Holy Opposites 35

	When he awoke, he couldn’t move.  Icy adrenaline and hot fear crashed through him as he realized where he was.  “Vorthane!  Vorthane, don’t do this!”

	His master’s voice came from somewhere behind and below him.  “Oh, Bastienne, I am in such a merciful mood,” he said, apparently genuinely.  “I’ve decided to let you earn a second chance.”

	Toller licked his split lip.  “What?  You have?”

	“I have.  As you can see, I have attached you to the Harness.”

	Toller swallowed.  “I… yes, I can feel it.”  Cold glass probes pressed flush against the backs of his hands.  He couldn’t move.  He was staring up into a dark ceiling.  “I, uh, I don’t feel like I have a second chance.”

	“Oh, I’ll be sure you’ll get one, when you plead for it loudly enough.”

	A white-hot jolt of agony jolted his left arm.  Toller cried out in pain as a glass tube impaled him.  Immediately, he felt a horrible emptiness spread through his arm.  “No!  Please!”

	His master’s infuriatingly calm voice continued from below.  “You see, Toller, Master Bane teaches us much.  He teaches us about pain, about suffering, about how all must be cast down and rebuilt.  I agree with him.”

	Toller screamed as the agony and numbness rushed through his left side.  His right side convulsed as a hundred tiny needles suddenly impaled him.  “No!”

	“You agree with him, too, Bastienne.”  Vorthane nodded knowingly.  “I have seen it.  I see you, Toller, and I see your faith, as childish as it is.  All must be torn down in strife, and rebuilt in perfection.  It will take a long time.”  Toller screamed again as his right arm swelled.  “It may even take more than one attempt, you know.  We are but mortals, and can never quite match Master Bane’s high glory.  Some come closer than others, of course.”

	The fat cleric’s words reduced to incoherent wails as more glass tubes and needles impaled his legs and back, redistributing his blood.  The suction device was a gnomish contraption Vorthane had paid a great deal to obtain.  It was so effective.  There was nothing like moving somebody’s vitae around to make them pliable.  “You see, I do not sit at the left hand of Master Bane.  Nor do you.  I sit at his feet and learn as he teaches.  Master Fzoul sits at his right hand, as he should, and High Cleric Steelwind sits at his left.  I learn from all three, you know.”  He looked to his left, where several dozen lesser Baneites were sitting with varying looks of disgust or glee on their faces.  “You should learn, Bastienne, but you are slow to, and so if you cannot learn… why, then, you shall teach.”

	Toller bellowed in agony as the machine in his left arm withdrew a long draw of blood and injected it back in.  The blood was mixed with the smallest amount of citric acid, not enough to induce blood clotting, but enough to prevent him from passing out.  “Please!  Stop!”

	“You know what that will take, Bastienne,” Vorthane said lightly.

	“I’m sorry!”

	“No, you’re discomforted.  I can see your soul, and I will know when you are sorry,” Vorthane said.  His eyes rippled purple with psionic light, and several students looked away.  He noted which ones and returned to the main attraction.  “Repentance towards Bane is a noble thing to do.  Towards me, well… I do not command Master Bane’s authority, of course, but he has vested me with a small fraction.  You shall respect it.  You shall obey my commands as you obey his, and that is the way of things.”

	A shard of glass lodged itself in Toller’s neck and began pumping.  His screams wound off into a whimper as he passed out from the pain.  Vorthane sighed.  “So fragile.”  He turned to look at the lesser Baneites once more.  “You.  Do it.”

	The selected junior cleric raised a hand and cast a healing spell.  Toller awoke screaming.

	“Very good, student,” Vorthane said approvingly.  “Bastienne, you’re not sorry yet.”

	Toller tried to beg forgiveness, but a glass pipe shot down from above into his mouth, blocking his voice.  “No, not yet,” Vorthane remarked as the suction started up.  “Not by a long shot.”


	I snuggled happily down under the blanket I had brought with me.  Axio had seen fit to sneak a truffle into the rations pouch.  That was so sweet of him.

	Doshellas was leaning against the far wall, watching the corridors.  We had progressed nearly half a mile through Undermountain, growing steadily closer to the sending circle the compass had shown us.  Luanea had spent all of her spells for the day, as had I, and Doshellas had only two left.  We had decided to stop for the day, despite our haste, and rest long enough to replenish our spells when we rose.

	Axio unrolled his bed beside mine and slid in.  He had already removed his armor, which was stacked neatly beside him.  He had spent a bit of our water to clean it properly, and I had done the same.  After all, we were Paladins, so we could just purify more water if we needed it.

	“Enjoying your first proper dungeon crawl?” Axio asked lightly.

	I chuckled.  “No, but we’re in the black, at least.”  The mimic had not been the only thing around with a gold coin to spare.  Just in the last few rooms, we had found a ratty bag of rubies used as a counterweight for a long-broken scale, a small pile of silver in a locked chest, and a crate of unused Sunrods in a closet that had been picked over otherwise.

	“We are.  I should bequeath half to the Promenade for helping us, but I’m keeping the rest to give to the Grand Cleric,” Axio said.  “These expeditions are expensive.”

	I tucked the blanket against the cold stone.  “Well, we’ve got a lot more to do.  Who knows what else we’ll find?”

	“Right.”  He sighed.  “I just hope we aren’t taking too long.  I would never forgive myself if the cult started killing more children.”

	“We’ll do what we can,” I promised.  “We can’t rush.”

	“Right.”

	I looked over at where the two Eilistraeeans were keeping vigil.  “Uh, Axio… can you cast protection from evil on me?” I asked sheepishly.  “I used up my spell slots for the day.”

	He looked at me, confused.  “Sure, but why?  You think we’ll be attacked?”

	“Well… I’m having horrible nightmares,” I admitted.  “I cast the spell on myself every day so it doesn’t happen.  Ryaire thinks it’s Asmodeus, torturing me.”

	He leaned over, all concern.  “Oh, Cavria, I’m so sorry,” he said, resting a hand on my shoulder.  “Of course, here.”  He spent his last spell slot for the day, and I felt a brief tingle before the sensation faded.

	“Thanks, Axio,” I said.  “All right.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

	“I’ll relieve Luanea in a few hours, so… sleep well,” he said.

	I shut my eyes and tried to rest, and to my relief, I managed it.  No dark dreams tormented me that night.


	When I awoke, the room was as dark as old pitch.  I frowned.  Shouldn’t somebody have been up?  I glanced around to see Axio and Luanea standing back-to-back in the middle of the room, watching the doors.  Neither was in a combat stance.  I realized that with their darkvision, they didn’t need torches or a light spell, so they were letting the darkness hide us.

	I settled back down to catch some more sleep before I had to rise when I heard Axio speak.  “It’s not that,” he said, very faintly.  “I just wish I could do more.”

	“Of course you do,” Luanea said gently.  “We all do.  That’s what being a cleric is all about.”

	“Yeah.”  His broad shoulders shifted.  “I just… I dunno.”

	Luanea was silent.  I tried not to listen in, but it was the only sound in the room, so I could hardly avoid it.  “I do wish it were… just a little bit easier,” Axio said.  “But that’s wrong of me, isn’t it?”

	Luanea shook her head.  “No, Axio, it’s not.  Our job is nearly impossible to bear alone.  The part to focus on is that you’re not alone.  Cavria, Solen, your parents, they’re all here.”

	“Right.”

	Luanea reached back and laced her fingers with his.  “And I’m here,” she said faintly.

	I don’t know why my heart thumped when I saw that.  I also didn’t know why Axio removed his hand from hers after a moment.  “I know, Luanea.  I miss him too,” he said sadly.  “I pray for him.”

	“I pray too,” Luanea said, so faintly I could hardly hear her.  “I hope that’s enough.”

	I felt horribly intrusive.  I forced my eyes shut and shifted my hand over my upper-facing ear, trying to block it out.

	Moments later, though, Doshellas stirred.  “Mphm.  ‘Sit morning yet?” he grumbled.

	“It may as well be,” Luanea said in a more normal voice.  She struck a Sunrod against the wall and it crackled to life.  She set it in the middle of the floor, casting shadows over everything.  “All right, friends, let’s get our spells in order and grab a bite.  We need to move.”

	I decided to put my question about exactly what secret those two were sharing until later.  Axio had been right.  We had no time to spare.