"So I will leave all of you to think upon my words. Only when the true blossom of understanding shrouds you can the will of the Feathered One become life.
"But still, for the spirit you have shown me, however briefly – the serpent again hissed softly to Erix – "I will give you a gift… a gift of learning"
They all felt a brief pulse of power, something that seemed to twist the air in the cavern and then vanish. "Sorcery!" grunted Daggrande.
"It is sorcery in truth, short man," said Erix. The three males gaped at her in awe, for the words were carefully pronounced in stilted Commonspeech, the language of Waterdeep and the Realms.
"How is it you speak the words of the strangers?" gasped Kachin.
"This is the gift of Chitikas Couatl," replied Erix in amazement. She spoke in Payit, then turned and repeated the words in Common.
"Where'd Twisty go, anyhow?" grunted Daggrande, the first to notice that the snake seemed to be gone.
"You should show Chitikas more respect," Erix chided Daggrande gently, then turned to look at Halloran with that frank curiosity that he found so unsettling.
Halloran returned her stare, half in challenge and half in confusion. Even in the darkness, her luminous eyes were visible, studying him with bold intelligence and a hint of reproach. He wanted to rage at this savage woman and her companion, wanted to curse them for their obscene god. But even so, he remembered her act of kindness, when she had used her feathered necklace to free him from his bonds.
"Why did you free me?" Hal asked slowly. He pulled the snakeskin from his belt and held it toward her. "This held fast against our sharpest steel."
"I do not know what 'steel' is, but the – " Erix paused and searched for a word in her new language – " the hishna, the magic of scale and claw and fang, stands in opposition to pluma, the magic of feathers and air. I freed you because my necklace of pluma gives me power over hishna"
Erix pondered for a moment, puzzled. "I do not truly know why I chose to use this power to come to your aid. You are certainly the most frightening men I have ever seen. And in truth, you smell as though you have not bathed in many days.
"Chitikas told me to help you, but I did not want to. It was only when the Payit attacked that I desired you to have a chance to at least fight for your life."
"Thank you" said Halloran, as puzzled as Erix by her decision.
Daggrande had walked over to the doorway and looked at the sky. Now he turned back with a more practical concern.
"Does anyone know where we are?"
Spirali sat cross-legged upon the altar. The heart that had been torn from Martine lay beside him, cold and still. The Ancient One slowly worked his magic, seeking through the night the power that would tell him where his enemy had gone.
The appearance of the couatl had surprised and angered Spirali. Not one of the creatures had been detected in over two centuries, and Spirali's dark-dwelling leaders had pronounced them extinct. They would be displeased by Spirali's report.
But they would be very pleased with Spirali if he could announce that the beast was dead, presumably extinct again. So now he sought the deep emanations of power that would tell him where the couatl had gone. And even if the serpent escaped him, the Ancient One might learn where the girl had gone as well.
Spirali stiffened almost imperceptibly. There! In another instant, he disappeared.
His journey through the spaceless and timeless void that had been the couatl's pathway was instantaneous. Spirali arrived among a grove of flowers in a jungle clearing. He sensed that dawn was near, and this increased his urgency.
A dark stone doorway marked a vine-shrouded temple before him. Spirali closed his eyes, but the concentrated emanations of the couatl were no longer present.
Nevertheless, he heard voices coming from the temple. One of them he recognized as Erixitl's.
"The bluff teems with warriors – at least a thousand, with more emerging from the jungle every minute." Darien explained her observations to Cordell and the Bishou. They didn't question how she gained the information, both knowing that the elf woman could become invisibile, levitate or fly, assume the shape of an animal or monster, and employ other magical abilities as she needed. Her methods could not be questioned, and her results were invaluable.
"We must attack these pagan savages, now!" Bishou Domincus railed at the sky, shaking his fist at the enemy unseen in the darkness above.
"I'm ready to lead an attack," growled Alvarro eagerly. "We'll spit the devils on our swords!" The gap-toothed redhead had willingly echoed the cleric's cry for battle, and now they pressed an all-out attack.
"Be silent!" Cordell's tight voice instantly quelled their ranting. The commander continued, his voice low and tense.
"Think of our tactical position! We stand at the foot of a bluff. By Helm, they could use rocks as weapons!" Fury and frustration strained Cordell's voice. They hold the high ground!"
"This bluff seems to mark only this headland," interjected Darien. "To the west, the land drops off quickly." Cordell raised his eyebrows. "You have been busy tonight, my dear."
The elf shrugged, her pale eyes veiled. "I sought some sign of Daggrande or Halloran. Unfortunately, I saw nothing to indicate where they might have been taken by this glowing ring,"
"Very well. They were good legionnaires, but we have to assume they are gone."
"Hiding!" snorted the Bishou. "The young man avoids facing me, shirking the responsibility for his criminal carelessness!"
Cordell sighed softly but did not reply to the Bishou's threat. There will be time enough for that should we ever see Hal again, he thought. "We shall sail along the coast, find a shore, and land, as the vigilant eye of Helm is my witness!"
Cordell looked into the Bishou's moist eyes. The captain-general's determination was a black fire burning in his heart as he vowed, "And there, in the open, the legion will await the savages. I assure you, my friend, that your daughter will be avenged!"
"This is the Forgotten Shrine," explained Kachin for Erixitl's translation. "We are east of the mayzfields, within sight of the Flowered Temple of Ulatos."
Erix explained for the benefit of the strangers. "Ulatos is the great city of the Payit, not far from your landing point. Your ships lie a march of perhaps two hours to the east." The translations of distance and time came easily to her. She realized that in both areas, the language of the strangers was far more precise than her own. Obviously they were a people who liked to measure things.
"Why did that priest kill Martine? Why did he choose her for his sacrifice?" The memory of the gory ritual burned in Halloran's mind like a nightmare that would not go away.
"The priest was mad," explained Erix. "He thought the woman was me." Maddened by Chitikas, she added to herself.
"You mean this war was started by a bewitched cleric?" howled Daggrande. "I might have known!"
But Halloran was thinking about her answer. "Why does he want to kill you?"
"I… don't know." The sight of her eyes left him absolutely convinced that she told the truth.