Azure bonds - Kate Novak [128]
"Saurial," Akabar mumbled suddenly, letting the word linger in his memory. A dark shadow hovered there, the residue of the Abomination's visit to his mind. "Moander said Dragonbait was a saurial."
''Moander-that's the creeping crud?" Olive asked.
Akabar hesitated like a swimmer hovering at the edge of cold water. He wanted to forget the evil that had been inside him and used him so vilely. But he needed the information Moander had inadvertently left in his mind. He plunged in.
"Moander is a god. Or a piece of god. An old piece, kept in storage beneath Yulash, until Alias let him out. He's taking her to Westgate, via Myth Drannor."
Akabar's body began to shake violently.
"What is it?" Olive demanded. "What's wrong?"
"Gods, it was like… like having some disease that rots everything but your mind and leaves your body shambling around. I was conscious, but I had no control. I couldn't speak. I couldn't see. I could hear things in my head, Moander's thoughts, and Alias speaking, but I was tied and gagged in the darkness. And… and…" He looked up at the halfling. "I stabbed Dragonbait, didn't I? You said I did. I remember. I was trying to kill him."
"Apparently, he doesn't hold it against you. He carried you back here and used the shirt off his back to bandage you."
Akabar felt along the bandage on his head, glancing at the lizard lying on the dragon's snout.
"I wounded the dragon, too, didn't I?" he whispered.
"Less said about that the better," Olive suggested. "It took all my eloquence to convince Mist you were included in the bargain for our protection until Alias was freed. She only relented because we need all the firepower we can muster.
"So Its Ooziness is a god, eh? Another thing our lizard friend neglected to mention."
"Saurial," Akabar corrected again. "Why are you suddenly so annoyed with him? He's saved our lives."
"No. He's saved your life. I can take care of myself." Olive did not bother to mention that she'd be digesting in Mist's stomach now if not for the lizard. "I don't need a sneaky, spying, goody-two-shoes wheedling his way into my trust."
"What makes you so sure he's a spy?"
"Use your brain, greengrocer" Olive snorted. "What else would a paladin be doing traveling with us? You're a merchant, and I'm halfling scum. And Alias-think! She tried to murder a priest and someone she thought was the king of Cormyr and then she let loose an evil god. Dragonbait sneaked off just when we were in the most trouble, and now he's dragging us along on a suicide mission. He says it's to rescue Alias, but suppose he's really just interested in killing Moander? His type doesn't really care about our problems."
"I suppose," Akabar replied. His eyes were looking a little glazed, and Olive could see that he wasn't really concentrating on her words.
"Akash, what is wrong with you? You aren't listening to me at all."
Akabar shook his head and spat. "Some mage I turn out to be. I can't get us the information we need, I don't even notice that a member of our party can heal, and I'm at my fighting best when I'm controlled by an insane abomination. You shouldn't have bothered to rescue me."
"Don't be stupid," Olive chided. "You have your health, your mind, and your money-all the blessings, as we half-lings say. You can't blame yourself for what happened. It's not as though you were trained to fight old gods."
"Or anything else, for that matter," Akabar added. "You and Alias are right, I'm a greengrocer. This has been my first real adventure not tied to the logical, reasonable flow of trade and money and safe, secure routes, and I've botched everything. I thought that with all my learning I could take on the world, but I've failed. I'm useless."
"Look, Akash, adventuring isn't as logical as columns in an account ledger. You can't learn about it from books. You have to experience