When he'd killed Moragon's men — the first two with crushing blows to their skulls, the third smashed in the guts, the last with a hammer strike to the back that broke the melding nearly in two — he'd taken the time to get a message to his captains. The draugar were to withdraw immediately, leaving the Tingarans to their own devices, and all of the Akari were to return to the north.

Now Dain Barden was angry, and wanted revenge.

"Hurry," he muttered to the rowers. "Hurry!"

The rower in front of him whimpered. There was a slight increase in speed.

Both the Sentinel and the Primate's cruiser were growing larger as Barden's skiff grew closer. In the distance, Barden could see ships of the imperial fleet, but they were far away on the Sentinel's other side, looking for enemies coming in from the ocean. Barden saw with satisfaction that the Primate had no soldiers with him; he was accompanied by the ship's crew, but no one else.

Barden knew, though, that he would need to be careful. The Dain remembered the time the Primate had taken a revenant's sword thrusts in the chest without a hint of pain or being weakened in any way. Additionally, the Primate had the knowledge that Barden himself lacked.

Barden thought about the Primate's words; words that had been verified by the Dain's own necromancers when they had examined the Primate's damaged book of the Evermen.

The most powerful magic the world had ever seen was somewhere inside the ancient statue. A pool of essence was there for the taking.

No matter what, Dain Barden wasn't going to let the Primate have it all to himself.

64

64

ELLA breathed a sigh of relief when she found him. She had Jehral to thank; in the maze of Seranthia's streets, she never would have located the prince on her own.

Prince Ilathor was the centre of a flurry of activity, with messengers and warriors rushing up to him and then leaving as he gave them orders.

"The Alturans have captured the Imperial Palace, Your Highness," a Hazaran rider called above the din, pulling up his horse beside the prince's, "and the Tingaran High Lord, Moragon, is dead, but there is no sign of the Primate."

"They are welcome to the palace," Prince Ilathor said, "it's the Primate I'm after. He cannot be allowed to flee. This will not be over until he has been destroyed, and his evil with him. If he isn't at the palace where will he be?"

"How about the harbour?" one of the tarn leaders said. "Between the two armies, we have the city surrounded on all landward sides. They say the imperial fleet is keeping the harbour in the hands of the enemy. It is the only route of escape left."

"My prince!"

Prince Ilathor turned when he heard the cry, and then drew back in shock when he saw Jehral. "Jehral, Lord of Fire, man, you need to see a healer."