Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [51]
Through the confusion of bodies Abdel occasionally saw distant visions of death and destruction raining down on the city of Saradush. A single flick of a great scaled tail toppled the spires of a noble's mansion. A blast of deadly fire from the sky incinerated entire city blocks. A gigantic reptilian beast descended on leatherlike wings to rend and devour a dozen unfortunate victims fleeing through the streets. The glimpses of the great wyrm ravaging Saradush merely spurred Abdel ever onward in his hopeless search.
Then he heard his name, screamed with primal, animal rage over the cacophony of the conflict.
"Abdel!"
He turned toward the desperate, crazed cry and saw a single disheveled figure on horseback bearing down on him. The man looked more beast than human, hunched over the saddle of his wild-eyed mount, his tangled, greasy mane streaming out behind him as he rode, a single hairy arm brandishing a heavy spear high above his head.
Abdel, despite his best efforts, had been unable to locate either Jaheira or Imoen. But somehow Gromnir, the mad general of the Calimshan forces, had managed to find him.
"Abdel!" Gromnir bellowed, "We meet again! Good fun. Hah!"
The horse bore down on him, but Abdel held his ground. At the last second he stepped forward, ducking under Gromnir's thrusting spear and wrapping his muscular arm around the steed's thick neck. Abdel braced himself, but was still thrown backward by the impact of the charging beast and sent hurtling through the air. The pop of Abdel's shoulder dislocating was lost beneath the thunderous crack of a dozen bones in the horse's neck snapping like dry kindling.
By the time Abdel was back on his feet, his shoulder had already slipped back into place, with no ill effects. Gromnir was not so fortunate. He might have been a Child of Bhaal, but like Imoen and most of the others he lacked the superhuman regenerative powers of Abdel or Yaga Shura.
The general was crawling weakly out from beneath the convulsing body of his horse, pulling himself forward with only his hands. Abdel could see Gromnir's pelvis had been smashed in the fall. Already a dark stain was seeping up over the belt and from beneath the chainmail leggings that covered Gromnir's body below the waist.
"Abdel," the crippled, twisted man croaked. "Abdel betrayed Gromnir. Ha-ha! Gromnir fell for Abdel's trap."
He could have turned his back on the helpless man and simply resumed his search to find Jaheira and Imoen. But something within Abdel couldn't endure the unfounded allegations the Calimshite general had leveled at him.
"I am no traitor, Gromnir," he said in an even voice.
"Hah! Good fun, Abdel. Joking while Gromnir dies! Ha-ha!"
Abdel shook his head. "You're crazy."
"Crazy? Gromnir and his men rode into an ambush! Hah! A thousand cavalry troops hidden behind the hills, reinforcements to smash Gromnir's army!" The dying man's words frothed up on his lips as he spit them out. The spray was tinged pink from the blood welling up from his gut wounds.
"They knew Gromnir was coming out from behind his walls! Ha ha! And the dragon… it knew, too. Watching and waiting for Gromnir to take the bait! Abdel's plan worked! Ha! Saradush was left defenseless!"
"It wasn't my plan," Abdel protested, but his arguments went unheard as a spasm of choking coughs wracked Gromnir's broken body.
"The druid and the girl," Gromnir continued, his voice growing softer with every word, "they knew. They fled back to the city, they did not walk into the trap. Ha!"
Another series of coughs shook Gromnir and then his body lay still. Abdel didn't stay there to witness his death. The big sellsword was already charging through the mass of combatants again, carving his way directly toward the city-or what was still standing beneath the dragon's wrath.
As he traversed the battlefield, Abdel cursed his own stupidity. Of course Jaheira and Imoen were in the city! Gromnir had thought they fled the battle,