Joel stepped forward. 'Walinda, don't!' he called out.
'Have a care, priest,' the undead creature warned, turning his glowing eyes on Joel.
'Walinda, he's thrown you over once,' Joel argued desperately. 'He'll do it again. You heard what the banelich said. It holds the essence of Bane; it knows what Bane is thinking. The lich will be Bane's chosen. Bane will betray you.'
'Ignore his prattling,' the lich commanded. 'Begin the chant that will restore to me my power.'
Walinda raised the Hand of Bane over her head.
Bane will repay all your faithful service with nothing but abuse and betrayal,' Joel warned. 'Despite all my doubts, Finder stood by me, teaching me, helping me. Don't you think, for all your devotion, that you deserve as much?'
'Begin the chant!' the banelich said, its voice much sharper. 'Begin it now!'
'Walinda,' Joel said, 'you worship power. To wield power is the virtue of your church. You told me there was no greater honor than to serve Bane as his slave, but you're wrong. You can be the woman who denied Bane power. If Bane is power incarnate and your actions thwart his desire, doesn't that make you stronger than he is? And if you are stronger, then why should you help him? You can serve yourself instead of him, and you will still know joy.'
'Begin the chant!' the lich shrieked once more. 'Speak my name!'
Walinda looked at the banelich, resplendent in his ornate robes, then turned and smiled at Joel.
She hurled the hand down with an unnatural strength. The ancient artifact fractured as it hit the back of the god's corpse, the fingers of the hand breaking away and scattering in all directions. The banelich screamed as if it were in pain.
'Thank you for the insight, Poppin,' Walinda said. She wheeled to face the banelich. 'Dead fool, know that it was by my hand that your god's power was denied. I will never utter his name again. May he rot in this plane forever!'
The banelich raised its hand, and a tongue of black fire sprang toward the priestess. Walinda had anticipated something like this, however. Using the power of her mind, she sprang upward, and the black flame passed beneath her and continued harmlessly off into the void. The lich raised its arms upward and hurled more flame after her retreating figure, but by then the priestess was a mere dot in the sky.
The banelich watched her retreating form with its bony mouth agape. Then it turned back to face Joel. 'You!' it screamed. 'This is your doing! Now you must die!'
The lich sprang at the bard with both hands outstretched, more dark flames wreathing his hands. Joel, still weak from his brush with death, was unable to move quickly. He stepped backward, but he tripped and fell as he did so. Jedidiah interposed himself between his priest and the lich. Grappling each other about the throat, the god and the banelich spiraled upward into the silver void. A black nimbus surrounded the combatants, a dark star that shone across the void.
Joel rose to his feet and launched himself into the air after the pair, but as he drew close, the coldfire repelled him with freezing pain.
Jedidiah reached upward with his right hand to grab at the finder's stone buried in the lich's skull. The banelich grabbed at Jedidiah's wrist with both his arms. With both the lich's arms in the air, Jedidiah was able to lance out with this left hand and grab at the lich's chest beneath the robes.
Jedidiah tossed a small silver box in Joel's general direction… the lich's phylactery! The banelich shrieked incoherently. Joel chased after the box. Once he caught it, he willed his way back down until he landed once more on the god's corpse.
'Get back!' the Rebel Bard warned Holly and Jas. He laid the box down and drew his sword.
'Joel, no!' Holly shouted. 'You could get yourself killed!'
Joel looked back up at Jedidiah, battling with the banelich, enshrouded with black fire. The bard smashed his sword down on the box.
The box smashed open, and blue flames billowed out in all directions. Joel felt a blast of hot air. Then everything went black.
Eighteen
Joel heard Holly calling his name. She was pleading with him to wake up. Jedidiah needed him.
Well, of course, Jedidiah needed him, Joel thought. That's how it is with gods. They need us, and we need them. He opened his eyes and blinked several times.
Everything was all silver around him. Holly's face came into view. She looked pale enough for light to shine through her.
'He's awake!' Holly cried out. 'Joel, stay with us.'
'I can hear you… no need to shout,' the bard said, but his voice sounded far off. He shook his head. 'What-what happened?'
'When you destroyed the banelich's phylactery, there was a huge explosion,' Holly said. 'Look at yourself.'
The Rebel Bard looked back down at his body. His tunic and shirt were burned to a crisp, and his skin beneath was pink as a newborn's-and painful to touch.
'I healed you as best I could,' the paladin explained. She handed him half the finder's stone. 'This fell from your shirt.'
'What about the banelich?' Joel asked, sliding the gem into his boot.
'It turned to dust as soon as the phylactery was destroyed,' Holly explained.
Suddenly Joel realized something was wrong. 'Where's Jedidiah?' he demanded.
'You'd better come see,' Holly said. She sailed off over Bane's body. Joel followed her, very slowly. He had a hard time concentrating.
Jedidiah lay with his head in Jas's lap. He was unconscious. His face and hands were terribly scarred, and his breathing was shallow and ragged. The god had his gift of immortality, but without the power to heal the grievous wounds the banelich had inflicted on him, Jedidiah might never recover. In his hands he clutched half of the finder's stone-the stolen half, which held the power that could restore to him all his godly abilities and, Joel hoped fervently, heal his wounds.
Joel knelt beside his god. Very gently he pulled the finder's stone from his hands. As if Jedidiah knew it was him, the god wielded up the gem.
Joel lifted his head and began to sing. His voice still sounded very far off, but he knew the tulip song well enough that it didn't matter.
The finder's stone began to glow softly, then to steam. Misty blue smoke writhed outward toward Jedidiah's body and surrounded him. Slowly the power sank back into its source.
Jedidiah's scars began to heal, and his breathing grew strong and steady. Without warning, his eyes snapped open.
'Lo,' Jedidiah said.
'Hello, yourself,' Joel replied with a smile. He handed Jedidiah the emptied half of the finder's stone.
'You might have been killed destroying that phylactery, you know,' Jedidiah chided Joel.
Joel shrugged. 'I might have lost my god if I hadn't,' he pointed out.
'Where's Walinda?' Jedidiah asked.
'Did she ever come back?' Joel looked up at Jas.
'Who cares?' the winged woman muttered.
'She never returned,' Holly said.
'What happened to the Hand of Bane?' Jedidiah asked.
Holly held up a leather sack and shook it. Its contents rattled like dried bones.
'That should make Lathander happy,' Jedidiah muttered, sitting up slowly.
