Tymora's Luck - Kate Novak [99]
"How mad do you think Iyachtu Xvim would be if he suddenly came home and discovered us vandalizing his tower?" Emilo asked.
Jas snorted. "From what I've heard about him, you'd be dead before you found out, which is probably preferable to being left alive. The church of Xvim is known for its elaborate methods of torturing their sacrifices to death, which they wouldn't do if it displeased their god."
"I wonder why they locked Joel in there," the kender mused.
The tip of Jas's dagger chipped on an iron plate beneath the wood. "Damn!" she cursed, kicking the door with irritation. She fingered the dagger blade to survey the damage. "What I wouldn't give for a packet of smoke powder," she said.
"What's that?" Emilo asked.
"Magic powder that causes explosions," Jas explained. The beauty of it is you don't have to be a wizard to use it."
"But wouldn't an explosion attract too much attention?" Emilo asked.
"Probably, but it would tear this door to shreds in moments," Jas replied.
Suddenly the door moved. Emilo, who'd been sitting on top of it, hopped off in alarm. Jas flew straight up into the darkness.
The door swung open, and a tall, black-scaled figure with a crest of red hair climbed out of the tower. He had his sword drawn and a grim look on his face.
Jas landed behind the figure with her sword at its back.
In Joel's voice, the figure cried out, "Hey, watch who you poke with that thing."
Sheepishly Jas lowered her weapon, remembering that Joel had disguised himself before they'd arrived. "About time you got up here," she chided the bard. "We've been trying to dig our way through this door for nearly an hour."
Joel collapsed on the rooftop, gasping for air. "You try climbing all those stairs in better time," he challenged Jas when he'd caught his breath once again. "That was worse than the staircase in the Blood Tor. The steps are huge. I had to abandon one of the backpacks after the first hundred steps." The bard tilted his head and peered at Jas. "So you're all right now?" he asked. "I thought-"
"That I'd lost my sanity?" Jas asked. She looked over at the kender and winked. "I gave a pretty good performance, didn't I?"
"You're telling me that was an act?" Joel demanded with disbelief. "What about the way you were transformed?"
"Well, that I can't help," Jas admitted.
"You really had me worried," Joel said.
"Sorry," Jas said.
There was an awkward silence as the bard stared at Jas, trying to discern if she was telling the truth about her earlier behavior.
"So what's down there?" Emilo asked as he peered down into the darkness of the tower.
Joel put the question of Jas's sanity aside for now. "I didn't stop to look into any of the rooms in the upper stories," he explained. "The first floor was interesting enough." The bard described what he'd seen in Xvim's throne room and related everything he'd learned from Ratagar Perivalious.
"Xvim didn't even come back to save his followers from Beshaba?" Emilo asked, wide-eyed with astonishment.
"It's not like he really cares about any of them," Jas pointed out.
Joel shook his head. "He may not care, but he must realize that without his followers, he has no power. And not coming to their defense is a tremendous display of weakness," Joel pointed out. "He didn't even return when Beshaba became unconscious. It's very strange. It's possible he can't return."
"So what now?" Jas asked.
"From what I can tell," Joel said, "all Xvim's priests and followers are cringing in the temple, trying to keep away from Beshaba's bad luck. I noticed one exception. There was a human at the gate. The priests don't dare leave the fortress's only access in the hands of yugoloth mercenaries. Xvim doesn't trust anyone or anything, but his priests preach that humans are the chosen people. My bet is there's a human priest at the gate. He could be fanatically loyal, or he could be dying to leave his post so he can cower in the temple with his fellow priests. I'm going to change my shape into another priest and check him out."
"What about Emilo and me?" Jas