Tim Waggoner - Forge of the Mindslayers

"Warforged!" Diran shouted.

The construct hesitated a moment before turning back around to face Diran and Asenka.

"I'm the one you want, not those warriors. Forget them. Whatever your problem is, it lies with me, so let us settle it-just the two of us."

The warforged stared at Diran, his expression-like that of all his kind-unreadable. The crystals covering his stone and metal body flickered on and off in a strangely tentative manner that to Asenka indicated indecision.

"Very well," the warforged replied in a hollow, emotionless voice, then it started walking toward them.

Cathmore, Chagai, and Galharath stood on the shore, watching as their newfound friend went about his work.

"Our test seems to be going rather well, don't you think?" Cathmore said.

Chagai hrumpfed. "Looks to me like he's just wasting time. If the creature is so powerful, he should've killed the priest by now."

"Be patient," Cathmore said. "After all, this is Solus's first battle. I'm sure he'll improve with experience."

Galharath didn't bother to respond to either of his companions' observations. He was too busy maintaining his mental link with Solus and monitoring the psi-forged. Solus was indeed powerful, but as Cathmore had said, the psi-forged lacked experience at applying his abilities to specific tasks. He had no concept of how much strength he possessed, and if it wasn't for Galharath helping to stabilize Solus's powers, the psi-forged could well destroy both the docks and the wharf, killing everyone in the vicinity-including Cathmore, Chagai, and himself. While Galharath didn't care all that much about preserving the lives of his companions, he preferred to retain his own corporeal existence.

Galharath had an additional concern about Solus. Now that the psi-forged had come in contact with Bastiaan, the deception that Galharath had created about him being an evil priest who had stolen Solus's memories was in danger of being revealed. Galharath had hoped that Solus would slay Bastiaan on sight, but that hadn't happened. The longer the priest remained alive, the greater the chance that Solus might probe his mind. If that occurred, Solus would learn the truth and slip free from Galharath's control, and if that happened, there was no telling how he would react.

Galharath had to do something and do it fast. The question was what.

A smile crossed the kalashtar's face. He'd thought of a solution as simple as it was elegant. Hopefully, it would also prove deadly for the priest.

With a small portion of his consciousness that wasn't involved in monitoring Solus, Galharath formed a tendril of psionic energy and reached out to Diran Bastiaan's mind.

As Solus approached the man in black, he felt confused and uncertain. This was Diran Bastiaan, the monster who had stolen his memories, yet the human walked toward Solus with his arms held out to his sides, open palms displayed to show he carried no weapons. Solus might have little experience of the world beyond the walls of Mount Luster, but he knew enough to realize Bastiaan might be attempting to deceive him by pretending to be friendly. There was something else about the man that confused Solus. He sensed no ill intent on the man's part, felt no waves of negative emotion radiating from the man. He sensed only concern for others-the woman standing behind him, the small trembling one lying on the dock, the older human lying unconscious nearby, the half-orc that Solus had sent flying through the air, the men and women who'd been injured when Solus had caused the dock beneath their feet to explode. Bastiaan feared for their safety, all of them, without sparing a thought for himself. This was a monster? This was the villain he was supposed to destroy?

Solus halted, stopped by a new thought: Perhaps Diran Bastiaan wasn't the deceiver… perhaps Galharath was.

Before Solus went any further, he needed to speak with Galharath and clear this up, but as the psi-forged began to turn around, intending to walk back to shore and question the psionic artificer, Diran Bastiaan laughed. Surprised, Solus turned around to face the dark priest.

The laughter emerging from Bastiaan's throat was brittle and harsh, with a mocking edge to it. It was the laughter of a man who had nothing but the most profound contempt for the person he was facing… the laughter of a fiend delighted to behold the weakness of the victim standing before him.

Solus might not have his full memories to draw upon, but he recalled one thing very well: Rage.

He concentrated, reached into Bastiaan's mind, and commanded the monster's heart to stop.

Bastiaan's eyes flew wide and his laughter choked off. His features contorted into a grimace of pain, but his eyes held only surprise and disbelief. His body went limp, and he collapsed to the dock like a toy abandoned by a bored child.

The woman cried out in despair and ran to kneel at Bastiaan's side. She slapped his face lightly, and when he didn't respond, she struck him harder.

"Diran! Wake up! Damn you, wake up!" Solus was more confused then ever now, for in the instant when he'd stopped Bastiaan's heart, his mind had touched that of the priest, and he'd sensed that Diran wasn't laughing of his own volition. Something-or someone-had been forcing him, but why?

Before Solus could consider this strange development further, the small man-who a moment ago had been lying on the deck shivering as if in the grip of intense cold-stepped between the psi-forged and the priest's body.

The little man drew a long knife from the sash around his waist and brandished it at Solus, the blade quivering in his hand.

"Guh-get away from hu-hu-him!"

Solus regarded the little man curiously. "You are smaller than I, and you have no special abilities that I can detect. You are not especially skilled with weaponry, you wield no magic, nor do you possess any powers of the mind. You cannot stand against me, and you are consumed by fear, yet there you stand, guarding Diran Bastiaan though it might well mean your own death. Why?"

The small man was so terrified, he had to struggle to force out an answer to Solus's question. "Buh-because Diran's my friend."

Solus probed the small man's surface thoughts and found no deception, only fierce affection and loyalty to the priest. If Diran Bastiaan truly was the monster Galharath had made him out to be, how could the priest have inspired such deep feelings of friendship in this small man, feelings so strong that he had fought to overcome his paralyzing fear to protect Diran, even at the cost of his own life?

Solus realized that he had made a terrible mistake. He reached into Diran's mind which, while in the process of dying wasn't quite dead yet, and reactivated the priest's heart. Diran's eyes flew open and his body spasmed as he drew in a deep, gasping breath.

Satisfied that the priest would live, Solus turned to regard the trio watching him from shore. He fixed his gaze upon Galharath and sent a simple thought to the kalashtar.

You lied.

Galharath smiled. So I did.

The psionic artificer furrowed his brow, and Solus felt a wave of energy surging toward him. He attempted to erect a mental barrier to defend himself, but he was inexperienced at psionic combat, and Galharath's attack broke apart into a dozen different streams of energy that snaked around Solus's barrier with ease. The streams coalesced as the psychic energy streaked toward the small green crystal that Galharath had embedded in the psi-forged's forehead. Solus felt the crystal grow hot as energy suffused it, then the shard exploded, taking a good chunk of the psi-forged's head with it, and Solus knew no more.

Diran came to with his head in Asenka's lap. She gazed down at him, smiling with relief as a single tear slid down her cheek.

"For a moment there…" She trailed off, leaving her thought incomplete.