“I had to keep this secret,” he said. “Even from you, those whom I most trust.”
Lunitari frowned, but she was clearly curious. “Why?”
“The Solio Febalas—the Hall of Sacrilege.”
“It was destroyed,” said Lunitari flatly.
“So it was,” said Nuitari. “But the sacred artifacts inside it were not. I have them now under lock and key, guarded by a sea dragon of a particularly nasty disposition.”
“The holy artifacts stolen by the Kingpriest,” Solinari said, amazed. “You have them?”
“Perhaps I should say now, since we have reached this agreement between us, we have them.”
“Do any of the other gods know of this?” Lunitari asked.
“Chemosh is the only one and he has kept his mouth shut thus far, though it is only a matter of time before he will spread the word.”
“The other gods would give anything to have those artifacts back!” said Lunitari exultantly. “From now on, we wizards, once reviled, will be a power in the world.”
“Henceforth, no cleric will dare raise his hand against us,” Solinari agreed.
The three fell silent. Nuitari was thinking that this had gone unexpectedly well, when Solinari said quietly, “You know, Cousin, that I can never again trust you in anything.”
“Nothing will ever be the same between us again,” Lunitari lamented sadly.
Nuitari looked from one to the other. His heavy-lidded eyes were hooded, his full lips compressed.
“Face it, Cousins, a new age has dawned. Observe Mishakal. No longer the gentle goddess of healing, she strides through heaven wielding a sword of blue flame. Kiri-Jolith’s priests march to war. Even Majere has left off staring at his navel and involved himself in the world, though I have no idea what he is up to. Trust between us all ceased the moment my mother stole away the world. You are right, Cousin. Nothing will ever be the same. You were fools to think it could.”
As he drew his hood up over his moon-face and left them, Nuitari wondered what they would have said if he had told them he had captured Mina...
10
“Basalt!” Caele accosted the dwarf as he was walking down a hallway. “Is it true the Master has left the Tower?”
“It’s true,” Basalt replied.
“Where has he gone?”
“How should I know?” Basalt demanded testily. “It’s not like he asks my permission.”
The dwarf kept walking, his hob-nailed boots ringing on the stone floor as he kicked at the hem of his robe to keep from stepping on it. Caele hastened after him.
“Perhaps the Master has gone to deal with Chemosh,” the half-elf said hopefully.
“Or perhaps he’s left us to face the Lord of Death on our own,” Basalt returned. He was in a grumpy mood.
Caele blanched. “Do you think he has?”
Basalt would have liked to have said yes, just to rattle the half-elf. He needed Caele’s help, however, so, reluctantly, he shook his head. “It’s something to do with Chemosh, but I don’t know what.”
Caele was not reassured. He fell in alongside Basalt. “Where are you going?”
“Coming to fetch you. Mina is to be granted freedom to walk up and down the hallway for an hour—under our supervision, of course.”
“Under your supervision,” said Caele. He made an about-face. “I have no intention of playing nursemaid to that scheming bitch.”
“Suit yourself,” Basalt said complacently. “When the Master returns, where shall I tell him to find you? In your room? Studying your spells?”
Caele halted. Swearing beneath his breath, he turned around. “On second thought, I’ll come with you. I would feel badly if some terrible fate were to befall you at the hands of that woman.”
“What do you think is likely to befall me?” Basalt demanded, bristling. “There’s not one jot or tittle of magic in her.”
“Apparently the Master does not share your confidence, since he requested both of us be on hand to guard her—”
“Shut up about her, will you,” Basalt growled.
“You are scared of her!” Caele said smugly.
“I am not. It’s just... well, if you must know, I don’t like being around her. There’s something uncanny about that female. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since the moment we mistook her for a fish and caught her in our net. By the black moon, I wish Chemosh would come and take her away, and that would be the end of her.”
“Someone could kill her and toss her body to the sharks,” Caele suggested.
Standing outside the door to Mina’s room, they could hear her inside, pacing.
“We could always tell the Master she tried to escape—”
Basalt snorted. “And how do you plan to murder her? Cast a magic spell on her? That would work, but only if you tell her in advance exactly what you’re going to do and how it’s going to affect her! Otherwise you might as well be dancing the kender randygazoo.”
Caele slid back the sleeve of his robe to reveal a knife strapped to his forearm. “We won’t need to tell her in advance how this would affect her.”
Basalt eyed the knife. The thought was tempting.
“You think Chemosh is mad at us now....”
“Bah! Nuitari will settle his hash.” Caele leaned nearer, spoke softer. “Perhaps this is what the Master intends for us to do! Why else would he tell us to remove her from her prison except to trick her into trying to escape. He even gave us orders on what to do if that should happen. ‘If she tries to flee, kill her.’ That’s what he said.”
Basalt had been cudgeling his brain, trying to figure out why Nuitari had agreed to release Mina from her safe prison. Much as he hated to admit it, Caele made sense.
“We kill her only if she tries to escape,” Basalt stated.
“She will,” Caele predicted. His eyes glinted with bloodlust. Spittle flecked his lips.
“You’re a pig,” said Basalt, and he placed his hand on the door and began to chant the spell that would reverse the wizard lock.
Inside the room, Mina halted her pacing. “The two Black Robes are coming, my lord,” she reported to Chemosh. “I can hear them walking down the corridor. Are you certain Nuitari is gone?”
“I would not be talking to you otherwise, my love. Only Nuitari can maintain such a powerful spell around you. Does he frighten you, Mina?”
“Nuitari does not frighten me, my lord, but he makes my skin crawl, like touching a snake or having a spider drop down my neck.”
“All three cousins are like that. It’s the magic. Some of us warned the gods: ‘Don’t permit your children to wield such power! Keep them subservient to you!’ Takhisis would not listen, however, nor would Paladine or Gilean. It was only later, when their own children turned against them, that they began to heed our wisdom. By then, of course, it was too late. Now I have the ability to humble the cousins, take away their power, pull their fangs.”
“How do you intend to do that, lord?” Mina asked.
Outside her room, she could hear one of the Black Robes fumbling with the door lock.
“Soon the world will see that wizards are helpless, impotent against my Beloved, and what will the world do? Turn from them in disgust! Even now, the wizards frantically search spellbooks and scrolls and artifacts, trying to find some way to stop me. They will fail. Nothing they do will have the slightest effect on the Beloved.”
“What of Nuitari?” Mina led the conversation back to where they had started.
“I beg your pardon for straying off the subject, my dear. Nuitari has gone to attend the meeting of his conclave, at which, I’m assuming, he’s telling his cousins that he’s betrayed them by building a Tower of his own. He won’t be back any time soon, and in a few moments, all chaos is going to break loose around here. Be ready.”