Aris placed a fingertip on Khelben's chest and felt nothing. Of course, given their size differences, searching for a heartbeat was akin to a human feeling for the pulse of a locust.
"Wake up," he whispered. "You must be tougher than that-you're Chosen!"
When Khelben remained motionless, Aris sighed and rolled first Storm, then Laeral onto their backs. When neither moved, he placed them side-by-side and checked for signs of life as he had with Khelben.
"Hey-watch those fingers!" warned a tiny female voice.
Raising his brow in surprise, Aris put his hands down and lowered his head to within a yard of the floor, now squinting in an attempt to keep the Chosen in focus at such a close distance.
"My apologies," he whispered. "I was only feeling for a-"
"We know what you were feeling for," chuckled a second tiny woman. "And I thought an artist would be different!"
Aris turned his head from side to side, trying to get a better view of the three figures stretched out beneath his head. None of them seemed to be speaking or moving, but considering that they were Chosen, that meant very little.
"Up here, big fella," said the first voice. "Beside you."
Aris turned in the direction of the speaker and found himself looking into a pair of tiny, ivory-colored blurs. He leaned away, and the blurs slowly resolved themselves into the beautiful faces of Alustriel Silverhand and Dove Falconhand. Still only half the size of his thumb, the two Chosen were dressed in flowing black cloaks that, as they hovered beside him, gave them the appearance of some sort of shadow sprites.
"Where did you come from?" Aris gasped.
"We've been keeping an eye on you," Dove said, chuckling at his surprise.
"This is no time to play games," Aris complained. He glanced down the passage to make certain that his guard, Amararl, was still out in the nave as he had promised-and to be sure that there were no other Shadovar approaching the vestry. "Yder is here with a small army."
"I'd call it more of a strike team," Alustriel said. "When we realized where it was going, we thought we'd better tag along and see what was happening."
"A good thing we did, too," Dove said. "This is the first time we've found you alone."
"It's the first time I've been alone-as you can see." Aris waved a hand at the motionless Chosen on the floor. "Was it too long? I didn't eat anything, but I don't think anyone expected it to take this long."
Alustriel's voice grew reassuring. "They'll be fine, as soon as I wake them."
She flew down to the floor and kneeled beside Khelben, then began to slap his face and whisper his name into his ear.
"They went into a magical hibernation." Dove explained. She hovered near Aris's head, watching down the passage with him. "After the third or fourth day without food-earlier, if they refused to drink water you'd already drunk-their bodies would have started to draw on the Weave to sustain them. Even a giant could not have withstood that much magic flowing through him for very long, so they used a spell to shut down."
"Like bears when the snow comes."
"Something like that. Except there's still been a little magic flowing through your body. It gave you the strength to work at Malik's tempo, but it's also done some damage- affected your coordination and perception, made it difficult to do things that should be easy." Dove pointed at a lopsided likeness of Cyric on the wall. "As soon as you burn off the last of that energy, you're going to fall asleep for a very long time. Before that happens, you should eat. Eat as much as you can keep down."
"As much as I can keep down?" Aris's mouth began to water at the prospect. "When can I start?"
"Soon," Dove laughed, "but first, keep watch while I remind the Blackstaff where he is."
She gestured at the floor, where Khelben's eyelids were fluttering and his chest rising at regular intervals. Alustriel had moved on to Laeral.
Khelben's eyes opened. He took one look at the images of madness decorating the vestry and scowled in alarm.
"You had better hurry," Aris said. "One look at these walls, and he's liable to think he's gone to the Nine Hells."
Dove was already dropping to his side. She pulled her hood back and let her silver hair spill free, then took Khelben’s arm.
"Now don't start hurling spells around," she said. "There's nothing to worry about"
"Of course there's something to worry about-" Khelben pushed himself into a seated position-"can't you see what Aris has been carving?"
Out in the nave, Amararl peered into the vestry passage with a beetled brow.
Aris looked down at the five Chosen, gestured in the direction of the nave, and said, "My guard's patience is coming to an end."
"Let's risk a few moments longer, in case we have need of your knowledge," Khelben said. He turned to Dove and Alustriel. "What progress have you made? Given that the city still floats, I take it you have not destroyed the mythallar."
"We haven't even found it," Dove confirmed. "Asking Galaeron’s help is out of the question. He's been locked inside the Palace Most High since we arrived, and we can't go inside."
"Dare not go inside," Alustriel corrected. "It seems to be a nexus in the Shadow Weave. The closer we approach, the weaker our connection to the Weave. If we were to enter…"
"No use in getting ourselves killed," Khelben agreed.
"But we have made this," Dove said as she produced something from inside her cloak. It was so tiny that it took a moment for Aris to recognize it as a folded sheet of parchment. "This shows most of the city, save for what's within the walls of the Palace Most High."
Khelben took the parchment and began to open it.
"Maybe Aris can help us," he said.
"I fear not. I've never been to the mythallar." Aris peeked out into the nave and found Amararl starting toward the vestry passage. "I should go, before-"
"I said help." Khelben spread the parchment on the floor and continued, "Even if you don't know where it is, you have a better idea of where to search than we do."
Aris regarded the parchment dubiously. Though it had opened to the width of Khelben's arm, it was little larger than a thumbnail to him.
"How can I read a map I can barely see?" he asked.
"Try," Dove said.
Aris glanced back to find Amararl coming down the side aisle toward the vestry, then he sighed and stooped down to obey. The instant his eyes fell on it, the image floated off the parchment and began to expand, growing so large he could barely take in all he could see.
Amazed, Aris diligently studied the map, systematically running his gaze along each street and down every service passage. It didn't take him long to realize that the image was adjusting itself to his scrutiny, sliding past beneath him to keep centered the object of his attention, growing larger or smaller depending how long his eyes remained fixed on a certain area.
Amararl's voice came down the passage, "Aris?" He sounded more worried than demanding. "What are you doing in there? What's that light?"
"Our bargain was for privacy!"
Though the voice that boomed this sounded like Aris's, it was from Alustriel's tiny mouth that the words came.
"Our bargain was for a few minutes of privacy," Amararl corrected. "It has been ten-and I heard voices."
"Echoes," Alustriel retorted. "The temple is filled with Yder's warriors."
Amararl considered this a moment, and said, "Warriors who will be returning soon. If you're not here, I'll say you ran off."
"And I that you allowed me to," Alustriel said. "Therefore, I suggest you return to your post. Tell me when you hear someone coming."
"I'm your guard, not your servant!"
"There is no difference, now," Alustriel shot back. "Unless you wish to meet the same end as Gelthez or Karbe."
She raised her tiny hand and nicked her fingers in a spell, then said in her normal voice, "Never mind him, Aris. We can still hear if he sounds an alarm, but now he can't hear or see anything in this room."