by Novak, Kate
“Not precisely,” Jedidiah said. He sang a scale, then another in a different key. The half of the finder’s stone glowed brightly and cast a beam of golden light on Jedidiah. As it did, the old priest began to transform. His back grew straighter; his skin became unwrinkled; his muscles hardened; his hair darkened to black, with only a few splotches of gray. His features still looked like Jedidiah, but the signs of his age had evaporated, and youthful vitality flowed through his body.
When the transformation had ceased, Jedidiah turned to Joel. “You see,” he said with a sheepish expression on his face, “I had Finder’s half of the stone because I carried it with me into the Abyss. It was my half of the stone. I’m Finder, your god.”
Eleven
Finder
Joel’s jaw dropped. He stared wordlessly at Jedidiah for a full twenty heartbeats, while his mind struggled to form a coherent reply. Finally he said, “I don’t believe it,” then instantly felt foolish.
“I’m afraid it’s true,” Jedidiah replied. “May I strike myself with lightning if it’s not,” he joked. Excitement gripped Joel’s heart. Here he was, speaking with a god, the god he’d agreed to serve. Suddenly he was nervous. “Um, is there some special way I should address you? Should I kneel or bow, or anything? I’ve never met a god before,” he said.
Jedidiah shook his head. “No. My ego’s large, but despite what my detractors say, it’s not that large. I’m not really comfortable with adulation. I’m just a little god. You can keep calling me Jedidiah. I’ve gotten rather attached to the name.”
Joel grinned. The fears Walinda had tried to use to cloud his judgment evaporated. He was really talking with Finder. Then a new worry niggled at his heart. “If you’re Finder, then what happened to Jedidiah?” he asked. “Jedidiah is me, or I’m Jedidiah. It’s a disguise I wear when I travel around the Realms.”
“Then that was you in Berdusk?” Joel asked. “When you were telling me about Finder, you were telling me about yourself?”
Jedidiah nodded.
Joel let out his breath. He thought he’d been asked to join Finder’s church by a charming old bard-priest, when all along it was Finder himself. “Why me?” he asked.
“Why did I ask you to be a priest?” Jedidiah inquired.
Joel nodded.
“Well, I wanted to get the best people I could find-people who already believed strongly in transforming art. I’d watched you in Berdusk, arguing with your teachers, trying to break the constraints of traditional music. You already understood what it took me centuries to understand. Also, you were well rounded, took an interest in everything. You reminded me a little of myself when I was younger, except you’re modest.”
“But why all the special attention? Why did you follow me? Didn’t you think I could make it here on my own?” Joel asked. He felt like a failure, since he knew he would have died without Jedidiah’s help.
“As I told you earlier, the journey wasn’t a test to see if you could get here on your own. It was a measure of your desire to be part of my church. And I didn’t actually follow you. One of my godly abilities is always knowing what’s happening to any of my priests,” Jedidiah explained. “I heard you call for my blessing in Daggerdale, but you took care of the Zhents without needing of my help. I considered stepping in when Bear betrayed you to the Xvimists, but Xvim keeps an eye on his priests, too. If I interfered with one of them, Xvim would interfere with me. I needed to be more subtle in my efforts to help you escape. I don’t dare risk attracting Xvim’s attention. To put it bluntly, Bear’s god can beat up your god. When you were imprisoned in the
Temple in the Sky and called on me, I sent you the vision and a piece of magic, but you escaped, with your friend, on your own.”
Jedidiah sighed. “I haven’t been a god all that long. I still long for mortal things sometimes. As I explained to Copperbloom,” he said, “I only began to travel with you because I got caught up in the adventure. I wanted to find out what a priestess of Bane was doing with a spelljammer. I wanted to watch you thwart the Xvimists. I wanted to be part of your journey. If I hadn’t been such a fool, if I’d just returned to the Lost Vale after you escaped, the dark stalker would have lost you and you would have been just fine.”
“But why all the special attention?” Joel asked again. “You must have better things to do with your time.”
“Joel,” Jedidiah said softly, “you’re my priest. You are my strength. I told you that before.”
“What about your other priests?” Joel asked.
Jedidiah looked up at Copperbloom. A vanilla scent rose from the saurial priestess as she clicked with what Joel was sure was laughter.
This is it,” Jedidiah said, making a circling motion with his finger to indicate the occupants of the room. “You, me, Copperbloom. This is my only templeso far. There are several little shrines, most of them set up by people you spoke to on your journey here. More than a few artists have seen fit to evoke my name, giving me a little more power. It’s going to take some years, though, before our church gets much larger. For one thing, we have to proceed with caution. There are some gods, far more powerful than I, who don’t like the competition I represent.”
“Like Oghma and Milil,” Joel guessed.
Jedidiah nodded. “The Lord of Knowledge and the Lord of Song are afraid I’ll be poaching bards and artists away from their following. There’s also the power I took from Moander. I have some control over the cycle of lifegrowth, rot, and rebirth. Chauntea, the Great Mother, and Lathander, the Morninglord, are both involved in rebirth and growth. Which leaves me control over rotnot something most people have a tremendous attraction to, unless you happen to be a former worshiper of Moander.”
“So what will you do?” Joel asked.
“Well, I still plan to work with everything over which I’ve been given dominion,” Jedidiah said. “But I need to proceed carefully. I need to build a strong framework for my churchone that other churches can’t bring down easily. That’s why I’ve searched out and set up two very strong supports.” Jedidiah indicated Joel and Copperbloom with his hands.
Joel bowed his head humbly. Then he looked back up at Jedidiah. “Why didn’t you tell me all this in Berdusk?” he asked. “Why the disguise as an old priest?”
“There’s lots of reasons for the disguise. I can’t really hide from other gods, but at least I can try not to attract their attention, or the attention of their churches. Also, I don’t want a lot of people around me vying for my attention while I’m trying to get things done.”
“But why didn’t you tell me until now?” Joel asked, feeling cheated that he’d been left out of the secret. “Copperbloom knew, didn’t she?”
“Copperbloom is a special case,” Jedidiah explained. “I spent my first few years as a god roaming the planes, savoring my freedom and immortality. Copperbloom was one of my first worshipers. She called me to the Realms, pointed out that I had responsibilities to the few followers I did have. Without her encouragement and pestering, there would be no church of Finder. As for telling you, I just did.”
“But you let me think you were someone else for a year,” Joel complained, still feeling left out.
“Well, that’s another one of those mortal things I still long for sometimes,” Jedidiah said.
“What?” Joel asked, confused.
“Friendship,” the god replied.
Joel lowered his eye, feeling ungracious.
“I genuinely enjoyed your company, our talks, our debates,” Jedidiah explained. “I didn’t want to spoil things by telling you my true identity right away. It would have changed our relationship. I should have told you as soon as I found out about the dark stalker sniffing out my power. Then you wouldn’t have worried about me. But I was bitten by the adventuring bug, and I was happy traveling with a friend. So I came up with the half-cracked scheme of hiding most of my power in my half of the finder’s stone, knowing full well how vulnerable it would make me.”
“And
the banelich discovered that vulnerability,” Joel noted, “and intends to exploit it.”
“Yes,” Jedidiah replied with chagrin. “I should have teleported here to siphon off my power into the saurial’s half of the finder’s stone, then had Grypht teleport me back, but I got cocky. I sensed the banelich was approaching, but I thought I would be a match for it, even without most of my power. Unfortunately, the power I put in the stone included my godly ability to know everything that was going on around me. I could no longer sense the banelich’s presence. I couldn’t even sense Walinda when she picked my pockets. It never occurred to me that anyone could steal the stone so easily. I’m just too reckless sometimes.” He looked down at his hands and sighed. Then he looked up with a foolish grin and asked, “How does it feel to discover that your god is a fool?”
Joel couldn’t think of a fitting reply. Instead, he asked, “Isn’t there some way to retrieve your half of the finder’s stone from the banelich without handing over the Hand of Bane?” Jedidiah shook his head, but Joel argued on, irritated that the idea was being dismissed so quickly, “But you’re a god. He’s just the essence of a god.”
“I’m still immortal and very strong. I can cast some simple spells. To a mortal, I may seem powerful, but to a banelich … we may just be evenly matched. And even if I could defeat the banelich in combat, I couldn’t prevent it from breaking the stolen half of the finder’s stone and destroying all the power within it.”
“What about other gods?” Joel asked. “Wouldn’t any of them help you?”
Jedidiah snorted derisively. “The other gods would be just as likely to take the power I stored in the finder’s stone for themselves.”
“Even Tymora? You said that she was Finder’sI mean yourally.”
Jedidiah said nothing for a moment, then muttered, “I really don’t want to ask her. Not yet, at any rate.”
Joel was about to ask, “Why not?” when it occurred to him that Jedidiah was embarrassed. He didn’t want to lose face before the goddess by admitting how foolish he’d been.
“Besides, that still doesn’t solve the problem that the banelich might break the stone if he’s confronted,” Jedidiah added.
Joel sighed. “Do you” he began, then hesitated.
“Do I what?” Jedidiah asked. “Ask whatever you want. Please.”
Nervously, for he was uncertain what the god’s reaction might be, Joel asked, “Do you really need the power in the stone?”
“When I put my power into the other half of the finder’s stone,” Jedidiah explained, “I lost more of my godly abilities than I intendedmy ability to sense what’s going on around me, and around my priests, my ability to teleport and to cast powerful magic. I wasn’t even able to shapeshift to my real form until I took back the little bit of the power I left in this stone.” Jedidiah held up the saurial’s half of the finder’s stone. “If my church grows, I’ll gain power from my worshipers and gain back some of those abilities, but that will take time.”
“How much time?” Joel asked.
“A long time. Centuries, I suspect. You see, in order to gain power from my mortal followers, I have to give power to them, but I don’t really have that much to give. I have just enough right now to grant you and Copperbloom some simple priestly spellsif I concentrate hard. I’m not even sure I could actually handle any more priests just now. So it will be kind of hard for the church to grow.”
Joel sat quietly for a few moments, examining his feelings. He was pleased his god saw fit to trust him with plans and secrets. He wasn’t even too upset about being deceived for so long. Since he’d become a priest, he had hoped he would have a chance to prove himself worthy of the honor Jedidiah had bestowed upon him, and now the opportunity had presented itself. He was uncertain, however, about having anything to do with retrieving the Hand of Bane for Walinda and the banelich. Yet his god needed his help now more than ever.
He looked up at Jedidiah’s face. “I’ll do everything in my power to help you get your stone back,” he said.
Jedidiah smiled with relief. “I appreciate it,” he said. “I have a feeling I’m going to need your help where we’re going.” Jedidiah slapped his hands on his knees. “Well, now that that’s been taken care of, I think we’re entitled to a break. Shall we join your friends?”
“Are you going to remain in your present form?” Joel asked.
“Yes. It’s a little handier should we get into any physical combat. I’ll tell Holly and Jas I’m traveling to the Outlands in disguise to avoid my enemies there. The saurials don’t really care. They’ve seen me in both forms.”
Copperbloom remained behind in the temple as Joel and Jedidiah descended the mountain to the saurial village.
“This staircase and the gardens are really amazing,” Joel said. “Clearing the trees from the slope alone must have been a huge project. Did you have something to do with its creation?” he asked.
Jedidiah shook his head. “This is the path Moander cleared when he climbed the hill to reach my friends
hiding in the Singing Cave. Something about the way the abomination moved carved out the steps, which the saurials then paved with stone. The part that took the most work was hauling all this dirt up the mountain in order to plant the gardens. The exotic plants are from the saurials’ home world. Grypht made a trip there and brought them back.”
They found Holly engaging in stick combat with Handful in front of a cottage. Joel explained to Holly why Jedidiah’s appearance was altered. The paladin studied Jedidiah for a few moments, then nodded in acceptance of the old priest’s new younger look.
The odor of vanilla wafted in the air, and the young saurial chittered. Joel realized he was laughing at the story of Jedidiah being disguised to thwart his enemies.
Jedidiah gave Handful a half-threatening, half-amused glower. “Very funny,” he said. “Why don’t you fetch some lunch for our guests?” he suggested.
Handful slipped off into the cottage.
“What did he say?” Holly asked curiously.
“He suggested I disguise myself as the god Lathander instead.”
Holly’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s a stupid little-boy joke,” Jedidiah replied. “Ill see you two later. Enjoy your meal.”
“Where’s Jas?” Joel asked.
“She’s still up there with the flying saurials,” Holly said, pointing up at a mountain peak. Joel could just make out a pink spot flying in formation with several black dots.
Handful returned with a tray of food and drink, consisting of fresh fruit and vegetables, venison sausage, a dish of heavily spiced ground wheat, and hot tea. They ate seated on tree stumps in the cottage garden. A short time later Jas landed. Her face was flushed and she was smiling broadly.
Once again Joel explained that Jedidiah was in disguise to avoid his enemies in the Outlands.
“You sure you weren’t in disguise before to avoid your enemies in the Realms, and this is how you really look?” Jas asked Jedidiah, a sly grin on her face.
Jedidiah grinned back at the winged woman. “Don’t you think I’d prefer to convince people I was a much younger man with such a beautiful and clever young woman present?” he asked.
Jas flushed and turned her attention to the meal. Locustlike, she polished off all the remaining food before lying down in the sun for a nap.
“She looks happy for a change,” Joel noted.
Holly shrugged. “She’s found an activity to temporarily take her mind off the death of her friends,” the paladin said. “It will be a long time before she’s at peace, let alone happy.”
Joel looked down into his teacup, feeling insensitive. Holly, he realized, was speaking from her own experience of losing her family to the Zhents.
Handful tugged Holly off to show the young paladin around the vale. Jedidiah sat with Joel in the garden, telling him tales about the saurials and the death of Moander.
That evening the saurials held a feast for
their guests. They served roasted boar and good, strong ale. Jedidiah and Joel were called upon to sing and play. Joel was asked to tell the tale of his journey north. Holly sang a Daggerdale haying song. Prompted by the flying saurials, even Jas sang a strange song about traveling between the spheres that not even Jedidiah had heard before. The saurials sang, too. It was eerie watching the saurials listen to sounds the humans couldn’t hear, but Grypht and Jedidiah translated the words. The saurials also played musical instruments, but these the humans could hear. Copperbloom and two of her students accompanied Joel on several tunes. The young saurials performed a skit, the play Joel had watched them rehearse in the temple. It was about a pact the tribe had once made with a dragon back on their home world. It was past midnight when the saurials finally began drifting homeward and released their guests from the celebration. Copperbloom led Jas and Holly off, and Handful showed Joel and Jedidiah to a small cottage. Joel pulled off his boots and flopped down on one of the two beds with a sigh of genuine pleasure. It was the first real bed he’d been in since Anathar’s Dell, and he expected the night to be just as restful.
Jedidiah lay on the bed across the room. He was soon snoring softly. Apparently, without the majority of his godly power to sustain him, the efforts of the past few days had exhausted him as it would any human.
Despite the amusements of the evening, all the ale he’d had to drink, and the softness of the feather bed, Joel had trouble drifting off to sleep. He couldn’t help thinking about Walinda, the banelich, and the consequences of handing over the Hand of Bane to them. Although Jedidiah had invited Joel to ask him any question, the young bard had kept one in reserve. Now the question rustled through his brain like a serpent slithering through dried leaves.
Wouldn’t it be better, he thought, just to forget the power in the finder’s stone? Was the power so important to Jedidiah that he was prepared to assist in the resurrection of so evil a god as Bane, earning the enmity of all good people in the Realms? If Jedidiah would forgo the power rather than aid Bane’s followers, he would still have his immortality, without forfeiting any of the love and respect Joel and many of the saurials obviously felt for him. Of course, Joel realized, Copperbloom might not see it that way. She had been instrumental in getting Finder to start his church, and the power in the stolen finder’s stone would help that church to grow.
