02 Mistress of the Night by Forgotten Realms

Author:Forgotten Realms [Realms, Forgotten]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-10T15:28:44.398000+00:00

CHAPTER 14 The shadows seemed to go on forever, bleak and black. Cold, their touch was like a dark sea fog rolling across Keph's body and spirit. Variance was gone. He was aloneand helpless. There was nothing he could do but... drift... Sound came back to him first. "The call went out at dusk as you instructed, Mother Night," Bolan's voice said. "The faithful are assembling now. They will bring weapons." "Good," replied Variance. "Go make what preparations you need to for yourself." "I've been preparing for this for years, Mother Night." Bolan sounded like he might actually cry. Keph could hardly imagine tears breaking out on that cold white face. "I have a chest filled with formulas I thought I might never use. The poison Cyrume took was the least of what waits for the Selunites." Smell... Recognition of an odor that had been in his nose for some time filtered into Keph's consciousness: raw, cold stone. He was in the cliff tunnels. In Shar's temple. His heart clenched and his eyes opened. Darkness weighed upon the air. The only light was a dim glow, a single candle that burned on the other side of the temple. Against it, Bolan and Variance were silhouettes, the alchemist squat and nightmarish, the Calishite woman tall and stiff. Her arm reached out and came down on Bolan's wide shoulder. "This is the time we have been waiting for. This is what the Temple of Old Night sent me to Yhaunn to oversee. The Selunites' attempt to steal Keph from us was only the final blow." Keph caught his breath at the lie. What? Bolan hissed in righteous anger. "Moonshadow Hall will crumble!" He stepped away and bowed low, the candlelight shifting with his movements. "We will do honor to Shar tonight." "I do hot doubt it," said Variance. "Now, go. I have preparations of my own to make." Bolan bowed again and the light bouncedthen dimmed and faded as the squat man trotted away. Keph almost gasped and called out after him: Leave the candle, Bolan, please! The words faltered in his throat. Darkness, utter darkness, cloaked Shar's temple. "You're finally awake." Variance's voicefar kinder than the last time she had spoken to himemerged from the shadows. Her footsteps approached across the raw stone of the floor, as sure as if she walked through the brilliance of daylight. Keph flinched away. For the first time, he realized that he was stretched out on wood, maybe a broad bench. His arms and legs were untied. He sat up, and the movement brought pain. Fire shot through his ankle and across his face where the priest Aeso had struck him. He gasped and fell back. "Be still." A hand touched him. He tried to pull away, but Variance pressed him down against the wood with shocking strength. "By the glory of Shar, be healed." The agony that surged through him was almost worse than his injuries. Keph jerked and spasmed, his head cracking back hard.

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