Finder's Bane - Kate Novak [126]
"Jas!" Joel muttered to Jedidiah, who nodded in reply.
As they passed between two long, low buildings to the rear of the temple, Adenu said, "All of 'em lucky it's a good day for the portal."
"A good day?" Joel asked.
"Portal's getting unreliable," Adenu explained. "Like everything the so-called gods created. Some days it's no bigger than an egg. Other days it doesn't open at all."
Adenu led them through the front entryway to the ruined temple. The doors had burned away. Only their hinges remained. "Used to have caravans of people coming here to tour the temple," their guide explained, "all eager for that big finale-seeing Aoskar's body floating in the gray. Now that they know they may not see into the astral, they don't flock here like they used to. Portal closes down entirely, we'll be changing the tour itinerary. Can't say as I'll be disappointed. Thought from the beginning we should talk more about the tree."
"The tree?" Joel asked.
"I've gone and given you a dark," Adenu said. "Come back in a few weeks. The tree will be on the tour by then. Just working out some security problems. But the tree is proof there is a power greater than the gods."
Adenu led them through a door to the first tower on the right. Within, a knee-high wall encircled an empty pool about five feet across. Once the portal must have filled the pool, but now a puddle of gray in the middle was all that was left of the gateway to the astral plane. "Pop through there," Adenu said, "and you'll see 'em… all the dead gods. No better than they should be. That's where they'll all end up once we've revealed the truth about 'em to the multiverse."
"Some even sooner then that," Jedidiah murmured. He turned to the Athar guide. "We'll find our way from here, thank you," the former god said. "It's been very interesting talking to you, Adenu. Farewell."
"Suit yourselves." He pulled back and watched them from the doorway.
Jedidiah stepped stiffly over the low wall. His face twitched, as if he were in pain.
"Are you all right?" Joel whispered. "I sense I'm not wanted here," the older bard said. Joel smiled.
"Not wanted in the city, I mean," Jedidiah explained. "Something or someone has sensed my presence and is not pleased. There's an oppressive atmosphere all around me. We're not leaving a moment too soon."
Joel stepped over the wall and joined Jedidiah beside the gray puddle on the floor.
"Hold on to my cloak and step through with me," Jedidiah said. "Stay relaxed, and don't panic when we reach the other side. Ready… set… go!"
The two men hopped through the portal together. They fell into an empty sky. There was no ground beneath their feet, yet they fell no farther. There was neither up nor down, nor any horizon, nothing. In the distance, the sky looked silver, but close up there was no color to the air. Joel looked upward. The portal through which they'd entered looked like a leather-brown disk floating in the sky. It flared with a white light, then shrank to the size of a melon.
Beside him, Jedidiah's form looked pale, nearly translucent. Joel looked down at himself to discover that he, too, seemed less distinct. Yet when he patted his chest and legs, he felt as solid as ever, and the piece of Jedidiah's cloak to which he clung still seemed made of good, stiff wool. He released his hold on the cloak.
"Welcome to the astral plane," Jedidiah said. "The hallway to the multiverse. Don't be fooled by the emptiness. There's plenty here once you learn how to look for it. If you see any colored disks or snakelike tubes, avoid them. The disks are portals to other worlds, and the tubes are conduits between other worlds. With any luck, we won't run into any githyanki. That's a race of humans who worship a lich queen. They're none too friendly to outsiders. We need to find a temporary haven to start. See that gray spot?" Jedidiah pointed into the nothingness.
Joel shook his head.
"No? Well, I'm going to think about moving toward it, and when I do, I'll start to move in that direction. Just like floating