became urgent she tried to grab him, but found that he had become something insubstantial.
"Help me!" Danica called to her friends, and they rushed over, Ivan and Pikel diving for Cadderly's legs. The dwarves knocked their heads together, locked in a wrestling tumble, and it took them a few seconds to understand that they had grabbed on to nothing more than each other.
For Cadderly's corporeal form was fast fading, scattering to the wind.
On the Path
Druzil sat on a broken stump, clawed fingers tapping anxiously against his skinny legs. The imp knew the way to the Edificant Library from this point, and knew that the malignant spirit had veered off in the wrong direction and was now headed into the open and wild mountains.
Druzil was not overly disappointed - he really didn't want to go near the awful library again, and doubted that even this powerful spirit would last very long against the combined strength of the many goodly priests living there. The imp was confused, though. Was this spirit guided by any real purpose, as Druzil had initially believed, as Aballis-ter had led him to believe? Or would the wretched thing wander aimlessly through the mountains, destroying whatever creatures it accidentally happened upon?
The thought did not sit well with the impatient imp. Logically, Druzil realized that there must be some important connection with this monster, probably a connection concerning Cadderly. If not, then why would Aballister have dispatched him to keep a watch over the uncontrollable thing?
Too many questions assaulted the imp, too many possibilities for Druzil to consider. He looked at the monster, tearing and slashing its way along a northern trail, frightening animals and ripping plants with seemingly endless savagery. Then Druzil looked inward, brought his focus into that magical area common to extraplanar creatures, and sent his thoughts careening across the mountain passes, seeking a telepathic link with his wizard master. For all the urgency of his call, he was nevertheless surprised when Aballister eagerly responded to his mental intrusions.
Where is Cadderly? the wizard's thoughts came to him. Has the ghost caught up to him?
Many of Druzil's questions had just been answered. Aballister's mental interrogation rolled on; the wizard prodded Druzil's thoughts with a series of questions so quickly that Druzil didn't even have time to respond. The conniving imp understood immediately that he held the upper hand in this communication, that Aballister was desperate for answers.
Druzil rubbed his clawed hands together, enjoying the superiority, confident that he could get all the information he needed by bargaining answer for answer.
Druzil opened his eyes many minutes later, having a new perspective on the situation. Aballister had been nervous - Druzil could sense that, both from the intensity of the wizard's telepathic responses and from the feet that Aballister had apparently left little unanswered this time. The wizard was a cryptic sort, always withholding information that he did not believe his lessers needed to know. Not this time, though. This time, the wizard had flooded Druzil with information about the ghost and Cadderly.
Given the imp's understanding about his master's demeanor, there could be no doubt that Aballister wae teetering on a very dangerous edge. Ever since the wizard had called Druzil to his side, the imp had longed to see Aballister's power revealed in full. He had seen Aballister strike down a rival with a lightning bolt, literally frying the man; he had seen the wizard engulf a cave of upstart goblins with a ball of fire that had scored the stones and killed every one of the beasts; he had traveled to the far northland with the wizard, and had watched Aballister wipe out an entire community of taers, shaggy white beasts.
But those were just hints, Druzil knew, tantalizing tastes of what was yet to come. Even though he had never truly respected the wizard (Druzil had never respected any being from the Material Plane), he had always sensed the man's inner power. Aballister, nervous and edgy, outraged that his own son would be the one to threaten his designs on the region, was boiling like a pot about to blow.
And Druzil, malicious and chaotic in the extreme, thought the whole tiling perfectly delicious.
He gave a flap of his wings and set off in pursuit of the now-distant ghost. Following the creature's trail - a wide swath of near-total destruction - was not difficult, and Druzil had the creature in sight in less than an hour.
He decided to try to contact the creature, to solidify his alliance