has changed? Why has some of my strength been returned to me?'
'I don't know, my lady.'
Beshaba lashed out with the barbed scourge, striking Joel about the shoulders and chest and tearing his shirt and tunic. Large welts appeared on his upper arms. Joel gasped with the pain.
'Lady Beshaba, I could lie and start making up things,' the bard said, 'but it wouldn't help you learn what your enemies have planned.'
Beshaba blew on the goad, and it glowed as if it had been heated in coals. 'I would be interested in the lies you tell, bard. For in every lie, they say, is a grain of truth.'
'I don't know anything,' Joel whispered, closing his eyes at the sight of the heated goad.
'Beshaba!' a woman's voice shouted. 'Leave the mortal be.'
Joel opened his eyes with surprise. Tymora stood in a doorway that had appeared out of nowhere. The bard allowed himself a silent sigh of relief. Lady Luck held a long sword, much like the one Winnie had given to Jas. The goddess of good luck stepped forward, gracefully blocking Beshaba from the bard.
'Is it not enough that your treachery has weakened me and all my faithful on Toril? Now you must torment a priest of a new godling. To what end, Beshaba?'
'My treachery?' Beshaba shrieked, jabbing her heated goad at Tymora's face. Lady Luck parried the attack with her sword, and streaks of lightninglike energy sparked off the surface of her blade.
'It is your allies who betrayed me,' Beshaba snarled. 'They brought me to this place. When I reached out and sensed it was your power draining me, I did not believe it. Like a fool, I thought you to be incapable of such treachery. But you and those peacocks, Lathander and Finder, have allied with Xvim.'
Beshaba lashed out with her scourge at Tymora's legs, but Tymora leapt aside gracefully.
'That's preposterous,' Tymora declared, slicing at the scourge with her sword. Beshaba twisted her body and blocked the blow with her goad. More bolts of energy flashed off the tip of Tymora's blade.
'When I reached out, I sensed it was your power draining me. 'I have been your prisoner here for days.'
'You lie!' Beshaba snarled. 'I do not even know where 'here' is.'
Joel decided it was time to speak up. 'While I don't really know for sure,' the bard said, 'if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say we were somewhere in Elysium, since that's where Lathander's realm is.'
'Yes!' Beshaba declared, slashing and smashing furiously at Tymora with both weapons. 'Now this slave speaks the truth.'
With amazing reflexes, Tymora blocked each of Beshaba's attacks. 'You have addled the mortal's brain with your tortures,' Lady Luck insisted. 'He does not know what he is saying.'
'Speak more truth, slave,' Beshaba shouted and threw her goad like a spear over Tymora's head. The goad's prongs struck Joel's right thigh, piercing and searing his flesh at the same time. Joel struggled to fight back the pain.
Tymora slammed her body into Beshaba's, knocking her farther away from Joel. Lady Luck got her foot caught in a strand of Beshaba's goad and tripped, but she fell into Beshaba with her full weight. Both goddesses fell to the floor in a tangle of thrashing arms and legs. Beshaba squeezed at Tymora's throat with her free hand.
Joel recovered some of his senses and realized he must convince both goddesses that they were both victims or this struggle could go on endlessly.
'It's true, Lady Tymora,' the bard cried out. 'It was Lord Lathander's paladin who summoned the phoenix that abducted Lady Beshaba. It must have brought us back to his realm.'
Tymora jerked her head back and rolled away from Beshaba. 'If it is true that Lathander abducted Beshaba, then he did so to make her return my power,' Lady Luck declared.
'So how have you come to be in the same prison with Lady Beshaba?' Joel asked. 'Lady Selune and Lord Finder wouldn't tell us where you were, but they wouldn't have delivered you to Lady Beshaba. They would have entrusted you to Lord Lathander's care.'
Tymora hesitated before she answered. 'Perhaps I must be near her to regain my power,' she said, though her voice was uncertain.
'But Lady Beshaba is as weakened as you are,' Joel pointed out. 'When you fought, you were evenly matched. Neither of you could defeat the other. Someone has drained both of you.'
Tymora and Beshaba both stood up, keeping a wary eye on one another.
'Beshaba must be faking her weakness to confuse you,' Tymora said.
'Lady Beshaba's church and faithful are also weakened. Her bad luck has leaked out across the Realms just as yours has.'
'It's a trick,' Tymora said.
'Could such a trick fool Lady Selune?' Joel asked. 'For it was she who told us this news.'
Tymora said nothing for several moments.
'Why did you say that I had allied myself with Xvim?' she asked Beshaba.
'Because Lathander is your ally, and he appears to have allied with Xvim,' Beshaba explained.
'That's impossible. What proof do you have that Xvim is involved in any of this?' Tymora demanded.
'Xvim sent creatures to attack me in my realm,' Beshaba said. 'He must have been trying to force me to use my power,' Beshaba said. 'I went to confront him in his realm, but he was nowhere to be found. I sent the Bastion of Hate tumbling down Mount Chamada, and still the little weasel did not appear.'
'Is this true?' Tymora asked Joel.
'Lord Finder and Lady Selune sensed the attack, my lady,' Joel confirmed. 'And I witnessed the destruction of Xvim's fortress. Xvim seems to be missing or perhaps in hiding.'
'You must be mistaken about Lathander,' Tymora insisted.
'I know the stench of Lathander's paladins,' Beshaba growled.
'It's possible that Holly was misled somehow,' Joel said softly.
'Misled? How?' Beshaba asked.
'Perhaps someone like Xvim sent her a false vision, or he found a neutral minion to impersonate one of Lathander's servants,' Joel suggested.
It was Beshaba's turn to appear thoughtful. Joel took advantage of the moment to ask Tymora, 'Could you please let me down, my lady?'
Tymora stepped forward, but Beshaba moved to block her. 'I still have no proof that you are not faking your loss of power. I cannot trust this slave, since he is priest of your lackey. The two of you together might overpower me.'
'Lady Beshaba,' Joel said. 'You and Lady Tymora are trapped in this place together, put here by some common enemy. If you do not ally at least temporarily, you will no doubt fall to this enemy. Undoubtedly this enemy, whoever he is, is counting on you two to distrust each other while he finishes draining off your power.'
'Perhaps,' Beshaba said. 'But that is still no reason to release you.'
'I was hidden in your pocket when we arrived. I don't think whoever locked you in here realizes I'm here. I could be your secret weapon,' Joel suggested.
Beshaba tilted her head and smiled. It was obvious Joel had chosen the just the right words. 'Secret weapon.' The Maid of Misfortune laughed. 'Very well,' she said, giving Tymora a nod.
Lady Luck released Joel from his bonds and removed the goad piercing his thigh. As quickly as possible, she healed the wounds Beshaba had inflicted on his body. Her touch not only removed his pain, but left him feeling mildly refreshed.
'Thank you,' the bard whispered to Tymora.
'Well, what now?' Beshaba asked. 'You say you have been here for days. How might we escape this place?'
Tymora shrugged. 'I was unconscious all the while. I only awoke a short time ago. I was surrounded by chaos, matter without order, which, like that from the plane of Limbo, I could shape with my mind. When I heard your voices, I imagined a hallway and a door to reach you.'
'When we first arrived here,' Joel said, 'I heard someone order someone else to put Lady Beshaba into the fusion chamber. What's a fusion chamber?'
