Sarad leapt to his feet and began pacing. "The Sythsaurians? She's mad, completely mad. Nothing else explains why she would do this."

And our potential invaders now had a name.

"The note explained it quite well," I said.

Sarad flicked my words away with a negligent wave of his hand. "Yes, yes. Raine destroyed Sandrina's world, now Sandrina will destroy hers. I hardly think I am, was, or ever will be my mother's world."

"It could also have meant we destroyed her chance at power, even if that power would have been behind the throne."

"Perhaps. But why did she steal my body? I don't think I like that. I don't like it at all. I have committed gruesome acts during my life, but I have never stolen a dead body."

"No, you prefer to steal live ones, suck out that life, and use it to regenerate your own body. Or simply leave your body to possess another, like a hermit crab claiming a new shell."

Sarad sighed. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"I think I'm more than entitled to hold a grudge, and it sounds as if your mother feels the same way. If she can't have the Seven Kingdoms, then no one will. She'll see them destroyed first." I pushed away from the tree and strolled toward Sarad. "Some of the attackers on those ghost ships looked familiar. They were astonishingly similar to the demons Bricarda sent after me and Agata. In fact, I got a good look at these Sythsaurians. They're tall, dark, and reptilian. Guess who was among them, helping them manifest and power the constructs of those ships and crews? Your lady friend Bricarda. She even smiled and waved at me, and unfortunately vanished right before the deck exploded beneath her feet, but I'm certain I'll get another chance."

Sarad spat an impressive stream of profanity.

"I wonder if Bricarda has met your mother," I continued. "Bricarda was in Regor and knew to go after me and Agata. Now she worked with the Sythsaurian sorcerers to destroy our fleet. I think Sandrina has another ally. You might want to ask Bricarda about it next time you see her."

Sarad's hard eyes glittered dangerously. "My mother seeks to control my Khrynsani by having an imposter possess my body and assume my place, someone she can control."

"Sounds similar to what you did to me. Payback is a bitch, isn't it?" I purred.

Sarad's expression was pure murder. "And that bitch's name is Sandrina Ghalfari. By the way, where you are going..."

"Yes?"

"When Kansbar arrived on Aquas, he discovered a green paradise. What is it now?"

"Barren wasteland."

"It makes you wonder, doesn't it? It makes you wonder what my clumsy predecessors did with the Heart of Nidaar to cause it. Because they did cause it. Do you still want to control the Heart, Tamnais? If so, you should really be more careful what you wish for."

Chapter 35.

"My nap was every bit as satisfying as I thought it would be," I told Kesyn.

I then filled him in on what I'd discovered.

Kesyn made a face. "Sythsaurians? Never heard of them."

"Me, either."

"Hell, I can barely say it."

"Tricky pronunciation aside," I said, "there are probably professors in the Conclave's college who have heard of them. I'll contact the Isle of Mid right after I talk to Denita Enric. If Sarad was familiar with these things, the Khrynsani temple library probably has something on them. We need all the information we can get and we needed it yesterday." I gestured overhead. "Any sign of more Nebians-or demons?"

"Not a peep. All quiet on all horizons."

"Good. Even more disturbing than the Sythsaurians is the last thing Sarad told me. Kansbar described the land between the coast and Nidaar as being green and lush with rivers and lakes. Now it's nothing but barren rock and desert."

"Yes?"

"Sarad said the Khrynsani not only found the city of Nidaar, they gained access to the Heart and used it. What happened to the land was the result."

Kesyn whistled. "Like when Rudra used the Saghred and created the Great Rift in northern Rheskilia."

I nodded. "Exactly the parallel I drew."

"Sandrina can't get hold of that. No one can."

"Someone has to," I told him. "And right now, we're it." I reached inside my coat for Rudra's book. "While my sleep was satisfying, it was far from restful. I've always found reading to be enjoyable, but this won't be. I need to finish Rudra's book. Now."

Kesyn stood. "I'll get Jash."

I had a thought. "Kesyn?"

"Yes?"

"Ask Agata Azul to join us. If the Heart of Nidaar is capable of changing the geography of nearly a quarter of a continent, she needs to know. And as a gem and earth mage, she may get more out of the rest of the book than we will."

I had a feeling Rudra Muralin's book would open itself to me again.

The book was on the table in front of me. When Rudra had written this, he'd had the power of the Saghred at his beck and call. I knew better than to discount any threat powered by that.

The door to the cabin opened. It wasn't Kesyn returning with Jash and Agata.

It was Talon.

His eyes went to the book. He knew I had it, but this was his first time seeing it. It wasn't that I didn't trust Talon being around Rudra's book. I didn't want Rudra's book anywhere near my son.

Talon closed the door and came over to the table and leaned forward to see the book, but didn't come any closer. "Is that the book?" he asked quietly.

More than quiet. Tentative, almost fearful. There was no sign of his usual cockiness.

I could hardly blame him. Thanks to Rudra Muralin, Talon had come within seconds of being sacrificed to the Saghred through Raine Benares. I'd nearly been too late to save either one of them.

"Yes, it is," I said.

"You said Kansbar was about my age, right?"

I nodded.

Talon noted the thickness of the book. "Kansbar didn't tell Rudra any of that willingly, did he?"

"No, he didn't."

"Was he tortured?"

"Yes, but not in the usual sense." I hesitated. I didn't want to tell him, but he was asking. He was also an adult, a man now, and with Sarad still alive with Rudra's soul inside of him, Talon needed to know. He needed to know what Rudra had done to Kansbar Nathrach. He needed to know that the danger hadn't ended with the destruction of the Nebian ships and the ghost ships the Sythsaurian sorcerers had conjured. Chances were that the worst and most dangerous part of the journey still lay ahead. Talon already knew that this wasn't just an adventure, sailing the high seas on a pirate ship.

The Khrynsani had vaporized the Wraith and nearly fifty of her crew. The Nebians had brought Sythsaurian sorcerers after us and had summoned ships out of nightmare to destroy us. The invaders we dreaded were already here: at least, some of their mages had been before we'd destroyed those ships. If Sythsaurians had been among those pursuing us, I had no doubt there would be others waiting for us when we landed on Aquas. The Khrynsani and others would continue to try to stop us, and more people would have their lives taken before we reached Nidaar.

I told Talon what Rudra Muralin had done to Kansbar Nathrach.

"That's black magic, isn't it?" he asked once I'd finished.

"Of the very worst kind."

"Do you know how to do that?"

"I know how it's done."

Talon's dark eyes were steady. "But do you know how to do it?"

I hesitated. "I do."

"But you never would."

"You didn't ask that as a question."

There was the barest hint of a smile on his face. "I didn't need to."

The door opened again. It was Kesyn, Jash, and Agata.

"Are we interrupting something?" Kesyn asked.

"No, sir," Talon replied.

Kesyn raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Tam?"

"Come on in. Talon had some questions. Do you have any more?"

Talon shook his head. "I'm good. But if it's okay, I'd like to stay and listen." He glanced almost shyly at Agata. "I'll sit over here and stay out of the way."

"Very well."

When I'd last read, Kansbar Nathrach's expedition had arrived at the foot of the mountains after nine days of travel, camped in a cave, and had posted their usual guards. Guards who had been found dead the next morning, shriveled as if they had been drained and dried from the inside out.

The next night it had happened again.

This time Kansbar had witnessed it all and had nearly become a meal himself.

It was a scene any sane person would do anything they could to forget. Kansbar had tried to forget it, pushing it aside any time a flicker of memory tried to surface. Then Rudra Muralin had dragged it out of Kansbar's subconscious, watched it, and then gleefully watched it again and again, enjoying both the carnage and Kansbar's torment.

The creatures-no, the monsters-had fed, and there had been pleasure in the pain they caused during that feeding.

Rudra had described them as giant insects, like armored centipedes. They would tunnel beneath the ground to where their victims were. Their mandibles opened to reveal a feeding spike that, after being driven into a victim's body, injected a sedative to paralyze it, and then a toxin to quickly soften and then liquefy the internal organs and even bones, enabling the insects to drink their meal.

The second night, the insects had tunneled past the guards and into the clearing where the landing party had camped. Kansbar had been unable to sleep, and even he hadn't heard a thing.

But he had seen it.

Not the insects themselves, at least not at first. He had seen the body of the man next to him simply deflate as his insides were drained, leaving only his skin and clothing beneath his blanket.

Kansbar screamed and the others leapt from their bedrolls, grabbing weapons, frantically searching for still-unseen attackers.

Three did not wake. Their blankets were nearly flat against the ground, their occupants reduced to sacks of empty and dried flesh.

One of the Khrynsani kicked aside one of the dead men's bedrolls-and a living nightmare rose from beneath, rearing up like a cobra, nearly double the height of the goblins around it. The thing uncoiled its body to expose dozens of articulated legs, each ending in a razor-sharp point, ideal for burrowing through the ground and capturing prey.

The goblins froze in terror, wide eyes locked on the creature before them...

...and not the two that shot from the ground behind them, sending dirt flying in all directions.

Rudra supplied the words to describe Kansbar's terrified memories of the moments that followed. With their lives threatened, the diplomats revealed themselves to be Khrynsani dark mages, wielding the blackest of magic, which scared Kansbar nearly as much as the giant insects. But even the mages, with their black magic, had been hard-pressed to destroy these creatures. It had been accomplished only after five more of their group had been killed outright. A sixth, pinned against the belly of one of the insects with its legs puncturing his body, struggled futilely as the creature fled into the forest with its meal. Kansbar remembered that the screams seemed to go on forever.

And go on forever they did, with Rudra forcing Kansbar to replay the entire scene many times.

After this attack, Kansbar was the only non-Khrynsani survivor.

He was alone among men who could kill him with a thought.

Even though this had occurred hundreds of years ago, those giant insects could still exist between us and Nidaar.

"I've never heard of such a creature." I sat back in my chair, but was careful to keep my hands on the book. We couldn't afford another delay in getting to the end.

"Me, either," Kesyn said. "And I hope when this is all over, I can still say that."

"Aquas is said to have plants and animals that are different from those in the Seven Kingdoms," Jash said. "In theory, it's because it's an island surrounded by large seas. If it lives on Aquas, it stays on Aquas."

"And Aquas can keep them," Talon said from his chair.

I glanced back down at the book, and at the next words I saw, a slow smile spread across my face for the first time since opening Rudra's account of my ancestor's torture. Not all of the expedition had been death and horror.

"What is it?" Kesyn asked.