Shar.
The nimbus of Shar held a large staff in one hand like a walking stick.
The alu understood, and she wanted to retch.
Kashada and Shar were connected. Kashada was Shar—or a tiny piece of her. The shadow-mystic had been made, a creature to serve but one purpose, so that Shar could be in two worlds at once and steal a staff. Everything else was just one more lie, one more betrayal. Zasian had been told the biggest lie of all, by his own god.
The realization that some small part of Shar stood in that room with her made Aliisza tremble. She wanted to throw herself prostrate on the floor, to hide her eyes. But she could not tear her gaze away.
The nimbus and the old woman smiled together, but it was not a warm expression. There was cold satisfaction there, and hatred. Hatred for all things living.
The pair of them disappeared, leaving only a swirl of shadows.
“No!” Aliisza screamed into the darkness.
Myshik stepped out of the shadows to one side.
“Please,” he said, lifting his bloody axe and coming toward Aliisza. “Don’t do that. It hurts my ears.”
Aliisza sobbed. “But I saw it,” she said, looking at him plaintively. “I saw him kill her, with the staff.”
The half-dragon smirked and opened his mouth to say something in reply, but the words never came.
Aliisza felt a ripple of something pass through her. It was magic, pure, undiluted. A bubble. It crashed into the alu, through her.
Everything around her shimmered with the ripple’s passing. It looked different afterward, for the heartbeat that she could take it all in.
Then the fabric of reality imploded.
About the Author
Thomas M. Reid’s lifelong dream was to be a professional couch flopper, but those plans were dashed when his father announced that he was “no longer on the payroll” after he completed his studies at the University of Texas. He was instead forced into a nomadic lifestyle, gathering berries and catching fish with his bare hands in such places as Indiana, Wisconsin, and Washington State.
Today, Thomas pretends to be a freelance author and editor in the greater Austin, Texas area with his beautiful wife Teresa and three boys, Aidan, Galen, and Quinton, along with two cats named Mystra and Selûne. To his great delight, he has rediscovered the joys of the couch when he’s supposed to be working.
THE EMPYREAN ODYSSEY, BOOK II
THE FRACTURED SKY
©2008 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. FORGOTTEN REALMS, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., in the U.S.A. and other countries.
eISBN: 978-0-7869-5617-3
U.S., CANADA, EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS
ASIA, PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA Hasbro UK Ltd
Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Caswell Way
P.O. Box 707 Newport, Gwent NP9 0YH
Renton, WA 98057-0707 GREAT BRITAIN
+1-800-324-6496 Save this address for your records.
Visit our web site at www.wizards.com
v3.0
The Fractured Sky Page 27
