of them.' Mystra said nothing.
'I had thought your saviors would at least be fit to provide some sport. But these four?'
Mystra restrained herself from showing any reaction, although she suddenly felt a glimmer of hope. Only four? she thought. Then the sending worked!
When Bane captured Mystra, the goddess had used a fraction of her power to send out a modified geas spell in the form of a magical falcon. The potential avatar it would locate would be young, with immense potential — an untrained, yet great magic-user. When it located Caitlan, there was an instant of contact between Mystra and the girl, and in that instant, the goddess instructed her to find Midnight and the pendant, and gather warriors worthy of her cause.
Mystra also gave the falcon a few spells to bestow upon the one who received her calling. One had been a spell to see into the mind of another, so that a proper champion could be found. The second was a cloak against any form of magical detection. The third and final spell had not yet been utilized, Mystra sensed. A tiny flicker within her essence had signaled the release of the first two spells when they occurred; no such sensation had arrived from the casting of the third. Not yet.
Contempt stained the features of the Black Lord as he spoke again. 'At least they had sense enough to leave the child behind. There would have been nothing to gain from her death, other than your further discomfort. And I truly have no wish to cause you pain, dear Mystra. Unless, of course, you leave me no choice.'
Mystra had learned patience in her time as a prisoner of Lord Bane, and she practiced what she had learned with the utmost skill, even though she wished to let out a cry of thanks that her plan had succeeded up to this point. Caitlan had been protected from Bane's prying sorceries; he did not know that she was still with the party.
'I'll offer my lenience once more. Pledge yourself to my cause. Help me unite the gods against Lord Ao, so we may retake the heavens. Do this and all will be forgiven. Fail to take the opportunity I offer and I swear I will inflict the torments of the damned upon these humans who seek to free you from my grasp!'
There was a noise behind them. 'Lord Bane!'
Bane turned to greet Tempus Blackthorne. The magic-user had pale, almost ivory skin, with long, jet-black hair that he wore in a tail. He wore a breastplate made of pure black steel, with a blood-red jewel the size of a man's fist in its center. He also appeared to be insubstantial, almost like a ghost.
'Urgent matters require your attention in Zhentil Keep,' Blackthorne said. 'Knightsbridge has been found.'
'Knightsbridge?' Bane said, shaking his head.
'The conspiracy against Arabel. He was our agent.'
Bane let out a deep breath. 'The one that failed.'
'Lord Chess wishes to execute him immediately,' Blackthorne said. 'Yet the man has a flawless record and he was set against impossible odds in his task.'
Bane ground his taloned hands together. 'This is a personal matter for you, isn't it?'
Blackthorne lowered his head. 'Ronglath Knightsbridge and I were friends since childhood. His death would be a senseless waste.'
Bane let out a deep breath. 'Let us discuss the matter. You will lake my judgment to Chess. No one will dare to question it.'
Mystra watched as Bane and his emissary spoke. The God of Strife's attention was consumed by the matter that weighed so heavily upon Blackthorne, and Mystra was grateful for the respite from his constant badgering.
At least I have a chance to escape, Mystra thought. That my intended avatar has actually found the one who holds my trust is more than I could have hoped for. I will not get another chance like this.
And then I will give Lord Ao the identities of the thieves, and I will be returned to my home!
There was no time to rejoice in the moment, however. There was only time to act. Shackled as she was, Mystra knew that she could not escape her bonds. Yet her bonds — and the attentions of the hakeashar — had not completely kept her from saving up enough mystical energy to throw one last minor spell.
Mystra concentrated, and suddenly felt a connection with Caitlan.
Come at once! Mystra commanded, her words thundering within the skull of the girl. Use the final spell I granted you and come at once. Do not wait for the others. They will arrive soon enough.
Suddenly the connection was broken, and Mystra heard Bane's footsteps. Blackthorne was gone. Bane stopped in front of the goddess.
'Have you changed your mind?' Bane said. 'Decided to join me after all?'
Mystra was silent.
Bane sighed. 'A pity that you will be dead soon. After all, how many more times can you endure the hakeashar? The torments it inflicts on you as it violates your essence must be beyond belief.'
Mystra did not stir.
'I will find a way to overthrow Ao with or without you, Mystra. You'd be wise to join me before I must kill you.'
When the Goddess of Magic remained silent, Bane turned from her and walked to the scrying pool, where he resumed the vigil for the guests camped right outside his castle.
Come at once, Mystra commanded, and Caitlan responded. Despite the words of the goddess, ordering her to leave her newfound friends behind, Caitlan was tempted to rouse Midnight or Kelemvor, and tell them of Mystra's summons. Tell them that no more time could be wasted; they had to go to the castle right away.
But Mystra's commands had to be followed to the letter, so Caitlan silently repeated the words to the spell, and was lifted into the night sky. Cyric didn't even hear her stir. And despite her exhilaration at the experience of sailing through the air, Caitlan never forgot the somber reason for her flight.
The goddess needed her.
Along with Mystra's summons, Caitlan had received a complex series of images, and by following the real life counterparts of these images she soon arrived at Castle Kilgrave and entered it undetected. Caitlan sensed a consummate evil in the place, although the dusty corridors she traveled through seemed harmless enough. Eventually the girl found the chamber where she saw the odd, glowing form of the Goddess of Magic.
Mystra did not appear the least bit human. The goddess had been shackled to the wall of the dungeon with strange, pulsating chains, and she hovered across the room from Caitlan like a ghost.
A horribly deformed man was in the chamber, as well. He stood in the center of the room, staring into an ornately carved tub that held dark, black water. Caitlan saw that his features were part human, part animal, and part demon. Turning suddenly, the deformed man glanced in the girl's direction, but she stayed hidden in the shadows. It was as if he heard her enter the dungeon or somehow sensed her presence.
The dark man turned to Mystra and smiled. 'I do wish the sun would rise, so those pitiful humans could come and entertain me.'
'They'll do more than entertain you, Bane,' Mystra said.
Caitlan almost gasped. The deformed man was Lord Bane, God of Strife! He must have taken an avatar, like Tymora did in Arabel.
It was then that Caitlan knew what was expected of her, and she rejoiced in the knowledge of her ultimate fate. Before her, Bane shouted at the goddess, hurling vile threats against her, imploring the captive goddess to join him in some mad plan he had devised. Mystra did not respond, and Caitlan feared that the goddess's essence was dwindling, that the goddess might die. Then she shook herself from such thoughts and waited for Bane to turn away long enough for her to cross the distance that separated her from the Goddess of Magic.
Then it would be Mystra's turn to rejoice.
VI
