Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [94]
"He asked you to come to Turmish with him, and you turned him down. What did you expect him to do, follow you around the Realms? Please don't abandon him when he needs your help just because you're jealous of me."
Alias stepped up to Zhara and waved her forefinger in the priestess's face. "For your information, this has absolutely nothing to do with toeing jealous of you.
You're just a copy of me-one of Phalse's second-rate copies. Akabar told me he was my friend, that he thought of me as a human, and then he turned around and married you, as if my body was a thing he could have for the right price."
Alias's voice cracked with anger and pain.
"I am not a thing," Zhara snapped. "I am nothing like you. I am a person, too-"
"Did you know," Alias interrupted, "that when we found you in the Citadel of Exile and Akabar saw how upset I was, he offered to destroy you for me?"
"Yes," Zhara replied quietly, nodding her head. "He told me all about it."
"And you married him anyway? Are you crazy?" Alias cried. "Of course you are," she said bitterly. "After all, Phalse made you."
"Of all our sisters that I have met, you are the only one to treat me this way.
The others were pleased to have a family."
"Sisters! You mean the other eleven monsters are walking around?"
Zhara gritted her teeth to hold back her anger. She took a deep breath and spoke in measured, even tones. "I have met three others. One is a sage in Candlekeep, one a mage in Immersea, one a warrior like yourself from the eastern lands. I know of two others. One was a thief who was murdered this past spring. The other is a lady of some power in Waterdeep."
"Did Akabar marry any of these others, too?" Alias asked. "I'm surprised a shrewd merchant like him didn't think of it when we discovered you in the Citadel of Exile. He could have picked you up cheaper by the dozen and sold you off for a profit."
Zhara's face went livid with rage. "You witch! How dare you!" she cried and backhanded Alias solidly across the face.
The swordswoman stumbled back several feet. Then she leaped forward onto Zhara.
"Let's finish what we started yesterday, shall we?" she growled as they both fell to the ground.
Zhara fought back with fury, but she had no weapons or armor to protect her now.
She stubbed her toes kicking at the swordswoman and bruised her knuckles on Alias's skull.
Alias punched at Zhara's stomach, and Zhara curled up, whimpering like a dog.
"Had enough?" Alias snarled, sitting up over the priestess.
Zhara slammed her elbow into Alias's kidney. Alias raised her fist over the priestess's head, but something overhead grabbed her wrist and lifted her off the ground by her arm. She twisted her neck around to see what was holding her.
A beast over ten feet tall, covered in scales and armor plates of bone, dangled the swordswoman in front of his face, studying her with some interest. In his other hand, he held out a lump of clay fashioned into a miniature four-story tower.
Alias looked around for Dragonbait. The saurial paladin stood at the edge of the forest, looking down at the ground. Akabar stood beside him with an astonished look on his face.
"Are you through beating my wife?" Akabar asked the swordswoman angrily.
"She started it," Alias growled. "You must be Grypht," she said to the creature holding her. "Put me down."
Akabar stepped into the clearing and helped Zhara to her feet.
"How could you do such a thing?" the Turmish mage asked his wife. "Have you forgotten the promise you made after you broke Kasim's arm? You swore you would not hit another woman," he said angrily.
Zhara spat in Alias's direction. "That witch makes Kasim seem like an angel.
Alias is no different from her mother, Cassana. I do not care one bit if I hurt her."
Akabar looked up at Alias. "What is going on here?" he asked, motioning for Grypht to set the swordswoman down.
Grypht lowered Alias until her feet touched the ground. The saurial wizard did not, however, release her wrist. The scent of fresh-mown hay rose from his