'My mother died of plague when I was six.' 'You must have been very lonely afterward.'
Arvin shrugged. 'There were plenty of other kids in the orphanage.' Only one of them, however, had been his friend: Naulg. And Naulg was dead.
'Orphanage?' Karrell repeated. The word was obviously unfamiliar to her.
'It's something like a brood chamber,' Arvin said, 'for human children who have no parents. The priests run it.'
'Priests of what god?'
'Ilmater,' Arvin said, his lips twisting as he spoke the name. 'God of suffering. His priests made sure we got plenty of it.'
'This orphanage of yours sounds… unpleasant.' 'It was,' Arvin agreed grimly.
Karrell stared into the distance. Her hand was still resting on his knee. Arvin glanced at the ring on her little finger. He'd love to know what she was thinking right now. Just as well that the ring was shielding her thoughts; otherwise he might be tempted to listen in on them.
She must have sensed his unwillingness to talk further about his childhood, for she changed the subject abruptly. 'That woman you came to Sespech to find,' she asked. 'Was it Glisena Foesmasher?'
A tiny warning voice sounded in the back of Arvin's mind. One look into Karrell's dark eyes, and it was extinguished. Arvin nodded. 'The baron's daughter ran away a tenday ago; I came to Sespech to help find her. A midwife helped her flee the palace. Glisena thinks the midwife was helping her, but Glisena is being used. They want her child-Dmetrio's the father. They hope to use it in a grab for Hlondeth's throne. Once it's born, the gods only know what Sibyl will do with-'
'Sibyl?' Karrell asked sharply. Her grip on Arvin's knee tightened.
'She's a yuan-ti,' Arvin explained. 'The midwife is one of her followers. They believe that Sibyl's an avatar of the god Sseth.'
'She's no avatar,' Karrell whispered.
Arvin blinked. 'You know who I'm talking about?'
Karrell's eyes bored into his. 'How do you know about Sibyl?'
Arvin's jaw clenched. 'She killed my friend. I swore I'd do whatever I could to avenge his death. Even if it meant taking on an avatar.'
Karrell took his measure for several moments before speaking. 'Sibyl is mortal, though that was not always the case. For a time-during the Time of Troubles, when the gods walked Faerun-her body was possessed by Sseth. But when the Time of Troubles ended, the god withdrew from her body. That was fifteen years ago; she has been mortal since. But she hopes to become a god, just as did Sseth, who himself was once no more than an avatar of Merrshaulk.'
Arvin stared at Karrell. He had only the barest notion of what she was talking about. The only god he knew much about was Ilmater; the priests at the orphanage had drilled every painful, gory detail of the sufferings of the Crying God's martyrs into the children under their care. Arvin didn't even know Hoar's history, despite the fact that he had sworn an oath of vengeance to that god-an oath the Doombringer seemed bent on forcing Arvin to keep.
'How do you know all this stuff about Sibyl?' Arvin asked Karrell.
Karrell gave him a hard, level look. 'To defeat an enemy, one must learn her ways.'
Outside the window, thunder grumbled in the distance; the voice of Hoar. Arvin whistled softly. 'I think the gods have thrown us together for a reason.'
'I, too, believe this,' Karrell said. She leaned closer and spoke in a confiding voice. 'The yuan-ti of the south still believes Sibyl to be Sseth's avatar. Only a handful see her for what she really is-a power-mad mortal out to resurrect the empire of Serpentes at any cost.'
Arvin had heard of Serpentes. It was an ancient yuan-ti empire that had stretched across the whole of the Chultan Peninsula-an empire that the yuan-ti still talked about, even though it had fallen nearly fourteen centuries ago. 'I thought it was Hlondeth that Sibyl was after,' he said.
'Only as a means to an end,' Karrell said. 'Nearly two years ago, Sibyl vanished from our lands. We were relieved to hear that she was gone, until we learned that she had traveled north. When we learned that she had gone to Hlondeth-'
'Who's we?' Arvin interrupted.
'The K'aaxlaat,' Karrell said.
He gave her a blank look.
'Protectors of the jungle. We walk in the footsteps of Ubtao.'
Arvin nodded, though he was no closer to understanding. It sounded like some sort of druidic sect.
'We realized,' Karrell continued, 'what Sibyl must be looking for: an artifact that had been given, long ago, to House Extaminos for safekeeping. It was hidden, then forgotten as the centuries went by. But Dmetrio Extaminos found it.'
Despite himself, Arvin was intrigued. 'And you came north to Hlondeth to find it. To steal it.'
Karrell's eyes blazed. 'No. To recover it. To prevent it from falling into Sibyl's hands. To ensure it would never be used again.'
'What is it?'
'Do you know the Story of Sseth?' Karrell asked.
Arvin shrugged. 'Not really. Those of us of the 'lesser race' aren't exactly encouraged to learn about the serpent god. I've never even set foot inside the Cathedral of Emerald Scales. Except once. By proxy.'
The memory rose, unbidden, from those that lingered on from Zelia's mind seed. He'd seen the temple through her eyes as she genuflected before a statue of the god in winged serpent form. He nodded to himself; no wonder the yuan-ti believed Sibyl to be Sseth's avatar. She had the wings-even for an abomination, that was rare. And her eyes glowed red-they flickered like the flames that had surrounded Sseth's statue.
Arvin dredged up the last of Zelia's memory. 'There's
a prophecy about Sseth rising from the flames, isn't there?'
Karrell nodded, visibly impressed. 'From the Peaks of Flame-volcanoes on the Chult Peninsula. There is a door there, one Sibyl hopes to open. She thinks it leads to Sseth's domain. She hopes to convince the god to claim her as his avatar once more. But the door does not lead to the Viper Pit. It leads to a cave on the Fugue Plane occupied by one of the eternal evils-Dendar the Night Serpent. Should the door be opened, and the Night Serpent escape, thousands will die-perhaps hundreds of thousands. A giant is a mere morsel to her; she can swallow an entire village in one gulp. Those she swallows are utterly destroyed; not a shred of their souls remain for the gods to claim. And the more souls she consumes, the larger she grows-and the more she feeds. According to the prophecies, if released and unchecked, she will grow until she is capable of swallowing the very sun-of plunging the world into eternal night. A night in which no plants will grow, all of the waters of Faerun will freeze, and the gods themselves will fade as their last worshipers die.'
Arvin felt his eyes widen. Normally he would have blown off such an exaggerated story. But to hear Karrell tell it-to hear the tremble in her voice as she spoke of the end of the world-shook him. 'This thing you came north to find,' he said. 'It's a key, right?'
Karrell's eyes bored into his. 'It is called the Circled Serpent. It is made of silver, in the shape of a serpent biting its own tail and has a diameter about so.' She held her hands about two palms' widths apart. 'It was fashioned in two halves-one with a head, the other with a tail-which must be fitted together for its magic to work.'
She lowered her hands. 'I know this much: that Dine- trio Extaminos found the Circled Serpent when he was restoring the old section of Hlondeth. I believe he may have brought it with him to Sespech, but I am unable to locate it with my magic. During your last visit to the ambassador's residence, did you see anything like I have just described?'
Arvin shook his head.
'I did not expect so,' Karrell said. 'He will have it hidden. He fears another attempt by Sibyl's followers to steal it.'
'The Pox?' Arvin asked, alarmed. 'Did some of them survive?'
'Who are The Pox?'
'Followers of Talona, goddess of plague and disease,' Arvin's heart was beating quickly. 'And servants of
