Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [61]
Without another word, the humiliated half-dragon stepped through the nearby door and into the cool night. He crouched low to the ground then launched himself high into the air. His biped form morphed, and his body grew into an enormous mountain of scaled flesh. Great wings erupted from his back, his arms became small vestigial claws, his legs changed into massive, taloned haunches. With the sound of cracking bone, his face transformed into the tooth-lined visage of a dragon, perched atop his suddenly elongated neck.
The entire transformation took less than a second. With a flap of his enormous wings and a swish of the tail that had sprouted from his hindquarters, Abazigal rose up into the blackened sky.
Not at all surprised, the other two members of the Five watched the silhouette of his massive new body as it grew smaller and smaller against the full moon that hung low in the sky. Only when it had diminished to a faint speck did they speak again.
"Abazigal is more focused on winning favor with the council of dragons than on fulfilling his duties as one of the Five," the drow noted. "He thinks with an army of wyrms under his command he will have no further use for us."
"The dragons will not follow him," her companion assured her. "And Abazigal lacks the strength and the courage to disobey Bhaal's Anointed.
"Still," the tattooed man admitted, "his attention is diverted. He does not fully appreciate the threat Gorion's ward represents."
"If Abazigal should fail, we two shall figure more prominently in our father's return," the drow whispered.
When her companion made no reply she added, "And if the Anointed One should also perish by Abdel's blade, Bhaal's favor will be split between we two alone."
"And perhaps you are plotting ways to eliminate me as well," the tattooed man answered without a hint of emotion. "Though I suggest we concentrate on destroying Abdel Adrian before we turn against each other."
The drow smiled. "Of course, my half brother. Your words are as wise as ever. Are you certain the blood of my kind does not flow beside that of our immortal father through your veins?"
"While Abazigal is engaged with Gorion's ward," the tattooed man said, ignoring the drow's compliment, "we should attend to that other Bhaalspawn from Candlekeep."
"Imoen?" the drow sniffed disdainfully. "She is hardly worth the effort."
"She is Abdel's friend, and the essence of Bhaal still dwells within her, however faintly. If Abazigal should fail, killing the girl will make Abdel's grief even greater and our plans for his death easier."
Unconsciously, the drow's lithe hand slid down to caress the hilt of her rune-covered dagger. "Then we must see to it she dies."
The tattooed man shifted uncomfortably. "Melissan is bringing her to Amkethran."
The drow laughed, a sound of malevolent evil. "Melissan, the great protector of the Bhaalspawn, is bringing Imoen to the fabled protection of Balthazar and his monastery? How deliriously ironic!"
"I do not wish to reveal myself by moving against her," her companion replied. "The time is not yet right for me to take such open action."
"Then give me the pleasure of killing this girl!" the drow insisted. "You know the protective walls of the monastery are nothing to me-I am but a shadow. Melissan herself will not even know I am there until she finds the Bhaalspawn's corpse!"
The man hesitated briefly before nodding his assent. The drow laughed again and slipped out the doors into the cover of night, shedding the heavy hooded cloak once she was beyond the glow of the temple's fire. Her dark skin and clothes were instantly invisible in the evening's gloom.
A lifetime of emotional discipline and training could not prevent the tattooed man from feeling a faint glimmer of hope as he watched the drow assassin disappear into the night. He had no doubt Sendai would succeed in her mission. The monks of Amkethran's monastery, though powerful, were incapable of keeping the drow from slaying the young woman from Candlekeep. Perhaps, if fortune smiled on him, Sendai would slay