Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [129]
"It should be sung as a solo," Finder said automatically.
"I know," Olive said, "but a modest halfling like me-"
Akabar guffawed at Olive's description of herself.
"-like me," Olive continued, "didn't have the nerve to correct so venerable a priestess. Perhaps, Master Wyvernspur, the next time you run into the goddess Selune, you should tell her to keep her minions under control. In the meantime, why don't you try singing it with Alias, just this once?"
"Just this once," Finder agreed with a chuckle. He took Alias's hand and they began the song.
The first two verses went without a hitch, but as they began the third. Alias's voice began to trail off, although her mouth still moved. Finder stopped singing and stared at the swordswoman. From the way Alias rocked back and forth and stared unblinkingly at the cave wall, Olive and Akabar could tell the swordswoman had gone into a soul-song trance. Finder and Grypht were listening to her intently. The cave became awash in the scents of violets and roses, and Olive realized that Alias was singing in saurial-singing with terror and despair.
The swordswoman began to shout in Realms common, "Release me! Release me!
Release me!" Then she gasped and swayed and snapped out of her trance.
"Dragonbait!" she cried out. "They've captured Dragonbait!"
Finder looked quickly at Olive. "Where is Dragonbait?" he demanded.
"He said he wanted to scout the vale," the halfling replied, cursing herself for leaving the paladin alone.
Grypht put a hand on Alias's shoulder. Olive supposed he'd said something, for Alias calmed slightly.
"The soul song was mostly Dragonbait's song," the swordswoman explained. "He followed Coral into the saurial camp."
"Who is Coral?" Akabar asked.
Alias looked at Grypht. "Coral was Dragonbait's lover, wasn't she?" she asked the wizard, though she was already certain of it from the soul link she'd just experienced.
Grypht nodded. "Once she was. She was also a priestess of the goddess of luck before Moander captured her. She's the Mouth of Moander now, the most powerful minion the god has in the Realms"
"The last part of the song came from her, not Dragonbait," Alias said. "Moander is keeping such a tight hold on her mind that her thoughts are hard to understand, but I know she doesn't want to live. She's begging for her goddess to release her from life before-" Alias gasped again. "Before Moander makes her kill Dragonbait! Moander plans for her to sacrifice Dragonbait to enslave my will! We have to free Dragonbait before it's too late!" Alias cried, rising suddenly to her feet.
"They can't sacrifice the paladin before Moander is resurrected," Finder said, standing and grabbing hold of Alias's arms before she rushed off and did something foolish. "And they can't perform the sacrifice without you. Stay put, and when Breck gets back from Shadowdale, we'll rescue Dragonbait."
"There isn't time to wait for Breck to get back!" Alias insisted. "They have the seed! They're going to resurrect Moander tonight! We have to stop them now!"
Akabar turned pale, and Grypht muttered an oath under his breath.
"How did they find the seed?" Olive asked. "Only this morning they expected Finder to go look for it."
"I don't know," Alias said, "but Coral told Dragonbait that Moander will be resurrected tonight. If we hurry, we have a chance of reaching Dragonbait before then. Coral's keeping Dragonbait in a hut warded with a glyph."
"Alias, there are only five of us against over a hundred saurial minions,"
Finder protested. "A lot of those minions are spell-casters. Even with Grypht's and Akabar's magic and the spells I have in the finder's stone, we don't stand a chance."
"We would if you used the piece of para-elemental ice in the finder's stone as Akabar suggested" Alias said. Her voice rose excitedly. "It could put most of the saurials into a torpor, and Grypht and Akabar could handle anyone