The God Catcher

TWENTY

With an explosion of blue light, Nestrix and Dareun vanished. In that moment, Tennora felt the edge of panic, the same panic that had wrapped around her chest the first time he had taken Nestrix. Dareun's shouts from the garden reassured that panic, but stirred up a whole new one.

She looked down at Antoum, who was staring as his mother came unsteadily to her feet, shouting for a sword. Tennora pulled her staff free of its harness. "Shava."

The poor elf girl looked at her with utter terror. "I can't do this," she whispered. "They said he's a dragon."

"A dragon that will rip this city apart if we don't stop him." Shava shook her head. "I can't."

"Then here-Antoum, go with her. Find a safe place to hide, and don't come out until you hear us calling for you."

"I don't want to," the little boy said, shaking nearly as hard as Shava.

"You must," Tennora said. "How else will we defeat the dragon-man? If he tries to grab you again, we'll have to stop him so he doesn't hurt you." She met the elfs wide, frightened gaze. "Shava, if anyone comes near you that you don't know, hit them with every spell you have."

Shava shook fearfully, holding her wand tightly in one fist. Tennora looked out toward the garden exit, where the air vibrated with Andareunarthex's roaring.

"I can't… I only remember… Corellon, Tennora, I'm no good for this," Shava said, holding her wand out as if she could give it to Tennora-and all her fear along with it.

Tennora grabbed the other young woman by the shoulders. "Shava, you can and you have to. Get Antoum away until it's safe. Do it for him, do it for me, do it for the whole godsdamned city-but you must do it!"

Shava nodded, her eyes still wide and terrified. A terrible roar shook the walls, rattling the frames of paintings against the plaster walls. "Go!" Tennora shouted.

Grabbing Antoum by the hand, Shava fled upstairs.

Tennora had expected to see a dragon when she ran out into the garden, but the actual sight of Andareunarthex in his green-scaled glory stopped her as solidly as a hand across her chest. The illustrations in her books were nothing next to the actual creature.

He bellowed something in a guttural language, and only when her dark-haired figure shot to attention did Tennora notice Nestrix, carrying a sword and standing over a sickly-looking Veron.

"Nestrix-" Tennora shouted. The blue dragon's attention broke from Dareun and she turned to Tennora.

"Take him," Nestrix ordered, and pressed a vial into her hands. "Give him that."

Tennora shoved the vial in a pocket, hooked her hands under Veron's arms, and dragged him away from the dragon, as Nestrix stepped forward.

Nestrix threw back her head and answered his challenge with a blood-curdling scream and a tidal wave of dragonfear.

Tennora settled Veron against the garden wall. His head lolled to one side, and his breath came in shallow drafts. The vial shook in her hand as she worked the stopper free. "Stay with us," she muttered, pouring it into his mouth. When his breath came a little easier and his eyes focused, she squeezed his hand. "Stay here. I'll be back."

Nazra Mrays shouted an order up at the wall. From the window an unexpected figure leaped, and Aundra Blacklock circled the garden. A great globe of magic, swirling with strange colors and seemingly larger than the raptoran could hold between her hands, built as she passed. It screamed down from the heavens and shattered against Dareun's wings.

A volley of arrows soared across the gap and struck Dareun. He reached into the ranks, with two great swipes of his claws, like a child grabbing at toy soldiers.

Tennora grabbed Nestrix's arm as she strode toward Dareun. "You have to use the lightning!"

Nestrix shook her head. "I only have one chance. The breath is too much for me to handle this way. Once, and I'll fall. He must fall too."

Tennora grabbed her by the arm. "Hit him and give us a chance. I'll pull you out of his reach if it doesn't work."

Dareun roared, his jaws sharp and serrated with teeth as long as Tennora's hand. In the back of his throat a swirling cloud of thick green gas was building. His head swayed on his neck.

"Move!" Nestrix shouted, and she pushed Tennora off into the bushes just before Dareun blew a stream of bitter, searing gas that rolled across the garden like a wall. Traces of the poison snaked into Tennora's lungs, and she crouched, coughing so hard she thought she would vomit, until she was free of it.

The ground vibrated as Dareun moved toward Nazra Mrays, who had crumpled to her knees still overwhelmed by the choking gas. Nestrix had been caught in the gas as well, and was climbing unsteadily to her feet.

"Give me the dragonstaff!" he bellowed. "Or I'll make certain your son knows he's an orphan before he dies."

Tennora took hold of her staff and shouted another ornate word. A spiderweb the size of a cart bed burst into being and spun toward Dareun's face. He turned as she shouted, and the web caught him across the snout, pinning his jaws together.

He thrashed his head and tried to rub the web off with the side of his claw, with his leg, with the willow tree. The silk was strong, but it snapped and frayed as Dareun worried at it, his stifled roars caught in his mouth.

Nestrix gained her feet and screamed.

Once more the lightning breath coursed through her, stronger than any mage's spell. From as close as she stood, Tennora could see the electricity arcing between Nestrix's fingers and eyelids, her whole body consumed by the storm. The static blew the deepnight cloak back over her shoulders, rippling the fabric out behind her. For a moment she seemed to flicker, and Tennora could swear she saw the shape of wide-spread wings curling around Nestrix's back, the sinuous curve of another neck and head stretched out above her.

The lightning raced over Dareun, building in strength with the flawed magic of the Songdragon's gorget. He screamed and the pain forced his jaws wide, shredding the web. The thunderclap drowned him out.

From above, Aundra threw another ball of flickering light. From the ground the remaining soldiers fired arrows.

The lightning faded; Nestrix collapsed as if the storm had been all that was holding her up. She did not move. Tennora sprinted to her.

But Andareunarthex was not fallen. His wings were torn and his scales scorched-but his eyes were still keen, and he dived for Tennora as she raced across the garden.

His damp, choking breath rushed over her. The side of his head struck her, knocking her backward onto the sod. She rolled and narrowly avoided the snap of his teeth. He drew back again.

"You'll die with your mistress!" he hissed.

Heart pounding, thoughts racing, Tennora rolled to her feet. She couldn't bring any spells to mind. She pulled one of the carvestars free and threw it as hard as she could toward Dareun's head. The delicate blade caught him under the jaw, where his scales were thin, and lodged there. Distracted, Dareun rubbed his chin against his neck, trying to dislodge it.

Nazra and the half-orc escaped the straggling line of archers and came at the dragon with swords, the half-elf woman holding up her skirts in one hand. The sword strokes were mere stings, but they kept Dareun's attention.

"The gorget!" Nazra cried.

The moonstone winked in the moonlight. The key is the singer's collar. Not the key to saving Nestrix-the key to stopping Dareun. Without the gorget's protection, the dragonward would overtake him.

The green dragon roared again, lashing his tail. It hit Nazra's half-orc bodyguard and threw him across the garden and into a shadowtop tree. Nazra shouted and plunged her sword into the underside of the dragon's front leg. He screamed and nearly brought his foot down on her.

Tennora ran as fast as her feet would carry her and leaped, pulling herself up on Dareun's wing joint. He thrashed and beat his wings, struggling to throw her off or fly away. They started to lift.

She clung to the spikes that lined his spine. The clasp lay along the side of the gorget, and as he moved, it kept slipping out of reach.

Dareun snarled at her. "Flea! Insect! You think you can stop me?"

Still clinging to the spike, Tennora threw herself out over his shoulder, grabbing at the gorget. Her body yanked painfully away from her arm, but as she fell, she caught hold of the closure.

Dareun's wings flapped harder. Damaged though they were, he was gaining height. Tennora let go of the spike, hanging all her weight on the clasp. It slipped partway. She pulled against it, throwing all her strength against the metal latch.

Another blast of scintillating light from Aundra rained down. Dareun threw back his head and blew a stream of the poisonous gas into her path. Her wings went stiff, and she tumbled several feet before catching the wind again.

Then the clasp gave. The gorget opened and slid from Dareun's neck. There was no sound, no flash of magical light, but the change was palpable as the protection of the gorget ran off Dareun's scales like rain off roof shingles.

Tennora fell, accompanied by a shrill, pained roar more deafening than thunder. Racked by the renewed power of the dragonward, Andareunarthex twisted in its grip. For a moment, it seemed he too would fall. Then-his wings flapping uncoordinated and loose-he gained the air and took off, still roaring, toward the south, chased by a hail of arrows.

Tennora landed with a bone-shaking thud in a bough of a shadowtop tree. She felt her ribs crack with the impact, and she nearly fell again as she slid from her landing place. She caught herself and nearly screamed at the pain that burst across her chest. Biting her lip, she lowered herself down and collapsed on her bruised and aching legs.

They had done it.

Between the destroyed garden beds and scorched paths, bodies lay broken. A dozen guardsmen were dead. Nestrix lay still and unmoving. Limping, Tennora ran to her. Her pulse was faint but present. Veron, too, lay unmoving, but for the twitch of his eyelids.

Nazra Mrays, disheveled and marked by blood, mud, and char, climbed to her feet and surveyed her garden, her eyes wide. She met Tennora's gaze, and the shock in them faded into a cautious relief. Andareunarthex was gone.

"Antoum!" she shouted. She threw down the bloodied sword. "Antoum! Antoum! My boy, my darling, come out! It's safe now! Antoum!" She raced inside, and Tennora followed in time to see the boy creeping cautiously down the stairs. At the sight of his mother, all the fear fled his features and he ran to her.

Nazra Mrays enfolded her son in her arms, rested her head against his, and wept as if the world had nearly ended.

Both Veron and Nestrix were beating down the gates to the Fugue Plane and the world of the dead beyond by the time Dareun fled. The half-orc guard was badly wounded as well. Tennora and Shava helped the remaining guardsmen bind wounds and pass out tinctures. Tennora found that she moved without thought or focus, her hands twisting cloth while her mind worried about her compatriots, taken away to recover in another room. She had asked whether it was likely either would live, and no one seemed to want to say-only that she had to wait for the cleric.

How strange it was, she thought, that these two, utter strangers to her in so many ways even still, had become so dear to her in the span of mere days. They had saved her life, and she had saved theirs in turn. She supposed that was a bond that wouldn't break easily.

She shook her head. It sounded like something Mardin would say.

Tennora was so distracted that the hand of Agnea on her shoulder made her jump.

"Goodwoman Mrays wants to see you," the chamberlain said. She led Tennora up the sweeping stair and down a long hallway to the office of Nazra Mrays. The Masked Lord was sitting on a settee, looking exhausted and as if she meant to never sleep again.

"Do you want me to take him?" the woman asked, nodding at the sleeping form of Antoum beside Nazra. Nazra laid a protective hand on his shoulder.

"He's fine," she said. "Leave us."

The gray-robed woman shut the door. Tennora folded her hands neatly in her lap, as if she were wearing a gown and not bloodied, scorched leathers. Nazra Mrays watched her, her face tired, but all signs she had ever had a moment's discomfort were erased for the present.

"So you," Nazra Mrays said, "are the infamous Tennora Hedare."

"Infamous?" Tennora asked.

"A great deal of misfortune seems to have gone on around your person," Nazra said. "A great deal of good fortune too. I thank you for saving my son. We will, of course, keep it quiet."

"Thank you… lord."

Nazra held a hand up. "Not out loud, my dear. I like to pretend that's a secret I still keep."

"My apologies." Tennora wet her lips. "And it's Nestrix you should thank."

Nazra fell silent and regarded Tennora as if she were being intentionally difficult. Tennora returned the gaze with a firm, placid expression. She wasn't going to ignore the thorny issue of Nestrix.

"I am beginning to suspect," Nazra said eventually, "that we should reexamine whether Ahghairon's dragonward is still functional at all. She is a dragon as well?"

"Of sorts," Tennora said carefully. "She is plaguechanged, it seems, and unable to return to her original form. It is why she came to Waterdeep. But I must say, saer, that not only did she save my life and your son's, but it was she who comforted him in Dareun's captivity. She is, one could say, reformed."

"Yet it seems she has quite an effect on you, lady," Nazra said.

"Please don't call me that," Tennora interjected. "I make a terrible noblewoman."

"Yes, I'd noticed that as well."

Tennora bit her lip as Nazra continued.

"Two priceless artifacts-albeit one from that villain's hoard-stolen from two relatively secure buildings in as many days. Property damage. Trespassing in the sewers." She wrinkled her nose. "How did you find your way down there?"

"Luck," Tennora said truthfully, "and, to a very minor degree, a very dull conversation with a young guardsman."

"You hoodwinked a member of the guard?"

"Oh, nothing of the sort. It was his attempt at gaining my attention. One of my aunt's garden parties. While that certainly did not give me a map, the perils of the sewers are not… completely localized."

A smile crept over Nazra's mouth. "So will you return to that now?" she asked, lightly. "Engaging in conversations with young men who bore you?" She leaned forward. "How would you like to try something else?"

Tennora swallowed. "That depends entirely on what you have in mind."

"After so many stories-a wizard, a thief, a cohort of dragons and uprooter of gangs-I am impressed to see that your fledgling reputation is as deserved as it is unknown. I want you to work for me. Not in an official capacity, of course-people will talk if I pay wages to a noble girl. We'll probably say I am teaching you to invest your inheritance. But I would very much like someone with a sharp mind, an innocent face, and a younger body than mine to assist me in… matters of importance to the city. And to me." She looked down at her sleeping son. "I love this city almost as much as I love this boy. No one must ever exploit that again."

"What would I do?"

"Whatever I and Waterdeep need," Nazra answered. "It would be… a more unusual job than most. But one I suspect you are eminently suited to."

Tennora flushed with pleasure. It would certainly be better than returning home or begging for a new tutor or trying to make a living thieving Her smile fell. "Oh. But there's the Watch. Do you suppose they'll let me go?"

Nazra waved her hand, as if Tennora's worries were but a gnat. "To begin, I won't report you to the Watch. We'll give the gorget back to the House of Wonder with the usual explanations-you saved it from the collapsing tower and were then robbed. And we point them to the seed hoard of Andareunarthex if they start to complain. Give them their choice of anything enchanted."

"Will that work?"

"Of course! Even wizards are greedy, my dear. The rest… well, it's not as if a dragon can press charges, and we shall simply accept that these were necessary crimes committed in the greater effort of saving the city. I doubt anyone will even notice you were in the sewers unescorted." She stroked her son's hair. "We are not a tyranny after all. It might be easier to determine black from white, but the gray middle ground has its purposes."

Tennora frowned. "Is that a common position for a lord of Waterdeep?"

Nazra smiled. "Take the job and you'll find out."

The gray-gowned woman came in again, followed by two of the Watch holding tightly to the red-haired half-elf who Tennora had knocked to the ground. She looked tired and despondent, but hale.

"Ah," Nazra said, looking up. Her gray eyes were suddenly hard. "I see my next appointment has arrived. Agnea, you can take Antoum to my bedroom now. Do excuse me, Tennora. I have many questions to be answered."

Nestrix woke in a strange room and a strange bed, her thoughts muzzy and disjointed. The sun had come out, and it poured through a window onto a heavily patterned rug that made her eyes swim. Her throat was raw and achy, her skin bruised and abraded. The blue cloak had been folded neatly at the foot of the bed, despite the fact that it was now tattered as a rag. The pouch containing her eggshell lay on top of it.

"Are you well?" Veron said. Opposite her cot, he was in a similar state, sitting with his splinted and bandaged leg stretched out beside him. His ribs had been wrapped as well, and the side of his face was noticeably puffy.

"Well enough," Nestrix said, though her voice wheezed. "And you? He put a great deal of poison in you. Enough to kill a lesser dokaal."

Veron stared at her and didn't answer. Tired and sore, Nestrix ignored his silence and lay back against the pillows once more. After several breaths, he spoke.

"I've spent more than a year," he said, "trying to get as close as I am now. If I don't take you in, everything I've built for myself is worthless. A bounty hunter is only as good as his reputation-and mine's nowhere near good enough to fail like this." He looked down at his leg. "Why did you save me?"

"Tennora would have been angry," she lied, shutting her eyes.

"You could have let the dragon have me," he said, "and been done with all our business."

"If you'd rather be eaten by a dragon, I can point you to some who might like the taste of overthinking hunter."

"Nestrix," he said, so sternly that she opened her eyes again. "Truly."

She met his gaze for a long moment. "I am not like him."

He didn't look away. "But you are a dragon."

"Not anymore." Nestrix looked away, down at her hands. The truth of it burned. "And I suppose that means I have to follow your laws."

He looked sullen.

"Cheer up, hunter," she said. "It means you don't have to worry about your reputation."

"It means you have to worry about your neck," he said. "You didn't have to stop him." "Veron," she said wearily, "you will bait me until I say it, won't you? I didn't want you to die, all right?"

His cheeks flushed. "Tennora said… she said you had a reason. Why did you kill the wizard?"

She shrugged. "Why kill anyone? He threatened me. Does it matter?"

"Yes," he said. "I think it does. You're not a monster, whatever anyone else thinks. We're more kin than I expected."

She laughed. "That is where you are mistaken. They may look at you and see a monster, but you're more of a dokaal and a better man than most. They look at me and see a human, a woman. But inside, I'm still the Terror of the Calim."

"And the savior of Waterdeep," he added.

There was a knock on the door, and Tennora poked her head inside. "You're awake!" she said, entering the room.

"You're alive," Nestrix said, though she felt flooded with relief.

Tennora smirked and sat at the foot of the bed. "I outlasted the both of you." She told the story of the battle in the garden. "The Watch are roused and they and the guard are on lookout, but he seems to have fled altogether."

"Jumped on his back?" Nestrix shook her head.

"You might have died," Veron said, worry in his voice.

"No," Nestrix said. "This one is luckier than that."

She looked at Tennora and felt a stirring within her, the memories of Lyra-not yet gone, but more settled than they'd ever been. Tennora was not Lyra. She was not Wenda. She was no ulharkosj, no wyrmling born of the summer storms-and no clutchmate, no sister-rival. But both the dragon and the thief were proud of Tennora's assured stance, of the way she bore her bruises.

"We are friends, aren't we?" Nestrix said, smiling. Tennora gave her a puzzled look. "Perhaps. There is still the matter of the ritual."

"What ritual?"

"The one you promised," she said. "I know it doesn't exist."

"Of course it exists," Nestrix said. "But I didn't get my form back, so our deal's not done."

"Nestrix," Tennora said, "Aundra told me. There's no such ritual."

"Blacklock? How in the Hells would she know?" Nestrix said, getting annoyed.

Tennora folded her arms. "She's an accomplished sorceress."

"And? Did she stand there while I performed it for Tantlevgithus? Was she around a hundred years ago? No. Give me some parchment. I'll write it down if it matters so much to you."

Tennora started to speak. Then her expression softened, and she said, "Never mind. I don't want it. I have no need to chase after what I haven't earned. 'If I hurl spells but think not of consequences, I am nothing.'"

"Laeral Silverhand," Nestrix said, though whether she knew it or Lyra did she no longer could tell. "What will you do then?"

Tennora shrugged. "I have options. What of you? The both of you," she added, looking to Veron.

Nestrix looked up, her mouth grim. "I'm leaving."

"What?" Tennora said. "Where?"

"Cormyr," she said. "I am not a dragon, not any longer. They want to try me, I have to tell them what happened."

Tennora turned on Veron. "You're really going to do this? After everything? After she saved you?"

"I'm not taking her to Cormyr," Veron said. "I'm not taking anyone to Cormyr."

Nestrix sighed. "Dokaal-"

"The truth is," he said, raising his voice, "I don't make a very good bounty hunter. The search, the capture-that's all fine. But I can't see things in black and white the way they ask. You might have killed the wizard," he added, looking up at Nestrix, "but I won't let you hang for protecting yourself."

Nestrix held that golden gaze. "I might be lying."

"I don't think you are," he said.

"Veron," Tennora said thoughtfully, "have you ever thought of seeking your fortune adventuring? I have a friend who'd give you a few tips." A look of concern flitted over her features. "After he finished yelling at you for letting me into danger."

There came another knock at the door, and this time Nazra Mrays entered, followed by Agnea and a much battered-looking Jorik.

Nazra was holding a staff with a bluish crystal at its tip. The wooden shaft had been carved with dragons. The magic there teased at Nestrix.

"Clytemorrenestrix of the Calim," Nazra said. She laid the head of the staff in Nestrix's lap. "Take hold of it."

As Nestrix did so, a spark jumped between her palm and the crystal. "Ouch!" She glowered at Nazra. "Is this a trick?"

"Hush, and put your hand back there," Nazra said, and her mouth curved into a smile. "For your acts in defense of the city of Waterdeep, your assistance of her Watch and her lords, and your protection of one of her young citizens, you are hereby welcome in the City of Splendors, regardless of form. So long as you continue to uphold these virtues."

The air around Nestrix twitched and shimmered for a breath as the blessing of the staff took hold. Something inside her seemed to bloom and spread outward. Whether it was the remnants of the dragonward sliding from her or some other effect of the ancient staff, none knew and none speculated. A sigh escaped her lips, unbidden.

For better or worse, Waterdeep had accepted Clytemorrenestrix. Once of the Calim, now of the City of Splendors.