prove my worth-to become your king, to take upon myself the right to lead you in your greatest battle-I will slay the Great Whale Bard who even now blocks passage through the Sharksbane Wall."
Excited conversation started up again.
"If I can't do what I say," Iakhovas went on, "then let me die as Sekolah would have me: clawing at the face of an enemy." With noble grace, he spun back around to Maartaaugh. "If you wish, I will give you the honor of trying to slay the Great Whale Bard first."
"No," Maartaaugh replied in a quiet voice.
"Then agree to my terms," Iakhovas said. "If I kill the Great Whale Bard and end the threat of the whale song that attacks this place, you will recognize me as king and serve as my grand champion, to renounce and combat any who would attack or challenge me."
Maartaaugh hesitated only a moment, and Laaqueel knew it was because the warrior tried to find a loophole in Iakhovas's offer.
"I will," the prince answered.
"Good," Iakhovas said.
"When will you attempt this?" Ruubuuiz asked.
"Now," Iakhovas said. "There is a war to be fought, and I will tolerate no waiting."
He turned and leaped away, pausing when he was twenty feet above the amphitheater floor.
Laaqueel swam up beside him, seeing him totally in the sahuagin illusion now. He was a proud warrior, his fins flared out and his chest puffed up, gripping the trident in one fist and his crown seated on his broad head. One eye held a golden gleam.
"I am Iakhovas!" he roared. "I am destined to be your king!"
The sahuagin crowd exploded into movement. They slapped their feet against the stones and whistled and clicked in full support. There were even comments from some that Iakhovas was Daganisoraan, the greatest sahuagin warrior of all, reborn.
"Iakhovas!" some of them began to chant. "Defender and king! Iakhovas!"
UI will bring you victory!" Iakhovas declared. "Meat is meat!"
"Meat is meat!" the crowd roared back.
"It looks like they're waiting for something," Sabyna said.
She kept a low profile on the hill overlooking the stretch of coastline below her.
"Something," Glawinn replied, "or someone."
The paladin lay beside her on the hard, rocky ground. He wore hunter's leather instead of his armor and carried his sword in a plain scabbard.
"They could be waiting for Vurgrom to join them," Azla added. She lay in the tall grass on the other side of the paladin, the spyglass they'd been sharing pulled tight to her eye. "Or perhaps they're putting in to harbor for a few days to join him at a later time."
Irritated at the position they'd been thrust into, Sabyna glared at the pirates. The pirate ship Brave Wager rested at anchor in the small, natural harbor. Her sails were furled around her masts, looking for all the world like she was an innocent merchanter taking advantage of a brief respite before sailing dangerous waters again.
Part of the crew maintained lean-tos on the shore under broad-leafed trees. Blackened pits showed where they'd roasted wild pigs and deer they'd brought back from the forest surrounding the harbor. Fishing and crabbing were plentiful as well.
Azla's charts called this island, which lay to the southwest of Agenais, either Zagrus or Kloccbarn, as if the cartographer was unable to chose one name or the other.
After Sabyna returned to Azure Dagger and told her story of the men she'd seen at the apothecary's, Azla continued work on the ship. When Azure Dagger was fit for sailing a few days later, her replaced masts securely in place and completely outfitted, they'd gone sailing, using the enchanted astrolabe as a guide.
Vurgrom's ship maintained a steady route in the sea way between the Whamite Isles and Turmish, gliding as restlessly as a shark. Even as they prepared to set an intercept course for Maelstrom, one of Azla's crew spotted Brave Wager in the distance.
Rather than risk getting caught between the two ships they knew of, and perhaps more, Azla decided to wait Brave Wager out and see if they couldn't gather more information on what Vurgrom was doing.