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.Angul is a relic of vanished Sildeyuir.He has the power to oppose the Abolethic Sovereignty.”The woman brushed her hair back with a delicate, bark-skinned hand.She said, “I am unfamiliar with this Sovereignty.”“It is a group of creatures who are like the plaguechanged you described—fiends from the deep earth that must be opposed.”“And it is given to you to oppose them.”“The task has fallen to me, yes.”The woman clapped her hands, making a sound like two planks slamming together.“A hero! The pilgrims’ tales sometimes described such.You’re my first.”The avatar smiled.Silence stretched.“Will you help me?” Raidon was suddenly weary.“Usually pilgrims must give me a story in return for my aid.But for you, a hero brave and true, I require only that you allow me to accompany you.When you meet the Chalk Destrier, my old foe, perhaps I can distract him long enough for you to look for your lost sword, if it’s there.”Raidon bowed his head slightly.“Thank you, Grandmother Ash.”“This way, hero.” The avatar touched his elbow and turned him to face a new direction.South.Southeast, perhaps.The strength in her root fingers was incredible, and the gnarled wood abraded his skin.Releasing him, she pointed.“We must pass into a maelstrom of greater activity to reach the heart.”So saying, all the individual tendrils composing her form were sucked into the ground, like a plant growing in reverse, until she was gone.Confused, he looked back to the great tree.Hadn’t the woman just indicated she’d accompany him? The vast shape provided no answers.Raidon glanced in the direction the avatar pointed.A stormy cloudscape hovered on the horizon, somehow half familiar.Blue lightning played within it.A hundred paces from where he stood, a stem burst from the earth, followed instantly by dozens more.They twined and condensed.An eye-blink later, Raidon recognized the avatar.She called, “Come along, hero.This way!”CHAPTER SEVENTEENThe Year of the Secret (1396 DR) Taunissik, Sea of Fallen StarsAnusha screamed the worst profanity she could ever recall hearing, something her half brother once said to a servant.The darkened cabin aboard the Green Siren absorbed her outburst, and quiet returned.Japheth had moved too far for her dream to follow.Just when he needed her most! With Nogah killed, how would he ever find what he looked for? How would he ever find his way back out again? He could retreat to his castle—but there he risked dying at the hand of a Feywild witch with murder in her heart.If he didn’t kill himself first with his tin of traveler’s dust.Think, she commanded herself.Panic won’t help, girl.Easy enough said, hard to follow through.But she attempted to calm her breathing.She concentrated on the sound of her too fast heart.She willed it quieter, until she could no longer hear it beating in her ears.Her body was too far from the island’s center.How could she get it closer without risking detection? Did it matter anymore? With Nogah dead, perhaps the great kraken already knew the ship lay at anchor off the seamount’s coast.Slimy kuo-toa swimmers and the ink-trailing aerial sentinels could be turning their attention this way even as she imagined the possibility.She pushed those thoughts away.They made her heart race.She wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again.That thought alone signaled it was already too late, she knew.When one is most desperate to fall into slumber, sleep is furthest away.Awake or tired, she knew she was in for a long period before she could relax enough even for a nap.Worse, it seemed the more she used Japheth’s potion, the less she was able to fall asleep naturally.Concern puckered her brows at the thought.She was becoming just as addicted to that silver vial as Japheth was to his damned dust tin.“No,” she mumbled.Maybe, she thought.It didn’t matter.She could leave Japheth to his fate or try to help him.Simple as that.She pulled the stopper from the silver vial and drank.Even as she lay back and closed her eyes, her dream pair opened.Anusha stepped from her slumping physical body clad in the plate armor of dream.She stowed the silver vial carefully back within a pocket in her sleeping body’s skirt
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