Serpent Mage
Serpent Mage is a fantasy novel by American writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the fourth book in The Death Gate Cycle series. It was released in 1992.
Plot summary
Haplo, returns to the Nexus from Abarrach, leaves an extremely cursory report of his time there, and plans to depart again for Chelestra without seeing Xar, but Xar gets to him before he can depart. Xar tortures him to cleanse him of disloyalty and to find out everything Haplo didn't report about Abarrach. He discovers Haplo had been travelling with Alfred, and that there are Sartan on Abarrach using necromancy. Haplo didn't want to reveal the existence of necromancy because he was afraid Xar would want to use it, whereas Haplo now knows it is a magic that should be avoided at all costs.Haplo departs again towards Death's Gate. Alfred has been hiding on Haplo's ship since their departure from Abarrach, but now Haplo's dog pushes Alfred out of the ship as it's heading into Death's Gate. Alfred wakes up in what he thinks is the Sartan mausoleum on Arianus, but then the other occupants wake up and he discovers they are living Sartan, in fact the very group of Sartan that performed the Sundering of the worlds. They are led by Samah, accompanied by his wife Orla and son Ramu.
On Chelestra the mensch races live on seamoons, living rock creatures that drift through the waters of Chelestra, and at the start of the book the three races are planning to leave their current seamoon, because the seasun has drifted too far from this seamoon and it is becoming uninhabitable, and move to another seamoon closer to the seasun. Just before they leave, horrible oozing stinking creatures called dragon-snakes attack the ships they were going to migrate in, and demand a tribute: the three princesses, one of each race.
The leaders of the three races discuss what they should do, but the three princesses plan to escape from the seamoon and give themselves up to save their people. At the last minute Devon, Sabia's love, knocks out Sabia and dresses himself in her clothes and departs with Grundle and Alake.
Haplo, travelling through Death's Gate, is determined to reaffirm his loyalty to his lord and forget the doubt he felt after discovering the Chamber of the Damned on Abarrach. As soon as Haplo arrives in Chelestra in his ship, it starts to break up, and when the sea touches him his tattoos vanish and his magic dissolves. He discovers the sea is breathable, but is left defenceless. Grundle, Devon and Alake find him floating in the sea and rescue him. His dog disappeared before he reached Chelestra.
Alfred is given an audience by the Sartan Council. Orla occasionally disagrees with Samah and he refers to some past incident where she resisted obeying him. Samah asks Alfred whether any Sartan on Arianus heard the call for help that was sent out by the Sartan Council, and is shocked to hear that thousands of years have passed since then, whilst the Council have been in stasis, and that all the other Sartan on Arianus are dead. Alfred also tells Samah that the Labyrinth, far from being a fairly simple test for the Patryns, ended up being a deadly place of torment for them, teaching them to hate the Sartan. Alfred also tells them that some Patryns have now escaped from the Labyrinth, and that Haplo has come to Chelestra. Samah is horrified, and assumes Haplo has been sent on a reconnaissance, which is indeed Xar's purpose in sending him.
Alfred becomes flustered when Orla is kind to him and concerned about his welfare. He tells her that the Sartan underestimated the mensch, who have been coping pretty well without the Sartan. Orla reveals to him that she resisted Samah's plan to Sunder the worlds. Samah talks to his son Ramu, revealing that he thinks Alfred has been corrupted by the Patryns.
Orla shows Alfred around Surunan, the Sartan city in Chelestra, which is situated on the Chalice, a fixed part of Chelestra that does not move like the seamoons. Haplo's dog reappears, to Alfred's shock, and Alfred talks more about the horrors of the Labyrinth that the Patryns have endured, and tells her of the time he swapped consciousnesses with Haplo on the way through Death's Gate to Abarrach.
A dragon-snake appears on the ship carrying Haplo, Grundle, Alake and Devon. They are abnormally terrified of it, as is Haplo. and it talks to Haplo and reveals that the old Patryn enemy Samah is on Chelestra. The three mensch are also now afraid of Haplo, because the runes that dissolved in the water have now started to reappear, glowing, on his skin.
Alfred feels out of place on Surunan, because he is still dressed in his old outfit from Arianus, and has not told the others his true Sartan name. He is also frustrated that the Sartan don't seem to realise how much the worlds have changed since they were last awake, and that the only other Sartan still alive are the ones on Abarrach, who have forgotten most of their magic and now practise the forbidden art of necromancy. Samah distrusts Alfred, esp. as Haplo's dog keeps following Alfred around.
Samah tells Alfred about the early days of Chelestra soon after the Sundering, when the mensch came to Surunan, terrified of the dragon-snakes and begging for sanctuary in the Sartan city. The Sartan go to confront the dragon-snakes, who say they want the destruction of the Sartan, and say that the Sartan created them. The Sartan can sense that the dragon-snakes are evil, "older than time itself", and show even more hatred for the Sartan than the Patryns ever did. The dragon-snakes repeatedly attacked the city, and the Sartan were defenceless, because of the effect of the seawater on their magic. The Sartan sent the mensch away to live on the seamoons, thinking, correctly, that the dragon-snakes would leave the mensch alone and just keep attacking the Sartan. Then the Sartan sent out a call for help from the other worlds, and went into stasis.
Haplo, Grundle, Alake and Devon escape from their ship as it starts breaking apart, and wash up on the shore of Draknor, the seamoon where the dragon snakes live. They are again struck with unnatural terror in the presence of the dragon snakes. The dragon-snakes greet Haplo as their Master, try to reassure the mensch, and tell Haplo their version of the history of Chelestra. They tell Haplo that the Patryns created them. They are also very afraid of Alfred, whom they call the Serpent Mage. They want the mensch to help them fight against the Sartan.
Alfred goes exploring in Surunan, finds the library, with lots of extra Sartan warding runes around it, goes in, and is discovered by Samah, who clearly thinks Alfred snuck in on purpose to find a particular scroll, which Alfred hadn't noticed but is now very curious about.
Grundle, Alake, Devon and Haplo return to the mensch seamoon in a ship provided by the dragon-snakes, where their families are happy to see them, but have to break the news that Sabia killed herself after they left.
Alfred talks to Orla again about the horrors of the Labyrinth, and about how the Patryns are fierce and loving and loyal. Alfred accidentally ends up embracing Orla. He asks her what is concealed in the library, then goes and sneaks into the library through the roof, which has weaker warding runes. Orla, alone at her home, realises that her life with Samah has been devoid of love, and that she is in love with Alfred, who has the power not only to feel love himself but to induce it in others, in making her feel empathy and compassion for the Patryns and the mensch. Orla goes to the library, and finds Alfred, who has read in the scroll that several Sartan had sensed the existence of a higher power, just as Alfred did whilst in the Chamber of the Damned on Abarrach. Orla tries to justify why she and the others who discovered the higher power didn't resist the Sundering more strongly. Samah finds them in the library, and at once concludes that Orla is colluding with Alfred and the Patryns. Alfred does not resist when Samah decides to imprison him.
Alake tells Haplo she has fallen in love with him, though he has already guessed that. Haplo persuades the mensch to go to Surunan and they start preparing for their departure. Devon tries to kill himself and Haplo rescues him, and heals him using his Patryn magic, which also involves him experiencing Devon's hurt and pain at Sabia's death. Haplo also tells Devon about his own escape from the Labyrinth and how he was saved by his dog.
Orla tries to reassure Samah that she is still loyal to him, but he remains cold and unfeeling towards her, and she keeps thinking it is her fault. Then, at the Council meeting, he is once again polite and kind to her. Alfred is brought before the Council, and tells them about life in Arianus, and what it was like for him to wake up and find all the other Sartan were dead. Samah talks about the history of the world before the Sundering, tries to justify the Sartans actions in performing the Sundering, and accuses the Patryns of interfering in mensch affairs behind the scenes, even though, as Alfred points out, the Sartan also got involved in mensch affairs.
Alfred accuses the Sartan Council of carrying out the Sundering because they were afraid of the possibility that they might not be gods, that there might be a higher power. He is astonished when Samah doesn't react with anger but instead is polite, and leaves him alone with Orla.
Haplo, prompted by Devon, Grundle and Alake, talks to the dolphins, who have visited Surunan recently, and they tell him about Alfred and the dog being in Surunan, which upsets Haplo. The mensch all set off in their ships, following the dragon-snakes. They arrive on Draknor, the home of the dragon snakes, and send a message asking the Sartans to meet with them. Orla tells Alfred that Haplo has asked to attend the meeting.
The Sartan council meet the mensch on Surunan, and the mensch are horrified at the Sartans' arrogance and superior attitude towards them. The Sartans are angry that the three races are allied with the dragon-snakes, and refuse to let the mensch settle on Surunan, even though there is more than enough room for them to settle there. Haplo's dog refuses to leave Alfred and return to Haplo. The mensch declare that they will try to take land on Surunan by force, and Samah declares war on them in return. The mensch return to Draknor. Alake, Grundle and Devon follow Haplo when he sneaks off in the night to talk to the dragon-snakes. Haplo wants the mensch to weaken the Sartan by flooding Surunan with seawater then move in peacefully, because he thinks they couldn't easily survive open warfare with the Sartan.
The dragon-snakes discover Alfred has been listening in, because he came to give the dog back to Haplo. The dragon-snakes want Haplo to kill him. After Haplo and Alfred and the dog leave, Grundle, Alake and Devon overhear the dragon-snakes complaining to each other about the lack of fear and hatred and the fact that Haplo doesn't want open warfare between the mensch and the Sartan. They hear the dragon-snakes plotting to invade all the other worlds.
Alfred and Haplo agree that the dragon-snakes are dangerous, and want to invade the rest of the worlds. Samah overhears them, and attacks Haplo. Haplo falls into the sea, losing his powers. Alfred tries to help him. Alake runs up to them, begging for help against the dragon-snakes, who have trapped her and Devon and Grundle and are about to kill them.
Samah refuses to help them. Alake returns to Grundle and Devon, and defies the dragon snakes, and one of them attacks her. Haplo can't use his magic, dissolved by the seawater, but he attacks the dragon-snake with his rune-enhanced daggers. Devon holds Alake as she dies. Grundle runs to Samah and Alfred, desperate for help to fight the dragon-snakes. Alfred transforms into a dragon and attacks the dragon-snakes, chasing them away. Grundle tells Haplo that the dragon was Alfred. Samah takes Haplo prisoner.
Alfred comes to visit Haplo, and the two show that they are friends again. Grundle and Devon come to see Haplo too, brought by Orla. Orla reveals that when some Sartan resisted the Sundering, many years ago, Samah cast them into the Labyrinth. Grundle and Devon tell Haplo of the dragon-snakes' plans.
Samah tells them all that the rest of the mensch are travelling to Surunan with the dragon-snakes. Samah also announces the Council's verdict: that Alfred and Orla will be cast into the Labyrinth. Alfred goes peacefully, refusing to believe that he previously turned himself into a dragon. Haplo senses their departure through Death's Gate, and remains in prison, waiting for the mensch to breach the seawalls and let the magic-dousing seawater into Surunan.