Sarac?"
"The clearing of the sky over northern Targa has already done that," Jenneva responded. "It is time to find out where we are heading next."
Arik nodded and withdrew the Sword of Heavens from its sheath. He also took from his pouch the glass bead that had fallen out of the Sword of Heavens after the Unicorns' Opal had been put in place. The Rangers stood in a circle around the campfire and Arik threw the glass bead into the fire. The fire hissed and the smoke formed into a dense cloud over the fire.
The Rangers were ready for another vision depicting the location of the Diamond of Edona, but what appeared was only the image of a breastplate. The breastplate rotated, and the Rangers stood in awe as they gazed upon it. The face of the breastplate was emblazoned with an image that was identical to the mark on Arik's chest. A reptile, which resembled a snake with legs, sported a large pair of wings and had a forked tongue protruding from its mouth. The reptile was a bright green and the wings were black. The eyes and protruding tongue were a vivid red.
"What does it mean?" asked Tedi as the image blinked out of existence and the smoke cloud dissipated. "It does not tell us anything about the location of the diamond."
"It is unlike the other visions we received," agreed Tanya. "What does the Sword of Heavens say?"
"The bead has been restored," replied Arik as he gripped the Sword of Heavens. "It points a little west of south," he continued as he rotated while holding the Sword of Heavens. "It feels far away like it did the other times."
"We will take a ship to Tagaret," decided Alex. "There are a few things there that we must attend to anyway. We will leave in the morning."
***
Duke Everich closed the door to the interrogation room and walked slowly to the Council Chamber. He planned his next moves as he strode confidently through the door to the Council Chamber.
"Councilors," greeted Duke Everich. "I am sure that you have heard of the unfortunate demise of Duke D'Ales by now. This meeting was called to fill the vacancy created by his untimely death."
Duke Everich appeared to scan the faces of the other councilors as he spoke, but he actually was concentrating on the face of Duke Engar. A series of hands rose for recognition and Duke Everich smiled as he anticipated the rush to place names into nomination for the empty slot.
"Duke Engar," Duke Everich smiled grimly, "you seek recognition?"
"I do," answered the councilor as he rose. "I would like to place in nomination the name of Lady Forloe. Most of us are familiar with Niki, and I think she could offer much to this Council."
Duke Everich frowned at the choice for nominee posed by Duke Engar. He had been prepared to offer up Niki's name himself, but her nomination coming from the employer of the assassin greatly disturbed him. What was worse was that Duke Everich noticed several other councilor's hands were lowered by the nomination, indicating that they too had planned to nominate Niki. While he understood Dalgar's plan was to make Fredrik and Niki popular, he was shocked at the large response directed in her favor. Clearly there was some part of the plan that Dalgar had not shared with him. Duke Everich drummed his fingers on the table and stared at Duke Engar. Finally, he stood to regain the floor of the meeting.
"While I stated that the purpose of this meeting was to fill the vacancy," Duke Everich began, "I became privy to information that is much more important on my way here. I am afraid that nominations will have to wait for another meeting."
Murmurs ran around the table. Duke Everich noticed three councilors who had lowered their hands after the nomination whispering to each other. He made a note to check out their alliances later. The other murmurs appeared to be in regards to the break in usual protocol.
"What some of you may not know," Duke Everich continued, "is that Duke D'Ales died a violent death last night. He was assassinated. While we
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