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By Root 352 0

obviously just cast a spell on his slave, and Q’arlynd could guess what its effects would be. As Flinderspeld opened his mouth to answer, Q’arlynd once again tried to slip into his slave’s mind. Finally, it worked. Whatever magical shield the priestesses had placed between the two rings had lapsed. Q’arlynd heard Flinderspeld mentally rehearsing the story he’d been coached with before they’d stepped through the portal. Flinderspeld was about to say that he’d seen a priestess of Eilistraee give his master the token, but the words never made it from mind to mouth. The deep gnome instead began to babble something else entirely.

“We found the token in the rubble. My master told me to say—”

Furious, Q’arlynd seized hold of his slave’s body. Flinderspeld’s jaw snapped shut so quickly his teeth nipped his tongue. Q’arlynd forced the deep gnome’s face into a smile, preventing him from wincing at the pain that flared in his tongue.

“To tellanyone … that … he … foundthetoken. The … priestess … toldhimshe … didn’t … wantanyoneto … know … she … hadcometo … Ch-Ch-Ched … Nas-Nas …”

Q’arlynd frowned. Why was he being so difficult? Even with a truth spell in effect, he should have been able to control Flinderspeld, yet the words staggered out of the deep gnome’s mouth one moment, spilled out in a rush the next. All the while, Flinderspeld’s mind screamed like a shrieker, desperately fighting Q’arlynd’s hold on his body while trying to blurt out the truth.

Rowaan stared at Flinderspeld, her mouth open. Leliana was quicker on the uptake. “The wizard’s controlling him,” she hissed at her companion. “He must be close by. Find him.”

Rowaan touched her pendant, whispering the words of a prayer.

Q’arlynd withdrew from Flinderspeld’s mind. The deep gnome continued babbling the rest of his answer to Leliana’s question, but Q’arlynd was no longer concerned with what Flinderspeld might be telling the priestesses. The damage had been done, and if Leliana worked her truth-compelling magic on Q’arlynd and learned what he’d done, things would only get worse. The killing of a fellow priestess—even by accident—was something no drow female would forgive.

Q’arlynd’s hopes of meeting Qilué had just burned up as quickly as a torch-touched web. It was time to end his little jaunt through the World Above and return to Ched Nasad.

But not without his slave.

Who, strangely enough, stood stock still, instead of backing slowly away as he usually did when trouble reared its head.

Q’arlynd cursed, realizing that Flinderspeld must be magically held. Q’arlynd paused just long enough to fasten his belt around his waist then teleported to the deep gnome’s side. A second, quick teleport would—

“There!” Rowaan shouted, pointing straight at him across the crackling fire.

Rowaan’s spell had allowed her to spot him, but it didn’t matter. Q’arlynd slapped his invisible hand down on his slave’s head and spoke the word that would teleport the pair of them to—

Q’arlynd felt his body stiffen. Unbalanced, he toppled over. He landed heavily on the ground next to Flinderspeld, narrowly missing winding up with his face in the fire. The earthy smell of fallen leaves filled his nostrils.

He heard Rowaan chanting. Suddenly, he could see his nose again. His invisibility had been dispelled.

Leliana rolled him over. She poked his shoulder with the point of her sword, notching a shallow wound in his flesh. If he’d been able to, Q’arlynd would have yelped.

Leliana smiled. “You’re wondering what just happened.”

Indeed he was.

Leliana flipped up the back of Flinderspeld’s vest and pointed at something: a glyph, drawn on the inside of it. Q’arlynd didn’t recognize the glyph, even though it was written using the drow script. It must have been sacred to Eilistraee.

“Rowaan got the idea from watching you reading your belt,” Leliana told him.

Q’arlynd’s eyelids were still working, so he gave an involuntary blink of surprise. He barged his way into Flinderspeld’s thoughts. The deep gnome was the only one who knew where Q’arlynd kept his travel “spellbook,” but Flinderspeld gave