The Sea of Death (The Blade of the Flame) by Tim Waggoner

Author:Tim Waggoner [Waggoner, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786956661
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2010-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

It shouldn’t be long now.”

Nathifa stood at the prow of the Zephyr, her bloodless white hands gripping the ice-covered railing. She looked eastward into the darkness, toward Trebaz Sinara. Skarm sat in the pilot’s seat behind the glowing containment ring, keeping the air elemental active. The barghest, while possessing more stamina than a mortal creature, was on the brink of exhaustion. The magic that controlled the elemental was contained within the pilot’s chair itself, but wielding that magic still required the contribution of the pilot’s will. Someone trained in using the seat’s magic could do so with minimum effort, but Skarm had no such training. Thus the energy drain on the barghest was significant. Not that Nathifa cared what happened to Skarm. All that concerned her was reaching Trebaz Sinara and obtaining the last object she needed to realize her dark dreams—and those of her mistress, of course.

The lich sorceress sensed more than heard Makala approach her from behind. A moment later, the vampire joined Nathifa at the railing.

“Haaken is still sleeping. And before you ask, I didn’t take any of his blood … much as I might have wanted to.”

“I would’ve known if you’d tried. And I would’ve punished you.”

Makala smiled, as if to show that Nathifa’s threat didn’t impress her. The vampire was becoming far too bold, and the lich was beginning to regret accepting her as a servant. She reminded herself that Vol sent Makala to her, and that meant the vampire had an important role to play in fulfilling the queen’s plan. But Nathifa vowed to continue keeping close watch on the woman, for she had no doubt that Makala was going to attempt some manner of treachery, and sooner rather than later.

“Why does the man sleep so much?” Makala asked. “He’s no longer human, but he still seems to possess a human’s weaknesses.”

“He’s no longer only human,” Nathifa corrected. “He still requires rest, though less than a mortal needs. While you slumbered during the day, Haaken spent several hours practicing his new skills. He’s unused to transforming back and forth between his various forms, and he’s unaccustomed to the physical exertion of swimming so much.”

Letting Haaken swim meant deactivating the air elemental so that he could keep up with the Zephyr. Nathifa didn’t like slowing down and adding hours to their journey, but Haaken would be useless to her as a servant if he didn’t possess at least a minimal mastery of his lycanthropic skills. Nathifa forced herself to view the delay as an investment, though it wasn’t easy. She’d bided her time for a hundred years, but now that the culmination of everything she had worked for was finally at hand, she found herself becoming increasingly impatient, almost as if she were a mortal woman again.

She gazed up at the night sky. The cloud cover was light, and the Ring of Siberys was visible off to the south, a luminescent band of golden dragonshards that encircled the world high above the equator. A number of Eberron’s twelve moons could be seen as well, four of them full and bright.

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