The air grew cold and dark. Moisture coated her skin-Kael's skin, she reminded herself. It made her clothing soggy and chilled. She ignored it and kept rising.
The wind picked up, buffeting her. The rumble of thunder, still distant, reached her ears. She climbed, fighting fatigue, knowing her flight would fail soon.
When the arcane power waned, Aliisza felt as if she were trapped in a swirling maelstrom. A storm lashed at her, tossing her about. Rain and wind pummeled her borrowed body, and arcs of lightning crackled all around her, blinding and deafening her. The magic gave out, but it didn't matter. She was no longer in control of her motion.
The storm itself held the alu aloft.
Aliisza gave in to the tempest. She allowed it to carry her wherever it willed. She didn't resist, didn't try to fight it. Those had been Zasian's instructions, but the act took more courage than she could ever remember drawing from herself. She was sure she would die, ripped apart by the storm or dashed against the slopes of the great mountain.
After a while, the tumbling and spinning completely disoriented the half-fiend. She had no idea which way was up or down. She couldn't even be certain she traveled in a single direction. For all she knew, the wind simply swirled her in circles, tossing her along in gusts like some rag doll trapped in a hurricane.
She closed her eyes to keep from screaming in terror.
When the rain and wind and crackling lightning suddenly ceased, it startled Aliisza. One moment, the storm raged at its mightiest, and the next, she was skidding across a cool stone floor. The body she had borrowed tumbled to a stop in what felt like a shallow puddle of water. She flopped there, too exhausted to move.
For many moments, Aliisza lay where she halted, panting. Her heart thudded in her chest, and she could not muster the courage to open her eyes. The storm still roared, but it was distant, muffled. The smell of rain was strong and the air felt damp. At last, she worked up her nerve and took a peek.
The alu lay on the edge of a broad, still pool of water. A faint mist covered it, so that it blurred in the distance and Aliisza could not see the far side. A white marble floor veined with gold formed the edge of the pool, gently sloping down to the water like a sandy beach. It, too, faded into the wispy fog on either side of her.
Massive fluted stone columns made of the same stone rose from the water, rows and columns stretching into the mist. They held up nothing. No ceiling covered the pool-only a blanket of night sky filled with stars loomed overhead. The columns had no tops, nor were they jagged, broken things. They merely faded as they ascended, like ghosts shifting to some ethereal state.
No walls surrounded the space-the edges of the marble floor simply stopped, and the tops of great storm clouds stretched outward from there, rumbling with dull thunder and flickering with lightning. The light illuminating the place seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. The water gleamed darkly and reflected the sky, and the mist hovering over it glowed with a pearlescent and heavenly essence.
The alu felt queasy in that place. The same sickness that had affected her in the presence of Tauran early in her stay washed over her again, even more acutely.
Slowly, with much trepidation, Aliisza sat up. She ached from her rough landing, but no part of her son's body seemed seriously injured. Gingerly, the alu rose to her feet. Standing ankle-deep in the water, she listened for signs that she was not alone. The half-fiend detected only the faint dripping of water from her own clothing, and the muted rumble of the furious storm beyond.
Drawing a deep breath to steady her nerves, Aliisza took one tentative step farther into the water. It was neither warm nor cold. It merely felt wet, like a tepid bath. She took another step, and another, each one carrying her away from the marble shore and into deeper depths. After five steps, the water had risen to her thighs. After ten, it reached her waist. Three more, and she kicked off, swimming instead of wading.
The alu paddled slowly, listening. The luminescent fog wafted all around her, but was not so thick that she couldn't still see the shore she had left. The water smelled clean and fresh, not foul at all, but it was utterly lightless and murky. The myriad pinpricks of diamond white in the night sky reflected in its surface, shimmering and bouncing as she disturbed it.
The half-fiend swam close to a column. The pillar was huge, the width of a cottage. She reached out and touched it, felt where it descended below the surface of the water. She dragged a toe against it, searching for a lower end, but it continued on. Taking a gulp of air, Aliisza dived downward. She kicked with her feet and ran her hand along the column. Down she thrust, pushing herself deeper and deeper, seeking the base of the column and bottom of the pool. She could find neither.
With a start, she realized how deeply she had swum, how completely dark the depths of the water were. She panicked and reversed her course. She dragged her arms through the water, using her son's powerful muscles to pull herself toward the surface. She could barely make out a glow there, could only just see the light of a few faint stars. Those tiny fragments of illumination in a pit of blackness were the only things that kept her sane just then.
When she broke the surface, she threw her head back and gasped for air. Relief washed over her. She trembled, wondering how a place of such holy goodness could be so frightening. Even then, the inky black water terrified her. She wanted nothing more than to be standing on the dry stone at the pool's edge.
I can't do this, she decided. To the Abyss with Kaanyr.
The alu began swimming back to the shore. A subtle, creeping fear tingled along her spine. A sensation that something was directly below her, coming for her, made her shiver.
She swam faster.
An explosion of water erupted somewhere behind the alu. Despite her terror, she spun around and looked back. A great serpentine thing burst from the depths of the pool. Its arrival sent a cascade everywhere, splashing Aliisza and drenching her eyes.
When she was able to see again, the creature hovered above her, peering down at her.
Its snakelike body glistened with moisture, and its scales, a deep purple hue, flickered with a faint, subtle light that coursed over its body. Broad leathery wings held it aloft, their regular flapping making waves upon the pool's surface.
But it was the head that froze Aliisza's attention. A long, sharp-angled snout flared from a broad, flat head. A series of ridges and horns angled back from the jaw line, cheeks, and forehead. Two glittering eyes, flickering with the crackling of lightning, stared at the alu with a keen intelligence, and the mouth, filled with teeth the size of daggers, opened in a feral grin.
A storm dragon.
The beast opened his mouth and spoke, the words like rumbling thunder. "Welcome to my temple, little one. Who gave you permission to swim in my waters?"
Vhok released the magical energy holding both himself and Zasian aloft. The pair fell again, but the maneuver served to drop them out of reach of Myshik's axe. The half-dragon lunged at them, nearly tipping over as he tried to strike, but the blade whisked harmlessly over the cambion's head.
Myshik cursed the two of them as he struggled to right himself atop his hideous insect mount. The giant fly wobbled and banked from the unbalanced weight, carrying its rider away. Once the draconic hobgoblin managed to right himself, he guided the fly around in a circle.
He was coming for them again.
"Down there!" Zasian yelled. Vhok grabbed both of the priest's hands and locked his grip around the man's wrists. Zasian grasped Vhok in return. But the Banite was jerking his head in the direction of the semicircular courtyard within the palace as he dangled in the air. "Go that way!"