From behind the open door, Laraelra said, "Just before this started, she dropped that wizard's tome, her eyes went all black, and green lightning crackled all over her. Then she said, 'Chartham, ye stand as traitor,' and slammed me into the door. I can't stop her!"
"Chartham?" Renaer asked.
Vajra's head snapped toward him. Her gray eyes widened and she spoke, her voice deeper than usual, "Slay my heir, would you?" She raised a hand, and Renaer dived behind the table to his right as lightning exploded where he had stood.
"Blackstaff!" Renaer yelled. "You're dead, Krehlan! Let Vajra go!
The energy in the room dimmed, but Vajra remained focused on Renaer. "Dead? Let who go?" She stared at him, then down at her own outstretched hand, and finally down at her body. "But-oh, we're not in the tower. In an unreadied heir…"
With a snap of her fingers, the lightning storm ceased, and Vajra settled down on the ground. Her head kept twitching left and right, and Renaer saw her eyes shimmering in many colors.
Her eyes widened as she saw Meloon helping Laraelra up with one hand, his other holding his axe. As Renaer approached her, she nodded, murmuring something he didn't catch.
"What did you do, Ren?" Vharem asked.
"Chartham Dellenvol killed Krehlan Arunsun, the Blackstaff, over fifty years ago," Renaer explained. "When Vajra said his name, I guessed she might be possessed by Krehlan's spirit. He was the one who was Varad's friend too. All I could do was make him notice he wasn't in the past and hope that'd do something. Guess it did."
"And here I thought reading all those books would never help," Osco said.
Vajra balled her fists and closed her eyes a moment. When she looked up at Renaer, her deep brown eyes stayed focused and alert. "Thank you," she said. "Can we get to Blackstaff Tower soon? The power is… unstable. I need to claim it before it claims me… or another usurps it… and with it, the city. And my life."
"Very well," Renaer said. "Let's go."
Renaer led everyone out of the chamber and down the stairs. As they descended, Renaer said, "We can use the entry hall to teleport directly to another house I have closer to Blackstaff Tower-one the Watch may not know I own. From there…"
Osco nodded and said, "We'll improvise."
They entered the receiving chamber, and Renaer said, "Everyone stand on the carpet at the room's center-where we arrived-and hold onto each other. Do we have what we'll need?"
When the others nodded in agreement, Renaer stepped onto the carpet with them. He opened his mouth to speak the command, but Vajra's hand shot out to hit him in the chest. Her eyes were black storms afire with green energy, and she yelled, "Uarlaenpellam!"
Renaer shouted, "No! "as the six of them vanished — and reappeared in ankle-deep snow and a wailing wind. The sky was open overhead, though dark and frigid, and they saw they stood at the center of a stone circle, its ancient arches holding back the thick, dark forest that surrounded it.
"Quality place, Renaer," Vharem said. "Very top coin, this. Roof needs work, though."
"Nice, Ren." Osco snorted. "The one place we don't want to go "I didn't do it-she did!" Renaer grabbed Vajra by the shoulders, hoping for an answer.
She smiled, looking past Renaer at Meloon, and said, "Find something that's been safe here-an ally for today and in times yet to pass. Find your fate." She pointed at the stones to the east, and fired five amber missiles from her fingertips. One lanced through a stone arch, disappearing but leaving a wake of sparks, while the othets splashed onto the stones and lit the entire circle with a yellow glow that pulsed upward as a pillar of light. With that, her eyes rolled up into her head again and she fell into Renaer's arms.
"So much for help from the mighty wizard," Vharem said, "or for avoiding notice."
"You know," Osco said, "if all it took was so much fainting, my Aunt Delalar could be considered a wizard."
"What'd she mean?" Meloon asked. He took Vajra from Renaer's arms and hefted her almost effortlessly into his own. "Where's this ally she mentioned?"
"Out there. The quicker we find him, the sooner we can head back to the city." Renaer stomped angrily through the archway and into the forest in the direction of Vajra's missile. The trail was easily followed as the orange sparkles it left behind still hung in the night air.
It was not yet midnight, but the night was icy. The blizzard and its cloud cover at Varadras had not yet drifted south to this area. Selune and her Tears sent moonlight filtering through bare branches bedraggled by glowing mosses. Lichens and mosses glowed underfoot. The spongy deadfall and undergrowth crunched and crackled as the friends' steps cracked the frost and snow.
"Where are we?" asked Meloon. "I don't recognize the trees or the scent of this place."
"The stars look right for the Sword Coast," Vharem said, "but I can't see much beyond the trees."
"It's odd," Laraelra said. "All the magic around here seems tied up in knots instead of flowing. See?" She pointed ahead and the orange sparkles whirled around like angry gnats and then splashed into a large tree, which quivered in response.
"This place is as far from a normal forest as Undermountain is to a cellar," Osco said. "They say it's a haunted place filled with dead wizards, spell-warped animals, and worse. No one goes through the Pellamcorpse unscathed. The only good thing is that no undead walk here."
"Osco, would you be quiet?" Vharem said
"Would you all be quiet?" Renaer snapped. "Or do you want to attract more attention than Vajra's magic already has?"
"I'd say that's a moot point," Laraelra whispered, pointing down the vine-choked trail toward a clearing, where a shadowed figure blocked their path.
Tall and wide-shouldered, the cloaked figure hunched over on one knee in the center of the clearing. In the moonlight, they could see clouds of its breath curling from beneath its hood. The figure lifted its hooded head, and the moonlight caught a bright patch of white hair on the darkly bearded chin. Little else was visible beneath that hood.
"Khelben?" Renaer whispered. "But he's been dead for more than-"
"Is this the ally we were supposed to find?" Meloon asked. "Doesn't look too friendly."
A snarl cut him off, and the figure leaped straight up, clearing the height of the trees, and his arms threw the cloak wide. Huge black wings threw it off and a massive cat-headed man with raven black wings flew around the clearing. Various white sigils stood out on its torso and arms as if tattooed or bleached into its black body pelt. A long tail lashed behind the figure, its movements swift and angry.
"Oh stlaern," Osco whispered. "The Nameless Haunt!" He looked around for shadows in which to hide, and quickly slipped behind Meloon, who was handing Vajra over to Vharem with one arm while unbuckling his axe.
Laraelra whispered, "I never expected… he's beautiful."
Vharem said, "Yeah, like a knife's edge-and far more dangerous!"
While his voice should not have carried across the distance, everyone heard the creature equally well when it spoke. "Intruders," he snarled, "have you come to steal our power?"
The cat-man's hands gestured, and his claws and pinfeathers glowed green. The forest shifted around them, trees sliding backward with groaning, clattering branches. The six heroes found themselves standing in a clearing with the creature diving toward them. He smiled, and his fangs gleamed in the moonlight. The cat-man broke out of his dive and landed in a crouch nearby. "Good," he said. "We've been bored."
"Forgive our trespass," Renaer said. "We come as friends. We mean you no harm."
The Haunt laughed. "You couldn't harm us if you tried, boy. But since you've come as friends, I'll be polite and warn you." His claws wove a spell, and suddenly there were seven identical images of the Nameless Haunt standing in a semicircle, spreading around them. All of them smiled their fanged grins, and said in unison, "Run." With that, the figures leaped toward the group.