Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [53]
"Having the druid here in the fortress only reawakened my grief. I might have killed Chereth myself had my father not protected him. Make no mistake. The old druid was a prisoner. Never unguarded. But as long as he behaved himself, my father would allow no one to harm him. No one except my father. I told you that my father's hunger for power often knew no caution. Though he was once a devoted priest of Bhaal, after the death of his god, he… broadened his interests, studying the arcane, searching lore wherever he could find it. Even this fortress, the place you now sit, is ancient. Built by the Imaskari thousands of years ago, and it holds many of their secrets still."
"And your father," said Lewan, "he used these powers on Chereth?"
"Used them on him, with him-perhaps even for him," said Talieth. "As I said, my father's hunger for power knew no bounds. He coerced knowledge from the old druid, by kindness or by torture. My father is an expert at both. But he also found ways to use the druid to leech the powers of the earth itself to serve him. This, I believe, is when his madness fully bloomed."
"I still don't understand," said Lewan. And he wasn't sure he wanted to. None of this had anything to do with him. His master was dead. If Chereth truly were alive, the best Lewan could do for him was to escape himself, perhaps seek a circle of druids somewhere, and tell them of the old half-elf's plight. One half-trained novice could do nothing against such powers.
"Tell me," said Talieth. "Did you feel the earth tremble not long ago?"
"Yes," said Lewan. "It's why I went out on the balcony. I thought it might have been a landslide."
"No, Lewan. You've lived in the Endless Wastes most of your life. You do know that Sentinelspire is a volcano?"
"Yes. But she hasn't erupted for thousands of years. The Firepeaks-"
"Are nothing compared to Sentinelspire," said Talieth. "Yes, the mountain has slept for untold thousands of years. My father believed that the Imaskari found a way to put her to sleep, to channel her energies elsewhere."
"Elsewhere? I… I don't understand."
"The Imaskari were masters of magic. But they were particularly knowledgeable about the other worlds beyond our own, and their wizards found ways to open doors to those worlds."
"You mean portals."
"You know of them?" said Talieth, sounding both surprised and pleased.
"My master told me of them. Sauk said that we were to take one here, before…" Lewan's voice caught in his throat.
"Yes, let's not get off on that path again," said Talieth. "The portals. Some can take a traveler hundreds or thousands of miles as if walking from one room to another. But others… others can lead to other worlds altogether, some so deadly that the very air is poison, the seas fire."
Lewan could not imagine why anyone, even a wizard, would wish to go to such places.
"The Imaskari," Talieth continued, "found ways to use this art for their benefit. This fortress is perhaps one of their greatest achievements. You've seen the greenery throughout our home? The fountains? The great fall over the western wall?"
"Yes."
Talieth gave him a self-satisfied smile. "We're in the Endless Wastes, Lewan. Where does all this water come from? Snowmelt off one mountain? You say you've lived in the wild for years. Surely you can see that no amount of snowmelt could account for such abundance of water in the Wastes."
"I hadn't really thought about it," said Lewan.
"No? Well, I can tell you that no amount of melting snow could provide enough water for that fall year round. The water all around you, feeding the vines and flowers and greenery, growing our food, filling that pitcher before you… very little of it came from rain or snowmelt. No. Deep beneath the fortress, and in hidden caves farther up the mountain, are the Wells."
"Wells? Like water?"
"Some, yes. The Wells are simply what my father named them, but in truth, they are portals to other worlds. Some are portals