Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [22]
"Now we go to meet Melissan," Sarevok replied. "In Saradush."
Chapter Five
The flames from the pit in the center of the temple burned low, casting an eerie red radiance around the room. In the faint light of the ebbing fire it was almost impossible to see the symbol carved into each of the six walls that made up the central chamber of the small building-a grinning gray skull with glowing eyes against a background of tears. The symbol of Bhaal.
Two shrouded figures stood waiting in the room, neither speaking. Although their robes hid their identities from view, the heavy cloaks did not cover them entirely. Fleeting glimpses of their true forms occasionally came into view with each subtle movement. The larger of the two shifted impatiently, revealing a glimpse of rough, scaly skin just barely visible beneath the shadows of his hood. There was the rasping sound of a slithering snake as he took a shuffling step, and his long, forked tongue flicked out once to taste the air to seek the presence of the others who had not yet arrived.
The second figure, slender and smaller than her companion, held up her hand to still his nervous fidgeting, her arm moving in a languid, graceful manner. The fingers were long and slender, delicate as those of any elf on the face of Faerun, but the complexion of her elf hand was the color of burnt ash. Only skin that had never seen the light of the surface world could look as pale and as dark, the skin of a creature from the Underdark, the skin of a drow.
The larger figure turned his cowled head quickly to the only door. A single reptilian eye reflected the dying embers of the fire as he did so.
A third cloaked figure strode into view, his hood pulled far down to cover his face. He was not as large as the first, but not as slender as the second. Like the drow, his powerful hands were visible beyond the edges of his long sleeves-though they were covered so completely with intricate tattoos and detailed markings it was impossible to even guess what the original color of this man's skin had once been.
"I summoned you because events are moving quickly," the new arrival announced once he had taken his place by the others.
The large one hissed, then pointed an accusatory clawed finger at the late comer. "You are not the leader of the Five! Why did Bhaal's Anointed not summon us?"
"And where are the others?" the female added, her voice a smoky whisper in the flickering twilight.
"One is leading the siege of Saradush. Our fifth is dead, slain by Gorion's ward."
"Illasera?" There was a hint of regret in the reptilian voice.
The tattooed man nodded. "But revenge is soon at hand. Even now Abdel Adrian's fate is sealed. Our trap has been set."
Such veiled speech came naturally to all of the Five. Bhaal's Anointed had trained them well; all their discussions were shrouded in cryptic phrasing and obscure syntax. For a cult born in the secrecy and shadows surrounding Bhaal's death, vague references were more than mere idiosyncratic habit-they were a tool of survival. In the beginning the Five had been unknown, ignored by the outside world. With the spreading slaughter of the Bhaalspawn, the most powerful eyes in the kingdoms of the South were being focused on their plans.
The Five were not yet ready to accept such scrutiny. Their mission was still newborn, a frail infant easily slain. The prying eyes and ears of spies were a constant threat to the continued existence of both the Five and the achievement of their ultimate goal. They were ever conscious of the risk of scrying mages and clairvoyant wizards, even when gathered in their inner sanctum. There was no place that was truly safe, no place that could not be infiltrated by a cunning operative or pierced by the powerful divinations of a meddlesome spellcaster. Even here, in this long-abandoned temple of the Lord of Murder, a single false word, a name carelessly revealed or a plan foolishly exposed could give the enemies of the Five enough information to destroy them.
Illasera was dead, her name now meant nothing to the cause. But