Finder's Bane - Kate Novak [99]
Joel felt a sigh in his mind… Ilsensine's sigh.
Mmmm. That is good. Very good.
Jedidiah collapsed to the floor in a heap.
"What have you done?" Joel cried out, struggling again in the grail's tentacles.
There is no need for alarm. He is not seriously injured. He will recover. We are most pleased. You have earned your freedom. My servants will escort you to the borders of our realm. Where will you be heading?
"The Palace of Judgment," Joel said, his eyes straining for some sign of movement from Jedidiah.
You will like it there. It is very beautiful. At least, that is what I have tasted in the minds of humans who have visited there.
A zombie grell scooped up Jedidiah's fallen form and floated from the hall. The grell holding Joel released him. The Rebel Bard followed after his god. Two grell followed him.
The grell carrying Jedidiah led the party through a glowing portal. On the other side was a straight passageway that climbed back to the daylit surface of the Outlands. After the cool, dark corridors, the bright sky, with or without a sun, was a pleasure to see, and the air felt gloriously warm. Even better was the quiet that settled in Joel's head.
The grell set down Jedidiah and disappeared back into the dark tunnel in the earth.
Joel rushed to Jedidiah's side and shook him by the shoulders, calling out his name. The god remained unconscious, and he was very pale, but at least his breathing was steady. Joel rolled his cape up to pillow the older man's head.
Joel surveyed the land. He stood on a low bluff looking out over a great level plain. From the center of the plain rose a great city, laid out in perfect order, surrounded by a high wall. Everything was built of the same uniform red brick. The roofs all sparkled with glazed yellow tile. The streets were all paved with gray stone. Joel could see at least three large gardens, each growing around a blue lake. Even from this distance, the young priest was inclined to agree with Ilsensine- or, rather, with the victims whose minds the god had drained. The Palace of Judgment was indeed beautiful.
Yet the palace was only a stepping stone to Sigil. He and Jedidiah would have to reach the City of Doors quickly. If they didn't find the Hand of Bane before Walinda did, they would have nothing to barter for the stolen half of the finder's stone. Finder would remain a very weak god for a long time, and Bane the Tyrant would return to the Realms.
Joel shuddered. He knelt down beside Jedidiah, shook him gently, and called out his name-his real name this time.
The older priest woke with a start. He smiled up at Joel. " 'Lo," he said.
"Hello yourself," Joel replied with a grin, relief flooding over him.
"Been sleeping long, have I?" Jedidiah asked. He sounded like an invalid recovering from a long illness.
"Not too long," Joel answered. He helped his god sit up.
Jedidiah's head twitched involuntarily. It was a movement Joel had never seen before.
"Are you all right?" Joel asked Jedidiah.
"I'm not sure," the older bard said. "They have a saying in the Outlands: 'One would be wise to question the wits of anyone who makes it back alive from Ilsensine's court.'"
"You should have let Ilsensine take a song from me," Joel chided. "I must have known something it had never heard."
Jedidiah shook his head. "It was too great a risk."
Joel chuckled. "And Grypht warned me what a reckless fellow you are."
Jedidiah smiled. "Well, I am. I'm the kind of fellow who climbs to the top of a high wall and dances a jig. But I never intend to fall from the wall and break my neck. You might have known a song that Ilsensine had never heard-one of your own that you haven't performed yet. But then instead of leaving you completely brain-burned, Ilsensine would have only left you addled. No. I stood a better chance of resisting its probe."
"Why didn't Ilsensine just keep us and drain us?"
"Have you