Филип Этанс - Shadows of Amn

"And they got away with this?" Jaheira asked, her eyes wide.

Elhan smiled and shrugged. "We didn't think they did. They were punished according to the wishes of Ellesime. They got the opposite of what they desired. Great magic—High Magic—was used to make them human. They were stripped of their elven nature and sent away. Not only were they given mortality, but. . forgive me," he said, nodding to the three humans in turn, "but they were to have only a handful of years to ponder their crimes before time would execute them for us."

"What was it he was looking for?" Abdel asked.

"Immortality," Jaheira whispered.

Elhan took a long sip from a tallglass of sweet elven wine and said, "Immortality. The simplest, silliest goal of the tiny minded. To live forever in pure arrogance over the master, Time."

"But he didn't succeed," Abdel said.

"He came close," Elhan told them. "He studied spells and rituals that had been shunned by my people for more than one of our very long generations."

"But Bodhi. ." Jaheira said. "She's managed it, hasn't she?"

Elhan shrugged again and said, "After a fashion. Bodhi is undead. She's not immortal. These are very different things that can easily seem similar on the surface. Once human, Bodhi struggled to find a faster, easier answer. That was always her nature. While Irenicus studied, she acted. Bodhi became a vampire but stayed with the man she called her brother in hopes that Irenicus's continued study would benefit her someday as well."

"I'm not sure I understand," Abdel said. "Irenicus wants to become an elf again?"

"More than that," Elhan said. "He was an elf, and we do live for a long time—long enough that I understand some of your people believe we are immortal—but time catches up even with us, eventually. Irenicus was one of our best. Before he descended into mad necromancy, he was perhaps the most powerful mage on all of Faerun—one of them, at least.

"More than that, he was my sister's consort—as close to the throne as anyone could get. She loved him, and maybe, a long time ago, he loved her too."

"So what turned him?" Jaheira asked. "What could possibly make him betray her?"

"Bodhi," Elhan said flatly. "Though I'm loathe to attach all the responsibility to her. Still, where my sister and I believe Irenicus once had some pure intentions, I doubt Bodhi ever did. What it is about her that makes her … I don't know, and maybe I don't want to. I will be satisfied believing she's simply an aberration."

Abdel suddenly felt the need to stand, so he did. This startled Jaheira, but she didn't say anything. Elhan watched in silence as Abdel crossed to a window and looked out at the forest canopy.

Sensing the stillness in the room, Abdel said, "Go on."

"Bodhi always was Irenicus's most trusted advisor," Elhan said. "She studied with him for some time, helped him, took care of him. They truly were like brother and sister. Ellesime, to her credit, did everything to embrace Bodhi, extending friendship, even a sort of sisterhood, but Bodhi always kept her at a distance.

"Sometimes I believe it's my sister's own wishful thinking that blames Bodhi more than Irenicus … that it was Bodhi who forced his hand and drew him into the ritual. They both wanted the same thing, to live forever. Bodhi convinced Irenicus, or he convinced her, or they convinced each other to undertake a ritual so vile..»

"The Tree of Life?" Jaheira asked, her voice dripping with incredulity. "The arrogance …"

"I have been listening with great interest," Yoshimo said, "and I must ask—what is this Tree of Life?"

"It is the spiritual heart of Suldanessellar," Jaheira said. "It's a force perhaps older than the gods themselves. It has the respect of all gods. Some say it is the source of all life."

"The druids taught you well, Jaheira," Elhan said with a smile. "Irenicus sought to drain life force directly from the Tree of Life. I couldn't imagine anything more abhorrent, more forbidden to us."

Abdel sighed and turned back into the room. "So what do we do about this?" he asked. "They're going to try it again, aren't they?"

Elhan nodded. "I'm afraid that you and your sister have something to do with it this time, Abdel Adrian."

"Well," Abdel said, "I've been the center of an arcane ritual or two before, sir. I don't intend to have anything to do with this one."

"Good," the elf prince said sincerely. "Then there's something you'll need to do for us all."

"Tell me," Abdel said.

"Go back to Athkatla," Elhan directed, his eyes burning into Abdel's. "Find Bodhi, kill her, and bring back the pieces of the Rynn Lanthorn."

Abdel's heart skipped a beat and a yellow haze began to creep into the edges of his vision. He held his eyes closed tightly and calmed himself.

"The Rynn Lanthorn?" Yoshimo asked. "Little pieces of bronze that might fit together to make a whole?"

Elhan nodded.

"I've seen it in the vampire's possession," the Kozakuran said. "Irenicus gave it to her for safekeeping."

"What does this thing do?" Jaheira asked.

"It will put your souls back in order," Elhan said, "not to put too fine a point on it. It will suppress the avatar within you, Abdel, and it will save Imoen's life."

Abdel looked over at Imoen and noticed for the first time that the girl had fallen asleep or passed out. Her breathing was soft and regular, but she seemed pale, her eyes sunken, her lips gray.

"So I'm off to Athkatla," Abdel said quietly, not looking away from Imoen.

"We all are," Jaheira said.

"No," Abdel said quickly. "This I have to do by myself."

Abdel looked at Jaheira, and she nodded, a tear rolling slowly down one cheek.

Difficult as it was for him to believe, Abdel was actually starting to get used to teleporting.

He never really thought of himself as the teleporting sort. It was something mages, phaerimm, demons, and gods did. He was the kind of man who got paid to guard warehouses or walk next to trade caravans with a big sword in his hand. He traveled the old fashioned way. He walked. Sometimes he'd ride a horse, or in a cart or wagon of some kind, and he'd been on a ship a time or two. Instantaneously shifting hundreds of miles in less than a second in a flash of magical light made him dizzy, and he really felt as if he wasn't in control, which is something that bothered him more than anything else.

But then he hadn't been in control of anything in his life for a long time now, so maybe that was it. Being teleported by one of Elhan's mages was the least of his problems.

He shook off the teleportation afterdaze and looked around to make sure he was in the right place. The ceiling was low, barely brushing the top of his head. The air smelled like stale mead and garbage. It was dark, but he could see the outline of sacks of flour and barrels of ale and wine. He could hear footsteps crossing the floor above his head and the sound of a chair being pulled across it. A mumbled voice clearly said, "All done, Boo," and Abdel knew he was in the right place.

He stood on the exact spot where he had made love with Bodhi. She'd hypnotized him. He told himself that again, though he didn't believe it. The smell and the sounds of the place made the memory clear enough that he couldn't pretend as well anymore. He stepped toward the stairs, and his eye was caught by a square patch of shadow on the floor only a stride or two to his left. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness quickly, and when he stepped a bit closer to the shadow, he saw that it was a trapdoor.

It occurred to him that he was looking for a vampire. It was night, but early. Bodhi would have to be someplace as far away from the sun as possible. A cellar under a cellar—what was that? A root cellar? Not a wine cellar, not in this place—in any case, it was a good bet he'd find a vampire in there.