The Chaos Crystal (41 page)

'I suppose you think Lukys is in love with that damned rat, too?'

Jaxyn smiled faintly. 'Actually, I've always thought it was a little bit disturbing, how fond he was of that rat. I'm almost relieved to hear there's a good reason for his unnatural attachment to it.'

'Then you'll help me?' Declan asked, not sure he believed he'd ever utter such words to an immortal like Jaxyn Aranville.

'No,' Jaxyn said. 'I won't help
you.
There aren't words to describe how little I care about the fate of you or your many boring mortal friends on Amyrantha, Hawkes. I might be willing, however, to do whatever it takes to stop that maniac, Cayal, from screwing it up for the rest of us by destroying a perfectly good world just because
he's
sick of living on it.'

'What would be the point?' Diala asked, pacing behind the desk impatiently. She seemed much more interested in taking the fight back to Tryan and Elyssa to reclaim the throne of Glaeba. 'If Hawkes is right, Lukys has a half-dozen Tide Lords lined up to help him open the rift. How would the two of you stop them?'

'We could stop them finding the Chaos Crystal,' Declan suggested.

Jaxyn shook his head. 'You don't know where it is and you don't know where the others are, or where they've gone to look for it. You could waste a human lifetime just trying to track them down. You'd be better off heading for where you know they have to go eventually, after they've found it.'

'You mean the ice palace in Jelidia?' Lyna asked, sounding more than a little exasperated. She turned to Jaxyn, shaking her head. 'Surely you're not thinking of doing this? Even if this fool were right, it'd still be only the two of you against three times as many Tide Lords. You'd not come close to the power the others can muster, let alone if they're amplifying all the power they can channel with this Chaos Crystal he claims they'll be using.'

'We'd need help,' Declan said, wondering why his grand plan had sounded so much more reasonable in his head. 'Tryan and Brynden, specifically, and probably all the other immortals not aligned with Lukys if we're going to have a chance of stopping them.'

'What an excellent plan!' Diala said, clapping her hands like a gleeful child. 'Because we're so good at pitching in and working together for the good of all mankind. Maybe afterwards we could all get together and build a barn.'

Ignoring Diala's sarcastic aside, Jaxyn pushed off the desk, his expression determined. 'Well, let's get to it then.'

Declan studied him suspiciously. 'You're with me?'

Jaxyn shrugged. 'It may be the only way to retrieve something from this rather awkward situation.'

'Retrieve
something?' Diala asked. 'What are you talking about?'

Jaxyn turned to her impatiently. 'We've lost the upper hand here, Diala. Don't you see that? They're on their way, as we speak, to claim Glaeba. The only way to stop Syrolee now is to give her something else to worry about. The spymaster's join-us-to-help-save-the- world idea is a corker.'

Declan was amazed. Somehow, Jaxyn had found a way to make this all about his desire for conquest. 'So you want to enlist Tryan and Syrolee and the rest of them in your grand plan to save the world merely to

distract them, while you figure out how you're going to steal Glaeba back from them?'

Jaxyn smiled at him with approval. 'Got it in one, Hawkes. We'll make an immortal tyrant of you yet.' Before Declan could respond to that, Jaxyn turned to Lyna. 'You should be the one who goes to Senestra.'

'Why me?'

'Because you get along with Ambria and Medwen better than anybody else in this room. It'll be up to you to convince them to join us.'

Lyna didn't seem terribly enthused by the idea. 'If Cayal couldn't convince them to help, why do you think I'll have any more luck?'

'Because this time they'll have a
reason
to help. Nobody cares if Cayal wants to die. Everybody cares if we don't have a world left to live on.' He turned to Declan with a frown. 'I'm a little hurt, actually, that Lukys doesn't want me in his brave new world. I imagine, if I put it to her the right way, Syrolee isn't going to be happy about that either.'

'Do you think you can get them to join us?' Declan asked, wondering if this was what it felt like to sell one's soul. The idea of co-opting the likes of Jaxyn or the Empress of the Five Realms to his cause seemed so fundamentally wrong. But what other choice did he have? There was only one way to stop Cayal and Lukys. And only self-interest would motivate the other Tide Lords into doing something about it.
Jaxyn has just proved that in
spades.

But Declan was still full of doubt about whether he was doing the right thing.
Maybe I'm making things
immeasurably worse. Maybe the world I save won't be worth living in.

Is there really such a thing as 'better
off
dead'?

'Trust me. I can deal with Syrolee,' Jaxyn said. 'And if you're right about Elyssa throwing in her lot with Cayal — which is no great surprise, I have to say —

then I'm pretty sure Tryan will be with us all the way, too. He hates Cayal on principle. Having him court his sister will only serve to aggravate him further. That leaves you to deal with Brynden, spymaster.'

That suggestion took Declan completely by surprise. He'd assumed that because they all knew each other so well, it would be left to Diala to deal with the Lord of Reckoning.

'Why me? I don't know him
...'
And there aren't
words to describe what I'd like to do to him for selling Arkady into slavery.
He kept the last part to himself, certain that voicing his opinion aloud would do nothing to help.

'You're all shiny and new and uncorrupted, Hawkes,' Jaxyn said, slapping him on the shoulder. 'Brynden has rather firm opinions about the rest of us, and they're not likely to get us a hearing with him. You've a much better chance of convincing that inflexible pain-in-the-backside of the worthiness of your cause without any of us around, believe me.'

Even Diala nodded in agreement. 'He's right, you know. Although you may not find him willing to help, even if you manage to get in to see him. I doubt he's going to lose any sleep over the thought of Cayal dying.'

Lyna laughed sourly, apparently of the same opinion. 'Knowing Brynden, he'll probably think Lukys is cooking up an apocalypse to cleanse the Tide or rid Amyrantha of all the impure mortals, or something equally idiotic'

Jaxyn eyed him curiously. 'Are you prepared for that, spymaster? That you might present your noble cause to the Lord of Arrogant Self-righteousness, only to have him decide to throw in his lot with Lukys?'

'What's the alternative?' Declan asked. 'Just let Lukys open his rift and crack Amyrantha in half because it was too much trouble to do anything to prevent it?'

Diala's pacing brought her close to Declan and Jaxyn. She stopped for a moment, eyeing him up and down with an approving smile. 'You're so attractive when you're being absurdly noble, Declan. Why were you never like this when you were mortal? You were a rather ignoble and ruthless little prick back then, as I recall. Did the fires of immolation burn away your pitiless exterior to expose the noble champion of injustice underneath?'

Apparently it was a rhetorical question. She turned from him before he could respond, and strode across the rug to the sideboard where she poured herself a large glass of wine.

Jaxyn didn't seem interested in Diala's opinion. 'Ignore her. You're right, I'm aggrieved to admit. I'd be monumentally peeved if I ended up helping to destroy this delightful world because we did nothing to stop a suicidal fool and a lovesick maniac from annihilating it.'

'We'll have to move quickly,' Declan warned. 'Elyssa knows where the crystal is and the Tide is getting higher every day. We may not have long.'

'Actually, you may have more time than you think,' Lyna said. She was still saying 'you' not 'we', which Declan took to mean she still wasn't convinced she should join them.

'How do you figure that?' Jaxyn asked.

She put down her wineglass and turned to them with a thoughtful look on her face. 'Well, I was just thinking
...
if this Chaos Crystal channels the Tide, then it's going to play havoc with anybody using the Tide around it, isn't it? I mean
...
it's just an inanimate object. It can't
choose
what it wants to do. All it can do is channel the Tide and if what you say is true, then only Lukys really has any idea how to use it properly.'

'So?' Diala asked, turning to look at Lyna, drawn back into the discussion in spite of herself. 'What difference does that make?'

'Well, I don't know that it
will
make a difference,' Lyna said with a shrug. 'I'm really just speculating. But if it was me, and I was lugging around something so potentially powerful, I'd be very careful about using the Tide around it until I knew what was likely to happen.'

'Which means they may have to travel back to Jelidia by conventional means,' Declan said, understanding immediately what Lyna was getting at, 'rather than travel on the Tide.'

'Then perhaps your desperately noble plan has a chance of working after all, Hawkes,' Diala said, and then, without warning, she tossed her wineglass across the room, where it shattered against the fireplace. 'Damn you, Lukys. I'm supposed to be the Queen of Glaeba.'

'You have to have a world before you can have a throne,' Lyna pointed out. Declan got the feeling there was little love lost between the two women, and that Lyna was taking a certain perverse satisfaction in seeing Diala so peeved about losing her throne.

'I put a lot of work into getting that throne, Lyna. Tides, I slept with that fool boy for a year. I don't want to leave Glaeba now.'

'You're queen of nothing,' Jaxyn told her with a dismissive wave of his hand. 'Syrolee is on her way across the lake as we speak, looking to be rid of all of us. She's won the war and she's on her way with the blood heir to the throne of Glaeba trotting at her heels, at the end of a very short leash she happens to be holding. A crown is no good if you have nobody to rule, Diala.'

Diala glared at Jaxyn for a moment and then shrugged. 'AH right. Have it your way. But if we do manage to stop this disaster from happening, if we manage to prevent Lukys and Cayal from doing something stupid, when it's over, I want my own kingdom to rule.'

'Tell you what! You can have the Commonwealth of Elenovia,' Jaxyn said, although Declan had no idea where he thought he got the authority to make such a promise. 'When we've saved the world, and the mortals are throwing themselves at us in base gratitude, I'll make you Queen of Elenovia. You can have the whole damned country, Diala. Right down to the silly names they give their towns and that god- awful brandy they drink that tastes like horse piss. Fair enough?'

Diala thought on that for a moment and then nodded reluctantly. Then she glanced at Declan and Lyna. 'You're witnesses to that, right? Elenovia is mine.'

Declan nodded, but his insides were churning. This insane, desperate plan to save Amyrantha might prove worse than the alternative. He couldn't have cared less about Diala's plans for Elenovia.

All he could think was:
Tides, what have I done?

CHAPTER 39

'Arkady?'

It was hard for Cayal to decide who was more shocked when Arkady appeared on the steps of the ruined Temple of the Tide. The horrified look that flickered over her face in that first unguarded moment told Cayal more than he wanted to know. Arkady was shocked. She was also looking rather the worse for wear. Her face was scratched, her coat torn, her hair a mess
...
and she clearly wasn't pleased to see him.

'Hello, Cayal.'

He stared up at her for a moment, drinking in the bedraggled sight of her, and then he realised what he was doing and forced his expression into a more cynical mien. 'Well, well, well. Look what the cat left lying about.'

'You know this woman?' Elyssa asked, glaring at Arkady.

Cayal smiled, hoping he looked amused rather than dumbstruck. 'Oh yes, I know her. This, my dear, is — I suppose — the new Queen of Glaeba.'

'What are you talking about?'

'This is Stellan Desean's wife.'

Elyssa eyed Arkady for a moment and then a nasty smile spread across her face. 'His
wife?
The one Jaxyn was threatening to kill the other day if Desean didn't immediately surrender all of Caelum?'

'The very same. Lady Elyssa, meet the former Duchess of Lebec, Arkady Desean.'

'What are you doing here?' Elyssa demanded. 'Why aren't you dead?'

'I escaped the battle before the ice broke, my lady,' Arkady said. She seemed shocked, but had her wits about her enough to choose her words carefully. 'I made my way ashore and was looking for shelter when I found this place. What a stroke of luck that you found me.' She smiled. Cayal knew her well enough to know how insincere a smile it was. She was lying through her teeth.

'Luck?' Kentravyon said. He pushed past Elyssa and Cayal, stopped long enough on the steps to examine Arkady and then looked around with interest. 'No such thing as luck. Can you feel it?'

'Feel what?' Elyssa asked, her suspicious gaze still fixed on Arkady.

'The Chaos Crystal. It's here. Can't you feel it?'