Long and wooden, each end shod in iron, it pulsed with arcane energy. Runes and sigils of every type shimmered and danced along its entire length. They had life and magic of their own. At the top, a brilliant sapphire as large as Aliisza's fist pulsed and hummed, vibrating with even more energies.
The magic that coursed through the staff was almost too much to bear. She hated that magic, wanted to beat the staff against the floor, rid it of the horrible power.
But she must not.
She had another purpose. She was a tool, like the staff was a tool.
So Aliisza remained still, just behind the wizened man. She held the staff, kept it from falling.
No one noticed her, the shimmering shadow.
A commotion arose at the periphery of the rotunda, away from Aliisza. Others had come, lesser creatures, hated creatures. Aliisza spotted the first, and though she recognized him as friend, companion, she also hated him. An angel-a fallen angel.
Tauran.
Kaanyr appeared then, and also Kael.
Aliisza knew them, wanted to go to them, but at the same time, she wanted to hurt them, to see them suffer. She hated them.
The three of them called, trying to get the attention of the wizened man and the radiant woman, but neither of them would look over, neither of them could see or hear the newcomers.
Then Tauran tried to enter the center of the rotunda, tried to go to the wizened one, but there were others there, blocking his way.
Zasian had come.
Aliisza gasped again, seeing the priest. She felt hatred, but also appreciation. Obligation. Hope.
Zasian stood before Tauran and prevented him from crossing to the gods. Tauran tried to push past him, but Micus appeared, then, and Micus took hold of Tauran, too.
Tauran struggled, fought against them both. He shouted, called to the wizened one and the radiant one.
The gods noticed. They turned toward the commotion, seeing the newcomers for the first time.
All eyes were elsewhere, watching the angels and Zasian struggle.
Very carefully, Aliisza stepped back, away from the wizened man, creeping so as not to be seen, and took the staff with her. With each step, she stopped and looked back, checking to see if the wizened man or the radiant woman had taken note of her presence.
They had not.
She turned, finally, to the chalk white man.
He smiled at her and held out his hand.
Aliisza smiled back, though she knew he could not see her face, for it was cloaked in shadow. It was shadow. But she smiled at him just the same, for she liked him and wanted him to be happy.
She handed him the staff
The chalk white man raised the staff, looked at it. He nodded in approval. Then he raised it high, holding it in both hands. He stepped right behind the radiant woman, the being who embodied magic.
The chalk white man brought the staff down, slamming it on the radiant woman's head.
He struck her so hard the staff cracked.
There was blinding light.
Aliisza screamed.
The alu came to, huddled in a ball within darkness. Her head throbbed, but she no longer felt the assault of knowledge upon her. She could hear herself panting, but otherwise, all was quiet. She was drenched in sweat.
The images of the rotunda, of the trickery, came back to Aliisza. She did not understand it all, wasn't even sure who it was she had witnessed, but she knew one thing: Tauran and Micus would feud, and Zasian would use it to his advantage.
And another god would die.
I have to warn Tauran!
She sat up and peered around. She was just inside the cave mouth. It was a small chamber, no larger than a couple of paces on a side. The light of the torches shone dimly from just beyond the entrance. She had no idea where it came from, but a terrible sense of urgency overcame her. She had to hurry, though she did not understand why.
Aliisza heaved herself to her feet and ran. She launched herself out of the small cave and into the air, pumping her wings as hard as she could.
There was so little time.
Please be there, she thought, imagining her companions waiting at the dock for her.
She didn't want to be the first one back. She wanted them to be finished already, to know what she knew, to be ready to go when she returned.
So little time!
Though she had lost track of the way back to the dock during their passage, she knew the direction intimately during the return trip. She kept seeing her companions standing on the dock, waiting for her, and that kept it clear in her head. She fixated on that, thought of nothing else.
Get to the docks. Warn Tauran.
She saw the dock lights from a great distance away. They were nothing but a set of tiny glowing pinpricks, but she knew without a doubt that they were her beacons. She increased her speed, flying for all she was worth. Aliisza gasped for breath, fighting the weariness in her wings. The lights grew slowly larger.
At last, she began to make out features. She saw the boats first, moored to the docks, then the docks themselves.
There was no sign of her three companions.
Where are they? she wondered in dismay. We have to hurry!
She landed upon the docks and rushed over to the hound archon that had greeted them. It was the same one, his gray muzzle familiar.
"My companions," she gasped. "I must find them, now. Can you help me bring them back here?"
The celestial creature looked at her in surprise. "They have already gone," he said. "You have been missing for four days."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"This is unacceptable!" Tauran shouted. "You have done nothing but throw bureaucratic barriers in front of us since we got here. It's been three days!" He jabbed a forefinger into the archon's chest to drive home his point. "Now let me speak to someone who can do something about this!"
The archon stood straighter and glared at the angel. He reached up and straightened his white tunic so that the emblem of a hand wreathed in blue fire on his chest showed a little bit more prominently. "Do not touch me again," the dog-headed creature warned. "Or I will call for help, and you will be escorted out of here."
The clerk's officious tone made Tauran want to punch him. I've been around Vhok for too long, the angel thought. I'm too quick to lash out. He took a deep, calming breath and tried again.
"I'm very sorry," he said in gentler tones. "I am weary and it has been a long, perilous journey. But I have explained my urgency to you, and you do not seem to heed it."
"As I told you three times already," the archon said, "everyone is very busy. The proper people have been notified of your request, and when one of them gets a free moment, he or she will be happy to meet with you to discuss your concerns. Until then, you… must… wait!" The archon punctuated the last three words with little jabs of his finger, though he did not touch Tauran when he did so.
The angel sighed and turned away. "This is getting us nowhere," he muttered to Kael and Vhok. "We're going to have to find another way. Come."
He led the other two out of Azuth's Hall of Petitions. He stopped when they stood upon the street running in front of it and turned to look back. The edifice was immense, filling the cavern like some monolithic mountain. Tauran swept his gaze up, taking measure of the seemingly endless levels, plazas, and towers that rose by turns toward the ceiling of the great chamber. Near the top, surrounded by walls and minarets, a very large dome sat, the most splendid part of the structure.
Right there, the angel thought. That's where it happens. And if we could just get inside and warn someone, we could stop it. That would be it. Zasian's plot would be foiled.
"A lot of good it did us to leave Aliisza behind," Vhok grumbled from behind the deva.
Tauran resisted the urge to whirl on the cambion and glare at him. He could feel it all crumbling apart. We're so close, but I can't hold this together much longer. My sanity teeters on the edge of oblivion.
Vhok had been angry a
bout abandoning the alu since Tauran made the decision. In fact, he had refused to entertain the possibility at all when the angel suggested it. Tauran was forced to explain the direness of the situation in terms that magically coerced the half-fiend to acquiesce. Vhok had fumed for the three days since, constantly uttering disparaging remarks, often under his breath, about every move the angel made.
"No more," Tauran said to Vhok. "You made your objections clear the day we left, and I've heard enough. Keep your silence."
"What? You think I'm some child you can scold and discipline?" the cambion said. "You may compel me to assist you in stopping Zasian, but you hold no sway over what I say."
Tauran closed his eyes and swallowed. He did not open them as he spoke. "Perhaps," he explained, "but if you do not cease your complaints, it will hinder my ability to think clearly, and we might not be successful in denying the priest his scheme."
He opened his eyes again. Vhok tried to say something, but he could not form the words. The harder he worked at it, the more his eyes bulged. Veins in his neck stood out from the exertion of trying to defy the geas upon him. When he finally stopped, he just glared at Tauran and then moved off a few steps to pace.
"That was clever," Kael said, keeping his voice soft so that Vhok could not hear.
Tauran sighed. "I didn't even mean for it to work that way," he said. "I merely wanted him to understand how maddening his comments have become. I'm losing control, Kael. Everything is slipping through my fingers."
The knight cocked his head to one side. Tauran could see the worry in the half-drow's eyes. "You're just weary and frustrated," he said, trying to sound encouraging. "You know we're close. And I'm here to help. Just tell me what we need to do."
Tauran took another deep breath, thinking. He wanted to tell Kael that the champion's trust in him was misplaced, that he had led them all on a big, frolicking adventure to a dead end and had managed to ruin all their lives in the process. Instead, he said, "We need to find a way to get inside the rotunda." He pointed to the dome at the top of the Hall of Petitions. "That's where my vision happened. That's where Zasian and Kashada will steal Azuth's staff. You saw it, too."
Kael shook his head as if trying to shake something free. He scrubbed his hand across his face. "I saw it, too," he said. "It's just so hard to believe that such a thing could happen. As powerful as they are, there's no way that Zasian and Kashada, two mere mortals, could sneak in there and steal the Old StafI right out from beneath Azuth's nose."
"If I had told you before all this started that Tyr would slay Helm, would you have found that easy to believe?"
Kael stared at the ground. He shrugged. "No," he admitted. "It would have seemed preposterous. I suppose I just can't imagine how they're going to pull it off."
"That's not important," Tauran said, laying a hand on his companion's shoulder. "Whatever Cyric's intentions are, no good can come of it. And if we can warn Azuth-either directly or through his most trusted advisors-we may never find out what the Liar planned. But if we don't get past all this bureaucracy and actually stop him, Zasian will succeed."
Kael nodded. "Maybe we're going about this all wrong," he said. He turned toward Vhok. "Half-fiend, come here."
Vhok turned and frowned. "You do not give me orders, whelp," he growled.
Tauran started to intervene, but Kael held his hand for the angel to wait. "I know, but we need your expertise."
Vhok grimaced, but he rejoined the two of them. "What?"
Kael smiled. "We need to figure out how to break in there"-he pointed to the dome-"and we figure you're just the clever fellow to come up with a plan."
Tauran tilted his head, looking appreciatively at Kael. Very good, he thought. Draw him in, get him interested again.
Vhok stared at the imposing edifice for a few moments. "Very well," he said. "What do we know about it?"
Tauran shook his head and interrupted. "Not here," he cautioned. "Let's get off the avenue and talk about this somewhere private."
The trio turned and headed away from the Hall of Petitions. They found a private spot within a stone garden and sat down together beneath a series of crystalline columns to discuss things.
"This is where that arcane magic you like to look down your nose at might just come in handy," Vhok said to Tauran as they began to plan.
This isn't going to work, Kael projected. They must have safeguards in place for tricks like this.
Kaanyr would have smiled if he had a mouth, but he had rendered his body insubstantial and nearly invisible through the use of some of his favorite magic. In gaseous form he glided along the roof of the lowest floor of the Hall of Petitions. He angled toward a wall surrounding the next level of the edifice. Behind him, Tauran and Kael moved in similar fashion.
You'd be surprised, the cambion said. Everyone expects the flashy magic-the teleportation, the invisibility-but no one ever thinks to watch for a near-transparent cloud of gas. Just stay low, against the surfaces, and you'll be fine.
Kaanyr's plan had also called for them to link mentally to one another. He needed a few simple items from a vendor in the streets to pull it off. He was proud of its simplicity.
Well, this may get us to the rotunda, but getting inside will be another matter, Kael said. There's bound to be a whole host of protective spells there to keep us out.
We'll deal with that when the time comes, Tauran interjected. We only need to make them see the threat. Even if they catch us, at least we'll have gotten their attention and can explain the dire situation to them.
A thought had been plaguing Kaanyr, one that he had stubbornly shoved to the back of his mind. He didn't want to think about it, but he could no longer ignore it. How do we know Zasian hasn't already succeeded? he asked.
I think we'd have noticed if something had happened, Tauran replied. His thought conveyed wry amusement. You don't steal the Lord of Spells's staff without a bit of noticeable backlash.
Kaanyr had to admit that would be true. Still, he argued, Zasian and Kashada might already be up there, getting ready.
Perhaps, Tauran said. But even if that is so, we are not too late-yet.
Recognizing the angel's sense of urgency, Kaanyr focused on getting the three of them to the dome as quickly as their magic would allow. He led them up and over the wall, where they encountered a colonnaded porch. From there, they climbed to another level and drifted past windows and balconies until they reached a great plaza that surrounded the dome.
The cambion spied sentries everywhere they moved, both archons and angels, dressed in the livery of Azuth and keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings. He led his two companions between the guards, through places where they would best blend in with the architecture. They traveled along corners, glided up columns, and at one point they even seeped through a series of cracks in the stonework, passing right between a hound archon's feet.
Kaanyr thought of Aliisza. He wondered again why she had not returned to the docks to meet them. He remembered the grizzled guide at the docks and his suggestion that some never returned from their journey.
Is that what happened? he wondered. Are you trapped there forever? The thought made him remarkably sad. He felt a brief surge of renewed anger at the angel for leaving her behind.
In his own way, Kaanyr knew he loved her. She could be insufferable at times, strong-headed and too cunning by half. But they had shared much together, and he missed her.
If you could see me now, the cambion thought wryly, helping these two like this, you'd smirk and tell me I was letting my human side get the best of me. He shrugged. Maybe I am.
The real conundrum in Vhok's mind was, he didn't know if he was doing it because Tauran had compelled him or because Aliisza would have insisted on it if she were there. Kaanyr sighed and swore yet again that, when they were finished dealing with Zasian and when the angel released him from his servitude, he would return to the Eye of Savras and find her.
What now? Kael asked, drawing Kaanyr our of his th
oughts. We're almost to the rotunda.
Kaanyr had led them all the way to a narrow railing that encircled the great dome. Narrow windows pierced the surface of the dome at regular intervals there, too small for most creatures to fit through.
Through the gaps, Kaanyr instructed. And we'll see what we see.
He moved to slip through one of the windows and felt a trigger of magic. He had disturbed some arcane barrier.
Uh-oh, he projected. I think I tripped an alarm.
I can sense it, too, Tauran answered. Too late to worry about now. Is something barring you?
Kaanyr tested the window and discovered that it was not blocked. He told Tauran and Kael as much and glided through the gap.
The cambion emerged into a large, curving hallway that clearly surrounded an inner chamber within the dome. Deep azure carpet covered marble floors, and graceful sweeping arches ran from the floor to the ceiling along the outer wall in between each window. Farther down to Kaanyr's left, a set of double doors led into the interior of the dome. In the opposite direction, he could see a pair of archons and a green-skinned, bald-headed planetar approaching. They moved rapidly, clearly in a hurry.
I think they're coming to investigate us, Kaanyr projected. Whatever we're going to do, we'd better do it fast. They won't overlook us now that they're wary.
You two keep going, Tauran instructed. I will confront them. I will try to stall them so you can get inside and warn someone, but whatever happens to me, don't stop.
That's not wise, Kaanyr said. You're an angel, more reputable than either of us in these parts. You should be the one to keep going. They'll listen to you inside. Let me hold them off. A cambion trying to sneak into Azuth's inner sanctum may seem like suicide, but it will also be a reasonable explanation for why we're sneaking in and not knocking on the front door. They won't think to look for accomplices quite as fast.
He's right, Kael agreed. Speak the truth, and they will listen to you. But we don't belong here.
I can't let you do that, Tauran said. I am the one respon-
To the Hells with that, Kaanyr decided. He's not coming up with some coercive reason to make me obey. Before Tauran could finish, the cambion banished his spell of gaseousness and materialized in front of the oncoming celestials.
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