Saffron and ginger wafted through the flame and a droning noise rose above the crackle of flame as Arvin manifested his power. Which way? he asked himself. Straight ahead, left, or right?
He turned to the right, and an eyeblink-quick flash of a possible future flashed through his mind: him flying on and on through the jungle, until the fire finally died, then a scream, Karrell's.
Straight ahead and he got a flash of the marilith demon, swords whirling above its head, a pair of hands cupped to its lips as it shouted. Behind it was an enormous serpent head under a netlike tangle of vines. The ground beneath Arvin's feet trembled as the serpent's mouth craned open. Its eye fixed on Arvin, somehow seeing him through the slit Arvin's power had sliced through time.
My child, it hissed. Free me. Join me.
Arvin hung, transfixed, on the words. The god had spoken directly to him, mind to mind. Sseth's voice entered a place, deep inside Arvin, that he had not known existed, found it empty, and filled it with an overwhelming, almost sexual desire. Arvin was yuan-ti. He was worthy, worthy of power beyond his wildest dreams, power that would grant him anything-anything-his heart desired.
Karrell? he pleaded. Karrell can live?
Yes! the voice hissed. Yes, yes! She will be yours, for eternity. Yours!
"You lie," Arvin gritted.
The vision ended. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he shook it off. Then he turned left and flew on.
He spotted Karrell a moment later. The line of fire ended where she hunkered down on all fours
and in rags, trembling against the pain of giving birth. Already Arvin could see the head of one of the children crowning. A few moments more, and he-or she-would be born.
"Karrell!" he shouted, landing and enfolding her in his arms. "I'm here."
She sagged against him, and for a moment they simply held each other.
"Our children?" Arvin asked. "Are they-" "Soon," Karrell gasped.
Arvin glanced up. The gate was still open but was far overhead, out of reach. He could fly up to it with the couatl feather-might even be able to do so while holding Karrell-but not while she was giving birth.
She clutched his hand. "Arvin," she gasped. "Be… you…"
"Hush," he told her. "We're together." He forced a smile. "I'll figure out a way to get us both out of here."
Karrell shook her head. "Behind…"
Belatedly realizing Karrell had been trying to warn him, Arvin turned…
Just in time to see Sibyl reach the end of the line of fire and skid to a landing behind him.
CHAPTER 12
Sibyl landed awkwardly in a loose coil. Arvin could see now why she had been flying so unevenly. There was a trickle of dried blood under each of her ears. Ts'ikil's cry must have burst both of Sibyl's eardrums. As she folded her wings against her back and steadied herself against a tree with two of her four hands, Arvin scrambled for his pack. Ripping it open, he found that tendrils of musk creeper had once again grown into the leather. Cursing, he slashed these with his dagger.
Sibyl's magical fear struck him.
Arvin fought back, even as the fear drove
him to his knees. Forcing his will against it
was like trying to shoulder his way through an icy wall of water. It slammed against him, trying to shove his mind back into a
tiny corner of itself where it screamed, cringed, and wept.
He fought it down. Like a man staggering under a massive weight, he rose to his feet. Hands shaking, he hauled the net from the pack and lifted it to shoulder height, preparing to throw…
Sibyl's glare intensified. So did the magical fear. Arvin felt tears pour down his face. The net sagged in his arms then slid from his hands.
Sibyl bared her fangs in triumph. Then she turned her attention to Karrell.
"Well, well," she hissed. "A cleric of Ubtao, in Smaragd? How stupid of you to reveal your position with that spell. I would tell you to prepare to meet your god, but there's only a hungry serpent where you're going." She laughed, then cocked her head, savoring the pain of Karrell's labor. "Go on," she taunted. "Try to run."
Arvin stared at the net that lay at his feet, his entire body quaking. Control, he urged himself. Fight back! Reaching deep inside his muladhara, he grasped a thread of energy and yanked it up into his chest. He breathed out, heard a droning noise fill the air, and imagined a protective shield in front of him.
Sibyl's magical fear broke upon it and was deflected to either side.
Arvin scooped up the net and hurled it. The throw was perfect. The net opened in mid-flight and landed on Sibyl's head and shoulders.
"Absu-"
Sibyl was swifter. She shifted into a tiny flying snake.
"— mo!" Arvin shouted, completing his command.
Too late. Sibyl escaped through the large weave
of the net. She hovered above where it lay on the
ground. She darted sideways then reappeared in her
humanoid form next to Arvin. She towered over him, easily three times his height.
"You may have escaped my temple," she hissed, "but you won't escape Smaragd."
She flicked her tail. A lightning bolt shot from it, striking Arvin square in the chest. He was hurled backward into a vine-draped tree. At a spoken word from Sibyl the vines came to life, whipping themselves around him. He managed to wrench one arm free, tearing his skin as the suckers of the vine were ripped from it, but the vine wrapped around it once more. He tried morphing into flying snake form, but the tendrils tightened instantly, holding him fast. Abandoning that manifestation, he resumed his human form. Sibyl watched with unblinking eyes, smirking at his struggles.
The net lay on the ground a palm's breadth from Karrell, yellow flowers blossoming from its knotwork. Its fibers began to unweave, sending pale green tendrils questing up into the air, searching for a mind to drain.
Karrell continued with her labor, her head down and hair trailing, grunting as another contraction gripped her.
Struggling against the vines was futile, but Arvin's mind was still free. He clawed ectoplasm out of the air and shaped it into a construct with great hooked claws and a mouth that gaped wider than a serpent's and sent it hurtling toward Sibyl in a sparkle of silver that clouded his vision.
Sibyl met it with a shouted word in Draconic. The construct exploded into a cloud of tiny, shimmering flies that circled harmlessly around her head. With a shrug of one wing, she brushed them aside.
Sibyl was even more powerful than Arvin had feared. Had she already become an avatar? No, there hadn't been time, but the thought gave him an idea.
A droning filled the air around him as he tried to force his way into her mind. If he could convince her, even for an instant, that she had heard an unconditional summons from her god, she might leave. A simple splicing of her memories would be all it took. He pushed against her will, looking for the tiniest chink in her mental armor through which his own mind could slip.
Sibyl forced him back. Then she hissed. Her tail began to glow with an unbearably bright light then whipped forward. As the tip of it slapped against Arvin's face the brightness exploded, filling his entire vision. He blinked but could see nothing but white. He was blind.
He could no longer see Karrell, but he could hear her deep, shuddering groans. He could also hear, over Sibyl's hissing laughter, the soft pops of the flowers on his net releasing their compelling dust. Sibyl, he had seen in the instant before he was blinded, was still too far away from the net to be affected by the dust, but Karrell was close. Too close.
"Karrell," he shouted again. "Get away from the-"
His teeth slammed together as what must have been a second lightning bolt struck him. Muscles rigid, he fought against the blackness that threatened to swallow him. He had been foolish, he realized, to attempt to rescue Karrell alone. He should have tried harder to convince Ts'ikil to come with him. He pictured the couatl as he'd left her on the ledge, realized he should have at least told her he was entering Smaragd. Even wounded, the couatl was the one creature who might actually be a match forNo. There was one other who might be able to beat Sibyl in a head-to-head fight.