CHAPTER ELEVEN
1 Eleasias, the Year of Wild Magic
Malik pulled himself up inside the false coffer in his treasure vault and kneeled there in the cramped darkness, his breath coming heavy and fast, his throat raw and aching where Yder had nearly crushed it. An alarming rasp and rattle was building behind him as his pursuers scurried up the tunnel, and even with the gifts of stealth and endurance bestowed on him by the One, he would need to hurry if he wished to stay ahead of them. It would not be easy, not when every gasp of air fanned the anguish burning in his crushed gullet, but he had to reach the palace before Yder and inform the Most High of the prince's treachery. In circumstances such as these, a ruler's findings were always dictated by the one who arrived first. Voices began to whisper up the tunnel, and
Malik knew he would be doing well to gather even the bags containing his most valuable gems before they entered the vault behind him.
'Accursed giant!' he hissed. Only Aris knew about the secret tunnel, as Malik had made him construct it secretly at night, when everyone assumed he would be sleeping. 'Why am I vexed with friends who never think of anyone but themselves?'
Vowing that the giant would pay for his selfishness, Malik released the latches that held the coffer closed. Using his back to lift the lid, he rose to a crouch. The vault was dark, quiet, and enormous. Save for perhaps two dozen coin boxes and gem bags, it was also mostly empty. Building a temple was expensive-even when wealthy converts donated much of the material in exchange for Aris's statues-but Malik had no doubt the investment would prove worthwhile. Once the interior frieze work was completed, he planned to start charging a hefty fee to come and stand in the narthex. Any who wished to see the sublime work in the rest of the temple would be required to convert-a process that would require a substantial offering as proof of the novice's sincerity.
A Shadovar helmet thunked into the low lintel where the tunnel crossed the treasure vault's foundation. Reminded of the urgency of his situation, Malik slipped out of the coffer and lowered the lid as quietly as possible. The latches clicked softly as they reengaged, and he began to fumble for the magic lamp he kept on the floor at the corner of the coffer.
Instead of the smooth loop of a lamp handle, his hand found what felt like the scuff-roughened toe of a veserab-hide boot. Malik's mouth went instantly as dry as dust, and he reached for the curved dagger hidden inside his cloak. A strong hand caught him by a horn and lifted him off his feet. A second hand, still shaky because of the tendons Malik had slashed but more than strong enough to hold him motionless, clamped hold of his wrist.
'Not this time, my behorned friend,' said Yder's hissing voice. 'Not even you surprise me twice.'
The prince bent Malik’s hand back until he screamed and let the dagger fall free.
'The One will not stand for this!' Malik warned. He thought for a moment that Mystra's curse might actually permit the threat to stand, but soon heard more words tumbling from his mouth. 'He will certainly punish me terribly for allowing you to interfere with the completion of his-'
The prince released Malik's wrist and brought his fist up. The blow drove Malik's jaws together with a tooth-shattering crack, and he had just enough time before sinking into darkness to wonder what would have happened to him had Yder hit him with his good hand.
Wet, pale, and tiny, the Chosen looked like a trio of newborn whelps-like a trio of stillborn whelps, as motionless and silent as they were. Worried that the fall to the vestry floor might have been too long for such small creatures- even on his hands and knees, the distance was more than six feet-Aris reached down and nudged Khelben with the nail of his index finger.
Nothing happened, except that Khelben flopped onto his back.
Aris placed a fingertip on Khelben's chest and felt nothing. Of course, given their size differences, searching for a heartbeat was akin to a human feeling for the pulse of a locust.
'Wake up,' he whispered. 'You must be tougher than that-you're Chosen!'
When Khelben remained motionless, Aris sighed and rolled first Storm, then Laeral onto their backs. When neither moved, he placed them side-by-side and checked for signs of life as he had with Khelben.
'Hey-watch those fingers!' warned a tiny female voice.
Raising his brow in surprise, Aris put his hands down and lowered his head to within a yard of the floor, now squinting in an attempt to keep the Chosen in focus at such a close distance.
'My apologies,' he whispered. 'I was only feeling for a-'
'We know what you were feeling for,' chuckled a second tiny woman. 'And I thought an artist would be different!'
Aris turned his head from side to side, trying to get a better view of the three figures stretched out beneath his head. None of them seemed to be speaking or moving, but considering that they were Chosen, that meant very little.
'Up here, big fella,' said the first voice. 'Beside you.'
Aris turned in the direction of the speaker and found himself looking into a pair of tiny, ivory-colored blurs. He leaned away, and the blurs slowly resolved themselves into the beautiful faces of Alustriel Silverhand and Dove Falconhand. Still only half the size of his thumb, the two Chosen were dressed in flowing black cloaks that, as they hovered beside him, gave them the appearance of some sort of shadow sprites.
'Where did you come from?' Aris gasped.
'We've been keeping an eye on you,' Dove said, chuckling at his surprise.
'This is no time to play games,' Aris complained. He glanced down the passage to make certain that his guard, Amararl, was still out in the nave as he had promised-and to be sure that there were no other Shadovar approaching the vestry. 'Yder is here with a small army.'
'I'd call it more of a strike team,' Alustriel said. 'When we realized where it was going, we thought we'd better tag along and see what was happening.'
'A good thing we did, too,' Dove said. 'This is the first time we've found you alone.'
'It's the first time I've been alone-as you can see.' Aris waved a hand at the motionless Chosen on the floor. 'Was it too long? I didn't eat anything, but I don't think anyone expected it to take this long.'
Alustriel's voice grew reassuring. 'They'll be fine, as soon as I wake them.'
She flew down to the floor and kneeled beside Khelben, then began to slap his face and whisper his name into his ear.
'They went into a magical hibernation.' Dove explained. She hovered near Aris's head, watching down the passage with him. 'After the third or fourth day without food-earlier, if they refused to drink water you'd already drunk-their bodies would have started to draw on the Weave to sustain them. Even a giant could not have withstood that much magic flowing through him for very long, so they used a spell to shut down.'
'Like bears when the snow comes.'
'Something like that. Except there's still been a little magic flowing through your body. It gave you the strength to work at Malik's tempo, but it's also done some damage- affected your coordination and perception, made it difficult to do things that should be easy.' Dove pointed at a lopsided likeness of Cyric on the wall. 'As soon as you burn off the last of that energy, you're going to fall asleep for a very long time. Before that happens, you should eat. Eat as much as you can keep down.'
'As much as I can keep down?' Aris's mouth began to water at the prospect. 'When can I start?'
'Soon,' Dove laughed, 'but first, keep watch while I remind the Blackstaff where he is.'
She gestured at the floor, where Khelben's eyelids were fluttering and his chest rising at regular intervals. Alustriel had moved on to Laeral.
Khelben's eyes opened. He took one look at the images of madness decorating the vestry and scowled in alarm.
'You had better hurry,' Aris said. 'One look at these walls, and he's liable to think he's gone to the Nine Hells.'
Dove was already dropping to his side. She pulled her hood back and let her silver hair spill free, then took Khelben’s arm.
'Now don't start hurling spells around,' she said. 'There's nothing to worry about'
