by David Cook
Garkim nodded grimly. "Precisely. The adherents of the Fallen Temple have evidently used the confusion to install themselves and the bloodforge in Umberlee's sanctuary."
Entreri had been carefully taking a visual survey of the plaza and dock area. Now he stepped back and tapped Trandon and Shar. "You two come with me. The rest of you wait here." Without another word, he was gone, stealing back along the way they'd come. Garkim looked after him, puzzled.
"What's he doing?" the chancellor asked Kern.
The paladin spread his hands in a gesture that indicated dissociation. "I've no idea, and I don't want to know. Right now, let's get out of sight." He examined the open door of a nearby house carefully, and beckoned the others inside. Noph helped the footless guard whom Sharessa had been aiding. Once inside, the man sank to the ground and rested against the wall.
"That woman… who is she?" the guard asked Kern.
"Shar? She's a pirate."
"She's the most beautiful pirate I ever saw." The guard managed a grin. "Something to make a man wish he'd chosen to follow the sea."
Noph settled himself beside the guard. "Don't expect too much from her. If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that you can't trust women. Love 'em and leave 'em, that's what I say."
The guard looked at Noph's hairless face and slender wrists. Along the youth's upper lip was a dark line of fuzzy down, where he'd been trying to grow a mustache. "Right. I'll remember that. Coming from a man of your experience." He sighed and stretched a hand down to scratch at his stump of a leg. "Damn thing itches."
The company was silent until Kern, who had been watching from the door, gave a low whistle. A moment later, Entreri, Shar, and Trandon entered, bearing a pile of shapeless rags.
"What are those?" asked Kern.
Shar held up a robe, identical to the ones they'd seen on the members of the Fallen Temple. "Here's one just your size, paladin."
The big knight drew back as if the garment were riddled with disease. "I can't wear that."
"Why not?"
"It's dishonorable to go into battle in disguise. And especially to disguise myself as a member of that disgusting bunch of-"
"Fine. Then you don't go," Entreri said briskly. "The rest of you get these on quickly. There's some sort of ceremony about to start, and we may be able to take advantage of it."
Garkim's dusky face paled. "Ceremony?"
"Yes. We heard chanting and drums, and there was a long line going to the temple."
Garkim hastily drew a robe over his head. "It must be the Rite of Investiture. We cannot allow this to happen!" He turned to the paladin. "Do you not see the terrible danger? Imagine those monsters of the Fallen Temple-the temple of your god Tyr-with the power of the bloodforge at their command! Do you think for a moment they would stop at the shores of the Five Kingdoms? This plague will spread across all realms. It will drive out all other gods. We must stop it!"
Kern stood, holding a robe loosely in one hand, indecision written upon his forehead. "It's… dishonorable to go into battle disguised in this way."
"Oh, come on, Kern," said Noph sharply. "Think about what he said." He struggled into a robe that was somewhat too long for him. "What does honor mean, if by your actions you endanger everybody and everything worth fighting for? It's a question of weighing profit and loss. Whatever loss there is to your honor, the profit we gain by saving Faerun is greater."
Kern looked at him in astonishment and then burst out laughing. "By Tyr himself, Freeman Kastonoph, you're a true son of Waterdeep. Always counting coins in the back of your mind. Your father's a lumber merchant, isn't he?"
Noph flushed a deep red. "That's not the point. I'm not like my father."
"Never mind, never mind." Still rumbling with suppressed laughter, the paladin slipped the robe over his head. The others were already attired, except for the wounded guardsman. Entreri turned to him. "Stay here, out of sight." He nodded to the others, and the party stepped into the street and crossed the plaza toward the temple.
Other hooded figures were still making their way to the ceremony. Considering what Garkim had told them of the conspiratorial nature of the Fallen Temple, Noph was astonished to see so many of them. There must be nearly a hundred worshipers, he thought. Crossing the causeway, over which waves splashed, spraying the devotees with spume, the company, taking care to stay close to one another, entered the temple.
"Here," murmured Garkim softly, drawing them into a small alcove in which they were partially shielded from the sight of the crowd within. Ingrar, whom Noph had guided across the causeway, now turned away from the youth and began to examine the walls of the temple, stroking the stone gently with his fingers. The others looked cautiously around the corner and into the main room.
The interior was a domed circle. In the center was an altar surrounded by candles. As in the underground room, a pedestal stood behind the altar. Several niches around the edges of the room had formerly held images of Umberlee, but these had been wrenched from their positions by the Fallen Temple priests and lay shattered on the floor. To one side were the bodies of two men who, from their clothing, Garkim recognized as a priest of Umberlee and his acolyte. They had been slashed and stabbed many times, their corpses kicked aside in blood-soaked clothes.
At present, the attention of everyone in the temple was focused on the altar. From an antechamber came a chanting and a whiff of incense. The crowd parted, and three robed priests bore into view the bloodforge. It was held by an iron tripod and carried on a wooden frame. It glowed and flickered with power.
The canting worshipers placed it carefully on the altar. Now, from the opposite corner of the room, came a loud wailing scream. The crowd again drew back, this time to allow passage of three burly men, stripped to the waist, their faces concealed by hoods. Between them, they dragged a portly man, totally naked, his chins wobbling in fear. His stomach swayed obscenely from side to side. The chanting picked up rhythm, and the crowd began to sway in time to it.
"What are they doing?" whispered Noph to Shar, who stood next to him. She hushed him with a gesture.
The servants placed the man on the altar, face to the ceiling. Two held his arms, the other his legs, even as he struggled and screamed.
A figure stepped forward, red-robed, a silver circlet round his neck. From it dangled a medallion inscribed with designs that Noph could not clearly make out. The priest lifted his hands and face in appeal.
" О Mighty Ysdar, hear this day our prayer. Feel the power of our sacrifice. Join with us as we feast."
In a circle of motion, he whirled, drawing a long, curved, cruel knife from beneath his robes. He slashed in one quick motion, lengthwise down the body of the victim, who gave a ringing scream of agony. The worshipers closest to the altar rushed forward, their bodies hiding the victim, whose screams grew fainter and finally died away.
In a few moments, the crowd at the altar had cleared. The victim's body was no more than a shredded mass of flesh and bone. Some in the crowd were still wiping their mouths.
Noph swayed on his feet. In his travels thus far, he'd never seen anything this horrible. Next to him, he sensed rather than heard Kern reaching beneath his robe for his sword.
"Wait!" Trandon put a hand out to stay the paladin.
Kern shook his head angrily. "I cannot watch this any longer, Trandon. It must be stopped." He looked around at the rest of the party. "Are you ready?"
Artemis stepped back a pace. "Not yet. Not while there are ten times as many of them as there are of us."
"Coward!" Kern hissed at him. "I always knew you were a coward!"
Shar joined Entreri. "He's right, Kern. There's no point in just going out there and getting slaughtered."
Kern ignored her words. "Noph?"
Noph stood for a moment. Then, with a sigh, he stepped forward. "You're right. This can't go on. We have to do something. We have to fight for something right, even if we're going to get killed trying.'' He looked at Kern. "Maybe I wa
s wrong. Maybe ifs not just profit and loss."
Kern clapped his shoulder. "Lord Garkim? What say you and your men?"
Garkim smiled tightly. "As I told you earlier, Sir Knight, I recognize the danger to my homeland. And I can see what will happen to all the kingdoms of the world if these people are not stopped. I do not choose to fight. I must fight."
From the back of the alcove, a quiet voice said, "Yes. We must fight." Ingrar came forward. His face was glowing, and, astonishingly, he was smiling, as if he had become privy to an enormous secret and was bursting to tell it.
"Ingrar! What is it?" cried Noph.
"Go now and fight! Don't ask more! You must go now!" The young pirate's urgency infected even Artemis and Shar.
Kern lifted his sword. "Ready?"
"No." Trandon again lifted a hand. "Kern, you, I, Sharessa, and the guards must create as much of a circle around us as possible. Lord Garkim, Entreri, and Noph, move with us, and when we come near the altar, seize the bloodforge."
"What then?" asked Noph.
Trandon looked at him, a corner of his mouth quirking cynically. "Then we try to get to the door. Ingrar, stay here, and when you sense the forge is near, start for the outside. I don't think you'll need anyone to guide you; you seem to feel the forge in some other way." He lifted his hands. "First let's see if we can get their attention."
He spoke an arcane word, and from his fingertips a blazing ball of light leapt forward and streaked across the crowd, exploding against the far wall. Shrieks came from worshipers, who became sudden torches, their robes igniting in a fiery display of arcane power.
"Now!" yelled Kern. The company surged forward. Kern's hammer glowed in the light of the bloodforge as the heavy blunt weapon rose and fell, driving the devotees of the Fallen Temple before him. Trandon had time for a blast of lightning that reduced two worshipers to smoking cinders; then he caught up his staff to defend himself against an onslaught of squealing Doeganers. Sharessa's sword flashed in and out, parrying and thrusting as she tried by the sheer skill of her swordplay to keep the howling mob at bay. By her side, one, then another of Lord Garkim's guards was overborne and dragged away.
Noph, his dagger out, defended himself as best he could against the clutching, bloodstained fingers of the crowd. They fought their way to the altar and surrounded it. Noph, Entreri, and Garkim grabbed the tripod holding the bloodforge and lifted-and stopped in frustration.
"It's too heavy," Noph yelled to Kern above the din. "We can't lift it." The forge glowed malevolently, and Noph realized something with a shock. "It doesn't want us to lift it. It knows what it wants."
He looked around him. In Sharessa's face and in that of the remaining palace guards, he saw only despair. Kern was fighting like a madman, his face streaked with blood, his eyes shining with something very like happiness. Trandon's face reflected only cold, calculating concentration as he batted away flashing blades with his staff. Garkim and Entreri had drawn their swords and were helping to hold back the crowd so intent on tearing them apart. The Doeganers fought without skill, but their sheer numbers told in their favor. The fight couldn't last long now.
From the side of the temple came a thunderclap. With a loud crack, a portion of the dome fell, crushing screaming worshipers beneath it. A light shone through from the sky, a more than natural light that bathed the interior of the hellish temple in ethereal radiance. Noph could see the bones in his hand shining red through the skin.
From the side of the temple, Ingrar advanced from the alcove. The light shone directly on him, almost lifted him, so that he seemed to glide rather than to walk. His blind eyes, deep and dark, were opened wide and seemed to be filled with an inner fire.
Around him, as he advanced through the ranks of the cultists, silence fell, and the struggling mass around the altar parted to let Him through. Noph seemed to hear from far off a kind of chanting in a language at once unknown and yet hauntingly familiar.
Ingrar stood beside the bloodforge, its surface now flaring with sparks and flashes of magical energy. He lifted his hands toward the gaping ceiling and to the light that fell upon him The rays increased until they were blinding in intensity, yet even if the viewers shut their eyes, they could still see Ingrar standing in an attitude of total supplication.
The chanting rose in volume until it filled the temple. Now Noph could see that Ingrar was no longer alone. Next to him-impossibly, within him-stood another figure, that of a tall warrior, a flowing beard touching his chest. In one hand he held a great warhammer; his other arm ended in a stump where the hand should have been. From his mouth and from Ingrar's lips came thunderous words that seemed to shake all the temple and the city beyond.
"I am come," cried Ingrar. "I am come to purge the land of those who blaspheme in my name. Let all ye who pretend to speak in the name of Tyr beware, for my wrath is righteous and my judgment is harsh."
Kern was on his knees, shielding his eyes with one hand, the other stretched out in prayer. Ingrar-or was he now the embodiment of mighty Tyr himself? — looked at him, and it seemed to Noph that a smile touched the bearded lips of the man-god.
"Rise, Kern, paladin of Phlan. You have been a hammer in the cause of right. But you — his gaze swept over the worshipers of the Fallen Temple- you have dragged down my name and made it a curse in this land. For you, I have no mercy."
The figure and Ingrar lifted their hands together. They blazed forth fire that seemed to burn without heat. It swept across the temple; dimly, above its roar, Noph heard screams and saw the adherents of the Fallen Temple claw at their bodies. Some pulled their robes off, and Noph saw that beneath their robes their flesh was melting away from their bones.
Those nearest the door struggled to get out of the building, but many were trampled by their companions. Some few saved themselves, and their laments could be heard slowly dying away along the causeway as they struggled back to the docks.
Before the altar, the god stepped away from Ingrar and faced the blind youth. His hand rested on the young man's forehead.
"You were chosen by me to be the vessel of my avenging might. You, who see so clearly, must now be the renewer of my strength. You must once more make my name beloved in this land. This is the task I lay upon you."
The god's eyes blackened and became empty eye sockets that seemed to fill his entire face. The figure faded away, and the light that had illuminated the temple went out. Ingrar, blind once more, stood silently facing his companions. Beside him, the bloodforge's surface was dull and silent. But Kern, Trandon, and Noph could see that around Ingrar's face, there still lingered some of the radiance of one touched by the gods.
Chapter 6
Emperor of Doegan
A sudden movement to Noph's left made him start from his daze. Artemis and Sharessa were moving cautiously around behind Ingrar toward the bloodforge. Kern, still stunned by what he had just seen, paid them no mind; Trandon and Garkim also were staring at Ingrar, who himself seemed unaware that danger was at his back.
"Hey!" Noph shouted, lunging forward. His cry roused the others, and Kern and Trandon charged Entreri just as the thief reached the pedestal holding the bloodforge.
Quick as death, Sharessa, her long hair flying, scooped up a spear from a fallen cultist and, wielding it like a staff, swung it in a wide arc at the paladin's knees. Kern leaped to avoid it, but in doing so, he stumbled on the altar steps, slippery with blood, and fell heavily against Trandon. The two crashed to the ground in a mass of flailing arms and legs. Noph circled to the right, hoping to take the pirates by surprise, but Sharessa was too quick for him. The spear came up, now with the point guttering at his throat.
Garkim stood unmoving, as did Ingrar. Kern and Trandon disentangled themselves and rose to find Sharessa tickling Noph's throat with the spearpoint. She shook her head at them.
"No, don't. I've come too far not to get something out of all this, and it looks like this bloodforge is the only thing worth taking." She spoke to Entreri without turning her
head. "Come on, take it and let's go."
Carefully Entreri placed both hands around the stone. Kern laughed, a strange sound in the tense silence.
"Three of us couldn't carry that. What makes you think you can?"
Entreri answered without removing his eyes from the forge.
"Because the forge wants me to have it. I can hear it calling me, telling me to take it."
He cupped both hands about the stone, and to the astonishment of the others, lifted it as easily as if it were a child's toy ball. Clutching it to his chest, his skeleton hand gleaming, he stepped behind the protection of Sharessa's spear.
The two circled cautiously until their backs were to the temple doorway. The other members of the party followed cautiously, their eyes on the stone that Entreri carried. Shar kept her spear touching Noph's throat. "Sharessa!" the young man pleaded.
She looked at him with a touch of pity. "Sorry, lad. Pirating means nothing if you don't make a profit. Aren't you the one who said everything comes down to gain and loss?"
"Do you know what you're loosing on the world?" shouted Trandon angrily. He turned to Ingrar, still standing at the altar. "Can't you do something?"
Ingrar shook his head. "What will happen must happen, Trandon. Entreri is right. The stone has called to him, and I cannot interfere. There is a greater purpose here than any of ours. You must have faith and trust in the judgment of Tyr."
"Faith? Faith that little bastard will take the bloodforge back to Faerun and auction it off to the highest bidder? That hell sell it to the Zhentarim or the Red Wizards of Thay if he gets a chance and the price is right? I've got faith in that, all right!" Trandon snorted and swung his staff in frustration.
Sharessa and Entreri were almost at the temple entrance. Suddenly reversing her spear, Shar struck Noph sharply on the brow with the butt. The youth dropped, stunned, and the two thieves turned to flee across the causeway. From the altar, Garkim cried out in sudden pain and clutched his head.
The water on both sides of the causeway roiled; then the roadway nearest the temple exploded with the force of a hundred thunderclaps. Entreri and Sharessa were hurled forward against Kern and Trandon on top of the still body of Noph. The bloodforge bounced from Entreri's hands and rolled back into the hall.