Masquerades - Kate Novak [165]
When the end of the bridge came within a yard of the portal, Alias swung herself backward into the planar pocket with only moments to spare before the bridge vanished. The portal snapped shut behind her tumbling form.
The swordswoman gasped and choked as she breathed in the mists drifting along the floor. The vapors shone with a yellow radiance and smelled like sulfur. They swirled so thickly, they obscured the floor. Alias could see no walls, and overhead there was only darkness.
A few feet away, Dragonbait stood as alert as a hunting cat. The tip of his tail and the tip of his sword twitched in nervous apprehension. Alias noticed that the mists, which swirled about her legs, seemed to swerve away from the paladin.
Victor, clutching Thistle about the waist, stood off to one side of the portal. He tore the feather brooch from Thistle's gown and slid it into a pocket of his robe. Alias stumbled to her feet and moved toward the girl, but she halted when she saw the dagger Victor pointed at Thistle's throat.
"Where is the treasure?" the croamarkh demanded.
"What difference does it make, Victor?" Alias snapped. "You're never getting away with it."
Victor smiled slyly at the swordswoman. "No one knows where I am. No one saw us enter here. In a few hours they'll have given up the search, and I can leave with Thistle. "You and Dragonbait, though, will have to remain within. Might as well get used to it."
Alias glared at the nobleman, desiring vengeance more than ever. The man had tried to take her life only hours after proffering his love. If not for Mintassan, she and Dragonbait would both have been dead. Mintassan and Dragonbait had counseled her against killing the noble, and she had agreed to turn Victor over to Durgar. Now, however, seeing him threaten yet one more innocent, Alias wanted to tear the nobleman's heart out. Yet she realized she had to remain cool.
"Why don't you let Thistle go?" the swordswoman suggested. "You don't need a hostage now that you've escaped."
"But I need to keep you and your lizard friend in check," he argued, pulling the girl closer to him.
Alias noted that at least now there was nothing in Thistle's eyes but contempt for the nobleman. The girl maintained a dignified silence.
Dragonbait began moving deeper into the planar pocket.
"Where are you going?" Alias asked.
"I sense evil everywhere," the paladin explained in Saurial, "but there is a stronger mass in this direction."
"Don't we want to stay away from anything like that?" Alias demanded.
"There is not much point to that now that we are in this place," the paladin replied solemnly. He continued onward.
Alias followed after the saurial. Behind her she heard Victor ask again, "Where is the treasure?"
"Maybe there isn't any, Victor," Alias taunted. "Perhaps the Thalavar clan frittered it away over the past century."
"No, Grandmother said no one had ever touched it," Thistle replied. "It must be here."
Alias rolled her eyes, wishing the girl had been savvy enough to agree, or at least say nothing. Then the swordswoman halted in her tracks. She had come upon an island in the sea of mists, a great glowing yellow sphere, larger than a man. Just beneath the surface of the sphere, misty shapes writhed and flowed. The swordswoman reached out and touched the sphere's surface. It was as smooth as glass and warm to the touch.
"It's a giant pearl," Thistle whispered.
Dragonbait stepped out from behind the sphere. He spoke to Alias in Saurial. "At its core I sense great greed."
"The piece of Verovan's soul?" Alias guessed.
"Probably," the paladin replied.
"What's surrounding it?" the swordswoman asked.
Dragonbait pointed to the mist on the floor. "A pearl might actually be a good analogy," he said. "The soul shard is like a piece of grit in an oyster. These creatures have coalesced around it to soothe the irritation it causes