Finder's Bane - Kate Novak [124]
Joel took the hand from his god. It was still warm from Jedidiah's touch. "I need to think about this…" he said.
Jedidiah nodded. "Perhaps it will be easier to decide back at the Sensate safe house. Holly and Walinda will both have different answers for you."
"And Jas," Joel said suddenly. "She was here," he told Jedidiah. "The Xvimists captured her and transformed her like they did Bear. But when she learned Holly wasn't dead, she seemed to act a little more human. I think she's headed to see Holly."
"Let's go, then," Jedidiah said. "Before this city decides to spit me out."
They climbed wearily up both flights of stairs. Dits was among the stacks of books and scrolls speaking with a customer.
"I'll be back soon," Joel called, waving the Hand of Bane at the bariaur. Joel stuffed the hand inside his belt and left the shop with Jedidiah at his side. They hurried through the streets of Sigil. Despite Jedidiah's age, it was Joel whose strength began to flag as they reached the Sensate safe house. The wounds he'd received from the skeleton's sword and Jas's talons throbbed painfully, and his head was pounding from the stone idol's blow.
Jedidiah ushered his wounded priest inside and sat him down in the parlor. "I'll go see if Bors can do that golden thread trick on you," he said.
Joel looked up at the picture over the mantelpiece and gasped. The picture had been slashed to ribbons. Lying on the mantel before it was a note written on a scrap of the painting's canvas.
Joel leapt up and grabbed at the document. He read it quickly and then ran from the parlor, shouting for
Jedidiah. He found the older man in the kitchen, leaning over Bors. The alien paladin had been knocked unconscious, apparently with a heavy frying pan.
Joel waved the note in the air. "It's from Walinda," he said.
Jedidiah rubbed at his temples. "Read it," he ordered.
"I have the paladin in my possession. I will be in the astral plane with my lord Bane. Bring the Hand of Bane if you wish to negotiate. Walinda of Bane… She has Holly!" Joel exclaimed.
"And you have the Hand of Bane," Jedidiah replied. "It's the same game, but the stakes have just been changed."
Seventeen
Lord Bane's Body
Bors soon regained consciousness. Aside from a ringing headache, he was no worse for wear. He sent a street urchin to fetch sedan chairs to take Joel and Jedidiah to the Shattered Temple, where they would find a portal to the astral plane. "I can accompany you as far as the temple, but then we must part," the alien paladin said. "I have an obligation at the Civic Festhall that I can delay no longer." Jedidiah nodded, and Joel realized the old priest was relieved that Bors hadn't insisted on joining their party. Holly's presence had already complicated their business. Who knew what trouble a second paladin could start?
While they waited for their transport, Bors saw to their wounds. With a golden hammer, he applied a blow to Jedidiah's arm, relieving the numbness the older man felt, and with the golden needle, he pricked the bump in Joel's head. The swelling quickly subsided. Then he washed and bandaged Joel's wounds from Jas and the skeleton.
Two chairs arrived, each carried by two bariaurs. Bors instructed them to head for a tavern called the Soused Duck. The tavern, Bors explained, was as near to the Shattered Temple as any bearers would go. He wished them luck and sent them on their way.
As he rode, all Joel could think of was Walinda's treachery and how stupid he'd been to trust her. She'd pulled the same trick her master had tried. Jedidiah had even warned Joel about her in the Palace of Judgment. Of course, Jedidiah had also been tricked, believing Bors could protect Holly from the priestess.
Although it was now day, the fog grew darker as they approached their destination, and the air grew much more foul. Their bariaur bearers