Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [145]
Dragonbait moved to the cave entrance to keep an eye on the god's progress.
Handing his dagger to the halfling, Finder ordered her, "Hold it so the blade is level to the ground." Olive held the dagger out with both hands.
The bard lifted the top of his magical stone away from the bottom. A terrible cold filled the cave instantly, causing their breath to steam. The water droplets on the walls of the cave froze; the ferns on the ground turned gray and brittle, and the swallows nesting in various nooks and crannies began twittering in alarm. Alias's arms began to turn blue and she started to shiver uncontrollably. Grypht moved toward the mouth of the cave, where the air was warmer. Protected by Finder's ring of cold resistance, Olive didn't notice the chill. Finder simply ignored it.
"Alias, take this," the bard said, handing the swordswoman the top of the stone.
Alias took the piece of crystal gingerly, expecting it to be cold, too, but it felt as warm as Finder's hand.
Sticking out of the center of the bottom of the stone, like a needle in a pincushion, was a sliver of ice as clear as glass. Finder held his hands beneath the stone and ordered Grypht to release it from his levitation spell.
"Done," the wizard replied from the mouth of the cave.
Finder knelt down in front of Olive. He huffed once on the tip of the dagger blade to cover it with moisture. "Steady now, Olive girl," he said. He tilted the stone so that the tip of the ice needle touched the dagger's groove. As he slipped the stone away, the needle of ice fell into the groove, with the end of the needle hanging out over the tip of the dagger. Finder breathed on the blade once again to freeze the needle of para-elemental ice to the dagger's blade.
The bard stood up and tossed the bottom of the finder's stone in his hand.
"There may just be enough power in this piece to light my way to Akabar" he explained to the swordswoman. "If I succeed in destroying Moander but fail to come out of the pile, you must try to use the top half of the stone to locate the mage."
"Can't you put both halves together again?" Alias asked.
Finder shook his head. "Never again," he said.
Suddenly Alias realized that Finder's immortality might not protect him from death at the hands of a god. He might never come back to her. She'd asked him to sacrificed his stone, but she didn't want him to sacrifice his life.
"Let me take the dagger," the swordswoman said. "Moander is as much my enemy as anyone's."
Finder shook his head. "No. This is my responsibility," he said firmly.
The walls and floor of the cave began to shake from Moander's approach. The swallows in the cave abandoned their nests and swarmed outside, fleeing from the quaking mountain.
"Set the dagger down carefully, Olive," Finder ordered. "Then I'll have to ask for my ring of cold resistance back. Keep the ring of protection. As careless as you are, you need it."
Olive laid the dagger down in the frozen ferns. Finder took back the ring of cold resistance and slipped it on his finger. Hastily Olive pulled out the silver Harpers pin Finder had given her. As the bard bent over to pick up the dagger, Olive fastened the pin to his tunic, saying, "Wear this for luck."
"But I gave you that pin. It's yours," Finder objected.
"Then you'd better bring it back to me, hadn't you?" the half-ling said with a wink.
"Take care, little Lady Luck," Finder whispered, kissing her gently on the forehead. He stood and looked into Alias's eyes. "Remember, no matter what happens, I love you" he said. Touching the sigil of Moander on her arm, he promised, "I will rid you of this."
"Moander is starting to move faster!" Dragonbait shouted. "You must hurry!"
Finder kissed Alias's cheek and rushed to the mouth of the cave. The pile of greenery was only a hundred feet away, and the top of the pile was now level with the cave entrance. Eight long tendrils, tipped with tanged mouths,