Blackstaff Tower

CHAPTER 16

11 Nightal, Year of the Ageless One (1479 DR)

Sellswords closed in on the party from both sides. Vharem counted at least nine men closing in on them from the far side of the tock, all armed with drawn. swords, cudgels, or maces. Laraelra shouted a spell and blasted them with a silent maelstrom of colors; while many of them howled and grabbed at their eyes, only one fell unconscious. Osco jumped up onto the Northspur Rock and scattered caltrops among the men, the sharp metal barbs slowing their advance.

Between Laraelra and Vharem, Eiruk Weskur swept his arms up as he intoned a spell, and a cloud of glittering golden sparkles erupted among the metcenaties closing in on them from the rock's southwest side. All but two of them clutched at their eyes and yelled about going blind. Like Vharem and his companions' green glows, the mercenaries shone in gold light.

Vharem clapped Eiruk on the shoulder and nodded his thanks. "That helps, but we're still trapped. Come, Meloon-Osco's got the right idea. We need the high ground to tackle a lot of them!"

Vharem scrambled up the rougher side of the Northspur and found the halfling whipping sling stones down on the heads of blinded mercenaries and cackling with glee. "I liked the sneaking-about plan better, V!"

"Me, too." Vharem sighed, as he showered the larger crowd near Vajra and Renaer with caltrops of his own.

Meloon clambered up the rough outcropping, his axe dangling from his wrist by a strap. Once Meloon stood next to him atop the rock, Vharem saw the bright blue flames suffusing the axe head.

Atop the Northspur, Vharem saw how dire a situation they were all in. Four of them were hemmed in between the rock and the cliff face by twenty sellswords. From above and below, wizards flew in their direction.

"What do you think we should do?" Vharem said. When he turned and looked up at Meloon, he saw the axe's blue flames filling the man's eyes. Meloon didn't respond other than to swing his axe with both arms, his actions forcing Vharem to fall back onto Osco. Meloon swung the axe in a wide circular arc, twisting his body as he did so, and the blue flames became a pulse of magic that flashed out in all directions. The four wizards flying up from the city and the pair flying down the mountain all dropped out of the sky, trailing light blue flames as they fell.

Lying atop the Northspur, Vharem looked down at his oldest friend and knew he had to help him.

"Vajra!" Vharem yelled, and she stirred, her eyes a blur of shifting color and energy. "Blackstaff, we need you!"

She glowered at him, her eyes focused points of cobalt blue. Her head scanned around and she growled as she got her bearings. "Northspur, good," she said. She began a complicated spell, her voice a low whisper, but her hands never stopped moving. The ground beneath the four of them began to glow.

Renaer whispered, "Everyone get close and ready. I don't know what she's doing, but that glow's staying tight around us.

Vharem, get ready to join us or head out. You know where to meet us."

Osco whipped a sap down at a half-blinded cutthroat who moved toward Vajra, and the man crumpled, falling atop another blinded sellsword. Vharem saw a bull of a man shake his head to clear his vision, and then raise a rusty battleaxe, aiming at Laraelra. Vharem pierced the man's arm with a thrown dagger, forcing him to drop the axe. Laraelra's quicksilver bolts hit him in the chest and head, and he died before he hit the ground. Eiruk Weskur reached past Renaer and cast his spell, entangling the other dozen or more sellswords to the southwest in thick, gtay strands of spiderwebbing. The gray tangles blocked off that escape, but it also hindered the sellswords. Curses, swear words, and the futile struggles of the sellswords shook the webs from within.

Meloon drew up to his full height with Azuredge, then he chopped the Northspur rock. The boulder shot blue flames at the eight sellswords on the northeast approach. Those eight flew out of the way like a shipwreck thrown by a wave.

Vajra continued her spell, and Vharem watched the ground beneath them, while still solid enough to stand on, grow transparent. Renaer gulped as he saw a huge pit yawning beneath them, even though it remained solid ground beneath his feet. Vajra's eyes darted up at Vharem, then back at Renaer, without halting her spell.

"Osco, get ready," Vharem said, "and…"

Renaer yelled with Vharem "Jump!" as Vajra said, "Sruahiil!" and those inside the circle of transparent rock began to slowly sink through it.

Osco stood atop Northspur and said, "You are mad if you thi-hey!"

Vharem grabbed Osco by the belt and yelled, "Elra, catch!" He flung the hin to her in the glowing circle. The halfling nearly collided with Laraelra, closing his eyes at the expected impact, but his plummet became a slow fall in unison with her.

Osco laughed when he opened his eyes, hanging upside-down above the flinching sorceress. He yelled, "Come, V!"

Eiruk sank alongside Renaer, and he grabbed Vajra's face with both hands and kissed her gently. He said, "Stay alive and stay safe, Vajra," then jumped outside of the glowing effect. "I'll remain behind to explain the situation-hopefully, I can at least keep the Watchful Otder off your backs. Speed of gods to you, friends."

Vharem noticed that Vajra's face contorted in shock and surprise, but the stone-face returned almost instantly.

Meloon shook his head as the flames snuffed out on Azuredge and in his eyes. "What happened?" he said.

"Later!" Vharem said. "Jump!"

Meloon looked down at the others, all of whom were nodding or gesturing him forward. He leaped off the Northspur and laughed as he entered the spell's effect, sinking slowly just above shrieking Osco.

Vharem braced himself to follow suit, but his last glance around showed him a young wizard with hateful eyes casting a spell from the steps. The wizard's attention focused on Vajra, and Vharem saw lightning crackling in his palms. Too far for a dagger throw, Vharem thought, and no time. Just do it. He'd do the same for you in a heartbeat.

"Renaer, Vajra!" Vharem yelled. "Down!" He leaped directly into the path of a lightning bolt. Vharem spread his arms and legs wide, and his world went white and silent as the lightning overwhelmed his senses. He could not breathe, but he felt his body seize from the energy. He hoped his spread limbs would deflect any extra energy into the Northspur or the mountain rather than his friends.

Vharem could tell he was floating down slowly, and someone grabbed him beneath his arms to pull him close-Meloon, judging from his grip and the size of his hands. His hearing returned, and he heard Meloon shouting, "Vharem? Vharem?"

Vharem tried to whisper, "Stop yelling, big man," but he couldn't catch his breath. His sense of smell returned and he could smell acrid smoke surrounding him. Haze still covered his eyes, and it went pitch black. He gasped, jerked his arm, and his body exploded with pain.

As Vharem groaned against the pain, Meloon said, "Vajra just closed the shaft above us, Vharem. You're not blind."

Vharem tried to speak, wheezing for breath. The effort it took to choke out words, and a lightening feeling in his chest told Vharem to hurry. "We made it?" Those words alone forced him to cough, and the tightness in his chest and head faded.

"We're all right," Meloon said. "You saved us all."

Near Vharem's head, blue light flashed, and he could just barely discern the shape of Azuredge casting light all around him. He tried to wheeze a response, but he couldn't breathe, so he just gripped his friend's hand. He smiled, and the light in his eyes grew brighter as the pain disappeared. He shuddered, and then relaxed into death, his hand falling from Meloon's while they drifted down deeper through the mountain.

Renaer could not shake the image out of his head-his oldest friend, yelling at him with resolve in his eye, his body crackling with lightning. He held onto Vajra and sank slowly, silently. He could hear Meloon talking above. Vajra conjured up six pairs of glowing eyes, each surrounded by seven stars, to add to Azutedge's light. Renaer tried to speak, but only coughed, and he could now see Laraelra's tear-slick face, which told him what he dreaded.

"I had to open the shaft to save us all, not just the one," Vajra whispered. "I'm sorry."

Renaer looked away and set his jaw, clenching his fists to fight for control of his emotions. His face quiveted only slightly when Osco whispered, "Oh stlaern it. Not V…" The halfling punched fist to palm numerous times.

Silence filled the rest of the descent, as the party watched the shaft become a bricked construction, not just a spell-slick hole bored through the mountain. Renaer realized this shaft-or at least some of it-had been built long ago. Vajra-or one of the Blackstaffs in her head-had known about it and used that to escape.

The party settled to the ground, and Meloon and Osco rushed over to help Elra with Vharem's body. Renaer shrugged Vajra out of his arms, since she seemed conscious and lucid. Once her feet stepped onto the stones of the tunnel, Vajra's entire body pulsed with silver light. She grimaced, groaned, then sighed in relief. She opened her eyes again, and almond-shaped mahogany eyes looked into Renaer's. He nodded, then rushed to help the slowly falling Meloon settle Vharem's body lightly on the ground. Renaer fell to his knees and silently prayed while clutching his friend's lifeless hand. Kelemvor, god ofdeath, if you be kind at all, 'welcome him to rewards unendingfor his sacrifice. Welcome and honor him, as I know we must let him pass from this life.

Vajra hugged each and every person as they surrounded Vharem's prone form. She then knelt down to whisper a prayer over Vharem's body. "We shall always remember and honor your sacrifice, noble rogue." She wove a spell that cocooned Vharem's body in magical blue-gray energy. "That's the best I can do for you now, but we'll pay homage to you soon."

She rose, brushed off her robes, and said, "It's easier for me to maintain control the closer we get to Blackstaff Tower and the things in which our power flows-like these tunnels. No enemies block our path any longer. These tunnels haven't been traveled by other than spiders and rats in many moons. Most folk forgot about these tunnels once the Blackstaff and the Lords stopped being the most congenial of friends. That's what Khelben used them for- secret meetings with the Lords so they could travel unseen and unmolested." She gestured and the floating eye-lights now merged into the stonework, placing their glows into the mortar.

Vajra headed down the dusty and webbed tunnel, its mortar seams glistening just enough to provide lighting fot the path outside of Azuredge's blue light. Renaer remained frozen, his face impassive in the glow of the magical coffin around his lifelong friend. The others paused, and Renaer could feel their indecision and conflict of staying with Renaer or going with her. In silent answer, a grim-faced Renaer picked up the cocoon and wordlessly walked after Vajra. The three others followed in silence.

The group walked a while before Vajra stopped, reached over, and traced her fingers on the mortared wall. Her finger left a brighter trail of white behind it, and she drew an odd rune along the bricks. Without even a protesting groan or scrape, the wall parted. Vajra stepped through the doorway and torches erupted into life on every wall, their flames flaring wide as they burned up the huge clumps of spiderwebs atop and around them. Renaer and the others followed and they entered a small antechamber with a small desk and chair set into the rock wall. To their left, two tunnels yawned before them, inside of which no torches flickered. Across the room lay a small set of steps leading directly into a blank brick wall.

Vajra stood in the room, confused a moment by the three directions. A brief flash of silver in her eyes, then she nodded. She turned back and said, "Come, friends. All you have to do is step on the stairs, say the word nhurlaen, and you'll be brought to my study, safely."

"You sure we're safe?" Osco asked.

"Doesn't matter, Osco," Meloon chuckled. "Better to be in the home of a friend than at the blade of an enemy, right? Besides, who wants to stay down here in the dark?"

"Are we?" Renaer asked. "Friends, I mean?" His tone was cold and distant, tinged with regret. The ache he'd fought against now filled his chest. Both of his oldest friends lay dead, and all to help this stranger get to this place. Renaet could keep the anger out of his voice no longer. "Are you friend enough to me to be worth the outer* Worth the friends lost?"

Vajra sighed, walked over, and placed one hand on Renaer's cheek, the other over her heart. "I've been nigh-incoherent the past few months because the power granted to me was not properly assimilated. Two others paid with their lives-two debts I can never fully repay, save with lifelong amity to sutviving comrades. I cannot replace your lost friends. Nothing can, Renaer Neverember. Even if you'd not done all you have, ending my torture and saving my life would have made us lifelong comrades."

"Are you sure Ten-Rings ain't already the Blackstaff?" Osco said. "We been one step behind him all the time."

Vajra looked down at the halfling and said, "Blackstaff he is not, little man. The tower would tell me, as it has told me things during our walk here. It guards itself well, even from those with power enough to breach its outer defenses. HoWever, he may yet be a danger to us and the city, given the power that he stole from here."

"Ten-Rings got in here?" Meloon asked. "Or was it the imposter Blackstaff?"

"Aye, both," Vajra said, "but Blackstaff Tower conquered them, rather than the opposite. We shall discuss and attend to their fates later. But for now, please, come-help me to become the Blackstaff for certain, so we may all find our true paths."

Vajra stepped onto the stone platform. Her eyes flashed with energy. The brick wall ahead of her receded. The stones formed a spiral stair ahead of her, and all could see and hear the magical torches flaring to life further up the stairs. Vajra took three steps up and said the word, "Nhurtaen,"'and vanished.

After a pause and a shared look among themselves, Renaer set Vharem's coffin on the chamber's desk, rested his hand on it in silent salute, and said, "Good luck, friends." He then followed Vajra and disappeared. Within a few breaths, Laraelra, Osco, and Meloon repeated the procedure, leaving the chamber empty only with the glow of Vharem's coffin and the torchlight.

The torch flames flickered and sputtered, the only sound until a thin, teedy voice called out, "Father? Have you come for me? The ghosts… they left me in the dark. Help me. I did it all for you. I did it all for you…" The voice fell to sobs as the torches flickered out, restoring the all-encompassing darkness.