
He had brought their evil killer to them. The odd boy they'd saved from the streets had ultimately led
their deaths to them, far before their time.
"Off." His image faded and he was glad.
Unhurried, he walked to the pentacle, closed the circle with a hummed note, and settled into a soft
pallet in the center to begin his quest to find and destroy his parents' slayer. He sang.
When the Songspell ended, his astral shape slipped from his body with an easy pull and a tiny "pop."
Hovering over his physical form, he felt light and free.
He stayed in the same physical plane and rose above his Tower, his island, to orient and anchor
himself. As was customary, his was the only Circlet Tower on the island, and the island itself was small.
Most circlets lived on their own island in the Brisay Sea, east of Lladrana. He'd wanted one only a few
miles from Coquille-on-the-Coast where his parents lived so he would visit them often.
On the physical plane, the sangvile had two forms: one, a black spiderweb, and the other, a manlike
dark energy. Its rudimentary, nasty emotions were that of an evil predator. As strong as it was now, if
spread out in spiderweb form, it would cover a house. The man form would be a giant.
The monster had gloated over the pain and fear it caused, laughed in malicious glee at its feast of
Circlets and their Power. Those tainted emotions had leaked through several planes and led Jaquar to it.
He had found the horror too late to pin it down, set it ablaze and watch it die.
Below, he saw his Tower, round and of red stone, with a flat roof and a walkway around it; Mue
Island, looking like the blunted top of an archery arrow, slightly southwest of Coquille-on-the-Coast. He
drifted even higher, until he could see most of Lladrana, the rocky hill where the Marshalls' Castle sat—in
the middle of Lladrana, far from the ocean, east and north of Coquille-on-the-Coast. He tugged on the
cord between his astral self and his body. It held firm.
Then he plane-walked, searching for the sangvile.
He passed through several known planes to reach the one he wanted, tuning himself to its unique
vibrations. Only on this plane could he pinpoint the hideous energy of the sangvile.
And there was the monster that had slain his parents. And Jaquar lusted to destroy the sangvile with
all the fierce desire within him. Here, the sangvile was a gliding black smudge.
Jaquar was back on the hunt. Though this lower emotional plane was a gray nothingness, Jaquar
could dimly sense the geography of the physical plane below, where the sangvile roamed. Here, the
image of the sangvile was a gliding black smudge, traveling northwest from Lladrana. Jaquar followed.
No sights; worse, no sounds. The dreary atmosphere made his emotions all the more powerful.
The sangvile moved. Geographic familiarity, physical reference points, were gone. The sangvile was
far outside the borders of Lladrana, flying north with information and energy and magic to give the Dark.
Jaquar's astral self followed. As a mind-shadow, Jaquar had no eyes to weep or voice to scream his
grief. The emotions that gave him the strength and cunning to track the beast scoured him, made him
vengeance incarnate. He would kill the servant and destroy the lord. No price was too high to pay.
The thing hesitated in flight, then lashed out with a black-energy tentacle. Jaquar ducked, drew
back. Was it aware of him? Aware of something as predatory as itself, as ruthless?