"Poison," Dolgan said, as much to himself as anyone else. He grinned stupidly. "Stole my strength. Makes me want to. . "
A retch swallowed the big slaad's next words and he sprayed vomit onto the floor and down his shirt. Riven wrinkled his nose at the smell. He did not look closely at the contents of the slaad's stomach; he did not want to know what they might contain.
Dolgan laughed as though the retching amused him. The laughter triggered another round of vomiting.
Riven eyed the Sojourner and said, "I told you that I want Cale dead. I've just proven it." He indicated Dolgan.
"I could have killed him. Him too," he said, indicating Azriim. "I could have knocked him over and broken off his head. Did you see all that?"
"I saw," the Sojourner said, his voice soft. "But even had you killed them, that still would have left me."
Riven kept his face expressionless, though the Sojourner's words hit near to his thinking. Too near.
"Yes," he said, and left unspoken the acknowledgment that he could not have killed the Sojourner. "But I could have fled after putting them down."
He pulled Dolgan's teleportation rod from his cloak and showed it to the Sojourner.
Dolgan got control of his retching and laughing, and patted at his cloak.
The Sojourner gave a soft smile.
"That is mine!" Dolgan said, and climbed to his feet. He wobbled, but managed not to fall.
Riven did not bother to respond. He kept his gaze on the Sojourner.
"I would have found you," the Sojourner said.
Riven shrugged a "maybe."
"Why did you not run?" the Sojourner asked. The black globe-the void-still hovered beside him. Riven understood the implicit threat it represented
"I just told you why," Riven answered, and was reminded by those words of Cale's response to him back on the Plane of Shadow, when they first had put together the plan to get Riven close to the Sojourner.
"You chafe at being Second," said the Sojourner, and floated nearer to him, nearer. The void orb and the stink of medicines drifted at his side.
Riven's jaw tightened. He said nothing but gave a brusque nod.
Holding his axe in both hands, Dolgan advanced and stood beside the Sojourner. Vomit stained the front of his cloak. The stink was abominable. He looked like the idiot he was.
"Kill him, father," the big slaad said to the Sojourner. "Or let me kill him."
Riven put a hand to a saber hilt. "He could do it," he said, pointing his chin at the Sojourner. "You would not have a chance."
Dolgan snarled at him, ran his finger along his axe blade until it bled, but did not advance.
Riven looked to the Sojourner.
"Enemy or ally?" he asked.
"Kill him," Dolgan said again, his voice hard. He sliced open his entire palm on the axe blade.
Riven felt the Sojourner touch his mind. Riven did not resist, even though he did not like the intrusion. There was only mild pain this time. The ordeal ended quickly.
"You believe me now?" Riven asked.
"I do not have to believe," the Sojourner said. "I know."
Riven nodded. "Then that's the last time anyone gets into my head. Agreed?"
The Sojourner answered by letting the void orb wink out.
Dolgan deflated visibly.
The Sojourner eyed him sidelong and said, "Do not let embarrassment color your judgment, Dolgan. As I said before, this one wants transformation as much as you and Azriim. He wishes to be First in the eyes of the Shadowlord. And he cannot be First so long as he is the ally of Erevis Cale. Is that not correct, Drasek Riven?"
Riven acknowledged the point with a tilt of his head. He decided to take the final step-he tossed the teleportation rod back to Dolgan. He now had no way out.
The big slaad caught the rod, looked at it suspiciously, sniffed it, and shoved it back into his vomit-stained cloak.
"Done, then," Riven said.
The Sojourner turned away from him and floated back to Azriim. He touched the slaad with his staff. Magical energy flashed and Azriim reverted at once back to flesh.
The slaad gasped, stumbled, looked around. When he saw Riven, his eyes narrowed and his face burned with embarrassment and anger.
"You," he said, his voice a hiss. He leveled the wand he still held.
Riven held up his hands. "I didn't remember," he explained. "There was no way either of us could have known."
"Do not fret, Azriim," said the Sojourner. "He has won a place here. He is much like you, and is a worthy replacement for Serrin."
Azriim's expression showed confusion, but he did not appear displeased. He sheathed his wand with the others he carried in a thigh case.
"He wants to be transformed," Dolgan said, mimicking the Sojourner's words.
Riven explained, "I want Cale dead. I should be the First of Mask."
Azriim grinned a mouthful of perfect teeth. He clapped his hands together and said, "Well, aren't we all just a joyous family, then?" He turned, noticed Dolgan's vomit-stained cloak, and asked, "What happened to your clothes? You're more disgusting than usual."
"Puke," the big slaad said, and pulled his cloak up to his nose to sniff it. He licked at the cloth.
Azriim wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Yes, well. . change it, won't you? You stink like a sty." He turned to face the Sojourner. "Meanwhile. . Father, we have spoken of Riven's transformation but not ours. What of that?"
Dolgan quit licking his cloak and looked expectantly at the Sojourner.
"My sons wish to be made new as grays," the Sojourner explained to Riven, though the explanation meant nothing. The Sojourner looked upon his slaadi with a benevolent smile.
"I promised you transformation when our work was done. There are tasks yet unfinished."
Azriim and Dolgan sagged.
"Still," the Sojourner said. "You did accomplish much in Skullport. And for that you deserve something."
Both slaadi looked up.
"A partial transformation to gray," the Sojourner said. "A taste of what is to come."
Without further preamble, he held forth his hand and two small black spheres appeared in his palm. To Riven, they looked like peach pits, except that both glowed with energy and spun in mid-air, each on an invisible axis.
"Assume your natural forms," the Sojourner said. "And eat."
Eagerly, the slaadi began to change. Azriim and Dolgan grunted as their bodies twisted and cracked. The half-drow and human forms stretched, grew, gained bulk. In their eagerness, both had forgotten to remove or loosen their garb. Clothes ripped.
Skin tore and gave way to leathery green hides. Faces and skulls distended to accommodate cavernous mouths filled with fangs. Claws poked from the ends of fingers and toes. In less than a tencount, the slaadi had taken their natural form, that of hulking reptilian bipeds, both as tall as Cale. Dolgan's shoulders were nearly as broad as he was tall.
Riven reminded himself to never forget what they really were, allies or not.
The Sojourner flicked his fingers and one of the magical seeds floated toward each of the slaadi. Both snatched them out of the air and gobbled them greedily.
Instantly a silvery glow suffused them both, leaked from their ears, their eyes.
"It tingles," Dolgan said, and his voice was deeper.
Azriim grinned maniacally. He held his arms out before him and studied his hands as they began to change.
The silver glow intensified, flashed, and the slaadi began again to change. Their hulking green forms diminished. Muscles became leaner, bordered with visible sinew and lined with veins. Heads became sleeker, more angled. Eyes narrowed; eye ridges became more pronounced. Mouths shrank and fangs thinned, lengthened, visibly sharpened. Green leathery hides faded to slate gray.
Then it was over.
Both slaadi were smaller but the strength implied by their former bulk had been replaced by something that suggested … predation. They looked sleeker, faster, more efficient. It was as though they had changed from bears to hunting cats. Dolgan, of course, remained the larger of the two.