Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [20]
"It must be done in the first light of dawn," he said. "We should wait for Imoen to get back."
* * * * *
Dawn was approaching. Abdel stood with Jaheira by his side, the half-elf's slender, elegant fingers clenched tightly around his own meaty digits. The pair stood at the center of a circle inscribed on the ground. In accordance with the instructions of Sarevok, Imoen had traced the circle with the blade of a knife dipped in Abdel's own blood.
Around the circle were a number of other elaborate and arcane symbols. Each of the intricate patterns had been similarly drawn on the hard ground with painstaking precision by the edge of Imoen's bloody dagger. The girl now stood at a distance, anxiously watching her two friends.
Abdel cast a questioning glance at Jaheira, and she gave him a reassuring nod. The druid began to chant. The words meant nothing to Abdel, of course. He had never learned the language of enchantments. But he could feel the power of the surrounding forest being drawn together by Jaheira's incantation.
The dead branches around them began to sprout green buds, the trees reborn in the gathering elemental energy Jaheira was drawing forth from the natural elements around her.
The first rays of morning light glimmered on the horizon, and Abdel stared directly into the rising sun as it crested the edge of the world. Blinded by the light, Abdel suddenly felt himself floating high above the land-though he could still feel the hard ground of the clearing beneath his feet.
He could no longer feel Jaheira's hand in his grip. He couldn't even feel his own hand anymore. But he could still hear the mantra of words spilling from her lips, calling on Mielikki, the Lady of the Forest, to grant her boon.
Clenching his eyes shut against the glare, Abdel opened himself to the touch of Jaheira's spell. He felt a tug within his body, then was nearly jerked from his feet by a second pull. He felt a warmth in his loins, then a searing in his breast.
He opened his mouth to cry out in pain as his blood began to boil, but his voice was mute, silenced by the awful power of the magic coursing through his veins. Then Abdel felt something rip as a piece of his very soul, his essence, was torn away.
The frozen scream was at last unleashed to echo through the surrounding trees, and Abdel collapsed to his hands and knees.
Slowly, his vision returned. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Jaheira collapsed on the ground beside him, though she, too, was stirring. Still on his knees, Abdel let his weight sink back onto his heels and looked across the clearing.
Sarevok stood there in all his glory. The Bhaalspawn's dark metal armor reflected the bright rays of the sun as they struck the black iron. The keen edges of the blades protruding from the plates on Sarevok's back, shoulders, forearms, and lower legs reflected the light of the dawn, giving testament to their sharpness.
Here in the clearing, as in Bhaal's Abyssal plane, Sarevok was weaponless except for the armor he wore. Abdel scrambled to his feet and drew his sword.
"You still do not trust me, brother," Sarevok noted, the faintest hint of wry amusement detectable in his otherwise monotone speech.
Jaheira reached up and set her hand on Abdel's massive thigh. Abdel glanced down at her weary, pleading face and sheathed his sword so that he might help her up.
"You must be Imoen," Sarevok said, just noticing the slim young woman still hovering on the farthest edge of the clearing. "Abdel did not mention our sister was such an attractive lady."
Imoen sneered at the armor clad figure. "Save your flattery-I'm no sister of yours!"
There was a deep sigh from behind the visor of Sarevok's helmet. "So be it. I was only attempting to be polite. In any case, there is little left that ties us together. I sense much of our father's power has been purged from your soul.''
"Abdel rescued me from Bhaal's evil," Imoen declared, shuddering at the memory of how she had herself been, for a short time, the Lord of Murder's