looked as surprised as the other pedestrians as troops of guards charged down the street, stopping any woman dressed as a servant. For a while she leaned against a wall and watched the interrogations. As the guards moved down the street, she followed them, blending in with the guards, helping to search some poor, luckless women who looked like her in the most superficial of ways. Then she slipped down a side street and made her way to the dock, where her buyer awaited with payment-the papers that transferred ownership of a Selgaunt carrack and its load of rare cargo to her name.
As she slipped out of Selgaunt's harbor aboard her new ship, she breathed a sigh of pleasure. She was rid of this city of snobs forever.
'We're being flagged by one of Selgaunt's navy vessels, ma'am,' the captain of the ship reported. 'They're demanding to board us.'
'Ignore them,' Polly said.
'We may not be able to outrun them.'
'I have every confidence in you, Captain,' Polly said.
The captain left the ship owner to shout orders to the crew. Polly stood at the rail and once again called on her goddess. This time her request was more of a shout than a whisper. 'Maid of Misfortune, pass by me; kiss my enemies.'
Polly had no doubt Beshaba would come to her aid. She had made all the right offerings. She imagined a snapped rudder or perhaps a fallen mast, but Beshaba manifested her favor in a far more powerful way.
The ship rose and fell as a great swell passed beneath it. The swell grew as it approached the land. It caught the Selgaunt navy vessel chasing Polly's ship and carried it along on its crest. By the time it reached the city harbor, the swell had become a wall of water.
The water crashed down on Selgaunt, smashing the dockside buildings and depositing the navy vessel, plus several others, in the city streets. The Selgaunt docks were carried back out to sea.
Polly smiled wickedly.
'That's that,' she said.
Then she heard a roar behind her. A second tidal wave, even more monstrous than the first, caught her ship on its gigantic crest and swept it inland at a breathtaking pace. Once more Polly called on Beshaba to take her enemies, but there were no enemies left. The water slammed into the Sembian peninsula two miles south of Selgaunt and heaved Polly's vessel inland a hundred feet, dashing it against a cliff. The ship splintered like a child's toy, and its crew and owner were scattered across the beach below. Their corpses were found mingled with the vessel's rare cargo; the farmer who buried them was richly rewarded.
Attending the opera would be interesting in Menzoberranzan. During the overture, the audience could place bets on whether more drow will die onstage or off.
ACT THREE SCENE 1
'How will we get to Gehenna?' Emilo asked, clearly eager to add another Lower Plane to his list of places he'd visited.
'We go back to Brightwater and have Selune open a gate for us,' Joel said.
'Or I could take you back to Morning Glory with me, and Lord Lathander could open a gate for us,' Holly said. 'There's a portal at the top of this mountain that leads to his realm. There's a staircase at the end of this hall that leads straight up to it.'
'That figures,' Jas said. 'We come in by a portal near the bottom of the mountain and have to climb for miles. Holly comes in at the top of the mountain and merely has to walk down a few steps.'
'We can bring you back with us to Brightwater,' Joel said to Holly. 'I need to talk to Finder about what we've discovered.'
Holly seemed to think a moment, then said, 'Then we'll go your way.'
The alu-fiend prisoner declared, 'You will never make it out of here alive.'
'I don't recall anyone asking your opinion,' Jas said.
'Then perhaps you should ask,' a woman's voice said.
Out of the shadows behind them stepped five more alu-fiends. Eight more appeared in the doorway through which they'd been spying.
Jas and Holly whirled back to back with their swords drawn. Joel slapped himself in the forehead. 'How could I forget? Alu-fiends communicate telepathically. All this time our prisoner has been screaming for help.'
Their former alu-fiend captive smiled at Joel and said, 'Perhaps we will let you live a little while longer.'
Holly grabbed the alu-fiend around the neck and, using her as a shield, advanced on the line of fiends blocking their exit.
Joel put his hand on Jas's arm. 'The wish,' he reminded her.
Jas nodded. She held out the sword Winnie had given her and announced, 'I wish Holly, Joel, Emilo, and I were back in Tymora's garden in Brightwater.'
The alu-fiends and the dark halls of the Blood Tor faded around them, to be replaced by flowers and sunshine. Holly found herself without an alu-fiend for a shield and her sword pointed at Finder's nose. Joel's god sat on a wooden bench beside the uprooted birch tree. Finder's eyebrow rose in amusement.
'Finder!' the paladin gasped.
'Welcome to Brightwater, Holly Harrowslough,' Finder greeted her, 'but I don't really need a shave,' he joked, carefully pushing the paladin's curved blade away from his face.
Holly lowered her weapon, bowed her head, and said, 'Excuse me, Lord Finder.'
'One day in Morning Glory and suddenly I'm 'Lord' Finder. Just call me Finder, Holly,' the god said.
The paladin looked up at Joel's god. 'Not all gods are as informal as you,' she pointed out.
'Not all gods are as reckless as I am,' Finder replied, reminding the paladin of how she had chided him on her god's behalf the last time they had met.
'None of the gods are as reckless as you,' Selune reprimanded. 'Stop taunting the girl for having good manners, Finder. We have more important things to discuss.'
Holly whirled to address the speaker, but when she beheld Selune, she fell speechless.
'Yes,' the goddess said, as if in answer to Holly's unspoken question. 'I am Selune. Sit down, paladin. We need to decide what is to be done next.'
Selune sat on the bench beside Finder and Holly. Joel and Jas sat on the ground at the gods' feet. Emilo paced behind them.
'Beshaba wasn't at the Blood Tor,' the kender reported excitedly. 'The winged lady said she went to-'
'Gehenna. Yes, we know,' Finder said. 'Just as Selune said we would be, she and I were aware of everything occurring in the Blood Tor as soon as Joel arrived. Including what was going on in Beshaba's court.'
'That's a really neat trick,' Emilo said. 'You never need to get a letter to know what's going on in your friends' lives, do you? But it must make it hard for them to surprise you. For birthdays and such.'
'I am constantly surprised by what's in their hearts,' Finder said, smiling at Joel.
'We don't know if the alu-fiend was telling the truth about the attack,' Jas said.
'She was,' Finder replied. 'We sensed the attack on Beshaba.'
'Where's Tymora?' Jas asked, having suddenly noticed that the goddess was not in the garden.
'Her minions have taken her someplace to keep her safe. It is probably best that you do not know where for now,' Selune explained.
