"Come back to the shelter, Jedidiah," Holly coaxed the older man. "I'll sense them long before you see them," she said.
Jedidiah took the tea. "Do you think so?" he asked the paladin with a secretive smile.
Joel wondered just how good the god's eyes were at seeing across the void in the dark. Were they even better when he had all his godly power? Of course, if Jedidiah had all his godly power, he could sense the banelich, too.
When Jedidiah had finished the tea and handed the cup back to Holly, he reached in his boot and pulled out the saurial's half of the finder's stone. The yellow gem glowed in the dark.
Holly gasped. Joel explained quickly that the stone was the sister to the first.
"What happens if you put the two pieces together?" Holly asked.
"Nothing," Jedidiah said. "Finder rent it asunder to get at the paraelemental ice at its core. That's how he destroyed Moander." The older man handed the gem to Joel. "Take this and think of Walinda," he ordered the young bard.
Joel held the stone. He was trying to recall in his mind's eye the priestess's features when he remembered the sensation of her hands about his throat. A thin beacon of light lanced out from the stone and arced across the sky toward the Desertsmouth Mountains. Gently Jedidiah lifted the stone from Joel's hands. The beam of light blinked out.
"Did you do that to signal them?" Holly asked.
"No," Jedidiah replied. "I suspect the banelich always knows exactly where it is. I sent out the light to be sure they're not dead and still in the Realms."
"The light might attract other unwelcome creatures," Holly said.
"Wouldn't that be interesting?" Jedidiah said with a wicked grin.
Holly gave the older man a curious look, then turned away. "Wake me for last watch," she called as she slid toward the shelter. "I want to watch the sun come up."
Jedidiah took the first watch, sitting just outside the shelter. Joel, lying beside Holly in the shelter, quickly fell asleep from exhaustion, but when he awoke, sometime after moonrise, he couldn't fall back asleep. He slipped out of the tarp shelter. The air was so chill now he could see his breath. The new moon had risen over the dunes. Jedidiah sat watching it, softly humming The Tears of Selune," a song the god had written, as a mortal, in honor of the goddess of the moon. "Anything?" Joel asked, sitting down beside his god.
Jedidiah shook his head. "Holly's probably right-she'll sense it long before we see it. You didn't sleep that long," he noted. "If you need more rest, I can stand watch longer."
"Don't you get tired?" Joel asked.
Jedidiah nodded his head. "Without the power I put in the stone, I need sleep to replenish my energies".
Joel felt a wave of protectiveness sweep over him, as if Jedidiah really was an older mortal man. "Let me take the watch now," he insisted. "You'll need all your strength tomorrow for dealing with the banelich."
"You're probably right," the weakened god replied. He reached over and squeezed the young bard's shoulder. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you for everything."
Joel smiled warmly, glad to help his god with so small a task. Jedidiah retired into the shelter. Joel watched the moon, humming "The Tears of Selune" just as Jedidiah had
A shadow crossed the corner of the moon and dived behind a dune, startling. Joel out of his musical reverie, The Rebel Bard stood up. The night sky was cloudless. The shadow might have come from a hunting owl, but it had seemed too large. He shifted uncomfortably, wondering if the finder's stone beacon had attracted some deadly denizen of the sky.
The bard stood up and paced in order to stay more alert, singing softly to himself. No other sight or sound disturbed the night scene. By the time Holly came out to relieve him, the breeze had died and the young priest of Finder had grown bored with the stillness of the night. He tumbled off to sleep without another thought. When Joel awoke, the sun had risen. Jedidiah was sitting outside the tarp, sipping some tea and enjoying the warm sunlight on his face. Holly was atop the dune, praying to her god. She came down and joined the others for breakfast. The paladin was just biting into a piece of dried fruit when she froze. "They're coming!" the girl cried out loudly.
Joel and Jedidiah climbed to the top of the dune. A blot appeared on the disk of the rising sun. The blot grew larger, until Joel could make out the features of the spelljammer. The ship approached the dune on which they stood and circled around them. Walinda stood on the deck, looking down on them. She had a new figurehead chained to the bow, a deformed, fire-blackened creature with batlike wings beneath its arms and a steel patch covering its right eye.
"It's Bear," Joel whispered to Jedidiah. "What's that around his neck?" he asked, noticing a glowing red band fastened about the dark stalker's throat.
"Something to keep him from regenerating," Jedidiah replied. "A metal torque, heated by magic. It burns the wearer to a crisp. How does she stand the smell?" the god wondered aloud.
Joel felt his stomach churn.
"Looks like Bear got his licks in, though," Jedidiah muttered. "Your priestess has taken some serious damage."
Joel looked toward Walinda. Her left arm was wrapped in bloodstained bandages and set in a sling.
The flying shrine settled downward until it rested before the pillars of the gate.
Holly Joel, and Jedidiah made their way down the dune. By the time they'd reached the bottom, the banelich stood on the deck.
Joel felt his stomach churn once again at the sight of the creature. The banelich looked no less threatening in the daylight. It had altered its adornment in a most threatening manner. On its forehead, where the large diamond had been, was the stolen half of the finder's stone. In order to affix the larger gem more firmly to its person, the banelich had smashed a hole in its skull and wedged the gem between the shattered edges of the bone. The skin of its forehead flapped in ragged tatters about the glittering yellow stone.
'That's not a good sign," Jedidiah muttered. With a false cheery tone, he called out, "It's about time you got here. We were worried something might have happened to you. Any problems?"
"None worth mentioning," the banelich replied with a hollow-chested wheeze. "I see you, too, have altered your appearance, priest."
Jedidiah grinned. "A younger look is sometimes advantageous, as your priestess here could no doubt tell you. You might try it some time."
The banelich snorted derisively, Walinda glared coldly at Jedidiah, but she said nothing. She stood straight as a rail, but her face was pale.
"Well, I hope you brought your shovels," Jedidiah said, "because you've got a lot of digging to do to reach your gate."
Something swooped down out of the sun, over the ship, and dropped two glittering flasks, which shattered on the banelich's chest plate. As Joel's eyes followed the creature, it pulled up and circled about with a flurry of pink wings.
"Jas!" he gasped.
The banelich howled, and curls of black smoke wafted up from beneath its armor. The creature staggered and dropped to one knee.
Joel looked to Jedidiah.
"Great. Just great," the god muttered. He looked around at Holly. The paladin flashed him a wolfish grin.
"What is it?" Joel whispered to Jedidiah. "Acid?"
"My guess is holy water," the older man whispered. "What happened to your promise not to do anything rash?" he growled at Holly.
"You knew she was coming?" Joel asked Holly.
"After Jas hits the lich with her second batch of holy water, we can attack," the paladin said, her hand gripping the hilt of her cutlass.
Jas swooped for a second attack. On the deck of the spelljammer, Walinda rushed to the banelich's side. The creature snarled and backhanded her. Walinda staggered backward. The banelich pulled itself upright and raised both its arms toward the winged woman.