Vanity's brood hos-3

by Lisa Smedman

  her, and we won't have to worry about the serpent god getting free. He's apparently been bound by his own jungle."

  Pakal stopped. He turned to face Arvin, a wary look in his eye. "Who told you this?"

  Arvin decided to tell only part of the truth. Pakal didn't need to know the details of what Zelia had forced upon him. "The woman in the rooftop garden- the one who attacked us after we escaped from Sibyl's lair. Her name is Zelia; she's a yuan-ti. Her agent-the human woman you killed with the dart-had also snuck into Sibyl's lair to look for the Circled Serpent. Zelia hopes to use it to open the second door, the one that leads to Smaragd. Like Sibyl, she hopes to free the serpent god."

  Pakal's eyes narrowed. "Why would she tell you all this?"

  "She didn't tell me," Arvin said. "I used mind magic to pull the information directly from her thoughts, after I defeated her."

  "Where is this "second door?' "

  Arvin shook his head. "She didn't know."

  "This Zelia recognized you," Pakal continued. "Why is that?"

  Arvin smiled. That one he could answer with the truth. "Our paths have crossed before. She's an old enemy. She tried to kill Karrell and me when we were in Ormpetarr."

  Pakal considered that.

  "When I contacted Karrell, she told me to find Ts'ikil," Arvin continued. "She said that Ts'ikil would know what to do. I assumed that meant that Ts'ikil would help us use the Circled Serpent to open the door to Smaragd and free her."

  Pakal folded his arms across his chest. "The Circled Serpent must not be used. Dendar must not be set free."

  "We won't be opening that door," Arvin protested.

  "If there is a second door, the Circled Serpent may cause both it and the one that would free Dendar to open at once."

  "What if that isn't the case? What if the Circled Serpent only opens one door at a time?"

  Pakal gave a firm shake of his head. "Ts'ikil will not allow it to be used. We cannot run the risk of Sseth emerging as an avatar. That would be as perilous as allowing Dendar to escape. The Circled Serpent must be destroyed. That is why we have been searching for it. Why Karrell was searching for it. Karrell herself would insist that this be done."

  Arvin didn't like the sound of the word "destroyed." Maybe getting Pakal to take him to Ts'ikil wasn't such a good idea. He threw up his hands, exasperated.

  "I thought you cared about Karrell, that you'd want to help rescue her."

  "I do care about her," Pakal said, an intense look in his dark eyes, "and I would like to rescue her, but the life of one woman-even one to whom you owe your own life-does not negate the risk opening that door poses." He sighed and spread his hands. "This is an empty argument. We only have half of the Circled Serpent, and half cannot be used to open any door." He gave Arvin a level stare, as if warning him not to try anything.

  "I know who's got the other half," Arvin said. "Dmetrio Extaminos."

  Pakal's eyebrows shot up. "The yuan-ti prince from Hlondeth?"

  It was Arvin's turn to be surprised. "You know him?"

  "He claims to be on our side-to want to destroy the Circled Serpent. Why would he not tell us that he has-"

  "Dmetrio is in Chult?" Arvin guessed.

  Pakal gave him a look that made Arvin wonder if he'd spoken a little too enthusiastically.

  "It's just that he disappeared from Hlondeth nearly six months ago," Arvin continued. "No one's heard from him since. I'm truly surprised to hear he's still alive. Everyone in Hlondeth thought he was dead."

  "He's not dead," Pakal answered. He paused. "When we reach Ts'ikil, you must tell her what you have just told me."

  "I will," Arvin agreed, uncertain whether he'd be able to keep that promise.

  If Pakal was right about Ts'ikil not wanting the Circled Serpent to be used, maybe Arvin should grab Pakal's half and try to get to Dmetrio before the dwarf and Ts'ikil did. He was suddenly very glad of Karrell's ring. If the dwarf did turn out to have the ability to read thoughts, he wouldn't like what was going through Arvin's mind.

  Arvin glancod up the path. "The portal is somewhere up above us, right?"

  Pakal nodded. "Only a short distance ahead, but there is no hurry. The Talos worshipers are not following us."

  "They're not what I'm worried about," Arvin said. He rubbed the scar on his forehead. It tingled again. "When I left Hlondeth, one of Sibyl's constructs was following me: a cobra, made of iron. I killed it, but my mind magic is warning me that Sibyl may have more than one of these constructs. If we don't get to the portal right away, it may lead Sibyl straight to us."

  Pakal just stared at him.

  "What?" Arvin asked.

  "There is a problem," Pakal answered. "The portal can only be used at sunrise."

  "Ah." Arvin thought for a moment. "We'll stay awake in turns until then and keep an eye out for the cobra. Maybe you can turn us to gas once we reach the portal. It may not be able to find us then."

  "That I cannot do."

  "Why not?"

  Pakal sighed and spread his hands. "Thard Harr grants me only so many blessings each day. I can gain no more until I have prayed."

  "Can't you pray now?"

  "If I did, Thard Harr would not hear me," Pakal said. "The prayers raw t be said in daylight. The traditional time is when dawn first breaks."

  "That's unfortunate," Arvin said.

  He knew how Pakal felt. Arvin too was close to the limit of his own powers, already. His muladhara felt flat, a hair's breadth away from being utterly depleted. He needed to meditate.

  He turned and stared down the mountainside. The stormlord and his worshipers were walking back to their temple, carrying the injured. Beyond the temple, the road vanished into darkness. Somewhere below, he was certain, another iron cobra slithered toward them.

  CHAPTER 6

  Arvin bolted awake, his heart pounding. "Karrell!" he shouted. "No!"

  It took him several moments to realize that it had been a dream. A nightmare. Not real.

  He could remember every detail. Sibyl, sending out waves of magical fear that turned into lava and burned the flesh from his bones, leaving him a walking skeleton that reeked of seared meat. Zelia, cracking open enormous eggs and slurping out the screaming infants they contained, her neck bulging grotesquely as she swallowed them down. The marilith demon, hacking open Karrell's pregnant belly with its swords-inside was a nest of dead snakes tied in an intricate knot.

  Sweat trickled down Arvin's temples, and he wiped it away with a shaking hand.

  The nightmare had been so vivid, so clear. Usually, in dreams, some of the senses were blurred, but in this dream every detail of smell, sound, touch, and taste had been present. Even though Arvin was wide awake, the dream wasn't fading. It hung in his mind's eye like a gruesome painting.

  He closed his eyes and concentrated on Karrell's face, trying to contact her, but nothing happened. As before, his sending was blocked. The nightmare had left him more worried than ever-had the marilith found Karrell? Killed her? He remembered the prophetic dreams that had woken his mother, screaming, in the middle of the night. Was this what they had been like?

  A hand touched his shoulder-Pakal's. The dwarf had been standing watch while Arvin slept.

  Pakal muttered something, then spoke. Halfway through, his spell took hold and his words became intelligible. "-you dream?" he asked.

  Arvin shivered. It was still dark, though the sky to the east was growing lighter. Almost dawn. "A nightmare," he answered.

  Pakal grunted. "I, too. Earlier, when I slept." His faco was difficult to see in the gloom, but the shudder that ran through his body made his feelings clear. "I dreamed of the jungle reduced to ash, like this place." He waved a hand, indicating a blackened tree that stood like gaunt shadow a few paces away.

  They were almost at the peak of Mount Ugruth. The mountainside was bare black rock, freshly spewed from the volcano. Gray ash and chunks of porous rock covered the ground where they sat. Hot, sulfurous gases vented from a deep crack in the gr
ound a few paces away. The landscape was desolate, like something out of the Abyss.

  Nearby, at the bottom of a crater in the loose volcanic rubble, was a stone dais, much like the one in

  Sibyl's lair. It too was of glossy obsidian-red obsidian. Glyphs, carved in Draconic script, encircled its rim. When the sun rose, they would activate.

  According to Pakal, the portal was ancient. It dated to the height of the Serpentes Empire. Despite its incredible antiquity and the recent eruptions that must have pelted it with hot ash and chunks of falling stone, the dais looked almost new. Its edges were sword-sharp. Not a single chip had been knocked from them in all the centuries since its creation.

  Arvin turned to Pakal. "Do you ever dream the future?"

  The dwarf tossed back his braids. "No."

  "My mother did. She dreamed of her own death- she couldn't prevent it." Arvin took a deep, steadying breath. "I dreamed about Karrell, and about our children. It was… terrible."

  "Something has happened," Pakal said. "Dendar is not doing her job."

  For a moment, Arvin wondered if the spell was translating Pakal's words incorrectly. "Her job?" he echoed. "I thought the Night Serpent was a monster who fed on mortal souls."

  "Should she ever be released, that is what she would feed upon," Pakal said. "For now, she sustains herself on our nightmares. The dream fragments we remember upon waking are the crumbs she has left behind. Last night, for some reason, she did not feed."

  Arvin sat up a little straighter. "Does that mean Dendar is dead?" he asked. If she was, he wouldn't need to worry about the door to her lair opening.

  Pakal held up a hand. "I know what you are thinking," he said. "The answer is still no. The Circled Serpent must be destroyed."

  Arvin nodded, feigning acceptance. He noted Pakal's wary look and the way the dwarf shifted his

  sack to his far hand. Arvin had been about to charm him but decided against it. He needed Pakal to show him how to use the portal. If the charm failed, Pakal would have even less reason to trust Arvin. As soon as they had stepped through the portal into the jungle, however, a charm would do the trick. If it failed, Arvin would take the Circled Serpent by force and amend Pakal's memory to erase any knowledge of the event.

  Arvin glanced at the eastern sky. There was still some time before the sun rose. "Do I have time to meditate?" he asked the dwarf. "I need to restore my magic."

  At Pakal's nod, Arvin adopted the bhujan asana and began his meditations. It felt good to slow his mind; it helped push the terrible images of his nightmare away. When he was done, the sun was peeping out from behind Mount Aclor. Slowly, it climbed higher in the sky.

  Pakal climbed down into the crater, sending small avalanches of loose rock and dust toward the dais. Arvin forced himself to wait a moment before rising-casually-to his feet and following. The dais was knee-high on the dwarf but came only midway up Arvin's calves. One quick step would put him on top of it.

  Together, they watched as sunlight crept across the dais, illuminating it like a waxing moon. As it did, the ash that had settled on that half of the dais vanished.

  "What do we do?" Arvin asked. "Step onto it once it's fully in sunlight?"

  Pakal nodded.

  "Will Ts'ikil be waiting for us on the other side?" "She will come once I call her."

  Good. That would give Arvin some time. As the sunlight crept toward the western edge of the dais,

  the symbols that were already illuminated began to glow with a ruddy light. It looked, Arvin thought, as though their grooves had suddenly filled with lava. He passed a hand above one of the symbols but felt no heat.

  "Does the dais work like the amber ring?" he asked. "Do we need to be touching to go through together?"

  The dwarf eased himself to the side, slightly increasing the distance between them. "No. Once activated, it will transport anyone who steps onto it, but only for a brief time. Be ready."

  "I will."

  Arvin was glad the portal was almost ready. The tingling in his forehead had grown strong. If it was an iron cobra, it was getting closer by the moment. He risked a glance up at the lip of the crater but saw no sign of a snake, iron or otherwise.

  As he started to turn back to the portal, something in the sky caught his attention. A creature flew toward Mount Ugruth from the direction of Hlondeth. It was big, with a serpent's body and four arms. With a sinking heart, Arvin realized who it must be.

  "Sibyl's coming!" he warned. "She's headed straight for us!"

  Pakal glanced in the direction Arvin had pointed then back at the dais. "She is still far enough away," he said. "We will be in the jungle, with the portal closed behind us, before she can reach us. The portal will not reactivate until tomorrow's sunrise."

  Arvin nodded, only partially reassured. Sibyl a day behind them was all well and good if the Circled Serpent was destroyed by then, but destroying it wasn't Arvin's goal. A day wouldn't give him much time to trick Zelia into telling him where Dmetrio was, steal the second half of the Circled Serpent, and rescue Karrell.

  "There," Pakal continued. "You see? It is ready."

  He was right. The entire inscription glowed. Pakal placed a foot onto the dais. Arvin did the same. The tingling in his forehead turned into a steady burn…

  A loud hiss and clatter of loose rock startled Pakal. One foot on the dais, one foot on the ground, the dwarf stared up at the source of the noise and cursed. Arvin, realizing it must be the cobra, grabbed the dwarf by the arm and boosted him onto the dais, leaping up after him. As the world beyond the inscription began to shimmer, Arvin saw the iron cobra he thought he'd defeated come skittering down the slope. Its hood was bent flat against its head and several of the iron bands that made up its body were jammed together, but it was moving again. Fast. With a screech of metal it heaved itself up onto the dais with them and bared bent fangs.

  "Watch out!" Arvin yelled, yanking Pakal back. "It's going to-"

  The mountainside vanished. For a heartbeat there was nothing under Arvin's feet as he fell sideways through the dimensions, still holding tight to Pakal's arm. Then his feet landed on something solid. A roaring filled the air: water. It slammed into Arvin's calves, knocking him prone. He had just enough time to register the fact that the portal had transported them to the bottom of a narrow, cliff- walled canyon filled with a rushing river before the force of the water dragged him off the submerged portal they'd materialized on. Then the river swept them away.

  Karrell heard something moving through the jungle off to her left. She froze. Rain pattered on the slab of bark she held over her head like a shield, making it

  difficult to hear. Already the bark felt spongy; the acidic downpour was eating through it.

  Whatever was moving through the jungle, it was big, larger than the dretches the marilith had sent to search for her.

  Karrell touched her belly, soothing the children inside her. They could sense her fear and were kicking. She began to whisper the prayer that would disguise her as a tree but realized the sounds of branches breaking and sodden vegetation squelching were moving away. She sighed in relief.

  The sounds stopped. A voice she recognized grated out guttural words-the marilith, casting a spell.

  Karrell croaked out a prayer. "Ubtao, hide me in my time of need. Protect me from my enemies; obscure me from their sight and do not let them find me."

  The jungle reacted to her, just as it did each time she cast a spell. Thorny branches slashed at her bare arms and the ground underfoot became soggier, causing her to lose her footing. Gnats erupted from a nearby pool in a belch of foul-smelling air and swarmed her face. She squinted and waved them away.

  Somewhere in the jungle to Karrell's left, the marilith continued to chant. Something that flashed silver rose into the sky. After a moment, she realized the flashes were coming from the marilith's swords, which circled above the treetops. Just as it had done in Baron Foesmasher's palace, the demon had summoned a barrier of blades.

  Perhaps the demon
was under attack, but if so, why had it flung the blades into the sky?

  Karrell's heart beat faster. Perhaps, she thought, the blades had been driven there by some unseen adversary. Had Arvin done as he'd promised and found a way into Smaragd?

  Tossing her makeshift rain shield aside-she could move more quickly without it, and the rain was slowing anyway-she pushed her way through the jungle toward the spot the swords circled above. She caught only glimpses of them through the thick vegetation- brief glimpses, for though the acidic rain had no effect on her skin, it stung her eyes.

  As she got closer, she spotted the marilith. Its tail was coiled beneath it as it stared up at the circle of blades. All six arms were raised above its head, directing the whirling blades. Squatting next to it were two dozen dretches, drooling and idly scratching their bulging, hairless heads. The marilith guided the swords down through the trees, tilting the circle so that it was perpendicular to the ground.

  In the middle of the circle, Karrell could see a flat gray plain with a walled city in the distance. The wall that surrounded the city had a greenish glow. Hlondeth? No, the landscape was wrong. The walled city wasn't a port; the gray plain continued behind it as far as the eye could see. Her heart beat faster as she realized the demon had opened a gate to another plane. Which one, Karrell had no idea, but it looked habitable. Somewhere on the prime material plane? Wherever it was, it had to be safer than Smaragd.

  Moving as close as she dared, Karrell readied herself. Leaping through the gate with a bulging belly would be difficult, but it might be her only chance at escape.

  The view through the gate shifted as the link between planes adjusted itself. With a rush that dizzied her to look at it, the view zoomed in toward the city. When it stopped, it was focused on a field of rubble. Huge blocks of masonry lay jumbled together with rusted bits of twisted metal and splintered wood. It looked as though a giant had trampled on