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Next to her heart, the black quill Iakhovas had inserted under her breast stirred in warning. A chill ran down her spine and her face went numb. "Yes," she replied. She knew to answer in any other fashion would have meant sudden death. She believed in Sekolah and she believed in her place in the Great Shark's plans.

Wherever Iakhovas led, she believed it would only strengthen the sahuagin. He was a harsh taskmaster, and his chosen war would only strengthen her people.

She felt Huaanton's eyes on her, but she knew he could go no further without opening the way to a challenge from either herself or Iakhovas.

"I live only to serve the will of Sekolah," Iakhovas stated. "Should anything try to stand in the way of that, I would be honor bound to see that thing-that person- destroyed as one of the Great Shark's enemies."

When her lateral lines signaled that Huaanton had turned from her, Laaqueel glanced back up and saw Iakhovas squarely meeting the sahuagin king's gaze.

"Since you've been among us," Huaanton said, "you've been overly ambitious."

"You lay that ambition so easily at my fins," Iakhovas replied slowly, "but I claim no part of it. The ambition, as you incorrectly call it, is merely the doctrine I've been given by my god to obey. I will not turn away from it."

"Twelve years of age," Huaanton said, "and you're already a prince."

"I've taken on the challenges Sekolah has laid before me, and they led me into those positions as the currents dictated," Iakhovas replied. "I rose from warrior to lieutenant, to baronial guard, to chieftain, and then baron because there was a need and because the Great Shark expected no less of the tool he would shape me into."

"You challenged and killed everyone who stood in your way."

"Fairly," Iakhovas said, "and obviously with Sekolah's blessing or I would not have survived. Three years ago, when Slaartiig came to your village where you then ruled as baron and laid claim to the crystal ball your warriors salvaged from a surface vessel they'd sunk, I challenged him for you because his claim to your property was unjust, as fits the rules that Sekolah has handed down to our people. No one expected me to live against such odds as that. Yet I did."

That wasn't all the story, Laaqueel knew. Iakhovas had actually targeted the surface vessel for the sahuagin raiders, then helped them take it. They'd later used the ship in the raid against Waterdeep, but it also had something on board that he'd laid claim to without the warriors seeing. Only she'd known, and then only because he'd told her, relishing his victory.

The crystal ball had been an additional find, one that Iakhovas hadn't been overly interested in. It allowed the viewer to see many places, but they lacked the magic phrases to unlock all its secrets to make it into the weapon Huaanton had hoped it would be. If Iakhovas knew the secret of the crystal ball, he never told.

"You killed Slaartiig," Huaanton said.

"And my actions justified my reasons for defending you in the eyes of the Great Shark and our people," Iakhovas pointed out. No matter what the illusion his spellwork painted for the sahuagin, Laaqueel saw the anger in his scarred face. "You challenged the old king over a matter of cowardice, and you yourself ripped free the trident that you now hold as a sign of your office from his dead hand, proclaiming yourself king. None of the other princes challenged for your position. They recognized your right to be king, read in the currents of everything that had happened that it was what you were destined for."