power and freedom held no sway over them. As one, the heroes charged to the center of the courtyard.
The challenges occurred more rapidly as the heroes moved on: Sunlar appeared before Midnight, daring her to a magical duel. Her entire class lined up behind the teacher, anxious to try their skills against her. Cyric faced the ice creature that stood guardian over the Ring of Winter. He watched helplessly as the monster reached out for him. Kelemvor faced the executioners who took the life of his grandfather, but now they had come for him. He looked down to find that he was now old and tired. His attempts to find a cure for his condition and salvation for his withered soul had been a failure.
But still the heroes pressed forward to the center of the courtyard and Adon's side.
Still on his knees, Adon stared as paradise tore itself apart and was reordered. The demon creature that had pretended to be the goddess had left him, but Sune's kingdom had changed. The death and punishment of its charges was now the mainstay of its existence, as robed figures enslaved and tormented Sune's faithful.
'This is a lie!' Midnight screamed as she got close to Adon.
The cleric turned, wide-eyed, and saw someone who looked just like Midnight standing beside him — but she wore the robes of the Sunites' tormentors.
'But… it was so beautiful!' Adon said, angry at Midnight's words.
'Look about you,' Midnight said. 'This is reality!'
Adon looked and saw the goddess Sune chained to a huge slab. The robed figures were lowering the slab into a river that ran scarlet with the blood of Sune's followers.
And each of the robed figures wore a pendant, exactly like Midnight's.
'The pendant!' Sune shouted. 'It is the source of their power! Take it and I will be free!'
Midnight grabbed Adon by the shoulders. 'Damn it, listen to me!'
'No!' Adon screamed, and before Kelemvor or Cyric could react, the cleric lunged at Midnight with a ferocity she had not expected. Adon's hand closed over Midnight's dagger, and he pulled it away from her. Feet together, Midnight kicked the cleric in the midsection, sending him flying backward, the dagger still clutched in his hand. There was a sharp crack as Adon's head struck the ground. Then the cleric lay in a heap, stunned by the blow.
Midnight began the movements and the chanting that would release a spell to dispel the magical assault. As she prayed that the spell would not go awry, the tiny fires upon the pendant crackled. There was a blinding flash of blue-white light as Midnight's spell released a maelstrom of magics that enveloped the courtyard.
Bane fell back, crying out as the water of the scrying pool became a scalding torrent of blood that erupted in a geyser as the pool exploded. All around Castle Kilgrave, the spells Bane had used to transform the ruins into a minor reflection of his home in the Planes were shattered by Midnight's magic.
Bane's temple, his New Acheron, was crumbling. The fantastic gateways he had opened were now closing. The corridors and chambers that so cleverly held replicas of Bane's former temple in the Planes lost their tenuous hold on reality and burned away.
In moments all that was left was the ruined remains of a mortal's castle. Bane fell forward, sobbing, and part of his mind marveled at discovering another new sensation these humans lived with every day of their short existence:
Loss.
New Acheron was gone.
When at last he turned and summoned the hakeashar so he could gather the power to kill Mystra's would-be rescuers, the Black Lord was shocked to find the mystical chains that held the goddess empty.
Mystra had escaped.
VII
Midnight was on her knees, recovering from the shock of her spellcasting, when Adon appeared beside her. The courtyard of Castle Kilgrave displayed no vestige of the battle that had taken place in its confines.
'It's gone,' Adon said. 'Sune's kingdom is gone, as if it never truly existed.'
Midnight looked up at him. When she spoke, it was in a comforting tone. 'I'm sure it exists somewhere, Adon. When the time comes, you will find your way there.'
Adon nodded, then he and Cyric helped Midnight to her feet. A few yards away, Kelemvor coughed twice and slowly came around. 'What happened?' Kelemvor said, holding his wounded shoulder.
'Something was playing games with our minds,' Midnight said. 'It tried to control us, set us against one another. I tried a simple dispel magic incantation and — '
'You caused that explosion?' Kelemvor said, sitting up abruptly.
'You shouldn't move,' Adon said, and attempted to force the man to lay back. His efforts were futile.
'Damn it, Adon. We lost a day at the colonnade because I was flat on my back. Just leave me alone; I'll be fine!'
'Let him go, Adon,' Midnight said, smiling at the fighter. 'Yes, Kel, I caused the explosion — or my magic did, anyway. I gathered from what was happening to us that someone was casting a powerful illusion on all of us. I tried to dispel it, but the spell caused some kind of backlash. It seems to have stopped whoever was throwing the spell.'
'The voice of Bane,' Cyric said, laughing. 'Probably just some madman with delusions of godhood.'
'Then I suggest we find him,' Kelemvor said as he looked around. 'He's got to be the one who has Caitlan's mistress captive.'
'I thought you'd given up on finding her,' Cyric said.
Kelemvor smiled and looked at Midnight. 'I had. But I think the reward I'll get for concluding the quest will be worth toughing it out.' The fighter looked at the bloody rags over his shoulder and wondered if he would be able to wield his sword with only one arm. He was able to make a loose fist with his right hand, although the process caused sparks of pain to erupt before his eyes.
Cyric simply shook his head as he went to the courtyard's entrance and looked out into the hallway. There was no sign of movement. The corridors looked much the same as they had when Cyric first examined the castle.
'We should find Caitlan's mistress and escape while we can,' Cyric said as he went back into the courtyard. Kelemvor nodded in agreement, and soon the adventurers were in the hallway.
'Now what?' Kelemvor said. 'Search the castle again, floor by floor?'
Midnight turned and froze, her mouth open wide.
'I don't think we'll have to,' Cyric said. 'Look!'
Kelemvor looked over his shoulder and saw a horrible, blood-red mass barreling down the corridor at them — the hakeashar. From the mist that composed the creature's form, Kelemvor saw hundreds of ten-fingered hands reaching out, clawing at the air. Disembodied yellow eyes broke from the mist, anxious to study the prey before it.
Kelemvor's shoulders slumped. 'I've had about enough of this for one day,' he said as he drew his sword with his one good hand. His movements weren't graceful, but he hoped the stance would be impressive enough to frighten the huge creature.
The creature let out a roar that sent a burrowing pain through the heroes' skulls. The creature had grown large, gaping mouths that seemed to grow larger as it approached. Cyric grabbed Midnight's arm and they ran down the hall, away from the hakeashar.
'Perhaps you could stand a little more?' Adon said, imploringly, as he backed away, then ran.
The creature let out another roar.
'Perhaps,' Kelemvor said as he broke his stance and ran, the swirling mist biting at his heels as he attempted to catch up to the others.
The heroes kept well ahead of the mist creature for a few moments, but they soon tired. By the time they'd reached the turret located two hundred yards from the courtyard, the hakeashar was in close pursuit. In the turret, the stairs leading to the upper levels of the castle were filled with debris, so the heroes followed the stairs down,
