Mik and Trip stood frozen in disbelief as Karista pushed Shimmer’s bleeding body off the stairway.
“No!” Ula shrieked. She broke off fighting and leaped off the platform into the darkness after her wounded companion.
Karista picked up die ancient key.
“No!” Mog wailed.
Fire burned in Karista’s steely eyes. “You haven’t the strength necessary to open the Veil,” she said. “So Tempest has chosen a more suitable vessel.”
She clutched the key to her breast and began climbing the stairs once more.
“Lady Meinor! What are you doing?” Trip cried.
The aristocrat paused and turned toward her former companions. Her pretty face cold and distant. “What I must! She would have killed me if I hadn’t become her thrall. I didn’t want to die there, in the middle of the ocean, like Bok had. I had to do what Tempest wanted. She spared me, and put her leech on me, and made me one of her own. The world is so clear now.”
Karista held the key out before her, and in the temple far above, a bright blue-white light flared, and the island shook. “Protect me while I do our mistress’s will!” she called.
Immediately, the remaining enthralled fish swam across the plaza and formed a wall at the base of die stairs.
“It weakens, Mistress!” Karista called. “Can you feel it?!” Her steely eyes flashed with mad glee.
Lord Kell raised himself woozily from the coral flagstones. “By the Gods!” he cried. “She means to rend the Veil and let the dragon through! We’ve brought destruction upon all the Dragon Isles!”
Mik and Trip charged past the lord and began hacking at the phalanx of evil fish protecting the stairs.
Mik’s jaw tightened. “I’ve been a fool!” he hissed, cutting down a razorfish. “The treasure we sought-the great diamond-it wasn’t just part of the ceremony to create the Veil. It’s part of the fabric of the Veil. It’s a cornerstone of its defense!”
“The key is the key to the Veil?” Trip said.
“Yes,” Mik replied. “It opens the magic of the diamond.”
“What can we do?” Trip asked. He grabbed a Turbidus leech as big as his arm and smashed it into a redtip shark.
“We have to stop Karista before she reaches the diamond,” Mik said.
The water around them became a bloody cloud as Mik and Trip fought their way toward the stairway separating them from Tempest’s thrall.
The sea dragon’s mighty flukes propelled her toward the wavering barrier. Her evil hordes swam with her: sharks, razorfish, Turbidus leeches, and a half dozen dragonspawn-all ready to die at their mistress’ command.
Tempest threw herself against the Veil. It shuddered but did not break. Her mind remained clear, though; the barrier’s vexing enchantment had failed. Tempest roared with laughter.
Now it was only a matter of time. Her thrall’s power grew as she brought the key closer to the great enchanted diamond. As Karista’s power-and through her, the power of Tempest-escalated, the Veil weakened. After the sea dragon passed through, she would then snatch the key and use the great diamond to destroy the Veil once and for all.
Again and again, Tempest crashed against the barrier as Karista bent the Veil’s magic to her mistress’ will. Finally, a tiny rift formed in the shield’s magical surface. The sea dragon ripped it open.
With a hideous bellow of triumph, Tempest and her minions surged through the breach into the Dragon Isles.
“She’s coming!” the aristocrat cried. “She’s coming!” She held the key high overhead and rejoiced. Mog glanced from the glowing key toward the bright temple at the top of the stairs. The diamond within the temple flared as the key summoned its power. The sky opened up and lightning flashed.
Mik and Trip pushed forward through the cloud of blood, killing many of Karista’s fishy bodyguards as they came. Lord Kell charged the rear of the frenzied mass, but he was far behind the sailor and the kender.
“Fight it, Karista! Fight the dragon!” Mik shouted.
“Milady,” Kell called, “this is not you. You do not want to destroy the isles!” His voice sounded tinny and strained through the magic of his helmet.
“Of course it’s what I want, fool!” Karista shrieked. “It’s what Tempest wants, and I am her creature! The Veil will open to… to my ships, as well.” She turned and began to climb once more. The wave-tossed surface loomed just twenty steps over her head.
“The isles will be destroyed!” Mik called. “There will be no trade!”
“Fight back!” Trip yelled.
Mik and Trip broke through the line of enthralled fish and ran up the stairs toward Karista. The fish remaining in the plaza tried to follow them, but the stairs’ enchantment pushed them back down. A few left the plaza to try and circle down from above, though the ocean’s surface left them little room to do so.
“Karista!” Mik called.
She turned and looked back.
Mik pulled his dagger and threw it at her.
Mog stepped between them and batted the blade aside. It settled on the stairway near the dragonspawn’s feet.
Madness played across the aristocrat’s face. She turned toward her former companions and extended the key.
“Flee or I shall kill you!” she cried.
The gems on the key blazed to life, and lightning flashed from the artifact toward Mik and Trip. They dodged aside, and the bolt cracked a coral pillar in the plaza behind them. The kender hurtled off the stairway and into the swirling waters beyond.
Mik picked himself off the stairs and kept climbing.
Mog charged down the stairway at Mik. The sailor ducked under Mog’s spearthrust and grabbed the dragonspawn by the front of its stolen armor. The sailor fell backward, thrusting hard with his legs as he did.
Tempest’s lieutenant sailed over Mik’s head, down the stairs, and into the cracked pillar. The column broke into smaller pieces and toppled onto the startled dragonspawn, burying him beneath it.
Mik ran up the stairs and retrieved his dagger from where it had fallen. “Karista,” he called, surging forward, “I don’t want to hurt you, but you must stop.”
“I can’t!” she cried. The power of the key coursed around her, building for another strike. She pointed her hand toward Mik’s heart, her fingers glowing with deadly energy.