Allan Cole - The Gods Awaken

There were pings! as cables broke, lashing out with deadly force in every direction.

No one was hurt, but two of the cables snaked up to pierce a balloon and air squealed out as the airbags quickly deflated.

"Get her down!" Biner roared to his crew. "Get her down before she crashes!"

When the first spear of lightning struck, Tabusir saw its reflection flash from Clayre's litter and raced to intercept her.

The queen gave him a terrible look as he ran up, so he aped surprise and made a hasty bow as if he'd accidentally stumbled into her presence. Using his sleeve, he quickly smeared lampblack over the bare spot to dull the glitter.

Fortunately, the queen was busy with some task. He caught a brief glimpse of her head bending low over a golden table, then the litter moved past.

When she was gone, he looked up into the darkening heavens and saw the airship swinging swiftly around. The cause of its movements was so obvious that even an apprentice spy would have known that Rhodesa€™ troops had been spotted and the king's surprise attack was now no longer much of a surprise.

Rhodes was about a hundred yards away and Tabusir sprinted forward to warn him. But he'd taken no more then six steps when he heard Clayre shout something in a mysterious language.

The shout was followed by a sudden blast of wind blowing from nowhere. It was so strong that it knocked Tabusir to his knees.

But his heart was full of glee as he looked up and saw the airship spinning out of control. Then it steadied and began a hasty descent to the ground.

The air became still and the silence was as thick as the gathering clouds. Then a whole dragon's nest of lightning snaked from sky to ground in a series of crack, crack, cracks! Soon came the shock wave of rolling thunder, so powerful that it felt like a physical blow.

Another long silence set in, only to be broken by Rhodesa€™ roared orders as he drove his men forward. He was so busy that Tabusir had to wait a full hour before he could approach with the news that they'd been discovered.

By then all the men and siege engines were in place and Rhodes only shrugged after he'd heard Tabusir out.

"It doesn't matter now," he said. "All we have to do is wait out my mother's storm, then attack."

And with those words a heavy rain began to fall. Then a steady, driving wind whipped into the valley and Rhodes and his soldiers huddled on the ground, drawing oil-skins over their heads.

Tabusir crouched beside the king, the wind-driven rain hammering against his waterproof hood.

The mud and the storm should have made him miserable. Instead, his excitement grew hour by hour, as he eagerly awaited Clayre's promise of a peaceful dawn.

Safar and Iraj were also not that surprised when Biner stomped in out of the storm with his news.

"Arlain spotted a column of troops comina€™ over the rise, lad," Biner said. "She thinks it's that devil King Rhodes. But I don't know. Seems unlikely to me, since we haven't heard one peep out of him for weeks."

Then he stomped his boots and shook himself like a great shaggy dog, spattering water all over the castle's royal chamber.

Iraj started to take offense at his behavior, but Safar hissed a warning that this was a friend of his and Iraj quickly turned an imperious frown of disapproval into a warm smile.

With Safar coaching him, Iraj replied, "We've never doubted Arlain's eyes before, Biner. We'd be fools to start now."

Biner nodded. "Aye, you're right about that, lad," he said. "Nothing we can do to about it now, though.

The storm's so fierce not even a giant could stand upright under those winds. We covered the airship as best as we could and we'll just have to hope that the wind lets up enough for us to get outside and keep the fires goina€™ in the engines."

Iraj poured a goblet of brandy for the ringmaster, saying, "This storm isn't natural, my friend. There's enough magic stink in it to rival a Walarian offal ditch. I think the tempest is the work of Queen Clayre.

That's why it's so powerful. And when morning comes we'll find ourselves surrounded by Rhodesa€™

entire army."

Biner snorted angrily. "What's wrong with that rube?" he growled. "He's got more flea-bitten ideas than a circus geek! Why can't he be satisfied with his own kingdom and leave us alone? Why did he have to follow the likes of us to the end of the freakina€™ world?"

Safar mental-whispered advice to Iraj, who replied, "Maybe we'd better send for the others, so I can explain what we're up against to everyone at the same time."

Biner grunted agreement and went to the door where Renor was standing guard to tell him to pass the word that everyone was wanted in Safar's chambers.

Soon they were all gathered before Safar, the wind whistling wildly outside and the rain hammering a heavy drumbeat on the castle's thick walls. All the shutters had been barred against the fierce tropical storm, making the room uncomfortably warm.

Iraj/Safar gave each guest a warm welcome. There was Queen Yorlain, seated upon a small ornate throne fetched in by her slaves. Also Coralean, immense beside the tiny Eeda. Leiria entered, looking drawn and troubled as if she'd had difficulty sleeping. Jooli was at her side, full of concern for her friend and casting odd looks at Safar, then at Leiria and back again.

Sergeant Hamyr, along with Renor and Sinch, attended as representatives of the Kyranian soldiers. Then there were Biner and Arlain, who came to speak for the circus folk.

Finally there was Palimak, who was pale from worry. The closeness of the atmosphere made the young man feel as if everything might not be quite real-like a dream threatening to spill over into actual life. As he watched his father greet each person, he burned with the desire to shout out his great secret: Thisman was is impostor!

In reality it was Iraj Protarus in Safar's body and he was falsely commanding their respect and rapt attention. But this wasn't totally true and besides, Palimak had promised himself that he wouldn't interfere unless it became absolutely necessary.

With much difficulty, he choked back the words that crowded into his thoughts demanding to be spoken.

Safar, speaking through Iraj, quickly summed up what Arlain and Biner had discovered. Then he said,

"It's my strong guess that the storm will end at dawn. And Rhodes will immediately throw everything he has against us."

Queen Yorlain sat bolt upright in her throne. "What a fool this king is!" she said. "Doesn't he know the Castle of the Two Kings is impregnable? We can withstand months, nay, even years of any siege he can mount!"

"It's not quite that simple, Your Highness," Iraj/Safar replied. "To begin with, I doubt you've stocked the castle with all the weapons and supplies necessary to withstand even a short siege."

Yorlain started to protest, then hesitated. Finally, she said, "Unfortunately, your words have struck to the heart of our dilemma, my king. We barely had time to prepare for your coming, much less gird ourselves for war."

Biner thumped his chair arm with a mighty fist. "Never fear, me lad," he said. "We'll get the airship up at the crack of dawn and bombard Rhodesa€™ filthy hide to the hells!"

"As always, your instincts are right on target, my good and trusted friend," Iraj/Safar said. "However, I suspect Rhodes has something planned for the airship. That's what this storm is probably all about.

Clayre most likely created it to ground the airship. And it would be most unwise for us to underestimate our enemy and to doubt that he has a follow-up plan to deal with the airship when the storm passes."

"I see what you mean, lad," Biner said. "But I still think we ought to get into the sky as quickly as we can."