Tymora's Luck - Kate Novak [93]
Then Joel thought of Jas, and the problems of the tanar'ri and the yugoloths no longer concerned him. He worried instead about Jas, who deserved it. If Emilo didn't find him soon, Joel determined, he'd have to slip out of the throne room somehow and go looking for his friends.
The door to the tower was barred on the outside with the thighbone of some gargantuan beast. What, Joel wondered, were they keeping inside? Then it occurred to him: Beshaba was locked within. According to Walinda, however, the goddess was unconscious and thus didn't need to be locked up. Didn't the Xvimlar know that? Surely they didn't imagine that the doors would hold if Beshaba were conscious and desired to leave.
Perhaps, Joel thought, there's something else in the tower-something the tyrannar had assigned to guard the goddess, something even the yugoloth feared enough to want to lock it up.
The short yugoloth gave the order for the door to be opened. Two of the giant yugoloths lifted the bar, and a third pulled open the door. Darkness and a suffocating heat came from the doorway.
Suddenly one of the giant yugoloths gave Joel a shove that sent the bard sprawling through the door and across the floor of the tower. Then the yugoloths slammed the door shut, leaving the bard in total darkness. Joel could hear them set the bar in place.
Joel rose carefully to his feet.
"Finally," a voice whispered. The whisper echoed throughout the chamber, making it hard for Joel to judge the speaker's direction.
"Finally," the voice repeated, then added, "another sacrifice."
Act Three Scene 5
Emilo hurried after the four yugoloths who were carrying off Jas. The creatures marched down twisting corridors through the fortress walls, then down a staircase that led into a swelteringly hot, humid dungeon. During the entire time, Jas never ceased screeching. The yugoloths entered a large room filled with vile implements of torture. As one lit the torches in the wall sconces, the others strapped the winged woman down on a huge table. Jas's screeching turned to a pitiable keening. The yugoloths pulled a sack over her head, and Jas grew instantly quiet. Her body became completely rigid. The yugoloths began searching her person, removing weapons and valuables and setting them on a tray.
One of the yugoloths spent a long time examining Jas's star-filled paperweight, until one of the others smacked him, grabbed the paperweight from his hands, and set it down on the tray. Alongside the paperweight, Jas's daggers, her ring of fire protection, and her water bottle, the yugoloths set the little wooden harp that could transport Jas back to the safety of Fermata. While the yugoloths were intent on dumping out the contents of Jas's backpack, the kender palmed the harp and the paperweight.
Winnie's gold spilled across the table, and a number of pieces rolled to the floor. That was Emilo's first experience with yugoloth greed. The creatures scurried frantically after the gold, each clawing at the others in order to gather up the most coins. Finally they returned to the tray. Although they only spoke to one another telepathically, it was obvious to Emilo from their gestures that they noticed the missing paperweight. They started to argue over its absence.
Another yugoloth, half as tall as the others, whose shape reminded Emilo of a crayfish, came into the room. The little yugoloth must have been a boss, because he got the big yugoloths to stop fighting and ordered them to leave the room. Then the little yugoloth looked over Jas's possessions for himself. He snatched up the ring of fire protection and scowled at the meager remains. After a more thorough search, he discovered a hidden pocket in Jas's backpack that held a small sack of gems and jewelry. He tied the sack to his weapons belt. For good measure, he took Jas's dagger. The silvered blade must be worth something, Emilo conjectured.
As the little yugoloth turned to go,