I glanced at Delilah and Menolly. We really didn’t need yet another enemy at the gate. “Who? Worse than Telazhar?”
“Some might say so. Yerghan the Blade.”
Menolly’s eyes widened. “Yerghan? He still lives?”
“Yes. As you might know from your history, Yerghan was originally from Otherworld, but was then deported to the Subterranean Realms. He rode alongside Telazhar, and was the leader of the soldiers rather than the sorcerers. When Telazhar was captured, Yerghan managed to escape and was able to hide out for a long time before they captured him. Trytian says that Shadow Wing kept Yerghan and Telazhar apart because he feared they might topple him if they worked together.”
Yerghan the Blade was one of those villains whom children in Otherworld talked about in whispered tones, hoping to avoid summoning any residue of his spirit. He was as ruthless as they came, wiping out entire villages with his rampaging hordes. He worked on one front during the Scorching Wars, Telazhar on another. I strained to remember what I could from our history lessons, but information about Yerghan was scarcer than that surrounding Telazhar.
“All I know is he was the Attila the Hun of Otherworld. Worse. You mean he wasn’t killed? He was sent to the Sub-Realms? But he wasn’t…Fae.”
Menolly shook her head, the beads in her braids clicking against each other. “No, he wasn’t Fae, but he wasn’t human either. He belonged to some order, originally, like the Tygerian monks. I can’t recall right offhand what it was, but he learned how to fight like no jian-tu ever could. We learned about him when we trained at the YIA.”
Menolly had been one of the jian-tu before she was turned into a vampire. Elite athletes, the jian-tu were expert martial artists and acrobats, a lot like the Shaolin monks over Earthside.
“Unless Shadow Wing doesn’t know the last spirit seal has been found, why would he try again? The only reason he could possibly have for sending Yerghan over is to hunt for it.” Delilah frowned, shaking her head.
“Not necessarily. The question is: how much does Shadow Wing know about the Keraastar Diamond? If he knows about the prophecy, and puts enough pieces together, he might try to stop me before I can find it. Which would mean that if he does know we’ve found the last seal, he would know that my next step is to head for Otherworld to find the diamond and rebuild the Knights.” I fell silent. The last thing I needed was a race against time with Shadow Wing’s freaks coming after me.
I turned to Aeval. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s time you left for Otherworld. And I think…that Shadow Wing may have figured out what’s going on. So the sooner you leave the better.” She motioned for silence as she held up a scroll and unrolled it. “This is a missive from Derisa. She says, ‘It’s time, Camille. Gather your things and journey to Otherworld. Do not go to Elqaneve. Instead, travel to Thistlewyd Deep and head into the Tygerian Mountains from there. The Moon Mother will be with you.’ ”
And with that, the room fell silent.
Chapter 9
AEVAL LEANED BACK in her seat. “I have more news for you, and you aren’t going to like it but you will listen and do what I say.”
I blinked. “Nothing good ever begins with the words ‘You aren’t going to like it.’ What is it?” There was no use arguing. I knew that—no matter what I said—I’d end up following her instructions, so I might as well just have her come out with it.
“You’re taking Bran with you. He can lead you safely through Thistlewyd Deep. You will also meet Raven Mother there. Even though the Moon Mother doesn’t like her, Raven Mother is definitely on our side in this.” Aeval waited for my outburst, a faint smile on her lips.
I stared at her. They’d stuck me with Bran when I went in search of the Merlin, and that had been hard enough. But the look in Aeval’s eyes was firm and I knew that no matter what, this wasn’t up for debate.
“Fine. Any other curveballs you want to throw me?”
“Menolly cannot go, but I think that was already a given.”
I nodded. “Yeah, but Delilah’s coming with me. And Morio, and Smoky.” I glanced over at Vanzir. “What about him?”
Aeval broke in. “The father of my child will not go tromping off on this mission. But I recommend that you take Trillian instead of Morio—you should leave someone at your house along with your sister, and Trillian has been in the mountains before. Take Shade. Venus will be coming with you, of course. And there is one more who will go with you, although you may question why. He’ll need help keeping up, but you can manage.”