The Howling Delve (37 page)

Aazen lowered the wizard to the floor and handed his father the dagger. Balram took the blade and settled it back against the wizard’s throat. Aazen drew his sword.

Meisha took a step forward, but Balram pivoted so she could see the folds of Varan’s skin lying atop the steel. “Move again, and my hand will slip,” he promised.

Dantane drew her back. They stepped aside as Kail and Aazen approached one another. To the surprise of all, it was Kail who moved in first, banging his blade off Aazen’s with a loud ringing.

“You’re not hesitating, Kail,” Aazen said, swinging through the parry. “Won’t you try to convince me to stand down, to help you kill my father?”

Kail blocked a low thrust. “I told you I would never use you to get at Balram. I asked you to turn from the Shadow Thieves. You’ll never be able to trust them.”

Aazen drew his blade back, following up with a snapping kick aimed at Kail’s midsection. Kail dodged, but caught the brunt of the kick against his bound arm. The pain teased stars from the corners of his eyes.

“I trusted you,” Aazen said. “No matter what mischief you convinced me to take part in, you always looked out for me. In your house, I was safe.”

“But you trust your father more, because no matter how twisted his love, you believe blood will never betray you,” Kail replied.

“Yes.” Aazen blocked a flurry of short attacks and reeled when Kali surrendered his advantage to strike with his fist. The punch glanced across Aazen’s throat. He folded into a defensive crouch, but Kail followed, forcing him to move back and block while he choked for breath.

“But it’s you, Aazen, who loves him beyond reason. He’s buried you so deep in his control you don’t know the way out. I thought I could convince you to come with me, but I lost you that night in the cemetery, didn’t I? I didn’t even realize.”

“Shut up,” Aazen said, whipping his sword around and

biting Kail’s arm again. The pain was brilliant, but it was still nothing compared to being burned by a demon. Kail stepped into the move, allowing Aazen to deepen the wound. In doing so, Kali put himself right in Aazen’s space. Aazen pressed the attack, oblivious. He believed Kali would weaken, favor his arm, and retreat.

Kali batted Aazen’s blade aside, flipped his own blade to his off-hand, and grabbed Aazen by the throat, lifting him bodily from the floor. Blood streamed down Kail’s arm, but he held on, pressing his fingers in under Aazen’s jawbone until his sword fell from his hand.

“Aazen!” Balram cried, and for the first time there was real fear in his voice.

“Kail, stop!” yelled Meisha, who saw what he intended.

Kali ignored them both and released Aazen. His friend dropped, falling onto Kail’s angled blade. Aazen grabbed Kail’s shoulders to keep himself upright. Kail held him steady. He leaned forward and spoke against his friend’s ear, but he meant the words for Balram.

“He was always faster, more graceful, when I was all limbs and bone. Laerin taught me better. A half-elf taught me how to beat him.” He slid the blade from Aazen’s stomach. “A dwarf taught me how to live.”

He stood up, but Balram’s eyes were fixed, horrified, on his son. “Aazen,” he whispered. The knife went slack in his hand.

Kail reacted, closing the space between him and Balram with speed that would indeed have made the half-elf proud. Kail’s sword, wet with the son’s blood, found the father’s heart with no fight at all from Balram. Kali drove him back and off the ground, drawing the knife away from Varan’s throat.

Balram’s body hit the ground in a pool of the spilled oil. The latent flames from Meisha’s fireball touched the puddle and ignited, and Balram joined the fite that slowly consumed the wood skeleton of Motel house.

Kail backed away, making no move to put out the flames. He took Aazen’s aims and slung his friend’s body across his

shoulders. Dantane lifted Varan, and Meisha took Varan’s other side as they headed for the doors.

“This way,” said Meisha. She waved an arm and the flames covering the door folded aside, boiling in orange swirls. The group slipped out through the small opening into the outer yard.

“Dantane,” said Kail, laying Aazen down on the grass.

Glassy-eyed, Aazen watched in resigned silence as his lifeblood soaked the green lawn. The scene reminded Kail of that day on the Esmel shore, when Haig had saved Aazen’s life. Those boys were long dead, Kali rhought. “Hurry,” he said.

Meisha took Varan, and Dantane handed Kail his last vial. “You should have killed him,” the wizard said impassively.

“Garavin would have been disappointed if I had.” Propping Aazen against his shoulder, Kail poured the healing potion down his friend’s throat. Aazen choked on the concoction, but Kail held his mouth. “Swallow, damn you. You’re not gone yet.

Aazen swallowed. Selune’s light reflected in his eyes as he stared upward. Gradually, they cleated and swiveled around to focus on Kail. “I thought you had done it,” Aazen said hoarsely. “I thought you’d killed me.”

“I would have been returning the favor,” Kail pointed out. “You tried to kill me.”

“I had to,” said Aazen, sitting unsteadily. He stared over Kail’s shoulder, through the gap in the front of the house. His father was in there. He would never come out again. It took a moment for the gravity of that truth to sink into Aazen’s soul.

He looked back at Kali. “If I didn’t make you fight in earnest, you couldn’t have won,” Aazen said. “I would have killed you before you got to him.” He paused, remembering. “But I never thought you would use me that way. I didn’t think my father could be so distracted.”

“He loved you,” Kail said, “as much as he was capable. You were right about that.”

Meisha looked at Aazen incredulously. “You wanted Kali to win,” she accused him. “You wanted him to—” “Kill me,” Aazen said. “Yes.”

“Gods, why? If release was what you wanted, why didn’t you kill Balram yourself?” she demanded.

“He couldn’t,” said Kali. He wiped his blade on the grass and resheathed it. “No more than I could accept that my father murdered Haig by his own will and took my mother from me. He was right. We were both in a cage. He wanted me to win.”

“When did you figure that out?” asked Aazen.

“After we fought in the Delve,” Kali said, “I suspected. I knew it later, when the portals wete unguatded. I should have known long before.”

“Why didn’t you kill me?”

“Because you wanted to be free of Balram. Your death wasn’t necessary.”

“Free,” said Dantane, looking at Meisha. “To face justice?” Aazen shook his head. “To retutn to the Shadow Thieves.” “No,” Kail and Meisha said, almost as one. Dantane smiled.

“You will still answet for the refugees in the Delve,” said Meisha, “for Varan.”

“And for you,” Aazen said, looking at her. “I did try to kill you. I thought I had succeeded. But now you of all people should want me to go ftee.”

Meisha laughed scornfully. “The excuse would have to be profound,” she said.

“Balram is dead. The Shadow Thieves’ work in the Delve has been compromised, but Varan is alive, and they will not give him up easily,” said Aazen. “If I return, I can report his death, and you will be free. Keep me for your Harper friends and there will be no safe place for you and the mad wizaid.”

“The Harpers are more than capable of protecting their own,” Meisha said, “and no bond of friendship holds me. I need nothing from you.”

Aazen smirked. “And will the Harpers welcome a mad,

dangerous wizard into their fold?” he asked. “You know there’s only one place for him now, and if I don’t go back, he’ll never be able to get there. It’s your choice.”

Kail imagined Meisha’s inner struggle. He fought his own feelings on the matter, but he wasn’t surprised when Meisha finally nodded. “I accept,” she said reluctantly, and added, “on the promise that if anything happens to Varan—if he is attacked, kidnapped, or suffers a mysterious ‘accident’ in his bed at night, the Harpers will come after you.” A red glow suffused her skin, or perhaps it was just the reflection from the burning house. “And I will be leading the way.”

Aazen nodded. “You, on the other hand,” he said to Kali, “will be much harder to convince.”

But Kail shook his head. “Go your own path,” he said. “I won’t hinder you, but choose any way but the Shadow Thieves. I spoke the truth. You’ll never be able to trust them.”

“I know,” said Aazen. “And so they will never have a hold on me. I claim no love … or friendship,” he said pointedly, “and so no one will ever control me—ever again!’

The conviction in his voice, the look in his eyes struck Kali with sadness. “True love doesn’t control,” he said.

“Of course it does,” said Aazen. “Love and friendship are flawed emotions. They can be twisted, manipulated, as we’ve both experienced. Never again,” he said. Then he added softly, “You’ve found better companions, Kali. Keep them.”

When Aazen walked away, Kali did not cry out for him to return. For a second time, he watched the darkness swallow his friend, but this time Kail was not alone. Meisha and Dantane stood on either side of him, and later, Morgan, Talal, and Garavin joined them. They stood, silhouetted in the light of the fire, until the Gem Guard came.

Keczulla, Amn

8 Marpenoth, the Year of Lightning Storms (1374 DR)

The following days saw widespread rumors. Whispers said the fire that consumed the estate had killed Motel’s heir and an undisclosed number of assassins. A surprising public statement from the Bladesmile family pattly fueled the rumors, reporting that all Morel assets were now in the care of Rays Bladesmile, per Kail Morel’s request. The furor arising from the announcement, combined with Kail’s disappearance from the city, led to rampant speculation about the fate of the Morel line. Many believed it to be extinct at last.

Kail was content to let the speculation drift where it may. Garavin rode beside him as they left the city behind. “Has there been any word since that night?” he asked. “No,” Kail replied. “But I’ll find her.” “And ye’re sure she’s alive?”

Kali gripped the gem from Garavin’s axe in his gloved palm. “I’m sure.”

They rode in silence for a while. Kail glanced down at the dwarf. “I like your new ornament,” he said, pointing to a gray streak running through the center of Garavin’s beard. “Distinguishes you—channeling a god, and all that. Lucky for

me, it hasn’t made you insufferably self-righteous.”

Garavin laughed. “If ye mean because I haven’t argued against Meisha’s plan, ye’re wrong. I think Dugmaren would approve, even if Dumathoin does not.”

“Oh? Why so?”

“Because as much as Shanatai needs protecting, there’s anothet school of thought says it needs to be explored, its magic understood. Otherwise it gets misused, as the Howlings misused it—as the Amnians suffered from what they didn’t understand.”

“Some would argue—myself included—that a mad wizard is the last person to take on such a task. Truth, old friend— should he really be allowed back in the Delve?”

“Yes,” Garavin said without hesitation. “He’s been touched by a god and a demon, and still he’s trying to find his way back. That’s what the lass believes. As long as there’s hope, she can’t give up on him, just as ye couldn’t give up on yer father or Aazen.”

“I left Aazen to the Shadow Thieves,” Kali said. “What good can that possibly do his future?”

“Nothing,” Garavin said, unwilling to lie to his friend. “But ye set his mind and heart free from his father, something he couldn’t do for himself. He’ll find his way on his own. Whether ye approve of his path or not, ye can’t change him. Ye’ve yer own course to follow now.”

“And you’re coming with me?” Kali asked, trying to make it sound casual.

Garavin wasn’t fooled. “Aye, lad, I’m coming, if only to see ye don’t get trampled on by that wizard and the Harper firebrand.”

“I’m hoping Morgan and the boy will mitigate some of that,” Kail said, though he privately wondered if he weren’t setting himself up for a world of hurt when he finally did track down Cesira, with a fire-loving Harper, a thief, an orphan, and a rogue wizard in tow. He suspected Dantane’s motives for joining the group had everything to do with Meisha’s desire to

take a leave from the Harpers and come along, and not any real concern for Cesira.

He looked up at the sky, but there were no birds today. The clouds threatened rain. They would be soaked by the time they got on the road, but Kali didn’t care. His path, now that he’d found it, spanned Amn, the Sword Coast, to the frozen North if necessary. Whichever road led him to Cesira, he would follow it gladly.

“Where are we meeting Meisha?” Garavin asked. “Outside the Delve,” replied Kail. “After she takes Varan home.”

Meisha guided her master back to his pallet in the small workroom. With a word, she lit newly placed torches along the walls, flooding the room with watmth.

Varan did not seem to notice. He sat right down and reached into the wall, pulling out fresh tools and components as if from nowhere.

Meisha suppressed a shudder at how comfortably he fell into his old routine. Now that she knew just what his hands touched —what ancient power—was she doing the right thing?

“I’ll be back to look in on you,” she said, hoping some part -of him heard her. “Between visits, someone else will come to take care of you. You won’t be alone.”

Varan made no reaction, so she turned to go.

“Fixed.”

“What?” Meisha asked, turning back to him.

Varan held up an object: a small, square disk that seemed to be made of fluid metal. “Fixed now, firebird,” he said confidently. “I’ll fix them all.”

“Eventually,” Meisha said. She smiled a little as Varan’s face blurred in her vision. “Fix them all, Master Maybe when you do, you’ll find your way back to me.”

Talal waited for her in the hall. Meisha’s anxiety, deep as it was, couldn’t hold undet the boy’s shy grin. “Ready?” she asked.

“More than,” he said. His eyes fell on the pouch in her hand. She’d removed it from Varans neck. “He let you take that?”

“The demon’s eye has been destroyed,” Meisha explained. “The jarilith—and in tutn Varan—only ever guarded it because it setved as the link to Varan and to this plane. That’s why he killed Shirva Tarlarin and attacked me—to protect the link.”