And from his aerie atop the tower, Ordrune watched as the sloop slipped away in the ruddy light of the flames. Though unforeseen, it was of little or no consequence that the building behind was ablaze and the sails of his ship were on fire, for all was going according to plan.

CHAPTER 65

As shouting Chun battled the blaze in the main building and other Drik and Ghok scrambled down the switchbacks toward the sail-fired dhow, Ordrune strode along the buttressed walls to enter the tower. Inside, the dark Mage made his way to the spiral stairs leading to the chambers below. Down he wound and down, until at last he came into the shadows of a room of manacles and chains and straps and tables and racks and hooks and knives and other such, a room filled with echoes past of agony and terror, a room where astral blazes were wrenched from tortured souls and twisted to malevolent ends.

Crossing this horrific chamber, Ordrune trod toward an iron door barred with three massive metal beams, a door from which emanated the sound of slow monstrous breathing and the stench of carrion. As the dark Mage approached the heavy portal, something massive thundered into the iron, juddering the panel and rattling the bulky hinges and bars… and angry skreighs shrieked forth.

Ordrune mouthed a silent word, quelling the sound and fury on the opposite side. Then he raised each of the heavy bars in turn and opened the door and stepped into the reeking fetor beyond.

There he faced a monstrous winged thing from elder days, its flailing pinions leathery and black, a single scimitarlike spur jutting forth from the forward bend of each wing, its long beak filled with jagged teeth, the large piercing claws of its feet hooked and clutching and grasping. And it skrawed and clacked and lurched among a litter of bones, bones gnawed and crushed and cracked and splintered for their marrow.

Ordrune looked into one of the creature's glaring yellow eyes and reached up to stroke its long neck. Then the dark Mage smiled and said, "I have a mission for you, my pet."

CHAPTER 66

Down the channel of Serpent Cove fled the Brise, her sails spread wide to catch every bit of the following wind. With Alos unconscious in the cabin below, Egil manned the helm, while Ferret and Delon handled the sheet lines. Arin, Aiko, and Burel stood in the stern peering aft, arrows nocked in the event of pursuit, though only Arin could see fully by the light of the thin crescent moon.

"Something is not right," growled Aiko.

Burel glanced at her. "Not right?"

"It was too easy," she replied, "as if Ordrune wanted us to escape."

Burel canted his head. "My sire was slain for merely knowing of the existence of the scroll, and he did not even get to read but a line or two. Yet we know even more, for we heard the whole of the text, the words Dara Arin read. Why would Ordrune kill one with little or no knowledge yet allow others who know its contents in full to escape? It makes no sense, Aiko."

In the pale moonlight Aiko glanced up at the big man. "Even so, Burel, it was as if our way was deliberately kept free of Kitanai Kazoku."

"Kitanai Kazoku?"

"Foul Folk."

"Ah."

Delon, holding a line and peering at the enshadowed jungle to either side, said, "Even had Ordrune wanted us free, Aiko, how could he have known of our plans-your sharpened spoon, for instance?"

Egil said, "Perhaps he did not, yet he did know given the opportunity we would attempt escape."

Aiko nodded and added, "Do you think it was pure chance that our weapons were at hand when we fled?"

Delon shrugged, saying, "It was, after all, an armory where we found our gear. Where else would you expect weapons to be stored? I think you look too far to find a plot, Aiko."

Arin said, "Could it not simply be that Fortune turned Her smiling face our way?"

Aiko looked from Delon to Arin yet said nought, her gaze impassive…

… And down Serpent Cove sailed the Brise, the strengthening wind blowing toward the distant sea.

The moon set, leaving but the glimmer of the spangle overhead to light the way. Arin moved to the fore and used her Elven sight to guide them. Time edged past, along with the slow miles, as night gradually wheeled toward the dawn. Stars above shone down, like silent observers watching desperate life unfold below. And still the Brise sailed onward.

It was dark when they slipped past the town in the throat of Serpent Cove, dawn but a faint glimmer in the east. And though the tide was in full ebb and low, they had no choice but to run the fangs in the blackness, for to delay risked discovery by the Rovers.

"As we did before," called Egil, "strike all sails but the main and jib." Working together, Delon, Burel, Aiko, and Ferret took down the jib top, fore stay, square, and the gaff top and stowed them below. Arin took station on the starboard wale to give Egil directions at the tiller, while the others took up lines for the difficult run ahead. And though they fared on but two of her sails, still the Brise ran fleet, for the offshore wind blew strongly and bellyed the sails full.

"Stand ready on the jib; stand ready on the main," called Egil above the surge of waves as they began their run true northeast toward the striated guide-rock.

"Trim starboard a bit, Egil, half a point," cried Arin, leaning out over the rail and peering ahead. "That's good. That's good. True her up now."

The Brise cut a foaming white wake in the water, the churning trail faintly luminous as the sloop ran at an angle toward the jagged Serpent's Fangs, the rocks jutting taller now that the tide was low and ebbing.

"Remember, all," cried Egil, "we will jibe starboard a full ten points to square up on the next guide. Stand ready."

Now the ship fled in among the fangs, the inner guide-rock yet ahead. But even as jagged stone slid by, Arin cried, "Oh, no!"

"What is it, love," shouted Egil, spray showering over the Brise in the darkness as her bow churned through the waves.

"Another ship, a dhow, has begun a run inward toward the fangs. 'Tis a Rover craft."

"Damn, damn!" cried Egil. "We can't come about in these rocks. We've no choice but to try to run past her."

"How can they see?" called Ferret. "Have they an Elf aboard?"

Arin did not answer as-Whoom!-waves thundered into rock, water leaping to pour over all; instead she called, "Stand by!… Stand by!… Stand by to make the turn!… Now! Now, Egil, now!"

"Now!" shouted Egil. "Jibing now!"

Zzzzzz… Wet rope buzzed against cleats as the Brise swung rightward 'round the great striated stone to veer sharply starboard, from true northeast by the compass toward a south-southeastern run, Egil hauling the tiller hard over to make the sharp-angled turn, the crew ducking the boom as it slammed 'round from starboard to port as the ship jibed before the wind, the canvas full taut with the sharp-driving air as the sloop on a beam reach slammed her shoulder to the sea and ran through a tangle of deadly fangs for the guide-rock beyond, while crew let line and took up.

And in that same moment the Rover dhow to the east entered the fangs opposite.

Arin quickly moved to the larboard rail to sight on the guide-stone ahead. Billows crashed in against the huge rocks, upflung waves hurtling over the Brise and down, drenching ship and sails and crew. Arin shook water from her eyes and stared steadily at an oncoming rock taller than the others.

"Starboard, ease starboard, Egil!" she called. "Now steady as she goes!"