Depths of Madness - Erik Scott De Bie [98]
Ruukthalmuramaxamin's mouths curled downward, and she would have fancied it confused. "No and no."
"Why not?" She cursed the desperation in her voice.
"No and no," the sharn warned.
Heedless of the pain she knew was coming, Twilight opened her mouth to argue, but Gargan caught her arm in a hard grip.
She hissed at him, but the goliath ignored her.
"What is Gestal?" he rumbled.
"Powerful priesssst," said Ruuk. "Demon-priesssst."
A demon thrall. Twilight's eyes narrowed. A servant of chaos in darkness, then, even as Davoren had been a servant of order, of a fiendish sort. But was not the sharn born of chaos? Did he not possess the very powers this Gestal worshipped? Why…?
"Why do you not face him yourself?" asked Twilight. "He must be mighty indeed, for surely you-"
Then the sharn eyed her with a look that stole more of her breath than when he had nearly killed her at a glance. Not only did her head explode in agony, but her throat closed of its own accord and she staggered. Gargan reached out and caught her, and she didn't have the strength to fight him off.
"Do not quesssstion!" Ruuk roared. "Agree! Agree or die!"
Barely able to breathe, Twilight coughed. "Well," she said. "Then we… agree."
The sharn hissed, spat, and clucked in what must have been approval. Twilight assumed it must, for she was still alive a breath later.
"Here." Its mood changed utterly. "Take," the sharn said most amiably, as though offering them tea.
One of its arms stabbed into the air, through reality, to extend through a silvery portal before them. In the palm was a pair of crimson boots, which appeared to be sized for a human.
Completely inexplicable, Twilight thought as she put them on. It didn't occur to her to refuse. The boots adjusted themselves to fit her feet.
"And thissss." A silvery window opened in reality and a black hand extended through it. It dropped a sack that smelled glorious to her.
Twilight yanked open the pouch. It was filled with dried strips of meat and bread that smelled of corn. Also inside was an oiled paper packet with some sort of honey-Twilight wondered if it came from the abeil. She took a hunk of bread and two pieces of meat for herself, then offered the food to Gargan, who accepted it silently.
Another of Ruuk's hands offered a wineskin filled with a drink that tasted sweet, like some manner of fruit, with a distinctive, odd taste Twilight recognized as a sort of mushroom. Rarely had she tasted the wine of the Underdark, and unlike most elves, she enjoyed it. Gargan refused it, but the sharn offered him a waterskin instead.
Emboldened by the sham's hospitality, she spoke up. "One question," she said. "If it please you, great lord."
There was a long pause. She reasoned she could take their continued existence for a yes.
"Why don't you… destroy him?" she asked. "You are so much… more powerful than us. Why us?"
"Hissss issss magic chaossss," Ruuk said. "Centuriessss millennia agessss ago, Ruukthalmuramaxamin wassss curssssed. Musssst sssstay. Power mine."
For the first time, it didn't occur to Twilight to respond. She sat, rapt.
"Negarath wassss a city of the mad," Ruuk said. "Inverted, floating upsssside down, buildingssss of curvessss, archessss, twisssstssss, with disssstorted creaturessss on dissssplay. Flayed mind flayerssss, ghosssstssss of elementalssss, demonssss of celesssstia, angelssss of outer darknessss."
"And a mad prisoner," Twilight stammered. "A sharn cursed to order."
"And dying!" Ruuk said. The sound was so loud that the temple shook. "Body failing, order rotting. Godssss of chaossss have turned away, abhorrent."
"Then help us," Twilight said. "Break free-" Her head burst and she sank again.
Even as her senses fled in pain, her half-mad mind perceived a certain kind of logic in the sham's gift. It had threatened them, made them used to being threatened, then thrown them off balance. Its "random" actions apparently followed a set order.
The three heads spoke at once, but said three things. "Not free. No cure. No help." Then they joined together. "Ssssink to risssse. Kill