Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [83]
The many fallen corpses of the serpent horde attested to the legendary battle Sarevok must have fought before he succumbed to their overwhelming numbers. Had Abdel's emotions not been purged from his heart by Jaheira's death, he might have shed a tear for Sarevok's noble sacrifice. His half brother had saved his life, slaying Abazigal and then standing alone against the dragons while Abdel had retreated into the safety of Bhaal's nether world.
But Abdel had no more use for legendary heroics. In the bloody aftermath smeared across the plateau, Sarevok was still dead, and the dragons, bereft of their master, were gone.
Yet Abdel lived. He shivered as a cold blast of wind swept across the plateau, and he realized he was naked, his clothes reduced to ashes by Abazigal's fiery magic. He scoured the battlefield, searching for anything to cover his exposed body. In the end, he was forced to strip the bloodstained robe from Abazigal's headless corpse.
The loose-fitting garment barely came down to his knees, and his arms extended well past the cuffs of the sleeves. The hooded cowl was better than wandering around fully exposed. Armed only with the heavy broadsword he had salvaged from the carnage of Sarevok's final stand, Abdel began the long descent back to the mountain's base.
He rested only briefly at the bottom before setting out toward Amkethran. He had only one goal: Find Melissan and demand she lead him to the rest of the Five so that he could extract gruesome vengeance for Jaheira's death.
Based on the directions Melissan had given him, Abdel calculated that Amkethran was a tenday or more due west of the plateau where Abazigal had fallen. There, in the monastery of a man named Balthazar, Melissan and Imoen awaited his arrival. To get to them, Abdel had to pass through the southern arm of the Forest of Mir. Either that or journey several hundred miles to the north or south to circumvent the far reaching woods. Before they had parted ways at Saradush, Melissan had suggested Abdel take one of the longer, safer, routes and avoid the dangerous forest.
It took Abdel less than a day to reach the eastern edge of the Forest of Mir. Beyond its western border lay Amkethran. Driven by the urgency of his need to spill the blood of the Five, Abdel never even considered taking the long way around. He plunged into the dense growth without a second thought.
By the third day he was already regretting his decision. He had reached the Forest of Mir with no difficulty, but once inside the dark wood his progress had slowed to a crawl. Most of his time was spent ripping and tearing branches or smashing his way through thick, thorny underbrush. Abdel was lucky if he covered ten miles in a day. He was beginning to wonder if it would have been quicker to try and go around the almost impassable forest.
At least the legendary lethal denizens of the Forest of Mir never bothered him. Abdel suspected the reports of their existence were highly exaggerated. Or perhaps Abdel's power had become so great that even the foul creatures hiding within the shadows instinctively knew to avoid a confrontation with the strange intruder to their world.
Cursing his slow progress and his own stupid refusal to follow Melissan's advice, Abdel pressed onward through the dense trees.
* * * * *
Abazigal would fail. Sendai knew this, just as she knew the half-dragon's arrogance was nothing but a front to hide his true self, a simpering mongrel so disgusted with his own existence he sought salvation by trying to become something else entirely. The drow knew of the mage's ludicrous plan to unite the dragons of Faerun. She knew of his ridiculous dream of becoming a pure-blood wyrm, and she knew such a pathetic creature would be incapable of slaying Bhaal's avatar.
Abdel Adrian would kill Abazigal, then would set off to reunite with his sniveling half sister at Amkethran, unaware that Sendai had already devoured the young woman's still-beating heart. Just as she would devour Abdel's own.