“There’s a battle,” Mehen interrupted coming in behind her. “A battle brewing with cultists and devils and planes know what else. You need to send your troops to the House of Knowledge before all the Hells break loose.”
Hurry, Havilar nearly shouted. If they went now, perhaps she could still help.
The armored woman peered at Mehen. “Who are you?”
“He’s trustworthy,” Tam said. “And she was one of the two who saw the murder scene. Will you
Outside a horn sang an alarm that echoed over the half-built buildings, the ancient temples and the mountains beyond. Havilar jerked toward the noise. “What’s that?”
“That’s the soldiers on the Wall,” the armored woman said. “Something’s wrong.”
That did it. Mehen could do as he liked, but Farideh needed her now. Havilar took off running toward the House of Knowledge, fast as her aching legs could carry her.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Farideh raced along the alleys that paralleled the main road, scrambling over refuse and scree and unconscious bodies alike. Overhead, hidden by his charm, Lorcan flew. If she glanced up, she could almost perceive the disturbance in the air that marked his passage, but she had not tried for several minutes, she was too focused not tripping over the detritus. Brin ran ahead of her, the pale of his shirt like a torch in the night.
They reached the hospital only seconds before the squadron of erinyes and tucked themselves behind an abandoned food stall in the shadow of one of the buttresses.
For a moment, it looked as if the erinyes meant to enter the House of Knowledge. But then a familiar figure launched herself from one of the high windows.
“Welcome to Neverwinter, my captain,” Rohini said, hanging in the air on wings made of nightmares. “A pity you’re too late.”
“Traitor!” Invadiah bellowed. “You’ll return to the Hells-in shackles or in pieces, I care not which. But you’ve broken your last oath.”
Rohini laughed. “And? I am beyond oaths, beyond allegiances.” She flew a little higher and the soldiers on the wall sent a volley of arrows over at her. Rohini gave them no notice. “Especially not for a hierarchy eager to use me up and leave me for dead like an enemy on the field.” She raised her arms, hideous light dancing up her skin and shooting off into the night.
A terrible cacophony came from the other side of the Wall-from the Chasm beyond. The soldiers on the Wall screamed and swords rang against the stone. One long tentacle reached over the Wall, and then another, hauling up a creature with a great gaping maw of teeth. Brin started.
“No,” Farideh said, throwing up an arm to stop him. “Let them kill each other. We’re only going to make sure Rohini falls.”
“And quickly,” Brin said, pointing to the slimy-skinned man standing in the doorway beside Brother Vartan. “That one serves the aboleths. I would stake everything on it. He can call the monsters from the Chasm, same as Rohini.”
Another three creatures-bristling, squidlike things that belonged in the sea and not the air at all-shot over the Wall and attacked the erinyes. The largest creature heaved itself to the ground, shaking the already fragile buildings.
Lorcan landed beside her, his invisibility gone. “Damn spell has run out.” He stared at the horrors of the Chasm. “Lords.… ”
The erinyes divided into clusters of three and went after the monsters with deadly precision. Still, for every grave wound or severed tentacle, an erinyes reeled from poison or dropped her weapons to clutch her head. Invadiah herself was in better stead, her flaming sword deflecting the worst of the largest monster’s attacks.
But none had reached Rohini. And they were falling.
The succubus landed lightly beside the servitor, sickly magic dancing over her like a second skin. She surveyed the wild battle with an air of amusement.
“Here’s a prophecy for you,” Farideh heard the succubus say. “This city will be your grave.” She turned to the man. “I hope you don’t mind sharing it with all the rest.”
Rohini’s hand shot out and wrapped around the servitor’s throat. Her fingernails lengthened, piercing the man’s slick skin as he struggled against her surprising grip. A pulse of Hellish magic surged through Rohini and into the man, rocking him with a convulsion violent enough that Farideh heard bones crack.
“A fitting offering,” Rohini crooned, “the City of Jewels. A sacrifice to fallen Arunika. To lost Rohini. And your masters … well, they won’t care a bit. You shouldn’t have pressed me.”
Another pulse of Hellish power-mingled now with the strange, dancing magic-shook the man. Rohini released him and he collapsed to the stone stairs.
Farideh gripped the broken wood of the stall’s edge. Rohini gestured again at the wider city, flinging streamers of her strange magic out into the night. The creatures from the Chasm lifted heads, eyes, and tentacles, following the path of her casting into the city beyond. One fleshy beast, all barbs and wet eyes, sprang forward, crashing into the ancient brickwork of a merchant’s shop.
The erinyes were nothing but a pebble in Rohini’s path, Farideh thought. She pulled the rod from her sleeve.
“Lorcan, go up and strike at her from above,” Farideh said. When he started to argue, she added, “We can’t get away as long as she can make those monsters do her bidding. Brin, get your sword ready and for the love of Torm, hope your spells work.”
One of the large monster’s tentacles slammed down on the stall, shattering it into splinters. The three of them scrambled backward out of the way as it rose up again, waving over the battling devils.
Farideh ran into the street, trusting that they would follow her, not caring if they did because she knew she had to stop Rohini before she destroyed everything. As she ran, she pulled her rod free and called up the powers of the Hells. Not fire, she remembered. Missiles of brimstone rained down on Rohini and Brother Vartan, on the appendages of the larger monster that waved too near.
Rohini grinned. “Ah, Glasya’s latest prize.” Vartan’s lip curled and his hands wove the paths of some spell.
“I have him,” Brin shouted as he passed.
A bolt of energy streamed down from where Lorcan hovered and struck Rohini. She screamed in rage and cast her own magic up at him. He ducked it and swooped farther back.
Farideh started to cast another rain of missiles, when Rohini launched at her. Her talons closed on Farideh’s arms and pulled her in close.
“You’ve been so difficult,” she said. “Twisted out of my grasp so many times.” A shock of pain burst over Farideh, driving her breath from her lungs. Her knees buckled, but Rohini held her up, her mad eyes dancing. “I don’t play by your rules anymore. Let’s see how Lorcan likes fighting his little toy to the death.”
Something heavy wrapped itself around Farideh’s heart, and something sharp sank itself into her mind. She could hardly remember how to breathe-where was she? What nightmare was this? Something terrible was circling her overhead, she had to knock it from the sky. The woman standing in front of her was giving her an eager, ferocious look … Did she know her? Yes, Rohini. And the creature above wanted to hurt Rohini and Farideh both. Only she could save … Rohini.
Rohini.
Farideh blinked and her heart seized.
Rohini, who had nearly killed her sister.
She pointed the rod at Rohini’s throat. “
The blast seared away the succubus’s skin and sprayed blood over both her and Farideh. Farideh pulled the rod back like a club and cracked it hard across the succubus’s face. Rohini reeled back, but as Farideh stepped toward her, vertigo overtook her-the succubus’s domination wasn’t completely gone. She glanced up in time to see Lorcan hit the Wall hard as a tentacle lashed out of the sky and into him. He scrabbled at a window ledge and clung
