Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [86]
Sendai's lithe form flitted in and out among the thick trunks and sturdy branches of the trees. Her desperate flight was hampered by the dense woods, but if anything the enormous creature behind her would find its own progress even more difficult. The heavy forest growth would help hide her from the monster's sight as she fled without a sound.
The Ravager didn't need to hear or see her to track her. It could smell her, as it could smell all living things. The great demon leaped up from the forest floor, smashing its head and shoulders through the canopy of leaves and twigs hanging in its path. It caught the drow's scent and bounded off in pursuit.
While the drow was forced to weave in and out between the trees, the Ravager took a more direct route. Crashing through the undergrowth, it left a wide path of shattered stumps, uprooted trees and trampled vegetation in its wake. The horrendous thunder of its pursuit could be heard throughout the Forest of Mir, sending birds, game animals, and far more monstrous beasts scurrying for cover. The terrible din was only cut short by the shrieks of Sendai as the beast ran her down.
The Ravager ripped Sendai apart with its four arms, bathing in her blood and reveling in her suffering as it tore her into tiny bits. The beast gorged itself on her spewing innards, then cast the drow's physical shell aside as it sensed the invisible essence of Bhaal that wafted up from the corpse like the scent of rotting evil.
Abdel Adrian found himself in his human form again, standing once more in the Abyssal realm of Bhaal.
* * * * *
Balthazar sat motionless in the secret uppermost room of the monastery's central tower. It was nothing more than a tiny chamber completely surrounded by the thick marble of the tower's roof. There were no doors or windows, no physical entrances or exits whatsoever. Accessible only through the mystical passages of an enlightened mind, the room was Balthazar's inner sanctum, inviolate and impregnable. Even his own disciples were unable to enter-only he had mastered the mental discipline that enabled him to transport his physical body through solid rock and into the secluded meditation chamber.
He needed no food or water. He did not even require air. His body had reached a state of purity, a state of awareness and existence far beyond the physical consciousness that bound all the world in chains they could not even see.
Balthazar had already been in his hibernation chamber a full day before Melissan had arrived with the girl Imoen, though time had little meaning in his current state. He remained there while Sendai had slit the Bhaalspawn's throat and didn't move when Melissan made her escape. He was still there now, focusing his mind in preparation for the battle to come.
From here, he could see and hear events across the entire continent: the secrets of Waterdeep nobles plotting in their high towers; the clandestine whispers of Amnian adulterers huddling beneath the sheets at a seedy inn; the laughter of Sembian commoners in a tavern; the prayers of a Daleland widower by his wife's grave. The screams of a dying drow in the Forest of Mir.
They were only two now-Abdel and Balthazar, last of the Bhaalspawn. Soon there would be only one. Melissan had become inconsequential to their destiny. Bhaal's Anointed had become irrelevant. Melissan still had her part to play, but it was a minor role. She would send Abdel after Balthazar. They would fight. Balthazar would kill him. And this would all be over.
Chapter Nineteen
As he stood in the plane of the Abyss that had once been the home of Bhaal, Abdel could remember becoming the Ravager. He remembered the sensation of his body transforming, becoming the demon. He remembered rushing through the forest, hunting the fleeing drow. He remembered ripping into Sendai's soft, yielding form with his claws, the glorious taste of death on his teeth and tongue. The memories were distant and faint, as if they were not