Ascendancy of the Last - Lisa Smedman [19]
"Cavatina!" Rylla called from the far corner of the room. "Could the dretch have turned aside and entered the Cavern of Song?"
"No," Cavatina shouted back. "I sang a true seeing. It definitely came this way."
The gray-faced guard, at last in control of her stomach, nodded in rueful agreement.
Cavatina ordered the nearest priestess to stand guard, in case the dretch doubled back. Then she hurried to the far corner of the room. The battle-mistress stood at the room's second exit, a distant look in her pale gray eyes, her lips moving soundlessly. She was obviously listening-and replying-to a report from a searcher elsewhere in the temple.
Rylla was large, even for a female. Her broad shoulders and lighter skin were a legacy of her human father. She was an unusual choice for battle-mistress, but these were unusual times. Although she carried her sword, she was without belt or scabbard, and unarmored; she obviously hadn't had time to don her chainmail before responding to Cavatina's urgent sending.
Rylla nodded in agreement with whatever she'd just heard, then turned to Cavatina. "There's no sign of the dretch in the Hall of Healing. Nor in the Cavern of Song. It doesn't seem to have made it past this point. Another of the portals must have become active."
"The real question is how it got into the Promenade in the first place," Cavatina said. "How did it get past our wards?"
Rylla stared at Cavatina. "You're the expert in hunting demons. You tell me."
Cavatina had a bad feeling about this. The dretch's sudden appearance was all too reminiscent of the Selvetargtlin onslaught of three and a half years ago, and their trick of using ensorcelled gems to jump to the Promenade. She wondered if another attack were imminent.
She glanced at the closest partition wall. Like the others, it was carved in low relief with the likeness of two archways-decorative arches only, since the middle of each was solid stone. There were eight, in total. Each had once been a portal, but the magic that had sustained them had faltered centuries ago, when Netheril fell. Only one of the arches was still active, and then sporadically. Once it sputtered to life, it might remain open for the space of a heartbeat-or for more than a month. It led to the Hall of Empty Arches from a deeper level of Undermountain that was once part of a dwarven mithral mine predating even Netheril.
The occasional adventurer blundered through this portal, usually badly battered and in need of healing by the time it opened. Qiluй had thus decreed that it not be sealed. Those who agreed to abide by the rules of song and sword were offered healing in the nearby hall. Those who didn't were either blindfolded and removed from the Promenade-or, if they proved hostile, were put to the sword.
Rylla motioned for Cavatina to follow, then sang a hymn. She walked slowly through the room, her free hand briefly passing across the front of each of the arches. "Dead. Nothing. Still dead…"
Cavatina followed, sword at the ready.
Rylla passed her hand across the face of the portal that joined the ancient mine tunnel to the Hall of Empty Arches. She shook her head. "It's not active at the moment."
One arch remained to be checked: the one next to it. Rylla halted in front of this arch, holding her palm above it for several moments. Concentrating. Her eyebrows rose. "This one's active. In one direction only: away from here."
Cavatina leaned forward expectantly. Her sword hummed. A moment more, and the hunt would resume. "Where does it lead?"
"Nowhere. And-everywhere." Rylla lowered her hand. "My prayer revealed a maze of tunnels that were constantly shifting. Opening to infinity, then closing in again. I think it may lead to the Deep Caverns." She stared at the blank stone within the arch. "If the dretch went through here, it will be impossible to track."
"I can do it," Cavatina assured her. "The dretch must be captured and questioned. We need to learn who summoned it, and what they hoped to accomplish."
Rylla blocked her way. "Not so