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."Decided to join me after all?"Mystra was silent.Bane sighed."A pity that you will be dead soon.After all, how many more times can you endure the hakeashar? The torments it inflicts on you as it violates your essence must be beyond belief."Mystra did not stir."I will find a way to overthrow Ao with or without you, Mystra.You'd be wise to join me before I must kill you."When the Goddess of Magic remained silent, Bane turned from her and walked to the scrying pool, where he resumed the vigil for the guests camped right outside his castle.Come at once, Mystra commanded, and Caitlan responded.Despite the words of the goddess, ordering her to leave her newfound friends behind, Caitlan was tempted to rouse Midnight or Kelemvor, and tell them of Mystra's summons.Tell them that no more time could be wasted; they had to go to the castle right away.But Mystra's commands had to be followed to the letter, so Caitlan silently repeated the words to the spell, and was lifted into the night sky.Cyric didn't even hear her stir.And despite her exhilaration at the experience of sailing through the air, Caitlan never forgot the somber reason for her night.The goddess needed her.Along with Mystra's summons, Caitlan had received a complex series of images, and by following the real life counterparts of these images she soon arrived at Castle Kilgrave and entered it undetected.Caitlan sensed a consummate evil in the place, although the dusty corridors she traveled through seemed harmless enough.Eventually the girl found the chamber where she saw the odd, glowing form of the Goddess of Magic.Mystra did not appear the least bit human.The goddess had been shackled to the wall of the dungeon with strange, pulsating chains, and she hovered across the room from Caitlan like a ghost.A horribly deformed man was in the chamber, as well.He stood in the center of the room, staring into an ornately carved tub that held dark, black water.Caitlan saw that his features were part human, part animal, and part demon.Turning suddenly, the deformed man glanced in the girl's direction, but she stayed hidden in the shadows.It was as if he heard her enter the dungeon or somehow sensed her presence.The dark man turned to Mystra and smiled."I do wish the sun would rise, so those pitiful humans could come and entertain me.""They'll do more than entertain you, Bane," Mystra said.Caitlan almost gasped.The deformed man was Lord Bane, God of Strife! He must have taken an avatar, like Tymora did in Arabel.It was then that Caitlan knew what was expected of her, and she rejoiced in the knowledge of her ultimate fate.Before her, Bane shouted at the goddess, hurling vile threats against her, imploring the captive goddess to join him in some mad plan he had devised.Mystra did not respond, and Caitlan feared that the goddess's essence was dwindling, that the goddess might die.Then she shook herself from such thoughts and waited for Bane to turn away long enough for her to cross the distance that separated her from the Goddess of Magic.Then it would be Mystra's turn to rejoice.VINew AcheronAs the heroes crested the final hill and looked down into the valley where Castle Kilgrave lay, they saw the state of absolute disrepair the castle had fallen into.Kelemvor felt his heart sink as they rode to the ruin."Unless some creature got her or the ground swallowed her up, Caitlan is here somewhere," the fighter said."But I still don't understand why she ran off."Cyric sighed."I've told you a dozen times this morning, Kel: I don't think she ran off.Caitlan was still asleep when I came on watch, and I didn't hear her leave.""But that still doesn't explain where she went," Midnight said, her concern for the child evident in her voice."Or how she got out of camp without anyone hearing her.""With all the strange goings on," Adon said, "I wouldn't be surprised if the ground did swallow her up."Kelemvor tensed.If the girl was dead, or even just gone for good, he wouldn't get his reward.A slight ripple ran through his muscles."Get off this horse, Adon.Now!""But — but —"When Kelemvor didn't even turn around to argue with him, Adon realized he'd best just walk the rest of the way to Castle Kilgrave.He didn't like sharing a mount with the fighter anyway; he sweated too much.Kelemvor turned his attentions back to the castle.There could be no question that Castle Kilgrave had once been magnificent.The castle's design was insidiously simple, which made the place all the more intimidating.The keep was a perfect square, with gigantic cylindrical towers placed in each corner.Huge walls connected to the windowless towers, and a massive obelisk jutted from the wall facing the heroes on one side — obviously the entrance.The entire structure had the look of bones left out in the sun to bleach.As the heroes got closer, they saw that the castle was three stories high, and was surrounded by a moat that had dried up long ago.Whatever creeping terrors the moat once held to frighten away thieves and assassins were now reduced to fragments of misshapen bone that jutted from the rich brown earth and served as excellent grips for Cyric as he descended into the bowl-shaped crevice."Try to climb up to the gate," Kelemvor called to Cyric as the thief reached the bottom of the dry moat and started to climb toward the castle."Still stating the obvious," Cyric muttered under his breath."That's our Kelemvor [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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