Titans of Chaos

I gave him a startled look. "What's that?"

"It is all one ship. All of their ships are part of the same ship, folded into different parts of thedream. This is their empire. The ship is larger than the worlds through which she sails."

"How do you know?"

He shrugged. "It is in my heart. I just know. I'm inspired."

Quentin made a choking noise. For a moment, I thought he was laughing at what Colin had said.

But no. Quentin's face was pale; his eyes had no life in them.

Quentin was wounded. His body showed no scar, no scratch, but I saw the web of moralobligations radiating from him turning black and curling up. His soul had been wounded by thecat-thing.

I said, "Victor! Do your golden-ray thing to Quentin! Or do something! He's hurt!"

Quentin swayed on his feet and knelt, and put his head to the floor. Then he fell over sideways.

Quentin mumbled something, but his voice, once again, came strangely clear and pristine to theear: "My part is played. I turn command over to my second."

Vanity shrieked, "Oh no!"

A voice came from Quentin's walking stick. "Milady, my master bade me speak this word oncedeath has silenced him..."

Vanity snapped, "He's not dead yet! Shut up!"

"... He says that, if he perishes still trapped within this false world of matter, the Lord of the Deadwill claim his soul and prevent his resurrection; nonetheless, he bids you keep his memory in you,and he promises your memory in him will soften the torments of hell to which he will be taken."

"Shut up!" screamed Vanity. "He's not dead!" She whirled to face Victor. "You fixed me. Fixhim!"

Victor said, "He is suffering a software degradation. The electromagnetic envelope where hestores his memory is disintegrating."

I said, "Victor, what can you do?"

Victor turned to me. "For now, nothing. The mission takes priority. Vanity, see if you can get thisplatform we are riding to dodge; try to lose our pursuer. Amelia, keep an eye on Trismegistus;inform me of his movements. Colin, prevent Trismegistus from approaching through the fourthdimension. You can stop him from using Amelia's paradigm; if he has to come through physicalspace, Vanity can keep slamming doors in his face. I will sweep for bugs."

I said, "Leader, we can't win without Quentin. Not against the god of magic. We need amagician."