The Lost Library of Cormanthyr (42 page)

Baylee ducked under the golem’s arm. The huge stone hand thundered against the wall, knocking books from the shelves and breaking a dozen vases or more. He looked up and spotted Cordyan slipping behind the golem. She swung her blade with force and using all of her body weight. The sword bit into the golem’s back, sending fracture marks through the stone.

The golem turned ponderously, as if unwilling to shift too much and put strain on the wounded area.

“Get back,” Baylee said.

The civilar slipped out of the way of the golem’s fist. Then the creature turned completely, trying to trap her between its outspread arms.

Unbelievably, Cordyan froze where she was.

Baylee’s stomach turned over at the thought of what those terrible stone hands would do to her. “Move!” he shouted, already on his way to the door.

Cordyan didn’t flinch at all as the golem reached for her.

Looking past the civilar, Baylee saw the lich holding a hand toward her. He guessed that Shallowsoul had enspelled her. Xuxa, take him. The ranger rolled the emerald drum toward the door, then took up the battle-axe in both hands. “Cordyan, when you’re free, get the drum.” He launched himself at the golem, pulling into position, then bringing the axe into the creature’s knee joint.

The axe head buried deep in the stone flesh, sending fissures running through the injured leg. Stunned and hurting, the golem turned back to Baylee, its face a mask of inarticulate rage.

Baylee ducked under the outstretched hands. He caught a brief glimpse of Xuxa streaking across the intervening space in front of the lich. Then the azmyth bat raked her claws across the back of Shallowsoul’s hand. The lich drew his hand back, breaking the spell.

“Get the drum,” Baylee said. “We’ve got to get it downstairs to the baelnorn.” He drew back the axe and chopped at the golem’s leg again. Fist-sized chunks flew from the creature’s limb this time.

Cordyan broke free and streaked for the drum. She caught it up in one hand and ran for the door.

“No!” the lich screamed behind her.

Baylee drew back from the golem, luring it into position so that it blocked the lich behind it and served as a shield from any spells Shallowsoul might cast. He turned and ran after Cordyan, vaulting over the headless corpse of Krystarn Fellhammer.

A concussive wave overtook him, buffeting his body. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the stone golem suddenly blown toward him, coming at him impossibly fast. Ripped from the floor, the creature flailed soundlessly in the wind blast.

“Get down!” Baylee yelled in warning, diving to the ground beside the door.

The stone golem blew by overhead, rolling and turning as it shot out over the railing. But one of its flailing hands caught Cordyan a glancing blow, knocking her over the side. She almost caught herself, one hand wrapping around the railing.

Baylee pushed himself up, aware of the emerald drum balanced precariously on the edge of the railing, one of the broken stone hands still holding onto it, somehow wedging against the railing. He dropped the battle-axe.

He ran forward, telling himself there was time to save both, to save the woman and the phylactery. Both had managed to find a grip on the railing. The phylactery would have to come first, of course. After all, it was more precariously perched. Cordyan could at least hold on.

He took another step, his mind racing with everything he needed to do, then the step after that. Getting to the woman and the drum was going to be easy.

Then a tremor shivered throughout the library again, one of the worst ones so far.

Baylee lost his footing and went to the floor. He heard Cordyan scream in renewed fear. “No!” he shouted as he watched the drum’s balance point shift over the side of the railing. It slid over the side, starting a slow tumble.

By the gods, it wasn’t fair! Baylee pushed himself to his feet. He breathed a quick prayer to Mielikki, begging the Lady of the Forest’s indulgence in asking for so selfish a prize. He could catch the drum before it hit the ground, there was time.

There had to be. Losing it meant losing the library, and losing the library meant losing an incalculable amount of knowledge. All the dreams he had ever had, all the questions that he could ever hope to have answers for, the drum contained them all. The loss couldn’t be allowed.

“Baylee!” Cordyan shrilled.

The ranger shifted his gaze, watching as the woman’s hand slipped and she fell. He grabbed the enchanted rope from the gnomish leather and vaulted over the side. Fifty feet of free fall opened up below him. On one side was the woman; and on the other was the phylactery.

And he only had time to save one of them. And that one only at the risk of his own life.

Saying the command word while in free fall himself, Baylee threw one end of the rope toward the cavern roof. The rope slithered around a projecting bit of rock and tied itself.

Letting the rope burn through his gloved hand, the ranger made his choice. Cordyan looked up at him, her face tense, barely keeping the fear at bay. Reaching for her, he caught her free hand. “Hang on!” He wrapped his arm in the rope and tightened his grip.

When they hit the apex of their drop, he felt her hand sliding out of his. The pain in his shoulders was incredible as he took the strain. “Don’t let go!”

Cordyan gripped his hand.

Baylee knew what she was thinking because he was thinking the same thing. Once the phylactery hit the ground, it would shatter. Whatever control they might have been able to exercise over the lich would be gone. The library would be lost.

The drum hurtled down, spinning over and over as it fell toward the whirlwind of gemstones in the center of the room. Baylee was vaguely aware of the pockets of battle between the watch and the hobgoblins and the undead that were going on.

The stone golem hit the ground first and shattered, sending debris in all directions.

The civilar grabbed Baylee’s leg, then managed to grab the rope as well. The ranger hung on with grim determination as their swing arced them out high over the center of the room. Cordyan shifted, taking her weight from Baylee to the rope. The ranger felt the load lighten immediately.

He glanced back over his shoulder, watching as Calebaan and Cthulad ran to intercept the falling phylactery. The rope swung back, and Baylee twisted with it, losing the view for a moment.

When he turned back around, he spotted Folgrim Shallowsoul swooping in on the flying carpet.

The lich snatched the phylactery from the air and glided around the spinning field of gemstones. Nevft Scoontiphp gestured toward the lich, but Shallowsoul held out a hand.

Whatever spell the baelnorn had employed failed. A moment later, Scoontiphp was covered in fire. His screams echoed throughout the caverns.

Get down, Xuxa warned.

Cordyan slid down the rope, working her way across the knots. Baylee was only a heartbeat behind her. The rope just managed to reach the floor.

“Now, human,” Shallowsoul said as he flew toward Baylee, “now you’re going to pay full measure for your part in this.”

Baylee reached into a pocket and took out a handful of caltrops. He flung them backhanded as hard as he could. The caltrops spun through the air, blackest black against the shadows. The lich was less than fifteen feet distant. The sharp pronged caltrops embedded in his face and upper chest.

Screaming in pain, obviously weakened from all the spellcasting he was doing, the lich fell backward from the flying carpet and landed in the swirl of gemstones. He disappeared at once, but it took longer for his screams to die away.

Baylee touched down on the ground just as a quake ripped through the ground. Chunks of earth pushed up through the floor while other sections of the floor dropped away.

Incredibly, Scoontiphp pushed himself up from the ground, beating at the flames that couldn’t quite devour his flesh.

Baylee crossed the trembling floor, leaping across the broken areas of flooring. “What happened?” he asked the baelnorn.

“We failed,” Scoontiphp answered. “The lich’s spell is still in effect.”

Baylee watched the prismatic rainbow of gems as it swelled to start filling the room. “But Shallowsoul is dead.”

“Maybe not.” The baelnorn remained erect with effort. His clothing held burn marks.

The prismatic bubble that had been the swirl of gems grew at a fantastic rate, driving the men and hobgoblins before it. Books and whole shelves leaped across the intervening distance, caught up in the cyclone winds being generated by the growing prismatic bubble. A hobgoblin, unable to find shelter quickly enough, was swept up in the bubble. The humanoid’s body didn’t penetrate its surface. Instead, it exploded against it, with not even enough time to yell.

Baylee scooped up a few books from a nearby shelf just as they were starting to lift up. He tried to hang onto them, but they were pulled too strongly, threatening to drag him into the bubble as well. He had no choice but to let them go. They flew into the embrace of the whirling winds and vanished.

“This way!” Cthulad yelled, twisting into a corridor off the big room. The members of the watch followed the old warrior immediately.

“Look at it,” Calebaan said as he passed Baylee. “So much knowledge, and it’s all being taken away from us.”

Baylee watched in silent frustration. He called Xuxa to him, then tucked her inside the crook of his arm so the winds wouldn’t harm her. Books and vases and skulls and display cases whirled madly, sucked one after another into the prismatic bubble. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Come on, Baylee,” Cordyan said, urging him to follow the others, “there’s nothing else to be done.”

The vacuum increased so much that even boulders and stalactites were pulled against the bubble. They shattered at once, blasting out against the surrounding walls hard enough to leave scarring. The bubble continued to increase in size.

It can’t fill all of the library, can it? Baylee asked Xuxa as he stepped into the corridor.

I don’t know, the azmyth bat said. She squirmed against his arm.

The next room held another prismatic bubble that was already starting to spread to fill the room, trapping the party in the corridor.

Nevft Scoontiphp knelt and traced lines of green fire on the floor with his forefinger. A shimmering filled the air at that end of the corridor. “I can get us to safety,” the baelnorn said. “But we have to hurry.”

Without hesitation Cthulad led the way into the shimmering area, promptly disappearing. The party filed quickly through the magical gateway. In a moment, only Baylee and the baelnorn remained.

“I can’t hold the way much longer,” Scoontiphp warned.

Go, Xuxa ordered.

The library, he replied.

For now, Baylee, it’s gone, disappeared somewhere into the astral plane. It will be harder to get to, true, but not completely unattainable. The next discovery you make may lead you straight to it. A spell, a legend, something will put a little more knowledge into your hands. If you keep looking.

Baylee said nothing, watching the mad swirl of prismatic lights engulf the room.

Baylee, you have to go. Now.

I know. But he couldn’t. It was too much to walk away from.

The library’s gone, Xuxa said, but it hasn’t gotten away. Not as long as you are alive to pursue it.

Without any other course of action open to him, Baylee turned and went through the shimmering portal. He felt a moment of lightness, then he was gone.

Crouched in the bottom of the well after hours of labor to remove all the rock that had fallen into it from the earthquakes, Baylee shined his lantern into the hidden shaft that had first taken them into the underground lair under Rainydale.

It’s covered over, Xuxa said.

Baylee silently agreed. From where he stood on the mound of debris that had filled the well, only a jumbled mass of rock was visible, and there was no telling how much remained of the caverns themselves. Baylee covered the lantern and secured it to his gnomish armor. He climbed back up the rope trailing over the lip of the well. Topside again, he breathed in the clean, fresh air of the evening. The sun was already sinking in the west.

“The way?” Cordyan asked, sitting nearby. Her face was grimed and scratched from digging in the well.

Scoontiphp’s spell had taken them back to the hills not far from the well. The watch members who’d been left there had managed to keep the horses together, so they wouldn’t have to walk out of the woods. Of the baelnorn, though, there had been no sign. Baylee knew Scoontiphp had entered the shimmering area after him, but he had no way to known where the baelnorn had gone.

“Totally blocked,” Baylee announced. “It would take a team of dwarves who were both skilled and patient to get back into those caverns.”

“Even then,” Calebaan said, sitting under a tree only a few yards away, “I don’t think there would be much of the library for them to find.”

“No.” With exhaustion sinking into him, Baylee collapsed beside the well. Xuxa fluttered to hang from a nearby tree. Despite his fatigue, the ranger rummaged in his pockets and turned up a small journeycake made of nuts and berries. He unfolded the cheesecloth it was stored in and pinched off a bite for Xuxa.

The azmyth bat chirped in appreciation.

Baylee took some of the journeycake for himself, savoring the flavor. Even the land on top of the underground caverns had changed. Uprooted trees lay scattered across the countryside. Cracks broke through the ground, but none of them that Baylee had investigated led down into any caverns. Still, in a matter of weeks, the forest would reclaim the land, making it look no different than any place around them.

After a look from Cordyan, Calebaan excused himself and left them by themselves. Cthulad was already shouting orders at the men, organizing them into the party they’d need to begin the long trip back to Waterdeep.

“I want to thank you for saving me back there,” Cordyan said. She wiped at her face with a rag she soaked with her waterskin, and ran her fingers through her hair.

“We were both lucky,” Baylee replied. “But you’re welcome.”