"In some of those wars," Reefglamor said, "the Alu'Tel'Quessir and the merfolk were allies, not enemies."

"That was a long time ago."

"Currents change," the Senior High Mage replied. "Things are not as they once were."

"Aye," Khlinat put in. "Dwarves are known for their warrin' ways. Don't know if ye get much stories about us down here, but I can tell ye that nothing sets a dwarf afire with passion the way a good battle can. Different communities battled ores and goblins for caves where gems were mined and a dwarf could live if he had a mind to. They also fought one another for the same things. Now ye take a dwarf down to a tavern and him blowing the suds off a fresh mug and a human or elf get physical with him, why any other dwarf in the place would be the first to stand up for him if he got into more than he could handle."

"But if it was an elf or a half-ore in trouble, these dwarven feelings you praise so highly wouldn't be quite so ready, would they?" Ildacer asked sarcastically.

"Now there's a funny thought," Khlinat said without taking offense. "I seen mates on a ship, crew that had been together through some stormy weather and buckle to buckle against pirates what had tried to reeve them of their cargo-and they was a mixed bag, the lot of 'em. Aboard ship, they had their problems, but the cap'n set 'em straight. Mayhap on occasion they'd take an unkind hand with each other once they reached shore, but when it come to taverns and local roustabouts laving hands on 'em, why ye'd have thought they was long-lost brothers the way the›* took up for one another."

Everyone looked at the dwarf, who appeared suddenly as though he'd rather be elsewhere.

Finally Reefglamor broke the silence. "I've never heard you speak so much."

"I have me moments." Khlinat replied gruffly.

"Thank Deep Sashelas that you do, Khlinat. Your words ring true and I shall have to think upon them."

"I'm just saying there ain't no grand and perfect solution to how folks are to get along with one another," the dwarf said. "Neighbors ought to pay attention to who's in the neighborhood before they start picking fights with one another.*

"The mermen will never listen." Ildacer argued. "You know how proud and haughty they are."

Reefglamor glanced at his second-in-command. "How very like the Alu'Tel'Quessir they are, you mean?"7

"No, that's not what I meant to…"

Reefglamor sighed and looked out over Mount Halaath standing tall to the northwest. After circling under the Whamite Isles, the caravan had fixed on it and marched straight toward it. The City of Destinies lay between them and Mount Halaath.

"Senior, what I am saying is that we might be swayed by Khlinat's words while sitting here so far from our own homes, feeling perhaps a little lost and friendless, but King Vhaemas and his people are not going to feel the same. This place is the source of their strength. Even with the morkoth and koalinth adding to the ranks of the sahuagin, the Taker can't possibly hope to overrun all of Eadraal."

"From what I have pieced together," Pacys said. "The Taker only wants his eye."

"Have you found out what that is?" Jhanra asked.

Pacys strummed the saceddar. "Not yet. All that I am sure of at the moment is that it is some device the Taker had in his possession when Umberlee struck him down."

"Even so, to get the eye from Myth Nantar, the Taker will have to march through Eadraal," Reefglamor said. "As much as King Yhaemas hates the City of Destinies and all that it stands for, he won't see the Taker free to ravage it."

"Again," Ildacer said, "the Taker will have to raise up an army the like of which has never before been seen."

"And you have assurances," Reefglamor asked quietly, "that the Taker cannot accomplish this?"

"No, Senior."

"Good," Reefglamor responded. "So far the Taker has succeeded at everything he's attempted to do. We have no proof that we've set him back in any way at all."

"Except for the Great Whale Bard," Tidark commented in his whispering rasp. The High Mage was much older even than Reefglamor and usually given to his studies, not spending much time in the company of others.

Pacys knew it was true, but he didn't know what the whale bard had made his sacrifice for.

"We have every reason to believe that when the time comes," Reefglamor said, "the Taker will find the means to raise the army he needs to invade Eadraal."

The thought sobered all of the High Mages, Pacys noticed with satisfaction. The hardships of the journey, the turning away they'd experienced at the hands of the mermen, had tempered all of them.

A group of sea elf warriors approached from the north. Morgan Ildacer, young cousin to Pharom Ildacer and captain of the High Mages' guard from Sylkiir, came to a stop in the water. He bowed his head, his arms crossed at the wrist, and waited to be recognized.

"Captain," Reefglamor said, "your report."

"Our scouts have returned with good news, Senior High Mage Reefglamor. The way to Myth Xantar is clear."

"What of the merman guards?"

"If we move quickly enough, Senior," Morgan Ildacer said, "we'll be able to gain the city within the hour. Vhaemas's warriors seem to be concentrated to the south, prepared to defend their borders against the morkoth and koalinth. They're searching for groups much larger than ours."

"Very well," Reefglamor said. "Give the order, and let's get moving. Better this were done sooner than later."

"There are others of my kind in the area," the locathah ranger stated. "We can cover your backs in the event you are discovered. There are hiding places around here that not even the mermen know of."

"That won't be-" Morgan Ildacer started before Reef-glamor cut him off with a raised hand.

"That would be very kind of you," the Senior High Mage said.

Tyhlly stretched to her full height and bowed, then turned her attention to Pacys. "Your gods be with you, Lorekeeper. for you shall soon be sorely tried."

"My thanks to you," the old bard said. He spread his hand and touched palm to palm with the locathah ranger. "May Eadro give you only pleasant and free currents."

She leaped up and was gone in seconds, disappearing into the darkness of the sea.

Turning to face Mount Halaath, Pacys strained to pierce the gloom that lay ahead. He made out the glimmering blue glow of the Great Barrier that sealed Myth Nantar off from the rest of the world.

He'd come so close to one of his goals. Now it only remained to be seen how things would play out.

Laaqueel stood on the sandy, rocky western shore of Graubunden, the largest of the Whamite Isles, and peered out at Maelstrom at anchor in the shallow waters. The pirate ship's sails were furled around the masts, and crew filled her decks.

Iakhovas stood beside the malenti, an imposing figure amid the sahuagin warriors he'd brought with him. The sahuagin lay in the shallow waters to prevent their scales from drying out. Though he had barely talked to her in fully two months, concerned with all the battles and alliances he'd made, Iakhovas had commanded her presence for the day.

Attention, little malenti, Iakhovas spoke into her mind. You arc about to see the first culmination of my labors here in the Inner Sea.

Laaqueel turned her gaze to him.

Iakhovas smiled. He looked human at the moment, though she knew the sahuagin perceived him as one of their own.

Your astonishment astounds me, little malenti. Surely you didn't think I came here to conquer this place and never return to the outer seas.

The crew in Maelstrom's longboat rowed into the beach with consternation showing on their faces. They'd been waiting since early morning, the malenti priestess gathered from Iakhovas's comments, after arriving in the night. When they gained the beach, the crew bailed out and pulled the longboat up onto the sand.