Throne Wars IV: The New World

Prologue

Following his destruction of Melissan in the Abyss, the cavalier Onyx ceded the Throne of Bhaal, and the madman Cyran waged war across Amn in an effort to seize it. Onyx, his fellow heroes, and his long-lost son, the young monk Kan, led the Amnish and avariel to victory against Cyran's forces at de'Arnise Keep and Paradise City. Kan then destroyed Cyran in mortal combat and ascended the throne.

Thereafter, Faerun prospered under the victories and leadership of the heroes and the influence of the good murder-god Kan. As the tide turned against evil, the new Prince of Demons, Decagorgon, allied demonkind with tieflings and druids, and with the risen Irenicus sought to corrupt Onyx?s son Eryx. Decagorgon was slain in his Abyssal invasion of Faerun but Irenicus then led the struggling Eryx to challenge his brother Kan for the throne. On the eve of his own fall, Eryx spared Kan and vanquished Irenicus instead.

Surviving this war, Sarevok soon became Lord of the Zhentarim and seized Ust Natha from the drow while the jester Cyrex sowed murderous mayhem across Faerun as ringleader of the Circus of Chaos. Together they attacked Athkatla and were narrowly defeated, as was Cyrex in his bid for Kan?s throne.

Now, Sarevok remains Zhentil Lord and plots his next move from Ust Natha. Meanwhile, far across the ocean, evil stirs in the new world of Maztica?

I. Envision Invasion

In Athkatla?s Temple of Helm, all had departed for the night. All save one. This was Sir Anomen Delryn. He knelt at the altar, eyes closed in prayer. At his belt was his mace Silvereye whose blows saw through and dispelled the magical shields of foes. He wore, no less shining and silver, enchanted full plate on his body and his Delryn family shield over his back, and a cape adorned with the eye-and-hand tabard of Helm. But his mind was elsewhere. This High Watcher, the truest of any Helmite and one of the most powerful clerics of any ethos in the Realms, saw across the land with nearly the all-seeing vision of the Watching God himself.

His vision cast itself across Toril, and now focused far across the ocean from Amn, to a wild and untamed land of deserts and jungles. The land of Maztica, rich in wood, stone, gold, but nearly bereft of steel and the arcane. A land he knew of only from the journal of the explorer and conquistador Cordell, a land about which little was known at all.

He saw its great city of Temactitlan, a city seemingly built upon a lake, a city of sweeping bridges and canals, wide sun-bathed plazas, and majestic stepped pyramids. The people of this hot land walked about in grass, skins, beads and feathers. Primitive but fierce armies of the faithful of Qotal stood guard, consisting of feather-cloaked eagle knights and plumaweavers with bows, spears, and mace-like macas.

His vision then looked up a nearby mountain range, high but lush and covered in vegetation and waterfalls. Among them, hidden for ages, were the ruins of Chuzpatol. Within these ruins remained the banished cult of the serpentine god Zaltec, pelt-armored jaguar warriors and hishnashapers with knives, spears and spear-throwers. They were ruled by the most terrible hishna-priest of all. This was Yamash.

After ages of ravaging Chuzpatol?s environs and being fed - directly or indirectly - by enslaved traveling Mazticans, the Zaltec cultists were growing bereft of food and materials in their hideaway and hungered after the wealth of simple but prospering Maztica. Yamash was indoctrinating and preparing his barbaric horde for a full raid on its farmlands and towns and on Temactitlan. Soon they would spill down from the mountains and strike.

Anomen opened his eyes. In his heart he felt he knew what must be done. Though Helm lent him great vision, his god would bid him of nothing. He furrowed his dark brow, troubled at the Watcher?s refusal to guide and instruct him. Was this vision Helm calling him to action? Or just a look at the world around him? Had he turned his gaze to Maztica, or had it been shown to him? Now his mind turned to Onyx, his Order fellow, battlefield ally, and philosophical adversary. He had argued that the gods did intend for history to be made by the judgments and actions of mortals good and evil. He had argued that the gods lent divine influence rather than omnipotent command.

Anomen stood up tall, swept his cape back, and marched out of the temple.

***

In Zhentarim-occupied Ust Natha, troops patrolled the city and trained, human and drow slaves mined endlessly, blacksmiths mass-produced war gear, squads of soldiers escorted carts of food and supplies from Zhentarim holdings of the Underdark and the surface, and Shar priests hosted bloody ceremonies in the converted main temple.

In what had been the residence of the drow city?s first matron, Zhentil Lord Sarevok was holding a drunken fest with his generals as well as Korgan and some of his Bloodaxe clansmen. Needless to say, this party had quickly erupted in a flurry of human-dwarf racial slurs and then disintegrated into a private bar brawl. Sarevok was drunkenly swinging his fists at Korgan, who was frothing all over his own beard and punching back in a berserk frenzy.

?BURP Die, puny spittle-bearded psycho!? Sarevok roared and kicked Korgan, who was biting his arm.

?Die, ye overgrowed URP bald-headed drow-lover! Har URP har!? Korgan yelled back as he let go and started punching again.

?IBLITH ELG?CARESS!!!!!? an angry drow woman screamed as she burst through a door. She sent terrifying necromantic energy through the air and the generals and clansmen all ran out the front doors opposite, screaming like first-day recruits. Korgan, running around in a frenzied stupor, managed to find his way out the doors and ran babbling and drunk across the city.

Mighty Sarevok, Child of Bhaal, near God of Murder, Terror of Faerun, Lord of the Black Network of the Zhentarim, was cowering behind a table, hiding from the one thing that terrified him ? his lover.

Viconia walked over to him and snarled. ?I resurrected you after you pitifully fell to Onyx?s weakling sons! And how to greet me for saving you from the Abyss? With a kiss or a squeeze or even a simple thanks-for-the-resurrection-o-dark-goddess-of-my-lust? Nooooooooo. Instead you show up barking at me to bring back your lackeys Korgan, Tazok, Xzar, and Edwin, and even Onyx?s old Sword Coast foe Safana as well!?

?W-We?ll need her thieving talents this time,? Sarevok gurgled.

?Are you sure those are the only talents you?re interested in, male?? Viconia scowled at her inebriated lover.

?Bah! None have a fraction of your talent, my dark maiden,? Sarevok
dismissed, finally drawing a smile the drow lady. ?I?ve devised a scheme of shadowy work and it?s too much for Monty to handle alone.?

?Well maybe it?s too much for you too?you aren?t even trying to handle me!?

?I?ll BURP handle you!? Sarevok yelled and lunged toward her, hands outstretched for possibly either a strangle or a grope. Viconia grinned wickedly and puffed out both her chest and neck, but Sarevok tripped over his dropped goblet before reaching her and fell on the floor in a sprawl.

?Later perhaps, male,? Viconia sighed as she stepped over him and kicked his goblet away, ?Your drinking has left you?limp. Now tell me of this plan, lest I distrust your motives.?

?Very well. Our defeat at Athkatla left me brooding ? our mistake was attacking the humans! They are strong and fierce ? yours truly is the definitive evidence! Ah, but the surface elves, surely we can each agree that they are pacifistic and weak. They will be unable to mount a worthy defense against the legions of the Zhentarim! We shall attack them and sack Suldanesellar and its Tree of Life!?

??and Safana fits in because?? Viconia demanded impatiently.

?Suspecting the ancient magics those damned elves have up their sleeves, and not being so naive as to think Queen Ellisime?s spies will not discover our plan, I have planted Safana, altered to an elf maiden?s likeness, close to her in order to learn what countermeasures she may take. That trusting fool of a queen now has our neutral-aligned spy hired as her very own personal house servant!?

?Very cunning for a surfacer. Perhaps, if you can regain your composure as fast as your superhuman constitution would suggest,? Viconia smirked, breaking the latch from the nearby keg and letting the remaining booze spill unconsumed onto the floor, ?you may yet find yourself worthy of my attention, male. I shall be expecting as much when I return from the midnight rituals. Do not disappoint me.?

As Viconia left for the temple of Shar, the Dark Lord of the Zhentarim sheepishly looked down at his wetted pants and scurried away to his wardrobe.

***

Muntezimo, emperor of Maztica and highest of the eagle knights, stood at the apex of the Pyramid of Qotal. He looked down in the pre-dawn light upon Temactitlan, the city rebuilt on the ruins of Nexal on the lake of Temaclac, which nearly two generations ago had been conquered by the Amnish conquistador Cordell and razed by the native Zaltecan insurgence thereafter. The young commoner Muntezimo had rallied the remaining Mazticans and led them from their scattered jungle hideaways to retake their land and rebuild their city. He was now their leader, and in some thirty years since the war, free trade had prospered among his people and they were stronger than before.

But today would be a true test of whether they had gained enough strength. His scouts had only scant days before informed him that the vanquished Zaltecans had recouped in hiding and were marching on Temactitlan at dawn - which was nigh.

His eagle knights stood in front of the city with their macas and spears brandished and upon the steps of the pyramids with their bows drawn. The plumaweavers stood among them, ready to cast their Pluma magic to strengthen the knights and blast the invaders. His wife Jacara, the Archpluma, stood by him. His daughter, the eagle knight Jade, stood atop the nearby Pyramid to Kiltzi.

At the edge of the nearby jungle, jaguar knights began marching out of the thick foliage onto the field that ran from the jungle to the shore of lake Temaclac. They were clad in their trademark jaguar-pelt armor and cat skull helmets, with spears in their hands and on their backs and spearthrowers strapped to their wrists. Behind them came lines of backstabbing hishnashapers, roguish casters of the dark hishna magic. At the back and center walked Yamash, archpriest of Zaltec. He was flanked by Animaul and Beastor, two gargantuan jaguar knights with beastmaster-like summoning powers.

As soon as the Zaltecan army came within range, eagle and jaguar knights began exchanging shot arrows and hurled spears. Some of the spears pierced the eagle knights? armor and impaled them but most of the arrows bounced off the jaguar-pelt armor. As the two forces drew closer, some of the knights shapeshifted into eagles and jaguars and ran or flew at each other, beaks, fangs, claw and talons raking into flesh. Others met each other in human melee combat, macas and spears clashing against each other and seeking enemy bodies.

The plumaweavers and hishnashapers soon came within range and began casting spells at the warriors and each other. Combatants found themselves blessed and enhanced only to then be smitten with fire or vines. Plumaweavers began firing their bows at the enemies and hishnashapers made shadowy dashes through the enemy lines and began backstabbing the feathered forces. Soon they and the dashing jaguars found themselves at the city?s low stone wall. They had planned and prepared for this, however. The strong jaguar knights ran full force at the wall, pole vaulting off their spears and then shapeshifting into jaguars in midair and hooking their claws over the top of the wall, pulling themselves up and devouring the archers atop. The hishnashapers drew daggers in both hands and even expertly held them in their sandals, scaling up the wall by slipping their blades in the thin cracks between the stones.

The forces of Zaltec had soon taken control of the ramparts and were now hurling spears and spells into the city. Arrows and pluma magic sailed back from the pyramids and many went down on both the steps and the walls. The Qotalan forces were cleaned out of the bridges and streets and pushed up onto the pyramids as the aggressive Zaltecan army leapt off the walls into the city and ran about slaughtering with skill, ease, and killjoy.

Slowly, against the downhill disadvantage, the jaguar knights were claiming level after level of the step pyramids, hurling their spears up and taking out foes on the level above and managing to resist enough of the arrows and spells to keep their large numbers strong. Eagle knights shapeshifted into eagles and swooped down at them, blinding and bloodying many but eventually becoming impaled on spears or incinerated by hishna magics.

Finally the strongest and most aggressive jaguar knights had pushed their way to the second-top step of the Pyramid of Qotal. On the top level stood Muntezimo, Jacara, and the elite eagle knights and plumaweavers, killing them off rapidly with arrows and spells. But more clamored up to take their place as fast as they fell. The spears and hishna claimed the last defenders save the Emperor and the Archpluma themselves. They continued to defend the apex of the pyramid with holy valor, and more and more Zaltecans fell. At last Yamash, sneering from atop a conquered pyramid at the incompetence of his forces, lifted his hands and levitated himself and Animaul into the air. He pushed his hands forward and they floated over to the Pyramid of Qotal and landed atop it, facing Muntezimo and Jacara.

?You fool!? he sneered at the feathered emperor. ?Did not the events of Cordell?s conquest and our people?s near destruction teach you anything? Only the furious path of Zaltec has the strength to save The Pure World from the next Farworlder invasion! Qotal and Zaltec must join forces against the outsiders! WE must sail east and attack THEM!?

?You are the fool, my brother,? Muntezimo responded calmly. ?Have you so soon forgotten that the legionnaires of Cordell then joined with the people of Maztica against the Zaltecan insurrection that nearly brought our continent to fire and ash??

?It was only your blind resistance to Zaltec that made it come to that!? Yamash bellowed and charged Muntezimo, dual-wielding his Viperknives. The emperor parried the weapons with his own Beakspear.

Animaul summoned a large, roaring jaguar in front of Jacara, who summoned a great eagle that flew down upon it. Animaul hurled a spear past the dueling animals, but Jacara dodged it and shot a fiery missile into Animaul?s chest. The great jaguar knight roared and leapt over the beasts with his Fangspear pointed forward, but Jacara knocked him out of the air with magical strength flowing into her Wingmacas. He braced his fall with the back end of his spear and sprung up again at her. The two circled and dueled as the animals fought. Finally the jaguar slew the eagle, breaking the bird?s neck in its clenched maw, and then leapt onto Jacara?s back and clawed through her feather cloak and deep into her bronzed flesh. Muntezimo, still dueling Yamash and now bearing several poisoning viperknife wounds of his own, turned to see his true love fall before his eyes as Animaul growled and plunged his Fangspear through her heart. Yamash laughed bitterly and began to blink rapidly, his eyelids narrowing to those of a snake.

Jade, still atop the nearby Pyramid of Kiltzi, looked across the empty air in horror as she saw the evil priest?s head shapeshift into that of a snake?s and, lashing out with a long, serpentine neck, chomp over the head of her father. Muntezimo was paralyzed as the fangs sunk deep into his chest and he dropped his spear. Yamash?s snake jaw unhinged and his mouth spread unbelievably wide, devouring Muntezimo whole. Jade fought back tears of anguish which soon turned to rage as Beastor leapt onto the apex of her pyramid, swinging his dual Clawmacas and growling. She drew her bow back and shot an arrow through his chest as he charged. He didn?t even slow down and ran at her still. She lifted her macas to parry but the Clawmacas smashed them to splinters. As he swung at her, she feigned back, turned around, and leapt off the pyramid. Before landing on the level below, she shapeshifted into an eagle and flew over to the Pyramid of Qotal. Animaul stabbed at Jade as she approached but she deftly swooped under his spear and clutched her fallen mother?s Wingmacas in her talons. Quickly gliding past Yamash?s daggers and over the top of the pyramid, she flew away from the city, crying even as a bird.

II. Defense and Debauchery

Queen Ellisime sat in her bedchamber, looking out a window over Suldanesellar as she arranged various magical trinkets on her dresser. As she opened one of the drawers to put one away, she spied the corner of a painting in the bottom of the drawer and drew it out. It was one made very long ago, painted so well she almost seemed to be looking at an actual scene. Except that she was in it. With young Joneleth Irenicus. She looked at their faces. His was just as she remembered once, before? His face was both the overjoyed look of boyish innocent and the inquisitive, brooding look of an intelligent young man. What had happened? Her mind wandered...

"Ellie!" her mother called from downstairs. "Jon is here to call on you!"

"Just tell him to teleport up, mother!" young Ellisime called down.

"Dear, you know he considers that impolite."

"Fine, just tell him to come in," she sighed. And to hurry up.
As Joneleth came bounding up the stairs happily, she heard him whistling a strange but cheerful tune. He always did that. A musical prodigy as well as an unparalleled student of the arcane, he was able to make up melodies up as he went along without even really thinking about it.

"Jon! I love your music!" she exclaimed, hopping up to greet him. "You should be a bard!"

"That'd be fun," he mused as he effortlessly conjured for her a bouquet of roses with a flick of his wrist. Then his eyebrows furrowed and he suddenly wore a defensive face. "Do you think I couldn't make it as a wizard?"

"No, no, love, that's not what I meant at all, I just..."

"I'm getting better all the time, you know!" he protested. "The better I get, the harder they are on me, I know they should be, but that's not your job!"

"Oh sweetie, you're the fastest learning mage anyone's ever known! I just meant I love your music so much..."

"Bah, music! A trifle! It's nothing compared to the power of the arcane!"

"And so we're learning to use that power, my sweet. We learn how to weave it carefully and delicately. Like music, it must me made with balance and harmony, lest it grow too loud and dissonant. Like the Tree of Life. Its magic is powerful and mysterious and all around us, but it is not all-consuming, it is a mere background accompaniment to our daily lives."

He started to nod at her wisdom but then scowled at her nagging. "I was thinking about the Tree, and, I have a theory...I don't think the elders are playing the right tune...they're not using the Tree's full abilities."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll learn more of such things, and I'm sure, my dear Jonny, that someday you and I will be its keepers and perhaps we will discover new secrets. But we've had enough arcane study for one day," she took his hands and smiled. "We can ask at schooling tomorrow. Surely such things are not why you're here this evening?" She batted her delicate elven eyelashes at him.

"No, I have a theory...I different way to use the Tree....the city elders are holding it back...just like they're holding me back! They're weak and they can't control its full power, but I can! There's a book, one they won't let anyone see, I know I could confirm my theory with what's in there....or maybe I can deduce it myself...I must return to study now, Ellisime, I...I have to think on this, on the Tree. I have to figure out how to unleash its potential!"

"No, Jon, you mustn?t speak like that," she clutched him. "We're not ready for something like that. But.." she tossed her hair back glamourously and leaned into him, "there are other things we're ready for."

"I...I'm sorry...I must go ponder, I have to solve this, I know I can unlock the answer....I can unlock its full power!"

"No!" she shrieked but he had already opened a dimension door and left.

...Queen Ellisime was jerked back to the present as she sensed a messenger downstairs. She left for her foyer to meet him.

"Drizzt!" she exclaimed as the ranger, walking past the nodding door guards, threw back his hood to reveal his drow features. "I am happy to see you, old friend....but I fear and sense your presence bodes ill news."

"I am afraid your are most perceptive, my lady," be bowed courteously. "I have just returned from an espionage mission in Zhentarim Lord Sarevok's dominion in the Underdark. I bring the worst possible news, though news we have all feared and suspected would come - that he plans to attack Suldanesellar in full force. As you know, his adamantium-alloy weapons can only last three days in the surface world, but Zhentarim-occupied Ust Natha is near an Underdark entrance but a day from here. I have spoken in the past with General Valygar Corthala upon exactly this contingency, and you have assurances that he will march an army to you as soon as he knows this news. My fellow ranger Kivan is already on the way to Athkatla to alert him."

"As always, I am most grateful for the Amnish alliance he and Chancellor Nalia Corthala have kept true with us," Ellisime began, "but it will not be necessary for so many brave humans and elves to die in our city's defense. I shall activate the mythal."

The stoic Drizzt arched his eyebrows the mention of this ancient elven magic, one of the most powerful in the Realms, which could shield an entire city from invading hordes. "Though it has not yet become a public rumor," he whispered, "I was under the impression that the elves no longer had the power to construct one."

Ellisime nodded, but gravely. "I will confide in you, Drizzt Do'Urden, that our ability to use the Weave have indeed diminished over the past decades, since the death of Mystra during the Troubles, but we just barely can do it. There is Xan, the great elven enchanter, who now resides here in Suldanesellar, and I shall call for the avariel archmage Aerie, who will be in either Athkatla or Faenya-Dail. Together, we can activate it."

Drizzt nodded, "And the Zhentarim could not merely lay siege around the city because their weapons would soon disintegrate. It would work."

"Yes, but the wily Sarevok would still scheme to bring down the mythal from within. There are two statuettes, Drizzt, which must be used together to raise or dispel the Mythal. After the raising, one shall be guarded here, but the other will be taken far away. I have spoken with Nalia on this contingency before, and she has agreed to keep one statuette guarded far away under High Protector Ajantis Ilvastarr of Baldur's Gate at the Ducal Palace there. I shall telepathically communicate with Nalia and Aerie forthwith, and once Aerie is here and we activate the mythal, I will then entrust you, Drizzt, with the important mission of seeing one statuette to Baldur's Gate, to be given only to Ajantis himself at the Ducal Palace."

"Yes, my lady," Drizzt nodded. "I shall be at your call until then."

In the next room, one of Ellisime?s servant maidens smirked wryly.

***

Onyx, Anomen and Valygar sat around a table in the Copper Coronet, drinking up and chatting about old times. Though the three of them were all Generals of Amn, as well as a High Protector, High Watcher, and Chief Inspector respectively, they still preferred some lowbrow revelry every now again, away from stuffy mansions and scheming nobles. Anomen had never really been comfortable with a dive like the Coronet, although it had improved over the years, but Onyx and Valygar were having quite a time.

"Lighten up, my Order man," Onyx guffawed boozily, smacking Sir Delryn on the shoulder as he carelessly made a toss at a dartboard. ?You managed to put together a Helmite missionary expedition to Maztica, we recruited some adventurous young Order members for it, and we even signed on Captain Yoshimo?s ship and his crew of sea rangers!?

Valygar laughed as Onyx?s dart missed the board by miles, although his own next throw was no better. "Hey URP Onyx, too bad they won't let us use throwing axes or a longbow in here!" he chuckled.

Onyx laughed and made another throw. "How do my sister and your wife do it? These darts are too tiny!"

"What about your wife, Onyx, sling bullets aren't any bigger! Har har!' Valygar laughed and pretended to twirl his dart around like a sling before throwing it.

"C'mon guys, this isn't fubby, gimme a water," Anomen moaned and slouched over the table.

"Lighten up man," Onyx laughed, "you and I are going to MAZ-TIC-A!!! Setting off tomorrow! Beaches and sunshine to enjoy, and evildoers to kill! Aren't you coming, Val?"

"Onyx I, URP, well I told you about Sarevok's new plot to invade Suldanesellar, I really need to stay here and help out Queen Ellisime. Alliance and all."

"Oh yeah," Onyx frowned, "Man, those elves can never defend themselves. Why are we always saving their tree-hugging hides? I love to protect the innocent and all, hey, it?s why I became a paladin, but for their own sake I wish they?d show more steel now and then.?

"Don't forbet the myth-ERP...myth-ERP....mythal!" Anomen hiccupped.

"Yeah, Val!" Onyx perked up. "Ellisime and my hot honey of a wife are going to get that mythal up! Nothing to worry about! But those stone-age Mazticans are going to need protection!"

"That's why you two are going, my knightly friends," Valygar said. "You two and Minsc go kick evil butt in that hemisphere, take some of our sea rangers with you, I and our wives will hold down things back in this one."

"Uh-oh, speaking of which," Onyx pointed as a dimension door opened and Nalia stepped through.

"It's getting late, Val," Nalia smiled and beckoned to Valygar with an index finger.

"It?s my own hot honey! Gotta go!" Valygar waved and took one last swig as Nalia suppressed a grin and motioned to him more impatiently.

"Hey, I hear ya, mine is a mage too!" Onyx laughed as Nalia scowled at him playfully and helped Valygar through the dimension door.

Onyx grabbed a water from a passing waitress and sat down, pushing the glass under Anomen's goateed chin. "Drink up!" he smiled and patted him on the back.

"Thankb" Anomen nodded and guzzled it. "You know Obyx, we're Order knighb, we really shouldn't be in a place in thib."

"Aw, c'mon Sir Del," Onyx sighed. Anomen's comment underscored one of their many running arguments, some of which divided the entire Order from time to time. "One should live among the people they protect." He gestured to the tavern around them. "This is the sort of thing we're fighting for. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of - hello, m'lady, could you pass me an ale please? - happiness. - in your debt, m?lady."

"Well sure, but we habe to set an example too. So they use the freedom to aspire to be like us, chivalrous and noble, not base and vile."

"Agreed also," Onyx nodded, getting up briefly to slam against a wall and throw through a window another patron who had just grabbed the waitress rudely. "And what better way to set an example that grace them with our presence here, that they might look up from their mugs at what they might be?" he gestured theatrically as he sat down again.

"Ah, you're right again" Anomen sighed. The waitress rubbed her hand over Onyx's chest and he carefully pulled it off and politely kissed the hand, flashing her Aerie's handkerchief tied around his arm. "...except we'd be a little better example if we BUUUUURP hadn't drunk as much," Anomen added.

"Agreed again, my friend," Onyx nodded as the waitress started tousling Anomen's curly hair. "Well, I think I'll leave you alone with your drink, or, uh, whatever else the waitress serves you," Onyx smirked and walked over to find Harnek, the bartender whom had run the Coronet since Onyx had put a stop to its slave-trade-fronting many years ago. "Don?t sleep in through ? we leave for Maztica bright and early tomorrow morning at the docks! See you shipside!"

III. Sneaky Thieving and Ocean Oration

In the caged arena in Ust Natha, two pit fighter slaves, a human with a sword and shield and a drow with a spear and net, were theoretically fighting to the death, but were actually too frightened to really attack each other. Some spectators, evil and drunk every one, were watching impatiently.

?BELCH Five more minutes and you both die! Behead that foul darkie already, man!? Sarevok roared at the human from the stands nearby.

?Gut that thar tallish oaf, elfie!? Korgan growled. ?URP No wait, I hates drow more ? hack apart tha elf, big guy! URP Wait, I hates ?umans more??

?HICCUP Kill!!!!!? Xzar screamed while scribbling madly on a scroll. ?Kill maim HICCUP destroy dismember yes HICCUP yes yes!!!! HICCUP Its power is dual tree?s is HICCUP fountain is the dual HICCUP must destroy together to steal power HICCUP leatherfaced fool didn?t see that no wonder failed and banished yes yes HICCUP!!!??

?With mere physical weapons it?s no wonder they?re so incompetent (now a pit fight between human and drow wizards, that I?d pay to see),? Edwin muttered. ?BURP (BURP).?

?War?s tha bleedin? cheerleaders?? Montaron inquired, licking his lips.

As if on cue, a shapely elf maiden came running into the chamber and stood before them. Sarevok snapped his fingers and Edwin cast an alteration spell which reverted Safana to her natural human features.

?That be more like it!? Montaron grinned. ?Gimme an S! Gimme..?

?Shut up, hobbit!? Sarevok growled. ?What news, Safana??

?My lord, Queen Ellisime has learned of your plan ? Drizzt Do?Urden spied upon us here, no less. She plans to raise a mythal over Suldanesellar.?

Xzar clapped his hands over his ears and cried at the news.

Edwin scratched his beard. ?I had thought those elves had lost that power (brood on this I must).?

?She claims it can be raised or lowered with two statuettes,? Safana explained. ?She will create the mythal and then keep one guarded in Suldanesellar?s vault, and send the other to the Ducal Palace at Baldur?s Gate.?

?Thank you, dear Safana,? Sarevok nodded as his scheming mind set to work. ?Return to Suldanesellar and steal it! And Montaron, you?re taking a trip to Baldur?s Gate. But first, both of you go to the Zhentarim Thieves? Guild here, they will have intelligence on the vault and the palace. Dismissed.?

?It be a delight to see the Gate again,? Montaron grinned and left.

?After a year of putting food and wine under that old witch?s nose, it shall be a pleasure to swipe something out from under it,? Safana smiled and departed.

***

In Ellisime?s spelltower in Suldanesellar, Aerie and Xan were standing with the queen around a rune-engraved circular stone table, on which were set the two statuettes. One was a small sculpture of a tree with a city around its base, the other was of a small step pyramid with a fountain spurting out the apex. The three elven mages outstretched their fingers toward the table and began chanting in an ancient tongue. The air came alive with powerful but somehow soothing magical energy and the statuettes began to glow a soft greenish-white. A column of this light shot up from the table, out the green crystal roof of the spelltower and into the air above the city. The beam fanned out and began to spread in an expanding circle, which folded over the city of Suldanesellar, forming a warding hemisphere in the air over the city.

The column disappeared and the mages looked up. The sky overhead twinkled with the glimmer of the mythal and they smiled. Drizzt, outfitted and geared up for travel, came into the room and secured one of the statuettes in his backpack carefully, then departed.

***

The Bounty, the ship of Captain Yoshimo, was slicing through the ocean, sails full on a high wind. A company of Helmite priest, young Order knights, and sea rangers was aboard. The missionary expedition to Maztica could not have gone better so far. Yoshimo was playing cards and making a quite a bit of coin, Imoen was leaping gleefully about the rigging like a gymnast, and Minsc was arm wrestling all comers, usually in pairs.

Anomen was at the helm, gazing at the calm sea and clear sky ahead. He held open a copy of Cordell?s journal and had been poring over it, fascinated by Maztica and trying to learn all that he could. ?Hey Onyx,? he called to the paladin behind him who was absentmindedly shadow-dueling and not really listening, ?Apparently there?s a tale of a fountain in the New World?a ?Fountain of Youth??they say it has the power to preserve and grant youth and even restore life. Hey, doesn?t that sound like that tree the elves have??

Not getting a response, he turned around to see Onyx daydreaming and casually practicing with his favorite two longswords, Argurvadal and Blackrazor.

"Bah, how can you flash that vile blade about?" Anomen grumbled as Blackrazor swooshed by and he felt the tingling of its vampiric energy.

"Wielding evil against evil, letting it destroy itself, my friend," Onyx remarked, finally paying attention.

"But you're of the Order! You can?t wield such an evil blade! Have you no shame? The Radiant Heart was practically up in arms for years over that! Your stubborn refusal to yield the foul sword was bad enough, but then you had to go about waving it as you spoke before them! The gall!"

"Ah, but most have now seen the wisdom in it. They have seen how I have learned to control it without being overcome by its dark temptations. Thus I have emboldened them to do such themselves! Remember when we cleverly set those two orc tribes against each other? The means were underhanded indeed, but we destroyed 'em both without a single knight so much as scratching his armor."

"But you're a paladin, and it's a vampiric weapon! You might as well have a vampiric wife...."

"SHUT UP!" roared Onyx, suddenly in Anomen's face. The priest clenched his jaw, having to suppress the flinching reflex he rarely felt after decades of combat.

"I'm...sorry Onyx...I forgot about what Bodhi did to Aerie...I wasn't referring to that at all, I swear,? Anomen apologized sincerely.

Onyx backed away and took a deep breath. The one time he'd failed to protect her. He'd brought her back from vampirism, unharmed in the end, but it still tormented him when he thought about it. His failure. The unimaginable nightmare it must have been for her. Not crippling like the loss of her wings, but probably more emotionally horrible at the time....

"So you see," Anomen interrupted his thoughts, "perhaps you don't quite control the evil as you think you do."

"That was all me, that wasn't Blackrazor," Onyx scowled as he sheathed it. "Maybe if you actually loved someone, Delryn, you'd understand. Let me guess ? you don?t even remember that waitress?s name,? he smirked.

?Why of course! It was?um, it was Marin, er, Maria??

?Didn?t think so. Handkerchief??

?Of course! I have it right?that?s funny, I could have sworn??

?Take your time, I?m not exactly holding my breath.?

Anomen bit his lip and thought quietly. He envied Onyx. Not for Aerie in particular, and not for any lack of exposure to women, but rather for that he hadn't known any that really fulfilled him. Not the way Onyx seemed totally devoted to Aerie, obviously thinking about her all the time, not even glancing at women the way every other man did, not seeming the least bit worried about being apart for a few months. The completeness. That'd what Anomen envied. The knight scolded himself for envy but couldn?t choke it down.

"What about all that wealth of yours, tithing paladin?" Anomen sneered, changing the subject. Or so he thought.

Onyx grinned. "What wealth? Technically, it's all in Aerie's name!? He laughed at the stupefied look on Anomen?s face. ?C?mon, it?s on old trick. Even pious old Keldorn, rest his soul, used to do that.?

?It?s not that which amazes me,? Anomen exclaimed. ?It?s the faith! The trust!? He felt the stab of envy again.

?Seriously though, I wouldn?t do without the comfortable lifestyle. Nothing but the best for my bride," Onyx smiled dreamily.

"I can't believe Torm lets you get away with it all," Anomen changed the subject again amidst his envy of his friend?s singular devotion.

"Mind your own business, Helmite. What do you care? Your god's a neutral. Just like you used to be. Neutral's halfway to evil, so you should appreciate Blackrazor more than I. Ah, but of course you wouldn't understand, if the Order doesn't like it, oh my, if it causes controversy, boo hoo, if it's a little outside the old rules. That's all Helm is, lawful but not good, that's not a creed, that's just a bunch of rules."

"You blasphemer!" Anomen was truly shocked. He looked up at the sky, half expecting lightning to strike down. "Helm keeps order. He is the Watcher. His rules establish a framework for good and justice to flourish."

"Like when he killed Mystra?" Onyx spat. "Bane and Myrkul steal the tablets, and she gets slain as a result? Some justice."

"You blaspheme Ao! The Overfather!" Anomen shrieked, shielding himself from the sky above. "Helm was merely carrying out His will. She tried to sneak back to the pantheon, as He forbade."

"Sometimes I wonder whose side He is really on," Onyx sighed, looking up. Had the sky just gotten darker?

***

Midnight. A new moon. Blackest hour of the month. The Ducal palace was guarded like a fortress. Guards stood around the base, and even in the sewers below. Archers stood inside every window and on the roof.

But Montaron had a cunning plan. He was running through the dark city, toward its tallest structure, a red pagoda-like tower, which had belonged the mage Razamith before Onyx and party had slain him to rescue a captive nymph long ago. Montaron scaled the side of the tower and stood on the roof. The Ducal Palace was not far away in the city, down below him. He withdrew a compactly folded wyvern-wing handglider from his backpack and unfolded it. Strapping it on and downing a potion of invisibility, he took a running leap off the edge of the tower. He had planned for the wind perfectly. It was carrying the small, winged halfling easily through the air. In fact, without careful aim he would have overshot the Ducal Palace.

Wearing soft boots, he landed on its roof with a barely audible crunch. An archer turned, but seeing nothing, looked back over the city again. Montaron folded his handglider into his backpack with painstakingly slow and silent care. He crept along the roof, to the wall halfway between the two archers at the corners. He tied a stone-colored rope around one of the teeth between the arrow slits and lowered it down over the edge. Having already cut it to the perfect length, he shimmied down it. It hung just above a top floor window and out of sight of the archer within. Invisible himself, he hung down from the end with one hand while holding a hand crossbow in the other. He raised it to the archer's neck and fired. The guard died wordlessly with a poison bolt through his throat. Montaron, no longer invisible, quickly scurried through the window and held the dead guard upright. He hoisted the guard's arms through the window so as to keep him standing and seemingly at worst asleep. He drew a second hand crossbow and loaded a long, poisoned, hooked bolt into each. Keeping to the shadows, Montaron crept down the hallway, and knelt near the door to the saferoom. He carefully aimed and fired his crossbows simultaneously into the necks of the guards on either side of the door. The bolts stuck out the backs of their necks and hooked through the tapestries behind them, keeping them standing. Montaron had to rush to grab their halberds before they fell, and carefully leaned them against the wall with the guards' hands seemingly still gripping them. Then Montaron disarmed the door?s traps and picked its lock.

As the halfling quietly opened and shut the door behind him, he looked around. With the last glimpses of light from the shutting door, he had caught the sight of the statuette on the pedestal in the middle of the room. Then he detected a fragrance on the air. He'd recognize it anywhere - halfling female! He looked around but, even with his infravision, could see no one. Expecting a surprise, he walked out into the middle of the room, noticing that many of the tiles on the floor had had traps already disarmed. Then he heard the anticipated twang of a short bow and expectantly feigned aside as the arrow flew past him and harmlessly ricocheted off the pedestal. In an instant, he'd run toward the short reddish glow he could now see and had the short lady against the wall, his shortswords at her belly and throat.

"This is MY catch! Scream and you die!" he hissed. Then he peered closer. "Alora?" he asked, recognizing the fellow halfling thief he'd crossed paths a few times with in Baldur's Gate - usually in similar circumstances. "My," he smirked, "THIS is my catch too!"

"Monty?" she whispered. "They said you were..."

"Dead?" he growled. "Perhaps I was. But I have powerful friends, my petite sweet, and I see that I say stay useful to them. Perhaps, lovely Alora, it is time for you to reconsider some of my business offers? Or..." he pressed himself against her as she squirmed, afraid to scream, "some of my other offers, mm?"

"Noo! Never!" she gasped and plunged a dagger between his ribs. He grunted and pushed his shortsword into her belly and twisted it. He pushed his other shortsword through her throat as she began to scream, but she got a dying yelp out and Montaron cursed as he heard the unmistakable clanking of running guards.

He sheathed his shortswords and tossed the statuette in his backpack, then drew out his hand crossbows again as he ran for the door. Kicking it open, he ran out into the hall with his arms crossed and the crossbows pointed out to either side. Montaron?s eyes quickly darted left and right and then he fired the crossbows and the two guards coming down the hallway in either direction each dropped to the floor with a poison bolt in his belly. Montaron pulled out his handglider as he threw the crossbows in his pack. He scurried through the window and unfolded the glider as he started falling. It opened and carried him away from the palace, a few arrows whizzing through the air behind him. He landed in a nearby alley, quickly packed his glider again, and then disappeared into the shadows of the dark city.

***

Safana crept silently along the rafters of Suldanesellar?s vault, ever wary of traps. She had detected several even up here in the rafters and disarmed them. She looked down at the floor, and the tiles. Surely many of them would spring something at the slightest touch. It was too far down to tell. As she came to the rafter just over the pedestal and statuette, she withdrew a rope, dagger, and lead weight from her backpack. Eyeing the distance to the floor, she cut off a length of rope and tied one end around the rafter she crouched on. She tied the other end around the lead weight and slowly lowered it. It stopped just before hitting the floor, the weight keeping the rope taught, almost like a pole. She slid down it, twisting around. She tightened her thighs just as they reached the height of the statuette. She looked back over her shoulder at it, then gracefully curved her spine and her torso fell away form the rope, and she arched backwards and put one hand on the statuette, looking at it upside down. In her other hand she held a bag of sand, which she slowly emptied onto the pedestal as she put more of the weight of the statuette in her fingers, carefully keeping the weight constant lest the pedestal itself have a trap. At last, as the pedestal's top had a full layer of sand, she lifted the statuette off. The weight seemed perfect, but then the sand overflowed and spilled over the edge onto the floor. She heard one of the tiles on the floor creak at the mere weight of a spoonful of sand. She quickly whipped her body up to climb the rope, but nets had flown out of the walls and wrapped themselves around her, the bola weights spinning around and closing the nets. She fell to the floor in a heap.

Coran came walking up. The fighter-thief crouched and peered at the captive holding the statue he'd been assigned to guard. "Gotcha!.....Safana?" he gawked.

"Oh, Coran, I'm sooo glad to see you!" she smiled at her onetime lover. "Please help me! Oh dear!"

Coran was quite hesitant. The last time he'd been with Safana, she'd gotten them both killed attempted to sick werewolves on Onyx's adventuring party, not far outside this very city. The townspeople had mercifully found and resurrected their fellow elf, and he'd been doing odd jobs like this since and built up enough trust in Ellisime's court to land this important guard duty. Seeing Safana after their last unfortunate encounter, especially in a thieving capacity like this, he certainly wasn't about to trust her again.

"I'm sorry, dear Safana, but I have to turn you in."

"Oh no, Cory! I - I was just hired to do this by some guy in a tavern - if I'd known you were guarding it I never would have - it's not something important is it?" she feigned ignorance.

Coran mused that it didn't really matter what she knew. He had his orders. "I'm sure they'll just hold you for a day or two - maybe when you get out we can meet up?" he suggested eagerly, looking down at her. He though he was telling the truth. He didn't know about Ellisime's promising Valygar turn such captives over to him for interrogation.

"Oh no! I can't wait that long!" She artfully twisted her shoulders around and let the straps of her leather top fall to her elbows. "No one knows yet; just lemme go and we can meet up whenever your guard shift is up. I missed you sooo much." She leaned forward and looked at him hungrily.

"I....I...I can't..." Coran stammered.

"Aww...well, just one kiss then? Please?" She pursed her lips.

"I suppose that can't hurt," he sighed and kissed her awkwardly. Safana wiped her lips over Coran's and then drew back, giggling wickedly. Anticipating such a situation, she'd applied a charming ointment to her lips.

"Now, Coran dear, untie my and let's be off. Your new master shouldn't be kept waiting," she commanded.

"Yes....love...." Coran droned and untied her. She climbed up the rope and left the way she came, with him following mindlessly all the way.

IV. Storming the Beach

"Land ho!" called a sailor from the crow's nest of the Bounty.

Yoshimo and Minsc joined Anomen and Onyx at the helm of the ship. "That's Maztica, alright" nodded Anomen, looking at the coast just visible in front of them. As it came closer, they could make out the wide beach of fine white sand, the lush jungles stretching behind it, punctuated by occasional mountains. The water was clear and sparkling, the air was warm and dry. No wonder they call this the True World, Anomen thought to himself. He felt sure coming had been the right decision.

They were slapping each other on the backs and cheering as they drew closer, eager for some solid land and some beach relaxation. Then Onyx thought he detected something.

"Hey, is that movement there in the trees?" Yoshimo pointed.

"Yes, I sense a presence, and I think I see it too," the paladin nodded. "And I detect....evil. Lots of evil. A solid wall just within the treeline. Looks we've got a welcoming committee."

"Minsc and Boo will bury their evil butts in the sand!" the ranger cried. A valiant squeak from his pocket followed.

"And then I can dance on their heads as well!" Yoshimo exclaimed.

"Helm has guided us wisely, surely this is why we were called here," Anomen nodded.

Imoen rushed up to join them. "They better be nice or it's Old World magic on them!"

"Were we planning to come in on rowboats?" Onyx asked Anomen.

"Yes, but accord to Cordell's journal, the Zaltec-worshipping natives - these are surely the same - enjoy tossing spears at said slow-approaching boats. Apparently the range and power of their spearthrowers is far beyond what you'd expect," Anomen explained.

Onyx asked, "Minsc, don't the sea rangers storm a beach like this with..."

"...surfboards of righteousness!" Minsc exclaimed and was already running back to tell the sea rangers.

"Oh no," groaned Anomen, "I can't surf! I can barely keep my rations down on this large ship!"

"Nonsense," grinned Yoshimo, "you weren't half bad last summer. And today is a great motivational environment for improvement!"

"Guess it's chainmail for us, Anomen" Onyx mused. "No matter how strong we are, we can't weigh down the boards."

"Hmm, I'll try out my new waterproof shark-leather wetsuit," Yoshimo scratched his chin.

"What fun for a mage!" Imoen giggled. "I've never worn bracers with a bikini before!"

Soon Minsc and the sea rangers were all on deck in shark-leather wetsuits with bows and swords over their backs, holding their boards, and the others ran and got their respective gear. Yoshimo ordered a series of chute-like planks lowered off the starboard side of the Bounty. As it approached just behind where the large waves were forming, Yoshimo ordered the starboard side turned toward the shore.

Onyx could make out the evil in the trees more acutely. "It's a long line about here to here," he pointed, "of humans or demihumans, and some beasts, I think large cats. Until we can get the priests and knights onto shore, we'll be outnumbered nearly ten to one. We?ll need to secure the end of the beach fast and cover their boats? landing."

?Don?t worry,? Yoshimo laughed, ?the Bounty?s boats are like knives with sails; they?re practically windsurfs. They?ll be kissing sand in minutes.?

"Remember not to underestimate our foes," Anomen added. "Probably jaguar knights and hishnashapers and they're as fierce as they are primitive."

"Surf's up!" Minsc yelled. As a wave was forming under them, a sea ranger hopped onto each chute, putting their boards underneath them in midair, and slid down them onto the surface of the water. They did this for several waves, and finally they were all on the water along with the adventurers.

Anomen was struggling to keep his balance, Imoen and Yoshimo were having the time of their lives, Minsc was managing fairly well for his size, as was Onyx as he studied the evil. They began running out of the trees, shapeshifting into jaguars and chewing up the beach at incredible speed. As they reached the water, they morphed back into jaguar knights and hishnashapers and loaded their spearthrowers. Onyx was indeed amazed at how far out the first wave of sea rangers were when the spears were unloaded at them. The rangers expertly surfed side to side dodging the spears as they fired back with their longbows. Onyx was amazed again at the mere jaguar-pelts the natives seemed to be wearing deflected many of the arrows. Hishnashapers began casting fiery orbs as well.

A few of the sea rangers fell, still riding the mounting wave with floating in the water. As the first wave crested, it rose high, blocking the coast from the view of those in the back. Sea rangers drew their swords and, as the wave came crashing down, they leapt off at the crest and sailed through the air, hopping over spears and then flying along the surface of the water into the Zaltecans and running them through with their boards and blades, then running as they hit the sand themselves. They were immediately swept up in a melee, some of their assailants coming at them in jaguar form. They fought skillfully and valiantly but were going down amidst the hishna spells and superior numbers of their foes.

The next few waves of sea rangers were landing now, buffering the numbers of the earlier rangers and turning the tide back. Minsc and Valygar were now firing their bows with deadly accuracy and Onyx was hurling axes astoundingly far with his strong arm. Imoen cleverly cast a horrid wilting spell which swirled up the beach sand and whipped it into the Zaltecans, blinding them and shriveling their skin. Anomen was struggling on his board but managed to cast a holy smite which took out still more.

As he neared the shore, Yoshimo began laughing smugly and began setting up a booby trap on his own surfboard. Then he drew his katanas Hunter and Trapper while Minsc unsheathed Gram the Sword of Grief. Imoen began preparing a spell. Anomen, a bit sickened, balanced himself with Silvereye and the Delryn Shield while chanting another spell. Onyx was holding Carsomyr straight out, drawing upon holy might, and preparing to leap.

Just before their wave crested, a jaguar knight hit Anomen with a spear. It didn't pierce his armor, but it unbalanced him and he fell into the water. The other four of them flew off the crest of their wave and into the air. Imoen completed her spell, a time stop.

The eternal child giggled as she looked around, suspending on a surfboard in midair with time stopped around her. She cast a few more horrid wiltings onto the beach and conjured a stack of energy blades in her hands. As time resumed, Zaltecans gagged on sand across the beach and fell, their skin parching and cracking. Imoen flew through the air, slinging energy blades at incredible speed and slicing through those that dared still to stand. The roguish girl fell onto the sand in a deft roll and came out of it with the Staff of the Ram swinging about.

Yoshimo carefully steered his trapped board in the moments before leaping from it in midair. As he landed on the beast in a whirl of katanas, his board sailed into a pack of casting hishnashapers with nets springing out from it and ensnaring the ones the board itself failed to hit. The board speared into the ground and its nets pulled them all down onto the sand, prostrate, netted, and helpless while surrounding sea rangers stabbed them.

Minsc went into a berserker fury as he crested, mindlessly falling off his board but being carried by the massive wave onto the beach, hopping off from the sand and running about and bashing jaguar knights while the sea rangers, quite familiar with Minsc's moods, wisely steered clear.

Onyx cast a hold person spell at some jaguar knights on the beach just before cresting, then went into a whirlwind attack in midair and landed like a top amongst them, beheading the helpless ones in a flurry and then spinning away to do the same to some more.

Anomen was hunched over his shield for dear life, bodyboarding it the rest of the way. He slid up on the sand, managing to bowl through a few foes, and once he stopped and puked was soon up swinging away with Silvereye.

Despite their valiant efforts, the severely outnumbered visitors were being overwhelmed by the Zaltecans. The jaguar knights were masters with their spears, feigning back and lunging forward and thrusting into rangers with the heads while parrying their swords with the shafts. The hishnashapers cast their strange magics doing damage or enchantment, as well as somehow fading like mirages on the bright beach only to emerge in a backstab. Jaguars, summoned or shapeshifted into, were clawing and biting ferociously and the rangers were having a difficult time charging them.

The rangers weren?t advancing yet, they were holding off the Zaltecans from the end of the beach, covering for the approaching boats of priests and knights with a hailstorm of arrows and entangle spells to keep the Zaltecans back. Most of the boats managed to land without getting spears hurled at them, and the knights charged out with swords swinging and the priests held back to cast hold and flamestrike spells and heal the casualties the rangers had already taken covering for them. The Zaltecans were running about, attacking fiercely and evading cleverly, much more mobile and more used to the footwork loose sand required.

Then Anomen heard a strange but reassuring wild chant coming from within the jungle. It sounded like people voicing the calls of eagles. Out of the trees sprung another group of natives, wielding spears and bows and what he recognized from the journal as macas, looking mostly like the Zaltecans but adorned with feathers rather than fur.

"Praise Qotal!" he cried before stopping himself quizzically at having just praised a god he barely knew of. The force came charging down the beach, firing arrows at the Zaltecans. The evil natives turned to face their new assailants.

Against Anomen's back, Onyx saw the two largest jaguar knights barking orders in a strange tongue at their fellow Zaltecans while summoning jaguars. The paladin couldn't make out their words but it was obvious they were in charge. He pointed them out to Anomen. "Those two must be the generals! We've got to take them out!"

"They look like huge animals, not men!" Anomen shouted. "And so shall they be slain! I'll take the one with the macas, you take the one with the spear!"

Onyx and Anomen parted company, running up the beach while smashing down Zaltecans running with them. The front lines of eagle and jaguar knights clashed, both sides spear fighting with incredible skill. Onyx truly marveled at the mastery that came with intense dedication to such a small number of weapons. He saw eagles and jaguars fighting each other bloodthirstily, talons and beaks against claws and fangs. Plumaweavers and hishnashapers were trading strange spells, which Onyx had never seen the like of before.

He made his way to the line between the Qotalan and Zaltecan forces where the enormous jaguar-armored warrior, Animaul, was impaling eagle knights with his Fangspear. Running around behind his foe, Onyx raised Carsomyr and was bringing it down when Animaul snorted and, seeming to smell him, spun around and parried the sword. The two exchanged mighty but controlled blows with the fearsome two-handed weapons. As Onyx leapt back to avoid a thrust, Animaul summoned a jaguar between them. It lashed with a claw across Onyx's leg and drew blood as Onyx came down with Carsomyr and sliced fatally between its shoulder blades, but not before Animaul had drawn a spear in his spearthrower. As Onyx sidestepped the animal's body to lunge at his human adversary, the jaguar knight slung his arm forward and the spear flew out. Onyx was turning to dodge it but its speed shocked him and it pierced through his side, flying clean out the other side. He gritted his teeth and parried Animaul's next lunge with Fangspear, then laid a hand on his wound and healed it before losing much blood. Animaul used this moment to get the initiative again and managed to make a shallower stab into Onyx's thigh. The cavalier felt the poisonous, rabid bite of the Fangspear but his immunities instantly neutralized it.

The paladin was truly impressed with his adversary's use of the spear. He'd seen a few warriors, such as Valygar, wield it with great skill and always marveled at how the difficultly at parrying the skinny weapon made it truly effective. After swiping aside Animaul's next lunge and then managing to get a gash across his stomach, Onyx quickly sheathed Carsomyr and drew out Blackrazor and the Shield of the Order - and ironic pairing. He was now able to deflect Animaul's thrusts much more easily with a shield and soon slashed into the beastlike warrior several times, draining his life and drawing the strength from him with his vampiric sword. Animaul had plenty to spare though, and kept on thrusting with the spearhead and butting with the shaft and back end. At last, as Animaul came in with a low thrust to Onyx's thigh, the paladin knocked the spear down with a powerful swipe of his shield and sent the jaguar knight plunging his spear into the sand. Onyx then stabbed him through the heart with Blackrazor and twisted the sword cruelly inside him. Animaul let out a beastly roar but lunged at Onyx with his bare hands. Onyx fell back into a kneel, cutting through Animaul's torso with his sword and smashing his ugly face with his shield. At last the gigantic man toppled over and Onyx beheaded him on the sand, then kicked his head away from the body almost superstitiously.

As Anomen was leaving Onyx to run to the other general, Beastor, he marveled at the near giantish strength with which the warrior smashed eagle knights to the sand with his stone Clawmacas. He stopped and began casting, but Beastor almost seemed to smell him and spun around, loading a spear into his thrower. Anomen stopped his chant and called on the power of his shield, conjuring a protective cylinder of energy which deflected the incoming spear. Beastor growled and charged him. Anomen cast a globe of blades around himself, but his barbaric adversary seemed to ignore them, swinging at Anomen and catching one Clawmaca on his shield but smashing his bicep with the other even as he blades cut through his jaguar armor and into his flesh. Anomen swung with Silvereye but Beastor finally seemed to clue into the blades and retreated with impressive backward foot speed, summoning a jaguar between them. It leapt fearlessly into Anomen's cyclone of blades and dug its claws through his armor, catching the shaft of his swinging mace in its jaw and knocking Anomen to the ground with its teeth. As Anomen wrestled with the jaguar on the ground, he saw Beastor preparing a hishna spell clearly intended for him.

And then, groaning and struggling with the roaring cat like an animal himself, he saw a figure step out of the fray, he thought he saw a deva and blinked. A woman with deep bronze skin and jet black hair, she carried stone macas of her own, was adorned with obviously-enchanted bracers and jewelry of solid jade, and beyond that wore only top and bottom wraps of woven grass and feathers. Beastor brought his Clawmacas down at her but she calmly parried each with her own Wingmacas. As he drew back again, she chanted in a strange but beautiful tongue and a blizzard of feathers appeared around her, piercing, slicing, and even tickling Beastor who growled and stepped back again. He drew back another throwing spear but as it flew at the woman, she finished another chant and it bounced away, momentarily revealing a shimmering jade-green bubble around her. She motioned her hands around and forward and the feathers aligned themselves, spines toward Beastor, and then flew at him. He struggled to swat them away as the plunged through his armor into his flesh and face. He swung blindly at her and she parried his first blows, but he kept swinging madly as she evaded, smelling and hearing her, and managed to get several swipes on her body. Some her bracers blocked and some they did not.

Anomen, though mesmerized, had managed to smash his shield against the jaguar's head and draw his mace free, smashing it back into the beast's head for a fatal concussion. As he rolled the body off himself and stood, the woman was quickly being driven back toward him by Beastor. As he swung in, Anomen caught one of his Clawmacas with his shield and the woman managed to parry the other. With his mace and her free maca, they swung into either side of Beastor's head and crushed it to a pulp. Amazingly, Beastor's body seemed merely to fly into a brainless berserk state like a chicken might, but Anomen smashed his shield into its chest before it completed its next pair of blows, and it fell backwards to the ground, spasming and swinging but unable to get up.

"That was Beastor," the woman explained, in accented but clear common, casting a web of vines from her hand that bound and stilled the body. "A general of the evil priest Yamash, who has conquered our lands and killed my parents."

"I had sensed his evil presence from across the ocean and it is thus we came," Anomen said, bowing politely, "I regret that I did not see as much sooner, if he has already struck. We come from Amn, the nation of Cordell, and we shall defeat Yamash and free Maztica." He kneeled, though he did not even yet know who she was. "Forgive me - I am Sir Anomen Delryn, High Watcher of Helm, General of Amn, and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart, and my mission is thus."

She was stunned at his manner, honorable, resolute, and, she could sense, sincere. According to her parents, Cordell's warriors had been nothing like this. "Please stand up." He stood. "I am Jade. Daughter of the slain Emperor Muntezimo, and now apparent leader of the Mazticans who managed to flee Yamash?s hordes. Most of my people, I'm afraid, were not and remain there enslaved."

"We, under the banner of Helm the Watcher, must go and free your nation, and defeat Yamash," Anomen asserted.

"Very well, but you shall do so alongside the warriors of Qotal," Jade asserted back.

Nearby, Yoshimo was walking toward them, but Onyx jogged up and held him back gently, looking at the two gaze into each other?s eyes and smiling to himself. Yoshimo gave a mischievous grin of his own as he starting eyeing some of the other native warriors.

"And," Jade added to Anomen, oblivious to the two, "not before we have rested from the day's battle."

Anomen nodded, "I and the other priests must see to resurrecting our fallen, and we shall prepare ourselves for camp."

"Yes, but at our camp, the settlement of the free Mazticans," Jade corrected. "Please accept their hospitality, and mine." Anomen offered her his arm and she took it. They went back down the beach to where the priests were reviving the dead and wounded with spells, as was Onyx with his Blessed Bracers, while Minsc gathered armfuls of surfboards and Yoshimo and Imoen crept about picking treasures off the fallen Zaltecans.

V. Fiends and Festivities

The Bounty was carrying both its original crew and the Qotalan force up the coast to the settlement. Despite the language barrier, the priests and warriors of Faerun and Maztica were getting along amicably, huddled in groups and swapping stories through the few who could translate, wordlessly showing off weapons, equipment, and the ship with suggestive gestures, or just stealing furtive glances at one another and trading smiles.

Onyx sat along the side of the ship, near the helm, looking up to it at Anomen, who was preaching before a mixed congregation. The priest had studiously learned Maztican from books and elder Helmite priests on the trip over, and his speech seemed natural enough to Onyx?s untrained ear, and those seated before him seemed to nod and understand. Yoshimo was translating for him, having also been trying to pick up some Maztican on the trip over. Onyx suspected his motives were less pure than Anomen?s, although the widely traveled Kara-Turan did already know a myriad of tongues and Onyx admired his forgiven friend?s worldliness.

?Let?s see,? Yoshimo translated, ? ?He also serves who stands and waits and watches carefully.? ?Careful planning always defeats rushed actions in the end.? Okay, now he?s charging them to be fair and vigilant in the conduct of their orders. Protect the weak, unpopular, the young, yadda yadda, don?t sacrifice them for others. Anticipate attacks, be ready, know your foes, care carefully for one?s allies and weapons.?

Onyx peeled an orange and tossed another to Yoshimo. They chewed the fruit, tasty and revitalizing after a month of jerky and cram, and savored the juice.

??Never betray your trust?,? Yoshimo continued. ?Be vigilant. This philosophy extends to thinking about how best to guard and protect, both in terms of weapons and deployment, and anticipating of what attacks may come and having a practiced plan ready.?

Yoshimo punched holes in a coconut with a dagger, took a few swigs and then passed it to Onyx. Onyx drank the rest of the sweet juice and then cracked it open on his knee, passing one half back to Yoshimo, and they each chewed on the coconut meat.

?Now more about vigilance and watchfulness. Never taking your eyes of your task. Okay, he?s asking for a volunteer. This should be interesting.? A young Maztican warrior stood and faced Anomen. The priest nodded and they began staring one another down. They looked straight into each other?s eyes for minutes on end, jaws held firmly, their eyes blinking but not moving. At last someone in the audience stirred and the warrior?s glance darted away for but a split second while Anomen?s stood still. Several others pointed and chuckled and the young warrior sat down sheepishly. Another volunteer stood and stared Anomen down.

?Okay, I?m bored, let?s give them a real test,? Yoshimo muttered under his breath to Onyx after an interminable length. Onyx was growing bored too, but was surprised to notice that most of the congregation seemed to be vigilantly watching the test of vigilance. Yoshimo held up a shard of coconut and tossed it. It sailed between the faces of the two staring men, and Anomen?s gaze held fast while the volunteer?s caught the moving fleck of fruit. The audience nodded solemnly and both Yoshimo and Onyx bit their tongues to suppress chuckles.

Another volunteer stood. Anomen engaged him in the staring contest. This time, it went on for seeming ages. Yoshimo tossed another shard of coconut but neither gaze flinched. He began singing a boisterous Kara-Turan melody but neither gaze flinched, and the audience scarcely gave notice either.

?I?ve got an idea,? Yoshimo whispered to Onyx and walked to where Jade was sitting enrapt. He leaned down behind her and whispered something ? Onyx wondered with fiendish curiosity what ? and she gave a startled gasp and then a giggle. Anomen?s eyes, his entire head in fact, turned to look at her and Yoshimo gripped his own sides with laughter. Onyx could barely contain his own amusement.

***

Temactitlan's pyramid of Qotal had been desecrated and converted to a pyramid of Zaltec. Atop it, beneath an oppressive sun, Yamash stood over a stone table and a bound Maztican youth, holding his Viperknife aloft. "Mighty Zaltec, Bringer Of War and Eater Of Hearts, we offer you this for your eternal feast." He plunged the dagger deep into the young man's chest and began to vigorously but expertly cut out his heart. Yamash then held it aloft to the burning sun as his jaguar knights threw the body rolling down the stairs of the pyramid. "The appetite of the great Zaltec is unending and all-consuming. We go forth in your name and devour all in out path." He squeezed the heart and the blood flowed from the heart, dripping into a hollow pedestal next to the table, flowing down into the pyramid.

A tired and bruised hishnashaper ran up the pyramid and kneeled before Yamash, panting. "O great Yamash, upon the arrival of the proselytizing intruders, which you so wisely foresaw, we bravely ambushed them, but the Qotalans came to their aid. We were defeated, great master, and Animaul and Beastor are slain."

"And you ran from the battle," Yamash sneered and cast a fiery orb from his hand which incinerated the messenger. "Why, it seems that these mongrels from across the sea have dared to venture deep into the True World yet again," he griped to himself, pacing. "These preaching would-be-conquistadors of the Far World should have learned by now that our land belongs not to their gods. But I see they hunger for another lesson in the ways of Zaltec."

He drew from his cloak a scorpion and a lizard. Each he threw onto the stone at his feet. "Rise, Scorpicon and Reptilius, generals of the armies of Zaltec,? he commanded. The scorpion grew and shapeshifted into a large man with exoskeleton-like armor, sharp pincher-gauntlets, a spear, and a long, stinging tail. The lizard grew into another man with reptilian-leather armor, clawed hands, two axes, and a lashing tail. A bird flew by and Reptilius quickly spat a gob acid at it, shot out his long whiplike tongue, and grabbed and ate the bird, all in a fraction of a second.

Yamash then drew forth from his robes three baby snakes, an asp, a boa constrictor, and a rattlesnake. He threw them to the ground as well. ?Rise, Aspa, Boa, and Rattlel, my archshapers of hishna." They grew into three snakeskin-clad women wielding Viperknives and baring venomous fangs of their own.

"My most serpentine of shapers, we must call forth the fiendish servants of the great demon chief Jaguagorgon," Yamash spoke. Scorpicon and Reptilius grabbed another nearby slave and tied him onto the stone slab. Aspa, Boa, and Rattlel began chanting the dark tongue of hishna as Yamash cut out the Maztican's heart and held it high. As the priestesses completed their chant, the heart burst into flames and a great fiery gate opened over their heads. A Maztican demon with angular features, catlike grinning teeth and eyes, and a snakelike tail flew down from the gate and landed before Yamash.

"My massster, the great Jaguagorgon, desiresss more sssacrificesss," the fiend hissed, its forked tongue flicking in the air. "Ssspare no ssslave and you ssshall have a demon army. When the time isss right, you mussst poissson and dessstroy the Fountain of Youth upon which thisss pyramid isss built.?

"The forces of Qotal and the Far World bear down upon us now. You must grant us the power of your tribe now!" Yamash demanded angrily.

"The mighty Jaguagorgon ssshall not be summoned but when he desssires, mortal," established the demon, "but he ssshall grant you a meansss of defenssse. Begin the sssacrificesss as commanded, but now you ssshall have a mythal."

The fiend ripped his own great demon heart from his chest and fell upon the slab dying. He held it aloft in his hands and Yamash, Aspa, Boa, and Rattlel began chanting. The fiendblood from the heart and the body oozed down the sides of the pyramid and turned the water of lake Temaclac to venom. Green gas rose up from its edges, enshrouding the city within a noxious hemisphere, poisonous and deadly to any who were good that might pass through it.

"Zaltec be praised," laughed Yamash. "We shall now commence your sacrifices undisturbed and summon the tribe of Jaguagorgon and lay waste as you have commanded, O Eater Of Hearts."

***

Far up the beach from the site of the day's battle, the Amnish missionaries were enjoying a night of festivities among the temporary settlement of the free Mazticans. Spirits were high despite the impending confrontation, and food, drink and dance were to be found in abundance amidst bonfires and music.

Anomen and Onyx each sat away from the merriment, on the sand, facing the calm sea. Anomen was in quiet but worried prayer, looking to Helm for guidance, but Onyx was merely rubbing Aerie's handkerchief in his hands and across his cheeks, looking contentedly far across the ocean over which they'd come.

Anomen finished his prayer, having found more questions than answers, and looked across at Onyx's near-stupor. "How can you daydream at a time like this?" Anomen demanded. "You're as bad as those heathens back there who drink and dance when they should be resting and readying. Along with our soldiers and even some of our priests! Helm is surely displeased!"

"High spirits will be a great ally in the coming battle," Onyx countered, "Let them have their fun for tonight. It is good that our soldiers and the natives should associate. Our force must understand and know the people they are defending. Perhaps some will even find new things to fight for."

"Don't romanticize their hedonistic fraternizing," Anomen scolded and looked over his shoulder, spotting Minsc devouring endless quantities of maize-cake and tequila, Imoen dancing crazily, and Yoshimo entertaining several native girls with card tricks and tall tales.

"Causes can be personal as well as philosophical," Onyx mused calmly, looking at Aerie's handkerchief again. "Your faith and valor are unsurpassed, Sir Anomen, but even you must desire another reason to go into the breach ? to wear your heart on your sleeve. You know my meaning."

Anomen sighed. "Yes, Onyx, but...I have found it not."

"Not it - her," corrected Onyx. "It is strange, you have loved many throughout the time I have known you at the Order, and yet you say you have seek still?"

"I have yet to find a reason to stop seeking. But I will I know when I do, Onyx? How did you?"

"You just know, Anomen. I suppose it was like when I realized beyond a doubt what I wanted to become a paladin, or when I learned of my parentage and decided assuredly what I would make of it. I suspect it was much the same when you knew you had found your faith in Helm."

Anomen nodded, seeming more certain of himself now. "I felt like that again when I envisioned this place, and I knew what had to be done. And when?well, er, maybe??

"When you saw Jade," Onyx finished bluntly. Anomen nodded sheepishly. "You may make your fate in her and this land. For the latter, we shall see. But for the former, now is the time, my friend. Go and speak with her."

"I couldn't, not with the battle still to come and my valor yet to be proved, it'd be roguish."

"Nay, you have proved it already today. And the battle to come gives you all the more reason to act. It's funny, I've never understood it, but...well, you know how it was with Aerie and myself, happening over the course of our most dangerous adventures ever, rescuing Imoen and combating Irenicus and my siblings...it has been like that over the ages, with the great heroes and heroines of old. It was thus with the Heroes of Phlan, it was thus with the Heroes of the Savage Frontier, it was thus with the Heroes of Icewind Dale.?

?You embellish like a skald. It?s merely the idleness of long weeks on the road and the recklessness of knowing each day or night might be the last.?

?Aye, for many, but sometimes there?s more to it than that. There's something about the midst of a quest, Anomen, it brings something out - the best of us, perhaps, the best within us. I can explain it not, but it is in our darkest hours that we find our brightest stars."

"Onyx, that can't be - that's a fantasy, at best an ideal, that?s not this world," Anomen shook his head sadly.

?Well, then I guess we?re just characters in an epic in a fantasy world.?

Onyx and Anomen exchanged a series of are-you-thinking-what-I?m-thinking glances with each other and the sky. They looked around nervously, as if expecting their existence to end at any moment.

They took deep breaths, as if relieved to still be sitting there, and Onyx continued, "Go, speak to her. Dance with her. Divine her heart and profess your own." He stood and practically yanked Anomen up with him. The priest stood and took a deep breath, looking longingly across the festivities at Jade, who he caught shyly snapping her head away before turning back to meet his gaze. Onyx, furtively gripping his arm, walked forward with him and pushed Anomen off in the right direction, then went his own.

He spied Imoen dancing and singing on a table, her thin limbs and pink hair flying about. ?Cuz we are living in a magical world, and I am a magical girl, yeah magical! Woohoo!? the eternal child sang and laughed, spinning about like she was about to drunkenly fall off the table but truly in control of every movement like the lithe thief she was.

"Hey sis," he grinned, walking up to the table and holding his hands out to catch her, "Way to express yourself! Wanna dance?"

"You betcha!" she grinned and leapt down toward him. ?Ooh! Like a virgin, touched for the very first time!? she started singing as he caught her in his arms and swung her around in the beginnings of a dance. They spun away together, Imoen catching and following Onyx's gaze back toward Anomen and Jade and knowingly grinning along with her brother.

VI. Memories and Mythals

Onyx and Imoen were up early the next morning, wading in the warm, clear water of the beach and cleansing themselves after the previous night's bacchanalia.

Onyx looked over at his twin sister, born of the same mother as well as father, her wet pinkish hair hanging about randomly and her small frame waving back and forth in the gentle ebb of the water. Imoen smiled back at Onyx's caring gaze, reading his thoughts, which he as always happily made clear to her.

"Ya know, Onyx, it's funny," she smiled. "Even before we knew we were brother and sis - well, I think we both sorta knew." Onyx agreed mentally, as he had many times before. "We sure always acted like it."

She pressed her hand over Onyx's cheek and called into his mind shared memories.

Onyx and Imoen were eight years old. They were chasing each other energetically through a hilly field, Candlekeep and the Sea of Swords both in view. The sea winds were blowing in high and rustling the grass and Imoen's wild hair, and the sky was overcast, but the sun lit the sky through it and was cheery despite the gray.

Imoen pointed and screamed as a pair of small kobolds came around a bush. Onyx yelled and threw a large rock at one but missed. Imoen threw a smaller rock and managed to bean one across the forehead, momentarily stunning it, but the other one came charging with a crude short sword. Onyx picked a thick stick off the ground and stepped in front of Imoen, parrying the kobold's first clumsy swipe and then swatting the kobold. His stick broke on his next parry and the sword grazed his forearm. He lunged into the kobold and strangled it angrily while Imoen kept throwing rocks at the other one. Screaming with rage in a boy?s voice, Onyx broke his foe's neck and picked up the short sword as it fell to the ground. He raised it high and charged the second kobold angrily, but the creature turned and ran with a squeak. The boy caught up to it and swung the sword into the kobold's back. It fell to the ground paralyzed and Imoen watched in fright as Onyx continued to swing at it.

"Dontcha ever attack people!" Onyx cried in angry tears as he mercilessly hacked apart the helpless kobold. "Dontcha ever attack my friend Immy!" He felt the righteous determination in his blood turn to pure rage and he had strange visions, seeing himself not as a boy with a sword but as a strange grisly monster with fangs and claws, a pure slayer.

As Imoen continued to watch, she felt her initial shock turn to curiosity, her eternal curiosity, and studied her friend's slices and shouts as well as the mutilated body of the kobold. "It's dead..." she sighed, "death is...pretty." She had strange visions of herself watching a human - no, not quite a human - a man being mutilated, unable to make herself not watch.

They returned to the present. I didn't even remember that, Onyx thought to his telepathic sister, I remember killing some kobolds around Candlekeep, but I didn't remember everything.

"It's been a very long journey, brother," she sighed, the haunting look of the fallen-from-innocence Imoen coming over her, accentuating her forehead-to-cheek scar. "We've come along way. Or have we?"

Onyx showed Imoen his thoughts of how he still fought his most difficult battles with wrath and rage charging his blood. He showed Imoen his battle with Animaul, only yesterday, and how he with his own primitive urges during that fight had been as beastlike as Animaul. Not the tranquil resoluteness that the other highest paladins claimed to feel, as Keldorn had in life. Imoen pressed her hand to Onyx?s cheek again and showed him how sometimes, when she cast her most destructive spells at opponents or skewered them through with arrows or daggers, she couldn't help but look with her great curiosity at the way their bodies writhed, bled, burned, or disintegrated as they died. The looked deep into each other's eyes, wondering many things. Was this wrong? If their foes were evil? If it was what helped them fight at their best? Was it their parentage - Bhaal? Weren't they rid of his taint? What about the mother that had birthed them together? From her? Was it simply that within their own selves which can be ascribed to nothing else? What makes us us?

Onyx put his hand over Imoen's on his own cheek, and they shared their thoughts freely as one mind. Their thoughts wandered. Onyx thought of and looked down at Imoen herself.

You are so beautiful, he thought to his sister, I always thought so, why did it never strike me a certain way? Somehow we always acted like brother and sister, but how?

I know, Onyx, Imoen thought back, we were always close, closest, even after you began pursuing girls in Candlekeep. And it was never like that between us, and neither one of us even thought to wonder about that until many years later. It really is like we always knew. Imoen showed Onyx another memory.

Thirteen-year-old Onyx was fast asleep in his bedroom, as was Gorion in the next room. All was silent and dark. Then a movement in the shadows. Imoen darted into the room, resisting the urge to giggle as she looked over her unaware, sleeping friend. She knelt by the side of his bed and reached under it, feeling for something specific, which she then found. His secret chest. She pulled it out from under the bed with the painstaking slowness necessary to stay quiet. She carried it over to a nearby patch of moonlight cast by a window and set it there. She felt along the front for the lock with one hand while pulling two wires out of her pocket with the other. Then she stuck the wires in the keyhole and began manipulating them carefully. A minute later, a popping sound came from within the mechanism and Imoen briefly gritted her teeth, then exhaled in relief as she heard Onyx's rhythmic breathing continue. She opened the chest and grinned with delight as moonlight spilled over its contents. A swordfighting manual - boring. A storybook about knights and dragons - boring. A mediocre sketch of two stick figure armies having at each other - boring. A fancifully unflattering sketch of a teacher - slightly amusing. All the letters she had ever written him and passed him during lessons - sweet, but nothing new there. More letters - wait, that doesn't look like my paper folding or handwriting ? forgetful Phyldia! - very interesting. I remember them. The last one - obviously concerning the breakup - sad. Another one, carefully rolled instead of folded. Hey, this is Onyx's writing! Signed it too. A sonnet? For Araschel? Looks like the ink has been dry for a week though. She looked up at her sleeping friend and grinned mischievously. I think it's time Araschel received this. First thing before lessons tomorrow.

They returned to the present.

?You know,? Onyx laughed, ?as soon I found Araschel the next morning and she had my sonnet, I knew it was you, Immy. Who else could have ? or would have ? done that??

?You better thank me, Ony! You two really fell in love?.?

??and then her parents took her to Kara-Tur??

??and there she had your son Kan, and it weren?t for him, that vile Cyran might be sitting on our father?s throne right now! Ugh ? mean ol? Cyricspawn.?

?You know, sis, you?ve been as great a force as I or anyone else on everything that?s come to pass.?

?No way, bro! You?re the one!?

?Well, sis, we?ve been beside each other the whole way.? Except when I failed to keep you out of Irenicus?s clutches?

?It?s okay, Ony,? Imoen consoled, reading his thoughts. ?Hey, let?s get some breakfast! You slice, I?ll cook!? she let an amusing wisp of fire leap from her palm.

They walked back up the beach hand in hand. They noticed Minsc, passed out next to the bonfire, reeking of tequila and covered in food bits, surrounded by other revelers. Then Imoen pointed out Yoshimo and some natives hidden under the low fronds of a copse of low palm trees, in a largely similar circumstance but with less food ? or clothes. Now, where were Anomen and Jade?

Onyx eagerly sliced some vegetables with his vorpal axe. ?Mmm,? Imoen grinned, ?vorpal blades slice open the cells, y?know, that really brings out the flavor!? Imoen shot a burning arc of fire out from her hands and started to cook the food.

When they next looked up, they noticed two other figures were now down on the beach. It was Anomen and Jade, sitting a respectable distance apart and each absorbed in respective prayers to Helm and Qotal. Onyx and Imoen peered at the footprint trails behind them through the sand, and grinned to each other when they noticed that the two parallel trails quickly grew much closer together and eventually ended at the door to Jade?s cabana.

As the smells of breakfast wafted across the camp, Anomen and Jade joined them after finishing their prayers, as did a few others after waking, but Minsc and Yoshimo were still out cold.

A scout rushed into the camp and stood before Jade, speaking to her in hurried Maztican.

?It would seem,? Jade translated for her friends, ?that Yamash is sacrificing our enslaved people to summon a horde of demons!?

?We must reclaim the city immediately!? Anomen leapt up, waving his fist in the air.

?There is more,? Jade translated as the scout continued to speak, ?it would seem Yamash has raised some sort of shield around the city, and this scout?s partner was slain trying to pass through. Imoen, could this be one of those magical constructs you spoke of your Farworld allies using??

?A mythal, I think so,? Imoen hung her head, ?Well, an evil one. I don?t know how we could dispel one, but I can communicate with someone who might?

Meanwhile, it was evening in Suldanesellar, and Aerie was supping with Ellisime in the queen?s dining chamber. Aerie felt a familiar tingling that she recognized as Imoen?s telepathy.

Heya Aerie, Imoen thought, things are pretty shaky here in Maztica.

Aerie thought back, things aren?t so good here. How?s Onyx?

Oh, you shoulda seen him fight yesterday! We got assaulted right on the beach and?oh sorry I should get to the point?.well okay he says he loves and misses you very much, and just between you and me I haven?t caught him so much as look at any of the girls here?.oh sorry there I go again. Actually, I need to talk to you and Ellisime I think, and with a priestess here, it?s?

Hmmm I?ve got an idea, Aerie interrupted her babbling sister-in-law. Jan has this great magical invention for group telepathy. Let me see if I can find him.

Hey there, Aerie! Jan Jansen thought from his turnip-shaped home as he felt Aerie divining his presence in the slums district.

Hey, Jan! So don?t you have some invention for group telepathy?

You betcha, girl! Jan grew excited that someone was actually interested in one of his inventions - must come with her being raised by a gnome. I call in Athkatla-On-Line but it works
anywhere, you know, the way I thought of it is?

Okay, great! Aerie interrupted him. I?ve got Ellisime here in Suldanesellar and Imoen over in Maztica.

Right away! Jan chirped in his head. Aerie could sense him banging around on one of his lab tables. Jan found it ? a crystal ball with a bunch of buttons attached to its pedestal. He started punching them and the crystal began to glow?

?Welcome! You?ve got mail!? it sang.

***Welcome to Athkatla-On-Line. You are in ?The Turnip Room?***
***JanJansenGnome has entered the thinkroom***
***AngelGirl has entered the thinkroom***
***QueenyElf has entered the thinkroom***
***LilImmy has entered the thinkroom***

JanJansenGnome: Hello everyone. This is my new invention, I call in Athkatla-On-Line and it allows us to telepathically communicate, or ?telecommunicate,? with each other! Actually, my cousin Stevcase Jansen helped me invent it. He thought of it when he ran a café near Sigil University and desperately needed to find out the recipe for Flaming Turnip Crepes but his cookbook was back here with me, and he really needed the recipe because his foul-tempered tiefling brat customers were threatening to summon their parents, who were needless to say pit fiends,?

LilImmy: ::groan:: Okay, maybe I should just get to my point. btw, this is Imoen.

QueenyElf: A wise idea, Imoen. What is your concern?

LilImmy: Well, it seems there?s this really mean evil priest here called Yamash and he?s taken over the main city Temactitlan here and enslaved a bunch of people! We were going to go try and retake the city, but then he raised a mythal! And I thought you had a way of bringing them down?

QueenyElf: Normally yes, a pair of statuettes, but that brings me to the grave news we have for you as well ? they have been stolen, by Sarevok?s thieves no doubt.

AngelGirl: It?s terrible! If he has them, he can bring down our mythal too on the next full moon!

LilImmy: Oh no Aerie! That is terrible.

QueenyElf: Our martial and magical defenses are still strong and we will repel Sarevok?s forces.

AngelGirl: What about Imoen?s mythal, Ellie? Do you know any other way she can bring it down?

JanJansenGnome: Actually Imoen you wouldn?t happen to have a Selune?s Tear over there would you? What about you elven beauties in Suldanesellar?

QueenyElf: Yes, we have one, but why?

AngelGirl: Oh Jan I think I remember you telling me a story about these. Are you thinking what I think you are?

LilImmy: I?ve heard of those?there?s someone here, she uses ?pluma? magic, who knows the local turf a lot better than me. Jan, she?s right beside me, can you pick her up?

JanJansenGnome: No prob, kiddo! Here we go!

***MazticaBabe has entered the thinkroom***

MazticaBabe: What? Where am I? Imoen, is that you in my head?

LilImmy: Hey Jade! This is an invention of my friend?s!

MazticaBabe: What will you Farworlders think up next?

JanJansenGnome: Just be glad there aren?t any spamfiends on today. When my cousin and I first started showing this off, apparently some demons from the Primarily Immaterial Plane called ?spamfiends? got into the system and see, these spamfiends run around blasting all these worthless messages over Athkatla-On-Line like ?make gold FAST? ?XXX drow picz? ?higher STR in days? ?secrets of immortality?

AngelGirl: LOL

QueenyElf: Jade, do you have a ?Selune?s Tear? over there? A gem which refracts moonlight?

MazticaBabe: Ah, I think I know of a gem like that, but sadly it was stolen by Yamash when he was banished long ago. It?s still in Chuzpatol (where the Zaltecans were hiding until their recent conquest). Why?

QueenyElf: As much as I hate to say this, Jan, could you explain?

JanJansenGnome: Why certainly miss Ellisime. You see, I have a nephew-in-law Isaac Jansnewton, who?s a brilliant illusionist by the way, and apparently he?s discovered that you can reflect certain kinds of magical energy through Selune?s Tears like a prism! I have his book ?Optimagica? (which I highly recommend Ellisime, since you?re immortal you might actually be able to read it cover-to-cover) and Chapter CCLXXII details their application to mythals and apparently when one gets dispelled it?s theoretically possible to use a Selune?s Tear to refract the energy to somewhere else, where another Tear could realign the weavelengths back into a dispelling that could take down another mythal!

LilImmy: But we?re half a world away, Jan! How would we get the beam from Faerun to Maztica?

JanJansenGnome: Well missy it would be possible to reflect the beam off the moon if the Selune?s Tears on each end were angled just right to send it there and then catch it. Of course, the moon would have to be up in both Faerun and Maztica, but if Sarevok attacks at dawn like he always does (I just love these by-the-book tyrants, you know I had a great-great-great-uncle Napoleon Jansen who always did that, and he finally got defeated at the Battle of Waterpoo - Smili Humpersen?s Historica Martia Gnomica, Volume XXIV - because his enemies developed an attack-him-first-five-minutes-BEFORE-dawn strategy) then the moon should be up. It?ll be round about midnight in Maztica, Immy. If you get the Tear, just hold it up to catch the moonlight and be sure to aim the point of the Tear at the mythal! Why, it?s almost as simple as making a Turnip Sandwich. Say, that gives me a craving?

LilImmy: Well getting? that Tear from Chuzpatol sounds like thief?s work to me! Yoshi and I are on our way!

AngelGirl: Hey Immy send me some beach-pics of Onyx!

LilImmy: LOL ok!

MazticaBabe: Perhaps the innovations of the Farworld are actually useful after all. (jk) I thank you. May Qotal bless you in your defense of Suldanesellar.

***MazticaBabe has left the thinkroom***
***AngelGirl has left the thinkroom***
***QueenyElf has left the thinkroom***
***LilImmy has left the thinkroom***

JanJansenGnome: Hmmm I wonder who else is around?

***ThayvianGenius has entered the thinkroom***
***NecromancerX has entered the thinkroom***

ThayvianGenius: Hey Xzar why aren?t there any spamfiends around today? I need my fix. (No mortal on here could possibly be worth talking to, their simian minds are too primitive).

NecromancerX: Yes yes what a rip!!!! Hey I found this great place on the World Wide Weave today?I?ll send you the link just a sec?tons of drow picz!!!

JanJansenGnome: Are there any with turnips???

***

Imoen and Yoshimo were running quickly through the mountains, through dense foliage, past waterfalls, and over bare patches of rocks. At last, as night began to fall, they came to an outcropping overlooking Chuzpatol. The ruins were nestled between it and another outcropping. The two thieves looked over the crumbling walls and columns of the ruins. Jaguar knights could be seen patrolling below, looking about for intruders and even smelling the air for them. Imoen pulled out her spyglass and looked across the ruins. In the darkness, she caught a glint of moonlight reflected from the middle of the ruins. She looked closer and could see a room, its ceiling long gone, with a tiny stone pyramid in the middle. The moonlight was sparkling off an object at its top.

?The Tear!? she whispered to Yoshimo, pointing. He had pulled out his spyglass and soon found it too. ?Think we could get through the shadows past the guards??

?There might be hishnashapers down there who could divine us,? Yoshimo shook his head.

?Maybe we can creep across the tops of the walls and columns?? Imoen suggested.

?That might work?or we could just sail over them completely,? he grinned and pulled a special crossbow out of his pack. He loaded it with a grappling-hook bolt and tied a rope through a loop on the rear end of the bolt. He tied the other end of the rope firmly around a boulder behind them. Aiming carefully through the crossbow?s scope, he squeezed the trigger and the crossbow fired and the bolt flew over the ruins, grappling into a fissure on the other rock outcropping. Yoshimo tied a slack-knot into the rope and adjusted it until the rope was taut. He tried pulling back with all his might but it wouldn?t budge. Satisfied, he repacked his crossbow.

Downing a potion of invisibility, Imoen wrapped herself around the rope and began to shimmy over the ruins, hanging from the rope with her hands and thighs around it. Yoshimo followed in suit. Soon Imoen was hanging over the pyramid itself, around which four jaguar knights stood, and Yoshimo was hanging over the one door to the open-air room. The two thieves exchanged knowing glances and Imoen let her hands go from the rope and hung down. She began to move her hands and chant under her breath while Yoshimo drew a small gadget from his pocket. As Imoen completed her spell, a stinking cloud descended over the room and the guards hit the ground, unconscious. Yoshimo immediately threw his device onto the ground in the doorway, and a sticky net trap immediately sprung out and blocked the only entrance to the room. Hearing the four guards fall, other jaguar knights immediately came running but soon found themselves stuck to the web in the doorway, blocking it further.

Yoshimo shimmied over to Imoen and then grabbed her ankles. Imoen unwrapped her legs and fell from the rope completely, hanging upside down from Yoshimo?s hands. Her pink hair brushed over the Selune?s Tear and she reached down and grabbed it. She tied it carefully within a pouch on her leather outfit, and then Yoshimo began to rock back and forth and she leaned to reinforce the motion. They went back and forth like a pendulum, using bodily motions to go higher and higher each time, and eventually they went high enough for Imoen the grasp the rope again. Yoshimo helped her get her legs wrapped around the rope, then grabbed it with his hands too, and then the two thieves shimmied back to their outcropping. Leaving the rope for the guards to mull over, they ran off into the mountain jungle.

***

Onyx was standing on the beach, idly hurling Hangard?s Axe at a palm tree over and over as it reappeared in his hand each time. Without quite intending to but also without quite being vigilant against it, he inadvertently succeeded in weakening the trunk to the point where it folded over and collapsed, sending the head crashing into the sand and a few coconuts rolling down the beach. As one reached the water, was swept up in the waves, and floated away, Onyx looked a short ways down the beach and saw Anomen waist-deep in the water, surrounded by a dozen Maztican youths.

The twelve formed a semicircle in the water around Anomen, all watching intently as he preached. Then he shouted a name and one waded forward. Anomen reached out a hand and cupped he back of his head, then chanted a few words and firmly dunked his head under the water. The youth emerged again after a few moments, shouting a joyous chant that echoed the priest?s. The other eleven each came forward in turn.

How about that, Onyx thought as he folded his arms and smiled. The Disciples of Anomen.

***

Sarevok watched from a high balcony of the Male Fighters Society at his forces arrayed below, prepared to march out. The banners of Zhentil Keep, Shar, and the Bloodaxe Clan were held high. Fighters, clerics, or mages; humans, elves, or dwarves; all were in formation together awaiting his commands.

?I shall never tire of leading bloodthirsty hordes across Faerun!? Sarevok laughed.

?Simpleminded male,? Viconia sneered. ?Why can?t we just enjoy a few unholy ceremonies and a ritual sacrifice or two in the comfort of our own Underdark palace??

?Conquer!! Destroy! Desecrate!!!! Blast! Burn!? Xzar babbled. ?Electrocute! Dissolve! Wither! Poison! Freeze! Disintegrate! Incinerate! Annihilate!??

??Crush! Smash! Bash!?? Tazok added.

?Don?t count your dragons before they hatch (how many times have we been resurrected)?? Edwin muttered.

?Cheer up, ye bleedin Thay-dog!? Korgan snarled. ?Asks yerself how many times theys had to ressur-whatsit whats been on Korgan?s axe! Har har! Whar?s me mead??

?Or me hobbit-girlies?? Montaron grinned. ?De elves be nothing but skin n bones! But tha Suld? have riches fer Monty to pick, and den da half-lasses comes ta him!?

?If you were just a little taller?? Safana rolled her eyes, looking disappointed, while dabbing enchanting perfume on her wrists and blowing some in Coran?s face.

?Enough chatter!? Sarevok sighed and drew an enormous warn horn. He sounded it thrice, the front gates of Ust Natha opened, and the army began to march.

VII. War of Two Worlds: The Old

Near Suldanesellar is a lone mountain, down which a great waterfall cascades, around which fields meet forests.

Dimension doors opened amidst this tranquil predawn scene and Xzar and Edwin stepped through. Nearby birds and beasts scurried away as if sensing the twisted evil of the wizards.

?Now the mythal comes down!!!! Oh joy!!!!? Xzar ranted. ?I feel like a flying elephant!!!!!? He drew one of the statuettes from his green robe.

Edwin sighed at his insane colleague. ?While I admire your enthusiasm, perhaps we should get to work (and perhaps then I won?t be tempted to conjure a black blade of disaster and kill you with it).? He drew the other statuette from his red robe.

They held them together, pointed toward Suldanesellar below, and began chanting. Magic energy flowed out of their hands and into the statuettes, which began to glow a sickly green and a bloody red. As Xzar completed his rambling chant and Edwin his faux-dramatic incantation, a beam of energy, a putrid red-green color, shot from the tips of the statuettes and struck the mythal of the city. Its former pale whitish-green shimmer turned the revolting color and the entire mythal soon dispelled.

?Oh, wonderful magicks!!!!? Xzar cheered.

Edwin sighed again. ?Let?s get down there and vaporize some elves (Sarevok has promised us first dibs on their legendary arcane artifacts and I mean to get my share ? off Ellisime?s charred corpse).?

The two wizards teleported away again. As they did, a twinkling light in the city and an usual increase in the moon?s brightness could have been seen, just before night faded and the sky began to lighten.

***

Suldanesellar was surrounded by a high wall, which had numerous narrow slits for arrows and spells and was topped with ramparts for the same. The wall was of artfully chiseled and colored stone, which almost seemed to disappear in the large leafy trees enveloping the city. Even without the magic that made Suldanesellar nearly invisible, it would have taken a keen eye to the camouflaged city in the forest.

As Sarevok looked upon all this through his spyglass, he cared not. ?Those tree-loving elves think their little forest-hideaway is so discreet and secure!? he chuckled to Viconia. ?They will soon see just what a liability trees can be! If only those two fruitcake wizards would hurry up??

Just then he saw the a beam the color of bloody puke ? something he?d some a lot of in his hundreds of drunken brawls - shoot through the air and dispel the city?s mythal. ?Ha! I knew those loons could do it!? he roared.

?Korgan!? he commanded as Xzar and Edwin dimension doored back. ?Commence Operation: Timber!?

?Ye gots it, Z-Lord!? Korgan spat, ?We?ll show them tree-hugging elves what a good timber axe is for!? He blew a horn and his Bloodaxe clansmen picked up large timber axes. Zhentarim wizards cast haste over them and then the dwarves ran at comically high speeds toward prescribed trees. Elves from within the city walls began shooting expertly aimed arrows at them, but some of the dwarves were carrying pairs of large shields and stood in front of their axe-carrying brethren, making nearly impenetrable walls of shields. The axe-dwarves began swinging away at the trunks, many of which were as thick as a giant is tall, and working in teams in their hastened states with adamantium-alloy axes, they soon had wedges cut out of the trees, all carefully angled toward the city.

Korgan blew the horn again and the dwarves ran to the sides of the trees opposite Suldanesellar and drew out hammers. They began pounding them, and the enormous trunks slowly gave way to their carved-out wedges.

?TIMBERRRRRRR HAR HAR HAR!!!!!!? Korgan roared with delight as the huge trees majestically fell. Having been carefully chosen, they all landed on the ramparts of Suldanesellar, crushing the top few stones and sticking out over the city. The tops of their trunks crushed many elves on the ramparts, their upper branches skewered or bludgeoned many more, and their leaves left those still alive on the ramparts trapped, confused, or swept off and falling to the streets below.

No sooner had the trees landed than Zhentarim soldiers had wheeled small ramps up their bases, which formed a continuous ramp with the now nearly-horizontal treetrunks leading from the ground over the ramp and trunk up to the ramparts of Suldanesellar. Many more soldiers, having just been hastened, strengthened, had made more resistant to all manner of physical and magical attack by the wizards, began charging up the wide tree-ramps multi-file.

Sarevok laughed out loud at the genius of his plan. Not only were his soldiers now easily getting past the city walls, they were doing so nearly completely protected from the elven archers. Because the tree-ramps lay on top of the walls, and the soldiers ran on top of the tree-ramps, the archers shooting out of the arrow-slits within the wall were blocked by the tree-ramps, and those still alive on top of the wall were blocked by the leafy branches of the trees. Not only that, but the Zhentil soldiers were coming into city on top of the ramparts, and thus immediately gaining the high-ground advantage, allowing them to draw bows and shoot down at the elven forces lower in the city once they had polished off those on the ramparts themselves.

The elves had been expecting the Zhentarim to knock down the gates with evocations or trebuchets and counted on shooting the incoming armies with arrows and spells from above as they marched through the gates, now, it was the Zhentarim who shot down upon them.

Soon Zhentarim wizards and Sharite clerics were following the fighters up the tree-ramps and getting to the ramparts as well, and they began casting destructive spells down into the city. Fireballs, ice storms, lightning bolts, stinking clouds, hold spells, and confusing enchantments were raining down on the elven army within the city, which had been situated to confront invaders at the gates, not on the ramparts. The powerful elven spellcasters, however, were shooting back and many invaders were blasted or enchanted on the ramparts as their reinforcements came up the trunks. The elevation disadvantage made less of a difference for magic and the superior arcane abilities of the Seldarine elves soon began to turn the tables of casualties.

Sarevok had known this would come and had given his disciplined fighters appropriate orders for this situation. They came down the ramparts, dispersing through the crows of elven warriors and wizards, fighting with great hastened ability. Surrounded by the enemy, they were to die for sure, but each took down many weak elves ? several fighters, or many wizards if he could get to them ? before being slain himself. They fought to their certain death like mindless golems, having been indoctrinated by the Black Network, often since childhood, to follow commands and fight without question. The Zhentil fighters, by dispersing through the enemy, made it difficult for the elves to use their area spells, thus putting the fight often to steel, where the invaders had the advantage.

Queen Ellisime, with Aerie and Xan by her sides, looked out the windows of her spelltower with a face of despair. They and other elven mages in the tower cast spells at the ramparts which destroyed or enchanted the Zhentarim, but they came up the tree-ramps as fast as fast as they could be taken out.

A dimension door opened and a human archmage stepped through with a halfling paladin. ?Nalia! Mazzy!? Aerie cried happily at the sight of her longtime companions.

?As noble as your refusal of human assistance by have been, Queen,? Nalia said with both seriousness and sarcasm, ?neither dear Valygar nor myself were content to obey your wishes and watch you be slaughtered. Like it or not, I am teleporting in the Cowled Wizards, and Valygar has gathered the rangers ? human and elven alike - of the surrounding region and they are running up behind Sarevok?s position as we speak.?

?Oh that?s wonderful!? Aerie squealed, ?I tried to tell her we should work together!?

?We?re still doomed, you know,? Xan moaned as Ellisime shot both him and Aerie scolding glances.

Just then Cowled Wizards began stepping through dimension doors that appeared about them and ran to the windows. They began chanting and preparing spells of burning and fire. They cast fireballs, incendiary clouds, and even fiery dragon breath not at the ramparts themselves, but at the tree-ramps behind them.

?No!? Ellisime screamed as the fallen trees, and other still-standing ones around them, caught fire. ?You cannot destroy our trees! You will burn the forest down!?

?Only if the Black Network takes this city will the surrounding forests be razed,? Nalia corrected. ?The quicker we win this battle, the quicker we can dowse the flames with water magics. The magnificent trees which still stand will live, those that are now mere ramps for invading Zhentarim are dead anyway and must be burned.?

Outside the city, Sarevok was fuming as he saw his precious tree-ramps catch fire. The thick trees would take hours to actually burn to the point of collapsing ? although the magical meteor showers the mages within were casting upon them now might speed that up ? but the troops running up them were getting hit before they could even get to the ramparts. This was causing some to fall to the forest floor below, or even worse, stumble back and disrupt the marching columns behind them. This not only sent more tumbling to their deaths, but also interrupted the pace of reinforcements arriving on the ramparts. Luckily, they were packed much to close for a bona fide domino effect to emerge and each meteor or burning fool only managed to take a few others with him at most and hold up the line for a few moments.

Viconia?s sensitive elven ears picked up the sounds of hooves in the distance. ?Unless you were expecting mounted reinforcements about now,? she addressed Sarevok with irreverent sarcasm, ?I suggest you cover your rear ? literally. Mounted rangers approach behind us.?

Still far off in the woods, Valygar rode at the head of a company of rangers. The movements of the Zhentarim army to Suldanesellar had by no means gone unnoticed by the rangers of the region and they had converged in the area, where Valygar had mobilized them, convincing Kivan and the other elven rangers of Suldanesellar to disobey Ellisime?s orders and join the battle alongside their similarly-unwelcome human colleagues. Now they were coming up behind the Zhentarim position fast. Valygar just hoped their surprise attack wasn?t already too late.

Kivan rode beside Valygar. He had been an area ranger in the service of Queen Ellisime for some time now, finding friends and a purpose in his defense of the elves and life of the area. But in his heart, he was still a brooding, vengeful soul. Haunted by a terrible failure in his past. It had begun so simply. A romantic sojourn with his one true love, Deheriana. One week of pure bliss, concerned only with the beauty of the land and the woman he loved. The raiding party of Tazok. The week of unspeakable torture and disgrace. His love slain and desecrated before his very eyes. Finally, escape in the night. A lost trek across the wilderness, scarred within and without. Wandering for years, sometimes with the company of other adventuring parties, sometimes alone. But always, inside, alone.

Sarevok cursed repeatedly and thought quickly as he could hear the rangers approached and he watched his tree-ramps burn. ?Xzar! Edwin!? he shouted.

?What!?!?!??!? Xzar screeched.

?Yes, Lord?? Edwin sighed with mock reverence.

?Take a kidnapping squad ? you there, Montaron, Safana, Coran ? and don?t come back without Queen Ellisime ALIVE ? then take us to the Tree.?

?No!!? Xzar whined. ?Want kill kill kill kill!!!?

?Soon enough,? Sarevok grinned. ?After we?re done with her, have her heart burnt to a crisp and its blood on your daggers for all I care! Leave! Now.?

?It be a delight, lawd,? Montaron bowed as Edwin and Xzar cast dimension doors and led him, Safana, and a still-charmed Coran through.

?Korgan! Take your clansmen behind our position!? Sarevok shouted. The small dwarves would make for a better ambush team, and were more expendable. ?You dwarves spring out from the trees and take out the horses? legs and then slay the toppled riders before they can get off the ground! And you Bloodaxers be QUIET for once!?

?Ar, these wood-wussies be meat o? the worms they love! Har Har!!? Korgan growled and began running off with his clansmen.

***

The rangers were now getting closer. Kivan was squinting and perking his ears, his acute elven senses searching for an ambush. His eyes scanned just over the bushes, looking for approaching Zhentil soldiers, and his ears attuned to the shouting soldiers in the distance, trying to ascertain the distance. Beside him, Valygar was chanting a detect invisibility spell, trying to find anything that could possible be lying in wait. The two shared a moment of shock as rangers beside them were suddenly thrown forward off their horses, whose legs were being swung at by the axes and hammers of dwarves that were popping out from behind trees or even merely bushes that were taller than they. The two were assaulted themselves and Kivan managed to take out his assailants with crack-shot arrows but Valygar was thrown from his horse with just enough time to land in a role, dismounted but unhurt.

As Valygar sprang up from his role with his katanas Celestial Fury and Hindo?s Doom already drawn, he came face-to-face with a laughing, screaming Korgan wielding two axes and frothing at the mouth. The berserk dwarf charged him and swung but Valygar crossed his katanas in front of himself and parried both axes. The force of Korgan?s charge pushed him back but as the dwarf charged again he disappeared into the many shadows of the forest.

?Come out, come out, wherever ye are! Har har!? Korgan laughed and ran about, swinging his axes around trees and through the underbrush. Then he saw Valygar cartwheel out from behind a tree and charge, but the stalker fired a magic missile past the trees at him and it slammed into his chest. He kept on running even as several more orbs hit him, but his foe disappeared again just as he came upon him. He swung his axes around, enraged, unable to find his foe. Soon, however, he found a dagger in his back and the stalker appeared again, swinging at him with both katanas. Korgan managed to spin around quickly and parry them and the two began a melee of slashes and swings. Korgan took a number of hits but kept on fighting in a mad rage. When the dwarf swung low, the human hopped over his axe, when the dwarf swung high, the human ducked under it, and then the dwarf swung up or down, the human sidestepped the swing. Korgan then swung in with both axes on opposite diagonals and Valygar managed to stick his katanas out to parry them, but then Korgan charged into him and stabbed him through the stomach with the horns of his helmet. Grimacing, Valygar used his swords to push the axes away and then brought them up high over his enemy?s back before plunging in with both. The hardy dwarf bellowed in pain but continued to push and twist his head. Valygar roared and twisted his own katanas in Korgan?s back, then pulled out a dagger and stuck Korgan through the back of the neck, paralyzing him instantly. Valygar stepped back and pulled his katanas out of his foe who fell dying into the underbrush, and gulped down several healing potions before returning to the fray of dwarves and rangers.

***

Aerie, Ellisime, and Xan were continuing to fire spells out of the spelltower alongside the elven mages and the Cowled wizards. Nalia was doing the same, and Mazzy stood beside her firing at the Zhentils on the ramparts with her show bow.

As Aerie faced her window and prepared a spell, she glanced back across the room at the others. Then she noticed flickers of shadow through the green-glass dome of the spelltower?s roof and sensed a magical tingling from them. A soundwave evocation shattered the glass and three roguish figures, a human, elf, and halfling, dropped from the roof with swords held out and landed on the floor of the chamber. Two wizards levitated down after them. Before the tower mages could turn to react, the necromancer had cast an especially terrible death spell across the room that felled many of them and the conjurer had summoned a horde of demons that ran about tearing apart the rest.

Mazzy quickly positioned herself between Nalia and the attackers and crossed shortswords with the oncoming Montaron. At Safana?s bidding, Coran ran around them at Nalia, who cast a dire charm spell on him and he started running back toward Safana swinging his longswords. Edwin and Xzar grinned wickedly at Aerie, Ellisime, and Xan and the five mages all sent up various protection spells.

?You?ll pay, Monty!? Mazzy screamed as she blocked Montaron?s acidic and electric shortswords with her shield and sword. ?I heard about Alora! You won?t get away with it!?

?Ar, she meant nothing to me, my pretty,? Montaron grinned as she ducked his swipe. ?Now ye, on tha other hand, are a right lovely little hobbitess. What say we take our little dance to a more private place?? he suggested amidst the spells and weapons that were flying about around them. Montaron caught her next blow between his swords and then pushed forward. He leaned in on his swords and sent her tripping back over the top of the stairway. As she fell back, he lunged again but fell after her and the two halflings went tumbling down the circular stairway to the level below.

As Safana was being charged by Coran, she breathed over her hand and sent enchanted perfume wafting over him. Looking bedazzled, he turned around again at her suggestion and charged Nalia again. The mage cast another dire charm and sent Coran back to Safana, who puffed her perfume over him again. Nalia had just finished casting a disintegration spell at Safana, who pushed her charmed Coran forward to intercept it and be vaporized. Nalia began casting another spell but Safana drew a dagger from her thigh and flung it at Nalia, who grimaced as it sliced across her side and disrupted her spell. Before she could prepare another, Safana was charging her with a shortsword and Nalia parried it with her own Short Sword of Mask. The two thieves hacked back and forth, each managing to evade or parry the blows of the other.

The air was sizzling with the energy of the magical battle between the three elves and the two humans. Chains of spells shot off in seeming instants and time stops, contingencies and sequencers were cast. The air billowed with fire, electricity, and sand, annihilating summons and dashing off the wizards? various protections, which were being dispelled and renewed.

On the floor below, the halflings were still fighting. Mazzy chased Montaron under a table and he slashed out both legs at one end as he ran out from under it, brining it down on Mazzy. The halfling paladin managed to swing her shield up to break its fall before it hit her head, but she was then left with only one sword to defend against both of Montaron?s. She fought him off deftly but he managed to get several swipes at her. She winced at the electricity and acid on her flesh, but when Montaron came in again with two side swipes, she lunged right at him and plunged her sword through his chest while his own swung around her and clashed into each other behind her. As she twisted her sword and gutted him, he let his blades fall the ground and made a last attempt to strangle and bite her.

?Arr, a right tasty lass ye be!? he snarled. She squealed as his hairy hands and face clamored at her neck and brought her shield crashing down on his head. He fell to the floor, unconscious and dying.

Upstairs, Nalia stared Safana in the eyes over their crossed shortswords. ?Trading on temptation and wiles to try to steal dear Imoen?s place as Onyx?s party thief and soulmate??

?Ah, I could have given him so much more than that little girl. The tin can of a man never knew what he missed!? Safana grinned. ?Neither did that strange berserker who was ignoring me in favor of his hamster?.? She trailed off, feigning a midcombat daydream as she drew another dagger from her belt with her left hand. Nalia caught her movement just in time and backed away as Safana?s dagger slashed harmlessly through the air. Nalia followed its arc with one of her own and before Safana could react, Nalia had slashed her stomach and her sword of Mask sent vines wrapping around Safana.

Before she could finish off the trampish thief, Xzar cast an earthquake spell that sent her and the other good mages tripping to the ground while the spelltower shook. Before they could get up and cast again, Edwin followed up with a time stop. While the world around him stood still, he cast spellstrikes upon Aerie, Xan and Nalia, vaporizing all their spell protections, and then cast a power word stun at each of them. As time resumed, the three stood frozen while Edwin and Xzar turned their full attention to Ellisime. The queen stopped time, removed their magical and physical protections, and cast fiery dragon breath at them. They wailed in anguish as time resumed and their flesh burned, but Xzar, following a few hysterical screams of pain, cast his own spellstrike on her and then a singed Edwin fired a flock of magic missiles at Ellisime, disrupting her next spell and sending her flying against the wall.

?Now you shall die!!!!!!! Die queenie die!!!!!!!!? Xzar began chanting a power word kill.

Edwin kicked him in the shin and disrupted his spell. ?We must take her alive, you fool! (We have to get her to the Tree!)? he cast a power word stun upon her instead. As Ellisime began her next spell from the floor, the power word flew into her and she ceased her chanting and lay still.

Mazzy came back up the stairs, hurt and panting, just in time to see two red and green wizards disappear through a dimension door carrying a limp Ellisime. Aerie, Nalia, and Xan unfroze and joined her in despair.

***

Sarevok was angrily commanding his troops both back to join the dwarves against the rangers and toward the city up the tree-ramps, some of which had burned through and collapsed outside the walls, taking troops with them. His divided forces were losing momentum inside the city, and he could hear the sounds of the ranger-dwarf skirmishes drawing closer in the forest around them. Viconia and her Sharite clerics were angrily summoning elementals and skeleton warriors and sending them in both directions to reinforce the Zhentarim troops.

As Viconia was gathering unholy energy for her next spell, she sensed another divine presence in the air, as if the very flora and fauna around her was becoming charged with energy. ?Iblith!? she cursed. ?Druids, dear Sarevok. They?re coming this way! I can feel it.?

Further out in the forest, Valygar was sticking to the shadows of the trees and popping out to drive his blades through angry dwarves and disappear again as quickly. He heard the sound of persons approaching opposite the direction of Suldanesellar and sensed druidic energies in the air. He turned to see a force of leather-clad druids charging his way, impaling enemies with spears, braining them with clubs, and slashing them down with scimitars. Running front and center, he saw a woman he recognized flashing scimitars around with furious speed and beheading Zhentarim and Bloodaxe warriors as fast as she could run. ?Jaheira!? he cried with joy as the druids entered the thick of the fray alongside the rangers, summoning their own elementals and animals and calling the very vines and creatures of the forest against the human and dwarven invaders.

Now Sarevok could hear the sounds of druid spells flying about and hear the screams and curses of his men as they were burned, bitten, and entangled. He breathed and audible sigh of relief when a dimension door opened and Edwin and Xzar stepped through, struggling to carry an inanimate Ellisime.

?About time, you psychos!? he yelled at them. ?Now, to the Tree!?

?Can?t teleport! Is shielded!? Xzar moaned while Edwin cast a silence and a power word sleep on the stirring Ellisime and one of Sarevok?s bodyguards bound and gagged her.

Sarevok swore. ?Tazok!? he commanded and his half-ogre general grunted in reply. ?Field command is now yours! Do not disappoint me!?

?Battalion Alpha!? he yelled to his retinue of bodyguards and elite soldiers. ?Up Tree-ramp 14! Full charge to the Palace! Keep around us!? Viconia, Edwin and Xzar began casting all manner of protective spells over themselves as the fighters, clerics, and fighter-mages with large shields surrounded them and they began running toward the specified tree-ramp with Sarevok, Ellisime effortlessly slung over his shoulder, at their helm. They began to run up it, the previous battalion that had come up before them securing the ramparts at the top and the staircase down the inside of the wall, and covering Battalion Alpha with arrows and spells as it made its way over the ramparts, down the stairs, and toward the nearby Palace of Suldanesellar.

Sarevok grinned at his own genius as he saw that the Zhentarim forces had already taken the heavily-defended palace, no doubt at great cost, as per the anticipatory orders he had given his captains. The troops there opened the doors as Battalion Alpha ran through, and covered their rear against the Seldarine forces, who perceiving the deliberateness of the battalion?s movement and now vigorously trying to retake their palace.

Sarevok dismissed Battalion Alpha to join the palace?s existing defenders. He could hear elves clamoring all around the outside of the palace, their swords and bows whizzing through the air and their magics exploding against the walls and causing echoes throughout the palace. He ran with Viconia and the two wizards down the stairs at the back and came to the hidden Tree of Life.

It was eerily quiet and still, as if there were no battle going on nearby. Sarevok took a moment to wrap an arm around Viconia?s waist, smiling as he breathed in the refreshing air, filled with various forest fragrances he so rarely smelled anymore.

?It?s almost too bad we?ll have to destroy it,? mused Viconia, sharing the moment and giving an ambiguously devilish or longing smirk, snapping Sarevok?s mind back to the task at hand.

?Xzar ? find the conduit!? he commanded. The wizard began babbling a divination and then Sarevok saw a portal become visible nearby, in the very spot where his brother had battled Irenicus long ago. They ran over to it, Sarevok looked through the portal, which at first showed a mist of jungles, then a city, and finally zoomed to the top of a pyramid at its center.

Sarevok laughed. ?You all know the preparations!? He tied the sleeping Ellisime to one of the tree branches while Viconia drew a ceremonial dagger and stood over her. Edwin and Xzar drew out arcane tomes and began chanting, causing a greenish fog to swirl around their feet and then the nearest leaves of the Tree to began wilting and dropping and its bark to shrivel.

?Excellent!? Sarevok roared. ?Now, I must pay a quick visit to our dear allies and see that the same preparations are being made for the Fountain!?

Edwin stroked his beard and laughed. ?Irenicus was a bumbling fool to have overlooked the duality (that unstable amateur deserved his fate).?

With that Sarevok leapt through the portal.

VIII. War of Two Worlds: The New

?Massster?an army gathersss outssside the city,? Reptilius hissed.

?Silence, imbecile!? Yamash roared as he cut the heart from a sacrificial victim. ?Our mythal renders them harmless. They?ve no time to lay siege and starve us out, for our preparations will soon by complete.?

As Yamash was holding aloft the heart and looking up at the night sky and the unusually bright and strangely twinkling full moon, he saw a beam of energy shoot out of the jungle nearby and dispel his mythal in a flash. He roared with anger and squeezed the heart to a pulp.

In the jungle below, Imoen laughed as she put away her Selune?s Tear and watched the mythal disappear. Onyx smiled and looked over the city?s defenses. Jaguar knights and hishnashapers stood on top of the city walls, crouching on the ramparts. Behind them, the city?s pyramids were covered with more, as were surely the streets. The jaguar knights seemed to be pounding the butts of their spears on the stones in rhythmic unison in some sort of war chant. And among them, Onyx could see and smell demons. Hundreds of demons. These Maztican demons almost looked more like manticores, with snakish tails and catlike claws and faces. Looking through his spyglass, he saw a richly adorned figure on the top of the tallest pyramid hurriedly making sacrifices and summoning more demons through a portal overhead. He pointed this out to Anomen who was looking through a spyglass too.

?Yamash,? Anomen beat him to his conclusion. ?He?s been summoning an army of Maztican demons. According to the folklore hear, the tribe is led by a terrible demon chieftain Jaguagorgon.?

?I wouldn?t worry about him,? Onyx laughed while Anomen gasped at his inappropriate levity. ?Guess word hasn?t reached Maztica that you best not summon a demon chief to the Prime, lest my son Eryx the Demonhunter show up in tow and crash the party!

?Hopefully, the demon horde will be foolish enough to fly at us so Imoen and the archers can blast them out of the sky,? Anomen added with more gravity.

Onyx looked at their own forces. The Order knights and eagle knights were arrayed in front, the sea rangers had their flanks, and the plumaweavers and Helmite priests were behind them.

?Don?t charge the ramparts,? Onyx commanded the knights and rangers, ?their spears and hishna spells will cut you to pieces. Stay back, pick at them with arrows and bolts, cover the eagle knights when they shapeshift and fly over the ramparts to take them; it?ll be much easier for them from the air. And if there are demons flying out to intercept them in midair ? as there doubtless will be if any are still alive ? cover our Qotalan friends against them too. But we?re going over and through the walls today, so all of that goes for those of you who aren?t in our rams. Load ?em up now.? Some of the knights and rangers began manning the covered battering rams they had constructed over the past few weeks. The wood had been kept covered and thus fresher and wetter, as well as treated by the natives with available substances, to make it flame retardant. The wood had also been studded with stones to keep incoming spears from piercing straight through and getting to the troops inside.

?And let me just add,? Onyx continued, ?how useful this Maztican ?rubber? stuff has been for making quick-recoil catapults. Don?t let me forget to take back as much rubber as we can carry. I can?t wait to see what Jan Jansen can do with this stuff. For now, let?s just see these catapults in action. Load ?em up now.? More troops ran to the constructed catapults, pulled them to the ready, and loaded in huge stones.

?Too bad we didn?t have the time to make full-blown trebuchets,? Yoshimo mused, looking at the catapults. ?We could probably have picked off Yamash from right here.?

The battering rams and catapults, all manned, began wheeling forward, the troops marching behind them.

?At my signal,? Anomen commanded the priests and knights, ?and not before, protection from evil ? on everyone. And I mean everyone. That goes for you knights in the siege engines. We need to be invisible to those demons.?

When the rams were still amazingly far from the wall, the jaguar knights on the ramparts began hurling spears that reached them at incredible distance. The spears lodged shallowly in the roofs and fronts of the rams or ricocheted off them outright. Hishnashapers cast fiery spells upon them but they quickly burned out harmlessly over the veneered wood. Then the hishnashapers cast swarms of insects at the rams and the bugs easily flew inside them.

?Keep moving!? Onyx yelled as he saw the rams slow down and heard annoyed screams and furious buzzing sounds from within them. They kept moving.

Anomen then heard the sounds of hundreds of cackling demons. He looked up at the looming pyramids and saw them prancing about and flapping their wings. Then they took flight and began sailing over the city at the good army.

?Eagle knights stay down!? Jade commanded. ?Do not engage them in the air! Draw your bows!?

Boo squeaked into Minsc?s ear. ?Rangers and knights!? the ranger screamed. ?Aim your bows at eeeevil!!!!!!?

?PROT-EVIL NOW?! Anomen screamed and cast a protection from evil on himself and those around him. The interleaved priests and knights did the same and Anomen approvingly watched the faint blue auras shimmer over the entire force. The demons, who had been sailing toward the army, suddenly looked quite confused and began flying around in circles over them as if looking for something. All they found was a hail of arrows and bolts that suddenly flew up in the air at them. Below, rangers and knights were drawing longbows and loading crossbows and firing up at them round after round. Imoen cast a time stop spell and then immediately cast a half dozen comet storms into the air. When time resumed, the comets slammed into demons across the sky and the fiends screamed as they were literally knocked to pieces and fell to earth, with their arrow-filled brethren following them.

The priests were now renewing their protection from evil spells on everyone, but a few hapless warriors managed to find themselves bereft and then quickly had demons bearing down on them. The beasts landed among them and began clawing them ferociously, but were quickly taken down by the many swords and spears around them.

Atop his Pyramid of Zaltec, Yamash was screaming in rage as he watched his demons fly around aimlessly and get shot and burnt. He uttered a very long string of exotic curses as he watched the battering rams, still deflecting spears, crawl up to his walls and begin pummeling them to rubble. Behind them, catapults were lobbing boulders at the ramparts and taking his forces out in handfuls, but some of the less-protected invaders manning the catapults were impaled by hurled spears or burnt by flying spells. Under assault of arrows and stones, the jaguar knights on the ramparts fearlessly leapt off the walls and outside the city, landing on the ground already shapeshifted into jaguars and charging down the approaching troops. They ran into the foot soldiers with flashing tooth and claw and engaged in man-beast melee battles, which were bloody for both sides. Some shapeshifted back into jaguar knights and expertly wielded their spears, fighting other marching warriors or attacking those manning the rams and catapults. Some of the siege engines stopped moving, firing, or pummeling as their companies were forced to draw out their armaments and engage the fierce jaguar knights. More of their fellow soldiers joined them in their battles and afterwards took to the engines to replace those that had fallen.

The catapults were knocking the stones and men atop the ramparts to pieces and very few Zaltecans were left on them. The rams were breaking through sections of the wall and then moving laterally to resume pummeling and widen the existing breaches.

?Eagle knights!? Jade shouted as the last demons fell, ?fly to the pyramids! Upper steps only!? At her order, every eagle knight got directly engaged in a melee shapeshifted into an eagle and took high to the air, flying over the city above the range of hurled spears and cast spells, bearing down on the pyramids from above. They landed on upper steps of the front two, dueling the jaguar knights and hishnashapers with macas, spears, of pluma spells. Below, the rams and catapults began rolling through the crumbling wall, with rangers and knights swarming around them to protect them from the charging jaguar knights within the city. The catapults came within range of the first two pyramids and began firing at the lower levels, smashing the Zaltecan forces there, who weren?t even within range to use their spears and spells.

***

Now Minsc and the rangers had climbed up onto the walls and were running around the sides of the city on the ramparts, engaging the jaguar knights there and smashing them with their various armaments, then turning to their longbows to fire at the Zaltecan forces within the streets of the city and upon its pyramids. Their left flank progress around that side of the wall stopped abruptly when a thick phalanx of extremely fierce jaguar knights came crashing into them. Rangers and jaguar knights traded blows with swords and spears, both sides dueling deftly and calling on occasional druidic and hishna spells to entangle or burn one another or protect themselves.

Minsc was front and center, his vorpal halberd Ravager flying about and cutting jaguar knights to pieces as fast as they could come. He charged along the wall ahead of comrades in a mindless berserk fury, slashing down enemies with the halberd blade or merely knocking them off the wall with the butt or his own shoulders. He went into a whirlwind attack that sent every foe within halberd-reach of him sailing off the wall, perhaps in multiple pieces. Boo gave a cautionary squeak and Minsc finally stopped as he realized there wasn?t anyone left just in front of him on the wall anymore.

One of his fellow rangers caught up to him and looked around. Just then a figure wearing strange arthropod-like armor leapt onto the wall with a spear sticking out from the spearthrower on his wrist and a rope in his hand.

?Get over here!? Scorpicon yelled and hurled the spear, the rope tailing from its butt to his hand. The spear impaled the ranger but before he could fall, Scorpicon yanked the rope back hard and the ranger went stumbling forward at him. Scorpicon pulled his other arm back and as the ranger began to fall in front of him, he shot forward again with a massive uppercut that sent the hapless woodsman sailing over the wall and splashing into a canal below, the poisoned water of lake Temaclac dissolving him down to a skeleton.

?Fatality!? Scorpicon bellowed. He looked up at Minsc and drew another spear in his rope and spearthrower. ?Come here!? he yelled at Minsc and hurled the spear. Minsc narrowly feigned aside and it sailed past him. Scorpicon grunted and yanked it back again as Minsc began charging him with his halberd held forward. Just as he was about to run Scorpicon through, the jaguar knight somersaulted over Minsc?s head and landed on the top of the wall and ran along it before jumping back down onto the rampart. He spun around and prepared to through his spear again. Boo squeaked excitedly and Minsc merely backed up against the stones of one of the wall?s teeth. Scorpicon tossed his spear again and Minsc stood perfectly still until the last moment, when he spun out of the way and the spear lodged in the wall. Scorpicon jerked back to no avail and Minsc ran alongside the rope with another halberd charge. Scorpicon flipped his spearthrower off his wrist, sending the rope off his arm with it, and drew out his Stingspear to parry the incoming Ravager. The two began a mighty polearm duel, each managing to glance the other?s armor several times. At last Minsc lodged his halberd blade solidly in his foe?s side while the Stingspear slid harmlessly past him. Scorpicon?s tail lashed forward and plunged deep into Minsc?s shoulder, stinging him with burning scorpion venom. Minsc groaned and Boo squeaked unhappily. The ranger tried to twist his halberd in Scorpicon?s gut but the jaguar knight had already backed out of it, and then thrust his stinger and spear into Minsc again, hitting him with a double dose of venom.

?Now you piss Minsc and Boo off NOW YOU DIE!!!? the ranger roared insanely and began waving his halberd about in a wild berserk state. Scorpicon?s tail and spear were both cut in half before he could dislodge them and Minsc cut deep into his chest with his next swing. Scorpicon did several backwards somersaults and then began casting a fiery hishna spell at Minsc. The ranger charged him with Ravager held high and just as Scorpicon began to shoot jets of flame from his hands, Minsc swung down and cut both of them off, then swung full around and decapitated Scorpicon with his next blow. The might of Minsc?s blow sent the body tumbling into the canal below, and as it dissolved, no bones could be seen, only the exoskeletal armor.

***

Yamash was watching the progress of the invaders into Temactitlan with anger and panic. He was hurriedly sacrificing captive after captive, summoning more demons and praying.

At last an unusually large and fiery rift opened and a huge demon stepped through. ?Jaguagorgon!? Zaltec shouted with mad glee. ?Zaltec be praised!?

?You disssappoint me and mighty Zaltec, priestling,? Jaguagorgon hissed. ?There isss no time no spare. You mussst begin the ceremony of poisssoning. Poissson the Fountain of Youth?now?our alliesss of the Far World will sssoon began the withering of their Tree of Life?you mussst complete them together?before the legionsss of Qotal sssteal the Fountain from usss again??

?Yes, great Jaguagorgon!? Yamash cried happily, wringing his hands. ?Aspa! Boa! Rattlel! Go within the pyramid! Begin the poisoning!?

?Yessssss massssster,? the three hishnashapers hissed together and ran down a level of the pyramid and then down a staircase leading within it.

?AAAAHHH!!!? Jaguagorgon screamed as two winged figures appeared in the fiery gate over him. ?It isss the Demonhunter and the Dark Angel!?

?You should know by now I?ll track any fiend chief to the Prime!? laughed Eryx, the cavalier son of Onyx, as he descended, brandishing his bastard swords Foebane and Purifier. Beside him, the winged drow Luna descended, flashing her shield and Moonmace and chanting.

?I?ll take Jaguagorgon!? Eryx called to his lover.

?I?m onto those priestess!? Luna called back. ?I?m afraid I know where they?re going,? she flew down a step and into the door of the stairway around the fire jet Yamash cast after her.

Jaguagorgon flew high into the air, shrieking in rage, and Eryx followed him up into the sky high above the fray. Jaguagorgon turned sharply, baring his claws and fangs and swooping down at Eryx. The cavalier flew aside and raked Foebane across Jaguagorgon?s back as the beast went by. It screamed, enraged, and spun around with a demonwing buffet that sent Eryx falling awhile before he could regain lift. The young knight flew straight up again, swords parallel and forward, and Jaguagorgon came down at him with his claws out. Nail crashed against blade and Jaguagorgon tried to lunge out with his maw between them and bite of Eryx?s head, but the cavalier pulled his head back and then shot a wing up for a wing buffet of his own which smacked Jaguagorgon strongly across the face and sent the demon spinning in the air. Eryx slashed after him and managed to cut deep into his thigh with Purifier, but then the demon?s snakelike tail shot out and bit into Eryx?s shoulder through his armor. The cavalier hardly winced at the physical pain as he felt the poison instantly neutralize in his blood and hacked off the serpentine tail with Foebane. Jaguagorgon turned again with his claws out menacingly and Eryx came at him, plunging both bastard swords into the beast?s body, but the fiend simply came forward on them and gripped his claws and teeth around Eryx?s wings. The demon didn?t pierce through the elven chain armored wings, but he held them against Eryx?s flaps and the two began to fall as one rigid mass. As the stone of a pyramid drew dangerously close, Eryx managed to twist his swords around in the beast?s body to cut its heart apart. Jaguagorgon gave an anguished dying roar and kept gripping as hard as it could while its hellish life faded, but the strong Eryx managed to wrest from the beast?s weakening grasp and fly free just before the demon?s great body slammed into the stones in a pulp of dark, putrid demonflesh. Within the same swoop, Eryx was coming down into the fray of warriors again and had beheaded two jaguar knights before his legs even touched the ground.

***

Jade and Imoen stood side by side among the plumaweavers, at the apex of the recaptured Pyramid of Kiltzi, casting all manner of spells down into the streets below at the line of jaguar knights and interleaving some shots from their respective long and short bows. Jade suddenly dropped her bow and clutched her heart and Imoen had to drop her own to brace her new friend.

?The fountain?? Jade whispered, ?It is as I feared?Yamash had some design for it?we must hurry Imoen.?

Imoen had been told of the Fountain of Youth by Jade, and was still slightly confused about the magical workings at hand, but nodded with trust in her wise friend. After they picked up and strapped on their bows, Jade shapeshifted into an eagle and took Imoen carefully in her talons, and flew high above the fray toward the Pyramid of Zaltec. As they neared it, Imoen cast a protection from missiles spell, which encircled herself and her carrier, and the hurled spears of the jaguar knights bounced off as they flew within range and then into one of the doorways leading inside the pyramid.

Jade set Imoen down in a hallway and then shapeshifted back into her human form with her Wingmacas drawn. Imoen followed her down hallways and staircases, helping her take out the scattered jaguar knights and hishnashapers they encountered inside the pyramid with spells of her quarterstaff. At last, as they were getting to what seemed near the level of the lake itself, they came to an open chamber. The middle of the stone floor was missing and a bubbling pool occupied the space. Imoen could almost smell the rejuvenating properties of the water of the fountain, but her mind was quickly snapped away from the pleasantries when three snakeskin-clad women emerged from the shadows around it.

?How sssweet!? hissed Aspa, ?Darling Jade! It isss not to not too late to join usss, my dear. You could be a massster shaper of hishna. And I ssseee you?ve even brought a friend!?

?Two,? Luna corrected as she came down a stairway into the room, quickly nodding in a hello to Imoen. ?And I think we?ll be ones giving you a magic lesson ? Old World style!? She winked at Imoen and the two mages shot fireballs into the middle of the room but the snake women each did backwards somersaults out of their range. As they landed, they sent fiery clouds of their own around the room which curled harmlessly around the shimmering protective spheres encasing their three foes. Imoen and Luna sent flurries of magic missiles around the room while Jade sent orbs of her own about. The hishnashapers all darted away, melding into the shadows again as the energy balls slammed into walls and columns, harming no one.

Imoen cast a detect invisibility spell just in time to see Boa and Aspa appear behind her and Jade. Jade now saw them too and she and Imoen spun around just in time to parry the incoming Viperknives that had been aimed for their backs. Across the room, Luna swung her Moonmace about but a Viperknife found her first, though it failed to pierce her elven chain. Luna swung around and caught Rattlel across the arm with her mace before the hishnashaper could disappear again. Rattlel hissed in anguish with her forked tongue, flicking it just in front of Luna?s mace. She swatted with her Viperknives but Luna caught them both with a movement of her shield and then crashed into Aspa?s stomach with an underhanded swing. Luna swore she could hear her opponent?s body rattling with each hit and continued to parry the knives with her mace and shield while trying to find openings to strike. Rattlel cartwheeled away from her and Luna began preparing a spell while the hishnashaper snapped back onto her feet and prepared one of her own. Their magics crossed in the air and Luna felt herself grow weak and poisoned while she watched her Bigby?s crushing hand descend on Rattlel. She crouched in pain and chanted a neutralize poison and then a healing spell on herself and managed to laugh at the sight of Rattlel getting squeezed and crushed to a pile of snakeskin by the giant boxing glove.

Boa and Jade engaged in a quick melee of macas and daggers, each managing to graze the other several times, and Jade managed to resist the poisonous bite of the Viperknives. As she swung in from each side at Boa?s head, the rogue cartwheeled back and the Wingmacas swung through empty air. Boa, still in a handstand, flipped back toward Jade and her muscular legs wrapped around the neck of the plumaweaver, who managed to tuck her chin into her chest before she could be strangled. Boa then pushed her hands against the floor and sprung off it, wrapped her arms around Jade?s waist. Faces grew red and muscles bulged while Jade held herself tense and felt Boa constrict her. Jade tried to pound her macas on Boa?s back but the legs around her neck and over her shoulders left her with only weak swings from her elbows and wrists. As Jade felt her breath giving out, she hurled herself forward, jumping off the ground and taking a front-first dive onto the stones. Boa gave a hissing scream as she was slammed onto the floor and her spine shattered. Even so, her muscles remained squeezing with animal-like reflexes as Jade slowly wrestled out of the constricting grasp.

Imoen and Aspa circled one another, Aspa flashing her Viperknives and Imoen her Boneblade and Dagger of the Stars. Aspa lunged in and engaged Imoen in a two-handed knife fight, each rogue evading and slashing with outstanding deftness and speed. Arms and stomachs feigned back to avoid swooshing dagger tips by mere millimeters. As their weapons clanged over their heads, each shot up a leg and kicked the other in the stomach and they both went sailing back. Imoen shot a blitz of magic missiles but Aspa had just leapt behind a column and they slammed against it, pummeling the stone. Imoen heard her opponent moving about but couldn?t see her and disappeared into the shadows herself. Daggers could be heard swooshing through the air but could not be seen. At last they reappeared with Imoen stabbing a dagger into her foe?s back. Aspa hissed in pain, her forked tongue flicking madly about, and she quickly spun around and slashed Imoen across the face with a viperknife.

Imoen felt a searing, poisonous pain running down the side of her face as Aspa slashed open the very same scar that she had worn from her forehead to cheek since waking in a mad sorcerer?s dungeon many years ago. As the blade sliced down her face, Imoen?s mind shot back to the last time that cut had been made.

?Hold still! Don?t you see, I?m trying to unlock your power! You?ll still have the other one for seeing!?

?Get that knife away from my eye! Noo!?

?Don?t jerk you?ll?.ah! Now look what you?ve gotten yourself! A needless scrape!?

?OW!?

?Now hold still you?ll?.ah! You bit me, you brat! My hand!?

?Serves you right, meanie!?

?You have to be conscious for this, girl! Now quit squirming and?.ouch! Very well?.perhaps I?ll try something else?where did I put that half-elf??

Imoen jerked back as Aspa?s dagger left her face with blood trailing along an arc in the air. ?DIE MEANIE!!!!!? she screamed and plunged a dagger through Aspa?s throat and twisted it, snarling as only a very angry child can. ?YOU?RE PRETTIER DEAD!? she yelled through her tears of sorrow and rage and she watched with disgusted curiosity as Aspa fell gasping to the floor, clasping her ripped-open throat.

Imoen?s rage passed and she held her hurt face, feeling poison course through her, wrestling with both guilt for her macabre curiosity and the torment and pain of the repressed memories that now came flooding into her mind. Then she felt the pain of the wound and the venom vanish and a sense of peace came over her and she looked up to see Luna and Jade standing over her, completing chants as soft blue light ran from their fingers into her. They each held her by the shoulders, pulled her up, and hugged her, Luna?s wings wrapping around all of them.

?Now, my new friends,? Jade began, ?Help to cure me. I shall guide you.? She faced the fountain and began motioning and chanting, and the other two watched and sensed and followed suit, and together they watched the greenish taint the Fountain of Youth had taken on disappear.

***

Anomen, Onyx, and Yoshimo were fighting hard, front and center of the line of advancing paladins, Helmite warriors, and eagle knights. They had just reached the base of the Pyramid of Zaltec. The catapults behind them began hurling stones at the jaguar knights and hishnashapers on the lower levels of the pyramid, but soon broke down under a hail of spears and hishna spells.

?It?s all uphill from here, my friends!? Yoshimo shouted with an almost delighted tone.

?The path of justice always is!? Onyx said with a similar hint of eager resolve.

?And every step is worth it!? added Anomen, sounding the happiest of all, speeding up the steps to the first level and bashing several jaguar knights off the stairs with his shield and mace. The other two followed while the forces below shot up at the first few levels with arrows, bolts, hurled axes, sling bullets, and columns of fire and lightning. They held large shields high against the incoming spears and chanting protective and healing spells as fiery and venomous hishna magic flew at them.

The various projectiles flew past each other, piercing or glancing off metal or pelt armor, spears crossed with swords and maces, and the magic of Helm, Qotal, and Zaltec crackled in the air. The spears, hurled by strong warriors from above, came down hard, but with superior shields and armor the good forces took more than they gave. The fierce and furious spear dueling of the jaguar knights proved deadly, skewering opponents or knocking them off the steps, and the Zaltecan warriors rarely went down until overcome by projectiles and spells. But slowly, the good warriors cleared and took level after level.

At the apex, Yamash sensed the destruction of his hishna archpriestesses within the pyramid and the purification of the Fountain of Youth, and watched with his own eyes the advancing of the invaders up the outside of the pyramid. He began chanting in a strange, hissing tongue, and with his bare hand pulled his own heart from his chest and held it aloft. The wound closed and the heartless Yamash seemed unfazed as he squeezed his own heart and pure venom oozed from it, pouring down into the hollow pedestal and hitting the water of the fountain within the pyramid with a burning hiss.

Below, halfway up the pyramid, Anomen looked up and saw the mad priest performing this vile ceremony. ?He?s poisoning the Fountain of Youth!? he screamed to Onyx and Yoshimo, all the lore from Cordell?s journal and Jade?s conversations crystallizing in his mind. ?He cannot be allowed to finish!? Looking around them across the city, the three could see the waters of lake Temaclac begin to bubble and give off a sickly steam. ?Charge!? Anomen yelled.

He blitzed up the stairway with Onyx and Yoshimo beside him, the three of them hacking and smashing Zaltecans away as fast as they could. Their enemies grew thick near the top and they were fighting desperately, surrounded by competent foes, barely alive to stay alive and making slow progress through the phalanx ahead of them. Suddenly, Yoshimo quit fighting, sheathed his katanas, and nearly disappeared among the mass of bodies. Onyx and Anomen could just barely make him out, darting up the stairs, cleverly avoiding the attention of each foe, crouching in their own shadows, and slipping around them with a ninja?s grace.

Yamash?s pupils narrowed to slits and he looked down the pyramid, divining Yoshimo?s advancing presence. He nodded to Reptilius, who followed his master?s piercing gaze and bowed. Reptilius cast a cloud of smoke from his hands and when it disappeared, so had he.

At last Yoshimo broke through past the last of the defenders, appearing again by himself on the top few steps of the pyramid. Two jaguar knights noticed and turned to face him, but Yoshimo had tossed a small gadget from his pocket down the stairs and it exploded between them in a ball of spikes, skewering them together in a heap on the stairwell. He drew his katanas Hunter and Trapper and turned again to dash the last few stairs to the apex and confront the lone Yamash, but as he did, he was stopped abruptly as he felt invisible armaments clash against his own.

Suddenly a reptilian figure appeared in front of him, holding two axes against his katanas. Reptilius spun around out of the lock, lashing his tail at Yoshimo, but the bounty hunter backed up and it sailed through the air in front of his waist. Yoshimo swung his katanas at his foe?s back but Reptilius spun out of range, opened his mouth, and spat a gob of acid. Yoshimo ducked and it sailed over his head, splashing against the impaled jaguar knights behind him and dissolving them. Yoshimo charged and swung, but Reptilian?s tongue lashed out and snaked around Yoshimo?s wrists, binding them and his katanas together helplessly. Reptilius then swung into Yoshimo?s sides with his axes, but the thief leapt off the ground and cleared them, somersaulting over Reptilian?s head and twisting his arms in midair to swing his katanas through Reptilius?s tongue, severing it and freeing his arms. Reptilius pulled in the remainder of his tongue and hissed in rage, spinning around to attack his opponent with two axes swings from one side and another spray of acid, but Yoshimo tucked and rolled backwards as he landed, rolling under the axes and acid and away from Reptilius. The reptilian warrior followed him, but Yoshimo set a trap into the ground as he rolled along it, and as he sprang up again, Reptilius held his axes for another round of blows but his foot smacked the trap and it exploded in a small cloud of fire that engulfed him. He stumbled backwards in burning agony and spat acid at Yoshimo, but as the slime left Reptilius?s mouth, the flames caught it like oil and trailed quickly along it back down his throat. Yoshimo hit the ground as flying droplets of combusting acid and flaming pieces of Reptilius?s exploding body flew across the top of the pyramid.

Several steps below, vigorously fighting their way through the throng of Zaltecans toward the showdown at the apex, Anomen and Onyx gave relieved battle cheers as they saw Yoshimo destroy his foe.

?Flawless victory!? Yamash clapped his hands approvingly as body parts of his own general flew past him. ?But now,? he yelled menacingly, ?you will die, mortal!?

He began casting a spell but Yoshimo had already drawn his crossbow and fired it straight into Yamash?s chest. The evil priest was disrupted but laughed as it dissolved in his body. Yoshimo fired several more bolts but Yamash waved his hands and a glowing barrier appeared to deflect them all. Yoshimo switched out his katanas again and charged, but Yamash merely held his hands forward and sent out bolts of lightning, knocking Yoshimo back to the stones. The thief flipped up onto his feet and charged again, but this time Yamash?s fingers became snakes and lashed out, wrapping around Yoshimo?s wrists and ankles. Yamash lifted his arms and sent the bound bounty hunter flying into the air over his head and landing on the other side of him, onto his back on the stone table. The snakes tightened themselves around Yoshimo and then bit into him, filling his veins with paralyzing poison. Yoshimo?s scream was cut short as his muscles froze and his katanas clattered to the ground beside the table. The snakes drew back, becoming Yamash?s fingers again, and the priest held one hand menacingly over Yoshimo. He began to chant incomprehensible but terrible words and reached barehanded into Yoshimo?s chest, pulling out the still-beating heart and holding it high.

?Fatality!? Yamash laughed as he let go and the heart fell back onto Yoshimo?s lifeless body.

?Yoshimo!? Onyx cried as he saw the hapless bounty hunter?s heart for the second time in his life. He and Anomen drew upon holy might and smashed their way past the last of the jaguar knights and hishnashapers with titanic strength. As they made the final charge up the stairs to Yamash, a conduit opened beside the priest and an all-to familiar hulking warrior walked through, staring down at them with angry glowing eyes.

?Hello, brother!? Sarevok boomed with glee.

?We?ve no time for games!? Yamash yelled angrily as he withdrew his own heart from his robe and resumed squeezing it over the pedestal. ?Both our ceremonies must be completed before we lose the cities. Finish them!?

His black armor glinting, Sarevok drew his Crossbow of Affliction and fired several paralytic bolts down the stairs at his charging brother. One of them pierced Onyx?s armor and he was frozen midstride. Sarevok switched out Soul Ravager and came bounding down the stairs. He swung at Onyx with a mighty overhead blow, but his sword was intercepted by Silvereye.

?Why, it?s noble Anomen!? Sarevok laughed. ?I shall enjoy killing you again!? He pushed down and his sword drew closer.

Onyx unfroze and swung Carsomyr into Soul Ravager. Sarevok, up a few stairs and bearing down with his weight, held fast against the two weapons crossing his.

?I?ll be the one killing someone again!? Onyx scowled. Then his gaze moved with Anomen?s back up to Yamash.

The two knights looked into each other?s eyes again and exchanged nods. Anomen withdrew his mace and charged up the stairs past Sarevok, onto the apex. Onyx grunted and pushed Sarevok back away from him, and when Soul Ravager came flying down again he hopped down a few steps out of its reach, and the fearsome sword smashed into a step. Before Sarevok got his sword up again, Onyx swung Carsomyr into his helmet. As Sarevok?s ears rung and his head flew back, he drew his sword up again and met Onyx?s next blow. The brothers snarled at one another across locked swords.

Onyx glanced past his brother and saw Anomen from afar, shedding tears of joy as he engaged Yamash and shouting out to Helm while channeling a blinding flash of power. A column of brilliance descended from the sky as they charged and crossed weapons, and when the white light disappeared both were gone.

IX. Reckonings

The Zhentarim outside the city were holding off the charging rangers and druids with a phalanx of protected archers. Soldiers stood side by side, large shields nearly together, while archers between them fired through the narrow slits left between the shields. Nearly every ranger?s arrow glanced off a shield while they took casualties themselves. As comrades went down beside them, rangers and druids stood side by side and cast entangling spells at the phalanx, and archers and shieldsmen were wrapped motionless together as vines leapt from the very forest floor and constricted their every limb.

?Into city!? ordered Tazok. ?All units now! Take city!?

Every Zhentarim who could move turned and fled up the remaining tree-ramps. They came onto the ramparts and descended into the city, joining their fellows against the elves in the final grueling minutes of battle. Soldiers and spellcasters on both sides fell in great numbers onto the streets of the city, which were already covered with the bodies and blood of men and elves. In the middle, Tazok was swinging about with two massive clubs and any elf unfortunate enough to get within range was dashed to the ground or flung into the air, crushed and lifeless. Tazok roared with anger as he saw the last of the Zhentil troops come up the tree ramps, followed by druids and rangers. The forest forces began reclaiming the ramparts from the Zhentil and then fired arrows or called fire, lightning, and insects onto the Zhentil troops below. Tazok watched in amazement as a man on horseback came up a tree-ramp, and galloped onto the ramparts, holding his longbow high and firing into Zhentil hearts with deadly speed and accuracy.

This was Kivan, enraged only more with every arrow he fired into an enemy. At last, looking down his arrow, his jaw dropped in disbelief as his sights set on a half-ogre he had crossed paths with long ago. His mind was barraged with images. Love. Sojourn. Forest. Bliss. Rain. Hooves. Raiders. Ropes. Laughter. Brands. Knives. Torture. Mine. Pain. Hers. Pain. Horror. Watching. Screams. Pleadings. Laughter. Days after night after day after night. Her death. Rage. Unconscious. Tent. Hands. Ropes. Escape. Rain. Wandering. Road. High Hedge. Revenge.

He fired. An elf came between him and Tazok and took the arrow. Kivan strapped his longbow and drew his longswords. Kicking his horse in the ribs, he rode it forward off the rampart. He pushed himself up into a stand on the saddle as the horse whinnied and flew through the air. He leapt from it and straightened into a dive, pulling his legs together behind him and his arms out in front, his swords side by side pointed straight toward his target.

?DIE!!!? Kivan cried as he fell into Tazok and both blades plunged into the beast-man?s chest. Tazok groaned as he felt his heart sliced apart and lifted his clubs high. As his life gave out, he brought them down together upon his enemy?s head, recognizing with his last thoughts the man he had tortured so long ago. Kivan soon joined Tazok on the ground in death, his last thoughts of bittersweet revenge at last.

***

Edwin and Xzar continued to chant and cast, the poison mist expanding and swirling about the Tree. Viconia too, began chanting, sending necromantic magic into the tree and causing the bark to crack and wither. She held her dagger overhead and looked down at Ellisime?s bound form, but then she heard noises and turned her glance to the entrance from the temple.

The bodies of elite Battalion Alpha soldiers came rolling down the stairs and off the branches of the Tree, followed closely by Valygar who had another impaled on his katanas and flung the trooper to his death below. He noticed the ceremony in progress and sent a magic missile hurtling at them. Edwin and Xzar slyly sidestepped it and it went flying into Viconia instead and knocked her back onto the branch and sent her ceremonial dagger falling through the tree.

?You cowards!! Destroy him!? She screamed and the wizards began casting. Valygar hasted himself and began running along the branches toward them while Aerie and Jaheira came down the stairs.

Edwin and Xzar exchanged glances midcast and abruptly changed the tones of their spell.

?I recognize that one, spineless rivvel! No dimension doors! You will attack them and defend me!? Viconia screamed while preparing a spell for the incoming Valygar.

?I?m afraid this was never part of the bargain (not that I usually honor agreements anyway),? Edwin shrugged his shoulders at her as his portal appeared.

?Scary rangers used to beat young Xzar up!!! Xzar run Xzar hide oh no!? Xzar cried, holding his hands over his ears, as his portal appeared.

The wizards each disappeared through their closing portals while Valygar roared and leapt into the air at Viconia, his katanas forward and his dreadlocks flying around his head.

?Good males, evil males, hate ?em all,? Viconia sighed and her hands shot out. Valygar froze in midair just in front of her and then abruptly dropped to the ground, lying there midroar like a lion statue.

Viconia looked up to see Aerie and Jaheira charge and then stop just within spell range. They began casting but Viconia had just finished and a storm of vengeance appeared over her enemies and began raining fire, lightning, and acid on them. As it fell to them, it fizzled above their heads and illuminated shimmering elemental protection orbs around them. Jaheira completed her spell and thousands of insects flew out of the leaves of the Tree and swarmed toward Viconia. While the drow priestess had to stop her chant to keep them out of her mouth and swat at them, Aerie froze time.

The avariel woman walked up to the drow woman and leaned in to her, staring her in her frozen eyes and thinking very, very, mean thoughts. Her wide-eyed stare vanished as her eyes narrowed and her small lips contracted into a tiny, cruel grin.

?Oh, look at me, a sweet and innocent little caged angel,? she cooed, while gesturing theatrically and batting her eyelashes. ?And look at you, a dark and heartless black widow. Oh my, and look at how the race of men fawns over me, seating me upon a pedestal for worship, and scorns you, tying you to a stake for burning.?

Now Aerie put her face right into Viconia?s and contorted it into a vicious snarl. ?THE DROW DEMAND CREATES THE SUPPLY FOR THE SLAVE TRADE, YOU BITCH! IT DOESN?T MATTER IF I WAS SOLD TO A CIRCUS, IT?S YOUR FAULT I WAS TAKEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. IT?S YOUR FAULT THEY TOOK MY FREEDOM AND MY WINGS!?

?YOU WOULD HAVE TRIED TO SEDUCE MY HUSBAND, YOUR SLUT, I SAW THE LOOK IN YOU RYES AND I SAW IT IN HIS TOO! I SAW IT ALL BEHIND THE FACES OF SCORN.?

?AND THEN YOU TRIED TO USE YOUR OWN NIECE TO CORRUPT MY SON, YOU WITCH, AND WHEN THAT DIDN?T WORK YOU HYPNOTIZED HIS UNCLE INTO CARVING OUT AN EMPIRE FOR YOU!?

?And look at you now, perfectly still, not able to snarl and scream, you almost look pretty for once.?

?My only regret is that you won?t feel the pain while you?re stopped. But I?ll try to make sure you live the next few moments to experience it.?

She backed up and conjured a stack of energy blades into her hand. She tossed the discs at incredible speed, sending them slicing through Viconia one after another, sending them here and there to try to make painful cuts all over her.

Time unfroze.

Viconia screamed in terrible pain as she suddenly felt slices throughout her body. More blades came and she continued to moan. Jaheira was dashing up behind Aerie as a fast wolf, and just as the avariel ran out of blades and raised Crom Faeyr high for the killing blow, Viconia managed to pull herself together to swing back with her mace, but a wolf jumped between them and shapeshifted into a Jaheira with her scimitars parrying both the hammer and mace. The other two, both enraged, swung again ? it was difficult to tell whether they were aiming at each other or Jaheira ? but the druid let her scimitars fall and her hands darted out to each of their faces. Her fingers curled over their cheeks and the three of them were pulled into shared thoughts.


I am an elf of the air I am an elf of the wood I am an elf of the earth
My parents were lost My parents were killed My parents were fled
I was a slave I was a mongrel I was an outcast
I hated land and its dwellers I hated men and elves I hated drow and rivvel
I became wingless I became a widow I became a captive
I almost died in a cage I almost died in a dungeon I almost died at a stake
I was freed by a gnome I was freed by my friends I was freed by you


In the same instant, their daydream ended, and the avariel and drow took their weapons back from the half-elf?s scimitars. Aerie let her hammer fall to the ground but Viconia swung again. Jaheira sidestepped the mace and put her hands to the cheeks of the others again.


?For the glory of Amn!? a soldier yelled and charged the makeshift pyre in the government district square. As his comrades around him were held, entangled, and smashed, he made a charge to kill his captive witch before it was too late. As he thrust at the drow tied to the stake, another longsword swung into his field of vision and blocked his.

?Glory?? another armored fellow snarled in his face over their crossed swords. ?I?ve seen enough of Amn already to know it has none.?

?She?s a witch!? the soldier yelled in his face.

?And her crime?? Onyx arched an eyebrow.

?Look at her! She?s a drow! And I said, SHE?S A WITCH!?

Onyx sighed. The soldier tried to back away from him, and he swung other hand up to put the axe it held against the back of the neck of the soldier, who wisely stopped moving. ?And I said, AND HER CRIME??

?Why!? the soldier gasped, dumbfounded. ?Look at you! I can tell you?re a paladin! What do you think you?re doing, defending an evil drow against the law of Amn??

Onyx struck his sword against the soldier?s, who let his clatter to the ground as he winced from the strength behind the blow. While hooking the soldier?s neck between his axeblade and handle, Onyx turned around, forcing the soldier to babystep with him, and began to flick his sword around the tied up drow. ?It?s funny,? Onyx began as his sword flashed about and the a rope severed and fell, ?You always think paladins are supposed to uphold the law.? Another rope came down. ?And the good.? Another, ungagging the drow, who gasped for fresh air. ?Sometimes, they just can?t be reconciled.? One of the drow?s wrists was freed. ?That used to gnaw at me, truly it did.? The other wrist. ?And you know what I realized?? An ankle.

?What?? the soldier sputtered. The other ankle.

?Lawful doesn?t have anything to do with the laws pulled out of the arse of this bureaucrat or that despot.? Her neck. ?It?s an absolute. There is one code of law, which no government I?ve seen resembles, which perfectly aligns with good.? Her waist. The drow was freed and stepped away from pole.

?And I suppose you think you know it?? the soldier sneered.

?Yes,? Onyx smiled, removed his axe, gripped the soldier?s neck, and shoved him into the pole. ?And do you know what it makes you?? Onyx pressed his axebladce to the soldier?s neck again, and the man tried to back up but, his back against the pole, could not.

?What?? the soldier asked nervously.

?Evil.? Onyx stated and slashed the man?s neck. He collapsed immediately, gripping his throat and dying in an expanding pool of crimson blood. Onyx turned to face the drow woman while Aerie and Jaheira walked up beside him. Yoshimo crouched and picked some coins off the soldier?s body while Minsc was busy shielding Boo?s eyes from the gore.

?Haven?t we met before?? Onyx arched an eyebrow while the drow woman cackled and kicked the fallen soldier. ?In a remarkably similar circumstance? Viconia, was it??

?Hah!? Viconia laughed with an air of triumphant superiority. ?Unusually perceptive! You rivvel usually say our kind all look like! But then, most of them are not?? she gestured to herself theatrically, ?Viconia DeVir, indeed! Cleric of Shar and bane of all in my ? or our ? way!?

Her face fell when Onyx?s betrayed nothing. Aerie and Jaheira each shot sideways glances at him, looking for hints of lust or scorn. The three priestesses could all sense Onyx detecting evil.


Viconia?s mind resurfaced from the past and she began showing her memories, letting the other two feel the hate she felt whenever she had these thoughts.


The drow woman sighed as the paladin stoically appraised her, betraying nothing. Finally he showed visible disdain after she felt the signature of a detect evil. The elven women beside him seemed to sense it and their faces actually lit up, as if they had found something to capitalize on.

?Ooo,? the tiny blonde elf ? an avariel? Could she possibly have her wings tucked into that robe? ? wrinkled her nose. ?A drow! And she?s evil, I can feel it!? She half-hid behind the man next to her while holding forward a holy symbol of Aerdrie Faenya.

?Show some spine, child!? the half-elven woman scowled at her. She turned to appraise Viconia again, while shooting the man periodic glances. ?She?does appear to be a wicked one, though.?

?That?s funny,? the man snorted sarcastically, turning to the half-elf. ?Weren?t you saying we needed some balance in the party??

The two exchanged looks of scorn, for some reason causing Viconia to smile, but the half-elf quickly softened hers. ?Perhaps?but remember what I told you last time we met her? Not a betraying drow like this, a more manageable and simple evil? Remember Kagain??

?He was an okay guy,? the man smiled fondly. ?Not a bad attitude, and he sure knew how to get an axe threw an ahnkeg shell.?

?Say,? the half-elf smiled and continued her ploy, ?wasn?t there another mad dwarf back at the Coronet??

?He was a monster!? the avariel screamed. She wrapped an arm around the man?s and looked up at him. ?And you dueled him to the death when he was mean to me, didn?t you??

Viconia and the half-elf each rolled their eyes, sharing a moment before scowling at each other again.


The three returned from the past. Jaheira thought to them, it didn?t have to be that way. Now see what might have been.


The drow woman sighed as the paladin stoically appraised her, betraying nothing. Finally he showed visible disdain after she felt the signature of a detect evil. The elven women beside him seemed to sense it and their faces softened, almost as if with pity.

?Ooo,? the tiny blonde elf ? an avariel? Could she possibly have her wings tucked into that robe? ? wrinkled her nose. ?A drow! They?ve been so evil to her here,? she stepped forward past the man. ?Yes,? she nodded as if reading Viconia?s mind, ?I am an avariel. From above the ground rather than below. They were awful to me too! They took me here and cut off my wings!?

Viconia felt and showed a moment of sympathy before hardening her heart again.

?Show some spine, child!? the half-elven woman scowled at her. She turned to appraise Viconia again, while shooting the man periodic glances. ?She does appear to have had as rough a time here as you did, though.?

?That?s funny,? the man began sarcastically, turning to the half-elf. ?Weren?t you saying everyone needs some balance in their life??

The two exchanged scowls that melted to looks of sympathy, for some reason causing Viconia to smile a moment before frowning at the foolishness of such an emotion. ?Perhaps?but remember what I told you last time we met her? Not being outcast and hunted like this, a more manageable and direct opposition. Like yours.?

?I wouldn?t call Irenicus direct,? the man snarled furiously. ?Sure knows how to break up a party.?

?Yes,? the half-elf agreed sadly, and Viconia could sense painful loss on her face before the woman looked pointedly back to her, ?We need to rebuild ours.?

?Say,? the man mused, ?wasn?t there another priest back at the Coronet??

?He was a buffoon!? the avariel giggled. She wrapped an arm around the man?s and looked up at him. ?We need someone wiser who can join us, don?t we??

She and the half-elf both looked at Viconia, and the three shared a moment.


The three reemerged. Viconia?s mace joined the hammer and scimitars on the ground.

Just then a gasping Zhentil soldier came down the stairs. Several more came behind him, but were felled by arrows from a wave of elves trailing them. The man held a longbow high while running forward. The three elven priestesses began casting, but he drew an arrow and aimed for the just-awakening Ellisime. Her eyes and mind working quickly, Viconia saw the arrow let loose and lunged over Ellisime, catching the arrow in her own chest and falling.

***

Onyx and Sarevok stared one another down across their swords. Onyx was divinely imbued with the greater strength, but Sarevok used his position up the steps to put his weight behind his weapon, and neither could be budged, though each could otherwise have moved storm giants. At last Onyx devised a way to break the stalemate, and simply went into a quick crouch and reduced the force behind his sword, sending Sarevok lunging forward and falling over him. The dark warrior rolled down the stairs with deafening clangs, but quickly jumped up from the level below seeming unharmed. Onyx had already drawn Hangard?s Axe and flung it down at Sarevok, but during his wind-up, Sarevok held Soul Ravager in a strange position behind his on head, and then the axe began to fly, he stepped aside and then swung with Soul Ravager, batting it back up at Onyx. The paladin, already with a foot off the stairs to step forward, found his own axe crash into his chestplate and was sent tripping back over the top stairs onto the apex of the pyramid. As he stood, Sarevok had run up the stairs and the crashed swords again, but Sarevok?s momentum sent Onyx stumbling back into the stone table. As Sarevok swung again, Onyx feigned aside and Soul Ravager cracked the marble slab in two. Carsomyr then swung into Sarevok?s shoulder plate and sent him flying sideways. He crashed into the stone pedestal, which cracked off its base and shattered on the floor. Sarevok, now over the edge of an exposed hole, tried desperately to regain his balance. He would have succeeded, but Onyx came charging at him and Sarevok could do nothing except parry Carsomyr, even knowing the paladin?s momentum would push them right over the hole.

Around the Fountain of Youth, Jade, Imoen and Luna had been fighting a losing magical battle to purify the water of the most potent of poisons, Yamash?s very blood. Now that its flow had stopped just before destroying the fountain, they were slowly neutralizing it.

Then they heard clangs and roars echoing from the shaft above. Two enormous masses of metal fell out of it and splashed into the fountain, sending still-impure droplets of water splashing over all three of them. The droplets fizzles against Imoen and Luna?s elemental shields, but Jade reeled as the venomous water splashed over her face and arms. Luna ran to her and began a healing chant.

In the fountain, the cavalier seemed utterly unfazed by the toxic water and watched his brother scream terribly and writhe in agony at being immersed in it. At first Onyx snarled and watched Sarevok be consumed, but then his own brother?s groans turned to an eardrum-shattering shriek of terror. Onyx shook his head out and then something else came over him. He reached down, gripped Sarevok?s forearm, and pulled him to his feet out of the water and pushed him back, letting him fall to the steps beside the fountain.

?I?m dead already, you fool!? Sarevok spat in contempt as his faced turned green and the veins showed through. Onyx leaned down and began to chant a neutralizing spell, but Sarevok reached up and began strangling his brother. Onyx?s calm suddenly turned to rage and he reached down and returned the favor. The stared each other down hatefully while trying to crush one another?s throats, and though their necks and the armor around them were tough, their hands were stronger.

Imoen gasped in terror at the sight of her brothers killing one another. Just as they were about to choke each other to death, her tiny hands reached out and her fingers splayed over their cheeks. Imoen showed her brothers something that had been locked within their minds, a memory, her oldest yet, one which she had only recently been able to remember. A memory which she could now put together and understand?


Priests of Bhaal were walking about, children littering the floor, most crying and screaming, scared by the darkness of the cave, the absence of parents and warmth, and the palpable evil of the priests.

Among them were three human triplets, two large and nearly identical boys and a much smaller girl. They were not crying, but were afraid and holding each other tightly.

?Whassa goin on, Immy?? one of the male triplets asked his sister.

?I dunno Ony ? scawwie though,? Imoen replied. ?Where is mommy??

?I dunno ,? Onyx answered, ?you know, Sawwie?? he asked the other male.

?I no-no eitha,? Sarevok answered.

One of the priestesses, a seeming leader, strode among them, ceremonial dagger held high, chanting about the release of the essence within the children and the resurrection of their god. An acolyte rushed in and said something to her, and she began barking orders frantically. The sounds of clanging weapons and exploding spells could be heard from other rooms, and the children were now crying at the tops of their lungs.

The doors burst open and resolute figures appeared in the doorway. There were three in front: an old human wizard with a staff in the middle, a half-elven man with a sword to his right, and a half-elven woman with a scimitar to his left.

?Ah, Gorion and his noble Harpers, at last we meet,? the archpriestess cackled.

?And it is the last time we shall, Nyalee,? Gorion responded calmly.

?Kill the infidels!? Nyalee commanded as she herself rushed out the opposite end of the room. Her acolytes charged or stood and chanted.

?D-die!!? the half-elven man yelled and stepped forward, cutting down a charging acolyte.

?Feel nature?s fury!? the half-elven woman cried and cast a tangle of vines at other acolytes, immobilizing and disrupting them.

Gorion was wordlessly firing magic missiles at acolytes, interrupting each who tried to cast, and his two compatriots, along with other Harpers were rushing into the room, then charged with swords curves and straight to slash them all down, entangled or not.

?Jaheria and Khalid, bar the far door,? Gorion commanded and the two half-elves ran forward to the door Nyalee had disappeared through. ?Good warriors,? Gorion began, ?Nyalee will be returning within minutes with more priests of Bhaal and a large cohort of Iron Throne mercenaries. We do not have the strength to fight them. We have to get these children out of here ? now!?

The Harpers began sheathing their weapons and strapping their shields and dispersing across the chamber. As they picked up as many children as they could carry, they ran back out the door they had come through.

?Why they no-a takin us?? Sarevok asked.

?I no like dis place ? they should take us!? Onyx cried.

?Heya, heya, taka us!!!? Imoen screamed.

The triplets watched the Harpers scoop up children and disappear. The half-elves finished barring the door, but Khalid grabbed a baby fire giant and a raven-haired girl, and Jaheira grabbed a drow infant and a blue dragon egg.

?Waaa!!! Taka us!? The triplets were crying.

At last, as the warriors were leaving with most of the children, Gorion came upon them. Tears streamed down the frail wizard?s face as he saw the three of them and looked down at his own two arms. He tried to grip his arms around all three, but grimaced at the pain in his back as he tried to stand. He crouched his knees and bent low, but could not make himself stand with them.

Pounding and shouting could be heard from the other side of the door. ?Slaughter the infidels!!! Seize the children of our Lord!!!!? shrill
voiced cried.

?Cower before the steel of the Iron Throne!!? other voices boomed.

The door burst open and heavily armored fighters stood in front of chanting Bhaal clerics. Gorion stood and cast a web spell over the doorway and entangled some of the fighters, but the others began hacking through.

?I?m so sorry, my child,? Gorion cried as he picked up Imoen and Onyx in each arm and ran out of the room just as an Iron Throne fighter made his way in.

?Sawewok!!!! No?Sawwie!!!? Imoen cried, reaching back over Gorion?s shoulder.

?Brotha Sawwwie! Don tak us apart!!? Onyx cried, pointing back and punching Gorion?s shoulder.

?No!! Imowen!!! Ony!! Don leave me!!? Sarevok cried, toddling after them as the mercenary scooped him up.

?No, brat, only your master matters now ? Reiltar!? the mercenary laughed as his captain walked up him and inspected the child.

?Hmm,? Reiltar mused at baby Sarevok, strong and huge for his age, kicking furiously in the arm of his adult lackey, who was having trouble holding him, ?perhaps this little slave will make a useful mercenary someday??

?I wan my bruda and sista! I wan my mommy!!!!? Sarevok screamed and kicked in the mercenary?s grasp. He let out an eardrum-shattering shriek.

?I wuf you Sawwie!!!? Imoen cried back.

?I wuf you Sawewok!? Onyx cried as he and his sister disappeared up the hallway in Gorion?s arms.


The triplets returned to the present. Onyx and Sarevok were still holding each other?s necks, but no longer applying pressure. Their eyes were still locked, but tears streamed from them. Her hands still on their cheeks, Imoen let them share thoughts. They walked through each other?s lives, Sarevok in Candlekeep and Onyx with the Iron Throne. They saw themselves fighting one another, Sarevok wielding Spiderbane and Onyx the Sword of Chaos. Then Onyx languished in hell while Sarevok saved his sister and his soul from Irenicus.

But then, they did not see each others? true lives. Sarevok did not see himself turn away his brother to defeat Melissan alone and go on to win three Throne Wars. Onyx did not see himself ally with Cyricspawns and demons and seek to lead evil forces to the throne.

Irenicus was slain but now they couldn?t even tell which of them had done it; which of them had been the Terror of the Sword Coast and which of them had been the Hero of Baldur?s Gate. It no longer mattered. Together they defeated Melissan, abdicated the Throne, wed Aerie and Viconia, and fought side by side in the Throne Wars.

The brothers let their arms fall off each other?s necks and to their shoulders and hugged. They wrapped arms around their sister and she joined in the embrace. Luna and Jade stood over them, casting purifying magics which returned Sarevok and then the fountain to their natural colors.

***

Anomen found himself at the apex of a step pyramid again, but his surroundings were utterly foreign. The pyramid seemed to be made of solid bone, the sky was an eerie blood red filled with crashing lightning, and the pyramid seemed to stretch down forever around him, no land visible below.

Zaltec stood at the opposite corner of the top step, snarling viciously and swinging his Viperknives about, ?Go back from whence you came, Farworlder!? he screamed. ?The affairs of the gods and people of the True World are not your concern!?

?The slaughter of the innocent anywhere is my concern,? Anomen stated resolutely and held ready his mace and shield.

?So be it, missionary!? Yamash snarled and summoned a swarm of large hissing snakes between himself and the Helmite. Anomen cast a storm of vengeance down upon them and they were consumed by elements and Yamash himself was burned and stumbled back. Anomen then cast a pillar of flame down upon the evil priest, who managed to shoot back a bolt of lightning that snaked across Anomen?s armor and through his body. Anomen grimaced and healed himself just in time to then block both of the charging Yamash?s Viperknives with his shield. He swung across with Silvereye but Yamash feigned aside and then managed to duck and plunge a dagger into Anomen?s thigh before retreating and beginning another spell. The knight winced and called down a bolt of glory upon his foe, but Yamash finished his spell and a protective globe appeared and blocked the bolt. Yamash began another spell but Anomen charged, swinging Silvereye into the hishnashaper?s chest and dispelling his protection. Yamash gasped in pain as ribs broke and swung his daggers at Anomen?s shoulders. The knight managed to block one with his shield but the other one plunged in and Anomen felt its poison begin to seep through him. He chanted and neutralized the poison and blocked Yamash?s Viperknives with his mace and shield, then brought an overhead swing of his own down on Yamash?s head. The evil priest blocked the mace between his crossed daggers and spun away.

He and Anomen came at each other again, swinging, slashing and blocking in a deadly dance. As Yamash came in for two horizontal swipes, Anomen pulled his waist back and the daggers sliced through the air. He was meanwhile bringing his on weapon down, and Yamash managed to move his head out of the trajectory of the mace, but then it smashed into and crushed one of his shoulders. He winced as Anomen continued the motion and swung Silvereye down and then across one of his legs, crushing the kneecap. Anomen followed the low swipe through with another coming back the other way and crushed Yamash?s other knee. The hishnashaper?s legs fell out from under him and he dropped his daggers. As writhed on the surface of the pyramid, Anomen lifted Silvereye high and prepared a careful downward swipe.

But as he swung down at Yamash?s skull, the evil priest?s head began to deform and his skin grew scaly. Now possessing the head of a serpent, he struck up and his jaw unhinged around the head of Anomen?s mace and he swallowed it. His mouth wrapped around Anomen?s forearm and his fangs sunk in. Anomen felt a near-paralyzing poison enter his bloodstream and his hand went numb and Silvereye was swallowed out of his grasp. As he pulled his hand from the serpent?s mouth, Yamash?s body became that of a snake?s and he then began to twist around Anomen?s legs and pin them together. As Anomen swung down with his shield, the great serpent?s tail lashed up and gripped around his left shoulder, immobilizing his shield arm. The snake continued to wrap around and around Anomen?s body, and the knight just barely managed to pull his right arm away from his body before it was pinned. Soon he found himself gazing straight into the snake?s eyes. It opened its mouth and bared its fangs, moving to bite Anomen?s head, but he grappled his arm around its neck, squeezing with all his might. The snake was constricting him as well and he felt his ribs and hips come under great pressure even through his armor. The snake hissed and its forked tongue shot and flickered as it too was strangled. Man and beast struggled for dominance, the man feeling the poison still coursing through him and weakening him as the beast constricted his body, and the beast feeling its air being cut off and its spine being nearly snapped.

At last, with a thunderous roar of righteous anger, Anomen suffocated the beast and snapped its neck. But as it died, it spent its last energy crushing Anomen?s ribcage and squeezing the life from his poisoned heart. The limp beast slid off him and fell lifeless to the ground, but he soon fell onto his back, trying to call upon Helm for healing as his life and consciousness slipped away. He closed his eyes to the foreign sky as his thoughts turned to the sky of his world. To his loving sister and raging father. To the people and training of his early life. To the faith he had found in Helm, and the adventures across the Realms that it had propelled him on. To everywhere and everyone he had gone to in search of true love and a destiny. And to the beaches and jungles of Maztica, where at last he had found both.

X. A New Order for a New Land

?Awaken, Viconia.?

The drow?s eyes popped open the to the sight of Aerie and Jaheira before her, blue light disappearing from their hands into her.

?Where?? Viconia sighed. ?You should have left me?Abyss??

?No,? they corrected together, ?And that is not where you would have gone.?

?Drow?we are destined?to be enemies??

?No,? they corrected again, ?When you took flight from them, you made your destiny your own.?

?Your world, and mine, are destined, then??

?But now you and Sarevok have begun reclaiming the Underdark. He, too, has changed. And when you return, you will have the chance to make a new destiny for your world.?


***

?Awaken, Yoshimo.?

The bounty hunter?s eyes popped open to the sight of Imoen before him, cradling his head, and Onyx before him, the last wisps of a soft blue light trailing out the paladin?s bracers into his body.

?Am I?are we?no?the light?am I really?? Yoshimo sputtered.

?Yes, alive, Yoshi,? Imoen smiled tenderly.

Onyx laid a gauntleted hand on Yoshimo?s shoulder. ?You once lost your heart as a traitor,? he began warmly. ?This night, you lost it as a true and brave ally.? He gripped Yoshimo?s shoulder and pulled him to his feet. ?Now, brother, come received the gratitude due a hero of a new world.?

***

?Awaken, Kivan.?

The ranger?s eyes popped open to the sight of Aerie before him, a soft blue glow fading from her hands.

?An angel?I?m?? Kivan sighed.

?No, alive and well, as is Suldanesellar,? she corrected gently. Shadows fell over him and two more faces, one half-elven and one drow, appeared beside hers.

?Torture and death. You lost a love. I know how this feels,? Jaheira whispered.

?You have wandered for years, bitter and alone, consumed by anger. I know how this feels,? Viconia whispered.

?You thought what you lost could never be replaced. I know how this feels,? Aerie whispered.

?And now it is over,? they proclaimed in unison. ?Your quest is fulfilled and you must journey on to better things. You can begin your life anew. You have been today, in both body and spirit, reborn.?

***

?Awaken, Anomen.?

The knight?s eyes popped open to the sight of a clear azure sky. A single eye loomed overhead.

?Helm?I failed you?? he moaned.

?No, Anomen,? boomed the omniscient god?s voice. ?Thou led thy forces to victory. Maztica is freed by thy leadership and Yamash is destroyed by thy hand. A world owes thee thanks. But thou owes thy continued guidance. And love.?

?Am I?was I??

?No, thou healed thyself ere thy life gave out, and there hast thee lain unconscious but well. And now, return, Anomen, to a new world.?

***

The last Zhentil troops inside Suldanesellar had been felled, those outside had died with their battalions or scattered into the forest, only to be hunted down by the rangers. Within the city, the Palace of Suldanesellar was packed with leaders of the Seldarine and many of those who had fought bravely just hours before.

A lucid Ellisime was bestowing the highest honors of the Seldarine upon humans and elves alike, as well as an occasional halfling. Mazzy, Valygar, and Kivan stood arm in arm off the one side, already wearing necklaces signifying the courage and mettle of the warriors. To the other side stood Aerie, Xan and other elven mages and Cowled wizards wearing similar necklaces. Druids and priests now came before Ellisime and lowed their heads to be adorned by the queen. At last Aerie came forward again with Jaheira and Viconia, and the three bowed before her.

Ellisime wordlessly bequeathed two of them, but then paused before the drow. ?You shall be the first of your kind to receive this honor, Viconia. Despite the flag under which you came to this city, your actions in the final moments of this battle may yet indicate the direction you will henceforth take. If this be so, consider the possibility of a new life among us, a new home in the Tree of Life.? She laid the necklace around Viconia?s shoulders and drew back.

The drow nodded in appreciation, moved by the gesture and considering the offer. After standing still for a minute while those gathered watched in silence, she eventually merely bowed deeply to Ellisime and silently left the palace and Suldanesellar.

***


As dawn broke over Temactitlan, the victorious forces of Helm and Qotal finished the laborious battle aftermath of freeing the enslaved citizens of the city, tending to their wounded and fallen, and burning the bodies of the Zaltecans. The waters of the Fountain of Youth and Lake Temaclac had returned to their natural colors and the effort had left Jade, Luna, and Imoen weary, until they had bathed in the repurified fountain and found their fatigue and wounds washed away and their power renewed.

On the streets around the restored Pyramid of Qotal, Minsc and Yoshimo were reorganizing and assessing the remaining rangers, priests, and knights. At the apex of the pyramid, Imoen sat between her brothers. Within the pyramid, Eryx and Luna were out of sight in a lovers? embrace. Across the apex from Imoen, Jade sat alone, staring out to the horizon, her head slumped in her hands.

Imoen perked up even though her brothers sensed nothing. ?Hey, I just got an ?instant message? from Aerie! Suldanesellar is saved!

?So, brother,? Onyx inquired, ?Looks like your plans got foiled again.?

?It?s just as well,? Sarevok sighed, ?Then I?d have to devise some scheme to ?lose? the city without looking like I?d really gone soft. I need to keep up the whole Dark Overlord image ? hard to get anything done as Lord of the Zhentarim otherwise. You ever try asking those bums nicely? Doesn?t work. If they stop fearing me, they?ll stop obeying me, and then it?s work, work, work all day long. Say, wasn?t there a dread pirate who said something like that??

?Yeah, it?s some old quote. Roberts, I think his name was. Sure was around a long time for a human.?

?Anyway, if you hear some story about me razing some villages, don?t worry, it?s just the Zhentil propaganda machine at work.?

?So what are you going to do??

?Well, I?ve still got Zhentil Keep and my holdings around Ust Natha. Maybe I?ll try sating my powerlust with some more Underdark campaigns. I hear that Mezoberranzan is nice this time of year.?

?I can dig it. Don?t suppose I could convince you to raise capital by liquidating your surface land trade cartels??

?Actually I was sort of thinking of a little streamlining and restructuring. I think I can make them profitable without resorting to slaying or kidnapping the competition. The great market share we got was barely worth the cost of hiring all those gangsters and thugs anyway. Don?t suppose you could look the other way if we stay ?black market? to keep evading taxes??

?Well, Don?t expect me to come after you for cutting a few corners, but I can?t make any guarantees for Chancellor Nalia.?

?Bah. Well, I suppose I?ll be getting back. Viccy is pretty high-maintainence, you know.? Sarevok stood up and walked back to the portal through which he?d come.

?Hey look, bro!? Imoen pointed down to the street below. The crowd that had been milling around with Yoshimo and Minsc in front of the pyramid had gathered into an organized array and seemed to be listening to a group of figures standing above them on the first level of the pyramid.

Onyx and Imoen walked down the stairs to the gathering, Jade trudging lethargically behind them. The twelve disciplines of Anomen, having all fought bravely the night before and survived, stood in a semicircle addressing the crowd before them.

?Empress Jade!? they turned and bowed as the long-faced lady stood behind them.

?I see,? Jade began, ?that you are no longer mere warriors of Maztica, but now also clerics of the gospel of Helm.? She looked down at the mixed Faerunian and Maztican crowd below them. ?A new days dawns over the True World, and the faiths of Helm and Qotal may henceforth coexist here. Any warriors of the True World -? she exchanged glances with Onyx, who nodded, reading the question in her eyes, ?or the Far, who would defend this land in the name of Helm, come forward.? Other Mazticans came up the steps, alongside many of the knights of the expedition. ?You shall be a protective order of knights established in Anomen?s name. A ? ?

Jade noticed the disciples suddenly were looking past her. She turned to see the top of the pyramid awash in a sourceless bright white light that made all in its aura look clean and pure. Out of it, down the steps, marched a single figure. He wore armor, a shield, and a mace of polished white, adorned with depictions from the battle the night before. His hair and beard seemed clean and trim, and his bright teeth and eyes smiled at them as he came majestically down the steps.

?It is him!? the disciples cried after a minute of awed silence. ?He has risen!?

Onyx and Imoen hugged with joy, Yoshimo and Minsc danced in the street, and Jade walked up the last few steps to meet Anomen, who immediately swept her up in his arms and kissed her as he bounded down the last few stairs. He set her down and looked past her at the crowd gathered on the step, watching his twelve disciples walk about them, dipping their hands in bowls of blue dye and then pressing their palms upon the foreheads of the others and then waving a finger over them, leaving blue handprints that seemed to have eyes drawn in the palms.

?And what honors are this?? Anomen inquired with a satisfied grin and wrapped an arm around Jade?s waist.

?They are the first Helm knights of Maztica,? she answered while leaning in to him and looking over the new force. ?The Order of Delryn. A new order for a new land.?