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what soldiers did when they came home from a war. It was how a man got past the unforgivable.
    More than 250 men passed through that room and out of the life they had known. They disappeared as surely as if they had turned to smoke. The Morgawr changed them into dead things that still walked, into creatures that had lost all sense of identity and purpose. He turned them into something less than dogs, and they did not even know it. He made them into his airship crews, and he took them away forever. All of them, every last one. Sen Dunsidan never saw any of them again.
    Within days, he had secured the airships the Morgawr had requested and delivered them to fulfill his end of the bargain. Within a week, the Morgawr was gone out of his life, departed in search of the Ilse Witch, in quest of revenge. Sen Dunsidan didn’t care. He hoped they destroyed each other. He prayed he would never see either of them again.
    But the images remained, haunting and terrible. He could not banish them. He could not reconcile their horror. They haunted him in his sleep and when he was awake. They were never far away, never out of sight. Sen Dunsidan did not sleep for weeks afterwards. He did not enjoy a moment’s peace.
    He became Prime Minister of the Federation’s Coalition Council, but he lost his soul.

Three
    Now, months later and thousands of miles away off the coast of the continent of Parkasia, the fleet of airships assembled by Sen Dunsidan and placed under the command of the Morgawr and his Mwellrets and walking dead materialized out of the mist and closed on the
Jerle Shannara
. Standing amidships at the port railing, Redden Alt Mer watched the cluster of black hulls and sails fill the horizon east like links in an encircling chain.
    â€œCast off!” the Rover Captain snapped at Spanner Frew, spyglass lifting one more time to make certain of what he was seeing.
    â€œShe’s not ready!” the burly shipwright snapped back.
    â€œShe’s as ready as she’s going to get. Give the order!”
    His glass swept the approaching ships. No insignia, no flags. Unmarked warships in a land where until a few weeks ago there had never been even one. Enemies, but whose? He had to assume the worst, that these ships were hunting them. Had the Ilse Witch brought others besides
Black Moclips
, ships that had lain offshore until now, waiting for the witch to bring them into the mix?
    Spanner Frew was yelling at the crew, setting them in action. With Furl Hawken dead and Rue Meridian gone inland, there was no one else to fill the role of First Mate. No one stopped to question him. They had seen the ships, as well. Hands reached obediently for lines and winches. The tethering line was released, giving the
Jerle Shannara
her freedom. Rovers began tightening down the radian draws and lanyards, bringing the sails all the way to the tops of the masts, where they could catch the wind and light. Knowing what he would find, Redden Alt Mer glanced around. His crew was eight strong, counting Spanner and himself. Not nearly enough to fully man a warship like the
Jerle Shannara
, let alone fight a battle against enemies. They would have to run, and run fast.
    He ran himself, breaking for the pilot box and the controls, heavy boots thudding across the wooden decking. “Unhood the crystals!” he yelled at Britt Rill and Jethen Amenades as he swept past them. “Not the fore starboard! Leave it covered. Just the aft and amidships!”
    No working diapson crystal in the fore port parse tube, so to balance the loss of power from the left he was forced to shut down its opposite number. It would cut their power by a third, but the
Jerle Shannara
was swift enough even at that.
    Spanner Frew was beside him, lumbering toward the mainmast and the weapons rack. “Who are they?”
    â€œI don’t know, Black Beard, but I don’t think they are friends.”
    He opened the four available parse tubes and drew down power to