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."Lady," Torinbow said."There is one thing I feel I must bring to your attention."The hesitation in his voice conveyed grave discomfort."Speak your mind, Ashenford," she told him."We've long been friends, and in this time—if Borran Kiosk is truly risen—then we must definitely remain so.""We speak of the army the mohrg must raise," Torinbow said, keeping his voice low so it didn't carry to the other druids and rangers gathered around them, "and we know that Borran Kiosk has the power to do so.""If the townspeople of Alaghôn feel that Borran Kiosk is among them again, they will surely keep watch over the cemeteries.The mohrg will not find a following so easily.""Not from the cemeteries of civilization," Torinbow agreed, "but there may be another source.""The only way Borran Kiosk can raise an army is by killing living beings and animating their corpses.""What if the corpses are already animate?" Torinbow asked."What if they're already undead?""Borran Kiosk won't find an undead army already in Alaghôn, or even all of Turmish and beyond," Shinthala said."I'm not talking about Alaghôn or even Turmish," Torinbow said."The Whamite Isles."The cruel horror of that possibility had not presented itself to Shinthala until that moment."Since the Taker's War," Torinbow continued, "the Whamite Isles have been ringed by hundreds, possibly thousands, of drowned ones.""Borran Kiosk would have no reason to go there," she said, though she knew the hope was a desperate one at best."If the mohrg wants to raise an army," Torinbow said, "he will go there.We have reports, though none of them confirmed, that Iakhovas was behind the massacre on the Whamite Isles, but what if Malar had a hand in it as well?"Shinthala shook her head."You're starting at shadows, Ashenford, and I mean no disrespect in the saying of that.""None taken, Lady, I assure you.Were you not here to question me, I'd have to take that on myself." Torinbow hesitated, closed his mouth, then opened it again and said,T believe we would be remiss if we did not investigate the possibility.The Whamite Isles are close enough to Turmish that Borran Kiosk could try for them."Shinthala sighed.Seeing the wisdom in the half-elf s words, she said, "111 travel to Sapra and arrange for—"Torinbow cleared his throat."Lady, if you'll forgive my meddling, I've already seen to it.""You're not meddling.I appreciate your efforts, and you were well within your rights as an Elder to assign such a task.""Thank you, Lady."Shinthala's mind flew quickly."If Borran Kiosk should decide to undertake a voyage to the Whamite Isles, hell need a ship, and hell have to come from Turmish or hell spend tendays, even months at sea.""Borran Kiosk, from what I remember of the stories, was not known for patience." Torinbow said."The mohrg won't wait to strike.""Someone freed Borran Kiosk from his crypt," Shinthala said."This has been planned.Ill gather another flock of doves to carry the message and instruct druids everywhere to go to Alaghôn.Perhaps it's not too late to stop the monster there."She prayed to Silvanus that it was so, but even as much as she believed in her god, she had her doubts.CHAPTER SEVENTEENhipping his scimitar in front of him, Haarn barely managed to block the skeleton's claws from his throat.The clang of metal against bone echoed over the marshlands as Broadfoot roared a challenge.The druid moved slowly.With moccasins caked in mud, his feet felt heavy, awkward, and his reflexes were slowed as a result.The skeleton gave him no time to use spells, and Haarn was forced to simply defend himself.Turning, setting himself in the mud, the druid blocked the skeleton's attacks.As he parried just to keep himself alive, Haarn caught glimpses of Broadfoot closing in.Above, on the ridgeline, Druz began her descent, sliding down the steep, mud-encrusted mountainside.Haarn knew with grim certainty that the fighting would be over long before Druz could reach him.Only Broadfoot stood a chance of reaching him in time to help.He parried the skeleton's strikes again and again, giving up step after step of the muddy ground, leaving a ragged battlefield in his wake.Despite the ravaged ground and the thick mud, the skeleton had no problem pursuing Haarn.It lunged after him, taking long, slapping strides through the mud.Without a true mouth and only a leathery husk for a tongue, the undead thing's voice came out as a barely audible, growling hiss.There was no finesse to the skeleton's attack.It swung its arms like bludgeons, depending on its sharp talons to flay him.The skeleton was far stronger than Haarn had at first realized.The creature was an inhuman dreadnought that kept on coming.As it struck, the ruby jewel inside its chest rattled against its rib cage.Sunlight splintered from it in a cascade of crimson colors so bright they almost hurt the druid's eyes.Haarn dodged behind a tree, and the skeleton lashed out again.Narrowly avoiding the blow, Haarn narrowed his eyes as the heavy claws ripped through bark.A cloud of splinters flew into the air, and the sound of the impact was like nothing Haarn had ever heard before.A shiny patch of white marred the tree where a patch of bark nearly the size of Haarn's head had been.Haarn brought the scimitar up in both hands, driving it toward the skeleton's skull.The undead thing managed to get a hand up first, though, and the clang of bone against metal rang across the marshlands.Mud sucked at Haarn's feet as he shifted.He struck again, but the skeleton managed to block him once more, though this time a finger bone flew from one of its hands.They were moving so fast that the druid couldn't tell which finger had been lost.Abandoning all hesitation, the skeleton threw itself at Haarn.Knowing his undead opponent's weight would drive him into the mud and trap him, Haarn jumped to one side, trying for as much distance as he could.He knew Broadfoot was almost on them now, and he trusted the great bear to help guard his back.Before the skeleton could reach Haarn, who struggled to extricate himself from the mud, Broadfoot's shoulder hit the skeleton so hard that bone shattered and broke.Knocked off its feet by the terrific force, the skeleton flew through the air, scattering pieces of itself as it flipped and cartwheeled.Haarn shoved himself to his feet and spat mud.Slimymuck caked his face and blurred the edges of his vision.He started forward as the skeleton struggled to draw itself to its feet once again.It stood on unstable legs in the splintered shadows that tracked the ground beneath the trees shivering gently in the breeze.The skeleton's jaw moved, and it leaned down to seize a broken tree limb that floated on the water.As the skeleton turned, drawing back the limb in a threatening manner, the jewel inside its rib cage twisted and gleamed like a coal that had just been hit by a blast from a smith's bellows.As if surprised, the skeleton glanced down at its broken rib cage
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