Holy Opposites 43

	The spy sat shackled to the chair in the back of the rectory.  The church hadn’t had any shackles on-hand, so they had improvised with rope.  “How did you get into the church?” Axio demanded.

	“The garden wall,” Embersson said.  “It’s only eleven feet high.”

	Solen sat across from him, and despite his outward calm, Embersson felt a drop of ice in his spine as the ancient cleric’s eyes flashed white.  “Now, young man, I would hear you speak.  Why have you come to us?  I can smell the taint of Tyranny on your soul,” he said.  His voice wasn’t wavering now.  Clearly, this intrusion into his temple was galvanizing the old man.

	“I can’t take it anymore,” Embersson said.  He looked down.  “The kids in the bookstore were the last straw.  I can’t do this.”

	Axio narrowed his eyes.  He was lurking behind the chair in the little rectory pantry, wearing his full armor and armed with his sword.  He kept his expression clear, even as he seethed over the entire situation.  This man was fourteen steps from the dormitory where the children were living until they could find their parents.  He could have…

	“It’s… I’m a mercenary, not a cultist,” Embersson said.

	Solen tapped his finger on the table, and Suivi stiffened.  He felt a zone of truth spell appear in the room.  “Repeat that, sir,” he said.

	“I’m a mercenary, not a cultist.”

	Axio rolled his eyes.  He wasn’t lying, but he wasn’t being truthful.  “You don’t care for our faith, do you?” he asked.

	“It’s faith.  I pray when I need to, I don’t play favorites,” Suivi said archly.

	Solen glowered.  This Embersson wasn’t acting like a man who wanted to do them a favor.  “And yet you are here.”

	Suivi nodded.  “I was watching when Axiopistos here brought the children out of the bookstore.”

	“And you knew where to look… how?” Axio asked.

	Suivi tried to lie, as his decades of experience would have him do, but fact spilled from his lips anyway.  “Because that bookstore’s apartment is how I contacted Toller.”

	Both clergymen fell silent.  “How insightful,” Axio said darkly.  “And what sorts of things did you tell him?”

	Suivi glanced back nervously.  In for a copper…  “I’ve been following you for a few weeks,” he admitted carefully.  “Ever since the new woman, Cavria, arrived.”

	Axio’s finger joints creaked as he forced himself not to take the little rat’s head off his shoulders.  He had been stalking them like animals!  “Why?”

	“Because the Baneites have an extraordinary amount of money,” Suivi said.

	Solen leaned across the table and pressed a fingertip to Suivi’s forehead.  It glowed.  A lance of faith, no doubt, though he did not release it.  “Speak,” Solen rumbled.  “Did you partake of the kidnappings?”

	Suivi’s shirt was sticking to him.  “No!  No, I swear it!”

	It was no lie.  Solen released him and sat back in his chair.  “What do you offer us in parity for the depth of your crimes?”

	Suivi licked his lips.  “T-the Baneites, I can tell you about them.  Their leader, the man who runs it all.”

	“Then do so, but name your price,” Axio said.  He rested an armored hand on Suivi’s shoulder.  “We will tell you if it is worth paying.”

	“I want out!” Suivi said angrily.  “The entire cult is mad!”

	“Many Baneites are mad.  You worked for them anyway.”  Axio pulled his hand away.  “What did seeing me in the streets change?”

	Again, the zone of truth pulled honesty from Suivi.  “I didn’t think they could actually do it!” the spy said.

	“Do what?  We know of their desire to open a passageway to the Banehold,” Axio said.

	“They can, I really think they can,” Suivi said.  “I have no idea where they’re getting the sacrifices, but they have them.”

	Solen looked grave.  “And where are they keeping them?”

	“That, I don’t know,” Suivi admitted.  “They’re close to the city, but I don’t know where.  I’d bet anything the place in Undermountain can get there, though.  There were more children the last time…”

	He trailed off as he realized he had just admitted to having known there were children being tortured and done nothing.  Amongst people of no ethical proclivity, that may not have been such a condemnation, but in the presence of the two highest-ranking members of the church of child protection, it had not been his smartest available move.  Suivi felt ice drip down his spine again as he saw Solen’s aura flare.  He heard the clink of steel against steel as Axio rested his hand on his sword hilt, but the Paladin restrained himself.

	An ugly silence fell over the room.  Solen controlled himself with an immense effort.  “Who is this Toller?”

	“A cleric of Bane.  Old, human man.”

	“And what can you tell us that we don’t know for ourselves?” Solen asked thinly.

	Suivi thought back.  “Well… I’d guess he wasn’t there in person when you hit his temple,” he hazarded.

	“No.”

	“Then he’s probably in the doghouse.  He hadn’t broken away from the greater cult, not per se, but he was definitely not following all of his master’s orders.”  Embersson remembered encountering Toller in a poor mood because of his instructions.  “The cult master is a mage or something else, plus being a cleric.  I don’t know all the details.”

	“Do you know any other passwords for the portal in the Undermountain lair?” Solen pressed.

	“No.”

	Axio released his sword.  “Then why are you here?” he asked curtly.  “You haven’t told us any gods-damned thing.  What do you even want?”

	“I want the Baneites to never find me.”  Suivi would have said that regardless of the zone of truth.  The Baneites would probably have never found him anyway, but it never hurt to have a guarantee.  “But I also want help.”

	Axio circled the chair and stood behind his grandfather.  “Help with what?”

	Suivi took a deep breath.  “These Baneites, they have a huge cult.  They’re working with their larger forces in the south.  I want to escape the Sword Coast and head inland to Cormyr.  There’s no way I could get there without help.  I can fade out of sight for a while, but the Baneites have eyes everywhere.  I can’t stay hidden forever.”

	Axio considered that.  “And what do you offer us in exchange for your escape?”

	“Can you even do it?”

	“Of course I can do it.  I can get you safely almost anywhere on the continent.  I’m asking what you’re offering that would be worth the trouble.”

	“I can find the other portal and sending destinations, and I can do it much faster than the Watch can,” Suivi said.  “You could cut weeks out of this investigation.”

	“How?”

	“That’s my business.”

	“It’s our business,” Solen interjected.  “Or it shall be, if you want us to trust you.”

	“I just can.  I have means.”

	Both clergymen shared a disgusted look.  “You’re offering us precious little evidence of anything you’ve said,” Solen pointed out.

	“You have me tied to a chair.  What evidence do you imagine I can produce like this?” Suivi asked acidly.  “Let me show you to where Toller kept his money, at least.”

	“It wasn’t in Undermountain?” Axio asked.

	“Oh, it was, but if you haven’t found it yet, you’re not going to.”  Suivi sat back in his chair.  “That’s my offer.”


	Outside, I sat on the chair in the women’s dormitory and focused.  My reserve of healing magic for the day was all but spent, as was my divine pool, and all I could do now was hope my fiendish heritage would help.

	Meditating felt good.  Since the Undermountain excursion, I had felt my connection to Ryaire grow.  I could cast higher-level spells, now, but I could also hear the faint sounds of the Arbor in my mind, sometimes even while dreaming.  When I cast my protection from evil spell at night, I sometimes dreamed of the brilliant sunlight in the Arbor, or the laughter of the kids in the honeycomb playground.

	I gingerly tested my back as I moved in the chair.  It really hurt, even now, but Solen had assured me it would pass in a few more days, if I kept healing it as I had been.

	I smiled as Triera draped a hot blanket over my shoulders.  “Thanks.”

	Triera smiled unhappily.  Her parents were out of town, working in the community of Rassalantar to help the children saved from the farmhouse raid.  The Temple of Ryaire was empty, save for old friar Dreblin, tending to the children, a few monks in the open chapel, and the two of them.  The place was all but vacant.

	“Do you think you’ll be leaving again soon?” Triera asked after exchanging greetings.

	I shrugged gingerly.  “Who knows?  I Hope I can go as soon as my back heals.  I want to get back out there.”

	“That’s very brave, wanting to go out there again so soon,” Triera said sadly.  “I wish I had the choice, you know?”

	I looked over at where she was sitting.  She had her hands folded in her lap, and she fixed her eyes on the floor.  “I shouldn’t be selfish, but… I dunno.  I just dislike fighting.  I doubt I’ll be good at it.”

	I nodded.  “I understand.  I think you could serve as a missionary, honestly, if that were what you wanted.”

	She looked miserably out the window.  “I wish.”