Tempest is here?
“He remembers more than you think,” Nu Alin said.
Kri looked at him sharply, but Albanon made his face blank again. As Kri peered into his vacant eyes, Shara leaped over the corpse of another demon and ran toward them. As she drew close, Nu Alin spun around and slammed his fist into her gut, hurling her back the way she’d come. She crashed to the ground and lay still.
“Servant of the Chained God,” Nu Alin said to Kri, “I serve another master now.”
“Betrayer!” Kri spat. “You fought the Voidharrow’s will even as it transformed you. It is not too late. You can still help me free the Chained God.”
“Impossible.”
“No. I have the shard of the Living Gate. I have a fragment of the Voidharrow. We can finish what you began. I need only your knowledge.”
“Then look upon my masterpiece,” Nu Alin said, grinning at Albanon.
Quarhaun was helping Shara to her feet, and they both gaped at Nu Alin with fear and confusion on their faces. One of the flaming demons swept toward them from behind. Albanon extended his hand and snuffed its flame as he had done to the other one a moment before.
Nu Alin turned and started walking toward the quay. Shara shouted, and Quarhaun leveled his sword, sending a bolt of frost hurtling after the demon. The bolt crashed into Nu Alin’s back and stopped him in his tracks as Shara ran after him.
“Come, Albanon,” Kri said. “We have all we need.”
Without a word or a backward glance, Albanon turned away from Shara and Nu Alin and followed Kri into a shadow-cloaked alley.
Frozen flesh cracked and splintered as Nu Alin turned to face Shara and meet her charge. Where his body tore, red fluid appeared in the gaps-not blood, but the all too familiar liquid crystal of the Voidharrow. Shara drew back her sword, but Nu Alin lunged at her with blinding speed, ducking under her sword and slamming his fist into her again. She managed to twist away from the full force of the blow so that he only sent her sprawling on the ground rather than hurling her through the air again. His strength was unbelievable. If he keeps hitting me like that, she thought, I’m going to stop getting back up.
“So I take it you’re Nu Alin,” Quarhaun said, standing beside Shara as she got to her feet again.
“Indeed.”
“And are you familiar with the third invocation of Hadar?”
“I am not.” Nu Alin curled his clawlike fingers into fists and stepped toward Quarhaun.
“Observe!” Quarhaun shouted. He held out his hand alongside his eldrich blade, contorting his fingers into a bizarre shape, and light erupted in front of him.
It was as different from the clear, pure radiance of Roghar’s divine magic as that holy light was from the illumination of a lantern-a difference not of brightness or color but of
The light’s effect on Nu Alin, however, was every bit as dramatic as what Roghar’s light had done. The demon sprang backward, throwing his arms up to shield his face from the unearthly glow. Where the red liquid showed in his joints, it smoldered and shrank back. The light congealed into an orb the size of Quarhaun’s fist that sprang at the demon and took up an orbit around him, sending little jolts like lightning to stab at him.
Shara got to her feet and cautiously circled around the demon. He snarled and coiled as if to spring at her, but the orb flared brighter and its light held him in place. He swatted at the orb of light instead, and it shattered into a million tiny fragments of light, dispersing into the darkness.
“Parlor tricks,” Nu Alin said. “Even if you dress them up with fancy names, they remain but tricks.”
“Then let’s see what you think of the seventh-”
Before Quarhaun could finish his sentence or even begin his invocation, Nu Alin was on him, bony fingers clenched around his throat. Blood welled where the clawlike tips of his fingers dug into the drow’s skin, seeking the great arteries that carried blood to Quarhaun’s brain.
Shara sprang at him and swung her sword down with all her might, but with impossible speed and strength, Nu Alin twisted around and lifted Quarhaun into the path of her assault. In horror, she tried to stop her swing and pull the blade back, but it still bit deep into the drow’s arm, sending his eldritch blade clattering to the ground.
Nu Alin started to laugh, then his voice became the dragon’s voice. Vestapalk was laughing at her failure, even as his minion drove sharp claws into Quarhaun’s throat.
“You care for this man?” Vestapalk’s voice asked. “Once already this one has nearly killed him. The feel of claws sinking into his chest is vivid in the memory.”
“I will kill you, Vestapalk,” Shara said. She lunged again, and once more Nu Alin lifted Quarhaun to intercept her blow. The drow’s eyes were wide as he gasped for air.
“Listen, mortal fool,” the dragon’s voice said. “Your interference is not welcome. The Plaguedeep grows and the plague spreads, with or without your meddling.”
“I’ll stop you and your plague. I swear it.” Shara rushed at Nu Alin again, feinting a swing from her left shoulder until the moment Nu Alin brought Quarhaun into the path of her sword, then twisting the blade around so it came up under Nu Alin’s unprotected left arm, cutting deep enough to draw a gush of blood as well as a welling of the liquid crystal.
Nu Alin roared in pain, in his own voice once more, though Shara thought she heard the distant laughter of the dragon still echoing around her. He hoisted Quarhaun by the neck and hurled him at Shara, knocking them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Shara sat up and saw Nu Alin running away, into the darkness. “Get off me,” she shouted at Quarhaun, pushing him away and scrambling to her feet.
Too late. The demon was too fast. She saw Roghar emerge from the burning inn, leading Tempest and a train of townsfolk, but Nu Alin was gone, lost in the shadows in the direction of the quays.
Before Shara could get Roghar’s attention, two more of the nightmare demons swept toward her. At the same time, she saw five fiery demons closing in around Roghar and his little ragtag band. A handful of soldiers approached from the other side, clutching swords and spears as they drew near the demons.
“He’s getting away!” she shouted to no one in particular. “Don’t let him get away!”
Suddenly the dragon stood before her, roaring and spreading its jaws to bite or breathe its toxic gas. “Damn you,” she muttered, pushing back her fear and stepping forward to meet the dragon, slicing into its throat. It batted at her with a claw, but she sidestepped its clumsy attack and cut it again. Then it was once more just a shadowy demon with a trail of red liquid dripping from its deep wounds.
She saw Uldane slip out from the group around Roghar and look around the street. He looked at her and shrugged.
He’s trying to stop Nu Alin, bless him, Shara thought. She pointed her sword in the direction Nu Alin had gone, then brought the blade around to cut through the demon’s torso, destroying it.
Quarhaun stood facing the other demon, fear and anger warring on his face. With a roar, he swung his eldritch blade at the demon, but it knocked him aside before his blade could connect. Shara leaped into the opening it left and sliced into its head. It spasmed, raking sharp claws down her arm before it, too, dissolved into nothing.
The wound stung, but she ignored it and raced after Uldane. He probably won’t catch up to Nu Alin, she thought, but what if he does? He can’t take on the demon by himself.
She ran along the town’s outer wall toward the quays, past looming warehouses and smaller businesses catering to the river trade. As she reached the quays, she saw Uldane walking along the riverside. He had a dagger in each hand, and his posture was alert, searching for a sign of Nu Alin.
“Uldane!” she called.
He looked up, saw her, and turned away. A sudden fear gripped Shara. What if Nu Alin took him? Would I be able to tell?
She hurried to catch up with him, keeping her sword ready. As she went, she watched the way the halfling moved, trying to spot any telltale sign that the demon was in control of his body. He seemed a little stiff, but that could be explained by the tension of searching for the demon-or by his anger at her.
