Finder's Bane - Kate Novak [132]
Jedidiah tossed a small silver box in Joel's general direction… the lich's phylactery! The banelich shrieked incoherently. Joel chased after the box. Once he caught it, he willed his way back down until he landed once more on the god's corpse.
"Get back!" the Rebel Bard warned Holly and Jas. He laid the box down and drew his sword.
"Joel, no!" Holly shouted. "You could get yourself killed!"
Joel looked back up at Jedidiah, battling with the banelich, enshrouded with black fire. The bard smashed his sword down on the box.
The box smashed open, and blue flames billowed out in all directions. Joel felt a blast of hot air. Then everything went black.
Eighteen
Renewal
Joel heard Holly calling his name. She was pleading with him to wake up. Jedidiah needed him.
Well, of course, Jedidiah needed him, Joel thought. That's how it is with gods. They need us, and we need them. He opened his eyes and blinked several times.
Everything was all silver around him. Holly's face came into view. She looked pale enough for light to shine through her.
"He's awake!" Holly cried out. "Joel, stay with us."
"I can hear you… no need to shout," the bard said, but his voice sounded far off. He shook his head. "What-what happened?"
"When you destroyed the banelich's phylactery, there was a huge explosion," Holly said. "Look at yourself."
The Rebel Bard looked back down at his body. His tunic and shirt were burned to a crisp, and his skin beneath was pink as a newborn's-and painful to touch.
"I healed you as best I could," the paladin explained. She handed him half the finder's stone. "This fell from your shirt."
"What about the banelich?" Joel asked, sliding the gem into his boot.
"It turned to dust as soon as the phylactery was destroyed," Holly explained.
Suddenly Joel realized something was wrong. "Where's Jedidiah?" he demanded.
"You'd better come see," Holly said. She sailed off over Bane's body. Joel followed her, very slowly. He had a hard time concentrating.
Jedidiah lay with his head in Jas's lap. He was unconscious. His face and hands were terribly scarred, and his breathing was shallow and ragged. The god had his gift of immortality, but without the power to heal the grievous wounds the banelich had inflicted on him, Jedidiah might never recover. In his hands he clutched half of the finder's stone-the stolen half, which held the power that could restore to him all his godly abilities and, Joel hoped fervently, heal his wounds.
Joel knelt beside his god. Very gently he pulled the finder's stone from his hands. As if Jedidiah knew it was him, the god wielded up the gem.
Joel lifted his head and began to sing. His voice still sounded very far off, but he knew the tulip song well enough that it didn't matter.
The finder's stone began to glow softly, then to steam. Misty blue smoke writhed outward toward Jedidiah's body and surrounded him. Slowly the power sank back into its source.
Jedidiah's scars began to heal, and his breathing grew strong and steady. Without warning, his eyes snapped open.
"Lo," Jedidiah said.
"Hello, yourself," Joel replied with a smile. He handed Jedidiah the emptied half of the finder's stone.
"You might have been killed destroying that phylactery, you know," Jedidiah chided Joel.
Joel shrugged. "I might have lost my god if I hadn't," he pointed out.
"Where's Walinda?" Jedidiah asked.
"Did she ever come back?" Joel looked up at Jas.
"Who cares?" the winged woman muttered.
"She never returned," Holly said.
"What happened to the Hand of Bane?" Jedidiah asked.
Holly held up a leather sack and shook it. Its contents rattled like dried bones.
"That should make Lathander happy," Jedidiah muttered, sitting up slowly.
"Yes," Holly said. "I am to scatter the pieces about the multiverse," she said.
"Get that order in another vision, did you?" Jedidiah teased.
"Since my lord Lathander is not in the habit of posing as a feeble old adventurer, that is how he makes