The serpents in close pursuit pulled up and began to writhe and spasm when they came in contact with the fog. A moment later, they began falling dead to the ground.
"Aye!" the other dwarf cried.
"Poison the air, ye clever wizard?" said Athrogate. "Choking them stinkin', spittin' liza—"
"Don't say it!" Entreri shouted at him.
"What?" the dwarf replied.
"Just shut up," said the assassin.
Athrogate shrugged, his morning stars finally losing momentum and dropping down at the end of their respective chains.
"Ain't nothing left to hit," he remarked.
Entreri glared at him, as if daring him to find a rhyming line.
"Ease up the team," the thin man said. "The pursuit is no more."
Entreri tugged the reigns just a bit and coaxed the horses to slow. He turned the wagon to the side and noted the approach of Mariabronne and the wounded soldier, the ranger still handling both their mounts. Entreri moved around a bit more onto the flat plain, allowing himself a view of the escape route. The wizard's killing cloud of green fog began to dissipate, and the distant burning wagon came more clearly into sight, a pillar of black smoke rising into the air.
Beside him, Calihye coughed and groaned.
Mariabronne handed the soldier's horse over to the care of Athrogate then turned his own horse around and galloped back to the body of the other fallen woman. Looking past him, Entreri noted that the other soldier was dead, for the man's charred corpse was clearly in sight.
From the sight of the fallen woman, all twisted, bloody, and unmoving, the assassin gathered that they had lost two in the encounter.
At least two, he realized, and to his own surprise, a quiver of alarm came over him and he glanced around, calming almost immediately when he noted Jarlaxle off to the other side, up in the foothills, calmly walking toward them. He noted Ellery, too, a bit behind the drow, moving after her scared and riderless mount.
The wounded woman on the ground groaned and Entreri turned to see Mariabronne cradling her head. The ranger gently lifted her battered form from the mud and set her over his horse's back then slowly led the mount back to the wagon.
"Parissus?" Calihye asked. She crawled back into a sitting position, widened her eyes, and called again for her friend, more loudly. "Parissus!"
The look on Mariabronne's face was not promising. Nor was the lifeless movement of Parissus, limply bouncing along.
"Parissus?" the woman beside Entreri cried again, even more urgently as her senses returned. She started past the assassin but stopped short. "You did this to her!" she cried, moving her twisted face right up to Entreri's.
Or trying to, for when the final word escaped her lips, it came forth with a gurgle. Entreri's strong hand clamped against her throat, fingers perfectly positioned to crush her windpipe. She grabbed at the hold with both hands then dropped one low—to retrieve a weapon, Entreri knew.
He wasn't overly concerned, however, for she stopped short when the tip of the assassin's jeweled dagger poked in hard under her chin.
"Would you care to utter another accusation?" Entreri asked.
"Be easy, boy," said Athrogate.
Beside him, the other dwarf began to quietly chant.
"If that is a spell aimed at me, then you would be wise to reconsider," said Entreri.
The dwarf cleric did stop—but only when a drow hand grabbed him by the shoulder.
"There is no need for animosity," Jarlaxle said to them all. "A difficult foe, but one vanquished."
"Because you decided to burn them, and your companion," accused the shaken, shivering half-elf soldier.
"Your friend was dead long before I initiated the fireball," said the drow. "And if I had not, then I and Commander Ellery would have suffered a similar fate."
"You do not know that!"
Jarlaxle shrugged as if it did not matter. "I saved myself and Commander Ellery. I could not have saved your friend, nor could you, in any case."
"Abominations of Zhengyi," said Mariabronne, drawing close to the others. "More may be about. We have no time for this foolishness."
Entreri looked at the ranger, then at Jarlaxle, who nodded for him to let the half-elf go. He did just that, offering her one last warning glare.
Calihye gagged a bit and fell back from him, but recovered quickly. She scrambled from the wagon bench and over to her fallen companion. Mariabronne let her pass by, but looked to the others and shook his head.
"I got some spells," the dwarf cleric said.
Mariabronne walked away from the horse, leaving the woman with her fallen friend. "Then use them," he told the dwarf. "But I doubt they will be of help. She is full of poison and the fall broke her spine."
The dwarf nodded grimly and ambled past him. He grabbed at the smaller Calihye, who was sobbing uncontrollably, and seemed as if she would melt into the ground beside the horse.
"Parissus…" she whispered over and over.
"A stream of drats for being her," Athrogate muttered.
"At least," said Jarlaxle.
The sound of an approaching horse turned them all to regard Ellery.
"Mariabronne, with me," the commander instructed. "We will go back and see what we can salvage. I need to retrieve my battle-axe and we have another horse running free. I'll not leave it behind." She glanced at the fallen woman, as Pratcus and Calihye were easing her down from the horse. "What of her?"
"No," Mariabronne said, his voice quiet and respectful.
"Put her in the wagon then, and get it moving along," Ellery instructed.
Her callous tone drew a grin from Entreri. He could tell that she was agitated under that calm facade.
"I am Canthan," he heard the thin man tell Jarlaxle. "I witnessed your blast. Most impressive. I did not realize that you dabbled in the Art."
"I am a drow of many talents."
Canthan bowed and seemed impressed.
"And many items," Entreri had to put in.
Jarlaxle tipped his great hat and smiled.
Entreri didn't return his smile, though, for the assassin had caught the gaze of Calihye. He saw a clear threat in her blue-gray eyes. Yes, she blamed him for her friend's fall.
"Come along, ye dolts, and load the wagon!" Athrogate roared as Mariabronne and Ellery started off. "Be quick afore Zhengyi attacks with a dragon! Bwahaha!"
"It will be an interesting ride," Jarlaxle said to Entreri as he climbed up onto the bench beside the assassin.
"'Interesting' is a good word," Entreri replied.
CHAPTER TEN
WITH OPEN HEART
"At ease, my large friend," Wingham said, patting his hands in the air to calm the half-orc.
But Olgerkhan would not be calmed. "She's dying! I tried to help, but I cannot."
"We don't know that she's dying."
"She's sick again, and worse now than before," Olgerkhan continued. "The castle grows and its shadow makes Arrayan sick."
Wingham started to respond again but paused and considered what Olgerkhan had said. No doubt the somewhat dim warrior was making only a passing connection, using the castle to illustrate his fears for Arrayan, but in that simple statement Wingham heard a hint of truth. Arrayan had opened the book, after all. Was it possible that in doing so, she had created a magical bond between herself and the tome? Wingham had suspected that she'd served as a catalyst, but might it be more than that?
"Old Nyungy, is he still in town?" the merchant asked.
"Nyungy?" echoed Olgerkhan. "The talespinner?"
"Yes, the same."
Olgerkhan shrugged and said, "I haven't seen him in some time, but I know his house."