thumping out the unique, uneven rhythm that every griffon rider knew. As soon as Jet cleared the doors, he leaped high, lashed his wings, and soared up over the rooftops toward the stars.
Mirror came flying to join them. Aoth didn't ask whether the ghost had actually needed to kill the fleeing crossbowman. He didn't particularly want to know.
Looking smaller astride a griffon than he did planted on his own two feet, Khouryn was the next to arrive. Then, one by one, the rest of Aoth's officers fell in behind their commander, forming a loose procession that stretched across the sky.
After his meeting with the Simbarch Council, Aoth had convened a meeting of his lieutenants in the back room of a seedy tavern in the heart of 'old Velprintalar,' the impoverished, decaying part of the city. In times past, the establishment sat on the harbor, as the dilapidated dock projecting out from it attested, but, thanks to the Spellplague, the retreating waters of the Sea of Dlurg had left it high and dry.
Goblets and tankards in hand, Aoth's lieutenants crowded into one side of the grubby room with its rickety chairs and smell of stale beer, puke, and piss and left the other half to the two undead strangers. That meant Aoth could see the embodiments of his present and those of his past arranged in two neat parcels. He felt a pang of resentment toward the latter and, knowing it was unfair, stifled it as best he could.
Lounging in a cloud of sweet cologne, one stocking orange and the other blue in the latest foppish style, auburn hair worn shoulder length, Gaedynn Ulraes took a sip of red wine, grimaced with exaggerated distaste, and set his cup aside. 'Why does the emergency meeting spot always have to be somewhere disgusting?' he asked.
'I'm more interested in knowing why we're meeting,' said Jhesrhi Coldcreek, her wizard's staff propped against her chair. The gold runes inlaid down its blackwood length complemented her tousled blonde curls, tawny skin, and amber eyes. 'I thought the simbarchs liked us.'
Aoth sighed. 'They did, until I convinced them I'm not trustworthy.'
Gaedynn arched an eyebrow his barber had sculpted into a fine line. 'And how did you do that?'
Aided by Bareris, Aoth told the tale. His fellow sellswords reacted with astonishment but, to his relief, not overt disbelief. He supposed it was because they knew him better than the simbarchs did.
'In one respect,' he concluded, 'I guess I'm lucky. Our employers found my story so outrageous, it flummoxed them. Otherwise, they might have arrested me on the spot.'
'Because,' Jhesrhi said, 'they think you intend to break our contract.'
Aoth nodded. 'And they're right.'
Khouryn scowled. 'You told me you never break a compact. That's what separates us from the scum. That's why I joined the Brotherhood of the Griffon in the first place.'
Gaedynn grinned. 'I thought it was to avoid having to stay home with that… remarkably
'I don't like it, either,' said Aoth to the dwarf, 'but I don't see a choice.'
'Because these two dead men claim another dead man is going to lay waste to the whole world. Or our corner of it, anyway.'
'I don't blame you if you can't believe it. You're all too young to have suffered through the Spellplague. But those of us who did know that at times, the world can be fragile as an eggshell. And I tell you again, I
'Not that I recall,' Gaedynn said. 'So it seems to me that, now that the Aglarondans have refused to heed your warning, the only sensible course of action is to flee west as fast as the wings of our steeds will carry us. But something tells me that's not what you have in mind.'
'You're right,' said Aoth. 'With the simbarchs or without them, someone needs to try to stop Szass Tam.'
'Possibly so,' the foppish archer replied, 'but even if it were feasible, I fight for coin, not noble causes.'
'Would you fight for your life?' Jhesrhi asked. 'Because that's what this is about. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it, too, but there it is.'
'For what it's worth,' said Aoth, 'I'll do my best to make sure we collect pay and plunder for our efforts. Still, I won't blame anyone who opts to leave the Brotherhood. Fighting Szass Tam was a daunting undertaking when Bareris, Mirror, and I did it before. Considering that he's had a century to consolidate his hold on Thay, it can only be harder now.'
Everyone sat and thought about it for a moment. Then Khouryn said, 'I can't claim I truly understand any of this craziness, or to be happy about abandoning a nice, profitable, winnable campaign to go risk our lives in the foulest Hell-pit in Faerun. But you've always led us well, Captain. I'll stick with you and make sure the men who serve under me do the same.'
'So will I,' said Jhesrhi, and one by one, the other officers expressed the same resolve. Even Gaedynn, though he was last to commit. Aoth swallowed away a thickness in his throat and silently prayed to Kossuth that he wouldn't lead them all to their deaths.
'So what's the plan?' Gaedynn asked.
'The first step,' said Aoth, 'is to get away from here, before the simbarchs move to arrest me and detain the rest of you…'
Which was what they were attempting now.
The mercenaries had worked through the day and into the night, readying themselves for departure while trying to conceal their preparations from any outsider who might be watching. The next step was to reunite the men billeted in the city with the bulk of the company encamped outside, still without raising the alarm.
'I'm sorry,' Bareris said abruptly.
'About what?' Aoth replied.
'I don't know how to behave like your friend anymore. Undeath withered that part of me.'
Aoth sighed. 'It started withering long before that, on the day you found out Xingax had turned Tammith into a vampire. If undeath changed who you are inside, it simply finished the job, and I'm sorry about that. Because I tried to help you grieve and move on, but I never found the right words or the right way.'
'You hate being pulled back into this, don't you?'
'Yes. In Thay, my Rashemi looks made other Mulans view me with contempt. Out here in the rest of the world, they don't matter. In Thay, I was the servant of masters who cared nothing for my welfare. Here, I grovel to no one. In Thay, I lost my war, but I haven't lost one since, and my victories made me rich and respected.
'I think of all that,' Aoth continued, 'and I remember the horrors the necromancers sent to kill us, horrors that still trouble my sleep one night in three. You're damned right I don't want to go back.'
'I hope you'll feel differently when we finally settle the score.'
Aoth decided it would accomplish nothing to say that he never even thought in terms of there being 'a score.'
'Maybe so,' Aoth said. 'Now get ready. That's the west gate up ahead.'
Veltalar wasn't a walled city, but it did have fortifications straddling the major roads into the city to control the flow of traffic. The west gate was one such barrier, perfectly positioned to keep an eye on the rows of tents comprising the Brotherhood's encampment.
It looked to Aoth as if there were extra sentries manning the battlements tonight, surely for that very purpose. He kindled silvery light in the point of his spear to make sure the other riders would know when Jet dived, then sent the griffon hurtling down at the gate.
Bareris sang, and though the magic wasn't aimed at him, Aoth's eyelids drooped and his limbs felt heavy. He gave his head a shake to rid himself of the lethargy, and some of the soldiers on top of the gate collapsed.
Jhesrhi swooped low, and her sleep spell picked off the warriors who'd resisted Bareris's enchantment. Still other men-at-arms ran from the base of the fortification, and Gaedynn and his mount plunged to earth to block their path. The archer shot an arrow imbued with a charm of slumber into the dirt at their feet, and they too dropped.
The other sellswords in the city, the ones who didn't have flying steeds, erupted from their hiding places and poured through the gate. The griffon riders flew over the portal, and they all rushed on to join their comrades in the camp.
Aoth was pleased to see the latter were ready to move. Everyone had his armor on, the griffons and horses
