Under fallen stars

I

Claarteeros Sea (Trackless Sea)

17 Tarsakh, the Year of the Gauntlet

"Meat is meat!"

The roar of sahuagin thumps, ticks, pings and whistles that served as their communication filled the walls of the open amphitheater, almost deafening Laaqueel as she stood in the sahuagin king's retinue. It was pure bloodlust, fired from their king's promise of the coming deaths in the amphitheater.

As a malenti, an accident of birth among the sahuagin caused from being born too close to a community of sea elves, she immediately stood out from the hulking sahuagin around her. Even though she was only a few inches under six feet in height, all of the sahuagin nearby were at least a foot or more taller.

She looked supple and slender, and knew from past experience that she turned the male heads of surface dwellers as well as sea elves. It was cruel injustice that the form she wore was so hideous to her, yet so pleasing to the enemies of her people. She wore only the simple sahuagin harness, making even more evident the curvaceous form that set her apart from the other priestesses allowed at the king's side.

Her coal black hair lay in a long braid at her back, bound up by artificed fish bones and carved bits of coral. Instead of the usual blue or green skin coloring granted a malenti, her deformity had cursed her even further. She had the pale complexion of a hated surface dweller.

Standing in front of her, King Huaanton towered almost nine feet and was built broad with muscles sculpted and hardened from hundreds of years spent living under the sea's constant pressure. Sahuagin survived the harsh sea only by being the most feared predators there. Skin so green it was nearly black stretched across his back, showing a few scars from past battles. Rising to a kingship within the sahuagin culture was not without blood price. Keeping that office required even more blood be spilled into the salty ocean. The skin over his stomach was lighter green. The fins on his back, shoulders, arms, and legs were black, as was his tail.

He wore a combat harness with the seal of Sekolah, the sahuagin Shark God, decorated with shark's teeth and rare shells. His white gold crown flared up in four separate talons that cruelly hooked at the end. The crown rode low on his savage face, creating a half-mask that drew even more attention to the oily black eyes planted on both sides of his head. His mouth held razor-sharp fangs.

"Meat is meat!" King Huaanton roared again, lifting high the bone and inlaid yellow gold trident that was his seal of office.

"Meat is meat!" came the thunderous return cry from the hundreds of sahuagin seated out in the amphitheater. They shifted and waved their arms on the stone tiers that surrounded the center court of the structure.

"I bring to you," Huaanton went on when the response died down, "part of the spoils of our past victories against the surface world." The war against the surface dwellers along the Sword Coast was only two tendays old, but there had been many strikes, many triumphs. Waterdeep still reeled from the raid that had been their first blow. Huaanton gestured toward the center court with his trident.

Immediately, gates at the left side of the amphitheater opened, releasing a half-dozen humans. Laaqueel watched them with interest, noting the way they swam so clumsily. These, then, were true surface dwellers that had rarely entered the oceans. The malenti priestess knew several of the sailors who regularly crossed the Claarteeros Sea didn't know how to swim at all. These creatures possessed no grace and precious little skill at cleaving through the water. They fought the sea as if it were an opponent instead of taking grace and speed from the currents that constantly swept through it.

The sahuagin in the amphitheater made their displeasure known by slapping their webbed feet against the stone and emitting more thunderous clicks and whistles. Even though the humans didn't know the sahuagin tongue, Laaqueel knew the intent behind the cries couldn't be misunderstood.

The surface dwellers swam uncertainly, staying within a group near the coral-tiled floor. The builders had designed the floor meticulously, creating a swirl pattern of light and dark coral pieces. At something more than three hundred feet below the surface, little light penetrated the depths. None of it held the colors that were available in the dry world, but the light and dark pattern of the tiled floor showed clearly.

A sahuagin guard glided effortlessly among the surface dwellers and passed out simple knives. Before they'd been released into the amphitheater, Laaqueel knew the humans had been exposed to an aboleth's mucus cloud. After they'd captured the humans, Huaanton had demanded that an aboleth be captured as well, then ordered the creature's mucus used to give the humans water-breathing ability that would last for at least an hour and maybe as long as three hours. Until then, the surface dwellers had been held captive in special dungeon cells that had air.

Either way, Laaqueel knew, the humans wouldn't live long enough for the temporary magical effects of the aboleth mucus to wear off. Normally, the sahuagin hated magic and anything resembling magic, but Huaanton had made concessions in that area to promote the torture he had in mind. After all, the aboleth mucus was found in nature, not forged from it by some arcane means.

After the sahuagin passed out the next to last knife, the young human he'd given it to attacked the guard the moment his back was presented. The young surface dweller swam well enough and fast enough, but the sahuagin's lateral line, the sensory organ that allowed him to detect vibration and movement in the water, warned him.

Even before the young human could strike, the sahuagin flicked his tail and clawed the water with his free webbed hand and both webbed feet. The sahuagin rose steeply, ascending over his foe and drawing the trident in line. Wrapping both hands about the trident's shaft, the sahuagin brought the tines down quickly, driving them through the human's back and into his heart and lungs, splitting the flesh easily.

Blood erupted from the wounds, spilling a dark cloud into the water. The human struggled, trying to get away from the barbed tines, but he was solidly hooked.

The sahuagin spectators cheered lustily and slapped their huge webbed feet against the stone seating tiers in appreciation. Clicks and whistles rose in anticipation.

Laaqueel watched closely, knowing she would have enjoyed the festivities more if she wasn't facing fears of her own. But she knew her own fate might be as dismal as that of the surface dwellers-unless a miracle did happen here tonight. After all, Iakhovas had promised Huaanton a divine sign from Sekolah himself to prove that the raids the sahuagin staged against the surface world were what the Shark God wanted.

The other humans stayed back instead of going to help their comrade. The sahuagin guard pulled the corpse along by the trident's handle, streaming dark bloody strings after it that twisted in the currents. He flicked out his claws and carved great gobbets of flesh from the dead man, then hurled them into the crowd. "Meat is meat!" he cried.

"Meat is meat!" the crowd cried in joyful acceptance of the offering.

Small sahuagin darted forth to claim the unexpected treats. Some of them were fast enough to get the pieces they were after, but others ended up locked in mortal combat while the adults watched on in approval. The sahuagin life was supposed to be hard, and they learned to kill their enemies by first killing each other. That vicious cycle started in the domed nurseries with newborn hatchlings. Only the best and strongest survived to carry on their fierce race.

After slashing the corpse to chunks, the guard saved the heart for himself, shoving it into his great fanged mouth as he floated above the amphitheater. Blood gushed from his mouth and nose as he choked down the impromptu meal.

Her senses as acute as any sahuagin's, Laaqueel smelled the blood in the water. The scent caused further excitement within her. Though her appearance masked her true nature, the malenti was sahuagin.

"And now," Huaanton stated, "I bring to you a champion!" He pointed again.

On the opposite side of the amphitheater, another set of gates released a huge diamond-shaped manta ray that streaked out into the open center court. The combined noises of displeasure from the sahuagin spectators were even louder. Manta rays closely resembled the sahuagin's sworn enemies, the ixitxachitls.

The sahuagin guards immediately backpedaled through the water, pulling back and above the amphitheater. Getting its bearings almost at once, obviously starved for days, the manta ray flipped its broad fins and closed on the group of surface dwellers.

The sea creature was among them before they could scatter. It seized one of the surface dwellers in its mouth, swallowing the man in a single gulp as it cruised through. Another man of the surviving four attacked, gripping one of the leather wings in one hand as the creature passed, then pulling himself to its back. The manta ray flicked out its stinger and barbed a man. In seconds the stricken man succumbed to the tail's paralytic effects and hung motionless in the water.

The man clinging to the manta ray's back dug in with his knife. Laaqueel admired the man's tenacity. He was meeting his death with a bravery and anger a sahuagin could respect.

Wounds reluctantly opened up in the manta ray's back. Blood gushed in threads behind it, curling and fragmenting in the wake. Flicking its wings again, the manta ray increased its speed, obviously hoping to shake its attacker from its back. Graceful and desperate, the creature planed through the water, curling back to where it had first encountered the humans. Blood spilled out in a fog behind it as the human kept sinking his blade home.

As they watched the deadly duel taking shape in the amphitheater, the sahuagin seated in the tiers cheered loudly and slapped their feet encouragingly. Even though they hated the surface dwellers, the humans were the underdogs in the battle, and the sahuagin respected that all too familiar position.

Pride and hope flared anew in Laaqueel, driving away the fear that Iakhovas's promise for the day had instilled in her. This was Sekolah's promise to his chosen people. Born and bred for battle, the death matches that played out in the amphitheaters of all the cities remained proof of their eventual destiny to conquer. She watched and prayed to the Shark God, begging for forgiveness for ever allowing even a shred of doubt to enter her heart. Whether Iakhovas's claim to be acting on the will of Sekolah was true or false, she would know in only a short time. However it turned out, she chose to put her faith in the Shark God. She watched the battle in rapt attention.

The manta ray scooped up the paralyzed victim on its next pass, gulping him down effortlessly as well. It flipped its wings again and swam for the outskirts of the amphitheater. Before it could reach the edges high over the gathered crowd, four sharks under the control of the sahuagin guards swam to meet it. Reluctantly, the manta ray turned back.

Taking a fresh grip on the leathery wing he held, the human on the manta ray's back pulled himself forward while the creature turned. The human slithered over the manta's wing, still maintaining his hold. On the inside of the wing now, a safe distance from the fanged mouth, the human dug in with his knife again, ripping through the manta's softer underbelly.

Angry and fearful, driven by irrational hunger as well, the manta returned for the two humans who had gone to ground against the coral tiles. Laaqueel noticed that the manta's movements were no longer as sure or as quick as they had been. The wounds robbed it of constitution, continuing to leech its strength away.

The cavernous mouth scooped up a third victim as the man tried to flee. Evidently encouraged by his comrade's success, the last human grabbed the manta's wing as well, but he didn't have enough skill to do more than simply hang on.

Long minutes passed and the struggle continued, but in the end there could be no doubt. Starved and weakened by its captivity, further depleted by the blood loss, the manta gave in to the wounds. It struggled only weakly as it drifted down and came to a rest against one side of the amphitheater's coral-tiled floor. With a final flicker of wing movement, the great manta ray died, leaving only the ocean currents to stir it.

Immediately, a thunderous swell of appreciation and encouragement rose from the sahuagin spectators. They pushed to their feet and filled the amphitheater with their triumph.

Laaqueel chose to view the battle as a sign. It was not a sign from Sekolah-the Shark God didn't trouble himself with the affairs of anyone, including his chosen people-but the victory of the surface dwellers over the giant manta ray, the small versus the large, represented the backbone of sahuagin ideals. Still, her heart pounded inside her chest at the anticipation of Huaanton's introduction of Iakhovas.

Slowly, the surface dwellers disentangled themselves from the manta ray, partly hidden from sight by the cloudy blood swirling around them. They swam fearfully, uncertain of what to do next.

Huaanton raised his great trident again, then turned the tines down.

Immediately the sahuagin guards closed in, fanning through 'the water with their webbed hands and feet. The humans tried to flee, but they didn't have the speed and there was nowhere to go. With a practiced toss, the closest sahuagin to each man snared their prey with the barbed nets they carried. They pulled the nets tight, sinking the hooked barbs into flesh and binding their prisoners.

Even winners didn't make it out of the amphitheater alive. It wasn't the sahuagin way. The spectators cheered again, bloodlust filling them.

The human who'd first attacked the manta ray was brought before Huaanton. The sahuagin king regarded the bound figure at his feet with contempt. The human spat out curses that Laaqueel knew few except her understood. She listened as the man alternately called out to his gods for help and for vengeance.

Huaanton ripped away the barbed net in a practiced fashion. Small trickles of blood ran from the dozens of wounds covering the surface dweller's body and mixed with the sea, creating a sensory explosion to Laaqueel. She knew the king's Royal Black Tridents, his personal bodyguards, and the other priestesses were affected by the taste in the water they breathed.

In a show of amazing defiance, obviously knowing what was to become of him, the surface dweller plunged his blade toward the sahuagin king's broad chest.

Before even the hardened members of the Royal Black Tridents could move to intercept the strike, Huaanton lifted the royal trident. After deflecting the knife, the sahuagin king reversed the trident and swung the tines at the human's neck.

Blood exploded into the water as the jagged edged tines ripped through the pale flesh. Even as death claimed the surface dweller, Huaanton grabbed the man's head, cracked the spinal column with his great strength, and finished the decapitation. Holding the head, he shoved the corpse back to the guards.

"Share the bounty of this brave warrior," the sahuagin king commanded. "Let his flesh impart to you his courage and cunning. Meat is meat."

"Meat is meat!" the crowd responded.

Huaanton stripped flesh from the head, savoring it with obvious gusto. He ate while the remains of both prisoners were distributed through the spectators. Other guards carved up the manta ray, then emptied the creature's stomach and disbursed the meat from its victims.

Laaqueel waited, but none of the flesh was offered to her despite the fact that nearly all of the king's personal priestesses got some. She bore her hurt and anger quietly. As a malenti she'd become accustomed to such treatment, but as senior priestess to a prince, there were few she'd accept it from these days. Joining with Iakhovas even though she had her doubts about him had benefited her in rank. Having to trust in Sekolah to guide her through the treacherous currents that lay ahead had made her even stronger.

Finishing with his impromptu meal, Huaanton threw the stripped skull from him. A shark hovering overhead glided down and snatched the skull less than an arm's length from the sahuagin king. Bone crunched as the shark bit its prize and swam away.

"We are come upon great times for our people," Huaanton stated. His clicks and whistles carried strongly to the amphitheater spectators. "Only two tendays ago, we staged the most magnificent raid ever in the history of our race against the hated surface world. Waterdeep, their prize gem, located in the stronghold of the humans, suffered our wrath. We killed them where we found them, burned their ships in the harbor, and-most of all-we taught them again what it is to fear We Who Eat."

Tridents rattled in the stone tiers, striking a syncopation and cadence that echoed through the water for a brief moment. Laaqueel felt the controlled revelry and took pride in her part in it. For good or ill, however events progressed with Iakhovas in the next few moments, she had helped bring these victories to her people.

"In past days," Huaanton went on, "we've continued raiding their ships and striking other small coastal villages and cities within our reach. Their sea trade has slowed and they no longer cross our waters as complacently."

More trident rattling punctuated by whistles and clicks followed.

"I chose these tactics," Huaanton said, "because I was compelled by the great Shark God, Sekolah, to go forth and spill the blood of our enemies, to eat their flesh and become strong again."

Another thunderous cheer sounded.

Huaanton looked out over the spectators. "I will ever do Sekolah's bidding that I might take my rightful place in the currents he has left for us to swim. I know these times will be turbulent and trying. We Who Eat were birthed to be tested under the harshest conditions, against the strongest of enemies. No weakness shall be permitted." He paused. "But now, I've had to consider where we go from here, and how far we should pursue our war."

Laaqueel saw a flurry of movement to the left of the king and knew instinctively it was Iakhovas. She started to move, but the cold quiver of the black quill Iakhovas had placed next to her heart when she had discovered him in the Veemeeros Sea all those years ago froze her in place.

Don't fret so, little malenti, his rough voice whispered in her mind as he confronted the Royal Black Tridents who blocked his path. Else your own uncertainties about Sekolah will threaten everything you hope to do here. Look into your own heart and seize those convictions you so pride yourself on.

Stung, Laaqueel stayed in place. Iakhovas's words challenged her uncertainty. As a malenti, she'd been cursed from birth, allowed to stay within the sahuagin city where she'd been born only because she could be raised as a spy. Her belief in Sekolah had been the only thing that kept her going through all those long years. Without her faith, she would be nothing.

"Do you think then," Iakhovas interrupted the sahuagin king, "that we should back down and fear retribution on part of the surface dwellers?" His words thundered over the assembly.

Instantly, the amphitheater grew quiet as death.

Huaanton turned to Iakhovas and waved the bodyguards away. Iakhovas walked up the steps. To Laaqueel, he appeared to be human, but she knew he wasn't. He stood a full head taller than her, but much shorter than Huaanton. He was broad, yet lithe, filled with long muscles that moved easily. His black hair hung past his shoulders, somehow unmoved by the ocean currents that cycled around the area.

Despite the scars that tracked his face, Iakhovas was handsome as humans considered themselves, but his features held cold cruelty. The short beard and mustache he wore covered part of his face and softened the effect of the scars. He wore a sleeveless deep green tunic that revealed the runic black tattoos that covered his arms, legs, and body. Laaqueel knew they covered his entire body because she'd seen Iakhovas naked the day she'd found him. Black breeches, boots, and a black cape completed his ensemble. A deep green patch covered his missing eye.

Although she'd tried for years to identify the bracelets, rings, and other adornments Iakhovas habitually wore and added to, Laaqueel didn't know anything more than that they were magical in nature. Most of them were weapons or defenses. Her own reticence in the matter had held her back because she was loath to touch them and didn't dare ask after them. All of them, she knew, had been recovered in the years since she'd found him. He and creatures in his service had sought them out. One of those items had been the sole reason Iakhovas had journeyed to Waterdeep.

If Iakhovas had appeared as a human to the sahuagin, Laaqueel knew they'd have killed him on the spot-or died trying. However, thanks to the spells he constantly wove around himself, the sahuagin saw him as one of their own, only slightly less in stature to Huaanton himself.

The malenti had even helped Iakhovas fake his own birth into her community after she'd brought him back. Once there, he'd quickly risen through the ranks by blood challenges and his sheer ferocity. Those traits, she'd decided, were as natural to him as any sahuagin, something no human she'd ever seen could match.

Now Iakhovas was prince among the sahuagin, a war chief they'd relied on heavily for the raid on Waterdeep. He still had his own agenda, and stopping the sahuagin raids conflicted with that intensely.

"Watch yourself," Huaanton warned softly. He flexed his muscles and intentionally set the trident between Iakhovas and himself. “You swim heavily over the largess I've granted you."

Iakhovas met the king's gaze directly, something no true sahuagin would do without starting a blood feud. Laaqueel was surprised when Huaanton didn't react to the obvious insubordination. She felt the fear ball up in her stomach and she started praying silently.

"Exalted One," Iakhovas addressed the sahuagin king in a voice that carried to the masses, "I am come here at this tide at your direction. A tenday ago, we discussed the possibilities of continuing our war with the surface dwellers. You challenged me to produce a sign from Sekolah that my words be proven true when I said the Shark God wanted us, We Who Eat and Sekolah's Chosen, to take the oceans back from the surface dwellers."

Low mutterings moved through the spectators and they shifted uneasily. Laaqueel continued her prayers, touching the shark-toothed necklace she wore. Her eyes flickered between Huaanton and Iakhovas.

"Yet now," Iakhovas continued, "I am here and I listen to you on the verge of canceling all further attacks on the surface dwellers."

"Our people shall not die needlessly," Huaanton announced.

"Sekolah has given me a vision," Iakhovas said. Only Laaqueel saw the mocking smile that played over his cruel lips. "There is a new tide upon us, a new time in which the sahuagin will be rejuvenated and made stronger than we've ever been before."

The spectators stamped their webbed feet in appreciation and yelled out their support.

"Words," Huaanton snarled. 'You offer us only words. You carry on like some surface dweller who loves the sound of his own voice."

The smile dropped from Iakhovas's face, and deadly lights glittered in his single eye. "I offer only words of warning, Exalted One, because I was bade carry them to you as well. Sekolah has made me see the weakness in you."

Laaqueel stopped praying, knowing that Iakhovas had gone too far. Even an indirect accusation of cowardice among the sahuagin was enough to trigger a blood challenge.

"I told you of Sekolah's will," Iakhovas went on. "I told you how we are to continue raiding the world of the surface dwellers. Yet, you concern yourself with thoughts of their retribution. Sekolah says let them come, and let We Who Eat stand against them."

The spectators roared their approval.

"The tide of the Great Cleansing is upon us," Iakhovas stated, "and it shall see the weak and cowardly driven from us or dead as Sekolah wills it. The true warriors of the Shark God shall prevail against our enemies. We shall be unstoppable even though we fill the oceans with blood and drench the dry lands beyond!"

Huaanton raised his trident, instantly quieting all the noise around him. "You talk brave words, but they're only words. They ring as hollow as an abandoned hermit crab's shell, and are as fleeting as gulls feeding in shark-infested waters. I've seen no sign from Sekolah."

"How dare you," Iakhovas said bitterly, his voice cutting as surely as a spinefish's fin. "Sekolah has never owed We Who Eat anything, yet you choose to view him as one who should be at your beck and call."

Laaqueel took pride in the fact that the spectators all sat up and took notice of Iakhovas's words. It didn't matter that he'd borrowed them from her from the time they'd last met with Huaanton. They were true, and the sahuagin sitting in the stone tiers recognized them for that.

Huaanton reacted hotly. "You're putting words in my mouth."

"No," Iakhovas said, cutting him off. "Laaqueel has prayed about this matter ever since that time. And she fought you regarding this issue, telling you how out of place your demands were. You were out of line asking for a sign that we're carrying on as Sekolah would have us do. We survive, and we survive strongly and in numbers. That's all he's ever asked of us."

"Yet, if we were to follow you, all we would find is our deaths against the surface dwellers."

Iakhovas looked at him, fire dancing in his single eye. "Only the inadequate fail!" he shouted.

That was one of the core beliefs for the sahuagin, Laaqueel knew. All of them had been trained since hatchlings that it was true.

"The brave and strong shall flourish," Iakhovas went on. "The tide of the Great Cleansing is upon us!" He gestured across the amphitheater. "Should you want your sign that you so inelegantly demanded of we who choose to follow Sekolah's true way, then behold and tremble at the power of the Shark God!"

Every eye was drawn across the amphitheater. Laaqueel watched as well, noticing the huge mass that took shape out in the distance. At first it blended in with the deep blue of the sea, then it paled as it came closer. In moments, the great albino kraken hovered above the amphitheater.

The kraken's two longest tentacles drifted out at its sides while the other six coiled restlessly beneath its body. The single baleful eye on the arrow-shaped head, reminding the malenti of her master's, glared red even in the dark waters. Its tentacles were over one hundred and fifty feet long, making it the largest of its kind Laaqueel had ever seen or even heard about.

The malenti recognized the kraken as the one that had guarded the tunnels leading to the king's palace. Brought there as a young creature, the kraken had been fed by the royal guards till it was too big to get out through the tunnels it had been brought through. The guards had kept it on a regulated near-starvation diet that guaranteed it would eat anything that came within its reach.

Only it hadn't acted like that with Iakhovas when they'd encountered it a tenday ago. With Iakhovas, the kraken had acted totally docile.

"There is your sign, Exalted One!" Iakhovas shouted, pointing at the great kraken as it continued to drift closer.

Huaanton stared up at the huge kraken in enraged silence.

Every sahuagin in the amphitheater knew the creatures possessed an uncanny intelligence. A kraken wouldn't normally approach a sahuagin community, Laaqueel knew, especially one that had kept it captive. It had also gotten too large to get out of the caverns below by conventional means, leaving her no choice but to accept that Iakhovas had used his magic to arrange it. The kraken's presence was proof again of the arcane abilities Iakhovas wielded.

"Here is your proof," Iakhovas went on. "Proof that you demanded of our god."

"You stand there and claim the appearance of this beast is a sign from Sekolah," Huaanton thundered with deep clicks and thumps.

"Dare you claim it is not?" Iakhovas stretched his left hand upward The kraken stretched one of its longest tentacles down at the same time, tenderly wrapping the huge, leaf-shaped pod around Iakhovas's arm. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Laaqueel knew the display left a distinct impression on the sahuagin community. Except for the guards who'd first seen Iakhovas with the kraken, no one else had ever seen anything like it either. The malenti priestess knew Iakhovas was treading a fine line between accreditation and accusation. Huaanton pushed it over the line.

"Magic," the sahuagin king stated. The charge echoed over the crowd, eliciting small clicks and whistles of quiet conversation.

Laaqueel's heart beat frantically in her chest. She took in fresh seawater through her mouth and flushed it out her gills. She held onto her belief in Sekolah with all her might.

Before the crowd had time to reach a decision on its own, Iakhovas raised his voice. "You try to denounce me? After all that you've demanded of Sekolah while giving so little of yourself?"

Huaanton shifted uneasily, knowing he was on dangerous ground himself. Laaqueel knew Iakhovas had led him there, carefully measuring each step.

"We've taken war to the surface dwellers for the first time in generations," Iakhovas said. "We've fought them and we've broken them. We challenged them in their greatest city and seen it burn, taken their ships and seen them flee from the seas. Now you seek to undo all that?"

"We've done enough," Huaanton replied.

"According to your will," Iakhovas agreed, "perhaps we have, but I've seen a vision of We Who Eat one day marching through the streets of Waterdeep and other coastal cities. The surface dwellers ran cowering before us, no longer able to claim any part of the seas." He paused, letting his words hang in the water. "That is when we've done enough."

"You seek to lead us to our deaths, Iakhovas," Huaanton said. "I know not why, but this I truly see. You were born less than fifteen years ago, yet you now hold the office of prince when most take three centuries to reach that position."

Laaqueel stood in silent panic, knowing if Iakhovas came undone, she came undone with him. Her prayers continued without cease, but as always in Sekolah's service, there was no true answer. Only the currents knew how things would sort out.

"Most of those positions," Iakhovas pointed out, "came from you."

"You fed off my own successes like a parasitic worm," Huaanton said. "I didn't see it then, but I see it now."

Iakhovas drew himself to his full height. Even in his human form as Laaqueel saw him, he was impressive. The Royal Black Tridents nearest him involuntarily drew back. The albino kraken hung over the group with its tentacles waving in the currents.

"Truly," Iakhovas said, "Sekolah does lay his hand upon our mission." Still only three steps down from the sahuagin king he turned to address the crowd. "I thought only one sign was going to be presented here today. Now, I see that I was wrong. In his generosity, the Great Shark has given his chosen people two." He gestured to the kraken. "We know that our war with the surface dwellers isn't over." He pointed at Huaanton. "And now we know that we have a king who is king of We Who Eat only in name and no true leader at all." He stepped toward Huaanton.

Instantly, the king's bodyguards moved to intercept Iakhovas. With a flicker of motion that ripped through the water, the kraken reached out and snatched up five of the guards in its tentacles, removing them from Iakhovas's path. Before the other guards could react, Iakhovas stood in front of the sahuagin king.

"Huaanton, false king of We Who Eat of the Claarteeros Sea," Iakhovas said in a loud voice, "I charge you with weakness, finding you unwilling to lead your people in this cause, and with impropriety for failing to carry out Sekolah's war against the surface dwellers."

The Royal Black Tridents closed in with their weapons raised, ready to chop Iakhovas down.

"As is my right," Iakhovas said, ignoring the weapons raised against him, "I claim blood challenge on behalf of the Great Shark."

Angrily, Huaanton waved his guards aside, brave enough to do so even in the face of the kraken as the gigantic creature cracked the bodies of his guards above him. "You lie," the sahuagin king said, taking a step forward, "and your death shall prove those lies."

"Your death," Iakhovas promised, "will prove your weakness and your failing."

Without warning, Huaanton exploded into action. He reversed the trident and thrust the cruel tines at Iakhovas.

Laaqueel watched helplessly as Iakhovas was caught off-guard. She didn't think such a thing was possible after having seen him in action against their enemies, but she remembered how she'd found him, trapped by magic and nearly dead. The scars were mute testimony that he wasn't as infallible as he acted.

The trident tines sank into Iakhovas's chest, drawing a spurting, murky cloud of blood. He screamed in enraged pain and reached for the trident's haft as Huaanton tried to shove it more deeply into him.

Watching on, Laaqueel knew it was a death blow. The tines had no doubt torn through Iakhovas's heart and only seconds remained before death claimed him. The black quill next to her heart quivered in response, signaling a cold flush of nausea that ran through the malenti. She wondered how tightly the quill tied to her Iakhovas, and whether she would die when he did.

A bloody grin warped Iakhovas's face, and touched even the dark hollow of his missing eye. He stood his ground and hooked his fingers between the trident's tines. Muscle rippled along his arms as he shoved the weapon back and pulled the barbed tines free.

Though the misting blood partially obscured her view, Laaqueel watched as the gaping wounds on Iakhovas's chest pulled back together, knitting the flesh, sinew, and bone. The ring she'd first placed on his finger when she'd discovered him glowed briefly, and she doubted that anyone but her saw it.

"Weak," Iakhovas taunted in a ragged voice that almost belied the injuries he'd sustained. He maintained his hold on the trident even against Huaanton's great strength.

The Royal Black Tridents stood back, unable to interfere in a blood challenge. It was one of the most sacred of the sahuagin practices.

Huaanton lifted a webbed foot and lashed out with the razor-edged talons on his toes. He ripped gouges across Iakhovas's face, narrowly missing his eye.

Fearful then, obviously in high regard of his remaining vision, Iakhovas reluctantly released the trident and stepped back. Still, the confident look never left his face as he set himself for another attack.

Huaanton launched himself up into the water, rising above Iakhovas. He was well within the kraken's reach, and Laaqueel knew the sahuagin king was no coward. He kept the trident before him. "Come, Iakhovas, come join me in our dance of death. Let the tides decide our fates."

Iakhovas leaped after the sahuagin king without hesitation. He eeled through the water with grace and speed that was totally unexpected. He slipped long-bladed knives from his belt and held them point down from his fists. Huaanton thrust the trident at him again. Iakhovas blocked the effort with one of the knives, then lashed out at the sahuagin king's midsection with the other.

Huaanton had to move quickly, but the knife slid harmlessly by. Before Iakhovas could recover, Huaanton swung a backhand at him filled with claws. Iakhovas got his arm up in time to save his face, but the claws sank deeply into his flesh, slashing to the bone. He maintained his grip on the knife, though, and brought it down and across in a move designed to disembowel the sahuagin king. The knife blade tracked a bloody furrow across Huaanton's stomach, but it wasn't deep enough to spill his guts.

Spreading the webs between his toes, Huaanton cut through the water, streaking behind Iakhovas. The sahuagin king levered an arm under Iakhovas's chin and popped his finger claws out. Before Huaanton could drag his claws across Iakhovas's throat, Iakhovas slashed the back of the sahuagin king's forearm, cutting through the ligaments that controlled the claws and fingers. Huaanton's claws recessed and his fingers unbent.

Iakhovas broke free of his opponent's grip while Huaanton was stunned by the severity of the wound he'd been dealt. If Iakhovas had used his magic, Laaqueel knew, the fight wouldn't have lasted this long.

Still in motion, Iakhovas swam around Huaanton. As the sahuagin twisted to confront him, Iakhovas drove one of his knives home between Huaanton's ribs, trying for the heart. He left the knife in place, and foggy blood spewed out into the water.

Even wounded as he was, Huaanton didn't give up. Laaqueel felt pride fill her as she watched the sahuagin king. Despite the fact that he didn't trust in Sekolah as he should, she felt Huaanton epitomized everything that was strong and good about the sahuagin.

Lashing out with the trident, Huaanton caught Iakhovas in the legs. He put enough force behind the blow to send the tines completely through one leg just below the knee, then nailed it to the other. With both legs pinned together, Iakhovas couldn't move to escape Huaanton's attack.

The sahuagin king pulled on the trident's haft, not hard enough to rip the barbed ends free of Iakhovas's flesh, but enough to turn Iakhovas in the water. Moving quickly, his fighting skill apparent in the economical grace he used, Huaanton yanked the blade from his side, then buried it deep in Iakhovas's back.

The kraken fluttered in the water. For a moment Laaqueel thought the creature was going to interfere in the battle. If it did, it would undermine everything Iakhovas hoped to win.

Don't count me out of the running yet, little malenti. Iakhovas's pain-wracked voice filled Laaqueel's mind. Torn between a king who refused to give as much credence to Sekolah as the Great Shark demanded and a mysterious being she'd inadvertently staked her future on, Laaqueel instead turned to her prayers.

Iakhovas tried to reach the knife in his back but couldn't. He struggled to free his legs but didn't seem capable of that either.

Even though he still bled copiously, Huaanton's combat instincts took over. He held the trident at arm's length and pinned Iakhovas to the stone floor of the amphitheater below him. He whipped the barbed net from his side, spreading it out with a quick, practiced snap. He threw it and the weighted ends flared out to encompass his struggling foe. He wrapped Iakhovas expertly, pulling the net tight so that the embedded barbs bit deeply into his flesh.

"Now," Huaanton warned as he turned to grasp the trident's haft more firmly, "now we'll see whose truth speaks more strongly." He yanked the barbed tines free of Iakhovas's legs, pulling a roiling boil of blood and shredded flesh after them. Gripping the trident, the sahuagin king held the haft in both hands high over his head, preparing to run it down into Iakhovas's chest.

The black quill next to Laaqueel's heart stilled its beating, froze the cycle of water through her gills. She wanted to scream in denial, but she couldn't honestly say if it was because Iakhovas's doom looked imminent, or if it was the grin on Iakhovas's face, so filled with fiery cunning.

Huaanton brought the trident down, arcing it fiercely.

Iakhovas's movement was so swift that Laaqueel almost didn't see it. He thrust his right hand out, pushing against the constricting strands of the barbed net. His hand and arm blurred, becoming something else that was hard and sharp. The wedge-shaped appendage slashed easily through the net and plunged on into Huaanton's trachea and air bladder.

The impact staggered Huaanton's own attempt to stab the trident into Iakhovas. His life's blood poured out of him in a rush, flowing from the huge hole Iakhovas's blow had made.

When Laaqueel blinked again, Iakhovas's arm was back to normal. He fought the net as Huaanton's body went limp in the water near him. Barbs wrenched free of his flesh, leaving bloody tears behind. The malenti knew the effort hurt him; she felt part of his pain through the quill's magic that connected them.

Silence reigned over the amphitheater as the sahuagin spectators waited to see what would happen next.

Still only partially free of the ensnaring net, Iakhovas regained his feet and turned to face the amphitheater. He reached out and seized the trident from Huaanton's dead hand. He held it proudly thrust above him as the kraken spread out its tentacles and formed a loose but protective embrace around him, guarding his back.

"My people," Iakhovas said in a strong voice, "you have seen the Great Shark's will today. By right of blood challenge, and by right of Sekolah's ordained destiny for We Who Eat in our battle against the surface world to reclaim the seas, I name myself king! Let any who disagree with that stand and face me now!"

Laaqueel stared at the sahuagin, knowing none would come forward to stand against Iakhovas in his weakened condition. Sahuagin custom dictated against taking advantage of a wounded member of their community even for a blood challenge.

The response started, low at first, then continuing to gain power as the decision swept through the crowd. "Iakhovas, Exalted One of We Who Eat. Iakhovas, Exalted One of We Who Eat."

Iakhovas turned and grinned at Laaqueel. Ah, little malenti, do you see the greatness we have wrought? We forge our new destinies from this point on. You and I, both castaways, have risen to the greatest positions among the largest and fiercest sahuagin in the Claarteeros Sea. No one may stop us now. No one!

If it is what Sekolah wills, she replied.

His single eye burned into hers. You have doubts?

Not in the Great Shark. Perhaps in myself.

Then, little malenti, when you find yourself too weak to believe in yourself, believe in me. Iakhovas raised both hands above his head, holding the trident proudly. "I am king!" he roared. "None shall stand against us. The surface world shall quake in fear of We Who Eat, for they shall surely come to know that only their deaths await them in the seas we claim!"

The sahuagin cheered him, and Laaqueel watched as the fervor gripped her people. There was no turning back now, she knew. Iakhovas wouldn't allow it, and now he controlled everything.

"And our next victory," Iakhovas declared, "shall be at Baldur's Gate!"

The cheering rose in thunderous approval again.

Turning, Iakhovas hacked Huaanton's body to pieces and gave them up to the currents around him. The sahuagin surged from their seats, swimming to him rapidly to take part in devouring their last king.

"Come," Iakhovas invited as he continued to slash at the dwindling corpse. "We must be strong for our coming battles. Meat is meat!"