"You think so."

"I know so."

Chainer grunted. "I accept your terms. Here are mine." Chainer raised his arms over his head. The Mirari stayed between his hands.

"You will use the city-wide grapevine to announce that you are leaving the City under my control. The Cabal still runs things, but now I will run the Cabal."

"No one will follow you, Chainer."

"Everyone will follow me. I am the Cabal's response to the Order crusat, as you always intended. The entire city knows and fears me. And I intend to keep everything running smoothly. The anniversary games will happen as planned. People will come from all over Otaria to claim the prize. And I will destroy them all in one fell swoop."

"I agree to your terms," the First seemed sullen, angry, and Chainer wondered how long it had been since he had been at a disadvantage during negotiations.

"I'm not finished yet. My personal representatives will be sent ahead to Aphetto to prepare it for you. To clear the road before you and to keep an eye on you once you arrive."

"Spies, dementist? That hardly seems like a warrior's style."

"Not spies. Cabalists. They do not report to me, but they are loyal to Kuberr. You may lead them, if you can. But they will be harder to dominate than the Cabalists you're used to."

"What do you mean, 'will be?' " The First sounded as if he already knew and dreaded the answer.

"I mean they will be. Observe." Chainer put his hands out in the casting position with the Mirari between them. His eyes went black, and he shuddered. From between his hands, a long tendril of smoke curled outward, growing thicker at the front end. There was an implosion and a flash, and Chainer's new Cabalist stood ready before him.

The creature was a huge, ten-foot serpent as long and heavy as an alligator. It sat on a coil of its own body, propped up by two small hornlike claws where the coil rose off the floor. It had thin, flexible arms that collapsed against its body for quick strikes or rapid motion. Its head was big enough to swallow a cannonball without dislocating its jaw. It appeared to be a rattlesnake man, complete with a warning shaker on its tail and venom dripping from its fangs.

"I've been thinking about snakes recently," Chainer said, "and I've decided I like them better than.people. A snake only strikes to hunt or defend itself. It specializes in graceful motion and deadly accuracy. Nature designed them to be elegant killers. I, in turn, have designed them to be perfect Cabalists."

There was another shudder and another flash, and a second snake-person appeared. This one was longer and broader, rippling with muscle. It had no rattle, and its fangs were dry.

"The constrictor caste is especially good at stealth killings. Once it embraces you, you can't even scream. You should get along famously with these, Pater. You have so much in common."

Another shudder, another flash. "And the king snake. Bigger brain, stronger arms, and deadlier venom. They will be the ones who give you the most trouble as you try to take over."

"What are you talking about, Chainer? How many of these things have you made?"

Chainer grinned. "All of them." The final flash blew the First against the wall, and even drove Chainer back a step. The entire building shook. When the First had recovered, there was no one else in the room. No snakes, no attendants, only Chainer and the First.

"My serpent Cabal is now on its way to Aphetto. Scores of them, hundreds. They will hunt and kill and feed and fight on the way. Those that are successful will become real-indistinguishable from things that were born instead of conjured. They will breed and spread throughout Otaria. Who is running Aphetto City for you now?"

"The Parliament of Knives," the First said warily.

"Within a week of their arrival, my snakes will have overthrown the Parliament. If I were you, I'd get down there quickly, before everyone who knows you is killed or driven out."

The First nodded, angry but resigned to his defeat. He was staring at the Mirari as he spoke to Chainer. "Well done, my child. I can't help taking pride in-" "Shut up," Chainer said. "The only thing I want to hear out of you is your announcement to the city. And then, Calchexas, you will leave. If I ever see you again, I will make it my life's work to cut you to pieces, burn the remains, and scatter the ashes. I may not be able to kill you, but I can make you wish I had." Chainer closed his eyes, the Mirari glowed, and the First was once again bathed in black light. This light did not harm him, however. It merely cascaded around him.

"Speak clearly, Pater. All of your children are listening, and you won't get a second chance."

The First folded his arms into his sleeves. After one final glare at Chainer, he began to speak. "Attention, my children. This is the First…"

Chainer tuned him out as his mind sizzled and sparked from one topic to the next. First, he would honor his agreement with Laqua-tus, who had been instrumental in pinning down the First's secret name. Then, Chainer would crush all who came for the Mirari, including the Order and Burke and Kamahl, if they were foolish enough to compete.

And then, he would devote the rest of his life to punishing the First. If he couldn't kill the patriarch, then he would take the one thing from him that mattered most, the Cabal itself. With Chainer's snakes in Aphetto and the Mirari in his hand, it was only a matter of time before all of Otaria danced to Chainer's tune. In fact, he noted with a laugh, the music for the dance had already started in his head.

CHAPTER 24

From inside the Otaria Chasm, Veza watched the conflict between Llawan and Laquatus escalate toward civil war. Since the water portals only worked from surface to surface, the two sides were forced to grind out a victory the old fashioned way, face-to-face on the battlefield.

Llawan's first move was to send an armed force large enough to blockade the gorge, but not to storm it. Laquatus mocked her for not coming in person, and concentrated all of his mercenaries and undersea monsters at Llawan's end of the chasm. There were frequent skirmishes as the imperials tried to press in and the mercenaries labored to keep them out. The two forces continued to grow stronger and stronger as the days wore on.

Veza had never witnessed a full-scale military engagement before, though she had heard vivid stories from her grandfather describing Aboshan's predecessor's rise to power. Where her grandfather described noble duels and magnificent noble beasts, Veza saw ambush and sniper attacks alongside the hideous spectacles of razor rays tearing into leviathans. Massive orcan warriors surged out of the chasm to engage the empress's troops, and though each was driven back, each took its toll on the imperial guard with their massive fists and powerful jaws. Laquatus's mercenaries were unwilling to fight hand-to-hand. They preferred to pounce from the shadows in overwhelming numbers, or to not leave the safety of the chasm.

The ship-to-ship combat was even worse-giant, graceful, deep-sea creatures roaring and tearing at each other like wild dogs. Llawan's troops took heavy losses to the razor rays until they began using a school of electric eels that cooked the giant fish in mid-battle. Huge, paddle-footed beasts with long necks grabbed guards like fruit from a tree and were in turn choked by sargassum blasts or poisoned by lances coated in lethal puffer-fish extract.

When she wasn't watching the endless stream of carnage and patrol ships, Veza spent her time sifting through the survey data she'd collected. She couldn't reconcile what she'd seen in the chasm with what she reviewed. The data indicated gemstone deposits, precious ores and metals, and a freshwater underground river that could easily be tapped for drinking water. Laquatus was delighted, and the more value she discovered, the more troops he brought in to hold it.