“That depends on when Klia breaks the seal,” said Alec. “If Rhazat is with Klia when she does it, then the fourth cave will open on our side and we can attack her then.”

“That would be better than letting her reach her tower,” said Seregil. “I can only imagine what sort of wards she has on it. And of course there’s the matter of the dra’gorgos.”

“Once the seal is broken, her plane will be broken, too, won’t it, Thero?” asked Alec. “Then your magic should work against her, and the dra’gorgos.”

“Hopefully that will be the case. We don’t know what the effect of breaking the inner seal will be, though,” said Thero. “There could be another cataclysm—earthquakes, black waves from the sky, the deaths of thousands, including us, probably.”

“Or it will simply be like opening a door,” said Seregil. “Isn’t it worth finding out? Otherwise we leave things as they are, and let Rhazat devour the island a few people at a time with the help of her dra’gorgos until maybe she’s strong enough to break free anyway. Or we seal Klia in, and I for one am not willing to do that. Please, Thero, we’ve got to try!”

Thero closed his eyes, and Alec could see his hands trembling. Yet his voice was steady, his gaze determined as he opened his eyes and said, “I suppose we should get started.”

“First things first,” said Seregil. “We need to send all the soldiers and servants at the encampment, palace, and shrine away. They’re a potential food supply. Besides, there’s no point in endangering them needlessly when there’s nothing they can really do to help. Also, I can’t help wondering if there are more like Zella around us. You didn’t detect her, Thero. Who knows how many other spies there might be?”

“I didn’t detect her because I didn’t know to look,” the wizard replied. “Since then I’ve been more careful. So far I haven’t found any spies. I’ll keep looking, of course.”

“How can we order them to leave?” asked Alec. “We don’t have any authority over them.”

“No, but Klia does,” Seregil said with a wink.

It was a simple matter for Seregil to forge an order from Klia; he’d known her—and her handwriting—all her life. In it, he instructed the soldiers to move the camp to the base of Mount Erali and wait for her there. If he sent them back to Deep Harbor it wouldn’t be long before it became clear that Klia had never made it there, and that was the last thing they wanted. There hadn’t been any serious unrest since Klia had arrived, and Seregil meant to keep it that way.