Pool of Radiance_ Ruins of Myth Drannor - Carrie Bebris [105]
By this point, Faeril and Durwyn should have reached the other side of the main gate. The invisible pair was to pass through before Ghleanna’s spells drew attention to the party’s presence. Corran and Athan flanked the sorceress, in case Ghleanna’s untried invisibility spell exposed her during casting after all. Kestrel was stationed at the main gate in the event its guard got any ideas about closing the portal before the whole party passed through. Each of her unseen companions was to sound a low whistle while entering to alert her to their movements.
It was a perfect plan. In theory.
The cultists, however, didn’t cooperate. The cult sorcerer guarding the main gate immediately unleashed a spell aimed at Ghleanna-or at least, where one would assume she stood while summoning the lightning bolts. Kestrel prayed that her companion had moved in time to avoid the spell. To her horror, the half-elf materialized a moment later, unharmed but fully visible. The cultist’s spell had counteracted hers.
A squad of cult fighters advanced on Ghleanna as the two remaining gate guards prepared to sling more magic at her. Kestrel sneaked up behind the closest sorcerer and slit his throat Something slipped from his hand-a crumpled roll of paper. She let it drift to the floor, more pressing matters drawing her attention.
Seeing a fatal knife slash suddenly open in his comrade’s neck, the final sorcerer diverted his spell at the last second to aim it at Kestrel. She used the cultist’s body as a shield, letting the corpse absorb the enchantment. The body disintegrated in her hands.
She looked up from the dust to see Ghleanna hastily retreating toward her. Corran and Athan-exposed to sight by their strikes against the closing cult fighters-followed close behind. Ghleanna flung a final spell at the cult sorcerer before diving into the gate.
Her fireball sped toward the guard, but at the last moment veered away into the gate. The portal immediately imploded, disappearing in a puff of smoke.
They’d lost their way home.
Cursing, Kestrel dropped to the floor in time to avoid the sorcerer’s next attack. How was it that he could see her? His spells were aimed with deadly accuracy. As a crackling finger of magical energy sped across the room, she realized she was not his target at all-he was aiming at the gate.
The enchanted bolt struck the portal. She rolled away as sparks flew and electrical feedback seized the opening. The gate collapsed.
Damn it all! Dread swept through her. Everything was falling apart. Half their party was on the other side of that gate, including both their spellcasters. Kestrel didn’t know whose predicament was worse: those now in the pool cavern facing Mordrayn alone or those left behind with all these cultists.
Corran and Athan still battled their way toward her. She glanced wildly around the room in search of a likely exit. As she tried to rise to her feet, her left hand slid on something-the piece of paper the sorcerer had dropped.
Damn that cultist to the Abyss, anyway! Damn them all. She picked up the paper, crumpled it in her hand, and nearly hurled it in frustration before two words caught her eye: Summon Gate. It was a scroll, a magical scroll with the incantation to open the gate once more.
And Ghleanna was gone.
Kestrel looked to Corran. Could the paladin work one of those miracles he’d talked about and somehow cast the spell off this scroll? Beyond him, she saw the cult sorcerer prepare to throw more magic. Corran and Athan approached but not quickly enough. Another squad of cult fighters closed in.
She glanced at the paper once more. There was no one to read the incantation in time. No one but her.
Her voice shaking with desperation, she uttered the first few words. When no pillar of magical flame consumed her for presuming to work the arcane arts, she continued. Corran and Athan edged closer-as did their foes. The cult sorcerer raised his hands and pointed a sinister finger