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  “Why would he return?” Brutas asked.

  “He knows about my ascension to the throne. He will have fled Hamill Keep by now. My warships may find him, or they may not. In any case, I want the war band on watch day and night. I want him captured, alive, and brought to me, along with all his belongings. Is that absolutely clear?”

  “Yes,” Brutas said.

  “Good. I will come to you in Avondale eventually. Until then, see that our home is well cared for.”

  “I will.”

  “And give my warships whatever they need. Nothing must stand in the way of capturing Tiberius.”

  Brutas bowed and backed toward the door. Leonosis screamed for him to run, but Draggah was in total control. He smiled and waved his hand. The bones in Brutas’ left hand shattered as if he had been struck by a hammer.

  The scream that erupted from Brutas was blood-chilling, but Draggah just laughed. Leonosis, in his own private agony, was helpless. He could only watch as Brutas hurried from the room, moaning and cradling his hand.

  “You didn’t have to be so cruel,” Ariel said, stepping out from the shadows.

  “He must understand the importance of my every wish.”

  “He’ll hate you.”

  “He already hated me,” Draggah said. “Or at least this shell I wear. It’s of little importance to us now. All that matters is the stone.”

  “And once you have it?”

  “That is my concern alone. All you need to know is that it is necessary for our plans.”

  “You never tell me anything anymore,” Ariel said. “Am I not Queen of Valana?”

  “Yes indeed, but that is of little importance. Merely a means to an end.”

  “And what is that end?”

  “Power, dear one. It is the only thing that matters. Power.”

  Chapter 6

  Lexi

  Mount Avondale came into view the next day. From the sky ship, sailing just beneath the barrier of mist, the mountain seemed huge. Tiberius had remained in his cabin, avoiding the ship’s crew and resting. Lexi had gone out and found Olyva looking down at the Hosscum groves that stood at the bottom of the mountain.

  The captain finally brought the ship to a halt, and Tiberius was summoned. Olyva and Rafe joined the ship’s captain and Olyva’s mother on the command deck. Lexi brought Tiberius out, and they met to discuss what they should do next.

  “I believe that is Mount Avondale,” the captain said to Tiberius. “Should we sail up above the mists to dock with the earl’s palace?”

  “Not yet,” Tiberius said. “We need to make sure it’s safe.”

  “And how do you intend to do that?” the countess asked.

  “Dancer can fly up,” Lexi said, taking the small animal from her shoulder.

  The wind glider trilled softly as Lexi held it up and looked into the animal’s large eyes.

  “Just get above the mists,” she said, “and take a look around the mountain. Don’t take any chances.”

  Lexi didn’t like sending Dancer into potential danger, but she really had no choice. She flung the wind glider high into the air, and the little animal spread its limbs, letting the skin between stretch and catch on the updrafts. Dancer disappeared into the mists, and the group waited.

  “I don’t think climbing the mountain is a suitable option for me,” the countess said.

  “I agree,” Tiberius said. “If there are enemy ships around Avondale, then Rafe, Lexi, and I will go into the city and find out if there’s any way to get you safely inside.”

  “And if you can’t?”

  “Then we’ll have to find another place where you will be safe,” Tiberius said.

  “How many war ships does the king have?” Lexi asked.

  “There is no telling,” Rafe said. “They haven’t been used in decades. He could have hundreds if they continued building them over the years.”

  Lexi felt a familiar buzz inside her head, and a wave of dizziness swept over her. She held onto Tiberius’ arm and closed her eyes. Suddenly she could see Avondale again. It was like a jeweled crown on the head of an ancient monarch. Dancer was doing just as she had been instructed. The little wind glider was barely above the mist and well away from the city. Lexi doubted that anyone could see Dancer, even if they were looking for her.

  Two war ships were hovering above the city. One to the north, and one to the south. Dancer’s sharp eyesight could make out movement on the city walls, and Lexi guessed that the earl’s war band was on heightened alert.

  “There are two ships,” Lexi said, opening her eyes. “One to the north, one to the south.”

  “Reinforcing the city gates,” Rafe said.

  “Can we defeat two ships?” Olyva’s mother asked.

  “We could,” Tiberius said confidently. “But I would rather not risk this ship or Your Highness by engaging in battle.”

  “So what do you propose?” the countess said.

  “I’ve been giving a lot of thought to that. If my father still lives, he is Earl of Avondale,” Tiberius said. “If I can get inside the city, I might be able to heal him.”

  “How does that help us?” the countess demanded.

  “It’s possible that he could send the ships away and take you in.”

  “Possible? You would gamble our lives on a possibility?”

  “For now you are safe,” Tiberius said. “As long as you stay under the mists, no one will bother you. You have enough food and water?”

  “Enough for five more days,” the captain said.

  “Five days is enough,” Tiberius said. “Let us go to the city. If we can’t garner the support we need, we’ll come back and help you resupply the ship.”

  “It is hardly a plan,” the countess said with disdain.

  “Would you prefer that we fight?” Tiberius asked.

  “My lady,” the captain said. “A single spark could mean devastation on a ship like this.”

  “I know that,” the countess snapped. “I’m no fool just because I’m a woman.”

  “I never meant—”

  “I know what you meant,” she said angrily. Then to Tiberius, “Go! Do what you can. If you do not return by the third night, we will sail for Hamill Keep.”

  “Yes, Highness,” Tiberius said.

  “I have everything ready,” Lexi said.

  “Get us as close to the mountainside as you can,” Tiberius told the captain.

  “It will feel good to be on solid ground again,” Olyva said.

  “No,” the countess replied. “Olyva stays with us.”

  “Mother!” Olyva said in shock.

  “You will return for her or never see her again,” the countess warned.

  Lexi saw a smoldering anger in Rafe’s eyes, but he didn’t speak.

  “We will return,” Tiberius said. “If that is the way you want things, then Olyva will stay. But see that no harm comes to her, or you will answer to me.”

  The captain and the countess both stepped back from Tiberius.

  “I will return for you,” Rafe told Olyva. “I swear it.”

  “Be safe,” Olyva said.

  The captain called out orders, and the ship began to move toward the mountain. Lexi, Rafe, and Tiberius all went down to the hold, where they opened the stairs that hung down from the bottom of the sky ship.

  “She better not be lying,” Rafe said. “If they flee, I’ll kill her.”

  “You’d kill a countess?” Lexi asked.

  “If she hurt Olyva.”

  “No one is going to hurt Olyva,” Tiberius said. “Dancer can keep an eye on the ship for us—right, Lexi?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Now, we’ve got a long night ahead of us. Let’s stay focused on the task at hand.”

  The sky ship hovered next to the mountain just below the mists. The bottom of the wooden staircase was nearly ten feet from the ground, but the captain refused to get any closer to the mountain. Rafe went first. At the bottom of the stairs, he sat down, th
en turned and hung from the bottom step for a moment before dropping to the ground, which was only a few feet below him. He landed and slipped onto his backside.

  Tiberius was slower, his movements not as certain, but he repeated Rafe’s descent. Lexi went down and made the drop easily. Unlike Rafe and Tiberius, Lexi landed lightly on her feet with perfect balance.

  “She made that look easy,” Tiberius said with a grin.

  “I’ve had some practice,” Lexi said.

  “Dropping out of windows in the dark?” Rafe teased.

  “With a handful of jewels,” Lexi replied.

  Tiberius waved to the men who were waiting to raise the stairs, and the trio hiked up into the fog. The mountain wasn’t nearly as easy to scale as it was to descend. They had to stop frequently to rest, but they weren’t in a hurry in any case. They needed night to fall before they could attempt to get into the city.

  “So what’s the plan for getting us in?” Rafe asked.

  “There are ways,” Lexi said. “We’ll have to search for one of the hidden entrances. I know there were some unsavory characters that would hide their ill gotten gains outside the city. No safer place.”

  “And you’ve seen these hidden entrances?” Rafe asked.

  “Well, no,” Lexi said. “I never needed to get out of the city until I came to help you. And then I took the southern gate.”

  “So how are we going to find a way in?” Rafe asked. “Aren’t the entrances hidden for a reason?”

  “They are,” Lexi said. “But they’re hidden on the inside, not from the outside.”

  Rafe looked perplexed for a moment, then realized his mistake. There was no need to hide the entrances on the outside of the city, since there were no people outside the city. It was widely believed that people couldn’t survive below the mists and the only creatures to scale the huge mountains where the nine cities were located were giant beasts and foul packs of ravenous animals like graypees. No one really ever expected an attack from outside the city, and the walls were built out at the top so that soldiers could fight along the ramparts. This made looking at the base of the walls almost impossible from the top of the wall.

  “I saw a few when I was circling the city with the horses the day you were banished,” Lexi explained. “I’m not worried about finding them again. I’m worried about what we’ll find when we get inside.”

  “The people who have these secret entrances to the city aren’t the kind that would shy away from killing someone who used their entrance without permission?” Tiberius asked.

  “Not even the earl’s son,” Lexi said.

  “Well, then we’ll just have to stop them,” Rafe said, patting his sword. “And this time, don’t spoil everything with magic.”

  “I use my magic to help us,” Tiberius argued.

  “Well, sometimes it takes the fun out of things.”

  “You two are impossible,” Lexi said.

  Nightfall came at last, and still they waited in the mist. Dancer circled the mountaintop city, flying high and closer in the darkness and sending Lexi feelings. There were men on the wall, at least twice as many as normal, but Lexi could tell they were angry about the war ships. The soldiers watched the ships hanging just outside the city walls with resentful stares.

  Dancer also slipped below the mist and ensured that the sky ship from Hamill Keep was still in place. Lexi tried to reassured Rafe that Olyva was okay, but they were all tense. Going back into Avondale was dangerous, and Lexi knew just how dangerous. It would be her job to get them through the city and into the earl’s palace. If they survived the lower levels, then they would have to deal with the paladins that patrolled Avondale. But if she could get them to the palace, Lexi had an idea of how she might find out more about the Balestone.

  Living in the shadows, Lexi had learned to listen and was often contracted to gather knowledge in her clandestine activities. A few times she had heard of a secret group called Arcanius. It was just a rumor, so she hadn’t bothered to tell Tiberius. He would be busy with his father, and Lexi wouldn’t be much use once they were in the palace, so she planned to make a trip back to the lower levels of the city. Back to the streets and people she knew best, where she might be able to find something that could help them.

  After a few hours of sitting in the dark, they slowly climbed up out of the mist. They could see the torches burning high on the city walls, but at the base of the city, there was nothing but deep gloom. The land between the mist and the walls of Avondale was barren and rocky, with only patches of stiff weeds and stunted trees scattered around the massive city. Once they emerged from the mist, they hurried to the base of the wall.

  There were stars out and a crescent moon, but their light didn’t reach the base of the walls. Dancer came swooping in and landed lightly on Lexi’s shoulder. The little animal was tired from staying aloft for hours, but it used its acute night vision to help Lexi see in the darkness. She led them around the base of the wall, occasionally sidestepping boulders until they finally came to what looked like a small hole in the ground right beside the wall.

  “It’s here,” Lexi said.

  “What is?” Tiberius said. “I can’t see anything.”

  “There is an entrance right here, on the ground.”

  “On the ground?” Rafe asked.

  “Yes, you oaf. You’ll have to crawl down into the hole. I’ll go first.”

  “No,” Tiberius said. “Rafe should go, in case there’s trouble.”

  “If Rafe goes first, there will be trouble. On the other hand, I can probably get in without being seen. I might even know the person guarding the entrance.”

  “I don’t like it,” Tiberius said.

  “I’ll be fine,” Lexi said. “This time you have to trust me.”

  “I do trust you,” Tiberius said.

  “Then let me do this. Come in after me, but be quiet.”

  “How big is this hole?” Rafe asked.

  “Not very big,” Lexi said. “Are you afraid of tight places?”

  “I’m not afraid,” Rafe said. “But I’m not crazy about them, either.”

  Lexi suppressed a giggle. Her nerves were tingling with excitement. Despite what she said to Tiberius, if there was a person guarding the door on the other side of the wall, they wouldn’t wait to see if they knew her. But she still felt like she had a better chance of surviving such an attack than Tiberius did. Rafe could fight anyone, but there would probably be no room for swordplay, and his larger body would be at a disadvantage fighting in a confined space.

  She got on her knees and felt the hole with her hands. Dancer trilled nervously. The wind glider was extremely vulnerable on the ground, and crawling into a hole seemed like madness to the little animal.

  “You fly up and keep an eye out,” she told the glider. “Look for us on the streets inside the city.”

  She tossed Dancer into the air, and the small animal sailed out away from the city wall. Then Lexi turned her attention back to the hole and crawled in. She couldn’t see anything but she could feel solid stone all around her. She groped along, using her hands and being careful not to bang her head on the unforgiving stone. The hole dropped down into a crack in the rock that was barely wide enough for a person to stand in. Lexi shimmed in toward what she knew must be ahead of her somewhere. Finally she felt wood instead of stone. She could hear Tiberius behind her, struggling to find his way in the dark.

  She searched the wooden panel with her hands until she found a short length of rope. She pulled it slowly and felt the tension in the rope suddenly go loose. She pushed the wooden barrier, and it swung inward. There was only a little light in the room, just enough to see shadowy forms but not to make out anything clearly. Lexi drew her small, Wangorian dagger. Its curved blade was razor-sharp, and she held it in her right hand, with the blade curving from her palm around to her forearm.

  She stepped cautiously out from the behind the doorway and felt more than saw the shadowy figure lunging toward her. Lexi dr
opped to the floor, rolling onto her back and bringing her feet up. Then she kicked out, her boots slamming into her attacker’s stomach.

  There was a whoof as the kick landed, and then the person toppled onto the floor. Lexi was on top of them instantly. One knee was on the attacker’s back, the other pinning down the man’s outstretched arm. Lexi pulled the man’s head back with her free hand and slipped the dagger under his throat.

  “One sound and I’ll end you,” she hissed.

  The man didn’t move and didn’t make a sound.

  “Lexi,” Tiberius hissed.

  “Its okay,” she assured him. “Get in here.”

  Tiberius came into the room, followed by a huffing Rafe.

  “That’s one tight squeeze,” he said, obviously relieved to be out of the tight space.

  “Fulsi,” Tiberius said.

  A small glowing light appeared out of nowhere, and Lexi could finally see the man she was holding down. He was an older man, with only one eye and a mangy-looking beard. She didn’t recognize him. The room was plain. There was a small bed against one wall, and a wooden chair on the other side of the hidden door that led out of the city. A piss pot in one corner reeked, and the man smelled almost as bad. There was a weak light shining under the door leading out of the room.

  “Whose house are we in?” Lexi asked the man who had attacked her.

  “Jessyp Corgson,” the man said.

  Lexi raised her dagger and then brought it down with a quick blow to the back of the man’s head, knocking him unconscious.

  “I could have put him to sleep magically,” Tiberius said.

  “There’s no time. We have to get out of here.”

  Tiberius let his light spell wink out, and they listened at the doorway for several minutes. They couldn’t hear anything, so they swung the door open slowly. The room beyond was lit with a single candle. A man snored on a bench against the opposite wall. They slipped past the sleeping man and made their way down a dark hallway. Then they came to another hidden doorway. Once again they listened but heard nothing. Lexi found the latch that opened the door, and they went through.