"Teldin."
It was a voice from a nightmare-harsh, at once familiar and alien, with a horrible undertone of bubbling agony. He turned.
It was Rianna. Slowly, agonizingly, she dragged herself out of the Nebulon's circular hatch. As she moved, she left a trail of red on the white deck. Her eyes spoke of overwhelming, crushing pain-but also of hatred. In her right hand she held a small amber rod; in her mangled left, a scrap of fur. Teldin knew those items for what they were: components of the lightning spell that had felled the umber hulk.
"Teldin," she hissed again. She took a deep breath-her eyes told him the pain it cost her-then she started to mutter an incantation.
Without thinking, he pulled Aelfred's dagger from his belt, drew his hand back, and threw. The motion sent agony shooting through his side. He watched the blade flash in the starlight as it turned end over end, once, twice-as it missed its target and skittered across the deck.
Rianna drew back bloody lips from red teeth in a feral smile. Her incantation neared its conclusion.
Something hissed down from the sky. Magically, a spear sprouted from between Rianna's shoulder blades like some strange, bare tree. Rianna Wyvernsbane convulsed once, then lay still.
Teldin raised his eyes. A figure was looking down at him over the rail of the Probe: a familiar figure, its face split in a lopsided grin.
"You're dead," Teldin cried.
"She's dead," Aelfred Silverhorn corrected him. The burly warrior touched a blood-soaked bandage that encircled his brow. "I'm just a little the worse for wear. Sylvie will need some time to recover, but she wasn't hurt too badly."
Teldin shook his head. The delirium of pain hummed in his ears. "How?" he managed to ask.
"Only six sellswords?" Aelfred laughed. "I should be insulted." He turned away from the rail and shouted, "Bial, Valin, go down and get them."
As the figures appeared, swarming down the rope ladders, Teldin did the only thing he could. He fainted.
Epilogue
The distended star that was the Nebulon was falling away astern when Teldin returned to consciousness. He was still exhausted, drained, but the agony that had racked his body had been replaced by blissful numbness. He felt something tight around his ribs, a dressing over his torn side, it had to be. For a moment he luxuriated in the simple pleasure of being alive, of feeling his breathing, of being whole-well, almost. Then memory flooded back. He looked around him.
He was in Aelfred's cabin. The first mate was sitting on a stool watching him. The relief in the big man's eyes was obvious.
"Julia?" Teldin asked. His voice was a croak.
"She'll make it," Aelfred answered. "While they were patching her up, she told me what you did, Teldin. She sends her thanks." He smiled. "While you're at it, accept mine as well. That was one hell of an effort."
Teldin nodded. Yes, he thought, it had been. I didn't know I had it in me.
"What happened to Estriss?" Aelfred asked.
"He fell," Teldin replied quietly. Briefly he described the neogi's advance, the illithid's headlong rush, the flare of power from the cloak. "Maybe Estriss was trying to save me," Teldin finished. "Maybe he was after the cloak for himself. I don't know." He was silent for a moment, then a disturbing thought struck him. "The gravity plane," he croaked. "The gravity plane would have caught them."
"For a while," Aelfred amended. "Things caught in a gravity plane drift slowly outward, away from a ship, then they fall free. There's no way we could have gotten to them in time, Teldin. Estriss is gone."
Teldin nodded again. He imagined the long, terrifying plunge to the planet below and shuddered. "Where are we going?" he asked finally. "Back to Toril?"
The big man grinned broadly. "Not a chance." He paused, then continued, "When I signed on with Estriss as first mate, he gave me a sealed document to be opened only when I was convinced he was dead or not coming back. I opened it a while ago."
"What did it say?"
"The Probe's mine," Aelfred stated. "I have title to the ship, and I'm her captain."
Teldin smiled at his friend's obvious satisfaction. "I thought you said you were getting tired of shipboard life," he pointed out.
"That was as first mate. As captain?" He shook his head.
"So," Teldin asked again, "where are you going?"
"I don't know yet," Aelfred said. "Out there somewhere. I haven't decided." The big man's expression sobered. "What about you?"
Teldin paused. What about me? he wondered. Where should I go now? He still had the cloak, but where should he take it? Who were "the creators?" Estriss had given him one answer; T'k'Pek, the arcane, had given him another. Both were dead now, and Teldin couldn't honestly say which one he believed, or whether he believed either one. The one thing he knew was that everybody-with the possible exception of the gnomes-was after the cloak.
He sighed. He was virtually back at the beginning. Bray-thing he knew about the cloak-everything he thought he knew about it-had come from Estriss. And how far did he trust Estriss's words now?
He remembered the words of Vallus Leafbower, when they'd met for the last time in the alleyways of Rauthaven. "The cloak is of elven creation," Vallus had said. "Take it to the elves of Evermeet. The imperial fleet can be your only safety." Mere weeks ago, Teldin probably would have believed those words. Trust had always been his nature. But now? No, blind trust was just a way toward death.
Teldin wasn't sure he trusted Vallus Leafbower any more than the others, but maybe he could learn more of the elves' imperial fleet. If he eventually did go to Evermeet, perhaps he'd see the aloof Vallus again and be able to ask him his part in the whole affair. Maybe he'd meet up with Horvath, Miggins, and Saliman again, he added. That would be pleasant.
Aelfred was still waiting for an answer to his question. "I'm coming with you," Teldin said quietly. "Away from here."
The first mate-No, Teldin corrected himself, the captain- smiled. "In that case, I have a proposition for you," he said. "I need a first mate, someone I can have confidence in during a scrap. That describes you, old son. Are you interested?"
Teldin sighed. "Why is it that everyone wants to put responsibilities on my shoulders?" he asked.
"Because they know you're capable of handling them," his friend said simply. Aelfred rose. "No need for you to decide now. I should see to my ship. I'll be back to check on you later." He left the cabin, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Teldin closed his eyes. There were too many questions, he told himself, too many unknowns. He'd have to deal with them eventually, but not now. For the moment, all he wanted to do was rest.
As he settled back onto the cot, the hammership cruised silently away from Toril, into the darkness of space.
Into the void.