120 Calay Harbor
After devouring Prester-Marshall Rudio, the sea serpents continued their attack on Calay harbor. Vorannen tried to rally his city guard troops, but the soldiers now wrestled with a new kind of terror. “Even Aiden has forsaken us. We must go to the kirk, to beg for salvation!”
Queen Anjine had seen how easily—how frivolously—the monsters had dismissed the prester-marshall's faith. Her wave of anger built to a crest. “This is my city, and these are my people!” Anjine was the queen of all Tierra, but she felt entirely powerless now. She didn't know how to begin a fight against these serpents. She clenched and unclenched her fists… and in the back of her mind, she wished Mateo could be there.
Vorannen stood by her side, coiled with frustrated energy. “The soldiers are ready to fight, Majesty, but arrows, swords, and spears will do little against those beasts. Come with me, we need to get you to safety and hope that the serpents leave our harbor.”
She flashed him a quick, hard look of assurance. “I will not abandon my people.”
Archers launched another volley of arrows at the thrashing sea serpents, but most bounced off of the dark scales. “Majesty, I am your protector. After what those monsters did to the prester-marshall, I won't allow you to risk—”
“And I am your queen. I will do what I deem necessary.”
Though the sea serpents had glided away from the docks, the scraps of Rudio's bloody boots remained there as forlorn reminders. She shook her head. “If Aiden did not listen to the prayers of a prester-marshall, what can I do? What other weapon do we have?” Suddenly, Anjine drew a quick breath. The kirk! “Wait—Prester-Marshall Rudio had the right idea, but the wrong method. Marshall Vorannen, come with me. There isn't much time!”
After only a flicker of hesitation, Vorannen nodded. “As you command, Majesty.” Following her orders, he seized one of the city guard's skittish horses by the reins for himself and another for Anjine, holding the mount still so the queen could climb into the saddle.
Together, they galloped along the cobblestoned streets toward the stone structure that dominated Calay. Not knowing where else to turn, people had flocked to the protection of the kirk, where they begged the gathered presters to pray for them. Two old women clung to the cast bronze fishhook that stood at the entrance, refusing to be pried loose even though other terrified people wanted to take their places.
Queen Anjine knew that the fishhook could not protect Calay, though. Aiden had given them another weapon to use against such monsters, if only Prester-Marshall Rudio had thought to use it.
Outside the main entrance of the kirk, she and Vorannen slid off their horses and tossed the reins to bystanders. “Hold our mounts ready!” The guard-marshall threw the wooden doors wide.
In the nave, townspeople pressed together, swaying and trying to hear the words of three presters who stood at the main altar, reading from the Book of Aiden with a loud desperation that made their voices crack. Many of the faithful had come here seeking shelter during and after the hurricane, and now many more gathered because of the monsters attacking the harbor.
“Make way for the queen!” Vorannen pushed through the press of the crowd, forcing a passage for Anjine. “Make way!” She followed close behind him down the wide aisle to the main altar. The presters looked at the queen with surprise and relief, as if she had come to save them.
She was not here for the presters, though. The moment she spotted the long, curved object sitting in its cradle, she knew she was right. In addition to being etched with hundreds of spiraling key verses, quotes from the Book of Aiden, the milky ivory drew its magic from another source—if the tales were true. She flashed a hard smile at Vorannen. “There comes a time when we must choose to believe the legends. The power of Raathgir's horn must be more than a story.”
The guard-marshall's expression brightened. “My wife has told me stories of Raathgir from her beloved Iboria. If there is strength left in this horn, my Queen, we will use it.”
Together they ran up to the altar, scattering the astounded presters. Mounting the dais, Anjine and her guard-marshall rushed to the weighty ice-dragon horn. When she touched the relic, Anjine thought she felt a spark pass through the palm of her hand and travel into her body to warm her heart. “As your queen, I take this relic to defend our land.” She and Vorannen lifted it, and everyone muttered with awe. “With Ondun's blessing, it will be restored to you.”
Vorannen bore most of the horn's weight at the larger base while Anjine held the narrow end steady. The crowd parted, clearing the aisle, as the two carried the long horn swiftly the length of the nave and out of the kirk to where their mounts waited. Vorannen slung the curved relic over his horse's withers and lashed it in place with a loose leather thong from the saddle, as the queen swung onto her horse without waiting for assistance. As people streamed out of the kirk behind them, the two horses raced downhill toward the harbor, hooves clattering over the wet cobblestone streets. Ahead, at the docks, they could still hear the roars of frustrated sea serpents.
When they could see the full harbor, Anjine pointed to one of the largest ships still tied up to the end of a long pier. With both of its masts shattered, the vessel would not sail anytime soon, but the deck looked firm. And because of the long pier, the ship was close enough to the prowling serpents.
“Out there to the bow of the ship. We will extend Raathgir's horn—and pray. If this relic doesn't have the power we need, then Calay is lost.”
The ice dragon's horn wasn't a weapon like a catapult or a battering ram, and Anjine had never seen it in use. She'd only heard stories… and there were many stories in the world. Destrar Broeck had believed in the horn's power.
Anjine had to hope that he was right, but she didn't know. If the magic was just a myth, the monsters would devour her as easily as they had killed Prester-Marshall Rudio.
Leaving the horses loose, the two ran the length of the pier, carrying the horn together, until they reached the merchant ship. There, Vorannen tried to take the heavy talisman from her. “You do not need to risk your own life, my Queen. I can do this myself.”
But she gripped the horn, refusing to let go. “This is my city. I must protect it.” She knew that King Korastine would have done exactly the same thing.
The black-and-gold serpents hooted to each other and swam closer. The ice dragon's horn begin to shimmer with cold internal fire as Anjine and the guard-marshall carried it to the bow of the damaged merchant ship. Reassured as to the relic's true power, Anjine extended the horn's tip as far as possible, resting it on the wooden prow.
“Monsters, by the power of Aiden contained in this horn, I command you to return to the sea!” The eerie blue glow from the sleek horn bathed Anjine's face, hair, and body.
The serpents recoiled from the bow of the ship, as if they had encountered a great wall of heat. A loud hissing sound curled from their blowholes, and Anjine drew upon her determination, her heart, her need to protect her people. Power surged through her hands into the horn, which flared with a blinding blue-white light.
The six sea creatures, at first curious and fascinated, now backed away in fear.
“The horn will drive them away… but the serpents don't know where to go.” Holding the slick horn, she turned to Vorannen. “We need to herd them back out to the sea, chase them from Calay harbor.”
“How do we do that, Majesty?”
“By taking a boat and driving them before us—force them to leave!”
“In a boat?” Vorannen looked around, saw small rowboats and fishing craft drawn up to shore or tied to damaged docks. They all looked incredibly fragile. “I can't let you be so vulnerable, Majesty. Let me get other guards. With enough men in patrol boats next to you, they can use spears and torches to fight off any attack.”
But she had already seen the power cast by Raathgir's horn, and she did not know how long it might last. “The ice dragon will protect me in a way that your guards cannot.” She took a deep breath. “I am the queen. I wear the crown—it must be me. My order stands.”
Vorannen remained stony, then gave a curt bow. “As you command, Majesty.” As the sea serpents retreated to the center of the harbor, circling uneasily after being thwarted by the magical horn, Anjine and the guard-marshall left the damaged cargo ship, Vorannen shouted to his guards. “Prepare a rowboat for the queen! We will drive the serpents from the harbor. Move, men!”
Three city guardsmen scrambled to right one of the overturned craft that had been tied up in front of a boathouse. With confident balance, Anjine climbed into the front and rested Raathgir's horn at the bow. As she stroked its scripture-etched surface, she summoned more phosphorescence and power, though she didn't know how. While the stoic guard-marshall took the oars and pulled them out to deeper water where the serpents waited, one of the anxious soldiers called from the shore, “May the Compass guide you, Majesty.”
She continued to stare forward, holding the horn. “Aiden—and Destrar Broeck—have given me the only weapon I need.”
As Vorannen rowed tirelessly, as fast as he could out into the storm-churned waters, Anjine sat rocking in the small boat. She remembered a day from her childhood when she and Mateo had stolen a rowboat to go all around Calay harbor on a romp. But this was no lighthearted adventure. Anjine leaned forward, grasping the horn with her sweat-slick palms. She was the queen of all Tierra, and she had an object of great power. She was not afraid.
As the fragile boat came closer, the black-and-gold serpents backed away, uneasy. Reptilian eyes glared at her like cracked gems washed up from the seabed. Their mouths opened, showing long fangs; one held a few tatters of cloth from the prester-marshall's robe. They retreated as Raathgir's horn continued to emit its silvery-blue shimmer.
Anjine dredged deep inside herself, calling up her beliefs and mental strength, as if by sheer force of will she could add fuel to the ice dragon's innate power. Vorannen kept rowing.
Pushed back, the angry serpents let out a chorus of roars, but the talisman and the queen continued to herd them toward the mouth of the harbor. “Begone! Back to the sea!”
Though the serpents tried to resist this unknown force, Anjine knew that they did not want to be enclosed within the harbor. They needed to be guided—or pushed—out.
As the strange procession reached the headlands, one of the serpents noticed the opening, sensed the currents to the Oceansea. It turned to face the empty water and hooted.
Anjine yelled, “Back to the sea, where you belong!”
The monster needed no other encouragement. With an undulating ripple its sawblade dorsal fins scythed the surface one last time before it sank out of view. Following it, the five other serpents turned, similarly anxious to be away from the repulsion of the ice-dragon horn. With a splash, they curled their sinuous bodies underwater and streaked toward the open sea.
Vorannen heaved a sigh of amazement. Anjine let the ice dragon's horn slide back into the boat, and she felt dizzy. As the serpents retreated, the pale blue glow faded from the talisman, and the miraculous power rushed out of her, leaving her empty. She collapsed in utter exhaustion.