Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [80]
Dragonbait and Breck rolled around in the grass a few more times until the swordswoman asked, "Are you two having fun?"
Dragonbait looked up suddenly. When he caught sight of Zhara, safely out of the fracas, and Alias, watching with a bemused expression, he looked almost sheepish. He went limp and let Breck pin him to the ground.
"I have you now!" the ranger declared.
"Yes, but what are you going to do with him? You can't ride him, and he's too tough to eat," Alias said with a chuckle. "He might make an interesting pair of boots-maybe."
Breck looked at Alias and turned purple with fury at the sight of the swordswoman laughing at him. He released Dragonbait and leaped to his feet.
"You!" he shouted, pointing a finger at Alias. "You helped her to escape! No wonder you were so anxious to defend her husband. Did Lord Mourngrym know?"
"Know what?" Alias asked, disdainful of the ranger's confused accusations.
"That she's your sister," Breck snarled.
"What are you talking about?" Alias snapped back. "I haven't any sisters."
"Then who is she?" Breck demanded, yanking the hood of Zhara's cloak off the priestess's head.
The swordswoman squinted in the moonlight at Zhara and saw, for the first time, what Breck had seen when he'd been rolling on the ground with the priestess.
There was something familiar about the pointed chin, the high cheekbones, the thin nose, the green eyes, and the red hair. Alias gasped and backed away.
Zhara's features were familiar because they were the swordswoman's own features.
Except for the dusky hue of her southern skin, Zhara could have been Alias's twin. Alias realized in a flash just what Zhara was.
"No!" Alias shrieked furiously, drawing her sword. "She's not my sister! She's one of the fiend Phalse's spawn!"
11
Betrayals
Breck pulled away from Zhara and drew his own sword, but he looked at Alias doubtfully. Then he remembered the sage's words at the tribunal. "Elminster told us Phalse had been destroyed," he said.
"Yes," Alias admitted, "by my own hand. Before that, though, the little monster created her and eleven other of my lookalikes, pawns that he intended to use to destroy his old enemy, Moander." Alias raised the tip of her sword to Zhara's throat. "That's why you're so eager to have Akabar go after Moander, isn't it?
Because you're Phalse's creature."
Zhara met Alias's eyes with her own and replied calmly, "And are you still Moander's creature that you are so eager to see the Darkbringer live? Here is your chance to destroy me. You have your weapon in hand. Why not use it and finish me off?"
"You witch!" Alias growled. She threw her sword down and leaped at Zhara.
The two women tumbled to the ground. Dragonbait moved quickly to separate them, but Breck put his hand out to stop the saurial. "One thing you never want to do," he said with a chuckle, "is get between two women in a brawl."
The paladin's eyes narrowed angrily at Breck's patronizing tone and amused grin, but upon consideration, he accepted the wisdom of the ranger's words. He stood by watching Alias and Zhara roll about on the wet ground, thinking how ironic it was that only a few minutes before, the swordswoman had found his own battle with Breck so amusing.
Alias tried to wrap her hands around Zhara's throat, but she drew her hands away hastily, pricked by some shards of metal. Beneath her robe, the priestess wore a studded leather collar around her neck. The swordswoman's eyes widened with a sudden suspicion. She grabbed the front of the priestess's robe and ripped the white fabric from the neck to the waistline. Beneath her robe, Zhara wore a chain shirt cut very low.
"You stole my armor!" Alias screeched. She raised a fist, but before she could slam it into Zhara's face, the priestess whipped a flail out from her sleeve and clubbed the swords-woman on the side of the head.