"I will break the abomination that is the Snarksbane Wall!" Iakhovas shouted. "You will be free, forever free, to run the course of Seros."

Laaqueel noticed even Maartaaugh was shouting his support, caught up in the tide of what was happening to the crowd. However, T'Kalah stood in the shadows of the rubble, a dark scowl on his face. Still, she didn't let the royal guard's presence touch her celebratory mood. Iakhovas had triumphed, and she was part of it.

"Born free!" Iakhovas yelled.

The crowd took up the chant. "Born free!"

"Die free!" Iakhovas followed.

"Die free!"

"I will take you from this prison that is the Alamber Sea," Iakhovas shouted. "Together we will descend upon the sea elves and destroy them where we find them. I will see Myth Nantar, the sea elves' most sacred city, razed and driven deep into the ocean floor before we are done!"

"Destroy the sea elves!" someone yelled. The crowd took up the chant. "Destroy the sea elves! Raze Myth Nantar!"

"We are born free!" Iakhovas screamed to the crowd, using both hands to wave Toomaaek's corpse at the end of the trident haft like a banner.

"We will die free!" the crowd screamed back at him.

"Born free!"

"Die free!"

Laaqueel felt Iakhovas's voice inside her mind. What do you think, Most Sacred One? Do we have an army?

Yes. Laaqueel looked around at the thousands of sahuagin standing around them cheering.

I will break Serds, Iakhovas declared, and I will forever change the lands of the surface dwellers. No one will avoid my touch or the carnage I will have wrought. I am their destiny!

Laaqueel knew with certainty that his statements were true. Iakhovas reached up and used his claws to shear Toomaaek into bloody gobbets. He flung the flesh chunks outward, drawing up the closest sahuagin sitting around him.

"Come and eat, warriors. Let us take Toomaaek into battle with us. He stood for what he believed, though he believed wrongly. He can still nourish us. Meat is meat!"

"Meat is meat!" the crowd roared back. "Born free! Die free!"

As Laaqueel watched Iakhovas stripping the flesh from the dead sahuagin, then swimming out to feed the crowd, she knew there was no turning back. Iakhovas had raised his army.

And the Sea of Fallen Stars would fill with blood to pay the butcher's bill.