Titans of Chaos

A river of eerie green-gold sparks poured out from one of the taller towers in the landscape andreached across three miles of green forest, brown ash-land, and green forest again, to wrap adistant tower in an aura of supernatural fire. Arms of gold and emerald fire streamed from thattower in answer, and rushed like a wall of burning flame across miles of landscape to a thirdtower. The third tower ignited and threw a river of gold-green power to a fourth; a fourth to afifth, this one made all from a single huge slab of quartz; and this fifth back to the fourth again.

A pentacle. With walls of gold-green flaming energy reaching across four miles of space, thetowers drew a star-shape around us. No doubt hidden nymphs, not merely four or five, butcountless scores and hundreds, were practicing their craft and beginning their demonstrations.

And the siege guns opened fire.

I saw the muzzle flashes of the gigantic siege cannons and sixteen-inch guns firing before weheard any noise. I should not call them muzzle flashes. Energy discharges. These were notgunpowder cannons; they were rail guns. Heavy artillery based roughly on the same weapondesign that the Amazons used as rifles. There was not going to be any noise, except the rush ofone-ton shells breaking the sound barrier.

In that moment of eerie silence, as the shells were falling, but before they hit, Quentin shouted,

"Aboard! Now!"

The first note of siren-music had robbed me of my extra dimensions, powers, and senses. Colinwas going crosseyed with shock and pain as the miles-wide pentagram was being drawn aroundus, but, before the fifth tower finished drawing arms of fire from across the forest to its sistertowers, Colin had caught me up in his arms, and heaved Victor's immobile body upright, and fell,dragging us, into the open trapdoor that Vanity was, even now, jumping down through.

Quentin's powers were not yet turned off, as the Amazons and their metal-eyed horses were stillfar away. A shadow came around him as his feet silently left the soil, and the cloak seemed toreach out with ever-widening wings, and that shadow reached out and touched all of us, lifted,pushed, and we were all standing on the deck of the Argent Nautilus. Except for Victor, who fellover.

Quentin said, "Vanity! If you would please-"