'I'll go first,' Caledan said roughly, 'just in case there's trouble on the other end.' He swung himself into Mista's saddle as the others followed suit.
Caledan nudged Mista into a walk, guiding her toward the circle Morhion had drawn. Mari watched Caledan's mare step into the circle. Suddenly the silvery symbol drawn upon the ground began to pulse with an unearthly light. Horse and rider approached the two stone pyramids, then moved in between them.
Mari gasped.
Mista's head vanished! The rest of the gray mare was still there, Caledan in the saddle, but her head-no, now her entire neck up to her withers-was gone.
Caledan turned around in the saddle to glance at the others, but suddenly he, too, was gone. All that remained were Mista's hindquarters, and in a moment they disappeared as well. There was one last swish of Mista's gray tail dangling by itself in midair between the two small pyramids, and then there was no trace of either Caledan or his mare.
'We must follow quickly,' Morhion said. His smooth brow was beaded with fine droplets of sweat; his skin looked ashen. 'I cannot hold the gateway open for long.'
The companions cast looks of trepidation at each other but did as they were told. One by one they rode into the circle. Mari was first. She swallowed hard and guided Farenth between the stone pyramids.
She felt a sudden chill slice through her. It was almost as if she were riding through an icy cold waterfall, frigid water passing over and then behind her. She felt her heart pound in her chest, and for a panicked moment everything went dark. The rolling plains vanished. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't feel the reins in her hands. She was lost in nothingness and tried to scream but found she had no voice.
Then a warmth broke over her. Her lungs drew in a shuddering breath as her heart lurched into motion once again. Farenth's hooves clattered loudly against a slate floor. She realized she was in a dimly lit circular chamber of stone.
The spell had worked. She was in Iriaebor once again.
She watched in amazement as one by one the others rode through the portal. It was as though they were riding out of an impenetrable darkness into light, but Mari knew it was solid stone, not darkness. Finally they were all through. Estah breathed a sigh of relief as Tyveris mumbled a prayer to his god. Ferret simply looked nauseated.
Caledan seemed to have no desire to tarry at the mage's tower, and soon they were outside, guiding their mounts through the cobbled streets of the Old City.
Iriaebor had grown even more shadowed in their time away. The sun was just now setting, yet already the streets were deserted. All along the avenue, doors were tightly closed, shutters securely drawn against the approaching night. A scrawny, mangy-looking dog slunk across the street. It pawed through a pile of rotten garbage, then moved on, finding nothing edible among the refuse.
'Nice place to come home to,' Ferret said, and Mari thought she noticed a hint of sadness in the thief's normally merry black eyes. 'I'll ride ahead and warn the rest of you if I see any city guards coming our way.' The thief spurred his roan stallion and disappeared into the twilight The companions waited until full darkness before slipping into the garden behind the Sign of the Dreaming Dragon. Even so, Jolle had seen them coming.
'The inn was a dark place without you, wife,' Jolle said, embracing Estah tightly in the warm glow of the kitchen.
'Mother! You're home!' Pog shouted, with Nog echoing her, though as usual his words were unintelligible. Estah hugged them tightly, but after a moment they squirmed free and bounded toward the others.
'And none too soon, I might add,' Cormik commented. The corpulent, elegantly attired man was seated by the fire with a glass of wine clutched in his hand. 'Some of us have been hard at work while the rest of you have been off on your leisurely travels.'
'Leisurely?' Tyveris rumbled.
'Should I kill him now or later?' Ferret asked casually.
'Both,' Tyveris replied.
Cormik's one good eye widened, and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. 'A little sensitive, aren't we?'
Mari smiled wanly. 'I think you'll understand a little better after we tell you what happened.'
Cormik nodded. 'Good. I have some news for you as well. But I don't think you're going to want to hear it.'
It was late. The companions, along with Cormik, sat around a table in the inn's back room. Pog and Nog lay curled up on a rug before the hearth. The halfling children were fast asleep. Jolle was out in the common room, not mat there were many customers to serve. No one ventured about the city this late at night anymore. Instead the halfling innkeeper was making certain that if any city guards happened upon the inn unannounced, they would see nothing out of the ordinary.
'Things are worse,' Cormik explained flatly, his face grim. 'Much worse. The guards aren't waiting anymore for folk to wander out on the streets after dark to abduct them. Now they simply break into people's homes and take however many they want for the work gangs. Anybody who resists is killed.' Cormik sipped at the glass of wine absently, for a change not seeming to notice that it wasn't the best vintage. 'But that's not even the worst of it. Raven-das is allowing fewer and fewer trade goods to remain in Iri-aebor. Virtually everything that comes to the city from the west and south is loaded onto caravans bound for the eastern kingdoms. The free market in the New City closed last week for lack of goods to sell. Soon people will begin to starve.'
'It doesn't make sense,' Mari said angrily. 'What is the point of presiding over a dead city? There's nothing to be gained in that. It's almost as if Ravendas is punishing Iriaebor. For what?'
Cormik turned his one eye toward Caledan, yet said nothing.
Caledan sat with his back to the fire, his face lost in shadow. He had been silent and brooding all evening, but now he spoke. 'Has she found the Nightstone yet?'
'My agents have been unable to discover that,' Cormik replied.
If she had gained the Nightstone, we would certainly know it,' Morhion interposed. 'For one thing, all of our efforts at concealment would be meaningless. There would be nowhere in the city we could hide from her.'
Man swallowed hard.
'What of the resistance groups?' Tyveris asked Cormik.
Cormik sighed. 'Paralyzed. For a time we were making progress against the Zhentarim. We were taking a serious bite out of their trading operations, and we were managing to smuggle some goods into the city.' He shook his head, absently twirling the rings on his stubby fingers. 'Not anymore. Ravendas has captured too many cityfolk and pressed them into her work gangs deep in the Tor. At night they are locked in the dungeons below the tower. You'd have a hard time finding anyone in this city who doesn't have a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a friend or loved one imprisoned by Ravendas. I'm afraid no one is going to fight against Ravendas when she could kill a thousand people with a single order.'
A despairing silence settled over the room. Then a thought struck Man. 'What if the prisoners were somehow set free?'
'That's a fine idea,' Tyveris said, the firelight reflecting off the loremaster's dark skin. 'But just how do you propose we manage to get into the dungeons below the tower, let alone free the prisoners?'
Man sighed. 'I don't really-'
Ferret interrupted her. 'I think I might be able to manage something, Mari, provided Guildmaster Bock would be willing to cooperate. But I'm certain I can make him see the profit in it. After all, an all-out rebellion would mean a fair number of Zhentarim corpses. And Zhentarim
Tyveris shook his head, glowering. 'You're a nasty man, Ferret.'
'Why, thank you, Tyveris,' the thief replied cheerfully.
'Well, Mari,' Cormik said with a wicked chuckle 'It looks as if you're onto something.'
Cormik left to return to the Prince and Pauper, and Morhion departed as well, intending to study the mysterious magical crystal he had found on the shadevar's body. Tyveris picked up the two sleeping halfling children and went with Estah to help bundle them into bed.
For a moment Caledan and Mari were alone.
'I wish you luck with your plan to free the prisoners, Harper,' he said, his tone frosty. 'But there's really only
