Jas still hung inside the net on the hook. She was just regaining consciousness, stirring in the net and muttering some foul oaths.
"Jas, it's me. Emilo. You've got to hold still so I can cut you out," the kender hissed.
"Where are we?" the winged woman demanded as Emilo sliced at the rope net with his dagger.
"Somewhere we want to get far away from quickly,' Emilo answered.
"Why?" Jas asked.
"The priest's boss is coming here. Someone from the Lower Planes, they said. Is that a bad place?"
Jas swore again. She grabbed Emilo's dagger and began slicing at the net in frenzied fear. Emilo worked more methodically with his sword. In a few moments, Jas tumbled to the floor, landing on her tailbone. As Emilo helped her to her feet, she grimaced in pain. "There?" she asked, pointing to the door to the alley.
Emilo nodded. They rushed out the door and hurried up the steps. Once in the alley, Emilo froze. From the end of the alley, he heard a noise, a croaking, gulping sound. There was a whiff of sulfur in the air.
The kender dragged Jas farther down the alley and pulled her down to crouch beside him in the dark shadows.
They'd left the door to the kidnappers' hideout open, so a faint beam of light streamed out into the alley. A giant creature stepped out of the mist into the beam of light. It resembled a frog, though it was several feet taller than a man. It made its way down the alley, walking on its hind legs. It seemed to be looking straight at them. Emilo felt a momentary sense of hopelessness steal over his heart.
Then the kender felt Jas stiffen and sway. Her eyes seemed to glow in the dark. She reached her hand out toward the frog creature. Fortunately the frog creature, standing in the light, could not see into the dark shadows where they were hiding. Nonetheless, its gaze seemed to exert some evil power over Jas. The kender slid his hands over the winged woman's eyes.
Jas's body shook, then relaxed.
The frog creature shimmered and shrank, then transformed itself into the shape of a man in a great cloak. In human form, it made its way down the steps, ducked through the door, and disappeared into the thugs' hideout.
Emilo grabbed Jas's hand and tugged her to her feet. They ran past the door, down the alley, turned, and dashed down the street, around another corner, and down another street. They didn't stop running until they bumped into a Hardhead with a light wand who ordered them to halt.
"I haven't done anything," Jas insisted. "I'm running from a creature who tried to abduct me."
"I know, miss," the Hardhead said. He blew a shrill whistle. A few moments later, Joel and two more Hardheads appeared out of the mist. Joel's tunic was torn and stained with blood, and his flesh beneath was scarred but not bleeding. He looked sick with worry.
"Jas!" Joel cried out. "Thank goodness you're all right."
"Thank Emilo," Jas corrected. "He helped me escape. If it hadn't been for him, I'd be a prisoner in Gehenna right now."
Joel looked surprised, but he was relieved to learn his suspicions about the kender had been incorrect. He broke into a smile and clapped a hand on the kender's shoulder. "Thank you," he said heartily.
"Show us where you left the thugs that captured you," one of the Hardheads ordered.
"I don't want to go back there!" Jas declared, her voice rising in pitch. "There's a monster back there who wants to take me to Iyachtu Xvim."
"Iyachtu Xvim?" the Hardhead asked, puzzled. The other two Hardheads rejoined the group in the street.
"Xvim's an evil god of one of the Prime worlds," Joel explained.
"The monster was an evil creature from the Lower Planes," Emilo added with obvious relish. "It was a giant green and yellow frog, ten feet tall. It shape-changed into a man in a cloak."
Joel bit his lower lip, wishing the kender were less extravagant with his description. No one is going to believe such an exaggeration, he thought.
But the Hardheads seemed to take the description in stride. "Hydroloth," one said.
"Undoubtedly," the leader replied.
"It's in a basement room in the alley beside the alchemist's guildhall," Emilo offered helpfully.
The Hardhead leader nodded. "Got it. You three can wait here," he told Jas, Joel, and Emilo. "Follow me, men."
The Hardheads followed their leader into the dark mists of Sigil, intent on apprehending the amphibian culprit.
"Let's go," Jas whispered.
"They told us to wait here," Joel replied.
Jas rolled her eyes and sighed. "They said we could wait here. They didn't say we had to. If you think I'm waiting around so I can testify against a hydroloth in a Sigilian court of law, you're nuts. I've had it up to here with this whole dark-stalker problem. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to keep from getting delivered to Iyachtu Xvim, even if it means asking for help from another god. Now, are you going to take me to Finder or not?"
"All right," Joel agreed before the winged woman had a chance to change her mind. "Let's go. This way," he said, heading down the street in the direction of the Civic Festhall. Jas followed.
Emilo trotted along beside Jas. "This scholar friend of Joel's that we're going to see-is that Finder?" the kender asked.
Jas nodded.
"Is he really a god?" Emilo asked excitedly.
Jas shrugged. "He and Joel seem to think so." Joel turned and shot Jas an annoyed look.
Jas grinned. "But neither of them claim that he's a real important god," she explained.
"But he lives in a place called Arborea?" Emilo asked.
Joel nodded.
"Is that in the stars?"
Joel shook his head. "It's one of the Outer Planes. That's where our gods live… most of them anyway."
"Is that different from the Lower Planes, where the frog creature came from?" the kender asked.
The evil gods dwell in the Lower Planes, one of which is called Gehenna. That's where the frog creature came from. Arborea is one of the Upper Planes. Finder is a good god," Joel explained. He shot a challenging look at Jas, but the winged woman made no comment. Her mind, Joel could tell, was on the evil god in Gehenna whose priests were trying to enslave her.
ACT ONE SCENE 3
Bors Sunseed slipped quietly back into Factol Montgomery's private reception hall where she was evaluating the evening's performance with her advisers.
Montgomery's consort Da'nanin looked up at the paladin. "How is Ayryn doing?" he asked in a soft voice.
"She's resting comfortably. Just exhausted," Bors replied.
"Good, good," the bariaur Annali Webspinner said. As the registrar for the society, Annali had "discovered' Ayryn's gift first, and consequently felt a certain protectiveness toward the scrying genasi.
"More importantly, will she try it again?" Adviser Kenda Fretterstag asked.
"That's a decision she should sleep on, I think," Bon replied, keeping the tone of his voice completely neutral Kenda charmed more people with her statuesque beauty than she did with her magic, but Bors did not care for the human sorceress. Her interests were always selfish.
"Just so," Quellig, a wizard, said. "Time for me to go, I think. I had a perfectly lovely evening, Erin." He took the factol's hand and kissed it, giving her consort a sly glance. The wiry-framed, blue-skinned Quellig was a tiefling, with all the love of mischief and flirting for which tieflings were renowned. "You throw such interesting parties."
"Thank you, Quell," Montgomery replied, rising to her feet. "And you are always such a perfect guest."
Taking the hint, Kenda and the other advisers rose and bid their host and hostess good night. Then they filed from the private reception hall. When the last one had gone, Bors closed the door behind them. "My lady," he addressed Montgomery.