for the journey to the dwarven mines. Was it possible that the sorceress knew some other secrets of the item, some internal locks on some of its powers, perhaps?
Valindra tried one more time to bring forth a devil, but she couldn’t-not even a minor manes or some other such fodder creature.
“Clever witch,” she whispered, and she cursed Sylora a thousand times under her breath.
From across the way came the shouts, and the field near the wall lit up with fire and lightning as Neverwinter’s wizards joined the battle. Before the thunderous retorts ended, however, the screams began. Not shouts of glory or cries of rage, but screams of pain.
Zombies wouldn’t cry out in such a manner, of course. And other than the zombies, there was only the one living Ashmadai nearing the battle.
Valindra uttered no more curses at Sylora or anyone else. She basked in the screams, found herself growing more animated by their beautiful pitch. If she’d had a beating heart then surely it would have thumped against her breast at that moment.
She turned to the Ashmadai. “Surround me,” she ordered, and she, too, began drifting out to the open field to join in the battle.
“This is the moment of our glory,” Jestry continued to complain as he and Sylora traveled swiftly south of Neverwinter.
Sylora Salm had heard enough. She stopped abruptly and whirled on Jestry, her eyes and nostrils flaring. “You are my second-and I hold you there above others who are far more powerful than you and quite envious of you.”
“Valindra,” Jestry said.
“Not Valindra,” said Sylora. “Though she could destroy you with a thought. Nay, there are others about, of whom you do not know and will not know.”
The Ashmadai brought his hands to his hips. His pout was just beginning to show when Sylora slapped him across the face.
“You are my second,” she said. “Act as such or I’ll be rid of you.”
“The battle is back there!” Jestry argued. “The moment of our glory-”
“That’s a minor skirmish to placate Szass Tam,” Sylora shot back. Jestry’s eyes widened. “My lady!”
“Are you afraid to hear the truth? Or can I not trust you? Perhaps I should now fear that you will betray me to Szass Tam?”
“No, my lady, but-”
“Because if you so intend,” Sylora went on as if not even hearing him, “then you should consider two things. First, perhaps I’m merely testing your loyalty in speaking so candidly to you, when in truth I’m not speaking candidly at all. And second, you should always be aware that I can kill you-too quickly for even Szass Tam to save you. I can kill you and I can deny you a place at the foot of Asmodeus, do not doubt.”
“I am loyal,” Jestry weakly replied.
“It doesn’t matter, as I’m higher in Asmodeus’s regard than a mere zealot,” she answered.
“I’m loyal to you,” Jestry apologized.
Sylora paused and let it all sink in, nodding for a few moments. “Our attack is merely a feint, Jestry,” she explained. “We must pressure the folk who attempt to rebuild Neverwinter, as I wish to see the limits of their powers. Valindra commands less than a fifth of my zombies this night, and only a small number of your Ashmadai. She will not risk herself against the walls of Neverwinter, for that’s not her mission. Perhaps some of the citizens will die this night, but we will not take Neverwinter, nor tear down her walls.”
“But still, I would be there.”
“We’ll learn-”
“I would learn!” he insisted. “I’m no novice to battle, personal or grand.”
Sylora sighed heavily. “It is naught but a prelude,” she said. “For we’ve now been offered the promise of a greater ally by far, one that might produce the cataclysm Szass Tam and our Dread Ring demands.”
He looked at her curiously.
“You were there!” she yelled at him.
“The lady Arunika?”
“Lady,” Sylora echoed with a knowing little laugh. “Ah, my young zealot, you have so much to learn.”
“Do we go to her now?” he asked eagerly. “We can’t be far from her cottage.”
Sylora grinned, and Jestry stiffened.
“Intrigued?” Sylora asked.
“No,” he blurted. “It’s just-”
Sylora laughed and started away.
Soon enough, they arrived at Arunika’s front porch. The red-haired woman greeted them warmly and invited them in. Never once did she take her impish gaze off Jestry.
He couldn’t return the look. Everything about Arunika seemed right to him. He wanted to bury his face in her curly hair. As he passed her by, her scent filled his nostrils, and he could almost imagine a springtime forest on a warm and sunny day following a gentle morning rain.
“Lady Valindra has told you of your, of our, potential ally?” Arunika asked, motioning for the two to take seats. Conveniently-though out of coincidence, magical prescience, or a prearrangement, Jestry couldn’t know-the woman had set out three chairs that night, two facing one. Arunika took the single chair, opposite Jestry and Sylora.
“I’m intrigued,” Sylora replied. “Such creatures as you described to Valindra are known to me, of course, though I’ve never dealt with one personally.”
“Nor should you,” Arunika replied, and Sylora nodded as if she’d already come to the same conclusion.
Jestry had to work hard to keep up with the conversation, for he kept getting distracted by the mere presence of Arunika, by that springtime smell and her thick, curly red locks. Her allure was something unexpected. At one point, he looked from her to Sylora, and by every standard-her height, her form, her jawline, her nose, her penetrating eyes-Sylora had to be considered far more striking. Jestry had already declared his love for her, and none of that had changed, surely.
But Jestry found that he couldn’t look at Sylora for more than a few heartbeats with Arunika sitting so near. He turned back to face the redhead, and found her staring back at him, a curious grin on her pretty face.
Arunika knew something, apparently, that he didn’t. He tried to break her stare with a look of consternation as she became more intent, but she only grinned more widely.
He felt a bit of panic welling inside him. He looked to Sylora, but found that she wore the same expression as Arunika.
“What…” he started to ask as he turned back to Arunika, just as she stood up from her chair.
The rest of the words caught in Jestry’s mouth as Arunika stepped right up in front of him and reached out with one hand to gently stroke his thick black hair.
He wanted to say something, but couldn’t.
She kept stroking his hair, her other hand working the ties on her plain dress. She loosened it and brought her arms down by her side just long enough to let the dress drop from her shoulders and fall to the floor.
She stood there naked and unashamed, and the incongruity of her actions, of her forwardness, as compared to the quiet temperament she’d shown to this point had Jestry in a near panic.
Not for long, though. He glanced again at Sylora, who smiled and nodded, and turned back to regard Arunika. He could barely keep his eyes open as she again stroked his black hair, her delicate touch sending shivers throughout his body.
She bent down to kiss him and he couldn’t resist, and when he tried to press more passionately, she teasingly drifted back from him, and when he tried to stand to pursue, she used but one small hand to easily hold him in place.
Jestry didn’t fully comprehend this strange strength. Nor did he notice the small horns that had sprouted on the woman’s forehead. Even when her batlike leathery wings suddenly opened wide as she moved down atop him, Jestry took no notice, for it didn’t really matter at that point.
He was lost and he didn’t want to be found.
Barrabus the Gray watched the approaching zombies with a mixture of anticipation and disgust. He’d seen
