Jacob's Ladder (String of Fate) by Bianca D'Arc

where he was. He was definitely disoriented. Like he had been earlier that morning, only worse.
    “A little over five minutes,” Tom reported, looking at his watch. “You back with us, Major?”
    Jake shook his head from side to side, as if to clear it. “Yeah, I’m with you. Damn. That was a long one. Sorry.”
    “Don’t apologize for your power,” Edvard intoned as Jake bent over and put his hands on his knees. Ria stood protectively at his side, watching him carefully to see if there was anything she could do to help him. Jake looked up at Edvard as his eyes continued to clear.
    “We have to get back to land,” Jake said. His tone was urgent. “By tomorrow at the very latest. By tomorrow night the water will not be safe. Not with what they’re calling up from the depths. Gather your people, Ed. No one will be safe in the water after tonight.”
    “Can we stop it?” Tom asked, his eyes narrowing in concern.
    “No. I’m sorry. This isn’t your battle, but there are those who will make the waters safe again. Not selkies. Something else. Something very magical and…you know them. They’re soldiers, but they’re not like you. Not exactly.” Jake shook his head again. “Sorry, it’s not clear. You might help them when they come, but this battle is theirs. And it won’t be for a while yet. Until then, keep your people safely ashore. You do not want any of them to run afoul of this thing, believe me.”
    “What is it?” Ria asked the question she was sure they all wanted to ask.
    “I don’t know what you call it, but it’s evil. Pure evil. A servant of the Destroyer from ancient times. Elspeth considered it a pet. I saw that much. It was defeated the last time only with the loss of many lives and sent to sleep for centuries. Elspeth’s servants in the Venifucus are waking it up even as we speak and this is one seriously bad thing we cannot stop. Anyone who tries will die needlessly. Ed,” Jake looked directly at the ship’s captain, “please confirm that with your sister. She’ll be calling shortly, I think. I wasn’t alone on the psychic plane. Many seers just saw what I did. Or at least, parts of it. Damn.” Jake put his head down again and breathed hard while Ria stroked his back, seeking to comfort him. “That was a doozy.”
     
    Aaron, the toad, had found where the Royal Guard had fallen back to lick their wounds, but they were gone again before Willard could mobilize his strike team to finish them off. Aaron was working on finding them again while Willard answered a call from the Council.
    A great magical Work was in progress and ready to be unleashed, but they needed Willard’s particular elemental talents to make it happen. They might ridicule him and his little obsession with the pantera Nyx, but they still needed him.
    There was a reason Willard had been able to join the Council and maintain that position for many years, despite the constant challenges and derision of the other Council members. Willard was very good with water. It was his element, you might say. He had certain abilities with the water and its creatures that made him valuable to the Council, and they were calling on him now, to aid one of their little plans.
    While he thought they were going about bringing Elspeth—the Mater Priori —back from the farthest realm all wrong, he didn’t want to share his wisdom or intel about the Nyx with any of those selfish creatures that populated the Council. Willard lived with the comfort that when he made it possible for Elspeth to cross the barrier between the forgotten realms and this mortal one, she would reward him beyond reckoning. And wouldn’t the rest of the Council regret the way they’d treated him then ?
     

     
     
    Chapter Five
     

    Edvard was summoned to the bridge a moment after helping Jake, Ria and Tom in the passageway. His sister had called and wanted to speak to him urgently. Tom saw Ria and Jake to their room and left them, promising to meet them at