Tymora's Luck Page 13

  “There, see,” Emilo called out excitedly.

  “Yes. I see them,” Jas replied.

  The bard rolled over. Emilo and Jas stood outside the tarp. Joel yawned and crawled out to see what they were looking at. They were camped on a little hillock at the foot of a cliff. A talus field, left over from yesterday’s earthquake, surrounded the hill. A mild breeze had dispersed most of the fog. The sky far overhead was once again full of black clouds and sheet lightning.

  Joel rubbed his eyes and yawned. “What’s up?” he asked.

  “See the bats fluttering around down there?” Emilo whispered excitedly, pointing downhill. “It must mean there’s a cave nearby. It could be the entrance to Beshaba’s realm. We should go look.”

  Joel and Jas agreed it would be worth checking out after breakfast. Jas returned to the tarp and began rummaging through Winnie’s knapsack for breakfast. They split a loaf of bread and downed some more magical berries.

  They washed breakfast down with water, leaving the second water flask half empty. Realizing he’d probably have to magically create more water soon, Joel began singing a soft prayer to Finder to grant him the spells he would need. He felt curiously empty as he did so. It was then he realized that perhaps he should be holding his power key while he prayed.

  When he couldn’t find the stone in his rolled-up shirt, Joel searched beneath the tarp. Then he began unpacking the backpacks. His searching grew more frantic. He began searching up and down the slope, fearing the stone had rolled downhill in the mist.

  Jas joined the search, going through the backpacks again, more carefully this time. She felt in every fold of the tarp and crawled around among the boulders that held the tarp line, in case the stone had become lodged beneath one of them.

  Emilo pretended he was joining in the search, but he felt too foolish.

  “Why don’t we check out the cave?” he asked.

  Joel glared at the kender and continued to stalk about the campsite.

  “You don’t really need the stone now, do you?” Emilo asked.

  Joel whirled about, barely concealing his panic and anger. The kender’s earnest expression softened him somewhat. He proceeded to explain patiently. “Emilo, the power key is a link to Finder’s heart. I can’t just leave it lying around on a mountainside in the Abyss. You heard Selune. It could be used against Finder. And it wouldn’t be the first time, either. I would have failed him after all the trust he’s placed in me.”

  “I don’t think anything like that will happen,” Emilo said calmly.

  “How would you know?” Joel snapped angrily.

  It was Jas who suddenly gained insight into Emilo’s strange statement. “Emilo, do you know where the stone is?” the winged woman asked.

  Emilo looked down at the ground, then at the humans, then back down at the ground. Slowly he pulled the stone from his knapsack.

  A tiny sob escaped Joel’s lips and he sighed with relief. He snatched the stone from the kender’s hands.

  “I’m sorry,” the kender said. “I tried to explain to Sirrion how important it was to you, but he said it was cursed. I was only trying to protect you.” The kender’s voice cracked with emotion. “I’m really sorry,” he added.

  Joel slid the finder’s stone into his shirt and pressed the cool crystal into the flesh over his heart. He began breathing more deeply, and his pulse slowed to normal.

  “Who the heck is Sirrion?” Jas asked.

  “He’s a god on Krynn. Lord of the Flowing Flame. He said I should take the finder’s stone because it was cursed. He’s a god, so I thought he must be right.”

  “He said the stone was cursed? When?” Jas asked. “When did Sirrion say this?”

  “Before you woke up,” Emilo explained. “He appeared as aflame not far from here and told me about the cave. He said you wouldn’t need the finder’s stone, and I should take it so it didn’t lead us to our doom.”

  “Why would a god from another world …” Jas started to ask. “You don’t think it was her, do you?” she asked, referring obliquely to Beshaba. “An illusion she sent?”

  Joel shook his head. “If she’s noticed us, she could, and probably would, crush us like fruit flies. Maybe it’s some other evil creature causing mischief.”

  “No,” Emilo insisted. “It felt like a god. It was Sirrion. I’m sure. The flame was very beautiful, and it felt …” The kender struggled to find the words to describe his awe and excitement upon speaking with the flame. “It felt godlike,” he concluded.

  “So what sort of god is this Sirrion?” Jas asked.

  “He controls fire so that it’s useful and beautiful, not destructive,” Emilo explained. “He said he came to be sure I was safe.”

  Joel looked up at the sky in disbelief.

  “Why don’t you pray for your spells,” Jas said, “while Emilo and I pack up the gear?”

  Joel knelt beside the boulder and sang a prayer to his god. With the finder’s stone once again in his possession, the prayer left him feeling strong and certain that his spells would be granted.

  “Are we going to look for the cave where the bats went?” Emilo asked anxiously. “Sirrion said it was the way into Beshaba’s realm.”

  Joel and Jas exchanged glances, not certain they trusted Emilo’s vision.

  “We may as well see what’s there,” Jas said.

  Joel nodded. If there wasn’t a cave, or it didn’t lead to Beshaba’s realm, at least then Emilo would realize he’d been duped.

  There was indeed a cave. The opening was at the base of the hillock where they had camped. Overhanging rock had sheltered the cave entrance so it hadn’t been blocked by the avalanche. The entrance was wide but very low. Jas and Joel had to duck to enter. They could hear water dripping, and deeper within the cave a shallow pool glittered, reflecting back the light from the cave entrance.

  Jas touched Joel’s arm and pointed. A human figure sat half hidden in the shadows of the cave, staring into the pool of water. Suddenly the shadowy figure rose, shape-changed into the form of a human man wearing armor and wielding a sword, and dived into the water, disappearing completely from sight.

  “It’s times like this when I really miss Holly,” Jas whispered. “With her paladin ability to detect evil, she could warn us whether or not we should get any closer to that creature, whatever it is.”

  “In a place like this where everything is evil, Holly would have a ringing headache by now,” Joel countered.

  Seemingly unconcerned with the possible dangers, Emilo walked into the cave and approached the pool of water.

  “Emilo,” Jas called out in a warning tone.

  “I can see him,” the kender said excitedly. “This pool must be a portal to another place. He’s in another room, fighting another man.” The kender gave a little gasp. “No, wait. He’s fighting himself.”

  Joel and Jas moved deeper into the cave. The limestone ceiling and walls glistened with water, and tiny crystals glittered all along the floor, crunching under their boots. Jas and Joel found they could stand up, though Joel’s head brushed the cave roof in spots. Farther back in the shadows, they could see about twenty small, furry bats hanging from the ceiling.

  Joel and Jas joined Emilo beside the pool of water. On the opposite side of the water’s surface were two identical men, dressed in identical armor, fighting with identical swords. The adventurers couldn’t hear the combat, but they could see that one man was gaining the upper hand in the duel. The room surrounding the men was a gaudily decorated bedroom. Joel would have guessed it was a visitor’s room in a festhall, but where in all the worlds the room was, he had no way of knowing.

  The bard knew what it was he was seeing, however. “A fetch,” he whispered.

  “A what?” Jas asked.

  “It’s an evil creature that dwells in the Abyss,” the bard explained. “There’s a creepy Turmish song about fetch that explains why Turmish law prohibits large mirrors. Fetch attack through portals that lead to mirrors in the Prime
Material Plane, taking on the forms of their intended victims. Their attacks drain the life energy from their victims. Then the victim is dragged back to the Abyss, where he becomes another fetch. There’s one thing that bothers me, though. Fetch are supposed to be invisible to all but their victims.”

  “Perhaps we can see him because we’re on his home plane,” Jas suggested.

  “That could be,” Joel agreed. He pulled out the finder’s stone to illuminate the rest of the cave. The cavern didn’t appear to extend back into the mountainside more than ten yards. Joel saw no evidence of passages that went any deeper. Sirrion’s “passage” was a dead end.

  The bard glanced back into pool. On the opposite side of the portal, four more armed men came running through a door into the room where the two fetch fought. Although they couldn’t see the fetch, the armed men surrounded the fetch’s victim, presumably their companion, with a circle of swords.

  Joel whirled around. “We’ve got to get out of here before the fetch flees back through the portal,” the bard insisted.

  Joel’s warning came in time for Jas and Emilo to retreat to the entrance, but the fetch reared out of the watery portal and splashed to the shore between Joel and his avenue of escape.

  Upon spying the bard, the monster smiled coldly. Suddenly Joel found he was looking at himself. The fetch had assumed the bard’s form and raised a sword identical to the one Finder had given to Joel. He retreated back several steps and drew his own weapon. It was unnerving enough knowing the fetch would be draining his life energy if it struck him; having to attack his twin made it worse. On top of all that, fetch were said to be excellent fighters.

  The fetch had received some injuries from his last opponent. He was bleeding from a slash on his leg and a superficial stab in his gut. It wasn’t enough of a handicap as far as Joel was concerned. The bard took a completely defensive stance, blocking the first strike with his sword and retreating from the second. He was now cornered in the back of the cave.

  It was Jas who dealt the first blow to the creature, a deep cut to the shoulder. She followed it up quickly with a slice to the creature’s ribs. The fetch whirled and hissed. This time it didn’t bother to shapeshift again, but targeted the winged woman still wearing Joel’s form. Its first blow glanced off Jas’s shoulder guard, but the second drew blood, slicing through her leather wrist guard and penetrating the flesh beneath.

  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 ke
nder 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.