Chapter Ten
Tai glared at his captor and focused on keeping his breathing steady. Blood trickled down the side of his face from a wound on his temple, and his chest burned with the blisters caused by Socor's odd spell. Tai knew he was badly hurt, but since he wasn't about to sit passively, he strained against his bonds despite the pain. Socor, however, had done his job well: not only could Tai not free himself, he couldn't cast any spells. His hands were bound too tightly, and he was gagged. Socor watched his efforts with amusement, and Tai, realizing the entertainment he was providing, stopped struggling.
Somehow, when Tai had thought Hoar was leading him to join Entreri and Jarlaxle because it would be the best path to justice, this was not what he had in mind.
The two men were in an abandoned temple on the outskirts of town. Socor had bound Tai to a massive chair that had been left on the platform above the altar. Debris littered the platform and the sanctuary from where part of the roof had once collapsed, and birds nestled in the rafters. Overall, it was a dreary place, and that provided quite a contrast to the animated wizard who held him captive.
Socor was pacing up and down the extended altar in front of Tai. "Let us hope for your sake that your new friends come for you," the wizard was saying. "Although, I must say, I wouldn't. But I think they will. Not because they really care, perhaps, but maybe for the money—I have quite a bounty on my head now—" Socor smiled briefly and continued babbling. "Or maybe just for the challenge or for revenge. I nearly killed that damn drow—did I tell you that already?—a month ago, and I'm sure he didn't appreciate that, but I will be sure to finish the job now." The wizard paused to breathe. "Although really it doesn't make any difference because you'll never leave here alive whether they come for you or not." He grinned.
Tai glared at him, although he wasn't angry about his own fate. He trusted his life to Hoar and Hoar's judgment. Regardless of what others thought, Tai knew that Hoar was with him and cared for him. Instead, the young cleric was concerned over the fate of his newfound friends—and he did indeed consider them friends, regardless of what they thought of him. Tai found Jarlaxle to be a bit odd, if amusing, but he felt very strongly about Entreri. He wanted to help him, to convert him, to ease some of his anger and pain.
Socor was watching Tai's face. "Do not glare at me so, dear priest. I cannot help it if you have poor taste in friends. It is only that—" The wizard stopped and seemed to fall into thought for several moments. "Do you understand what it is to aspire to be the best? Do you understand what it is like to be defeated—especially by those who do not deserve to defeat you?" He grimaced and continued pacing. "I have a heritage to live up to, dear priest, and a destiny to fulfill. And I do not have time to play an endless game of cat and mouse with two lackluster bounty hunters. They may have defeated me before, but it was a fluke. This time they will die by my hand."
Tai sighed and tried to ignore the growing dryness in his mouth and pain in his wrists and ankles. This wizard was a petty, obsessed man. The cleric realized that his friends had to fight the man and defeat him; otherwise, he'd likely continue to hunt them down and force the issue.
"Still, I cannot have you get in the way of my revenge," Socor was saying as he continued to pace.
No, Tai thought, vengeance will be Hoar's.
"And so I fear I will have to render you . . . ineffective for the time being," the wizard finished, turning to look at Tai with a vicious leer.
Tai stiffened and prayed that he'd live to see Entreri and Jarlaxle arrive.
"So where do we begin looking?" Entreri asked as he and the drow stepped into the town's dusty main street.
Jarlaxle frowned. "Socor yelled something about their being in an appropriate place."
"He hinted where we were to go?" The assassin scowled. This had trap written all over it. He considered the clue for a moment. "Appropriate . . . does that mean it's symbolic for him or for Tai? Or for both?" He shrugged. "A temple?"
Jarlaxle nodded and stopped the nearest man passing by. "Is there, by chance, an abandoned temple anywhere in or around this town?"
The tall, lanky man frowned at the dark elf. "Well . . . er . . . there's an old, rundown temple of Azuth on the far side of town. Why do ye wish to know?"
Jarlaxle and Entreri traded knowing looks. "That would be it," Entreri said.
Jarlaxle bowed to the man. "Thank you, good sir." Entreri nodded to him as well, and the two took off in a run. It took little effort to locate the old temple once they reached the outskirts of the town, for it rose above the surrounding hovels in graceful, if crumbling, arcs. The windows were broken out, the massive doors hung loosely on their hinges, and a large portion of the roof had caved in.
Entreri and Jarlaxle stopped before the abandoned temple and considered it. "I do not find this the least bit comforting," Entreri commented. "Better if we drew him out to a place of our choosing."
"I fear Tai does not have that much time," Jarlaxle said.
Entreri sighed. "Which is exactly why you don't allow yourself to become entwined with another."
Jarlaxle grinned at him. "So do we sneak up or take the direct approach?"
Entreri's second sigh was a profound one, indeed. "I'm sure the bastard knows we've arrived. The cautious direct approach."
Jarlaxle nodded, and the two walked straight up to the doors of the temple and took their places on either side. They looked to each other, and Jarlaxle nodded. With as much speed as they could muster, they kicked open the doors and dived inside. Jarlaxle dashed to the right, but Entreri, predicting that Socor would be prepared for this tactic, pitched himself into a forward roll, losing his hat in the process.
Socor awaited them on the debris-littered altar; an unconscious Tai was tied to a chair behind him. Just as Entreri had predicted, Socor attacked to the sides; unfortunately, the assassin's strategy didn't work. Bluish-white orbs shot from Socor's hands, and they easily tracked both Entreri and Jarlaxle. Jarlaxle's hatband absorbed the shock, as usual, and the assassin caught the missiles with his gauntlet and threw them back at the wizard, who easily defeated the attack with a magical shield. Entreri growled, drawing his dagger but keeping his gauntlet hand free.
"Allow me to show you the extent of my power!" Socor exclaimed from his perch.
"It's always a bad sign when they say that," Entreri sighed. Behind him, Jarlaxle laughed.
"So kind of you to accept the bait!" Socor continued, and even as he spoke, he performed small circles with his hands. He muttered some words in an arcane language, and just as Jarlaxle dropped the room into magical silence, finished his spell.
A vibration in the air was the only clue Entreri received before a swarm of bats filled the sanctuary. Cursing silently, the assassin sheathed his dagger and protected himself as best he could, but he could feel numerous bites on his hands and neck, and the pressure of teeth all across his magical shirt and leather pants. He pushed ahead toward the altar in hopes that the wizard would not move far from his original position, and with each step he felt the little bodies of the bats banging into him. As soon as the swarm started to thin, the assassin looked up and saw Socor on the side of the altar. He jumped up and rushed the wizard, drawing his weapons. Even as he slashed out, he realized something was amiss; a strike at his back told him that the wizard had used the swarm as a cover to cast some type of invisibility spell which afforded him an illusionary double. Trusting in his instincts, the assassin whirled around, bringing up his left arm in a block while slashing to the side with Charon's Claw. The sword connected solidly with the invisible wizard, but Entreri could tell no damage was dealt.
Stoneskin, the assassin concluded, and quickly slashed repeatedly at the same spot, moving forward as he did to account for a retreat. His insight paid off, and he landed four strikes before the wizard escaped him. Hoping to even the odds, Entreri tried to obscure the wizard's vision by filling the air with ash, but his sword didn't respond. Although confused, the assassin continued forward, and luck was with him: the invisibility spell wore off, revealing Socor to the assassin. Oddly, the magical silence lifted at the same moment, but the wizard grinned as it did, quickly making motions with his hands and aiming toward the assassin. Entreri charged forward, but the wizard spoke the words of his next spell and jumped off the altar.
The assassin was suddenly hit with a wave of despair so crushing that he faltered. He gripped the hilts of his weapons tightly and shook his head, trying to throw off the spell. Dimly, he became aware of the sounds of fighting below him and laboriously turned to the side to see Jarlaxle engaged in a battle with an eight-foot-tall gorilla-type creature. The grey-furred beast swiped at the drow with its massive double forearms and howled when it missed, baring its huge tusks.
He's done it again, Entreri concluded, eyeing the creature as he struggled against the despair spell. He summoned that beast just prior to our arrival and loosed it upon one of us so we couldn't attack him together.
Behind Jarlaxle, Socor took advantage of the situation and went through the motions of his legacy spell. A surge of adrenaline crashed through Entreri at the sight of his friend's danger, and he angrily threw off the spell. "Behind you!" he yelled at the elf even as he jumped off the altar and started for Socor.
"Socor-rame!" the wizard exclaimed as he completed the spell, sending a tornado of crimson spheres at the drow.
Several pieces of Jarlaxle's magical jewelry glowed red for a moment, but the mercenary didn't seem injured. Jarlaxle kept his concentration on his battle with the fiendish beast, staying outside of the creature's reach as he pumped it full of daggers. Socor cursed and pulled something from a pocket, instantly beginning a second spell. Entreri threw his jeweled dagger at him in an attempt to disrupt the casting, but Socor raised a hand and focused his concentration on a tiny dart. A brilliant emerald arrow shot forth from his hand toward Jarlaxle even as the assassin reached him.
Jarlaxle saw the approaching acidic arrow and did his best to avoid both it and the charge of the enraged and wounded beast, which swiped at him with massive claws. However, his dodge to the side did not save him, and the arrow grazed his right side, burning him profoundly. The drow swallowed the pain as best he could and forced himself to duck yet another swipe from the creature, but the entire right side of his body seemed to go numb with the pain. If only he could drop the room into magical silence again . . . but it was currently impossible for him to do so.
From the corner of his vision, the drow could see Entreri slashing at Socor, apparently attempting to defeat a stoneskin spell. Jarlaxle realized he needed to dispose of the hulking beast as quickly as possible so they could both focus upon the wizard, but the task was proving difficult. The mercenary snatched up his ferret-headed cane, which he'd dropped on a pew, and fired a series of poisoned darts into the creature's chest. Although he suspected that either the beast's furry hide was too thick to allow much penetration or that the poison wasn't strong enough to affect the massive creature, he took the chance, then leapt up on the pews and jumped from back to back in order to gain some distance.
The furious beast followed him, crashing through the pews with massive swings of its arms. Still, Jarlaxle gained enough distance to turn and aim one of his many wands at the creature, unleashing a powerful sticky web upon it and capturing it against the wall. The beast roared and pulled against the binding. The wall would give first, Jarlaxle knew, and so he aimed a hail of daggers at the captive creature's throat and eyes.
It was then that a storm of sleet suddenly rained down upon the room, obscuring the drow's vision. Jarlaxle hopped off of his perch on a pew but had to compensate when he landed because the floor was icy. Cursing, he backed away and to the side, wanting to ensure that he was not in the direct line of the beast's charge when it freed itself. The endless sheets of sleet stung the injured elf as he cautiously felt his way to the side of the room; the storm seemed more severe than it sound have been, and oddly, there was hail mixed in with the sleet.
Even more strangely, the driving sleet stopped abruptly, and when it did, it revealed two things to the dark elf, one of them very good and the other very bad: the beast was on the verge of death, and Entreri was injured. Jarlaxle could only guess what spell Socor had used, but Entreri was covered in burns. He was on his knees near the altar, trying to struggle to his feet, and Socor was laughing.
"See, assassin!" Socor said. "I was your better all along! While you're kneeling there you best pray for your damned soul."
"Artemis!" Jarlaxle yelled, grabbing for whichever wand he could reach the quickest. But before any of the three of them could act, a blast of flame erupted through the broken widow directly behind Socor, catching him in the back and throwing him into Entreri.
Jarlaxle didn't wait to see who was responsible, although there was only one logical answer. He whipped out a wand and aimed at Socor.
Nothing happened.
The mercenary experienced a moment's panic, thinking something was wrong with either him or his magical items. Then the truth of the situation became clear to him: they were in a wild magic zone. Not pausing, Jarlaxle continued his charge toward Socor. He stowed the wand and tried instead to rain daggers upon the man. Still nothing happened.
Although Socor's magical defenses had saved him from the flame strike, they were exhausted now. When the assassin stabbed the wizard in the side, he immediately felt the draining of his lifeforce along with the sting. Still, he didn't panic; instead, he pushed away from the injured assassin, jerking the blade free with a grunt as he did. Forcing himself to his feet, Socor whirled to face the window, and upon seeing Hector aiming at him again, unleashed a barge of magic missiles at the cleric. He hoped the blast would take care of the already wounded cleric.
By that point, Jarlaxle was upon him, but since the elf had been unable to engage any of his wands or his bracers, he slashed out at the wizard with the two hidden daggers he carried.
"New spell," Entreri called weakly from behind them, but Socor was one step ahead of them. He threw up one arm and accepted the injury, and he didn't even try to block the following one. He had purposely kept the motions of his new spell simple just in case he had to cast it while defending against Entreri.
With a few quick motions, Socor finished his newest spell and added the simple spoken component: "Legacy."
"Duck!" Entreri yelled, but the spell caught Jarlaxle right in the chest. There was no dodging it: a brilliant azure flash seemed to bloom out of Socor's upper body, and waves upon waves of blue energy erupted from the wizard and crashed into everything within three-hundred and sixty degrees. The drow could feel the burning sensation rush over his chest and face and run down his abdomen and across his limbs. He hit the ground near Entreri and groaned.
A screamed curse kept the elf's attention on Socor. "It was supposed to be more powerful than that," the wizard whined. "It should have killed you both on the first blast!"
Jarlaxle tried to sit up, desperate to both defend himself and finish the fight. But the bleeding wound in his side and the burns covering most of his body were draining him quickly. Beside him, Entreri was struggling to his feet. "I'll take care of it," he growled, finally standing and brandishing his weapons. Jarlaxle believed him, even trusted in him, but he would aid his companion as much as he could. Resolute in his intentions, the elf forced himself to sit up, although he knew he'd never gain his feet, and readied himself to try his magical bracers once again.
Entreri faced the wizard and promised himself that he'd defeat the man. Unlike Tai or Hector, he had no god to call upon, for he'd abandoned worshipping Tyr long ago when the god didn't answer his childhood prayers. Neither did he have any spells like the man he faced, for the only magic he could call upon was that of his weapons, which he now realized might or might not work in this place. But he did have a lifetime's worth of willpower and stubbornness, which he used to resist his wounds, and an unnamable need to defeat Socor—a need more powerful than usual.
Socor, grinning all the while, was already moving his hands in the intricate patterns of another spell-casting. Entreri would have to be quick, and he begged his injured body to comply. Then, from behind Socor, came the shout of a young man's voice: "Retribution!"
The word had a magical force behind it, an almost scratchy quality. Entreri felt the vaguest twitch in his muscles, but it passed quickly. Socor, on the other hand, seemed to freeze in place. He's paralyzed, the assassin realized, and jumped forward, driving his sword straight through the wizard's heart. Charon's Claw did not ignite its magic to eat the man, but Entreri hardly cared. The assassin watched the life drain out of the wizard, then jerked his sword free and watched him fall to the floor.
"So much for your legacy," he told the corpse. "And no amount of prayer could ever save you."
Entreri glanced up at the altar to see a battered and burnt Tai smiling down at him.
"Well, we seem to have delivered retribution," the youth said, stiffly climbing down to stand by the assassin.
"As if there were ever any doubt," the assassin retorted, and Tai laughed. The assassin didn't join in, however, for movement in the corner of the sanctuary caught his eye. Near the edge of the shadows, behind Tai and Jarlaxle, stood a third figure who was approximately as tall as the assassin. Slender and dark-skinned, the man struck a fine figure in an ankle-length blue coat. A black hat shaded his eyes and cast shadows upon his narrow features, and he held a javelin in one hand. Unfortunately, the instant Entreri's gaze locked upon him, he disappeared. The assassin frowned, perplexed. Had he just seen the god of poetic justice?
"Hoar was with us," Tai was saying. "I felt his blessing, his divine power rushing through me."
Entreri looked back at the corner of the room, then to Socor's body, and then finally glanced at the youth again. For once, he refrained from comment; he couldn't shake the odd feeling that seeing the figure had caused him. There was just a sense of . . . lingering presence.
Tai was now looking back at the corner of the room and frowning as though he'd sensed something. After a moment, he shrugged and turned back to Entreri. "I apologize for taking so long to work myself free," the youth said, blushing. "I'm afraid Socor did an especially good job of binding me."
"I'll forgive you," the assassin responded dryly, "but only if you can heal Jarlaxle and me so I can live long enough to do so." With that, he turned to his drow friend and eased himself onto the floor beside him.
The two bitten, burnt, and wounded mercenaries grinned weakly at each other. "You think it was worth all of this?" Entreri asked.
"Well, all we have to do is cut off Socor's head and bring it along," Jarlaxle quipped. "We'll receive a fine reward."
"Greedy bastard," Entreri replied, smiling at his friend, and for once he was genuinely smiling, not smirking.
Jarlaxle grinned back. "What do you think? Was it worth it?"
Entreri's smile faded. He cocked his head to the side and gave the elf a sidelong glance. "No."
Liar! Jarlaxle thought, grinning.
"Incorrigible," Tai sentenced them with a laugh. "You're both just horribly incorrigible!"