by Novak, Kate
Joel looked down the trail eagerly, but then he turned back to Jedidiah and asked uncertainly, “Do you want me to go alone?”
“I only came north to be sure you escaped the priests of Xvim,” Jedidiah explained.
“I wouldn’t have made it here without you,” Joel said, realizing that without Jedidiah’s help, he would never have completed his pilgrimage.
Jedidiah shook his head. He put his hands on the young man’s shoulders. “Joel, journeying to the Lost Vale isn’t some silly test of your survival skills. It’s a measure of your desire to be part of Finder’s church. It’s a demonstration that you want to understand more about your god.”
“And will I?” Joel asked in a whisper.
Jedidiah lowered his head, then raised it again. He wore a wry grin. “Maybe more than you were meant to,’ he replied. “This is going to be a trying time for our church and for our god.”
“Because we lost the finder’s stone?” Joel asked.
“No. Because I lost the finder’s stone,” Jedidiah corrected. He pointed down the path with one hand and slapped Joel on the back with the other hand. “Go,” he ordered jovially. “Tell Copperbloom I’ll be along later.”
“I will,” Joel said.
“Remember what I told you,” Jedidiah said. “She can understand you just fine even if she can’t speak our language.”
Joel nodded as he began striding down the path. It curved around the mountain, leading downward.
The peaks of the surrounding mountains were still snow-covered, but the air grew warmer as he descended the peak. The boulders and low-growing junipers gave way to pine and spruce trees. Still farther down, stands of birch and aspen broke the solid line of evergreens. Below him, the path left the mountain slope and traveled along a saddle to the next slope. Rhododendrons bloomed in such profusion along the saddle that the land seemed to be covered by a purple haze.
Once he’d reached the saddle, Joel discovered side trails that branched off from the main path. He was nearing inhabited land. Far above him, something cried out, causing him to jump. Among the pine trees, Joel had seen and heard innumerable blue jays, but this cry was like none he’d ever heard. He looked up. Something circled high overhead, like a hawk, but its silhouette looked more like a giant bat than any bird.
When he had crossed the saddle, the path began winding around the next mountain, but now it began to climb the slope. On the southeastern face of the mountain, Joel got his first glimpse of the Lost Vale.
On the northern face of a mountain, across the vale, stood a stone tower. Innumerable small cottages, surrounded by gardens and fields, dotted the floor of the vale. Tiny figures moved about among the buildings; others headed into the mountains and hills.
A magnificent staircase climbed from the vale straight up the southern slope of the mountain on which the bard stood. Joel’s path led through a rose garden to a landing midway up the staircase. The bard hurried forward until he stepped onto the landing. There he paused to take in the view.
The staircase was wide enough for eight men to wall abreast. On either side, amazing gardens clung to the slopes. The flowers and shrubbery and trees and vines sometimes grew over the stairs. Many of the plants were so exotic Joel could not even put a name to them. A stream trickled through the gardens, cascading over rocks. In one place, it flowed over the staircase, forcing the climber to use little stepping stones. Pieces of statuary, great and small, decorated the gardens. Some pieces represented wild creaturesfrogs, birds, turtles, cats. Other carvings were more abstract in nature. Lanterns of stone, wood, metal, even glass, hung from trees or rested on boulders. After every sixteen steps, there was a landing. Each landing was decorated with huge banners hanging from tall posts. The banners were woven, embroidered, or painted with a design, some intricate, others simple and bold. A hundred chimes sounded with every breeze.
There could be no doubt in the mind of anyone climbing the staircase that it led to someplace special. Joel looked upward. Far above, he could just make out a black hole in the mountainside … the entrance to the Singing Cave. Above the entrance, Finder’s symbol had been carved into the mountain. To either side, huge banners of gray silk bearing the same harp symbol fluttered in the wind.
A figure stepped out of the gardens onto the landing just above Joel. The bard put his hand to the hilt of his sword, then, feeling rather foolish, he withdrew it. The figure had to be a saurial. A female, Joel assumed, because she carried a basket of flowers. She wore along white robe, but everything else about her was inhuman.
Though she walked on her hind legs, she leaned forward at her hips, balanced by the massive tail that swayed behind her. She was covered with tiny, pebbly scales in copper and green that made her hide look like very expensive beadwork. She had a long snout and sharp teeth, but no lips. Her eyes were yellow like a snake’s. A shark-like fin rose from her brow and traversed the ridge of her head. She was much shorter than the bard.
Joel considered stepping off the stairs to hide, in order to savor his solitude a bit longer, but it was too late. The saurial had spotted him. She made a series of clicks with her tongue.
“Good day,” Joel said, bowing low.
The saurial bowed back.
“I’ve come to see the temple,” Joel said, feeling rather foolish, since his intent was obvious.
A vanilla scent rose from the creature. Jedidiah had once explained that saurials emitted a variety of odors that indicated their emotions. Joel wished he had thought to ask Jedidiah more about which emotions were indicated by which scents. The creature began trilling. At first Joel shifted nervously, since he couldn’t understand her, but then he recognized she was singing the tune that had opened the magic gate to the ethereal borderland. Joel realized she was trying to ascertain how he’d gotten there.
Joel began singing along with her, his tenor voice blending well with her alto trilling. The music attracted other saurials. A mottled green and brown saurial a foot taller than Joel, with razorlike plates running down its back and spikes on its tail, stepped out of the garden, and two little flyers, no bigger than halflings, with black, batlike wings, landed beside him. All three stood on the stairs to listen. Joel began to elaborate on the tune, finishing with a flourish.
The small audience applauded.
“Yes, I came by the gate,” Joel said, answering what he presumed had been his fellow performer’s question. “I’m Joel. Jedidiah of Finder sent me here on a pilgrimage.”
The creature held her basket of flowers at arm’s length, revealing Finder’s symbol embroidered on her robe.
“You must be Copperbloom,” he said.
The saurial nodded. She shooed the spectators away and motioned for the bard to accompany her up the stairs.
Joel climbed beside the priestess of Finder’s temple. Since she did not speak, he remained silent at first. Then she tapped his arm and motioned to her ear. She wanted him to speak. Even if she couldn’t question him, she could understand anything he had to say.
“Jedidiah’s in the shelter at the end of the gate with two friends. He’ll be coming later,” Joel explained. “We’ve had some trouble getting here, but he’d better tell you about that.”
Copperbloom motioned for Joel to talk about himself. The bard began telling about where he came from and his training at barding college, then related the details of his first meeting with Jedidiah.
By the time they’d reached the top of the staircase, Joel was out of breath, and his throat was parched from speaking. He felt foolish for having babbled so long about himself. Copperbloom led him into the Singing Cave. Just inside the cave entrance was a carpet of moss and ferns. Condensation made the walls sparkle. Little red and yellow skinks skittered about the floor, walls, and ceiling. Swallows shot in and out, hinging insects to their young in nests built in the cave’s nooks and crannies.
‘This is just the way it was when Finder arrived here with the party of adventurers that fought Meander, isn’t it?” Joel asked.
Copperbloom made a circling motion indicating the cave entrance and nodded in response to Joel’s question. Then she pointed to a passage leading deeper into the mountains and shook her head from side to side.
This is a new section?” Joel asked.
The saurial nodded and motioned for Joel to investigate. The passage was lit with light stones. Tapestries hung on the walls. One showed the enslavement of the saurials by the evil god Moander, another showed the battle that destroyed Moander’s Realmsian body, and still another showed how Finder finally slew the abomination forever by killing it in its home plane, the Abyss.
The passage opened into a room full of musical instruments, some common to the Realms, others that Joel had never seen or heard of before. Two saurials similar to Copperbloom sat in this room, one playing a harp and the other a drum.
In the next room were several small saurials. Some stood very still, while others motioned broadly. Since he could not hear their speech, the scene looked very odd to Joel. At first he thought they might be practicing some sort of dance, but when one of them threw a bucket of confetti on another, he realized they were acting out a play. He laughed at the confetti, and the little saurials all turned and bowed.
There was a vast cavern beyond the children’s theater. It was full of painted canvases, pottery, and sculpture too delicate for the outdoors.
Before Joel could explore it all or see what lay beyond, Copperbloom motioned for Joel to turn back. At the entrance of the cave, someone had laid out a breakfast of berries, milk, eggs, and ham. Copperbloom motioned for him to dine. Then she disappeared back down the passageway.
Joel felt like an overindulgent halfling when he finished the repast. When Copperbloom returned, she pointed to the birdpipes hanging from his belt and motioned for him to play.
Joel brought the instrument to his lips and began whistling out a tune. Copperbloom picked it up with her own trilling. They had just finished repeating the piece when more applause came from the cave entrance. Jedidiah stood there, smiling at the pair of them.
“I see you two are learning to communicate,” the old priest said. “How are you, Copperbloom?”
The priestess rose and bowed very low. A series of clicks issued from the back of her throat, and Joel could smell the scent of woodsmoke issuing from her body.
Jedidiah motioned for the priestess to be seated again. He sat before the two of them.
“Where are Holly and Jas?” the Rebel Bard asked.
“Holly’s in the garden. Grypht met us on the stairs,’ the old priest said. “She’s bending his ear about the advantages to the saurials of an alliance with Randal Morn and the Daggerfolk. Grypht is a powerful wizard,” Jedidiah explained for Joel’s benefit. He’s sort of the unofficial leader here. Jas is soaring with the flying saurials.”
“Is that safe?” Joel asked. “Isn’t there a chance she’ll be spotted by Walinda?”
“I warned her to stay lower than the mountain peak The illusion that protects the vale reaches to the top of the mountains,” Jedidiah replied. “Jas is a human woman with wings,” he explained to Copperbloom.
Although Joel heard nothing, Copperbloom must have spoken, for Jedidiah sat listening to her, then shrugged. “No, she wouldn’t tell me how she came to have wings,” he answered the saurial priestess.
“How can you hear Copperbloom?” Joel asked.
“I can hear and understand the saurials and all the priests of Finder,” Jedidiah explained. “It’s a gift from Finder.”
Copperbloom rose and went to the cave entrance. She looked down the staircase, then turned back to face her two human guests. Joel winced at the sound of a high-pitched noise, then he realized he was hearing, just barely, some of Copperbloom’s speech.
Joel and Jedidiah joined Copperbloom at the entrance to the cave. Holly was just outside the entrance, speaking in hushed tones to a giant saurial, nearly ten feet tall and wearing a fur robe. From the staff the creature carried and the arcane magical symbols etched in the bony frill behind its head, Joel guessed the saurial to be Grypht, the powerful wizard and leader of the saurials.
“Joel, it’s beautiful here,” the paladin said. “I can see why you wanted to come.”
“I am Grypht. Pleased to meet you, Joel of Finder,” the saurial wizard said in perfectly recognizable common speech. Since the sounds he made didn’t match the movement of his mouth, Joel guessed that the wizard had used magic to speak with him. Grypht turned to Copperbloom. “I bring a message from Sapphire the Finback. She asks if you will please come to bless her new egg before the end of day.”
Copperbloom nodded.
“Meander destroyed so many of our young that every egg is precious to us,” Grypht explained to Joel. “Each one is blessed by every priest and priestess we have.”
The young saurials who had been rehearsing the play burst out from the temple, the flyers taking to the air, the others heading for the staircase. Copperbloom snagged one of the finheads by the shirt and pulled him toward her.
“This,” Jedidiah said, “is Handful, Copperbloom’s oldest hatchling. Well met, Handful,” he addressed the young saurial.
The priestess made a clicking noise, and Handful bowed quickly to the group, then fidgeted in his mother’s grip.
“He grows more like his father every day,” Jedidiah noted.
Handful narrowed his eyes and looked up at the old priest. If the young saurial made a reply, Joel couldn’t hear it.
“Yes, he does seem to share his father’s immunity to your charms,” Grypht said to Jedidiah.
Jedidiah winked at Handful. Copperbloom released her son. The boy made another, much more formal, bow, which Joel sensed was more saucy than reverent. Then the young saurial dashed into the gardens and was soon lost from sight.
“I was wondering if you would show Holly down to the village,” Jedidiah asked Grypht. “I have some church business to discuss with Joel and Copperbloom.”
Holly descended the stairs with the saurial wizard, and Jedidiah motioned for Joel and Copperbloom to follow him back into the Singing Cave.
The three priests sat on the moss and ferns, and Jedidiah instructed Joel to describe his adventures since arriving in Daggerdale. Joel related his encounters with the Zhentilar, Holly, Randal Morn, Bear, the Xvimists, Walinda, and Jas. He told how he, Holly, and Jas were hunted across Daggerdale and how Jedidiah had rescued them in Giant’s Craw Valley.
Then Jedidiah explained why he had put some of his power into his half of the finder’s stone. Copperbloom chirped, and a scent like baked ham rose from her body.
“Yes, I know I could have just left them, but I wanted to stay with Joel,” Jedidiah replied to the saurial priestess.
Copperbloom chirped something else.
“Of course he can take care of himself,” Jedidiah retorted. “I justI wanted” Jedidiah hesitated then sighed. “I wanted the chance to go adventuring again,” he admitted.
Copperbloom looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head slowly back and forth.
“That’s not the worst part,” Jedidiah said.
Copperbloom leaned forward with her eyes fixed rigidly on the older priest. Jedidiah reported quickly and matter-of-factly how Walinda had stolen the finder’s stone. Copperbloom gestured wildly with her hands, making a series of whistling noises, which Jedidiah listened to with a grim look. Then Jedidiah told her of the banelich and the old priest’s agreement to find the
Hand of Bane in exchange for the finder’s stone. Copperbloom put her head in her hands and moaned.
“I was stupid and reckless, I know,” Jedidiah said to the priestess. “But there’s nothing to be done about it. I have no choice. I have to find the Hand of Bane so I have something to bargain with. It’s somewhere in Sigil.”
Copperbloom trilled something, and the smell of baked bread rose from her body.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” Jedidiah said. “Would you please bring it to me?”
Copperbloom huff
ed. She rose to her feet and retreated down the hallway toward the other caverns, shaking her head and making disturbed clicking noises.
“She doesn’t look pleased,” Joel noted. “She reminds me of how my mom used to act when I did something dumb.”
“Ever since she became a mother she treats me like a child,” Jedidiah said. “Actually, come to think of it, most of the women in my life treat me like a child. I suppose I deserve it.”
Copperbloom returned a few minutes later with a large blue-glazed porcelain bowl decorated with a harp, a glaur, and a songhorn, all entwined in green vines laden with yellow blossoms. She set the bowl down before Jedidiah and bowed low.
“Thank you,” Jedidiah said.
The bowl was filled with pure white sand. Jedidiah brushed the sand aside until he uncovered a glimmer of yellow. Gently he loosened what was buried in the sand and pulled it out.
Joel gasped. “It’s the finder’s stone!”
“Half of the finder’s stone,” Jedidiah corrected.
The stone the old priest held was the mirror image of the stone Joel had seen Jedidiah use to siphon off his powera rounded, multifaceted yellow gemstone with a jagged bottom.
“This,” Jedidiah said, blowing sand from the stone, “is the half of the stone Finder left in the vale with Alias and the saurials before he went into the Abyss to find the mage Akabar bel Akash. It hasn’t left the vale since thennearly ten years ago.”
“I thought Finder went into the Abyss to kill Moander,” Joel said.
Jedidiah shook his head. “That wasn’t his original intention, but Akabar sacrificed his own life to convince Finder to kill Moander.”
Suddenly Joel came to another realization. “If that’s the half of the finder’s stone that Finder left the saurials, then the half you had was …” Joel let his voice trail off.
“… the half that Finder took with him to the Abyss,” Jedidiah said with a nod.
Joel’s eyes widened. “You had Finder’s half of the stone? How did you get it?” he asked, his voice low with wonder. “Did Finder give it to you?” he asked.
