Rumbling faster now, too fast for the companions to keep up, the monster charged straight toward the clear wall-almost as if the thing didn't know the barrier existed. Closer it lumbered, and then it lowered its shell as it had done at the city gates.
The ground shook from the force of the impact, and a sound like thunder crashed through the air. The beast bounced back from the wall and pounded to the earth, but again, with deceptive quickness, it bounced back to its three feet.
"The wall! It didn't break!" shouted the princess, fiercely delighted.
"Look," said Keane grimly, pointing to the glasslike barrier.
Alicia's heart sank as she saw a thin spiderweb of cracks spread along the crystalline wall. The monster backed up several steps and charged forward again, crashing into the wall and stopping in its tracks. This time the sound of splintering rang through Chrysalis.
The wall still held, but obviously not for long. Pieces of the crystalline substance fell away in a glittering shower, and several gaping holes yawned in the barrier. Cracks spread farther to the left and right, casting dazzling prisms on the ground when the sun washed over them.
When the Elf-Eater bashed the wall a third time, the barrier came apart in a shower of sharp crystals. Passing through the gap, the monster entered the huge, triangular courtyard of the Argen-Tellirynd.
Deirdre returned to her mirror, fiercely determined to prove her strength in such a way that none could ever again deny it. Quickly the image found Synnoria and the city of the Llewyrr. The path of the Elf-Eater gaped like a bleeding wound across the scene, and Deirdre easily followed the trail to the edge of the crystal palace.
Her heart pounded as she saw, again, the broad triangle of the palace courtyard-and the similarly shaped structure within. Perfect!
For once, Deirdre's iron-hard confidence rested on her shoulders with less than total conviction. The task was an awesome one, the enemy a being of unthinkable power.
Yet, if she was right, that enemy had a fatal weakness, and the princess of Callidyrr was the only person who knew where that vulnerability lay.
Finally the image faded from the mirror, and she was ready to put her plans into action. Deirdre wrapped her cloak around her lithe body and closed her eyes, picturing clearly the scene that had last appeared before her eyes.
She spoke three words sharply, and then she was gone.
Sinioth ordered his two lieutenants, each a monarch in his own right, to attend him in the Great Grotto of the Coral Kingdom. This was a huge, domed cavern erected at the height of the coral ridge occupied by Krell-Bane's scrags. The giant squid coiled around a dais in the center of the grotto and waited for the others to speak.
Sythissal floated before his master, while Krell-Bane rested on the coral floor of the grotto. The latter's eyes still flashed hatred. He greatly resented the orders of Talos requiring him to accept a new master in his own realm, but he kept his wrath hidden, observing the conference with rapt attention.
"How do we catch these humans if they take to the sea?" he wondered aloud.
"There I have been making preparations," explained Sythissal, eagerly settling to the floor. His clawed hands flexed as he gestured. "My warriors have built two great ships-ships that will carry us on the surface as fast as the humans can sail! No longer will our enemies outrun us with a favorable wind!"
"These are ships of the surface?" asked the scrag king in genuine surprise.
"They wait for us under the water, but only atop the sea will they gain their highest speed. They are secreted in the Moonshaes now, ready for our master's command!"
Krell-Bane grimaced at his ally's fawning, but he couldn't contain his curiosity. "What are these vessels? Where have they come from?"
"My warriors have created them from the shells of wrecked human ships-hulls and decks we have joined, capable of carrying many hundreds of us. As to what they are," replied Sythissal, his barbed teeth flashing in a self-satisfied grin, "I have decided to call them 'Mantas.' "
7
Brigit stumbled through the wreckage of the crystal wall, desperate to distract the Elf-Eater from its attack against the Palace of the Ages. Alicia watched, awestruck, admiring the elfwoman's courage even as she recognized her futility. Two other sisters, their armor battered and their faces dirty, accompanied their captain in this headlong advance.
The tall triangle of the palace proper soared skyward before them, blocked only by the pastoral hedges, the curved marble walls and sweeping reflective pools that had once created such harmony in the courtyard. Centered in the midst of this grace, the crystalline walls of the three-sided pyramid once reflected beauty and balance.
The elephantine monster shattered any such pristine memories, lumbering closer to the palace, paying no attention to the insignificant elven warriors to its rear. Instead, Ityak-Ortheel bore straight toward the looming structure, crushing to gravel a marble arch that stood in its path, smashing lush and ancient cedars underfoot so that the sweet scent of green needles permeated the air. Stomping through the wreckage, the monster continued without pause.
Alicia waited with her companions outside the breach in the wall. A sense of wonder bedazzled her, for the shining silver and diamond structure before her, towering to its lofty point in the sky, evoked a strong sense of awe. The Argen-Tellirynd was the grandest building she had ever seen, more elegant and beautiful even than Caer Callidyrr, yet now its grandeur could evoke only a profound sadness, for saving the palace didn't seem like an attainable goal.
Keane groaned wearily, slumping against a crumbling wall. Robyn, too, leaned weakly against the supporting surface.
With a grimace, she pushed herself upward.
"Attack-go!" the queen commanded, and the hulking earthen form of her stone-plated elemental lumbered after the Elf-Eater. The gangly, leaf-covered form of Alicia's change-staff followed in a gait that seemed as awkward as a man on stilts, yet carried the tree being forward with sweeping strides.
Finally Hanrald and Brandon stepped through the broken wall of crystal, followed by Alicia, Robyn, and Keane.
"A diversion!" Brigit cried, turning to cast about for some kind of idea. She looked at them in despair. "We've got to draw that thing away!"
"I don't think we can," the High Queen said quietly, in a voice that still carried clearly to Brigit's ears.
The elfwoman whirled back toward the monster, as if she would run forward and try to drag it back by herself. Then her shoulders slumped, and she staggered in complete dejection. "We can't," she agreed, choking with grief. "Three thousand years …"
She didn't finish, but there was nothing anyone could do to change the beast's inexorable advance toward the Palace of the Ages. The Ityak-Ortheel was clearly drawn to the triangular pyramid by some compulsion not understood by the human and elven onlookers.
The monster rumbled through the wide courtyard, trudging through several pristine fishponds. The crystal waters shimmered in a fine spray as they were splashed by the grotesque feet, and then flowed into the muddy depressions left by the Elf-Eater's passage.
Two blue-coated elven warriors, each carrying a silver-bladed halberd, rushed forward from a palace guardpost. They raised their weapons and shouted a fierce cry as they attacked, but before the blades dropped, the Ityak-Ortheel reached out with leathery tentacles and swiped the weapons away.
The hapless fighters struggled vainly in the grip of those same limbs, their screams silenced with shocking speed.
Again Alicia remembered how swiftly Pawldo had disappeared. Anger boiled within her, coupled with furious frustration. There seemed to be nothing they could do to slow the monster's onslaught.