muttered some words under his breath, and touched the
crystal with his index finger.
Grizt dared a fleeting, hopeful smile.
One of the draconians, glancing at him, snarled,
“What do YOU find so funny, human?”
He did not get the opportunity to reply.
“It’s . . . it’s dead . . .” Stel gasped. He shook the jewel
again for good measure. “I do not understand! It worked
perfectly until it fell out of the clasp, but the lack of a
frame should only make the power a little less focused,
unless . . . of course!” He fumbled with the casing. “This is
bone ivory! Part of the spell’s matrix! The pendant must be
whole to function or it loses all power!”
Stel tried pressing the gem back into the casing, but it
would not hold.
A massive wave shook the TAURON. Stel almost lost
his footing. Captain Kruug shouted a warning, but his
words were overwhelmed by the violent surging of the
Blood Sea and a crash of thunder.
“NOW what?” Stel snapped.
“Prefect! The monster!” shouted the draconians.
Stel turned around and stared at the leviathan the
pendant had helped him summon.
It was moving . . . and the TAURON lay directly in its
path.
“Sargonnas take you, priest!” Kruug roared. “Listen to
me! Send that thing away or it will kill us all!”
“Preposterous! It will do no such thing! I am the one
who summoned it!”
The minotaur snorted.
Vandor Grizt, who was measuring the direction and
speed of the undead leviathan, turned to his draconian
guards. “Listen to him! The captain is right! Do
something!”
“Be silent or I’ll tear you in half!” the sivak hissed.
Undaunted, Vandor screamed at them. “Just look!
Your master no longer controls it! It comes for us!”
Tentacles as thick as a man’s body rose above the
water, reaching for the ship as the creature neared.
“First rank! Axes!” Kruug roared. Several massive
minotaurs abandoned what they were doing and rushed
toward the steps leading into the vessel’s interior.
Through all of this, Stel had remained standing still
staring at the oncoming behemoth. He shook his head.
“With the pendant, I could easily regain total control . . .
but the pendant… is broken and I don’t …” He eyed
Vandor, who now regretted his attempts to pulverize the
jewel. Death appeared to be his fate no matter WHAT
happened. “But I might be able to use it to enhance my
OWN power … if I have a sufficient blood sacrifice to
Chemosh to feed the spell.”
SHINARE! WHY DOES EVERYTHING INVOLVE MY
BLOOD? “But I am promised to the Sea Queen!” Grizt
protested. “If you use me for this, she might grow angry . .
. angrier!”
“There will be enough blood to keep you alive . . .
barely. She will understand.”
Stel, it seemed, believed in very understanding gods.
Vandor Grizt thought that if he were either Chemosh or
the Sea Queen, he would be insulted by all of these shabby
half-measures and broken vows.
The TAURON had begun to list. The minotaurs had
apparently lost control of the ship. Of all those on board,
only Vandor’s ancestors – still in thrall to Stel – remained
unaffected by the terror. They stared blindly in the
direction of Stel and, it seemed, at their descendant who
would soon be joining them in death.
Dagger in one hand and gem in the other, the cleric of
Chemosh faced the undead leviathan surging toward them.
Stel appeared to have confidence in himself, if no one else
did. Raising the gem high, the black-robed cleric began to
shout words of power. The hand with the dagger rose over
the chest of Vandor Grizt.
It was then that the world turned about. Vandor Grizt
was not certain of the order of events, but suddenly the
storm burst into full fury, sending the ship keeling over in
the opposite direction. At least one minotaur was washed
overboard by a massive wave. A bolt of lightning struck
one of the masts, cracking it in two. The burning wreckage
crashed down on the hapless crew.
More than a dozen tentacles wrapped around the