City of Jade

45

DARK DESIGNS

EARLY SUMMER TO MID AUTUMN, 6E9

High in the night sky in his incorporeal form, Nunde gloated as the Elvenship set sail from Port Arbalin.

Perhaps Aravan has taken the bait. We shall see. We shall see. Yet whether or not he has done so, surely he will someday. And no matter how long it takes, Malik will be waiting. After all, he has my orders.

Nunde continued to haunt the Eroean from afar, knowing what course the ship must take if it were indeed bound for the City of Jade, as he, Nunde, had planned.

As they sailed southerly, Nunde began to worry, for if catastrophe struck and the ship were to sink to the bottom in the raging South Polar Ocean, Aravan would be dead and beyond Nunde’s revenge.

And when the ship entered those perilous waters, Nunde made it a point to watch as the Eroean pitched and yawed and plunged through crest after crest, the Necromancer’s aethyrial heart hammering in dread of the upset of all his schemes, for tons upon tons of icy brine engulfed the ship, and it disappeared as waves roiled over it, only to reappear time after time.

But then the Polar Seas calmed, and Nunde shouted in glee as the Eroean turned northerly, and sailed on what appeared to be a course for Bharaq. Surely vile Aravan is heading just where I planned; I knew he could not deny the siren call of what he thinks will be a grand adventure. But little does he suspect what lies in wait. My plan is coming full circle.

Nunde raced ahead to see if Malik and the Chun were in position.

They were.

Not that they had any choice. After all, Nunde had decreed.

The voyage went onward, and at last Nunde, daring to spy during the day, though remaining well away, watched as the ship dropped anchor at the mouth of the Dukong.

But then, out from a brief flash of light- What’s this? They have a trained bird? A pigeon, a dove – no, a raptor of a sort, mayhap a small hawk. Never mind, for it cannot – Oh, wait, perhaps that slut of a Seeress is looking through the bird’s eyes. Regardless, the jungle is thick, and Malik and the others well hidden. Whatever the hawk and trollop are up to, it will do them no good.

Two nights later, Nunde watched as the Eroean , under sail, rode the night tide upriver. A candlemark later, the Elvenship tied up to the stone pier.

I have triumphed! Yes! And Aravan is mine!