The priest brought up his triangular holy symbol to start a spell when the mage drew his knee across his body as he pulled his left leg up.
Luuthis crumpled, never seeing the flagstone smash into his head.
"Interesting maneuver, child." Ahaud remarked. "We'll have that secret as well before you free yourself." The drow touched the tips of his short swords together, and a purplish-black bolt of magic exploded toward the defenseless mage. "Indeed?" The mage's steel-blue eyes sparkled with contempt for the drow as the blast hit him full force.
The color of the magic shifted immediately to light blue, and the magic leeched into the magical webbing that spread-eagled the man in the center of the tower. Suffused in blue energy, the mage kicked his right leg out and yanked his right arm down and across his body. Two stone blocks attached to the webs hurtled toward Ahaud. The drow disappeared with a pop, reappearing a few yards up the wall, still clinging to it like a spider. "You missed, boy!" he crowed. "Enjoy your freedom a few heartbeats more…" "It will last longer than your life, Ahaud of House Tanor'thal." The young mage spun in mid-air, and the three stones still attached to the spell webs that once held him scraped and rebounded against the walls below him. "Don't count on that, wizard!" Xaerna cried, her face twisted in anger as she flew toward him. "Your death will be as miserable as that whisper of a beard on your chin." Down below, the wizard could see Palron Kaeth hunched over the body of Saquarl, the illithid's neck obviously broken. The scraps that once possessed the illithid swarmed around the male vampire. The young wizard pulled with his anchored left arm, which drew him into the tower's upper reaches and dislodged the stone.
He floated of his own volition, but his final anchor stone crashed into Xaerna's left wing and slowed her pursuit. Ahaud continued the chase, easily running up the smooth black stone walls. Ignoring his pursuers, the wizard began a new spell. He spun rapidly, the arcane webbing and stones it trailed all glowing. Ahaud and Xaerna avoided the stones, and they too cast spells. The fireball left her fingers a few seconds after the drow unleashed his lightning, and while the wizard reflected the bolt right back at Ahaud, the fireball exploded just above him, slamming him against a wall and burning away his hair.
"Pity the much-vaunted Seven Wizards of Myth Drannor failed to teach you better." Xaerna flew to where the naked man smoldered in one of the upper windowsills, and she began casting a paralyzing spell.
Despite the distractions, the young wizard uttered the spell's final syllables looking into Xaerna's eyes. "Xymmaoth Piurasjk Atox!"
Wincing from the pain of burnt skin, the wizard pulled all his limbs together, tucked himself into a ball, and fell backward through the window. The magic he cast remained on the windowsill and the wall, gold and red energies leeching into the stones. "All that effort to escape, and he wishes to fall to his death? And what is that? Ahaud, do you know this spell?" Xaerna demanded. "It's seeping into the stones, and I can't dispel it!" "I don't know, Xaerna. I've never seen its like." Ahaud glanced out the window, scanning down then up toward the tower's peak. "The boy's atop the roof!" The mage shivered as wind and rain lashed against his naked form, but he smiled back at Ahaud as the drow clambered out into the night and started walking up the outer tower. The silent wizard took to the air and looped swiftly once around the tower. Then he slammed into it with his shoulder, screaming in pain as he hit. Ahaud could see the human's shoulder was broken with bones jutting partly from his skin. The drow's satisfied smile lasted only moments as he realized the tower had shuddered beneath the impact. He saw the results of the earlier spell. Red and gold magic weakened mortar and stone. With the magically enhanced impact, the tower fell inward on itself. In a matter of moments, Silorrattor lay in a huge mound of rubble and dust. The son of Arun barely even heard the screams of his former captors over the din of grinding stone. By the time he reached the ground as well, all was silent. Arun's son groaned as even the slight jar from landing sent spasms of pain through his shattered shoulder. Still, he smiled grimly as a cloud of stone dust settled in the rain. "They taught me enough, witch. They taught me architecture, to be sure."
"Easy, Tsarra. I'm sorry-I thought the visions would ease on you in time." Khelben's voice penetrated her consciousness before her vision cleared. "I don't recall your other apprentices being so inclined to faint, Blackstaff." Lord Wands chuckled as he held her on the opposite side. "Are you afraid of heights, my dear?" Tsarra gulped as she got her bearings. They were back in Maskar's study, and she lay on a divan in one corner beneath the windows. The sun was muted and much closer to sunset. "No, Lord Wands, I'm not. I think it was the smell that triggered the vision… or perhaps the sound of scraping stone…" Maskar asked, "What visions are those? From that kiira you wear?" "She sees my past, Maskar," Khelben said. "Amazingly, even before I was Chosen." Tsarra felt his concern and admiration, then was surprised as her master's eyes rimmed with tears. "I'm sorry this onus fell to you, Tsarra." Maskar had also moved closer, and he touched Tsarra on her shoulder. "My dear, are you wearing the Coronal's Beljureled Belt?" Khelben and Tsarra noticed the belt had become exposed from beneath her leather top. Maskar stared at the glowing green gems and gold scales alone, as did Tsarra-the gems and the buckle were the only things that didn't seem to be part of her flesh!
She touched it, and the gold scales shimmered, but they felt like skin. "Yes," Khelben sighed. "I'd not told her, as I didn't want her intimidated by bearing one of Eltargrim's gifts. Do not worry-its wearer can remove it at will. The merging is just another way to hide the belt from thieves." Tsarra smiled and ran a finger along the belt.
"My mother taught me not to revere things over people, milords, and that all items are meant to be respected as tools and used, not feared or venerated." Khelben said, "That woman continues to earn my respect long after her untimely death. Yes, Maskar, you know I would only bring that item from the shadows for one reason." Lord Wands cleared his throat again and said, "So it's that time, Blackstaff? Rhaelnar's Legacy is to be fulfilled? That's the third favor? Do I need to hide a Nether Scroll for you, should a foolish treasure hunter actually reform one?" "No, old friend," Khelben replied. "Rhaelnar's Legacy is a blind that hides a greater secret, one I'd hoped to forestall for another three-score years yet. As my hidden foe now has two components I'd never expected uncovered, an inheritance more powerful than Netheril's writings will soon rise. I need you-we shall locate the scabbard in our own way-to participate in a high magic ritual out on the High Moor on the Feast of the Moon." "High magic?" Maskar said. "I have neither elf blood nor that kind of intimacy with the Weave, old friend." "I have it on good authority we'll have help in that regard."