away. He came up in a crouch, his wicked sword free of its scabbard. Purple magic danced along the length of its blade.
Micus turned toward the half-fiend and swished the war axe through the air. 'Is that how you choose to repay your savior?' he asked, panting. He strained to form the words. 'Perhaps I should have let the astral kraken devour you, after all.'
'I do not trust you, creature,' Kaanyr answered. 'Aliisza, stay on his opposite side. Keep him flanked.'
The alu did as instructed, but she wondered how much good she could do with the wand.
The Micus abomination danced backward, trying to keep both his opponents in view. His wild-eyed expression worried her. 'If we are to escape this dire predicament, we must do so together,' he said. 'That is why I saved you, half-demon. Do not make me regret it.'
'What has happened?' Aliisza asked. 'How did we come to be here? How can we possibly trust you?'
She wanted to add, How did you come to be as you are?
'I do not understand all of it,' Micus replied, still spinning and watching the two half-fiends as they circled him, 'and there is no time for the details.' A look of agony crossed the transformed angel's face, and he shuddered and nearly fell. He grunted in pain, then recovered enough to bring the war axe back up in a defensive position.
'Mystra is slain, and all the multiverse reels at her destruction,' Micus continued. 'Waves of devastation crisscross the Astral and rend the planes. Dweomerheart is no more. Magic has gone terribly awry.'
Aliisza gasped at the twisted angel's revelation. She remembered again the vision within the Eye of Savras. Shar had wanted to kill Mystra. No! she silently screamed. I tried to stop you!
'Why should we believe you?' Kaanyr asked. 'How do we even know you are still of sound mind, after… after-'
'After becoming this monster?' Micus finished for the cambion. 'I would think my twisted form would be evidence enough for you. But we must hurry! There is no more time for debate. Every moment, I feel the savage rage of the half-dragon grow inside me. Soon, it may overwhelm me, and then I will no longer be interested in helping you.'
'And just how do you intend to help us?' Kaanyr asked, his expression wary. 'What do you want of us?'
'Come with me, back to the House of the Triad. I can take us there, all of us. My control over my power grows weaker by the moment, but I can still transport you, save you from this oblivion.'
'And then?' Kaanyr asked. 'Once we have returned?'
'Then you will stand trial for your crimes,' the angel answered, his breath coming in gasps as he fought to maintain his senses. 'You must answer for your role in Mystra's death. But it is a better fate than remaining here, trapped, until the astral kraken-or something worse-comes for you.'
'I think not,' Kaanyr replied, an unkind grin spreading across his face. 'I will not be your prize, angel.' He raised his sword higher.
'So be it!' screamed Micus. 'I will take your corpses instead!' He reared, intending to charge.
Aliisza watched as the wretched thing that once had been an angel and a draconic hobgoblin charged her lover. She saw Kaanyr step back, intent on using the columns as a line of defense.
An idea formed.
'Kaanyr, to me, quickly!' she cried, conjuring the magic of a spell she had never conceived of before. She began the incantation, only distantly thinking about where it had come from.
A blue glow formed around her, brighter than the emanation from Zasian. It turned the chamber a brilliant azure. For a heartbeat, Aliisza faltered, stunned by the peculiar effect. She regained her senses just before the energy of her magic evanesced and she managed to continue the enchantment.
The cambion performed a drop-step to slide out of the way of the charging abomination and let Micus's momentum carry him past. Then he retreated toward Aliisza.
Perfect, Aliisza thought. She flung the completed spell forward, shaping it with a thought.
A cage appeared, a shimmering barrier of bright blue bars that pinned Micus-Myshik within. Aliisza formed it in such a way that it confined the abomination where he stood. At the same time, she felt sharp sickness erupt in her belly. She doubled over from the pain of it.
Micus roared in anger and defiance. She looked up as he battered the barrier with feet and weapon, but it resisted his efforts. He grew still, and Aliisza saw him close his eyes in concentration. Sweat poured from his face.
She could feel the angel test the limits of the magic she had woven into the arcane cage. She could feel him try to shift, to leave the place, to travel elsewhere in the multiverse.
The cage held Micus fast. When he realized he was truly trapped, he screamed and threw himself at the barrier.
Beside her, Kaanyr kept shifting his view between the caged abomination and the alu. 'What did you do?' he asked. 'What's wrong?'
She shook her head, feeling the sickness recede. The strange blue glow faded with it. She rose upright and attempted to smooth her features. 'I'm fine. It's nothing,' she lied. 'Magic has been behaving oddly ever since…' She left the thought hanging and shook her head to dismiss it.
'But that's not a trick I ever remember you performing before,' Kaanyr said quietly. 'And you looked like you were in pain. What's happening?'
Aliisza reached a hand up and touched Kaanyr on the lips. 'I said I'm fine,' she replied with a faint smile. 'Just too much excitement. And you should know your girl well enough by now to understand that I'm still full of tricks.'
The cambion stared at her a moment longer, then shrugged and turned to examine the cage she had created.
He did not see her troubled expression as she contemplated what had just occurred. What in the Nine Hells is happening to me? she wondered.
Eirwyn felt like she and Oshiga had been climbing forever. Up and up she flew, following the trumpet archon, ascending past the endless slopes of Mount Celestia. The pair winged their way through numerous layers of clouds, emerging each time above yet another realm with yet another great slope rising before them.
The angel had never traversed so far up the sides of the majestic peak, and she had never fully realized how incredibly large it was. Once, as they had stopped for a rest upon a small tropical island with a beautiful beach of white sand and palm trees, Eirwyn asked her guide if the mountain was truly so massive. Oshiga had assured her that they were taking a shortcut between layers and would reach Venya soon.
The two of them passed through yet another large bank of clouds, and Eirwyn shivered at the damp, cool caress of the water vapor. She concentrated on staying close to her guide, as he had instructed her, for he had warned that to fall behind or lose her way could result in being lost forever within the heavenly realm.
She kept the archon firmly in sight.
Eirwyn burst from the cloud cover abruptly and found herself soaring over rich, green farmland far below. The route Oshiga followed took them over a ridge of forest and then across the shoreline of a vast, blue lake. The angel stared down into the clear water as she kept pace with her companion, spying unusual shapes along the bottom.
Seashells, she realized, and massive ones at that.
It made no sense to Eirwyn, having seashells within a mountain lake, but she shrugged it off as the whim of the archon ruler of the place.
Oshiga changed course, diving toward the surface of the water. Puzzled, Eirwyn followed him, noting that he angled toward a particularly deep cleft in the lake floor. At first, the angel thought perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her, but eventually she was certain that faint light glowed from something within that cleft.
Eirwyn took a huge breath and held it, then braced herself as the two plunged into the crystal-clear lake, expecting the water to be icy from mountain runoff. She was surprised when the jolt of crisp cold did not hit her.
At first, the angel tried to swim, but she caught on quickly that Oshiga still 'flew' with his wings, coursing through the water at incredible speed, and if she did not attempt the same mode of travel, she would lag behind.
