Tymora's Luck - Kate Novak [113]
"Walinda could have lived a thousand years, and she would never have changed," Jas declared. "She was evil incarnate."
They had just reached the ridge overlooking the Bastion of Hate when they heard another rumble.
"Beshaba's bad luck seeping out?" Holly asked.
"Pouring out is more like it," Joel replied. "She must be casting some very powerful magic."
Floating above the ground, the four carpet riders didn't feel the vibrations of the earthquake, but they still weren't safe from its violence. Geysers of ash and molten lava began to shoot up around them, and rocks from the slope above rained down on them. Joel ordered the carpet to back away from the mount a hundred feet.
Hovering near the darkness of the void, the adventurers could hardly even feel the heat, but they had an excellent view of the havoc wrought on the Gehennan mount.
The realm of Iyachtu Xvim trembled like jelly, yet neither the walls, nor the temple, nor the tower collapsed. Xvim had built them well. Finally Mount Chamada itself gave way. The great, wide ledge beneath the Bastion of Hate broke from the side of the mount and began to slide down the slope. It moved slowly at first, but soon picked up a terrifying speed, carrying with it Xvim's fortress.
The noise was deafening, a continuing roar that battered their ears and left an ache in their foreheads. Then the air grew foul with dust, ash, smoke, and foul vapors. The four adventurers lay on the carpet with their arms over their heads and their faces, choking and gasping.
Suddenly there was silence all about them, and bright light and clean, fresh air. They raised their heads and looked about. The carpet sat in a field of thistle and burdock. Overhead, the cloudless sky was bright blue, though there was no sun to be seen.
"I don't think we're in Gehenna anymore," Holly said after a long pause.
"But where are we?" Jas asked.
"Who cares?" the paladin said with a laugh. "Breathe that air. Isn't it wonderful?"
Indeed, the air was not only fresh, but it also seemed to make Joel's skin tingle. The feeling was a familiar one to the bard. "We're in the Outlands," he said. "How'd we get here?" Jas asked.
"I brought you," a soft, girlish voice said from somewhere overhead.
The adventurers looked up.
Beshaba hovered above them, her feet grazing the thistle flowers. She was no longer a giant, but the size of a normal human woman. "Bringing you here has cost me more power than I thought it would. In payment, you will serve as my bodyguards on our journey to the spire."
Eager to keep the goddess on the path Finder had requested, Joel bowed his head and said, "We would be honored, Lady Beshaba."
Beshaba looked at Holly and Jas. "Does he speak for you as well?" she asked.
"Joel is our friend," Holly said. "We trust him to speak for us."
"Your friend? Well, that is a good thing," Beshaba said. "You will protect me the better for it. For if my person comes to any harm, I will hold your friend Joel responsible and he will forfeit his life."
Opera? I loved the opera. So much jewelry, so much profit… The music? I was too busy to listen.
–His Royal Highness Pinch I
Intermezzo
"She really is a mean old witch, isn't she?" Annali Web-spinner commented as she watched the goddess Beshaba threaten the Rebel Bard's life after all he'd done for the Maid of Misfortune.
"It's no wonder Walinda worshiped her, is it?" Bors Sunseed retorted with a dry tone.
The bariaur made a face at the paladin. She had been prepared to argue to the death her admission of Walinda into the Sensates. That was before they'd learned Walinda had betrayed a secret she had sworn to keep. Annali had felt a trifle embarrassed, but she wasn't going to take criticism lying down from the snotty paladin.
"I think perhaps this would be a good time for a break," Cuatha Da'nanin said. "Ayryn, you have exhausted yourself for us, and we thank you, but now you must rest."
The genasi scryer covered her crystal ball, and the vision of the goddess and Joel and his companions