Slowly, the rest of the ship began to appear inside Agis’s mind. An unimaginable weight settled upon his spirit, so terrible that his heart, stomach, and all his organs ached as though they would burst. He cried out in alarm, but his pain prevented anything more than a strangled gurgle from escaping his lips.
You are the water, instructed Damras. Your strength carries the Shadow Viper.
As the floater spoke, the foul odor of rot rose from the craft inside Agis’s mind, and his stomach churned in protest. The planks of the caravel’s hull turned filthy dun, and a dark stain of adulteration began to spread outward from beneath the ship’s keel, changing the color of the sea from sparkling blue to vile brown. The stench of decay grew stronger than ever, filling his nose with such fetor that he had to fight to keep from retching.
What’s happening? Agis asked.
The fever, Damras replied. It comes from the ship.
You mean from Tithian, said Agis. He’s poisoning us through the ship’s hull.
Then he’s very powerful. He’s fighting against the dome’s natural flow, replied Damras. I’ll help you resist as long as I can.
You should rest, replied Agis. You won’t be any good to the ship if you die.
You aren’t ready to do this alone, she retorted.
They fell silent, and Agis concentrated on the task at hand. Although he tried to keep the Shadow Viper floating high in the water, the horrid stench of Tithian’s attack and the dome’s steady drain on his strength were difficult to endure. Soon, he found himself feeling light headed and dizzy.
I think I’m about to fall unconscious, he reported.
That’s not surprising, Damras replied. Despite the respite Agis had given her, she still sounded sick and weak. It takes many days of practice before you can control the flow of your life energy into the dome. You rest and let me take over for a few minutes.
Agis felt the ship lift off his spirit as she took its weight. The dark stain of Tithian’s adulteration began to fade from the sea in his mind, and though he still felt tired, he began to feel less sick to his stomach.
The Shadow Viper sliced through the dust as usual, until Damras suddenly cried out in fear. A horrid death rattle escaped from her throat, then she pitched forward, and her hands slipped off the black dome. Before Agis could catch her, the floater slumped to the deck, her lifeless eyes staring into the sky.
The Shadow Viper lurched and slowed, then began sinking like a boulder. Agis caught it, visualizing the caravel riding upon the waves inside his mind. The ship’s weight seemed even more crushing than before, and his stomach churned in protest as Tithian’s foul stain of decay spread over the blue sea. It was all Agis could do to keep his thoughts focused on the lapping waters of the ancient sea, instead of the agony in his chest or the terrible nausea in his stomach.
Kester’s domed muzzle appeared over the cockpit. “What’s happening down there?” the tarek demanded.
Agis did not have to answer, for Damras’s lifeless body made the trouble clear.
“From the way the ship lurched, I’d say we’re about to sink,” said Nymos, also appearing at the edge of the pit. “Perhaps we should consider landing on the island.”
“If we were goin’ to sink, we’d be choking on silt by now,” growled the tarek. “Agis’ll keep us afloat.”
The noble shook his head. “I’m a mindbender, not a shipfloater,” he said. “I’ll be lucky to last long enough to reach the nearest shore.”
Kester gnashed her fangs for a moment, then crumpled her heavy brow into a wrathful scowl. “All right, we’ll chance the back side of the island,” she snarled. “And when we get ashore, I’m going to snap Tithian’s neck with me own hands.”
As the tarek had her helmsman swing the ship around, the image of a kes’trekel appeared deep within the dome. The raptor’s ragged wings flapped in great sweeps, lifting it out of the black depths and up toward the noble. At the elbows of its wings it had tiny, three-fingered hands, one clutching a many-stranded scourge and the other a curved scythe. On the bird’s shoulders sat a human skull, a tail of long auburn hair dangling from beneath a battered circlet of gold. The bird continued to rise until its fleshless head filled the entire dome.
Agis! came Tithian’s voice. You can’t float this ship for long, but I can. Let me take over.
I’d sooner trust a scorpion, Agis replied.
This isn’t about trust, replied the king. It’s about practicality. By working together, we’re both more likely to recover the Dark Lens.
So you can murder me and steal it for yourself? the noble asked. I’d be mad to give you that opportunity.
Consider the opportunity you’re giving up, Tithian pressed. Isn’t the possibility of killing Borys worth the risk that I might recover the lens?
Not if it’s a risk I don’t need to take, Agis replied. Now leave me alone-before I slip and let us sink.
The embers in Tithian’s eye sockets flashed in anger. You can’t do this alone, he said, diving back into the dome’s black depths. Before this is over, you will let me out.
Kester appeared at the edge of the cockpit. “Look lively down there!” she barked. “We’re taking silt over both sides!”
Agis put the king out of his thoughts and focused on the sea inside his mind. The water had grown slightly darker and more viscous. The difference was so imperceptible that the noble might not have noticed it on his own, but it was clearly affecting the ship.
Cursing Tithian for making his task more difficult, Agis visualized the sea as the floater had first shown it to him, sparkling and pure. He felt a brief surge in the stream of energy flowing from his nexus, then the water faded to a lighter shade of brown. The Shadow Viper in his mind rose a little higher, slipping through the waves as easily as it had when Damras had been there to help him.
“Better,” commented Kester, nodding her approval. “Are ye sure ye can’t do this for a dozen hours or so? We’d be wise to land almost any place but Mytilene.”
Agis shook his head. “By then, I’ll be as dead as Damras,” he replied in a strained voice. “We have to land soon, so I can stop Tithian’s interference and improve my control over the dome.”
“If ye say so,” sighed Kester. “But it’ll be another ten minutes before we round the point, and who knows how long after that before we find a place to land.”
“There must be someplace on this side of the island,” objected Agis.
“There’s one-where the giants wade ashore on the way up to their village,” allowed Kester. “I’m sure ye don’t want to land there.”
“No!” snapped Nymos. “Our chances are much better on the back side. With the dust curtain hiding us, it could be days before they realize we’ve landed.”
“I’m afraid not. Our masts will give us away,” said Kester, gesturing at the great shafts that towered so high above the decks. “I’m just hopin’ it will take ’em longer to catch us.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Nymos, turning his slender head from side to side in an attempt to gain some sense of Kester’s concern.
“The masts extend above the dust curtain,” Agis explained. “I don’t suppose you could hide them, could you Nymos?”