54. Dark Rituals
Crossroad Keep was as derelict and crumbled as Highcliff Castle had been. It was dark, and forlorn -- but it was situated in a strategically sound position, Kail quickly realised. The land around was flat, and ancient fields lay fallow. To the east, low hills gave way to high mountains. To the north, heavy forest covered the land. But the Keep held the high ground, giving defenders an advantage over attackers.
Beside the entrance to the fields, a mere break in the rickety fence, lay an unmoving body. Seeing that it was a Human corpse, burnt to a crisp, Kail looked away. Ever since Amie's death, she had been uncomfortable around fire and its destruction. Incinerating Lorne during her trial hadn't helped matters, either.
"That farmer..." said Shandra. "They didn't even bury him, just left him there for the vultures."
"If so, the vultures won't get much meat off him. He's been charred pretty badly," said Bishop.
"Show some respect for the dead, Bishop."
"Little girl, farmers living too far from a well-travelled road or town die all the time -- something you've barely avoided up to now. This one, at least he died quick. Looks like a fireball burnt his worthless body to ash."
"Enough, you two," said Kail. "This isn't the time for arguments."
"Psssst!" came the sound from a nearby burnt-out farmhouse. Kail approached the building cautiously, followed by her companions. Inside the shell of the house stood half a dozen men carrying swords. Each of them wore white-blue robes. "My name is Vale, I'm with the Many-Starred Cloak," said the man who had grabbed her attention. He was an elf, she realised.
"Kail," she said with a nod of her head.
"I've been expected you. Listen, the Luskans change guard shifts around this time, moving men in and out of the Keep. If we strike hard and fast, we'll take the courtyard and be inside the Keep before they realise what's going on."
"What are we up against?"
"Around twenty Luskan soldiers in the courtyard, most of them asleep, and a handful more inside the Keep. The Arcane Brotherhood wizards will be more of a challenge, but we can handle them."
"You're not certain of the Brotherhood's numbers?"
"Luskan is just probing our defenses," said Vale. "The Hosttower wouldn't risk too many wizards on this sort of mission."
"Let's get to it then."
"The Luskans are opening the doors!" said one of the wizards who was observing the Keep from a window.
"Ready?" asked Vale. Kail nodded.
"Lead the way."
With Vale and the other wizards of the Many-Starred Cloak leading, Kail and her companions followed across the fields. Their goal was the heavy door of the Keep, which currently stood open to allow a patrol to return. They had just a short window of opportunity to overwhelm the enemy forces in the courtyard and secure access to the Keep itself.
As they clattered into the courtyard, the enemy soldiers began to wake, picking up their arms. Arrows flew past Kail, taking down soldiers before they could even stand. Some died in their sleep.
"The doors, get to the doors!" shouted Vale above the commotion. But one of the Luskan commanders was more alert than the others; he sent some of his men inside the Keep to barricade the door, while the others rushed forward to stall the attack.
Kail immediately went one-on-one with a Luskan soldier, and quickly overcame him. He was one of the few wearing armour, and was slower to react because of it. Her dagger found a weak spot in the armour at the neck, and the blade severed his carotid artery. Once her opponent was down she helped Grobnar dispatch another soldier, then turned in time to see the last soldier go down with a shard of ice lodged through his chest; some spell or other, courtesy of Qara. Everybody was panting with the exertion of the run upto the courtyard, but nobody was injured. Her own ten-strong team, coupled with the half-dozen wizards of the Cloak, had been enough to put down the resistance.
Vale and the other wizards were already on their way upto the Keep door, and Kail only waited for Neeshka to finish inspecting the bodies before joining them.
"Damn it. Nathe, Sevann, I want those doors open. Now," said Vale, before turning to speak to her. Two of the wizards stepped forward and began casting fireballs on the door. "Sorry about the delay, this should only take a moment."
"It's alright. Battles are usually unpredicatble." She knew all too well how the odds could quickly change to or from your favour.
"Vale, we're being counterspelled," said one of the wizards. "I don't think we're going to be able to open the doors from this side."
"Wonderful. Looks like the Brotherhood has a few tricks of its own," he sighed.
"Well, it won't save them once we get inside, trust me," said Qara.
"Alright, backup plan. I know this Keep has an escape tunnel somewhere. I want you to find the tunnel exit and use it to get inside the Keep."
"I'm getting a little tired of these orders," said Bishop, pulling his bow taught to test the tension of the string.
"Once you're inside," continued Vale, "kill whichever wizards are countering our spells so we can open the doors. The tunnel entrance would be in the mountains, far beyond these walls, where invaders would be unlikely to look. I will mark the likely region on your map."
"Why don't we all just use the tunnel?" Kail asked him.
"Because I don't relish the idea of our entire force being packed into a confined space, that's why. A small team is best, and that means you."
"I'll go have a look around then."
"Make it fast, Kail. Looks like the weather's about to turn against us," said Vale, pointing to the dark storm clouds on the horizon.
o - o - o - o - o
"I think I've found it," said Khelgar, pulling loose rocks away from part of the canyon wall. They had been searching for the concealed entrance for the better part of an hour, and the dark clouds were now directly overhead. Everybody rushed forward to help clear the entrance, and sure enough, behind the pile of boulders and rocks was a cave, and a long dark corridor.
"I hate being underground," said Neeshka. "It's always dark, always smells bad, and is always filled with horrible creatures."
"That's why Khelgar feels so comfortable underground," said Qara. "It reminds him of home."
"Truer words were never spoken," Khelgar admitted. "Especially whenever Khulmar got a tooth ache. You've never encountered anything so horrible in your life."
"Time to shed a little light," said Kail. She spoke the words of the Light spell, and an orb of white light appeared above and slightly in front of her. Grobnar did the same, followed by Qara and Sand. "Everybody with a light, space yourselves out. Everybody else, keep your weapons handy and be on your guard. Khelgar, will you do the honours?"
"By all means," he said, and led the way into the cave.
True to the nature of all caves, this one was dark, smelled bad, and was filled with horrible creatures. Spiders, and oversized beetles of different varieties -- stag beetles, fire beetles, and bombardier beetles, Grobnar reliably informed her -- had taken up residence in the tunnels, making this escape route quite deadly for anybody planning on actually escaping. By the time the group had reached the end of the tunnel, however, the cave system was considerably less dangerous.
"You know," said Shandra as Neeshka worked on opening a locked door at the end of the cavern, "I never thought I could get used to killing stuff."
"I know what you mean. I used to feel the same way, just after I left West Harbor," said Kail, cleaning one of her daggers.
"What changed?"
"Every fight I was in, I was fighting for my life. And most of the time, I hadn't done anything to deserve such hostility, except to exist. When people began taking exception to my existence, I began getting used to killing them."
"Well... I suppose that's one way of looking at it."
"Here's another," said Bishop, interrupting the conversation. "Fight or die. Debate morality later."
"I'm surprised you even know what morality is," sniffed Shandra. He gave her a feral grin.
"Looks like all these lessons you're having are toughening your spine a little, farm-girl. Just don't get too big for your boots. You're still a long way from home, and a long way from becoming anywhere near competent enough to survive without a group of babysitters."
"Got it," said Neeshka, straightening up from the door. "Not much of a lock, though. I doubt it protects anything valuable."
"We'll see," said Kail. "Now, who would like to be first to see what Black Garius is hiding behind a locked door?"
"Sounds like my kinda job," said Khelgar, pushing his way to the front of the group. When he opened the door, everybody else crowded around him, following closely.
The room seemed quite large, and there were bookshelves everywhere. The books themselves were in piles all over the floor, or stacked haphazardly on the shelves.
"Ugh, it smells like the Academy in here," said Qara.
"That would be the smell of education and history that you are experiencing," said Sand. "Quite a novel concept to you, I'm sure."
"Hello? Is somebody there?" The tenuous voice sounded extremely familiar, and it was followed into view by its owner. Aldanon looked the same as Kail remembered him; in fact, she was sure that he was even wearing the same robe that she had last seen him in. He seemed a little dazed, but otherwise unharmed.
"Oh. I say... I remember you," said Aldanon, blinking at her. "You were the one with those interesting silver shards. Although I'm afraid I'm not certain if I introduced myself the first time we met. Did I?"
"Yes, you did, Aldanon," she said. He looked surprised.
"Excellent, good to see I haven't complete forgotten my manners. Tend to be a little forgetful at times, you know."
"I'm aware. We're here to rescue you."
"Oh yes, that's right, I was captured, wasn't I? Truth be told, I totally forgot about it. They gave me these tomes and some peace and quiet, and, well, I suppose I just lost track of time. You see, these books... They all concern some sort of horrific ritual, something about bringing shadows and power to all the recipients involved. I haven't gotten all the details down yet, wanted to do a thorough study first, but it all seems terribly threatening. Don't care for it at all.
"Is there any chance they're doing this ritual right now?" she asked, fighting down impatience.
"Oh, I should hope not! If so, they'd best be careful. The slightest disruption could have lethal consequences. Mark my words, it always pays to triple check all your wards and post guards to prevent interruptions if you ever plan to do something of the sort. You know, it does remind me of this one time where I had let my wards down to let a messenger in, and this kidnapper struck, completely uns-"
"I need to find them and stop their ceremony," she interrupted before he could start waffling again.
"Oh, I doubt they're doing anything of the sort. I told them that it would be unwise and might cause untold damage... well, to everyone except themselves. They seemed to agree, and were quite receptive to my advice. You young people worry too much about your elders... we're not the ones running headlong into danger all the time."
"They lied to you," she explained with a sigh. "Look, how do we stop this ritual?"
"Well, stopping it would be easy. Simply do what you young people do best - kick down the door and make a lot of noise. Like my gardener after one too many swigs from his wineskin."
"Do you know where they might do this ritual?" The Keep looked huge, and if they had to search every room, they might never stop it in time.
"They would need a lot of room and privacy for the ritual, so I would simply find a large room with heavy doors and a lot of chanting. That should be the one."
"Then I'm going to find them. Get out of here and warn Neverwinter."
"Well, all right..." he said hesistantly. "As long as I could come back later, you know. Save these books, I mean, they even have a copy of the Tome of Vile Darkn-"
"Get out of here and warn Neverwinter. Now," she snapped.
"Alright, alright! I'll leave at once. This whole ruckus is probably about nothing, as usual, just like my "kidnapping" in Blacklake."
"That man is trying at the best of times," said Elanee.
"I say, look at this," said Grobnar, pulling a book from a shelf.
"What is it?" asked Kail, peering over his shoulder -- not hard, given his small stature -- to glance at the text.
"It's the Ancient Art of Golemcraft. I think I can use this to bring Mister Pointy back to life. Or un-life, as it were. Or perhaps it's best described as non-life, seeing as how he's animated, non-biological material."
"Just bring the book. We can decide on his state of life when we've got less important things to be worrying about."
"Yes, of course, silly of me to be thinking about such things at a time like this." He put the book into his backpack -- which was only slightly bigger than the book itself -- and hoisted it onto his shoulder. "So, where do you think we should start looking for this ritual?"
"I think first we should see about getting Vale and the other wizards into the Keep. The more eyes we have searching, the faster we'll find it and stop it."
"Why? We don't need them, they can't even get themselves past a counterspell and into the Keep," said Qara scornfully.
"I already told you why. We need more eyes. Besides, I didn't see you offering to help them break past the counterspell. If you like, you can go back and try to help. I'm sure with your power, they'll have no problem in getting past the Brotherhood."
"There's no way I'm walking all the way back there. It will be more fun to kill the Brotherhood from inside anyway."
"Good. Now shut up and leave the planning to me."
The sorceress crossed her arms in a huff, but said nothing else. Kail ignored her and began looking for a way out of the room.
The only other door in the room was locked, but it didn't take Neeshka long to rectify that. In a few minutes, Kail and her companions were searching the corridors for any sign of the Arcane Brotherhood wizards who were so effectively keeping the Many-Starred Cloak out. Grobnar opened a door, then ducked just in time to avoid an arrow that whistled past him and clattered against the wall.
"Oops," he said, crawling behind a wall. "I think I found them."
"Did you see how many there are?" she asked, joining him by the open doorway. "At least eight soldiers, and two wizards on the far side, but they're facing another door. I think it's the entrance to the Keep.
"Good work. We'll never get in the room while they're shooting at us, though."
"Maybe someone could create a diversion... you know, cast an illusion in the middle of the room, or something," suggested Shandra.
"Sadly, we can only cast a spell where we can see," said Sand. "And I for one don't fancy sticking my head around that doorway and having it filled with arrows."
"What if you used this?" said Neeshka, taking her small mirrorscope out of a pouch on her belt. "I use it for looking around corners."
Sand examined the scope, turning it over in his hands and looking down the sight.
"Perfect," he said. "I think I'll have to make one of my own. Imagine the convenience of being able to cast spells into areas you can't see, without endangering yourself!"
"It's too bad most spells have a limited range," said Grobnar. "Otherwise you could use my Telescopic Night-Time Vision Enhancers to cast spells on enemies miles away."
"Hmm," said Sand, with a speculative gleam in his eye. "Yes, that's too bad. It's even more unfeasible than a Time-Stop Bottle."
"Do I have to remind you both that we're running out of time? One of you cast something into that room and divert those guards, or Garius might be able to finish whatever he's planning."
Looking a little chagrined, Sand put the mirrorscope to his eye and used it to peer around the doorway. Everyone was silent as he cast his spell, and a moment later there were anguished cries from within the room.
"We're safe to enter and dispatch the Luskans," said Sand, looking pleased with himself. Khelgar immediately rushed foward, brandishing his axe. He was followed by Casavir, with Shandra and Elanee right behind. Qara too rushed forward -- she was always eager to use her powers, especially when it involved killing.
When Kail followed them into the room, she was met with the sight of Luskan archers shooting at two large ogres who were stood in the middle of the room. Each ogre was bristling with arrows, but they both managed to swing their clubs at their attackers. Where their weapons met flesh, humans went flying, and rarely got up again.
As Khelgar, Casavir, Shandra and Elanee closed on the remaining guards, Qara turned her attention to the Arcane Brotherhood. Kail sensed that the wizards were counterspelling -- she herself knew how to do that, though she probably wasn't anywhere near as good as the wizards at it -- and Qara immediately took on an aura of magical energy as she began casting a spell at them. A plethora of magic missiles suddenly spread out from the sorceress' body; some were deflected by magical shields around the Brothers, but most of them met their mark.
Kail felt a moment of envy over Qara's lack of concern about her powers; the girl embraced the power that she was born with easily, never worrying about it controlling her or corrupting her. All she cared for was the bliss that she felt when she was at the height of her power, all she lived for was the moment that she embraced her gifts and knew that she was the most powerful person around.
She only wished that she could have that kind of freedom. But her own power was of a different nature. Her power came, in part, from an ancient draconic ancestry. From having a tiny amount of dragon's blood in her veins. But the majority of her power came from her grandfather, from Bhaal. It was the power of a god, no doubt somewhat diluted, but no less evil because of it. If she was tempted, if she gave in, even for a moment, that power would consume her, it would change her, and not for the better. She would become something hated, something feared. Her friends would leave her, Lord Nasher would withdraw his support and withdraw her status of Squire, and she would be alone against the King of Shadows.
At one point, she would not have worried about being alone against anything. Now, she understood the value of friends and allies. Where would she be without Neeshka and Khelgar, without Elanee, without Grobnar and Casavir, without Shandra and Sand and Bishop... and yes, even without Qara? She would be dead, easily. In all likelihood, she would not have made it out of the Mere.
And more, she understood the danger represented by Garius and the King of Shadows. Although the King of Shadows was still a mystery, she at least knew enough about Garius to know that he was a powerful mage. She, alone, might be able to handle a couple of fighters, a couple of githyanki, perhaps. But alone, against Garius, she stood no chance. And even less against the King of Shadows, who had once laid waste to the northern part of the Sword Coast.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that when she was encircled by a strong pair of arms and pulled several feet to one side, she let out a squeal of surprise. An instant after she was moved, a large hand-axe rebounded off the wall in the place where she had been stood. Had she still been there, it would have split her head like a melon.
"If you want to day-dream in the middle of a fight, that's fine. Just don't expect me to save you next time," said Bishop, nocking an arrow to his bow and loosing it at the Luskan guard who had thrown the axe.
"Thank you," she said, genuinely grateful, for once, that somebody had been there to save her from her own stupidity. What was she thinking, contemplating her life in the middle of battle!? Her head felt like it was swimming, giddy with relief at avoiding death.
She turned her attention back to the fight just in time to see the last Arcane Brother take one of Neeshka's arrows to his head. Luskan corpses littered the room, a couple of them twitching as their life-force left them. Of her friends, only Shandra was injured, but Elanee was already seeing to that. With nothing else to do, she approached the ogres.
"They're very... convincing... illusions," she said at least. She had never seen an ogre, except as a picture in a book, and hadn't realised how tall they were.
"I don't do illusions," said Sand. "These beasts are quite real, and once the spell ends, in approximately forty seconds, they will disappear to whence they came."
"You look a little flushed," Casavir said to her. "Are you injured?"
"I deserve to be. But no, I'm fine."
"The importance of this mission weighs heavily on all of us," he replied quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder and bending his shoulders to almost her head-level. "I think you can be forgiven for being distracted. I know that there is much on your mind, and it was unfair of Lord Nasher to ask you to undertake this task so soon after your trial, and the battle with Lorne."
"I'm glad he did. I don't think I could rest easy, knowing that somebody else was in charge of stopping Garius."
At that moment, the front doors of the Keep were flung open, and the wizards of the Many-Starred Cloak sauntered into the entrance hall. Casavir removed his hand from her shoulder, and stood up straighter. For a moment she regretted that he did so. Her shoulder felt bare, now; physical contact, except in a violent sense, was rare for her, and she hadn't been touched intimately since before Valear left for Myth Drannor. As Khelgar said, 'Lass, ye project yer personal space about three feet around you.' Even her friends kept their distance from her, except for Neeshka.
"Nice work," said Vale, surveying the bodies. "I don't suppose you left any for us?"
"Why bother? You wouldn't have done anything anyway," sneered Bishop. Vale blinked at him.
"Don't let him bother you, he's always like this," said Shandra.
"Very well. I any case, we still need to find Aldanon and the rest of the Arcane Brotherhood."
"Aldanon's safe and heading back to Neverwinter," said Kail
"Glad to hear it. Now we shoul-" The Elf faltered as a wave of magical energy swept through the Keep. It washed through Kail, leaving her mind numb and her legs weak. Unable to stand, she sank to her knees. And she was not the only one. All around her, people were kneeling down, clutching at anything nearby to steady themselves. One of the Cloak wizards was even retching on the floor.
"Ah, ths would be the 'impending' part of our impending doom," said Sand. He tried to stand. "But wh- ennnh." Unable to make his legs support his body, he sank to the ground once again.
"What's going on?" said Vale. "I feel...weak."
"Aldanon claimed Garius was attempting a dark ritual," she replied. "Looks like he was right."
"Black Garius? Here? Our chances against him are slim, and I'm being optimistic," said the Elf. His skin was pale, probably a combination of magical shock and fear of Garius.
"If you're not going to help me destroy him, then get out of my way," she said. Forcing her legs to obey her, she stood, tottered for a moment, then regained her balance. Around her, the others were also trying to stand, with varying degrees of success. At least none of her friends had been sick. "Nasher knew when he sent you that Garius would be here. If he didn't tell you, then take it up with him. It's not my problem."
"Agreed," said Bishop. He too was on his feet, though he seemed to be making a convincing attempt at supporting a wall. "Enough talking - let's get Garius. We don't need this fool's help."
"I never said anything about not helping you," said Vale testily. He pushed himself to his feet, and stared her straight in the eye. "Let's go." She nodded at him.
"Alright. Everybody, spread out. Check every door. We're looking for something that may be heavily guarded, with a lot of chanting coming from the other side. That's how Aldanon put it, anyway."
Once everybody had recovered from the wave of dark energy, they began to drift away in small groups. As they searched the doors leading from the room, Kail sat on a lone surviving chair and examined her map of the region. It was the same map that her father had given her on the night that she left West Harbor. She had never needed maps before; she had known the paths of the Mere around her village better than the back of her hand, although not as well as Elanee had known them.
Now, her map was littered with annotations, with marks and indicators and crosses. Somebody had even written, hopefully in jest, 'Here Be Dragons', beside a large black X high in the mountains. That was probably Neeshka's doing; where you found dragons, you found dragon hoards, or so the theory went. Regardless, what had once been a piece of parchment with nothing more than 'West Harbor', 'Weeping Willow', 'Highcliff' and 'Neverwinter' marked on it, now contained markers for The Skymirror, for Old Owl Well, for the Ironfist Clanhold, for Ember and Port Llast, for the Duskwood and, more recently, Crossroad Keep. This map represented everything she had done, everything she had achieved, since leaving home.
The image went dark as a shadow fell across the parchment.
"Yes, we're depressingly far from anywhere of interest," said Bishop casually. "Though I admit, the woods behind this place have some... potential."
"A chance to move goods from A to C via B without being noticed?" she asked, folding up the map and tucking it into her belt pouch.
"I think I resent the implication. I'm a reformed man. I've abandoned my unlawful ways, and turned onto the path of righteousness and good. No longer will I accept money for delivering goods and performing services... instead, I shall travel the realm, ever vigilant for a chance to smite evil, ever watchful for the bunnies and the squirrels that need a helping hand, taking from the rich and giving to the poor, who are ever so deserving of my aid."
She grinned at the image of Bishop helping anybody, much less poor people and bunnies. Instead of laughing with her, however, he ran the back of his fingers along her jaw, tickling her skin.
"Now that's what I've been waiting to see."
"What?" she asked, thoroughly confused.
"You haven't smiled since before Ember. I figure that getting rid of Garius has to be a hell of a lot easier than making you smile, so the odds of us actually coming out of this alive just went way up."
"And for a moment there I thought you actually cared about my happiness."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
"Oh, I'm not disappointed. You can only be disappointed with something that you have expectations of."
"Your claws are as sharp as ever, wildcat," he grinned.
Conscious of his fingers still on her chin, she batted his hand away and made a show of checking her supply of bolts for the RAMP. In the short time that she had owned it, she was becoming increasingly reliant on it, and always felt a little nervous when she was running low on ammunition. Luckily, Grobnar was more than happy to provide new bolts, and seemed to be able to churn them out at a remarkable speed. Where he got the materials from, or how he made them, she did not know. It was probably a Gnomish thing.
"I've found something!" called Elanee from down a hallway. "There's somebody inside this room," she explained, relinquishing her place at the keyhole so that others could peer through. Everybody made way for Kail, and she put one eye against the hole, closing the other.
Inside the room were a group of Shadow Priests, and a woman who had the air of a leader about her. With a sigh, Kail took the safety catch off the RAMP.
"When I open the door, I want everyone to get a sight on the priests and be ready to hit them with arrows, bolts or spells. I don't want to give them a chance to cast anything nasty. We really can't afford to be delayed any longer," she explained. When everybody murmered their assent, she opened the door and lifted her weapon, aiming at the woman stood in front of her. The woman, however, merely watched as she took a step forward.
"You may not pass, Kail Farlong," said the woman. Kail raised her eyebrows in surprise. How had the woman known who she was? "Our King forbids it. Garius will be reborn this night."
"Reborn? In what way?"
"Reborn in darkness, and freed from his mortal shell. Garius will join with the King of Shadows, become one with the eternal dark, ever living, ever serving."
"Not if I stop the ritual, he won't."
"May the King forgive your ignorance. Embrace his Shadow, Kail Farlong. It is not too late for you."
"Maybe, maybe not. But it's too late for you."
"Come forth, brothers and sisters!" cried the woman. "Help us, in the name of your King!"
The room began to fill with darkness, and Kail pulled the trigger on the RAMP. At the same time, her companions fired their own weapons, and a wave of arrows and bolts went flying into the room, skewering two of the priests. Kail stepped forward with her dagger in hand, and sliced open the throat of the priestess, who was holding her hands against her stomach where ten small bolts had pierced her armour and skin. The woman sank to the floor, but her eyes held no fear as her life left her.
Kail turned, then went cold. Something was grasping her arms, something dark and almost formless, and where it touched her, it seemed to be sucking the very strength from her body. Her knees buckled and she dropped her dagger. Inside her body, her bones felt like ice, and she felt herself shaking with cold. She heard sounds, saw faces, and knew that her friends were shouting to her, but she could not hear their words. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She could hear her own heartbeat, and it sounded like it was fading. Her companions were moving, but slowly, and with a strange fluidity to their motion. Her vision began to fade, turning as black as the shadowy hands that held her.
Then she saw a figure, seemingly lit with an inner light. The light grew brighter and brighter, pure brilliant white. Strange, how the light didn't seem to burn; to her eyes, it looked hotter than the sun. It should have blinded her. Instead, it sliced through the shadows and the darkness. Whatever was holding her shrieked in fear and pain, then it released her as its shadowy body was torn apart from the light.
The light faded, and the figure resolved into that of Casavir. He stepped forward, and with just one hand, hauled her to her feet. Had he always been that strong, or was she merely weak?
"I hate the undead," she said, or tried to say. Her words came out garbled, her tongue apparently not ready to work just yet.
"The shadow has drained her strength," said Casavir to Elanee. The druid nodded, placed her hands on Kail's temples, and chanted something that she didn't catch.
Warmth spread throughout her body, warmth like a hot bath at the end of a cold, tiring day. She grasped Elanee's arms as her body began to respond again to her direction.
"Ooh, do that again," she said, grinning happily at the warmth in her body. The aura of magical energy around them faded, and Elanee smiled.
"Doing it again won't have any effect on you, since you are no longer drained of energy. And I would prefer it if you would stay that way."
"I'm glad to see that you're once again well," said Vale. "Rest assured that I was just about to dispatch the shadows when your friend intervened."
"I'm glad you're here," she told Casavir. "And thank you. I think that was the worst thing I've ever experienced."
"And I'm glad that you are okay," he replied.
"Yes, yes, we're all glad about everything," said Bishop. "Now can we get on? This place is hardly my idea of a good time."
"Hey, look," said Neeshka. "This door is glowing."
Kail stepped over to examine the door. True enough, there was a bright blue aura around it. Part of Kail wanted to reach out and touch it, to see what happened. Another part of her -- the part that was instinctive, and came from a long line of ancestors who learnt the hard way that touching fire would burn, and touching snakes would get you bitten -- knew that touching the door was a really stupid idea. She put her hands in her pockets to prevent curiosity from overwhelming her.
"What is that?" said Qara, fascination obvious in her voice. "It's got a lot of power emanating from it."
"Watch your fingers, a glowing door is rarely a good thing, I've found," said Neeshka. She grinned. "Then again, glowing doors usually guard something quite valuable, so maybe we could take a quick look."
"It is heavily warded. It would take most of the mages in Neverwinter to get past it, and it would take time we don't have," Sand pointed out.
"Good," said Shandra. "I don't know what's wrong with that door, but it's either really good, or, considering our luck, probably really, really bad."
"Let's worry about getting it open later. We still have more fighting ahead," said Vale.
"Those priests seemed to be guarding these stairs," said Khelgar, indicating some steps that ended in a heavy wooden door. Kail sighed. Was there no end to this place?
"Alright. Lead on,"
The door was not locked, and the stairs were wide enough for them to walk two abreast. Sand fell in beside Kail as she descended.
"I couldn't help but notice that you seem to be having a run of bad luck today," he said.
"Oh?"
"Twice now, you've narrowly avoided death whilst fighting."
"We all have bad days," she said with a shrug.
"Yes, we do. And over the years, I've had more than my fair share of them. Can I make a recommendation?"
"Of course."
"When we find Garius, we will be forced to fight him. Stay out of that fight. Or even better, out of sight."
"You know I can't do that, Sand. I can't let everybody else risk their lives whilst I do nothing."
"On the other hand, if the battle is lost because everybody is too worried about keeping you safe, you wouldn't feel too much better about it."
"We won't lose. And I won't give anybody cause to. Yes, I've been a little careless today. But now my survival instincts have kicked in, so I'll be fine."
"My dear, if your survival instincts were working at all, you wouldn't be anywhere near this place. You would be in some far-away place, like Kara-Tur, having absolutely nothing to do with Garius or the King of Shadows."
"That can't be helped. Even if I ran, they'd follow. The shards that I hold represent a risk to the King of Shadows, and they won't leave me in peace until I'm dead. So I have to make the best of the situation that I'm in. And I won't stand by whilst my friends risk their lives on my fight."
"Very well. But just try to be careful. I have no desire to see you die... I would never hear the end of it from Duncan.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful," she assured him.
She stepped out into the room at the bottom of the stairs, and looked around her. It seemed to be some sort of store room. Barrels and crates littered the floor, while shelves that were stood against the wall held a variety of bottles, food rations and medical supplies.
"Take the medical supplies, but don't touch the food or the bottles," she instructed her friends. "There's no telling what's in them, or how long they've been there."
"Oh look," said Grobnar, pointing to the far end of the room. "Another Blade Golem! I wonder if he's related to Mister Pointy. Do you think that we can keep him?"
When it saw them, the Blade Golem stood straighter, then advanced. Its bladed arm was wickedly sharp, its armour gleamed immaculately. This one had obviously seen less battle than the one they had salvaged from the githyanki outpost, but that didn't make it any less dangerous.
Qara raised her hands to cast a spell at the same time as Elanee. From the sorceress' fingertips came a sticky web, and at the same time, vines whipped up from the ground. The web hit the golem, knocking it over and sticking it to the floor. The vines wrapped around the construct's appendages, holding it still.
Once the creature was motionless, Casavir and Grobnar approached it, weapons to hand, and began beating against its body. Each strike created a resounding clang, and Kail winced. Garius undoubtedly heard it, and wondered what was happened to create such a commotion. She hoped that he didn't speed up the ritual because of it.
As with the previous golem, this one also twisted and turned, trying to free itself from its binding. Khelgar and Casavir weren't damaging it fast enough. Soon it would be free.
"Grobnar, is there anything in that book of Golemcraft on how to un-craft the golems?" she asked the Gnome. He took the book from his pack and began hurriedly flipping through the pages.
"Let's see... components, crafting, creating... understanding golems, unusual golems... no, there's nothing on how to un-make them."
"Any ideas? Don't you have some sort of invention that can destroy it? You're good at creating dangerous things!" she said desperately. One of the golem's legs was free, and it wouldn't be long until the rest of it followed.
"Well, you could try dropping it into a volcano. That should be hot enough to melt the rune inscriptions on the armour that tell it what to do."
"Right, because Neverwinter is famed for its local volcanoes," scoffed Qara.
"Grobnar, you're a genius!" said Kail. Why hadn't she thought of it herself?
"I am? Oh, excellent!"
"Khelgar, Casavir, get away from the golem!" she called to her friends. They stepped back towards her, and she turned to the others. "Stay as far back as you can... some way up the stairs," she told them.
"This is a terrible idea," said Neeshka, catching onto her plan. "You know you don't have that sort of control."
"I'll manage. Now get back. If this doesn't work, you might want to run."
Everybody hurried to the stairs, and Kail felt suddenly alone. The golem was still working at getting itself free, so she took several deep breaths and tried to calm her racing pulse. Neeshka was right, this was a really, really bad idea. But what other option was there? She didn't have a volcano to drop the thing into, but dragon-fire might just be hot enough to destroy the inscriptions on the golem's armour. She only hoped that she could make it work. She had never purposely tried to create dragon-fire before, it had always been an accident, a result of great anger or fear.
She concentrated on the golem, and tried to imagine it wreathed in flames. Nothing happened. She tried again, focusing her mind on heat, on creating a wave of fire. Still nothing happened, and the golem managed to free its bladed arm. It began hacking at the web and vines, freeing the rest of its body.
Her body screamed at her to run away, and she fought the urge to take a step back. She couldn't flee, couldn't give in to her fear. Either she or the golem would be destroyed, but she wouldn't be caught running.
The construct was completely free. It halted for a moment, appeared to almost be considering the situation, then it lumbered forward, right towards her. Ten steps away. Eight steps away. Six steps away. Oh crap. Four steps away. Two steps away. The golem pulled back its bladed arm, preparing to swing it in a decapitating arc. Kail raised her hands in a gesture that she knew wouldn't protect her, and the huge blade came slicing through the air toward her head.
It took only a second for her body to heat up, and she felt herself stood in the middle of a storm of fire that did not touch her. The flames seemed to encompass her body, her entire field of vision was filled with them, and they shot out at the golem in a seemingly unending stream. The fire was so hot that the flags of stone beneath her feet began to melt, the rock hissing and popping before its component minerals turned to molten liquid.
The fire seemed to last an eternity, a time during which Kail felt oddly detached from her body. When the flames stopped pouring from her, when the heat abated, her normal sense of self returned, and she let out a sigh of relief. She had been afraid that the taint of her blood would try to control her, to take over her body whilst she was preoccupied. But it hadn't. She had survived, both physically and mentally.
In front of her, the golem was a twisted pile of barely recognisable metal. The bottom half of its torso was fused to the floor, which was slowly cooling. The rest of it was immobile, no doubt rendered helpless once its instructing runes had been destroyed. Its body had a red glow to it, and seemed to be giving off quite a lot of heat.
"Remind me never to get on yer bad side, lass," said Khelgar, approaching the golem with an appreciative gleam in his eye.
"I could have done just as well," said Qara dismissively.
"Well, that certainly dealt with that," said Shandra. She gave the golem, and the parts of the floor that were molten, a wide berth.
"That was the most awesome thing I ever saw," Neeshka grinned. "Good job this place is built of stone, not wood, huh?"
"Very well done," said Vale. "Though I would recommend we leave the celebrations until we've defeated Garius."
"You're right, of course," said Kail, stepping past the molten golem. "And since this thing was protecting the only other door in the room, I think we can safely assume that Garius and his friends are waiting for us."
"I think I have just the thing to aid us in our fight," said Grobnar. He rummaged in the scroll case that he always carried in his pack, and handed her a piece of parchment.
"Perfect," she said, handing it back to him. "You do the honours."
Grobnar spoke the words from the scroll, and waved his hand with a flourish. A wave of magical energy passed over Kail and everybody else in the room, and she immediately felt lighter, her step more springy.
"Mass Haste," she smiled. "We should get moving before this wears off and we lose our edge."
Together, the group hastened towards the door. Kail opened it and stepped into the room before anyone could argue about going first. Her friends and the wizards crowded into the room behind her, but they were not alone. Garius was stood in the centre of a circle that was etched into the floor and glowing with magical energy. Around him, at four points of the circle, stood four wizards of the Arcane Brotherhood. And protecting them were over half a dozen Luskan soldiers and wizards.
Garius caught sight of her, and sneered. "You four, ignore them!" he snapped at the wizards around him. "Keep concentrating! The rest of you - kill them!"
The soldiers ran forward, their weapons drawn. From behind her, Casavir, Shandra and Khelgar rushed forward to mee them, as did the six mages of the Many-Starred Cloak. Meanwhile, Elanee began casting a spell, as did Sand and Qara. Grobnar began singing a song, and Kail felt her skin begin to harden. She recognised the song as an ironskin chant; something she herself was unable to do. Obviously Grobnar was much more accomplished as a bard than she had given him credit for.
Behind her, Neeshka and Bishop were loosing arrows at the enemy soldiers at a phenomenal rate. Kail fired the RAMP at a soldier who had gotten too close to Grobnar, then took her dagger and sword from their sheathes. The only problem with the RAMP was that once it had been fired, it took a long time to reload. In the heat of battle, it was only really good for one shot.
She ran forward, and met a Luskan's sword with the Short Sword of Quickness that her Uncle had given to her. She parried his blow, and kicked him in the stomach. As he bent over, winded, she brought her dagger -- the knife that Bishop had lent her and not yet claimed back -- down and into the warrior's back, directly between his shoulder blades. She felt the knife his his spine, then withdrew it, and kicked him away as he fell to the ground.
From the corner of her eye she saw another Luskan rush at Qara whilst the sorceress was concentrating on a spell. Kail reached down into her bracers with her fingers, and through one of her knives under-hand at the man's legs. The weapon lodged itself into his thigh, and the man stumbled. Two more blades followed, one in his stomach, one in his shoulder. The man pulled them out, bleeding from his wounds, and advanced again. But quicker than she was Casavir, who tackled the Luskan, carrying them both to the floor. The paladin raised his hammer, and smashed it down onto the other man's head. Blood spattered across the floor as his skull was shattered. Kail turned away, and looked for another target.
The Cloak mages seemed to be handling themselves quite well, working in pairs against an opponent. Shandra was also coping well; her intensive training sessions with Khelgar and Casavir, as well as occasional sessions with Kail herself, seemed to be paying off. The woman blocked blows with her shield, then counter-attacked with her short sword, all while keeping on the move, making it harder for her opponent to target her.
Bolts of lightning shot through the air around her, ripping through the bodies of the remaining Luskans. Most dropped to the floor where they stood, cooked from the inside out. One or two managed to dodge the bolts, but Qara sent shards of ice hurtling towards them in a vicious storm. The warriors were cut to pieces by the razor-sharp shards. Not a pretty sight.
"Idiots!" screamed Black Garius from the centre of the room. For a moment, Kail thought he was cursing at her, but then she saw that he was addressing the four wizards around him, who were looking at the corpses of their fallen comrades in shock. "You're not focusing- "
Suddenly, the magical energy that was crackling between them and Garius seemed to go wild. It twisted and writhed, as if it possessed life, and it struck each of the wizards, tearing through their bodies until they collapsed on the floor. Kail hurried back away from the occult circle that was etched into the floor, and everyone followed her lead.
When the last wizard corpse hit the floor, the magic seemed to turn in on itself, rushing towards its focal point, its source; Black Garius. An implosion was the only word Kail could apply to what happened next. The magic rushed towards the centre of the circle, coalescing into a tiny point of darkness that seemed to consume Garius' body.
"What... have you done to me?" he screamed as the magic tore through him. Kail closed her eyes as the flesh was torn from his body, but that didn't stop her from being hit by the shock wave that followed. She was knocked to the ground, and found herself sprawling in a pile of bodies -- thankfully the warm, living bodies of her friends.
"What in the hells was going on in here?" asked Vale, separating himself from the mass of people and standing shakily to his feet.
"What you see here is the price one pays when attempting to use power without the means to control it," said Sand.
"I'm sorry, Sand, I could barely hear you over the condescension -- did you mean that thinly-veiled lesson for all of us, or just me?" Qara shot at him.
"I was speaking of Black Garius, Qara, But it is a lesson you could stand to learn as well, I think."
"What are we standing around for?" asked Neeshka. "We beat Black Garius and his wizards... come on, let's search the bodies."
"We've earned our swords this day, I think," said Khelgar. "Would have been nice to crush Black Garius ourselves, but it's a little more satisfying for him to be undone by his own ritual."
"We have prevented a great evil here... but something... something still feels wrong," Casavir mused quietly. "Perhaps it is simply the after effects of the ritual and its power."
"The power here is what felt at the heart of the Mere - and almost as strong," said Elanee. "We have stopped this ritual, but we should remain on our guard. Shadow still touches this place... and these bodies."
"We need to report back to Neverwinter immediately and tell Lord Nasher what happened here," said Vale.
Kail nodded. It would be nice to get back to Neverwinter. Back to the Flagon. It would be nice to just sit in front of the fire, and not have to worry about anything, and for a brief time, pretend that everything was well.
