"I don't think anything like that will happen," Emilo said calmly.
"How would you know?" Joel snapped angrily.
It was Jas who suddenly gained insight into Emilo's strange statement. "Emilo, do you know where the stone is?" the winged woman asked.
Emilo looked down at the ground, then at the humans, then back down at the ground. Slowly he pulled the stone from his knapsack.
A tiny sob escaped Joel's lips and he sighed with relief. He snatched the stone from the kender's hands.
"I'm sorry," the kender said. "I tried to explain to Sirrion how important it was to you, but he said it was cursed. I was only trying to protect you." The kender's voice cracked with emotion. "I'm really sorry," he added.
Joel slid the finder's stone into his shirt and pressed the cool crystal into the flesh over his heart. He began breathing more deeply, and his pulse slowed to normal.
"Who the heck is Sirrion?" Jas asked.
"He's a god on Krynn. Lord of the Flowing Flame. He said I should take the finder's stone because it was cursed. He's a god, so I thought he must be right."
"He said the stone was cursed? When?" Jas asked. "When did Sirrion say this?"
"Before you woke up," Emilo explained. "He appeared as a flame not far from here and told me about the cave. He said you wouldn't need the finder's stone, and I should take it so it didn't lead us to our doom."
"Why would a god from another world…" Jas started to ask. "You don't think it was her, do you?" she asked, referring obliquely to Beshaba. "An illusion she sent?"
Joel shook his head. "If she's noticed us, she could, and probably would, crush us like fruit flies. Maybe it's some other evil creature causing mischief."
"No," Emilo insisted. "It felt like a god. It was Sirrion. I'm sure. The flame was very beautiful, and it felt…" The kender struggled to find the words to describe his awe and excitement upon speaking with the flame. "It felt godlike," he concluded.
"So what sort of god is this Sirrion?" Jas asked.
"He controls fire so that it's useful and beautiful, not destructive," Emilo explained. "He said he came to be sure I was safe."
Joel looked up at the sky in disbelief.
"Why don't you pray for your spells," Jas said, "while Emilo and I pack up the gear?"
Joel knelt beside the boulder and sang a prayer to his god. With the finder's stone once again in his possession, the prayer left him feeling strong and certain that his spells would be granted.
"Are we going to look for the cave where the bats went?" Emilo asked anxiously. "Sirrion said it was the way into Beshaba's realm."
Joel and Jas exchanged glances, not certain they trusted Emilo's vision.
"We may as well see what's there," Jas said.
Joel nodded. If there wasn't a cave, or it didn't lead to Beshaba's realm, at least then Emilo would realize he'd been duped.
There was indeed a cave. The opening was at the base of the hillock where they had camped. Overhanging rock had sheltered the cave entrance so it hadn't been blocked by the avalanche. The entrance was wide but very low. Jas and Joel had to duck to enter. They could hear water dripping, and deeper within the cave a shallow pool glittered, reflecting back the light from the cave entrance.
Jas touched Joel's arm and pointed. A human figure sat half hidden in the shadows of the cave, staring into the pool of water. Suddenly the shadowy figure rose, shape-changed into the form of a human man wearing armor and wielding a sword, and dived into the water, disappearing completely from sight.
"It's times like this when I really miss Holly," Jas whispered. "With her paladin ability to detect evil, she could warn us whether or not we should get any closer to that creature, whatever it is."
"In a place like this where everything is evil, Holly would have a ringing headache by now," Joel countered.
Seemingly unconcerned with the possible dangers, Emilo walked into the cave and approached the pool of water.
"Emilo," Jas called out in a warning tone.
"I can see him," the kender said excitedly. "This pool must be a portal to another place. He's in another room, fighting another man." The kender gave a little gasp. "No, wait. He's fighting himself."
Joel and Jas moved deeper into the cave. The limestone ceiling and walls glistened with water, and tiny crystals glittered all along the floor, crunching under their boots. Jas and Joel found they could stand up, though Joel's head brushed the cave roof in spots. Farther back in the shadows, they could see about twenty small, furry bats hanging from the ceiling.
Joel and Jas joined Emilo beside the pool of water. On the opposite side of the water's surface were two identical men, dressed in identical armor, fighting with identical swords. The adventurers couldn't hear the combat, but they could see that one man was gaining the upper hand in the duel. The room surrounding the men was a gaudily decorated bedroom. Joel would have guessed it was a visitor's room in a festhall, but where in all the worlds the room was, he had no way of knowing.
The bard knew what it was he was seeing, however. "A fetch," he whispered.
"A what?" Jas asked.
"It's an evil creature that dwells in the Abyss," the bard explained. "There's a creepy Turmish song about fetch that explains why Turmish law prohibits large mirrors. Fetch attack through portals that lead to mirrors in the Prime Material Plane, taking on the forms of their intended victims. Their attacks drain the life energy from their victims. Then the victim is dragged back to the Abyss, where he becomes another fetch. There's one thing that bothers me, though. Fetch are supposed to be invisible to all but their victims."
"Perhaps we can see him because we're on his home plane," Jas suggested.
"That could be," Joel agreed. He pulled out the finder's stone to illuminate the rest of the cave. The cavern didn't appear to extend back into the mountainside more than ten yards. Joel saw no evidence of passages that went any deeper. Sirrion's "passage" was a dead end.
The bard glanced back into pool. On the opposite side of the portal, four more armed men came running through a door into the room where the two fetch fought. Although they couldn't see the fetch, the armed men surrounded the fetch's victim, presumably their companion, with a circle of swords.
Joel whirled around. "We've got to get out of here before the fetch flees back through the portal," the bard insisted.
Joel's warning came in time for Jas and Emilo to retreat to the entrance, but the fetch reared out of the watery portal and splashed to the shore between Joel and his avenue of escape.
Upon spying the bard, the monster smiled coldly. Suddenly Joel found he was looking at himself. The fetch had assumed the bard's form and raised a sword identical to the one Finder had given to Joel. He retreated back several steps and drew his own weapon. It was unnerving enough knowing the fetch would be draining his life energy if it struck him; having to attack his twin made it worse. On top of all that, fetch were said to be excellent fighters.
The fetch had received some injuries from his last opponent. He was bleeding from a slash on his leg and a superficial stab in his gut. It wasn't enough of a handicap as far as Joel was concerned. The bard took a completely defensive stance, blocking the first strike with his sword and retreating from the second. He was now cornered in the back of the cave.
It was Jas who dealt the first blow to the creature, a deep cut to the shoulder. She followed it up quickly with a slice to the creature's ribs. The fetch whirled and hissed. This time it didn't bother to shapeshift again, but targeted the winged woman still wearing Joel's form. Its first blow glanced off Jas's shoulder guard, but the second drew blood, slicing through her leather wrist guard and penetrating the flesh beneath.