by Kate Novak
Jas reeled backward. The wound wasn't too serious, but it opened the mystical pathway by which the fetch could drain her life energy.
Joel charged at the creature and stabbed his sword deep into its back. Emilo hit the creature's leg with his sword.
The fetch turned again on Joel, but Jas blocked the creature's blade with her own. The fetch struck Jas across her ribs, slicing through her leather tunic, shirt, and skin. Jas's sword cut halfway through the fetch's neck.
The fetch fell to the ground, and Jas collapsed beside it.
"Make sure it's dead," the winged woman gasped to Emilo. "Make damn sure."
The kender stabbed at the fetch's throat with his sword, but it did not stir. The monster was dead.
Joel shuddered at the sight. The creature remained in the bard's form, though its skin was as pale as a corpse. That's how I'll look when I'm dead, the bard thought. He knelt beside Jas and hummed a prayer to heal her wounds. The skin at her wrist and ribs knit easily, but she remained leaning against Joel.
"Gods, I feel weak," the winged woman murmured.
"I can't restore your life energy," Joel said. "It may take years before you recover what's been drained from you. You didn't have to make yourself its only target."
"Better me than you," Jas said. "If it hit you, you wouldn't be able to cast the spells we might need."
Emilo, who had been looking about the cave, said, "I don't understand. This is a dead end. Why would Sirrion send us to a dead end?"
Joel sighed. "Perhaps he wanted us to kill the fetch. I think we'd better keep moving," he added.
Outside the cave, the finder's stone sent out a weak beam of light pointed back up the slope. "This way," Joel said with a nod of his head.
"But Sirrion said the finder's stone would lead us into danger," Emilo objected.
"Emilo, you can't still believe it was Sirrion you spoke with," Jas growled. "Someone impersonated Sirrion to lead us into a trap."
Emilo shook his head. "I just can't believe it. I was so sure," he murmured. Uncharacteristically, he remained silent for some time after that, lost in private musing.
The three heroes resumed the long trek upward. Farther up the slope, they spied the first sign of a true path, which had been cleared of all loose stones. The path weaved its way back and forth up the mountainside.
It was while they were taking their second rest that Emilo spotted three winged creatures circling overhead. They looked like giant vultures, but they had human arms and hands in which they carried spears. The three adventurers huddled behind a large boulder beside the trail and waited until the creatures flew off.
Unfortunately the light from the finder's stone indicated that they needed to proceed in the same direction as the vulture creatures. They proceeded along the trail more cautiously, with one eye to the sky at all times.
Jas seemed to linger behind, watching for the creatures. Joel was struck with an uneasy suspicion.
"You aren't planning on making yourself a target again just to keep me and Emilo safe, are you?" he murmured to the winged woman. "Because if you are, forget it."
"Why?" Jas asked. "Think about it, Joel. As long as I have the dark stalker in me, I may as well take risks. Dying is the only way I'm going to cheat Iyachtu Xvim. On the other hand, you're young. You have a lot to live for."
"Jas you're only six years older than I am. This fatalism is ridiculous," Joel declared.
"Is it? I killed that fetch. If the priests of Iyachtu Xvim were telling the truth, I've already sealed my fate. The only reason I don't look like a dark stalker is that Finder transformed me with magic."
"Do you feel like a dark stalker?" Joel asked. "Do you sense the power of your prey like they told you you would?"
"It's hard to say," Jas admitted. "With so much of my life energy drained, I can't be sure what I'm feeling."
Emilo, who was farther up trail, turned and ran back to the two humans. "The path leads to another cave," he said excitedly. "A really big one-big enough to hold a dragon, or even a couple of dragons." From overhead, there came a horrible screech. One of the vulture creatures was diving straight toward them.
Joel grabbed Jas's hand and shouted, "Run for it!"
The three pelted down the trail.
The cave loomed up ahead. Its entrance was quite large, and Joel realized there was nothing to prevent the vulture creatures from following them inside. Darkness would be their only cover.
As they dashed into the opening, Jas yanked her hand away from Joel and turned to face the creature should it decide to enter.
Up ahead, in the darkness of the cave, Joel spotted two glowing red spots moving toward him. The bard grabbed Jas about the waist and dragged her off to the side of the entrance to hide in the shadows.
The vulture creature landed at the cave entrance and stood silhouetted in the light. The giant bird was a full two feet taller than Joel. A few moments later the vulture was flanked by two more of its kind.
The glowing red spots inside the cave grew larger. The vulture creatures, apparently having spotted what Joel assumed were the eyes of some far larger monster, backed away from the cave entrance. The glowing spots flashed past Joel, and he saw in the cave entrance a hideously misshapen spider at least ten feet long. From its spinneret, the spider shot a strand of webbing at the vultures.
There was a horrible shrieking sound outside the cave, but Joel turned his attention to the kender tugging on his vest.
There's a way through the cave," Emilo whispered. "Hurry."
Joel and Jas followed the kender deeper into the cave. Great webs filled the passage, but Emilo had discovered a sinkhole four feet wide and nearly as deep that was free of webbing. Emilo scurried through the sinkhole as the humans, dragging their packs behind them, crawled on their hands and knees to avoid the webbing overhead. Joel speculated that the hole had been caused by the earth tremors they'd experienced the day before. Had it been formed less recently than that, the great spider surely would have detected it and filled it with webbing.
When they emerged from the sinkhole on the opposite side of the webbing, Joel pulled out the finder's stone once again. The stone shone down the passageway. The light seemed brighter underground, as if the stone sensed it was safer from detection in this dark place. The passageway twisted and turned and finally led them to a steep staircase that led upward.
Jas counted two hundred steps before they reached the first landing. The next flight of steps was set ninety degrees to the first flight. It was another two hundred steps to the second landing.
"Are we there yet?" Jas half joked, half whined.
"Beshaba's supposed to have her court somewhere near the pinnacle," Joel reminded Jas. "It could be a thousand, two thousand steps, maybe more."
Jas groaned and rummaged about in a backpack for the water bottle.
"Hello," Emilo murmured. He'd been tapping on the stones of the wall. "I think I've found something."
Joel turned to see what the kender had discovered. Emilo was pushing at a stone on the wall of the landing. A hidden doorway, some five feet high and two feet wide, popped open a crack.
"Shall we have a look?" the kender asked.
"It would be a nice break from all the stairs," Jas said, taking a gulp of water.
Joel stared uncertainly at the door. "We're more likely to discover what we need to know at the top of the stairs," he said.
"But perhaps we can learn something useful here," Emilo argued. "Maybe Beshaba keeps her secrets down here instead of up there," the kender suggested.
"Just a quick look," Joel agreed with a sigh.
They slipped through the door. The finder's stone light stubbornly shone back toward the stairs.
From his pack, the kender pulled out a torch and tinderbox. By the light of the torch, they proceeded down the narrow corridor.
The corridor opened into a larger hallway. To his left, Joel could hear the murmur of low, indistinct voices.
The bard led his compa
nions in the direction of the voices. The hallway emptied into a great room with rows of benches facing an altar covered with a red cloth and a rack of horns-an underground temple to Beshaba. The benches were packed with people praying, some silently and others mumbling their prayers with considerable fervor. Occasionally a worshiper approached one of the braziers that surrounded the altar and set fire to an offering.
A pretty young woman dressed in black from head to toe came up from behind them. "Beshaba provides," she whispered. "Bad things always happen. Only offerings and prayer to Lady Doom can save us."
"Mmmm," Joel responded noncommittally.
"Our goals are meaningless. Lady Doom can undermine them with but a thought," the woman insisted.
"Oh, yeah?" Jas replied with irritation. She didn't doubt Beshaba's power, but the other woman's fear of the goddess annoyed her.
The woman clutched Jas's arm. "Appease her so her wrath turns elsewhere-" the woman's eye's lit up-"perhaps even on your enemies," she concluded. Then she turned away from them to approach the altar.
"I feel a sudden urge to climb another few thousand stairs," Jas muttered to Joel.
"Me, too," Emilo agreed.
"Let's go," Joel said.
They hurried down the hallway, scurried down the narrow corridor, squeezed back through the secret door, and pushed it closed behind them. The finder's stone shone upward.
In unison, the adventurers sighed, then resumed their ascent. Every two hundred steps there was a landing, a secret door, which they ignored, and another flight of steps that turned ninety degrees.
On step 3, Joel slipped on the stairs, slid down twenty steps, and twisted his ankle. He had already used his healing spell on the wounds Jas suffered at the hand of the fetch. In order to continue the climb, the bard was forced to cast a healing spell from one of Winnie's scrolls. They rested at the next landing, ate some more food, and finished off the water.
"We don't really have to go any farther," Joel said. "We could just sit here while Finder and Selune sense what's going on above."
"I don't want to just sit here in the dark while Finder and Selune are the only ones who get to see what's going on," Jas argued. "What do you think, Emilo?"
"It would be a shame to come all this way and not see what's at the top," the kender said.
"Two to one. You're outvoted, Joel," Jas announced.
"So much for trying to break away from my image as a reckless fool," the bard muttered.
After Joel cast a spell to fill their empty water flasks, the adventurers continued on their way.
The landing at step 0 appeared to be a dead end, but Emilo had no trouble detecting the stone to push to open the landing's secret door.
They blinked in the sudden light that assaulted their eyes. In actuality, it wasn't particularly bright, but it was far brighter than they were used to. The light, coming from lanterns hanging from the ceiling, revealed a vast chamber or gathering hall. The floor was littered with human bodies, some moaning, some lying deathly still. A portion of the chamber's ceiling appeared to have collapsed recently. Some of the bodies lay beneath boulders and piles of rubble.
Other people stood around talking, apparently oblivious to the suffering and pain around them. One group of people squatted in a corner rolling dice and cursing loudly. Joel weaved a path through the fallen bodies. Jas and Emilo followed. They passed a group of men playing a bizarre game with a basket. As each man reached into the basket, the others chanted, "Beshaba, take him," over and over again. Each man drew out a snake, usually something harmless like a garter snake, but one man reached in, gave a hideous screech, and fell back, clutching his hand. A few moments later the man's body was wracked with a violent seizure. Joel forced himself to avert his eyes.
"Here's another player," a large bully of a man said, blocking Joel's path. "Have you done enough to appease the Maid of Misfortune, chum?" the man asked the bard. Jas stepped forward with her sword drawn, pointing the weapon at the man's throat. "Leave him alone," she growled.
The man paled and stepped back. "Sorry, ma'am. Didn't realize he was with you."
Jas took a position beside Joel, and when people saw her determined expression and her weapon, they backed away from the adventurers.
"Someone you know?" Joel asked.
"Never seen him before in my life," Jas whispered.
They crossed the room and followed the light from the finder's stone through a doorway that led to another corridor. Farther down the corridor, their progress was halted by a gaping chasm in the floor. It was at least fifteen feet to the other side. Emilo dropped a pebble into the pit, and it took nearly four seconds before it clinked on something below. Jas flew the two men and their gear across the chasm. After her exertions, the winged woman required several minutes rest before she could continue.
They proceeded far more cautiously along the corridor.
Somewhere up ahead, a soft red glow issued from a doorway. The three adventurers crept forward and peered into the room that lay beyond. The damage in this room was even worse than the last. Most of the ceiling had collapsed, as well as some of the floor. Moans arose from a pit approximately in the room's center. The red light shone out of a pool of water on one side of the room.
The people in this room were at least paying some attention to the fallen and injured. Two women in the mauve robes of Beshaban priestesses were tending to the injured, most of whom were other priestesses. Two beautiful winged women stood as armed guards beside another entrance across the room. Joel guessed they were alu-fiends, the half-human offspring of succubi. Now he realized why the men in the last hall had backed away from Jas. Her wings were the same size, shape, and color as the alu-fiends.
"Any sign of Beshaba?" Jas whispered.
Joel shook his head. "Something's not right here," he whispered.
"That's right. And you're it," a soft female voice said from behind them.
The adventurers spun around. In the hallway behind them stood another alu-fiend. She was lovely to behold, with long, black hair that glittered like silk in the light of the finder's stone and a small, lithe frame. Her beauty was matched only by her deadliness. She held a sword point to Joel's throat.
From the shadows behind the alu-fiend appeared a tall figure in a dark cloak. The figure held the edge of a curved sword to the alu-fiend's throat and ordered, "Lower your weapon, fiend, and don't make a sound, or we will have to kill you and all your friends."
The alu-fiend stiffened angrily, then complied sullenly.
Joel peered intently at his rescuer and the curved blade. There was something familiar about her and her sword. "Holly?" the bard whispered in disbelief.
The tall figure lowered her hood, revealing the face of the paladin Holly Harrowslough. Beneath the black cloak, she was dressed in full battle armor.
"Holly!" Jas growled softly. "What are you doing here?"
"Lathander sent me," the paladin said softly. "What are you doing here?"
"Finder sent us," Joel said as he took the alu-fiend's sword from her hand. "I wish Lathander had mentioned to Selune that you'd be here," he added. "We could have teamed up sooner."
"What does Selune have to do with this?" Holly asked.
"She's helping Tymora," Joel said.
"What's wrong with Tymora?" Holly asked with confusion.
"Someone is draining her power. We think it's the mistress of this realm. Isn't that why Lathander sent you? To discover how she's doing it?"
"Beshaba has nothing to do with Tymora's troubles," the alu-fiend spat.
"I told you not to make a sound," Holly growled, pressing her sword blade against the flesh of the alu-fiend's neck.
"Hold on," Joel said, pushing Holly's hand back. He smiled sweetly at the alu-fiend. "What do you know about this?" "It is Xvim. He sent a squad of hydroloths to attack my lady's court," the alu-fiend declared. "When my lady used her power to defend us, she lost control, and the mountain quaked. Xvim must have known such a thing would happen,
or he would not have risked his forces."
"How do you know the hydroloths came from Xvim?" Jas asked.
"Because my mistress cursed his name before she teleported away," the alu-fiend said haughtily.
"Hydroloth? Aren't they the froglike things that Xvim sent to Sigil to bring back Jas?" Emilo asked Joel.
Holly started, as if she hadn't noticed the kender before. Emilo smiled up at the paladin and bowed. "Emilo Haversack. Pleased to meet you at last, Holly," he said. "I've heard a good deal about you."
"Why did your mistress teleport away?" Joel demanded of the alu-fiend.
The alu-fiend tched as if Joel were a simpleton. "To save her realm and her people from destruction," she said.
"Where did she go?" Holly asked.
"She did not say, but I would guess she has gone to Gehenna, to confront that mewling godling Xvim and make him pay for his treachery," the alu-fiend said.
"When?" Jas asked.
"During the quake," the alu-fiend said.
That was yesterday," Joel said. "Why isn't she back?"
"Do you think something happened to her in Gehenna?" Jas asked Joel.
"I think," the bard said, "that we're going to have to go to Gehenna to find out."
OFFSTAGE
Somewhere in the Prime Material Plane, on the world known as Toril, in Realmspace, Daramos Lauthyr, High Lord Priest of Tymora, surveyed the wreckage of a once-secret shrine to Beshaba. Hidden in an underground chamber beneath a stable beside a respectable inn, the shrine had been a mere hundred yards from the shining spires of the Lady's House, also known as the temple of Tymora and Arabel's most resplendent cathedral. Beshaba's worshipers must have laughed at their proximity as they hid here in Lady Luck's shadow.
Now it was Lauthyr's turn to laugh. He toed one of the holy symbols of Beshaba, a crudely painted red plaque with black antlers, and allowed a tight smile to creep across his thin lips. As he looked around at the devastation, the smile grew into a full-fledged grin.
