Tymora's Luck - Kate Novak [97]
"Except you?" Joel asked.
"Well, I am an imp, after all. It is part of my job. More importantly, I'm not one of the Dark One's followers, so she didn't waste her energy on me, except to imprison me into this cage so I couldn't run off. Shortly after that, she passed out. It was several hours before they sent anyone else in here. See that guy over there?" Ratagar pointed to a man lying at the base of the dais with the point of a sword sticking out of his back. "He thought he could attack Her Highness while she slept. He tripped on the stairs and fell on his sword."
"So even though she's unconscious, she's still leaking bad luck," Joel noted.
"A most accurate assessment. You're one clever fellow, even if you aren't a tiefling."
Joel ignored the comment. "What did you mean by calling me a sacrifice when I arrived?" he asked.
"Apparently," Ratagar said, "if there's no one around to soak up the bad luck, it leaks out of the building. So every hour or so they toss someone in here to sponge it up, so to speak. One guy choked on an apple. Another slipped on some blood and cracked his head against the floor. He moaned a long time before he finally expired. One of the guards had the bright idea of sitting perfectly still. A chunk of the ceiling fell on him. I take it Tyrannar Neri the Nitwit has seized power out there."
"That's who sent me here," Joel said.
"He must be desperate to think sending you here would work," Ratagar commented.
"Why?" Joel asked.
"Well, according to one of the captains of the guard they sent in this morning, the one who choked on the apple, Her Highness seems to be directing the bad luck even in her unconscious state. He said the bad luck is only affecting the followers of Xvim. It isn't influencing the yugoloths. That's one reason there aren't any of them in here. Not that they'd allow themselves to be used as sponges anyway. They're mercenaries, not tremendously devoted to Xvim. Anyway, the priests tossed a captive barghest in here yesterday, but apparently barghests aren't on Her Highness's cursed list either. Nothing happened to it, and the bad luck kept leaking out of the tower. The next person they sent in here, a nasty little novitiate, passed the time by torturing the barghest. The barghest got free and tore the priestling to pieces. Then the barghest died."
"So that's why Neri insisted I join the Xvimlar before he sent me in here," Joel realized.
"Yep. Dotardly old fool. Whatever made him think initiating you would take?"
"Why do you say that?" Joel asked.
"For the same reason I know you're not a tiefling," Ratagar explained. "You've got the stink of goodness on you. Not as bad a stench as a paladin, but I'm willing to bet you're an honorable guy, a good friend, kind to animals, that sort of nonsense."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Joel said. "I'm afraid I've done my share of evil." He was thinking of Jas's transformation and how his marvelous plan might actually have been a betrayal.
"Ahhhh, the self-excoriating type. So rare these days. Too many people deny responsibility," the imp declaimed.
"So where's Xvim?" Joel asked.
"Ah! Now, that's the big question. No one knows. He told Noxxe he'd be incommunicado for a few days. Noxxe was supposed to hold down the fort, so to speak."
"Any other ways out of here besides the front door?" Joel asked.
"Of course. Let me out of this cage and I'll show you the way," Ratagar offered, waving his fingers in Joel's direction.
The bard felt an urge to free the fiend, but he realized immediately that the imp