'Of course there's something to worry about-' Khelben pushed himself into a seated position-'can't you see what Aris has been carving?'
Out in the nave, Amararl peered into the vestry passage with a beetled brow.
Aris looked down at the five Chosen, gestured in the direction of the nave, and said, 'My guard's patience is coming to an end.'
'Let's risk a few moments longer, in case we have need of your knowledge,' Khelben said. He turned to Dove and Alustriel. 'What progress have you made? Given that the city still floats, I take it you have not destroyed the mythallar.'
'We haven't even found it,' Dove confirmed. 'Asking Galaeron’s help is out of the question. He's been locked inside the Palace Most High since we arrived, and we can't go inside.'
'Dare not go inside,' Alustriel corrected. 'It seems to be a nexus in the Shadow Weave. The closer we approach, the weaker our connection to the Weave. If we were to enter…'
'No use in getting ourselves killed,' Khelben agreed.
'But we have made this,' Dove said as she produced something from inside her cloak. It was so tiny that it took a moment for Aris to recognize it as a folded sheet of parchment. 'This shows most of the city, save for what's within the walls of the Palace Most High.'
Khelben took the parchment and began to open it.
'Maybe Aris can help us,' he said.
'I fear not. I've never been to the mythallar.' Aris peeked out into the nave and found Amararl starting toward the vestry passage. 'I should go, before-'
'I said help.' Khelben spread the parchment on the floor and continued, 'Even if you don't know where it is, you have a better idea of where to search than we do.'
Aris regarded the parchment dubiously. Though it had opened to the width of Khelben's arm, it was little larger than a thumbnail to him.
'How can I read a map I can barely see?' he asked.
'Try,' Dove said.
Aris glanced back to find Amararl coming down the side aisle toward the vestry, then he sighed and stooped down to obey. The instant his eyes fell on it, the image floated off the parchment and began to expand, growing so large he could barely take in all he could see.
Amazed, Aris diligently studied the map, systematically running his gaze along each street and down every service passage. It didn't take him long to realize that the image was adjusting itself to his scrutiny, sliding past beneath him to keep centered the object of his attention, growing larger or smaller depending how long his eyes remained fixed on a certain area.
Amararl's voice came down the passage, 'Aris?' He sounded more worried than demanding. 'What are you doing in there? What's that light?'
'Our bargain was for privacy!'
Though the voice that boomed this sounded like Aris's, it was from Alustriel's tiny mouth that the words came.
'Our bargain was for a few minutes of privacy,' Amararl corrected. 'It has been ten-and I heard voices.'
'Echoes,' Alustriel retorted. 'The temple is filled with Yder's warriors.'
Amararl considered this a moment, and said, 'Warriors who will be returning soon. If you're not here, I'll say you ran off.'
'And I that you allowed me to,' Alustriel said. 'Therefore, I suggest you return to your post. Tell me when you hear someone coming.'
'I'm your guard, not your servant!'
'There is no difference, now,' Alustriel shot back. 'Unless you wish to meet the same end as Gelthez or Karbe.'
She raised her tiny hand and nicked her fingers in a spell, then said in her normal voice, 'Never mind him, Aris. We can still hear if he sounds an alarm, but now he can't hear or see anything in this room.'
Aris spent another five minutes studying the map, then finally looked through the translucent image at the Chosen below.
'I just don't know,' he said. 'If I had to guess, I'd say it was inside the Palace Most High.'
'That was our first thought too,' Dove said, 'but during the battle Galaeron described, the phaerimm were using magic. Unless they've learned to tap into the Shadow Weave-'
'We've seen no sign of that,' said Laeral, who was standing with her sister Storm at Khelben's side, 'but it still doesn't mean you don't have to go through the palace to reach it.'
'Yes, it does,' Storm said. The phaerimm got there.'
'With the aid of a malaugrym,' Dove pointed out. 'It might have been able to sneak them through the palace.'
'Would you trust your life to a Malaugrym?' Storm countered. Without waiting for a reply, she continued, 'If the phaerimm can get there, so can we.'
'If we can find it,' Laeral said. 'If Galaeron can't help us-'
'We'll have to ask Vala,' Khelben finished.
'Her, I can help you find,' said the giant.
Aris shifted his scrutiny to the great plaza of gloom sculptures that surrounded the Palace Most High, then slowly moved his gaze along the edge until he came to a huge, many-spired mansion with a procession of flying buttresses and a long tunnel of barrel vaults.
'You will find her here, somewhere inside Escanor's palace.'
The Chosen studied the map from below for a moment then Khelben said, 'It would be nice if any of us had actually met her. The Shadovar were obviously trying to lure
Galaeron back with all those rumors about her being Escanor's slave. What if they're just that — rumors?'
'A good point,' Storm agreed. 'Vala and her men were in service to Melegaunt, and I have it on good authority that she slew three phaerimm for them in Myth Drannor.'
'Vala and her men served Melegaunt in order to keep an oath their ancestors had sworn,' Aris said. 'Their duty was discharged when Shade returned.'
'But that does not mean she is Escanor's slave,' Storm pressed. 'Ruha said that it was her choice to remain with the prince.'
'So Galaeron would escape before his shadow took him,' Aris said. Storm's aspersions were beginning to irritate him, and he let it show. 'She loves Galaeron as a crane loves its mate. If she is with Escanor now, it is not by her choice.'
Storm raised her brow at his tone, but shrugged and gave a little nod.
'If you say so, Aris.'
'I do,' he said. 'If you wish her help, all you need do is say you are friends of Galaeron's.'
'Good,' Khelben said. He began to fold the parchment, and the map went dark. That' s just what we'll do. My thanks for your help, Aris. We'll try to fetch you before the city falls, but that may be — '
'We are all risking much,' Aris interrupted, 'but only Galaeron's sacrifice is certain. If you value that, save Vala first The rest of us are here by choice.'
'If that is what you wish, my friend.' Khelben met his eye and nodded. 'We will do what can be done.'
Malik awoke to the sound of snakes hissing into both ears. Judging by how he felt, they had bitten him a dozen times, a hundred times. His head throbbed and his back ached. There were pins of light piercing his eyes and rivers of fire coursing through his veins, and he had a bladder that felt like two gallons of wine in one gallon of space. The snakes were about to draw him into quarters. They had him by each wrist and each ankle, and they were all pulling in opposite directions. His arms were ready to pop from his shoulders and his legs to divide what no man ever wished to have divided.
As Malik's head began to clear, the hissing grew softer and more distant, and he realized it was not snakes hissing into his ears. It was voices, the whispering voices that filled the throne room of Telamont Tanthul.
If he was in the presence of the Most High and in so much pain, there could only be one explanation.
