And the vast, many-eyed bulk that stared down from above seemed to gaze into her soul.

Anusha couldn't tear away from the Eldest's awful visage to gauge her companions' reactions, though she heard someone gasp and Japheth voice a hoarse curse.

Japheth said her name. She blinked and broke contact with the dead eyes overhead.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"What is the half-elf trying to accomplish?" asked Yeva. "To kill the Eldest," said Seren.

The woman laughed. She said, "He'd better stop wasting his time with all the little ones, then, and start climbing."

Japheth said, "Anusha, you and Yeva—help Raidon. You too, Thoster and Seren!"

"I am not getting close to that thing!" said Yeva.

"Help him with the swarm," said the warlock, exasperation obvious in his manner.

"There are too many to fight," Seren said, one hand to her throat.

"Perhaps, but see?" Japheth gestured at the scene. "The monk draws their attention with his symbol. The cerulean light maddens them. So, drive into their rear and cull them while they remain focused on him. Between the four of you and Raidon, you actually have a chance. Few things can stop Anusha or even see her, and the same is likely true for Yeva. And I've witnessed how potent your spells are, Seren, and how deadly you are with your blade, Captain."

"And what will you be doing, warlock?" said Captain Thoster.

"I have a ritual of my own to perform. It will take some time, so I need to start immediately."

Japheth fixed Anusha with dark eyes. "I will see you free of this, I promise. But in the meantime..." He waved a hand toward the fight.

Anusha nodded, not trusting herself to reply.

Japheth flashed a smile, then stepped into his cloak. A moment later, he was gone. Anusha looked around, but didn't see him reappear. She wondered where the warlock had gone to perform his ritual. Hopefully to an out- of-theway nook.

She turned to Yeva. "Should we take our revenge?" Yeva said, "Better to die fighting than hiding." "Yes."

"Wait!" said Seren. The wizard traced symbols in the air with her wand. Where it passed, fading magical traces. followed. Arcane syllables tumbled from her lips. Her eyes took on a dull citrine glow.

"All right, that worked!" said Seren, gesturing with her wand at Anusha and Yeva. "I can finally see both of you, which means I won't accidentally catch one of you in a spell."

"I still can't," said Thoster.

Seren ignored the captain.

Anusha concentrated on her armor, imagining it even more impenetrable. She raised her sword, and imagined it so sharp it could cut a zephyr in two.

Then she ran to join the fray.

She sprinted across the changing floor. Quick as she was, a ball of wizard fire bloomed ahead of her, setting alight four aboleths at a single stroke. Good for Seren! She'd half expected the wizard to turn tail. But there were so many aboleths! At least the flying ones above hadn't yet engaged in the fight—not even the smallest, and thankfully not the largest. She was doubly glad, for among those chanting creatures, a few possessed a multitude of eyes like the aboleth able to see her in Xxiphu's depths.

Anusha made contact with the enemy. Her blade swept through a creature with only the slightest tug. The aboleth died unaware anything had even threatened it. As it lay quivering and oozing dark fluid, she moved to the next. And the next. She whirled her sword around, maintaining its bitter sharpness with determined concentration.

Pain pinched her temple. She was exerting her dream form. If she pushed herself, she would falter and perhaps fall. But if she did not give Raidon—and by extension Japheth—a chance to succeed the Eldest would wake, and nothing would hold back her mind from its concentrated consciousness.

She renewed her onslaught, laying about with her dream blade like an avatar of death itself, even as her head began to pound with the ache of her unrelenting exertion.

*****

Seren's breath was harsh in her own ears. She was terrified, and her hands, wand, and voice trembled with each spell she launched. Thankfully the creatures reacted to her magical lances as Japheth had predicted. The horde of aboleths were single-minded in their attempt to fall upon the blazing monk like a slime tsunami. None of her spells had so far piqued the interest of the attacking creatures, even those on the periphery.

Emboldened, she moved closer, until the rotting fish smell of the frantic aboleths became overwhelming.

Where had the warlock gone? Seren wondered if, despite all his brave words,,the man hadn't just used the cloak to transport himself away from the entire enterprise. She believed that was unlikely, despite what she might consider in his place.

A bellow of triumph sounded in her left ear, and she flinched.

It was Thoster, slashing the posterior of an aboleth too busy trying to scramble over its siblings to guard its flank. The wound was deep, but the aboleth died from the poison before its organs could even react to the fluid spraying from it. More so than before, she was glad she'd decided to aid the captain instead of kill him when he'd revealed his strange condition to her.

Seren decided to expend a spell whose potency neared the height of her strength. She uttered the linchpin syllables and drew her wand around in the air just once. A fist-sized globe of white light hurtled into the mass of scrambling aboleths. Just before falling into their ranks, the globe detonated in a prismatic burst, spearing several at once.

The creatures squealed as their flanks were scorched. Better yet, they reeled around in confusion as the dazzling radiance blinded them.

A grim smile briefly touched Seren's lips.

She recited another incantation.

*****

Before Japheth stepped from his cloak, he called again upon the utter darkness between the stars, whose hollow nothingness ate the light of neighboring constellations. He shrouded himself in that same obscuring darkness, then stepped forward into the very center of the throne chamber, where the floor was stable. The petrified gaze of the Eldest was a palpable force overhead so potent it vibrated the air, creating deep tones like massive cemetery bells. The warlock was careful not to look straight up.

Japheth took a quick survey to see if any creature was aware of his sudden appearance.

The main fight still raged.

The monk continued to harvest aboleths with his blade and Sign. Anusha, Yeva, Thoster, and Seren whittled away at the mass's flanks. The oldest aboleths continued their chant of waking. Japheth hoped he could begin and finish his ritual before they concluded theirs.

From his cloak he removed a rod, a battered scroll, and a vial of powdered dragon scales. These were the same implements he'd earlier used in an attempt to free Anusha's mind from captivity, minus a tome that hadn't proved useful. And minus the ring wound with Anusha's hair. In the frenzy of their arrival and the breaking of his pact stone, he'd failed to retrieve it from the angel of exploration.

Japheth hoped that Anusha's dream form itself would prove a better guide than loose strands of her hair ever could. He'd failed the last time he'd tried to free her, but only because the Dreamheart was not where her soul was rooted, as he'd mistakenly assumed.

No, her consciousness was snared by the Eldest itself. If she should falter and wake even briefly, her mind would be pulled into the beast and be consumed in an instant, becoming part of it. His heart beat in his throat when he imagined it.

A spectacular flare of light snapped his gaze back to the fight. Through the press of squirming aboleths, sky blue light blazed. Raidon had triggered some sort of exceptionally bright pulse from his chest.

Ignore it, he told himself.

Japheth pulled out the last two things he needed—the Dreamheart and the silver compact filled with his personal bane.