He sprinted up the stairs leading up the swan's neck to the bridge. "What is it?" he demanded.
"Well, it's something you don't see every day," Raven replied. Despite the flippant remark, her voice held a new, serious note. "Look there," she directed Teldin, pointing off into wildspace.
Teldin took up the brass tube that hung from his belt and peered through it at a distant, peculiar ship. The vessel was almost round, and two long streamers trailed behind as it approached the Trumpeter at a businesslike pace.
What now? Teldin thought with a touch of resignation. He passed the glass to Vallus Leafbower, who had come up behind him.
Vallus squinted at the approaching vessel, and his angular face tightened. "What do you make of that?" Teldin asked.
"It's an insectare ship," Vallus said in a worried tone. "A klicklikak."
Teldin grimaced, not liking the mental picture that the buglike name conjured. "What are insectare?"
"A mysterious race," the elven wizard said absently, still peering through the glass at the odd ship. "At first glance, they appear to be elves. Pointed ears, angular features, and so on. They usually wear heavy robes with cowls, though, to hide their true nature."
"Which is?" Teldin asked, eyeing the distant ship with a growing sense of foreboding.
"Imagine an intelligent insect, about the size and shape of an elf," Raven suggested. "If you get a good look at their eyes, you'll see that they're multifaceted. They have long antennae sprouting from behind their ears, and the way they move is a little different, too, since their bodies are covered with hard plating." She shrugged. "Apart from that, they're pretty much like elves. Oh, except that their skin is light green, about the same color as Trivit's, maybe a little brighter."
"With such minor differences," Teldin said, "no wonder they're mistaken for elves."
Raven acknowledged his sarcasm with a fleeting half-smile. "Not many get close enough to get a good look at one. I have."
Suddenly Teldin recalled the mysterious, elflike creature he had seen in the tavern back on Garden, and the terrified reaction of the drunken man who'd peered directly into the creature's face.
"I may have run into one myself," he said. He answered Vallus's questions with a quick version of the story of the tavern battle and the strange, elflike creature shrouded in brown robes. "At the time, I had a strong perception that it | was no elf," Teldin concluded.
"True seeing," Raven mused, sliding a sidelong glance at the cloaked human. "The medallion at work?"
Her seemingly innocent question startled Teldin. He hadn't mentioned the medallion or its powers to her; how had she learned of it? He noted the peculiar expression on her face-a smug, almost feline satisfaction-and a second shock overpowered the first. She knows, he thought dazedly. She knows that I suspect she's carrying an ultimate helm and wearing a face that is not her own. As he stared into Raven's gold and silver eyes, Teldin knew precisely how a mouse must feel when a cat toyed with it. He broke eye contact and drew in a long, calming breath.
"I wonder if there's any connection between the creature you encountered on Garden and our new visitors," Vallus said, oblivious to the exchange that had taken place.
"The cloak," Teldin said wearily. "That always seems to be the connection."
"Especially in this case," Vallus agreed. "The insectare are a secretive and devious race. It's safe to assume they crave the cloak's power."
Teldin sighed and reclaimed his looking tube from the elven wizard. The klicklikak was still a good distance away, but coming directly for them. "I suppose it's also safe to assume they'll fight?" he asked with resignation. Vallus nodded.
"I'll alert the crew," Raven volunteered. Reflexively Teldin caught Raven's arm as she brushed by.
"I want you to stay out of the fight, Raven," he said quietly. "Sound the alarm, then go directly to your quarters. Whatever happens, stay below."
"I can handle myself," she assured him. She patted the shoulder strap of her broadsword's scabbard and smiled, but to Teldin's hypersensitive eyes her smile seemed to hold secret, ironic amusement.
"Oblige me," Teldin insisted. "I don't want to have to order you below, but I will."
A baffled expression crossed the moon elf s face. Teldin wondered briefly if she might be picking up his own feelings. That certainly would account for her confusion, he thought wryly.
Despite the mysterious power Raven had just flaunted, despite whatever game she might be playing with him, Teldin was afraid for her. Just because she looked like a legendary elven warrior, it didn't necessarily follow that she knew how to use the sword she carried. On those occasions when Teldin had used the cloak's power to alter his own appearance, he'd kept his own voice and his own abilities.
"Now," he repeated quietly.
"If you say so, Captain," she replied, still looking puzzled.
As she spoke, Teldin's vision wavered. Raven's mismatched eyes became yellow, hooded orbs slashed by vertical pupils. In the instant before he blinked away the vision, he caught a flickering glimpse of a reptilian face. He released Raven's arm as quickly as he would have dropped a live coal.
As soon as Raven had left the bridge, Vallus turned to Teldin. "That was well done," the elf said somberly. "Until we know for sure who and what she is, it's wise to keep her out of battle."
The image of a metamorphosing dragon flashed into Teldin's mind, and he silently agreed with Vallus. Since he didn't care to reveal-or even examine!-his other motives for sending her away, Teldin acknowledged the elf s praise with a curt nod and returned to their immediate problem. "How many insectare can we expect, and how do they fight?"
"Ten to twenty. They use long swords and antennae."
"Antennae? But how-"
"Whips," Vallus broke in grimly. "Eight-foot whips that can break an opponent's neck in a single strike. Even if you can get close enough to lay a sword on one, its body armor is virtually impenetrable. Ten or twenty insectare could give us serious problems."
"If they manage to board," Teldin replied. "Let's make sure they don't."
He hooked the brass tube back onto his belt and strode out of the bridge. As he sped down the steps to the upper deck, it occurred to him that he had never before directed a battle. The prospect was not as daunting as he would have expected. Thanks to the cloak, he'd had plenty of battle experience.
Teldin quickly shrank his cloak down to its smallest size so it would not hamper him in battle or mark him as an immediate target. He loosened his sword in its scabbard, and as he circulated among the elven troops he was surprised at how little fear he felt at the impending battle. The swan ship had a crew of some thirty elves, each a crack sailor and fighter, and Teldin felt an unexpected twinge of excitement over the prospect of directing such a force.
Raven had spread the alarm, and the upper deck was humming with tension and activity as elves took their battle stations at the railing. Loaded crossbows lay in piles, as well as pikes to repel boarding attempts, and a small band of wizards gathered under Vallus's direction. The tufted tail at the stern had been folded down to reveal a deadly catapult. A team of four elves busily cranked the mechanism into place and loaded the weapon. Teldin could hear whining of gears from the cargo deck below as the ballista was readied for firing. He positioned himself on the upper deck at the head of the stairs. There he had full view of the approaching foe, and his shouted commands would carry to the two lower decks as well as up to the bridge.