Twilight closed her eyes and swore inwardly. What did it matter? She owed it to both of them, and if she might save one… she preferred Liet.
It was not that she felt remorse. Twilight had never had much use for morality. Foolish concepts like right and wrong fell before necessity, in every instance. Two things she understood, though, were weakness and shame, and her cheeks colored in both.
What kind of monster could have wished the sweet halfling dead in that moment? One with black hair, pale skin, and eyes that seemed gold-red in the light of heavy magic.
Oh, Liet.
'Release one of them now,' Twilight said.
The sharn glared at her with something much like surprise, mingled with a goodly amount of outrage. 'Who, why, what?'
'The one called Liet Sagrin. If you release him, we will-'
Ruukthalmuramaxamin's mouths curled downward, and she would have fancied it confused. 'No and no.'
'Why not?' She cursed the desperation in her voice.
'No and no,' the sharn warned.
Heedless of the pain she knew was coming, Twilight opened her mouth to argue, but Gargan caught her arm in a hard grip.
She hissed at him, but the goliath ignored her.
'What is Gestal?' he rumbled.
'Powerful priesssst,' said Ruuk. 'Demon-priesssst.'
A demon thrall. Twilight's eyes narrowed. A servant of chaos in darkness, then, even as Davoren had been a servant of order, of a fiendish sort. But was not the sharn born of chaos? Did he not possess the very powers this Gestal worshipped? Why…?
'Why do you not face him yourself?' asked Twilight. 'He must be mighty indeed, for surely you-'
Then the sharn eyed her with a look that stole more of her breath than when he had nearly killed her at a glance. Not only did her head explode in agony, but her throat closed of its own accord and she staggered. Gargan reached out and caught her, and she didn't have the strength to fight him off.
'Do not quesssstion!' Ruuk roared. 'Agree! Agree or die!'
Barely able to breathe, Twilight coughed. 'Well,' she said. 'Then we… agree.'
The sharn hissed, spat, and clucked in what must have been approval. Twilight assumed it must, for she was still alive a breath later.
'Here.' Its mood changed utterly. 'Take,' the sharn said most amiably, as though offering them tea.
One of its arms stabbed into the air, through reality, to extend through a silvery portal before them. In the palm was a pair of crimson boots, which appeared to be sized for a human.
Completely inexplicable, Twilight thought as she put them on. It didn't occur to her to refuse. The boots adjusted themselves to fit her feet.
'And thissss.' A silvery window opened in reality and a black hand extended through it. It dropped a sack that smelled glorious to her.
Twilight yanked open the pouch. It was filled with dried strips of meat and bread that smelled of corn. Also inside was an oiled paper packet with some sort of honey-Twilight wondered if it came from the abeil. She took a hunk of bread and two pieces of meat for herself, then offered the food to Gargan, who accepted it silently.
Another of Ruuk's hands offered a wineskin filled with a drink that tasted sweet, like some manner of fruit, with a distinctive, odd taste Twilight recognized as a sort of mushroom. Rarely had she tasted the wine of the Underdark, and unlike most elves, she enjoyed it. Gargan refused it, but the sharn offered him a waterskin instead.
Emboldened by the sharn's hospitality, she spoke up. 'One question,' she said. 'If it please you, great lord.'
There was a long pause. She reasoned she could take their continued existence for a yes.
'Why don't you… destroy him?' she asked. 'You are so much… more powerful than us. Why us?'
'Hissss issss magic chaossss,' Ruuk said. 'Centuriessss millennia agessss ago, Ruukthalmuramaxamin wassss curssssed. Musssst sssstay. Power mine.'
For the first time, it didn't occur to Twilight to respond. She sat, rapt.
'Negarath wassss a city of the mad,' Ruuk said. 'Inverted, floating upsssside down, buildingssss of curvessss, archessss, twisssstssss, with disssstorted creaturessss on dissssplay. Flayed mind flayerssss, ghosssstssss of elementalssss, demonssss of celesssstia, angelssss of outer darknessss.'
'And a mad prisoner,' Twilight stammered. 'A sharn cursed to order.'
'And dying!' Ruuk said. The sound was so loud that the temple shook. 'Body failing, order rotting. Godssss of chaossss have turned away, abhorrent.'
'Then help us,' Twilight said. 'Break free-' Her head burst and she sank again.
Even as her senses fled in pain, her half-mad mind perceived a certain kind of logic in the sharn's gift. It had threatened them, made them used to being threatened, then thrown them off balance. Its 'random' actions apparently followed a set order.
The three heads spoke at once, but said three things. 'Not free. No cure. No help.' Then they joined together. 'Ssssink to risssse. Kill Gesssstal or die!'
Hands lifted her and her feet scrabbled across the stone.
She looked up, and it was Gargan lifting her. 'We go,' the goliath said.
The sharn's hands blazed with golden magic, and arms reached from portals around them. Then the world shuddered to a halt, burned away as though scribed on parchment. They felt a sensation of falling, and then they were elsewhere.
Gods-only-knew how long later, Twilight stirred. Darkness had become her world, but that was easily remedied. She opened her eyes and perceived flickering torchlight. She saw the prison where they had left Tlork.
'We've arrived, it seems,' Twilight said.
She was glad when Gargan, completely unexpectedly, broke the silence. He was kneeling at her side. Twilight felt weary and inexplicably old. She took his hand.
'How mighty is this creature?' Gargan asked. 'This… sharn?'
Twilight shrugged in a fatalistic way. 'What little I know, I shall put by analogy,' she said. 'You have heard of the Seven Sisters, or the Sage of Shadowdale?'
Gargan shook his head.
'Thay, perhaps,' she said. 'All the red wizards?'
Again.
'The empire of Shade?'
That got a nod. Curious.
'Well, then,' said Twilight. 'All the princes of Shade would jump to do a sharn's bidding, for if they didn't, it would likely destroy a city out of whim before resuming its morning meal of the stillborn children of gods.'
'Ah.' Gargan nodded hesitantly.
There was a pause. They both sat silent, listening for any sign of an occupant other than themselves. The dungeon was still.
'There must be another way down,' she said. 'If we must sink to rise, that is.'
The goliath nodded, and they stole about the prison together, hands on hilts. They plied their senses at their keenest, followed every instinct, and explored every tiny crack and crevice in the floor and walls with their fingers. Dust, bits of bone, scraps of metal, and flecks of refuse Twilight didn't want to identify obscured the cold, damp stone.
They made their way into Tlork's chambers. The troll was not at home. All they found was a destroyed onyx griffin. Twilight resolved not to forget their hunter's strength.
'Why did you argue?' Gargan asked suddenly, making Twilight jump.
