Judgment

CHAPTER 20

Laquatas strode toward the edge of the Krosan Forest, noticing once again how clearly defined the edge was. The high grass of the savanna ended just yards from the broad trunks of the first trees, replaced by the spongy moss that covered the ground beneath the forest. The mer knew that once he stepped into the forest he would be entering a different world, a world of shadows and danger much like his undersea world. The light of the sun did not penetrate the dense canopy of the trees just as it could not penetrate to the bottom of his ocean. Death could as easily come from above or below you in the forest as from the side. The creatures of the forest lived and battled at all elevations.

"Damn that dwarf," muttered Laquatas again as he peered into the shadowy darkness from the mossy edge of the forest. "This won't be easy without Burke."

Laquatas focused his mind on the forest, pushing his senses out to their limits. After a few moments, he could hear spiders spinning their webs, see termites burrowing into the rotting hulk of a dead tree, and feel the breeze created by moths fluttering inside the forest. Summoning up even more mana, the mage raised his hands up near his face, snapped the fingers of both hands simultaneously, and disappeared.

"Now I can see you," said Laquatas to the forest, "but you can't see me." With that, the invisible mer inched his way into Krosan, picking his way around the dense foliage to avoid providing any visible clues to his location.

As he moved silently and carefully toward the ambush spot and his ultimate prize, Laquatas scanned the forest around him with his enhanced senses, searching for lurking dangers as well as the wayward barbarian. But the forest was strangely silent.

Kamahl must have aroused some response from the forest when he barged through here, thought Laquatas as he stopped to survey his surroundings more closely. I should be able to hear the sounds of battle from Havelock's troops. I know I'm near the ambush spot. What in Norda's depths is going on here?

Laquatas released the invisibility spell and poured more mana into his sensory spell, pushing his senses out to their limit to look for Kamahl, the Mirari, or any sign of his marines. The barbarian had passed through here, Laquatas could tell. He could now see tiny horse hairs sticking to burrs in the underbrush, could smell the wet leather straps and the musty woolen blankets tied to the horses, could feel the thrum of power emanating from the mirrored orb he so much desired.

All of these sensations were minutes old. There was no evidence that Kamahl or the Mirari had been stopped by his ambush. So where is Havelock, Laquatas asked himself.

Just then, the mer sensed a buildup of power nearby, and his acute senses told him that a water portal was opening behind a tree just a few yards to the north. Laquatas ran ahead, pushing brush out of the way, no longer worried about his safety.

Laquatas rounded the large tree expecting to see his elite marines, and more than half hoping they already had the Mirari in their possession. He found only Havelock, lying against a tree, a long gash across his shiny, blue forehead, one eye swollen shut, and a large bloodstain on the front of his tunic.

"Havelock," cried Laquatas as he dropped to his knees next to the injured mer commander. "What's happened? Where are my marines? Where is my orb?"

Havelock slowly lifted his head and looked at Laquatas through his one good eye. "We were… hunhh… ambushed, my lord… hunhh," said Havelock, wheezing from the wound in his chest.

"By the barbarian?" asked Laquatas, wondering at the power of the man and the orb. "Did the Mirari do this?"

"No… m'lord," wheezed Havelock. "The empress's… forces attacked… from behind… never had a chance." The commander's horned head dropped onto his chest, and his long, thin body slumped over onto the ground beneath the tree.

"Havelock! Havelock!" yelled Laquatas as he shook the commander's body. "Damn! Why is this happening to me?"

Laquatas could see the injured mer's gills still moving. He must get him away from this area in case the empress's forces came to the surface. But Laquatas couldn't leave the forest with the commander either, for he'd have a hard time explaining the presence of another mer to his Order allies, especially after losing Kamahl to the forest. Laquatas would have to brave Krosan a while longer until he could get answers from his marine commander.

Levitating Havelock's body, Laquatas refocused his senses to the forest to make sure the eerie calm still protected him from predators. Pushing the commander's floating body in front of him, Laquatas quickly made his way toward the edge of the forest. If danger loomed, he could at least save himself with a quick exit and then go find Eesha's troops or Braids's raiders for help.

Laquatas lowered Havelock to the ground within sight of the bright edge of the shadowy forest and rooted through the commander's pack for anything that might help the injured mer.

"I can't believe I've been reduced to combat medic, but I need you alive, Havelock, if I am to find out what's happened to my empire."

Inside, Laquatas found an algae pack that he applied to the commander's forehead and eye and a roll of woven seaweed netting that he used to bind the wound in Havelock's chest. Standard items in a marine warrior's pack that would help to close wounds and hasten the healing process. Now all Laquatas could do was wait for Havelock to regain consciousness.

Fifteen minutes later, Laquatus decided to delve into Have-lock's mind to find the information he needed about the attack. Focusing on the injured mer's recent memories, Laquatas was able to work backward to the moments just before the attack. The commander was holding his mirror and talking to Laquatas about the ambush, and just seconds after ending the mirror connection, Havelock heard a commotion from the rear of the forces. Laquatas could see, through the commander's memories, great gouts of bubbles rise up to the top of the watery caverns as the empress's shark troops tore through the ranks of Have-lock's mer marines, cutting mermen in half with their strong jaws and serrated teeth.

Before the marines could react to the shark attacks, eels slipped into the front lines from above, appearing from amongst the stalactites that dotted the roof of the cavern. The eels surrounded the middle ranks and stunned dozens of marines with jolts of electricity as the mer warriors readied themselves for the oncoming sharks.

In a matter of moments, the water was nothing but a cloud of blood and bubbles, and Laquatas could see no more of the chaos that had erupted just moments after he had last talked to his commander. Odd timing, thought Laquatas. Could the empress have known that much about my plans? And where did those forces come from? Talbot had said that the bulk of Llawan's forces were embroiled in some dispute with pirates. Oh dear Norda-Talbot!

Laquatas pulled out his mirror and tried to contact his chief advisor, but Talbot did not answer the mirror's summons-or could not. Laquatas did not know which. He tried again and again to activate the distant mirror, but he couldn't even sense where the mirror was located, which could only mean it had been destroyed.

"Damn!" yelled Laquatas. "I'm completely alone out here." Looking down at the unconscious Havelock, Laquatas's anger flared. "It's all your fault!" he yelled over and over as he kicked the injured mer again and again in the ribs until blood began to flow from beneath his bindings.

"Unhh," moaned Havelock. "My lord?" Laquatas dropped to the ground next to Havelock, grabbed the seaweed netting and began to dress the commander's wounds again.

"I'm here," purred Laquatas, "just fixing you up, Havelock. Lie back and conserve your energy."

"My lord," began Havelock again. "Where do we go from here? What should we do next?"

Laquatas stopped the blood flowing from the aggravated wound and bound the commander's torso again as he pondered that question.

"We need the Mirari," he said more to himself than to Havelock. "Without it, we have no chance against the empress. But I can't march into the heart of this dark jungle alone. I need an army. Norda's tears! Even the Order is afraid of this place. The only warriors who ever brave the mysteries of Krosan are in the Cabal, and they're all insane.

"Even if I could convince Braids to go into the forest with me, I can't control her. She's the craziest one of them all. And I doubt she's got enough raiders left to make a dent in this place anyway. If only Braids had Eesha's troops, then I could do something. If I could control her during the endgame…"

Laquatas's voice trailed off, but his mind continued to spin together the details of a new plan. He'd finished rebinding Havelock's wounds, and the commander had drifted back to sleep, but the injured mer no longer wheezed when he breathed.

"Good," said Laquatas. "Sleep and heal, my friend. I will have need of you yet before this is done."

"You want us to do what?" asked Eesha, jumping up from her desk.

"Join forces with one enemy in order to hunt down and kill a greater enemy," replied Laquatas.

"We engaged the Cabal all day, Lord Laquatas," said Eesha, pacing back and forth behind her desk. "We suffered heavy casualties at the hands of those murderers. Now you want me to work side by side next to those… those ghouls?"

"Kamahl killed Burke," yelled Laquatas at Eesha, forcing a note of hysteria into his voice for emphasis. "My closest companion, my… friend. And he nearly killed me before I was forced to retreat. He has the Mirari, and with that power he's not even afraid of the terrors of Krosan."

Laquatas paused for a moment, breathing hard through his mouth as he'd seen other dry landers do when they were emotional. He was inwardly pleased when Eesha poured him a drink and placed it on the table in front of him.

After taking a sip of the harsh Order liquor, Laquatas wiped his mouth, appeared to calm down, and said, "Thank you, Commander. Perhaps… perhaps we can do this without the Cabal. How many aven units do you have left after today's action?"

Eesha dropped down into her chair, wincing at some pain, and then shifted forward to unfurl her wings slightly. "None," she said. "Those Cabal bastards seemed to focus all their attention on my aven comrades, even as we broke through their front lines on the ground."

Laquatas took another sip of the foul, brown liquid, stifling back his own wince at the taste and nodded sadly. He'd already known the answer.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Commander," he said. "What a horrible waste of life war is, especially when the deaths of the fallen are in vain."

Laquatas stared hard into Eesha's eyes, into Eesha's mind, as he continued. "Without those aven units, I fear there's no way we can retrieve the Mirari from within the forest. Order infantry, while superb warriors, cannot survive Krosan without support. Don't let the death of your fellow avens be for nothing, Commander. The Cabal wants the barbarian as badly as you do, so use their raiders to help you complete your mission. Let the murderers of your brothers be the fodder for your war within the forest."

Even though his last line had the force of a magical suggestion behind it, Eesha was still unconvinced. "But what of the Mirari?" she asked. "Surely the First would never allow us to retrieve it, and I will not allow it to fall into their hands again."

The mer continued the force of his suggestion spell boring into Eesha's mind. "The First is motivated by greed," Laquatas said in words and thought. "He wants the orb to rebuild the pits, but he can't rebuild the pits if he's at war with you. He knows that. Offer him peace in exchange for the orb. Which is more important-the destruction of die Mirari or a bunch of heathens killing each other? You can rebuild your forces while he plays his games. Who will be the stronger ten years from now?"

Laquatas held his breath as he watched for some sign that his manipulations had worked.

Eesha finally nodded her head slightly and, in a voice that sounded more resigned than convinced, said, "What do we do next?"

Laquatas breathed again and thought, one down, one to go. To the aven commander he replied, "I will arrange a meeting. We must work fast before the forest swallows Kamahl and the Mirari. Be prepared to meet at dawn near the edge of the forest."

"Can we trust you, Lord Laquatas?" asked Eesha as the mer stood to leave.

"As always, Commander," replied the mer. "As always."

Laquatas arrived at the Cabal camp shortly after nightfall. He was certain he'd been followed by Order troops but had expected as much from Eesha and did nothing to dissuade or harm his pursuers. He hoped the troopers would be able to remain hidden from the Cabal sentries long enough for him to finish his business, so they could stay alive to report what they saw.

As soon as Laquatas walked into the camp, he was surrounded by dementia summoners, who escorted him rather roughly, after some simple mental prodding, to the largest tent in the middle of the camp. Let them report that back to Eesha, thought Laquatas as he allowed himself to be prodded along by knives and barbed staves.

Inside the tent, Braids sat smiling. At her side stood a dementia summoner whom Laquatas had never met but who must be Traybor, if the mer could now trust any of the information he'd received from Talbot.

Braids slammed her fists on the table and pushed herself up from her chair. As she strode around toward Laquatas, he wondered if this meeting had been such a good idea.

Braids grabbed the taller mer in both hands and pulled him into a tight hug, saying, "It's good to see you, my dear friend. I had heard you were dead, but I knew you were too stubborn to die." Braids released her hug and thumped Laquatas in the chest. "At least not while the Mirari still eludes you, eh?" she said, winking at him before returning to her chair.

Laquatas was taken aback by this welcome. The last time the mer had been in the raiders' camp, Burke killed three dementia summoners and scores of dementia creatures on his orders. And while he was certain there was no way Braids could know he'd been behind those deaths, the Cabal had either killed Talbot or turned him against Laquatas since that last foray into this camp. Why, then, the warm welcome?

"You know me too well," said Laquatas, putting as large a smile on his face as his worried mind could summon. "In fact, it is the Mirari that brings me here tonight. I know where it is, and I have a plan to retrieve it."

"Another plan from the wise Laquatas," said Braids. "I know it has been more difficult to retrieve the orb from the barbarian than I first thought," continued Laquatas, unnerved as always by the deranged summoner. "But Kamahl has entered the Krosan Forest and has nowhere left to run."

"It will be like old times, eh, Ambassador?" said Braids, winking again. "Me searching for a small silver sphere while you plot the downfall of the cephalids? It worked out well the last time, didn't it?"

Laquatas sighed. Talking to Braids always gave him a headache. "As I remember," said the mer, "you ended up with the Mirari that time, and I lost my jack. Well, I've already lost my jack this time, but I do have something you need."

"Burke's gone?" asked Braids, who now looked through Laquatas instead of at him. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and the dark cloud descended around her head.

Seconds turned into minutes, and Laquatas was unsure if the meeting was finished or if he should continue to wait. Finally, the cloud rose and began swirling once again.

"Ah, yes," said Braids. "The dwarf. Very powerful, that one. Destroyed a Mirari creation using only his own power. Impressive. You left him to die. What a waste. I had plans for that one."

Laquatas was stunned by her access to information contained only in his brain, which no mage had ever before penetrated.

"I am sorry. I did not know you two had a history," he said, responding by instinct while he tried to sort out what had just happened. He quickly probed his own mind to sense for any tampering, but found none. "If I had known, I would have saved the dwarf for you."

"No matter," she said. "Dead or alive, it's all the same. You said you had a plan and something to offer?"

"Yes," said Laquatas, his head pounding from all the twists and turns of this conversation. "I noticed on my way in that your infantry was completely depleted by the Order attacks this morning."

"Yes," interrupted Traybor, "but we destroyed their aven mages in return for the loss of our grunts-a clear victory for the Cabal."

Laquatas nodded. "I agree," he said. "Without their aven units they have no advance scouts, so they cannot possibly venture into the forest. But without your grunts keeping the terrors of the forest at bay long enough for you to summon your own horrors, you cannot afford to enter the forest either."

"What do you propose, Ambassador?" asked Braids, seemingly lucent and following the course of the conversation.

"I can provide you with more than enough warriors for a prolonged strike within Krosan," said Laquatas, regaining his rhythm again. "In return, you will allow me to use the Mirari to crush the empress. Once I have done that, I will gladly give the Mirari back to the First and provide military support to the Cabal in any future wars against the Order."

Laquatas knew it didn't matter whether Braids or the First believed him. They needed those troops now, and it wouldn't matter who got to the orb first in the forest so long as Havelock could find enough mer warriors to complete the ambush in the end.

"And where would these troops come from, Ambassador?"

"That is the ultimate irony, Mistress Braids," said Laquatas. "Your new grunts will be Order infantry. You can drive them ahead of you like sheep, and every one that dies in our quest to regain the Mirari will be one less you'll have to face as you rebuild the pits."

"The Order has agreed to this?" asked Traybor.

"Well, Eesha plans to use you and your summoners to help her regain the orb for the Order," said Laquatas. "She may even offer to extend the peace indefinitely in exchange for the right to destroy the Mirari. She needs you, but you also need her. The rest is for history and the diplomats to decide. If you wish to join forces, meet at the edge of the forest at dawn. I will await both sides there."

Braids and Traybor looked at each other and, though unsure, Laquatas thought there was some nonverbal exchange between the two.

"We will meet you and the Order leaders at dawn," said Braids. "Now leave, and take your Order shadows with you."

Laquatas led his Order shadows back to the edge of the forest where Burke and Balthor had fought that morning. He was also fairly certain that his shadows themselves were being shadowed by Cabal raiders.

"Nobody trusts anybody anymore," said the mer mage as he retrieved his pack from the tall grass and set about making a fire. "Of course that's just the way I like it."

Laquatas knew he'd have to spend the night alone to allay the fears of both the Order and Cabal that he was merely playing one side against the other, but it was a small price to pay for the Mirari. Besides, he was as safe as if Burke were still at his side, with both of his allies watching over him and watching each other.

"Poor Burke," said Laquatas as he wanned his hands over the first flames of the fire. "When all this is done, I will have you remade. Perhaps I'll even give the orb back to the First in exchange. And then we'll march up into Pardic Mountains and take vengeance upon the dwarves for what he did to-"

Laquatas stopped to glance over where Balthor had lain this morning, suffocating on the length of Burke's arm lodged in his throat. Nothing remained except a trampled area of grass about five feet long and three feet wide, along with two trails leading through the grain up to the edge of the forest. The first path Laquatas knew to be his own when he left the dwarf to enter the forest that morning. The second path the mer could not explain.