"No need, my dear," he said. "If s Ruha."
Vala squinted into the sky above Galaeron and said, "So it is. She really should wear some other color."
Galaeron turned to see Ruha's black-cloaked figure sweeping down from the sky, her aba and veil flapping wildly in the wind and a familiar figure dangling from a manacle chain attached to her wrist.
"Aha!" Aris boomed, yelling in Malik's direction. "Let us see how you like life in bondage!"
Ruha circled them once, losing altitude, then let Malik slam down and dragged him half a dozen steps across the rocky ground before alighting gently herself.
She bowed in Storm's direction, and pinning Malik’s neck to the ground with her foot, touched her fingers to her brow.
"Well met, my friends. Have you conversed with your sisters?"
Storm cast a quick glance in the direction of the other Chosen then said, "Not since our defeat in Shade."
Thinking that no one was paying attention to him, Malik snaked his free hand out to reach for a rock. He found three throwing daggers-Galaeron's, Vala's, and Ruha's-planted in the ground around his wrist and quickly withdrew the offending arm.
Ruha continued the conversation without pause.
"I am pleased to say they both survived. When they could not reach you in the customary ways, Alustriel grew worried and asked me to investigate."
"How long before they're ready to attack the mythallar again?" Khelben asked. Turning to Galaeron, he added, "They'd make a big difference, especially if we're willing to risk the silver fire."
"Fight? In the shadow harlot1 s den?" Malik cried. "I will cut my wrist off before I allow you to drag me back there!"
"Your wrist is safe for now." Galaeron met Khelben's gaze and said, "There is no point in fighting on their ground. Better to attack the shadow blankets directly and draw them out as the phaerimm were doing."
"It hardly matters to you, Malik," Ruha said. She pulled him to his feet, jerking his hand away from Vala's dagger just as his fingers brushed the hilt. "If I am not needed here, I ask leave to return Malik to the justice of Twilight Hall, while I still have him chained to my wrist."
All three Chosen inclined their heads with expressions that suggested they would be just as happy to adjudicate the matter themselves and be done with it there.
Storm said, "An excellent plan, and I think enough magic remains here for us to see you safely sped along your way."
"To Twilight Hall?" Malik's fear was evident in the way his voice cracked. "Ill be murdered!"
"Only after you are found guilty of a few of your crimes," Khelben answered. "And the word is 'executed'."
"Executed or murdered, it is all the same!" Malik cast a plaintive gaze in Aris's direction and said, "Will you just sit by and let them do this to someone who has saved your life so many times?"
"I will be glad to describe how you saved me," he said, "and also how you enslaved me so you could use my shape studies to grow your church!"
For the first time, a look of despair came over Malik's round face. He seemed to consider his options for a moment then turned to Khelben with a wild-eyed gaze.
"I can tell you how to destroy Telamont Tanthul in a single strike!" He remained silent only a moment before his mouth began to twitch, and more words spilled out. "Of course, there is every chance that you will destroy all of Shade and half of Anauroch with him…"
Even a prospect that terrible was not enough to keep Khelben from cocking his eyebrow.
"You know I can never lie," Malik reminded him.
"We're listening," Laeral said.
Malik's bulging eyes appeared to focus on the tip of Ruha's boot as he planned what he would say next. Given what he had already told them about the pitfalls, Galaeron could not believe the Chosen were even interested in hearing the suggestion.
Finally, Malik looked back to Khelben and said, "What good will it do me to save the world if I am not here to see it?"
Ruha dropped a knee into the middle of his back and used a cuckold's antler to pull his head up, then wrapped the chain connecting their manacles around his neck.
"What makes you think I would ever let you tell them something that would destroy Anauroch?" Ruha asked. "I would rather see you dead and stand before the judges of Twilight Hall myself!"
She tightened the chain until he began to gasp. "Ruha!" Khelben shouted. He seemed as surprised as Galaeron was by the witch's behavior. "Let him speak."
"Never!" she replied, pulling until Malik's eyes began to bulge. "If you want to know-"
Ruha's exclamation came to an abrupt end as Storm plucked her off Malik's back.
"Harper hag!" Malik croaked. "I ought to tell them just for spite!" Again, his face contorted into a conflicted mask, and he added, "Except that after what happened in Shadowdale, I know no Chosen would ever be foolish enough to fling a bolt of silver fire into a being of pure shadow essence."
Galaeron did not realize Ruha's threat had been a ruse until he saw her exchange congratulatory glances with each of the Chosen.
Laeral said, "Not very helpful, Malik."
"Actually, we've already tried silver fire," Storm said. She didn't explain that the attack had only been a ruse designed to buy time for Vala. "Telamont blocked it with a shielding spell."
"Though that hardly matters," Khelben added. "I no longer have much influence with the Harpers anyway."
"Harpers?" Malik screeched. "I am talking about Ruha."
"In exchange for revealing that Telamont Tanthul is pure shadowstuff?" Galaeron scoffed. He was beginning to understand the game the Chosen were playing. "You'll have to do better than that if you want me to set you free."
"There is no use listening to him, Malik," Ruha warned. "That will never happen."
The anger in Ruha's eyes was convincing, and it occurred to Galaeron that the others might not realize he had joined their game.
"Perhaps not while you live," Galaeron said, keeping his tone even. He dropped his hand to the hilt of his sword. "It makes no difference to me."
Malik’s eyes lit like a pair of torches.
"Kill her?" asked Malik. He considered the situation for a moment, then grew doubtful. "You are too much of a coward. You would never do such a thing."
"To save Evereska?" Galaeron responded. "What do you think I wouldn't do?"
It did not escape Galaeron's notice that Khelben, Vala, and all the rest were inching in his direction-nor did it escape Malik's. He considered the proposal only a moment.
"You have already won!" Malik blurted. "There is no need to destroy the mythallar or even to slay Telamont" He would have stopped there, but for Mystra's curse. "They cannot make their shadow blankets without the magic of the Karse-stone, and the Karsestone is gone!"
"What?" This from Vala, who was finally beginning to seem interested in the discussion. "Gone how?"
"Into the lake," Ruha explained. "It was attached to his other wrist and fell free. A waterspout reached up to take it."
"It was Shar's hand," Malik explained in a dismal voice. "She has had control of the Shadow Weave all along."
This was enough to make Galaeron draw his sword and press the blade to Ruha's throat. Storm and Vala drew their own blades and stepped over to defend the witch, and it was not clear to Galaeron whether they were warning him off or just supporting his act. In fact, he was no longer sure that he was acting. Doing his best to seem as though he might be worried about the possibility of fighting two of the best swordswomen in Faer?n, Galaeron kept his blade pressed to Ruha's throat
"Before I set you free," he said to Malik, "tell me how you know all this."
Malik eagerly recounted how, while chained to the Karse-stone in Shar's hidden temple, he came to the realization that it was the symbol of her control over the Shadow Weave. Then he told of how, when the city began to fall, the stone had pulled him down into one of the looming chambers, and of how hard he had struggled to steal the stone for Cyric so that he would one day rule the Shadow Weave- and perhaps the Weave itself, since if there was any god capable of putting the two back together, it was the One and All.