by Kate Novak
Jas looked down at the ground. “It’s because I have the dark stalker in me, isn’t it?” she asked.
“No,” Finder said, lifting Jas’s chin in the cup of his hand so that she was forced to meet his eyes. “It’s because if you choose to travel to Gehenna, Iyachtu’s minions might be able to read it inside your mind.”
“So you’re sure the hydroloths that attacked Beshaba were sent by Iyachtu Xvim?” Joel asked.
“That isn’t something we could really tell,” Finder explained. “Though Beshaba did curse his name before she fled her realm.”
“If Xvim is behind this, then why did Tymora sense Beshaba instead of Xvim?” Joel asked. “And if Xvim is draining both of them, why did Tymora fall unconscious while Beshaba was able to teleport away?”
“As to the first question, we do not know,” Selune answered. “As to the second … either Xvim started draining Tymora’s power first or else Beshaba had more power in reserve. Tymora is extremely free with her gifts. She has endowed a number of items with her power and shared them with adventurers. She also gives out power keys to her priests who travel the planes. She has even lent her power to her ally gods and their priests. Beshaba, on the other hand, tends to hoard her power. She grants her priests their spells and spends a small portion of her power getting even with mortals who neglect her when they make large offerings to Tymora. It appears that Beshaba is indeed losing control of her power. In addition to the earthquake in her own realm, she is causing a good deal of destruction granting boons to some of her worshipers on your world.”
“But if we do another reconnaissance into Gehenna, you and Finder can sense what Xvim is up to, right?” Emilo asked.
Selune shot a disapproving glance at the eager kender. “Know this,” she said. “When you arrived on the Blood Tor, Beshaba surely sensed your presence. You were simply not sufficiently interesting for her to take particular notice. She was intent on a story being told to her concerning the Sensates of Sigil. Eventually, she presumed, one of the many evil creatures who live on the surface of the mountain would dine on your flesh. If Beshaba had sensed you approaching an entrance to her underground fortress, she would have dispatched someone to destroy you. But she was forced to flee her realm to keep it from collapsing around her followers and petitioners. Had she been present, you would never have made it to her lower temple, let alone her court. We have no reason to expect you will be that lucky in Gehenna. Xvim trusts no one.”
“But won’t he be preoccupied with Beshaba?” Joel asked.
“If she is not already drained and unconscious,” Finder said. “Furthermore, there is the question of Sirrion’s involvement.”
“Sirrion?” Holly asked with a start.
“Sirrion is a god of neutrality who dwells in Limbo,” Finder explained to the paladin. “A power meant to balance good and evil in the world of Krynn, where Emilo is from. The manifestation he sent to speak with Emilo said it was interested in protecting Emilo. If that is true, why? Is he the reason Emilo appeared in Sigil? The powers of the Realms have had few dealings with the powers of Krynn thus far. Sirrion may have reason to involve himself in this affair, but if Iyachtu is using a god from an alien pantheon for some scheme against Tymora and Beshaba, he is violating the compact the powers of the Outer Planes have agreed upon. Beshaba may not have left Gehenna yet because Sirrion challenged her there. She is more powerful than Iyachtu Xvim, but Sirrion is her equal in power.”
“All this is speculation,” Joel said. “If we go to Gehenna, you’ll have more information.”
“The Blood Tor wasn’t the worst the Abyss had to offer, and Gehenna is worse than the Abyss,” Finder warned. “The Bastion of Hate, Xvim’s realm, is perched on Chamada, the second mount of Gehenna. The land itself is violent. It gushes, bleeds, and seeps molten rock from every crack and pore. There is no flat place on the outer slope to rest, and the inner canyons are home to the shapeshifting barghests, the deadly gas phiuhl, the razor-winged slasrath, and the yugoloths, the most evil creatures known to the Outer Planes. Iyachtu hires yugoloths as mercenaries.”
Joel listened carefully and nodded. “I presume, like the Abyss, the nature of Gehenna will weaken my ability to cast priestly spells.”
“He learns fast,” a voice said from behind them. It was Tymora’s priestess, Winnie, with two human servants carrying a large rolled carpet.
Finder nodded in response to Joel’s comment. “I will have to pour more power into the finder’s stone,” he explained, holding out his hand to take the stone from his priest. Once again he siphoned blue energy into the crystal. He handed the stone back to Joel. “Even now, with the stone as powerful as I dare make it, you will be able to cast only the simplest of your priestly spells.”
At Winnie’s signal, the human servants set the carpet down on the ground and unrolled it. The carpet was woven into a geometric pattern of red and gold.
“This flying carpet will keep your feet off the burning ground,” the priestess of Tymora explained. “These rings,” she added as she handed each of the four adventurers a silver ring, “are to help protect you from fire, should you get careless and fall off the flying carpet. The carpet’s command word is “Airheart.” Once it’s off the ground, you need to tell it aloud which way to go, how fast, and how high.”
“I would suggest you let Mr. Haversack take command of the carpet,” Finder said. “He’s less likely to be attacked and will have the best control.”
“Why is he less likely to be attacked?” Holly asked.
“I’ve observed that when Mr. Haversack isn’t speaking, he tends to go unnoticed,” Finder said. “Perhaps he can tell you why.”
Holly looked at the kender.
Emilo shrugged. “We can’t all stand out in a crowd,” he said.
Odd words, Joel thought, coming from someone dressed in blue pants and shirt, a red vest, and an orange cloak. Remembering Finder’s observation that Emilo had come to them under highly mysterious circumstances, the bard exchanged a glance with his god. Finder shook his head slightly, warning Joel not to question the kender further. The god still wasn’t prepared to interfere with whoever or whatever had sent Emilo their way.
Joel changed the subject before Holly could pursue the subject of Emilo’s background. “There was one other thing. I had a dream about Giogi Wyvernspur’s children and their cousins,” he told Finder. “I think they may be in trouble.”
Selune tched. “If it weren’t for Tymora’s luck,” the goddess murmured, “that whole family would have died out years ago, even with my blessing. Present company included,” she added, with a nod toward Finder. “I will look into it. Finder is busy helping Tymora’s church.”
Winnie loaded fresh water flasks and food into the backpacks, then began pulling out certain scrolls and replacing them with others. “Some of these spells will be useless in Gehenna,” the halfling priestess explained, “while others that would not work in the Abyss will be effective in Gehenna.”
Finder handed each adventurer a tiny harp carved from wood, “If you snap the harp in half and say ‘Fermata,’ you’ll be returned instantly to my realm. With the harps, all of you do not have to return together, but if one of you is seriously injured or captured, you can escape.”
“We have not exaggerated the dangers. None of you has to make this journey,” Selune said. “There is no shame in remaining behind.”
Jas looked at Holly and asked, “Are you sure Lathander would wish you to take this risk?”
“I was told to find Beshaba,” Holly replied. “Just as Finder can sense Joel, Lord Lathander can sense all I do. If he wished me to abandon my quest, he would send a messenger to tell me so. He has not. I will go to Gehenna, whatever the risk.”
“Jasmine, you are in the most danger from being in Xvim’s realm. He considers you a runaway slave,” Selune pointed out.
“Nothing’s changed,” Jas said. “Realmspace is still in danger of losing Tymora’s luck and Tymora and Beshaba losing control o
f their power.”
“We’re all of one mind,” Joel said.
“Very well,” Selune said. “I can create a portal to the second mount of Gehenna, but it has been some time since any of my followers ventured into Gehenna, so I’m not sure where Iyachtu Xvim’s realm is. The portal could be some distance away from the Bastion of Hate. It doesn’t matter. Once you have entered Gehenna, I’ll be able to sense what is happening in Xvim’s realm. Finder will contact you with further instructions after I have assessed the situation.”
“You’ll want to ride the carpet through the portal,” Winnie explained. “Don’t fly too high above the sides of the mountain or you could become lost. The mountain is surrounded by a dark, cold void that only the most holy lights or evil eyes can penetrate.”
“There’s one other thing that might help you,” Finder said. “As Selune mentioned, when you arrived at the Blood Tor, Beshaba was listening to a report about the activities of the Sensates of Sigil. The report was given by Beshaba’s newest priestess … someone you already know.”
“Oh, no,” Holly whispered. “Not Walinda?”
Finder nodded.
Jas cursed softly under her breath.
“When Beshaba teleported away, she took Walinda with her,” Finder explained. “Since you know Walinda, you could use the finder’s stone to track her and, presumably, to discover the whereabouts of her new mistress.”
Jas’s eyes narrowed. Walinda had tortured and murdered her spacejamming crew. Jas had sworn vengeance on the priestess, but Walinda had been under the protection of a banelich. Now she was under the protection of a goddess. It didn’t matter. Jas would look for some way to get at the evil priestess.
“Let’s go,” the winged woman said in a gruff voice.
The adventurers seated themselves on the magic carpet, their backpacks beside them. Selune motioned with her hand and another portal opened up.
The stench of sulfur and a smell like burnt human hair wafted from the planar opening. Inside the portal, it was very dark. Then suddenly a fountain of burning rock sprayed upward, lighting a barren slope. The Abyss seemed almost cheery compared to Gehenna.
“Airheart,” Emilo announced as if the command word had been trying to burst from his lips all this while. The flying carpet rose several feet off the ground. “Forward,” the kender ordered.
“Slowly,” Joel prompted.
“Slowly,” Emilo added with a sigh.
The flying carpet passed from Brightwater through the portal into the darkness of Gehenna.
Joel turned for one last look through the portal at Tymora’s garden. The light from the opening shone like a star, then winked out suddenly as the portal closed.
“Back away from the slope five feet,” Emilo ordered the carpet, “and remain in place.”
The carpet hovered, not actually above the ground, but beside a steep mountain slope glowing with hot magma. It felt as if they were standing beside an open oven. No doubt it would have felt worse were they not wearing the rings Winnie had given them to protect them from fire.
As always in a new plane, Jas’s wings had taken on a new form, the most unusual Joel had seen so far. Her wings had joined into a triangular sheet of black flesh, with the apex of the triangle hovering over her head while the other two corners fell downward in loose folds like a bridal train. When Jas stiffened the single wing, it fanned out to either side some ten feet. The flesh glittered with an oozy secretion. Jas let the wing droop about her ankles, then looked at it with disgust and sighed.
Joel pulled out the finder’s stone and thought of Walinda. He had no trouble recalling her admittedly attractive features. Joel suspected she was far older than he, but some magic kept her looking young. She had long, silky black hair and dark eyes. Blood-red tattoos decorated her high cheekbones. She wasn’t particularly tall, but very slender and very graceful. It was the way Walinda made Joel feel, however, that came more readily to mind.
The evil priestess had made no secret of her attraction to Joel. More than once she’d offered him a place at her side. But there were things that Joel found repulsive and frightening about Walinda beyond her worship of a cruel and evil god. Walinda took sick delight in humiliating and physically harming people, even as she was attempting to seduce them. When Joel had insulted her by calling her a slave, the priestess had been perversely excited by his attitude.
The finder’s stone sent out a beam of light that arched upward and around the slope. Walinda was on another face of Mount Chamada, somewhere much higher up.
“That’s all the direction we need,” Holly said to Joel. “You’d better put it away for now. We don’t want the light to attract any unwanted attention.”
Joel slid the crystal into the top of his boot as Emilo gave orders to steer the flying carpet in the general direction indicated by the finder’s stone. The sky overhead was completely black, without a sign of sun, moon or stars. Noxious vapors and steam rose from the mountain, but the mists disappeared into the darkness; there were no clouds to be seen. Conversely, the mountainside below glowed with streams, pools, and fountains of lava, creating just enough illumination for them to travel without running into the ground or getting lost in the void.
They flew for some time in silence, staring ahead into the darkness or down at the glowering mountain, keeping watch for any of the evil creatures who dwelt in this plane. Joel glanced at his companions. Emilo wore an expression of wonder, but Holly and Jas both looked grim. Joel wondered if both women were thinking of Walinda and her treachery. When they’d last met, the evil priestess had abducted Holly and threatened to kill her if Joel didn’t turn the Hand of Bane over to her. Joel had been prepared to pay the ransom for the paladin, but Jas had appeared suddenly and rescued Holly. Ultimately Walinda had refused to resurrect Bane, but not for any noble reason. At Joel’s desperate urging, the priestess had chosen instead to be the woman who denied Bane power, proving herself stronger than the dead god.
After a while Joel began to feel weary. With no way to measure the passage of time, the bard wasn’t sure if he was tired from lack of sleep, heat exhaustion, the noxious vapors, or just boredom, but when he noticed Emilo’s head jerk up suddenly, he knew they had to sleep.
Uncomfortable with the notion of sleeping in the air, he said to the others, “Look for somewhere safe and solid to land. We need a rest.”
Emilo spotted a canyon and maneuvered the flying carpet between the rocky slopes on either side. Joel pulled out the finder’s stone and searched for a patch of ground that might be cool. Spying a touch of green on one slope, he directed Emilo to head for it.
As the flying carpet closed in on the slope, Holly furrowed her brow. The green was an odd triangular shape, and it seemed to reflect the light from the finder’s stone. Something snaked about the apex of the triangle and raised itself in the direction of the adventurers.
“Eyestalks! That green thing is alive!” Holly gasped.
“Pull up! Fly backward!” Jas ordered.
The green thing suddenly rose from the ground to its full height, revealing itself to be a giant slimy worm with razorlike fins along its back, large triangular wings attached along the length of its body, and a deadly-looking barbed tail. It soared forward, then arched back in their direction. The creature’s wings spanned nearly fifteen feet. A gaping maw full of needle-sharp teeth opened on the lower part of the creature’s head.
Jas assessed the creature as it fluttered toward them. It was swift and maneuverable. “We can’t fight this thing in the air,” she said to Joel. “You’ll have to land. I’ll distract it while you find a defensible position.” She took off from the carpet, carrying only her sword. As she soared toward the creature, Joel noticed that Jas’s wings and the creature’s were very similar.
Emilo maneuvered the carpet straight down and commanded it to hover a foot from the ground. Joel poked experimentally at the rock with his sword to be sure it wasn’t merely a thin crust over a magma flow.
In the
sky above, Jas flew straight toward the creature. Both began to rise upward to try to gain the advantage. Seeing she would lose the struggle for superior altitude, Jas leveled off. She’d hoped to soar untouched beneath the beast, but it dropped suddenly, trying to force her to the ground.
Jas jabbed her sword upward as the creature glided over her body, tearing at its belly. At the same time, the creature jabbed at her with its tail. Both Jas and the creature screeched in pain. But while the creature continued to soar in the direction of the hovering carpet, Jas dived to the ground.
Holly leapt off the carpet and whirled around with her sword drawn. The sword glowed with a brilliant gold radiance that seemed to frighten the creature. It veered to its right in an attempt to avoid the paladin’s blade, but before Holly could slice downward on the beast, the leading edge of its wing caught her in the chest. Holly gasped and fell backward. The creature soared on.
When Holly pulled herself to her feet, Joel noted that the paladin’s breastplate had a gaping hole in it. The creature’s wing had sliced right through the metal armor. He remembered Finder had warned them of a razor-winged slasrath. That must be what they battled now.
Joel ordered Emilo, “Go find Jas!”
The kender took off down the canyon in the direction they’d last seen Jas, carefully weaving his way through the pools of lava that dotted the canyon floor.
Joel rummaged hastily through one of the backpacks. He had spilled most of the contents over the flying carpet before he found the scroll he wanted. By the time he’d unrolled the vellum, the slasrath was closing in on him and Holly. This time the paladin took a stance beside Joel, nearer to the bottom of the narrow canyon where the razor-winged beast couldn’t spread its wings without slicing at the rocky slope on either side.
That’s when they discovered that the slasrath, like their carpet, could hover overhead. Its wings rippled above them as it stabbed down at Holly with its tail. The deadly stinger at the end of the creature’s tail struck her in the chest but failed to pierce the paladin’s damaged breastplate.
