Azure bonds - Kate Novak [181]
Thirty feet from the balcony, Phalse and Dragonbait's sword achieved maximum potential and burst into a ball of white light as bright as the recent detonations near Westgate.
Alias shielded her eyes from the explosion with her arms and backed away from the balcony. She felt a familiar burning pain on her arm. A welcome pain. Phalse's sigil flared and vanished from her arm.
*****
A sharp pain on Dragonbait's chest broke his concentration. The air filled with the scent of violets as the saurial realized the source of the pain. Phalse was dead.
Suddenly, the twelve figures before him faded to shimmering, glassy outlines and then vanished completely.
A last trick of Phalse's? the saurial wondered. He hadn't had time to learn if he'd succeeded. Now he might never know.
*****
Alias swaved unsteadily and put her hand against a wall. Dragonbait stood in the doorway between the feast hall and the courtyard. He looked disturbed but uninjured.
Then Alias saw two figures bent over the bodies of her companions and she leaped toward them. One of them turned toward her, and she paused.
It was Nameless, and he and his companion were smearing healing ointment over Akabar's body. The other man moved toward Olive and told Alias, "She's alive, too."
There was something familiar about the figure and voice, but Alias was too weak to place it. She sank to her knees, chiding Nameless, "About time you showed up." Then she allowed herself the luxury of collapsing.
32
The Tale Told
Elminster and Nameless smeared Alias with foul-smelling ointments and bound her wounds. When she came to, Dragonbait was using his power to heal Akabar, who had been the most grievously hurt. Olive had a nasty gash on her forehead, but the old man who worked beside Nameless assured the halfling that if she would only keep her mouth shut, her headache would go away.
Alias felt no pain, courtesy of the ointments, but she was bone-weary. Akabar, who sat beside her, gave her a nudge and pointed to the old man. "That one was talking to Dragonbait in Shadowdale," the mage told her.
Elminster crouched beside Akabar. "I understand ye wanted to see me on a matter of grave importance."
Akabar flushed with sudden understanding. "Elminster?"
"Really?" Alias said. "And I thought you were just a goatherd who knew more than was good for me." She realized now that Akabar had never actually spoken with Elminster.
"He's nothing at all like you described him, Akabar," she teased. "For one thing, he talks funny."
"Have you ever considered keeping an appointment calendar?" Akabar asked the old sage angrily.
"Yes," Elminster replied. "They make excellent tinder."
"You knew all about Nameless," Alias accused him. "You knew what I was, didn't you?"
"I knew about Nameless," Elminster confessed sadly. "But I was not sure about thee. Ye seemed too human to be the made thing he had envisioned. In disbelief, I put off coming here to ascertain if the bard was still safe in his prison. As they say, the wise aren't always."
"Aren't always what?" Olive chirped.
"Wise," supplied Alias.
Elminster nodded. "Got off my hindquarters fast enough when Moander was unleashed, though. Took me two days to trek out here. I watched thy arrival on the roof. New portal-must remember it."
"But you tried to get me to give up the songs, and I refused. You let me go. You knew it was wrong to try to squelch Nameless's songs."
"Let's say I was uncertain. I was prepared to sacrifice them to a greater good. Thy vehemence made me rethink the greater good. It was hard to argue with a soul so pure."
Alias looked shyly at Dragonbait. If they'd given me a piece of someone else's soul, she wondered, would I have succeeded in freeing myself?
"What will happen to Nameless?" she asked. "It's a little late to keep him locked up to protect his secret. And you most certainly aren't going to lock me up"
Elminster looked startled momentarily. "No," he agreed. 'That would be unjustifiable. What he did may have been wrong,