As the old sage started to step into the room, Midnight saw the weave of a few of the spells tighten. 'No,' the raven-haired mage cried. 'Elminster, don't come in here. You'll set off Tenwealth's traps!'
Elminster froze and looked around the room. 'What traps? I don't see any traps!' he sputtered.
'They're magical wards. I can see them hanging over the trap door,' Midnight said without taking her eyes off the web of spells. 'Somehow, I can see the spells themselves.'
Elminster arched a bushy eyebrow and ran a hand slowly through his long, white beard. 'Ye can see the spells, ye say? Can ye dispel them?'
Midnight swallowed hard. 'I don't know,' she said softly. 'But I'm going to try.' The mage paused for a moment then added, 'And I think you should wait in Tenwealth's chamber, with the door closed. If something happens and a spell… misfires, Kelemvor and Adon will need your help to get the tablets.'
'Can't we do something?' Kelemvor cried from the priest's room.
Midnight heard Elminster sigh. 'She's right,' the old sage said solemnly. 'There's nothing for us to do but wait.'
Kelemvor was cursing, and Midnight could picture him stomping around Tenwealth's room. Adon, on the other hand, stood quietly by the door. 'Good luck,' the scarred cleric said softly. Then Elminster backed away from the secret door and Midnight heard it close.
My luck's been pretty good with magic so far, the mage sighed to herself. None of the spells I've cast since magic became unstable have backfired too badly. I haven't accidentally tossed a lightning bolt at a friend or lost an arm because of a spell misfiring. Not yet, anyway.
The raven-haired mage took a deep breath and spoke the words that Tenwealth had set to disarm the wizard lock. 'Duty above all.'
The web of spells tightened and quivered. The golden weave of the wizard lock spell glowed brightly for an instant, then the spell was gone. Most of the other wards disappeared, too. After the strands had stopped flaring and vanishing, two spells still hung over the entrance to the vault.
The remaining spells were incomplete, filled with gaps where other wards had been linked to them. Though the mage couldn't identify one of the patterns, she did recognize the tendonous black strands that wove around the room. They were parts of the feeblemind spell she had seen earlier.
After closing both her eyes and concentrating for a moment, Midnight called the incantation to dispel magic into her mind. The mage knew that Tenwealth had probably paid a powerful wizard to cast the wards on the vault, so she should have little hope of dispelling the magic. Still, she said a silent prayer to Lady Mystra — though she knew the Goddess of Magic couldn't hear the plea — and cast her spell.
The green web that comprised the spell Midnight couldn't identify vanished instantly. However, the black coils of the feeblemind spell quickly curled around the mage. 'No!' she screamed, and in desperation repeated the incantation again. A flash of blue-white light filled the room. The feeblemind spell was gone.
Midnight opened the diamond-shaped trap door. A set of iron handholds led down into a small chamber lit by two more magical globes. The mage entered the vault and found herself surrounded by much of the wealth of Tantras's temples. Gold and platinum plates, silver candlesticks, and finely wrought icons were piled in crates. A priceless tapestry depicting the Goddess of Trade was stuffed against a wall. And somewhere in the cramped little room lay the Tablet of Fate Bane had hidden in the days before the gods were cast from the Planes.
Midnight knew that the tablet could be disguised as anything, but the illusion cast over the artifact would be visible to her enhanced vision. The mage quickly held a hand over her left eye and scanned the room. A bright red light leaked from a small box in the corner, and Midnight rushed to open it. She quickly pulled the cover from the long steel case. For an instant, Midnight saw the illusion Tenwealth had chosen for the tablet — that of a large, mailed fist — then the intensity of the light that burst from the box blinded her. She stumbled backward a few steps.
In a moment, the raven-haired mage's vision cleared. Her right eye had returned to normal, and she could no longer see the glow of magic. The world appeared as it always had. The mage looked in the box, and the Tablet of Fate lay before her.
She picked up the artifact and saw that it matched the vision Mystra had given her before the goddess's death. The stone tablet was less than two feet long, with sparkling runes carved into its surface. Holding the artifact with one hand, Midnight turned and carefully climbed the iron handholds into the antechamber.
Kelemvor looked up the instant Midnight passed through the secret door. The fighter raced to her side, and Midnight held the artifact out to him. 'That's not a tablet,' the fighter cried. 'You've got the wrong thing!'
Midnight sat down on the rough mattress in Tenwealth's chamber. The absurdity of the fighter's remarks finally struck the mage and she started to laugh. 'It's an illusion,' she coughed between bursts of laughter. 'Just disbelieve the illusion and you'll see the tablet as it really is.'
Adon and Elminster had moved to Midnight's side, too, and the heroes stood for a moment, staring at the Tablet of Fate. Midnight stopped chuckling, and Kelemvor and Adon helped her to her feet. She slid the tablet into the canvas sack that held her spellbook.
Kelemvor hugged the mage, a wide grin upon his face. 'Now we can leave this place before anything else happens!'
Elminster frowned and shook his head. 'Ye still have things to do here before ye can be off to Waterdeep. Do ye happen to recall what happened when Helm and Mystra battled on the Celestial Stairway outside Castle Kilgrave?'
'None of us could ever forget,' Midnight answered, slinging the sack containing her spellbook and the Tablet of Fate over her shoulder. 'The devastation went on for miles in every direction.'
Adon nodded slowly. 'And if one of the gods manages to slay the other…'
'Tantras will be destroyed,' Kelemvor concluded.
Midnight turned to the sage. 'There might be a way to save the city even if Torm and Bane destroy each other. The Bell of Aylen Attricus. They say the bell was only rung once — '
'I know,' Elminster snapped, a sly grin crossing his lips. 'Legend has it that the bell has the power to throw a shield over the city, protecting it from harm.' He turned and raced from the room. 'We must go there at once!'
The heroes raced after Elminster and they only caught him when he had stopped outside the temple. 'But the bell is at the top of the southern hill of Tantras,' Midnight panted. 'That's an hour's ride from here, provided we push our mounts to the point of exhaustion. The avatars will be at each other's throats long before we get there.'
Elminster stood away from the heroes and began to gesture. 'If we ride.'
The sage cast his spell so quickly that the heroes didn't have time to object. An intricate blue-white shield of light formed in the air and engulfed all four of them. Kelemvor was seized by a fierce panic when he saw the mage cast a spell, and a fear that Elminster might try to teleport them to the bell tower grabbed Adon. But the old sage finished his incantation, and the heroes found that they still stood in front of the Temple of Torm.
'Are ye ready?' the sage asked. The heroes looked at one another in confusion. The sage frowned. 'Take their hands, Midnight.'
The raven-haired mage did as Elminster asked. Kelemvor started to protest, but he swallowed his words as the white-haired sage grabbed Midnight's hand and the heroes all rose from the ground. In a few seconds, they were high above the city.
'I just hope this spell doesn't fail halfway to the tower!' Adon cried.
Elminster pointed to the west. The golden, lion-headed avatar of Torm stood ominously still, towering over the city wall, waiting for the black-armored avatar of the God of Strife to leave the Dragon Reach. 'It's worth the risk,' the old sage said grimly. 'The gods'll not wait for us to trek to the tower on foot.'
XVI
As Elminster and the heroes flew over Tantras, they looked down at the chaos that gripped the city. People
