Rage darkened the High Mage's features. At his side, Pharom Ildacer moved forward. Even as the merman warriors reacted by dropping their tridents toward the sea elves, Reefglamor placed a hand on his friend's chest. Ildacer stopped reluctantly.

"We only want to travel to Myth Nantar," Reefglamor said. "We must see to it that the Taleweaver arrives there safely."

"Not across my lands." Tallos glared at the old bard. "I'll not have a sea elf army moving through my city, or anywhere near it."

"We travel for the good of Seros," Reefglamor protested. "If we don't stand against the Taker, all of our world may fall."

"The good of Seros," Tallos echoed. "As I recall, the Alu'Tel'Quessir have long held that as a reason for their attempts to take over all of Seros. How many have died as your people have tried to force their will on others? The Eleventh Seros War was fought over the same beliefs. Well, we don't hold forth those beliefs. We don't even presume to know what's best for Seros. We take care of our own, and life in these waters would be far better if others took care to do the same."

Reefglamor had no reply, visibly stung by the merman's hard tone and words.

"Myth Nantar was another vessel of sea elven conspiracy," Tallos continued. "Better it should remain buried behind the mythal that binds it than to return to this world."

"Prophecy has declared that the City of Destinies is the place where the Taker might be destroyed," Reefglamor said.

"So say you, elf."

"Your people have those prophecies as well."

"Mayhap you'd be surprised how few of my people are willing to trust the Alu'Tel'Quessir these days."

Reefglamor shook his head. "Unrest and strife stir the waters and echo on the currents," he said. "The sahuagin are once more free to roam all of Seros. Surely you've noticed this."

"I've heard," Tallos answered coldly. "I've also heard that it was the sea elves themselves who shattered the Sharks-bane Wall."

"Why in all the seas would we have done that?"

"Because to get to you, the sahuagin must first run through the Hmur Plateau-where the mermen live," the merman accused.

"Your King Vhaemas can't believe that."

"The king," Tallos admitted, "is more reluctant than some, but all are aware that there is no love lost between the sea elves and the merfolk."

"This is bigger than the animosity that lies between our people," Reefglamor said.

"If it were," Tallos countered, "wouldn't Coronal Semphyr or Cormal Ytham have sent you with more troops? Or approached our king first to request passage through our lands?"

"They, too, are blind to the dangers we face."

Tallos regarded the old mage, then said, "If your own people don't believe in you and your journey, why should I?"

"Because it is the truth," Reefglamor said.

"Not my truth."

Without another word, Reefglamor turned and motioned his warriors and fellow mages back.

"What will we do?" Jhanra Merlistar asked.

"We have no choice," Reefglamor answered. "We'll have to go around the plateau, along the western edge."

"That's insane," Ildacer stated harshly. "Those waters are filled with koalinth tribes who would waste no time attacking us. Only fools would swim there."

"The only other choice would be to head to the east and go through the deeper waters there," Reefglamor offered.

"Senior," the chief guardsman said, "I would prefer-"

"As would I," Reefglamor snapped irritably. "We're in agreement that the depths are too dangerous. We will go around to the west. Have someone inform your warriors and the caravan leaders."

Pacys thought about the proposed journey. It would add tendays, perhaps as much as a month to their time. That was just not acceptable. Yet, as he looked at the merman baron's hard face, he knew the decision would stand.

Both the sea elves and the mermen turned suddenly toward the south, their weapons falling naturally into their hands. Pacys prepared himself, wondering what it was they sensed. His eyes revealed nothing but the murky water that took away his vision. All at once the currents swirling around him became a wave that rocked him.

Behind the wave came the death cry of the Great Whale Bard. Hearing it, the old bard knew it belonged to no other. Tears welled in his eyes as he remembered the great creature and the gift it had given so freely while calmly accepting its own fate.

"Taleweaver?" Reefglamor called out, swimming toward him. "What was that?"

"The sahuagin have slain the Great Whale Bard," Pacys replied. "Now there is nothing to hold back the sea devils."

Standing in Steadfast's prow, his cutlass in his hands, Jherek stared at the huge, dark cloud that rode low over the ocean. The ship was ahead of the cloud, only a few miles southwest of Aglarond. The whale song stopped abruptly the day before, but the sense of direction that had dawned in the young sailor's breast remained constant.

He shaded his eyes with his hand. Perspiration cooled him in the sea breeze as his heart resumed a steadier beat. He'd worked himself hard the last hour, concentrating on the cutlass and hook as he went through the exercises Malorrie and Glawinn had shown him. The exertion kept his thoughts reined in, away from the memory of Sabyna and the sweet kiss they'd exchanged.

Tarnar ran up the steps, joining him. "I thought at first it was a cloud," the captain said, "but I'd never seen one settle so close to the sea and be so small. Thought it might be fog, then I thought perhaps it was a sail."

"No," Jherek said, tracking the jerky, fluttering movement visible within the mass now. "Those are birds. Scavengers." Even as he realized it, his stomach lurched and filled with cold acid.

Bringing his spyglass up to his eye, Tarnar swept the sky ahead. "You're right, but I've never seen so many."

Jherek hadn't either. Thousands of seagulls, pelicans, fisherhawks, and smaller birds skirled through the limited air space above the sea, eagerly seeking an opening. During a voyage on Butterfly last year, Finaren had spied a derelict at sea. Upwind of her, Jherek hadn't smelled the carrion stench of the ship until they'd thrown grappling hooks over the railing and prepared to tie on.

Birds had exploded from the decks and broken windows, frightened from the grisly repast they'd helped themselves to. The young sailor had never learned the reason why the crew had killed each other, but there was no doubt that they had. Finaren had guessed that some mage-inspired madness or a curse had overtaken them. No one had lived. For tendays afterward, Jherek remembered the bloated and beak-stripped faces in his nightmares.

"It means there's death waiting up there," the young sailor said hoarsely.

Tarnar didn't bother to disagree.

"Cap'n," the sailor in the crow's nest bellowed. "Got something off the starboard side."

Jherek stepped to the railing, the cutlass still tight in his fist. A sapphire whale, named for the blue flukes it bore, surfaced in the water only a few yards from Steadfast. Twenty feet long and easily eight feet in diameter at its thickest part, the sapphire whale could have been a formidable opponent for the caravel. It glided easily just above the water, making no move toward the ship.

"Lady look over us," the sailor in the crow's nest called out, "there are more of 'em out there, Cap'n."

As though appearing from nowhere, the whales rose to the ocean's surface, quickly flanking Steadfast's port and starboard sides.

"They want us to stop," Jherek said.

"They've given us no choice," Tarnar growled. He turned and shouted orders to the first mate to drop their canvas. "The good thing is, if they wanted to, they could have already reduced Steadfast to so much kindling. I'm taking this as a good sign."