Serpent Mage by Weis, Margaret

I took a step forward.

“Damn it!” Haplo glared at us. “These dragon-snakes won’t let you go. Try some fool stunt like jumping ship and you’ll only end up getting hurt. Listen to me. Grundle was right. I can talk to these dragon-snakes. We . . . understand each other. And I promise you this. As far as it’s in my power to prevent it, I won’t let harm come to you.” He looked at Alake and Devon and at me. “I swear it.”

“By what?” I asked.

“What would you have me swear by?”

“The One, of course,” Alake said.

Haplo appeared perplexed. “What One? Is it a human god?”

“The One is the One,” Devon answered, at a loss to explain. Everyone knew about the One.

“The highest power,” Alake replied. “Creator, Mover, Shaper, Finisher.”

“Highest power, huh?” Haplo repeated, and I could see he didn’t much like that idea. “You all believe in this One? Elves, humans, dwarves?”

“It’s not a matter of believing,” Devon said. “The One is.”

Haplo eyed us narrowly. “Will you go to your rooms and stay there? No more talk of throwing yourselves into the sea?”

“If you swear by the One,” I said. “That’s an oath you can’t break.”

He smiled quietly, as if he knew better. Then, shrugging, he said. “I swear by the One. If it lies in my power to prevent it, no harm will come to you.”

I looked at Alake and Devon. They both nodded their heads, satisfied.

“Very well,” I growled, though I had seen his mouth twist when he spoke the words.

“I’ll cook something,” offered Alake, faintly, and she hurried away.

Devon—before I could stop him—picked up the ax. I could see battle-lust, the gleam of swords and armor, shining in the elf’s eyes.

“Do you think, sir, you could teach me how to use this?”

“Not in a dress!” I told him, then stomped off to my room.

I wanted to be alone to think, to try to figure out what was going on. Especially, to try to figure out Haplo.

There was a knock on my door.

“I’m not hungry!” I called out irritably, thinking it was Alake.

“It’s me, Haplo.”

Startled, I opened the door a crack, peered out. “What do you want?”

“Seawater.”

“Seawater?” Gone mad again, I thought.

“I need seawater. For an experiment. Alake told me you knew how to open the hatch.”

“What do you want seawater for?”

“Forget it.” Haplo turned away. “I’ll ask Devon—”

“The elf!” I snorted in disgust. “He’d flood the ship. Come with me.”

Which wasn’t exactly the truth. Devon could probably have managed about the seawater, but I wanted to find out what this Haplo was up to now.

We went back through the submersible, heading toward the rear. I fetched a bucket from the galley.

“This be enough?” I asked.

Haplo nodded. Alake said something about dinner being ready in a short while.

“We won’t be long,” he said.

We continued on, passed Devon doing what he must have thought were some sort of exercises with the battle-ax.

“He’ll slice off his foot!” I grumbled, cringing at the wild way he was swinging the ax around.

“Don’t underestimate him,” said Haplo. “I’ve traveled in lands where elves are quite adept at warfare. I suppose they could learn again. If they had someone to lead them.”

“And someone to fight,” I pointed out.

“But your people were ready to band together and fight these dragon-snakes. What if I could prove to you that the dragons aren’t the real enemy? What if I could show you that the real enemy is far more subtle, his intentions far more terrible? What if I brought you a leader of great wisdom and power to fight against this foe? Would your people and the humans and the elves fight together?”

I sniffed. “You’re saying that these dragon-snakes have wrecked our sun-chaser, murdered and tortured our people, just to prove to us that we have a more dangerous enemy?”

“Stranger things have happened,” Haplo replied coolly. “Maybe it’s all been a misunderstanding. Maybe they think you’re aligned with the enemy.”

His eyes were suddenly sharp needles again, piercing right through me. That was the second time he’d said something like that. I could see no sense in arguing, especially since I had no idea what he was talking about. I said nothing, therefore, and he dropped the subject.

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