Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [135]
"Alias, she's the Mouth of Moander," Olive said. "She says whatever Moander wants her to say. She lied to upset Dragonbait, just as Moander lied to you when you were its prisoner."
Alias nodded thoughtfully. Moander took great delight in causing people grief and fear. The god would say anything to achieve that goal.
"I am not the seed," Akabar snarled.
"Akabar," Alias argued, "Moander had plenty of opportunity to put its power inside you and taint your blood. All its minions have been looking for you, trying to capture you. Olive must be right."
Akabar's eyes narrowed into slits and his head shook with anger. It had taken him a long time to forget his shame and fury at the way Moander had used his body to harm his friends. He couldn't deny that he'd been powerless in the god's control, and there had been times when he'd been unconscious and could have been violated with some foul magic. "Then it's the god's justice that I have been sent to destroy Moander," the mage said, his voice like steel. "I must stay."
"Akabar, be reasonable. We can't risk having you get captured. We have to get you out of here!" Alias insisted.
"No!" Akabar said stubbornly, "I am not fleeing."
"Akabar, suppose Moander's enchanted you to come here. By staying, you're simply doing its bidding," the swordswoman pointed out.
"It's too late to cancel our plans now," Akabar said "There's no way to alert Grypht. He's relying on us to do our parts,"
"All right," Alias sighed. As unwise as she felt it to be, she had no choice but to give in to the mage's logic.
"What are you going to do about Finder?" Olive asked anxiously. "You can't hit him with a cone of cold. It could kill him."
Akabar knelt beside Alias and laid his hand beside the swordswoman's on the halfling's shoulder. He gave Olive an encouraging squeeze. "Dragonbait is a paladin. He can cast a cure disease spell on Finder."
Olive nodded, though since she was invisible, the others couldn't see it. She pulled Dragonbait's sword out of the invisible sack and held the weapon out so Alias could see it.
Alias took the sword and whispered "Toast" in saurial. The sword glowed, then burst into flame. Olive drew a torch out of her knapsack and ignited it over the saurial's magical weapon.
"Good luck," Alias whispered to the halfling as the light from the torch, held by the halfling's invisible hand, bounced around the edge of the clearing.
"The light stone's gone out," Akabar whispered.
Alias heard a twittering noise coming from the inner huts. "There's the alarm."
From the center of the camp came a shout in saurial. "There's Dragonbait!" Alias said, spying the paladin running toward them, weaving his way through the huts of the saurial camp. "Get ready."
Akabar pulled out a feather from one of his robe pockets and began chanting a spell that would enable him to fly.
Alias gasped suddenly as the vines that fastened the pine boughs to the huts lashed out from the huts and tangled themselves around the paladin's legs.
Dragonbait fell to the ground, trying desperately to pull the vines from his legs, but more vines began tangling around his arms and waist. Between the huts, a white saurial in white robes gestured in Dragonbait's direction. Vines began wrapping around the paladin's throat.
"No!" Alias shouted, rushing forward. Before she could reach the paladin's side, however, other vines lashed out at her from huts at the edge of the clearing.
Alias hacked through the vines with Dragonbait's flaming blade, but more vines kept coming at her.
As suddenly as they had appeared, the vines dropped to the ground, motionless.
Akabar must have dispelled the magic that animated them, Alias thought. The swordswoman looked toward where Coral had stood to see if she was casting another spell at her, but the white saurial was nowhere in sight. Alias ran to help Dragonbait, only to find the vines surrounding him had also lost their