demon rode her.
Qilué.
Leliana looked up at the sky. The moon would set soon. When it did, the portal in the Moonspring would close. Until the next moonrise, the Misty Forest would be secure from attack from the Promenade.
That should have offered a shred of hope.
It didn’t.
Not at all.
CHAPTER 9
Kâras ran into the Cavern of Song. Two priestesses still sang the sacred hymn, their swords pointed at the ceiling, toward the spot where the moon passed through the night skies of the World Above. Their voices, however, were lost in the general commotion.
The cavern was filled with people. Priestesses and soldiers ran south and east to the battle, while lay worshipers, too young or weak to fight, struggled in the opposite direction, to shelter in their living quarters in the Hall of the Faithful. The Protector Erelda, fully armored in chain mail and breastplate, stood next to the statue of Qilué, shouting orders. The statue had been moved aside to reveal a staircase that spiraled deep below. Another Protector disappeared down it, sword pealing.
The ruined temple lay due south of here. The quickest route to it would be the one Cavatina had suggested: take the corridor past the Moonspring Portal, and strike south. Kâras didn’t go that way, however. He knew it would be impassabletoo many of Ghaunadaur’s minions would block his path. His had been the first group of fanatics to come through the portal in the column south of the river. Scores of oozes, slugs, and slimes would have poured through since then.
He had no idea how many of the other Nightshadows had made it through the column-portal. Kâras himself had been forced north, away from the river. He’d only managed to extriŹcate himself from his fanatics after they entered the Stronghall. When he finally had managed to slip away from them, a fiery ooze had driven him farther north still. And then he’d run into Cavatina and learned about the planar breach.
Was nothing going to go as he’d hoped this night?
He elbowed his way through the crowd, to a narrow tunnel that snaked southeast from the Cavern of Song. One of the priestesses shouted at him to stop, that this corridor had been evacuated and was about to be sealed, but he ignored her. He entered it, leaving the commotion behind. He followed its twists and turns, squinting against the occasional glare of flickering Faerzress, trying to rememberand avoidthe side tunnels that branched off into dead-end caverns.
There! He recognized the cavern up ahead. He was going the right way. A short distance beyond the cavern, he came to a spot where the corridor branched: one arm veered north, then east, to the ruined temple; the other bore south, then turned west to Skullport. He halted at the juncture, faced with a difficult decision. Skullport, and safety? Or make for the ruined temple and try to prevent the fanatics from releasŹing Ghaunadaur’s avatar?
He kept going over what Cavatina had told him. “Qilué was tricked,” she’d said. By the Masked Lord, he’d assumed. But why would Vhaeraun want the fanatics to release Ghaunadaur’s avatar? That made no sense. Capturing the Promenade from within would have been an enormous coup for the Masked Lord, one that would rekindle the faith. If the temple fell to Ghaunadaur’s avatar, the Nightshadows might never reclaim it. The wealth of its Stronghall, the Promenade’s strategic position within the Underdark, its prestigeall would be lost.
Perhapsloath as Kâras was to think thisit was Vhaeraun who had been tricked. Or rather, outmaneuvered by Ghaunadaur. The Ancient One must have learned of the Masked Lord’s plans, and taken advantage of them. And Kâras had been the one who had set this in motion.
He stood, racked by indecision. Should he try to undo what had been done? He was ill prepared for a prolonged battle against multiple foes. He had his dagger, a few magical trinŹkets, and his prayers. Cavatina, slayer of Selvetarm, was much better suited to make a stand in front of the portal and prevent the fanatics from passing through it. Yet what if the Darksong Knight didn’t even reach the ruined temple? She might have slain a demigod, but that didn’t ensure she would always be triumphant. It had been a near thing for her, atop the Acropolis. She’d only survived that battle with his help.
“Masked Lord,” Kâras prayed. “Is it your will the breach be opened? Have you” He hesitated, then forced himself to say it. “Have you allied yourself with the Ancient One?”
This time,