Pools of Darkness

13

Over two months had passed since the smallest ray of sunlight had touched Faerun. Over two months had passed since Phlan had disappeared. The group rode solemnly through drooping forests. Only Talenthia maintained her cheerfulness.

"Yes, yes, I know, my honeys. We'll do what we can for you. Fly along now, and don't worry," the druid chirped to the fluttering cloud of sparrows, jays, and robins circling about her as they rode.

"Isn't that the third flock of concerned birds you've talked to today, Cousin?" asked Andoralson. He was partial to snakes and cats, and birds didn't talk to him much. Talenthia was constantly chatting with birds or petting bugs and spiders.

"Yes, dear Cousin, and the poor darlings are frantic. That last robin is ready to lay her eggs and doesn't even have a nest yet. They all say the same thing. The forest in this area is turning horrible and evil. The trees and plants are dying, and it looks as if none will bear fruit this season. What are we going to do about this, ranger?"

Ren reined Stolen to a halt. "Talenthia, I share your concern about the forest. Even I can tell something isn't right about these woods, and the evil goes much further than too much rain and too little sunshine. But as long as you wish to help, and I believe that's what Sylvanus had in mind for you, you must stick to the common goal. I can't go around righting such wrongs until my friends are saved. When that happens, you have my word that I'll come back here with you and do whatever I can. Does that sound fair?"

"For now, handsome, for now. What's with her royal highness and her cat buddy?" Talenthia asked, pointing to the pair going off the trail far ahead of the group. The druid still wondered if Evaine had any designs on Ren.

"Her cottage is off this road. Wizards of all types have a strange attraction to building secluded homes," Ren replied.

"I would have picked a better spot. There are only birches and scrub trees around here. Give me a good oak or redwood grove any day," Andoralson grumbled, mostly to himself. The others were far ahead and off the path, catching up with Gamaliel and Evaine.

The ranger discovered the sorceress and barbarian standing in front of a small, crumbling stone cottage. Half the structure was caved in, and chairs and tables had obviously been tossed out of windows and doors.

Evaine picked up a chair leg and sighed. "I guess if you leave your home often enough, things like this are bound to happen." Her tone was emotionless, but shock at the destruction showed on her face.

"It was ogres, about a week ago, from the look of the tracks," Ren announced. Two blackened ogre skulls, already picked clean by wildlife, confirmed his report. "Looks like these two were blasted by lightning."

Evaine smiled grimly. "I expect my guards and warding spells probably blasted quite a few of them as they invaded. I hope what they found was worth the effort."

"Allow me to enter first, miss. Enemies may lurk within. I will alert you when I know your home is safe." Miltiades bowed low to Evaine, and the sorceress nodded. His courtly manners were hard to resist.

At the paladin's signal, the group entered what remained of the small tower. Almost everything had been tossed out of the lower room. On a small pedestal in the center of the chamber rested a piece of parchment. Evaine read the note aloud:

" 'To the former owner of this structure. My troops have destroyed this place at my orders. I am the new ruler of these lands. You may join my armies forming on the Moonsea or you may die. Know, however, that great rewards await those who serve me. No wizard who is not in my service will be allowed to live in my domains.' " She grimaced. "It's signed by Lord Marcus."

"He's on to us!" Talenthia cried. "He knows we killed his werewolves!" The druid began wringing her hands and pacing the room.

"Oh, be quiet. He does not know we killed them." Evaine fairly glowed with rage. "The gall of that man." Suddenly, her tone became icy and determined. "Well, Gamaliel, you and I must pay a visit to this Marcus to discuss what has happened to our home. Maybe we'll do a little tower-smashing of our own."

Andoralson calmed his cousin. "I think you can count us in on your visit," he said quietly.

"Oh, I think we'll all be in on that party," Ren agreed. "Will you still be able to cast your spell to find the pool?"

"I'm sure I can. I don't think there's much to worry about," she said, striding to the east wall of the chamber. It looked fairly solid. "Especially if the attackers were ogres. If so, they wouldn't have been able to find this."

With a wave of her hand, a sparkling green outline of a door took shape on the wall. The door frame crackled with sparks and energy; the light pulsed with a faint, rhythmic drumming noise.

Evaine smiled at the rest of them. "Please excuse the drumming sound. The noise you hear is the enhanced sound of my heartbeat. I've been told it's quite disturbing to friends entering my spellcasting chamber for the first time. We'll be entering a pocket dimension. Naturally, I attached the room to my lifeforce when the chamber was created. Please come in." She and Gamaliel walked through the strange door.

Ren and Miltiades looked at each other, then cautiously walked in behind her. Talenthia and Andoralson stood in amazement outside the magical chamber, inspecting the energies filling the door frame.

"I didn't see any walls large enough for this huge chamber when I walked around the tower. I don't think I would have missed such a bulge, do you?"

Andoralson chuckled. His cousin could control weather and heal the worst injuries, but she was still naive about wizardly magic. "I expect that the bulge, as you call it, is a magical enchantment I've never been able to master. Dimensional magics are fascinating. I wish I could cast spells like this, but I haven't a clue as to the control necessary for such energies. I once tried to create a chamber the size of an egg, and I couldn't cast another spell for a week. This chamber is bigger than most peasant cottages. And attaching her lifeforce to a pocket dimension is tricky business. I bet the entire chamber shrinks if she's injured or sick." The druid couldn't hide his admiration for the chamber.

Talenthia stood mesmerized by the emerald crackles of energy pulsing like a heartbeat. Looking into the green chamber, she could see the others listening to Evaine. But to her senses, the room seemed far too unnatural.

"Go ahead," she murmured. "I think I'll stand guard here. You can never tell when those ogres might be back."

"Sure, Talenthia. That's probably a good idea." Andoralson sensed his cousin's uneasiness. As he entered, he found Evaine explaining the next step in casting the location spell.

"And if you'll give me a lock of your hair, Ren, I'll be able to use your energies to connect more directly with the pool of darkness. I'll read my notes on the spell tonight and cast the magic early tomorrow. Now, let's make camp in what's left of my home while I see what I can find in the wreckage."

Ren tried to help Gamaliel set things right, but the vast amount of destruction made it a useless effort. The tower would need to be completely rebuilt, and unless powerful magics or master stonemasons were employed, Evaine's home would never be restored.

Miltiades volunteered his services to help Evaine salvage her belongings and hunt for missing items. The undead paladin's quiet nature helped the sorceress channel her anger and her sense of loss.

Andoralson and Evaine called upon numerous spells to secure the first floor. The wooden doors and shutters were mended, the stones sufficiently melded to hold the walls in place. It was no guarantee of safety, but at least it would keep out some of the wandering creatures of the woods.

The companions were all exhausted by the time they rolled out their blankets in front of Evaine's fireplace. Despite the day's unpleasant surprises, everyone slept soundly, safe inside the stone walls.

As the cloudy sky began to lighten with the morning, Evaine was completing her spell preparations. Everyone but Talenthia gathered in the casting chamber to watch the sorceress. She set up many warding spells around the perimeter of the room. Andoralson added to the protections with some spells of his own.

"Never hurts to be too careful," the druid explained, smiling to Evaine.

Around mid-morning, Evaine set up the magical brazier. To her great relief, the flame lit instantly upon removing the platinum cap. She began casting the pool-finding spell with a passion in her eyes and voice. Her powers were strong within her own pocket dimension.

Evaine lay the quartz crystal on the enchanted flame and spoke lengthy arcane passages, her voice rising and falling rhythmically. Reaching for the crystal, she laid it on the cloth in her lap and lapsed into concentration.

Her mind's eye easily left her body. Her essence rose above the ruined tower to survey the land for miles around. This time, the magic of the brazier, Evaine's strong center of power, and Ren's link to the pool combined to create a faint light forming a path. The magical light began at the tower and cut over the forest and into the inky blackness just a few miles ahead.

Evaine chose to ignore the light at first. Instead of following its path, she directed her essence toward the smaller patch of darkness. The large mass of blackness had grown so enormous since the last time the sorceress cast her spell that the two evil auras were now only miles apart.

She gathered her strength to pierce the smaller of the ebony mists. The darkness was permeated by intense evil. The sorceress's instincts screamed at her not to touch the vile cloud, but she fought against her will to tap the blackness and learn more about its nature. Then she turned her attention to the larger field. Although she was wrought with fear, she knew that she had to compare the two black fields. Approaching the larger cloud, Evaine learned the painful truth-that their evil natures were exactly the same.

Tapping every particle of energy she could muster, Evaine turned now toward the lighted path. It opened a space in the larger darkness, and Evaine's vision floated along with the light to the beam's end.

Along the path, the sorceress sensed vague outlines of the surrounding landscape. The light led her to a red tower. Could this be the tower of Lord Marcus? she silently asked herself. The power of the illumination pulled her through the tower walls and into an underground chamber. The beam ended abruptly in a crescent-shaped pool of inky blackness. No reflection danced on the surface of the liquid in the pool.

The darkness beckoned to Evaine's soul. The pool's power was terrifying, but it was a sensation familiar to the wizard.

"Who has invaded my tower?" A voice boomed into the dark room, startling Evaine.

"Interesting," the voice continued in a different tone. "I've never seen a detection spell of this type. What's this? A little soul has entered my domain. So pure, so filled with the light of goodness. Bah! Talk to me, little thing. Latenat!"

Evaine was shocked. No one had ever sensed her presence before while she was under this spell. Mustering her confidence, she posed a vital question. "How did this pool of darkness come to be in this tower?"

"Oh, you shouldn't play with such pools," the grating voice boomed. "They are bad things-evil things, my little one. Come, come to me in my chambers above the pool. We can talk about many things-yourself, pools, spells, power. Power-there is something I like to talk about. Would you like to become all-powerful? I can make that happen. Latenat!" Despite the overly sweet, condescending tone, Evaine knew that the speaker was a creature of blackest evil.

She concentrated on sensing where the presence was, but the horrid darkness around her forced her to draw back into the light of her own spell.

"Little light thing, I am so sorry. My darkness bothers you. Let me move back my protections and we can talk. I have nothing to hide but so much to offer you, cute little soul. Latenat!"

Instantly, the darkness was pushed back. Evaine was suddenly aware of the entirety of the red tower. The energy of the pool of darkness was overwhelming. Then, she was struck by a surge of life energy-Phlan. The city lay beneath the tower in an impossibly huge magical cavern.

Evaine was stunned. The implications were phenomenal. The powers necessary for such a feat-placing an entire city in a cavern-were beyond those of any mortal mage.

The sorceress struggled to maintain her mental energy. The surges from Phlan's souls and the evil pool were almost overpowering. And there was still that voice-someone or something able to discern her movements. Such detection had never been possible.

"Look at you. Darting here and there all over my tower, but never coming close to me. I am trying to be a pleasant host, but you are not being very nice. Why don't you stop squirming around and come to me? Latenat!"

A tentacle of inky blackness writhed from the top of the tower into the chamber, reaching for Evaine's essence.

The sorceress leaped away with all her power. She didn't know what the tentacle would do, but she wasn't going to find out. Evaine refocused her mind, concentrated on her tower, and willed the spell to be ended. In a heartbeat, she was back within her body and her magical protections. Panting and sweating, she waved a hand to cancel the spells around her. She beckoned Gamaliel. He brought her the water she mentally requested.

Wind and rain pummeled the broken tower. The protections around her spellcasting chamber had prevented water from getting in, but the rest of the tower was a wet mess.

Andoralson had left the spellcasting chamber earlier, and now the two druids stood outside, near the battered front door. Both gestured simultaneously into the sky. Not a drop of rain touched their cloaks.

"What are they doing out there?" Evaine gasped. She struggled to fight exhaustion.

Ren shouted over the noise of the storm. "When you started your spell, Talenthia noticed a swirl of dark thunderclouds forming above our heads. Only moments ago, huge bolts of lightning started blasting down on the tower. Is your spell connected to what's happening out there?"

"Anything's possible with the strange weather we've had lately. My spell could have drawn the storm like a beacon. But if that was true, the effect should have stopped when I canceled my spell."

Boom!

Lighting struck and was deflected. Against Gamaliel's urgings, Evaine dragged herself outside with the others to see what was happening.

"Nice little storm we have here. I-" Talenthia's words were lost in the thunder.

Boom!

Talenthia gestured quickly, and the lightning strike was forced aside into the meadow near the tower. In the bright flash, all the companions saw smoke rise from the ground. The grass was filled with deep, charred depressions.

"Cousin, it's time to stop this nonsense for a while." Talenthia could barely be heard over the roaring wind.

"Great idea. I'll take your lead."

The two joined hands and raised their oak staves into the air. The pounding rain stopped, and a cool breeze blew up and swirled around the tower and the meadow. The druids' cloaks were whipped by the breeze; their staves swirled round and round above their heads, emitting a humming noise. The clouds above twisted and spun away. Then the sun broke through.

Clouds were visible in every direction, but in a wide oval above their heads, the warm noonday sun beat down from a bright blue patch of sky.

"Well, that's much better," Andoralson said with a satisfied smirk. "I expect our patch of blue will last only a few hours. Talenthia and I were able to slow the lightning today, but I expect the next attack will be stronger and will get through our best defenses. We'd best be off at first light. Evaine, you can rest. Tell us what you discovered as we move along the trail."

No one argued. They all knew they had to press onward as quickly as safety allowed.