Tristan had not seen Hoshi that day, but he knew that she was there somewhere, busily preparing the Shashidan forces for their attack. He knew so little about her, he realized.
How old was she really, he wondered, and how had she come to be the supreme commander of all the Shashidan forces? Was she in fact ancient and protected by time enchantments, as were the other members of the Chikara Inkai? Her youthful appearance was incongruous among the Inkai elders, yet her vision and counsel were equally respected. Tristan assumed that only the Inkai superseded her military authority, but he could not be sure. One thing was certain, however: She was a true warrior. Moreover, she brooked no misbehavior from her katsugai, and her orders were sometimes expertly enforced by the use of her sword. As well they should be, he thought grimly.
Just then Tyranny, Scars, and Ox approached. Saying nothing, Tyranny produced her gold case and lit a cigarillo. Like Wigg and Tristan, today she wore her Eutracian clothes. Tristan smiled as he was reminded how piratical she could appear.
Tousling her dark hair in disbelief, she took another deep lungful of smoke as she watched the huge tataki fune taking up their massive formations in the sky.
“I see it, but I still can’t grasp it,” she breathed.
“I know,” Tristan answered, remembering to speak only Eutracian in her presence.
“Ox always believed Black Ships big,” the huge Minion said. “They be nothing next to Shashidan vessels.”
Tristan was about to respond when one of the Shashidan war barges floated dangerously near the Tammerland. It was packed to overflowing with eager katsugai. As the barge pulled alongside, its katsugai bowed to Tristan reverently, but foremost in his mind was the worry that the two vessels might collide. He was about to order Wigg to shear the Tammerland away when he saw an armored katsugai mystic officer levitate from the barge to land on the Black Ship’s foredeck.
The fighter stood there for a moment, looking at him from behind an elaborate war mask. This was Tristan’s first glimpse of a fully armored katsugai close up, and the effect was chilling.
Armor covered the katsugai’s head and body, leaving virtually no place vulnerable to attack. It was constructed of lightweight metal plates bound together by leather cords, each plate overlapping the next. The plates had been lacquered a shiny black to make them waterproof and to identify the cohort and the air barge to which he belonged. Chain mail connected the plates at strategic joints, allowing for freedom of movement. The various pieces included a breastplate and back-plate, greaves, gauntlets, footwear, and an elaborate helmet. Broad shoulder pads of bright red woven metal draped down over the upper arms. The gloves were of black chain mail.
The helmet was particularly fascinating. Also made of black lacquered metal, it was rounded on the top, with a wide brim to keep the sun out of the fighter’s eyes. A broad, low-slung metal shield attached to the back of the helmet protected the katsugai’s neck from rearward blows. The helmet was held in place by a thick black leather cord tied under the katsugai’s chin in a large bow.
Of all its amazing features, the helmet’s face mask was the most intimidating. It too was made of shiny black lacquered metal, and the image engraved upon it was fearsome. The eye slits were slanted and wicked-looking, the facial expression warlike, the open mouth and sneering lips twisted into a seething grimace. More chain mail protected the katsugai’s throat, and the traditional long and short swords were secured at the fighter’s left hip. Taken as a whole, the effect was daunting. To an uninitiated enemy, the mere sight of this armored warrior might well cause him to throw down his weapons.
Tristan was about to speak when the katsugai extended one gloved hand and grasped the chin of his mask. The mask swiveled upward ingeniously and disappeared into the space between the crown of the katsugai’s head and the top of his helmet. Removing the helmet, with a shake of her head Hoshi tossed her long black hair free. She gave Tristan a solemn bow which he politely returned, once he recovered from his astonishment.
“We are ready, Jin’Sai,” she said simply. “It is time for you to come with me.”
Tristan nodded. It would feel strange to leave his friends just before the battle, but it had to be this way, for he was not leading this fight. Hoshi was in command and he had pledged to obey her. He turned to look at Wigg.
“I leave command of the Minions and the Black Ships to you,” he said. “Aid the struggle to the best of your abilities. I will be on Hoshi’s barge, also doing what I can.”
A somber look on his face, Tristan stepped forward and embraced Wigg.
“Goodbye for now, old friend,” he said quietly. “In Abbey’s name, kill as many Rustannicans as you can.”
Nodding, Wigg blinked away a tear. “Take care, Jin’Sai,” he answered. “Above all, remember Mashiro’s warnings and use your new gifts wisely.”
After again looking into Wigg’s misty eyes, Tristan turned and walked to Hoshi’s side. Hoshi put her helmet back in place, then pulled down her war mask and raised one hand in Tristan’s direction. They levitated up and away from the Tammerland’s bow deck to land on Hoshi’s war barge.
Moments later, the order was given, and the mighty Shashidan armada turned to sail into history.
CHAPTER XLVIII
FROM HER PLACE IN THE HOVERING LITTER, SHAILIHA looked breathlessly down at the Sippora River’s middle stream. Failee’s spell is working! she realized.
Faegan’s recitation of the incantation found in Failee’s grimoire was initiating a Blood Pox on Khristos and his vipers. It was succeeding exactly as it would have done for the First Mistress, had she lived and found it necessary to destroy her terrible creations. The first part of the plan had been to find Khristos by following the Inkai’s instructions in the use of the subtle matter. Now that the second part of the attack plan had taken effect, every pair of eyes in the hovering war party watched with rapt fascination as Failee’s ancient, long-forgotten spell went about its grisly work. The spell was designed to raise the blood temperature of Khristos and his followers until they died. They would suffer horrible, torturous deaths, the punishments more than appropriate for the crimes that the Viper Lord and his gang of monsters had committed against humanity.
There was a welcome kind of rough justice about unleashing Failee’s Blood Pox against her own creations, Shailiha thought as she watched the waters of the Sippora writhe and churn. Not only would the Viper Lord and his followers be tormented, but there would be an added sense of retribution in the name of a departed Conclave member. For this was the very spell that Succiu, Second Mistress of the Coven, had used to trap and to torture Geldon, the hunchbacked dwarf that she first discovered in the Parthalonian Ghetto of the Shunned. Later she would employ him as her personal slave, forcing him to scour Parthalon for suitable victims on whom she would practice her bizarre predilections. The Blood Pox had left Geldon impotent and sterile—two afflictions that Succiu refused to cure. Geldon had been loyal and brave, and he had been instrumental in helping the Conclave to win some of its most important battles over the Vagaries. But an assassin in the service of the Vagaries had killed him, and to this day his fellow Conclave members missed him deeply.
Taking her eyes from the churning water, Shailiha looked to the nighttime sky and toward the seemingly limitless number of stars suspended from its ebony canopy. Since the day she had learned of Geldon’s death, she liked to believe that one of those stars represented his soul, that soul that had been so much greater than the stunted body that contained it. May you now rest peacefully, my friend, she thought.
Looking back down at the roiling, steaming water, Shailiha suddenly felt the need to attain another form of justice. This need was personal, and it quickly overpowered her. Her face a mask of grim determination, she turned to Faegan.
“Stop applying the spell,” she ordered.
Faegan was stunned by her words.
“But it’s working, Princess!” he protested. “You mustn’t order me to stop now! Given more time, their b
lood will literally boil, killing them all! Why in the name of the Afterlife would you order me to stop?”
Incensed, Shailiha glared into Faegan’s eyes. “If you stop the spell, are Khristos and his followers likely to emerge?” she demanded.
Faegan looked at her quizzically. “I would suspect so,” he answered, still bewildered by the Jin’Saiou’s demand. “They will likely attribute their suffering to the boiling water, not knowing that it is in fact their own rising blood temperatures that are causing the water to heat.”
“And will Khristos still be able to call the craft?” she demanded.
“I do not know,” Faegan answered. “But because the Blood Pox raised his blood temperature to such a high level, his powers have probably been at least somewhat lessened. That might have been the goal of Failee’s spell all along. His Blood Vipers will probably be similarly affected.”
“Good,” Shailiha answered. “Now stop employing the spell! That is a direct order!”
Still confused, Faegan simply stared back at her. If he was to do this thing, he was determined to understand her reasons.
“But why?” he again protested, this time fairly screeching at her.
Raising one hand, Shailiha pointed to her black eye patch. “This is why!” she shouted. “And I do this for Abbey as well! I want that abomination of the craft to know that it was I who killed him! Now are you going to obey my orders before it’s too late?”
“Very well,” Faegan answered. “But after the spell is gone, what are your plans?”
“The plan is simple,” Shailiha answered. “When they emerge, I will take the Minions down and kill them all. You may participate if you like. But this is going to happen with or without you approval.”
Her face grim, the Jin’Saiou looked back down at the roiling water.
“I fully understand that dead is dead, no matter how it is arrived at,” she added quietly. “But how these abominations meet their end has meaning for me. The Blood Pox seems too easy. I want them butchered in the same way that they butchered so many of us. I forbid you to use your powers against the Viper Lord’s person unless he kills me.”
Finally consenting, Faegan ended the spell. Soon the water stopped churning and the rising steam vanished. Tense moments passed as the hovering war party waited and watched. As the first of the many reptilian heads broke the surface of the river, Shailiha turned toward Traax.
“Order your warriors and Night Witches to attack,” she said. “Take every head, but leave Khristos to me.”
“I live to serve!” Traax answered. He quickly shouted out a series of orders to the Minions and they started peeling off from their formations to dive toward the ground.
“Now get me down there,” Shailiha ordered Traax.
Traax quickly lifted the Jin’Saiou into his arms and turned to fly from the litter. Before he launched into the air, he looked down to find an empty landing spot. What he saw caused his muscles to clench.
“Look there!” he shouted.
Shailiha quickly swiveled her head and looked down.
Khristos stood on the riverbank, his face and body covered with boils and his skin scalded red by the water. As his thousands of Blood Vipers slithered up the banks, Shailiha saw that they were similarly plagued. Khristos looked up and saw the litter, and his reptilian eyes locked onto Shailiha’s. Raising one boil-infested hand, he beckoned her down with a sneer.
Without hesitation, Traax snapped open his wings and took flight.
CHAPTER XLIX
AS TRISTAN STOOD BESIDE HOSHI IN THE BOW OF HER black war barge, ten thousand heavily armed katsugai stood waiting in strict lines behind them, filling the vessel to the gunwales. Having been ordered to stay behind, Tristan’s Eutracian comrades and his beloved Black Ships were nowhere to be seen. But he couldn’t risk worrying about them now, he realized. History was about to be made, and once it began, there could be no going back for either side.
Hoshi had strategically dispersed the war barges that hadn’t already been sent to wait near the upper entrance of the valley. Some remained near the lower valley staging area with Tristan’s Black Ships, while the rest had been divided into two opposing flight groups. Closely hugging the outer slopes of the valley mountain ranges, they quickly flew north and stationed themselves one league apart from each other in two hovering lines lying along each side of the valley. Then the great lines of barges levitated at once up the mountainsides, coming to a stop just below the peaks and out of sight of the Rustannicans raiding the gold below.
Hoshi and Tristan’s barge also hovered very near the snowy summit. So far, it seemed that the Rustannicans had not detected the Shashidans’ presence. Off in the distance, the Jin’Sai could make out a war barge dutifully floating at the same altitude on either side of his own. Knowing that they were there was reassuring.
The weather was brutally cold here, causing Tristan to wish that he had chosen to wear a shikifuku rather than his Eutracian vest and breeches. Hoshi had offered him traditional katsugai armor, but because he was unaccustomed to it, he respectfully declined. Snow had started to fall on the lurking barges, adding a surreal quality to the nerve-racking wait. Soon the mountain winds arose, causing Hoshi’s black war barge to sway with the familiar creak of a great ship under way.
The Shashidan battle plan sounded effective, but Tristan believed that it would be difficult to execute, considering the thousands of barges that were to take part. When the assigned time arrived, the attack was to begin en masse. Because the barges lined the valley on both sides, it was hoped that the sudden onslaught would be overwhelming, causing the Rustannicans to react with confusion.
As the katsugai being released from the war barges stationed at the lower and upper entrances pushed their way into the valley and toward each other, those barges hovering on either side of the mountains would fly up and over the peaks, then soar down into the valley and also spill forth their fighters. Tristan still believed that the hugely scaled plan would be immensely difficult to coordinate, and he tactfully told Hoshi as much. But after Hoshi explained the devices that had been specially designed to help unify the attack, he quickly changed his mind.
A stout wooden pedestal stood in the bow of their barge. Atop it sat a unique hourglass, enchanted by the Inkai. Its upper globe was filled with black sand that fell into a matching lower globe. Both globes glowed with the azure hue of the craft. Each of the thousands of barges was thus equipped, Hoshi explained. On leaving the staging area, she had enacted the spell that would cause the sand in every one of the thousands of upper globes to begin falling at once. At the same time, the enchantment placed into the many upper globes would ensure that all the grains of sand fell at precisely the same rate. When the sands fully emptied into the lower globes, all the barges would attack simultaneously.
Tristan looked at the hourglass to see that the grains of sand had nearly all fallen. The attack would start soon, he realized. Pulling him to one side, Hoshi raised her war mask. Her gaze was searching, concerned.
“It is doubtful that we will become separated, because the Inkai have ordered you and me to stay on this barge at all costs,” she said. “It seems that the elders consider us valuable commodities,” she added with a little laugh.
She then removed a bright red scarf from beneath her armor and tied it around her upper arm. “Should we lose each other, this will help you to find me again,” she said.
Pausing for a moment, she again looked toward the enchanted hourglass. “The moment grows near,” she said. “It is time for you to learn your part in all this.”
As Hoshi outlined Tristan’s orders, he listened intently. When she finished, something unexpected happened. Hearing a rustling of armor, Tristan turned and looked toward the stern of the tataki fune.
All ten thousand katsugai mosota were on bended knees, heads bowed. There seemed to be a sea of them on this barge alone. He turned to again look at Hoshi.
“They do not bow to me, Jin’Sai,” she said. “They
bow to you. As I speak, the same act of reverence is happening on every Shashidan barge, but these katsugai here with you and me will stay with us as our personal bodyguards. It is your time now. Let us start this battle.”
Overwhelmed by the unexpected displays of devotion both seen and unseen, Tristan bowed in return. The thousands of katsugai mosota came quickly to their feet.
Hoshi lowered her mask, then turned to watch the last sand grains fall into the lower globe. She quickly shouted a series of orders to her barge’s pilot mystic.
At once the barge soared up the craggy mountainside, its ascent so steep that for a time Tristan saw nothing but snow-filled sky. On reaching the crest, the barge suddenly righted for the briefest of moments, then pivoted downward to begin the sharp descent into the valley.
The battle to reclaim the Tani Kinkiro had begun.
CHAPTER L
TO SHAILIHA’S SURPRISE, KHRISTOS TOOK NO IMMEDIATE action against her and Traax as they descended into the fray. Minions were landing by the thousands to begin fighting the Blood Vipers, and the erupting chaos was growing by the second. Faegan and Adrian wasted no time in launching azure bolt after azure bolt down onto the viper hordes still emerging from the tributary. As Traax and Shailiha landed to face Khristos, the sounds of explosions, screaming, and death-dealing rose into the night air.
Knowing full well that Shailiha would not be denied her revenge, Traax decided that she must be protected from the vipers as she confronted the Viper Lord. Shouting out a quick series of orders, he commanded a group of warriors to form a thick protective ring around the place where Shailiha and Khristos stood facing each other. Reluctantly joining the ring, Traax grew increasingly worried as he watched the drama unfold.
Even now Khristos took no direct action against Shailiha, choosing instead to stand his ground and give the princess a leering smile. His smile broadened further when he noticed her eye patch. Widening her stance, Shailiha raised her sword.
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