Shadows of Amn

They'd heard only pieces, gleaned from magical mind-to-mind communication with loved ones left behind in Suldanessellar, that the creature was dead, but that a new creature was coming. This one had taken to the air, and the guards now looked at the sky above their ring of ancient walls with dread and the simple knowledge that they couldn't keep the thing out, so they'd have to die fighting it.

All of the elves were uncomfortable within the normally forbidden confines of the ruined mythal city, but doubly so the handful of mages they'd brought with them. The elf wizards were busily studying long, time-weathered scrolls and gathering little piles of odds and ends where they'd be in easy reach.

Abdel, Jaheira, and Elhan's sudden appearance in the middle of the crumbling structure made more than one of the elves go suddenly to his guard. One wizard very nearly got a spell off before dismissing it with an impatient grumble, "One less against the beast."

Elhan, dizzy from the teleport, stumbled to Ellesime's side and spoke to her briefly in Elvish.

"I can feel him falling apart," the queen said weakly. "He can't control it."

Abdel, his shoulder now a mass of red, tender skin and his side almost completely healed, squeezed the grip of the enchanted sword. He'd have to choose between this woman, this elf queen who was a vision of such beauty Abdel had never thought possible, and the life of the little girl he remembered playing with in Winthrop's wine cellar.

"How do we k—stop it?" Abdel asked the queen. "That thing was once.. was once a young, impetuous girl, who deserved none of this."

Ellesime nodded, then winced in unseen pain. "I met him here," she said, her voice weak. "It was in this library. I wanted him to come for me here, with this avatar of his. If he saw me here, again, all this time later, maybe … maybe … At least it's far enough away from the Tree of Life."

"There is another life at stake, your majesty," Jaheira prompted, ru

"Your sister," Ellesime said, addressing Abdel directly for the first time, "is not like you."

Abdel drew in a breath and took a step forward that made the elf warriors move to intercept him. He backed away just enough to let them know that if he wanted to get past them, they wouldn't be able to stop him.

"She's enough like me," Abdel hissed, "so that your old lover could turn her into that… that…"

"It would have been an avatar," Ellesime said, "if Bhaal were alive. Instead, it's just. . close enough. It can kill me, this new one, the Slayer. Your sister's blood was lying dormant, where yours was given a chance to show itself. What occupation did your foster father allow you to pursue? Sellsword? Mercenary?"

Abdel nodded.

"And Imoen's?" the queen asked.

"Her foster father was Winthrop," Abdel said, "an i

"And there was nothing to draw the Bhaal out of her," Jaheira, understanding, added.

"What could all this matter now?" Abdel asked, his brow furrowing in anger. "I have to kill her. You've brought us all here, and now there's only one way to stop all this. To keep this Slayer of Irenicus's from killing you—from killing us all—I have to kill Imoen."

"No," Ellesime said, "there is a chance…."

Chapter Twenty-Five

Irenicus appeared in the center of Suldanessellar in the guise of an elf. Any number of the mages ru

He smiled up at it and closed his eyes. He could feel its power pulse through him like a second heartbeat. The tree was life, and for Irenicus, it would be eternal life.

He sank to his knees and touched his forehead to the holy ground. Looking like one of hundreds of elf believers who came to commune with the tree every day, Irenicus started to repeat the words of the ritual.

Her reached out with his left hand, and the tips of his fingers brushed the warm bark of the Tree of Life.

His arm quivered with the power pulsing through it and into Irenicus's heart.

"Forever," Irenicus said, "Forever. Forever. Forever…"

The sound Queen Ellesime made was worse than any scream Abdel had ever heard. It was the kind of tortured wail that could only be made by someone who'd lived long enough to understand the true significance of what was happening to her.

"The Tree," she coughed. "Irenicus … is at the Tree of Life!"

"Ellesime," Elhan said, following her name with a soothing string of Elvish words Abdel didn't understand.

The queen's body twisted, writhed in pain. "Imoen!" she screamed.

Abdel's flesh crawled.

"It's the Slayer," Ellesime gasped. "I can … feel it…" Her face twisted into a mask of revulsion so intense Abdel had to look away.

"Mielikki save us all," Jaheira said, dropping to one knee.

Abdel saw the look of resignation pass over Jaheira's face and understood. Jaheira was watching this woman she had known all her life, like all elves, as the immortal symbol of her people. This elf was less a woman than a monument. Nothing could touch her, not time, not even death. Now, here she was, twisting in agony, reeling at the mistake she made before she became that solid core of Suldanessellar, when she was still a girl, seduced by an elf who dreamed of immortality.

Abdel stepped to her and took Ellesime's face in his huge, rough hands. Her eyes rolled into her head, and Abdel felt a stern hand grip his arm.

"What are you doing?" Elhan demanded. "She is in pain. Release her!"

Abdel brushed him off and said harshly, "Ellesime! Ellesime, look at me."

The queen sobbed and closed her eyes, trying to shake her head out of Abdel's hands. "He will live forever now. He will be like you are."

"Ellesime!" Abdel roared.

Elhan stepped back and drew his moonblade. "Unhand—"

"No!" Ellesime said, her eyes popping open to fix on Abdel's. "The link has been made. Irenicus is feeding from the Tree of Life!"

"I understand," Abdel said, though in fact he was still struggling with the sheer impossibility of it all. "Imoen—the Slayer—do you see it? Do you know where she is?"

"It's coming," the queen whispered, not struggling now. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"How do we kill it?" he asked her.

Her eyes softened, and a look of relief came over them. "You might have a chance."

"Tell me."

"The Ry

"The lanthorn will kill the Slayer?" Jaheira asked, standing.

"Breaking the link with Irenicus and the tree will make it mortal. It will not kill it, but it will make it possible to kill it," Ellesime answered.

Abdel let his hands fall from her face, and she looked down and away.

"Mages," Elhan barked, "we will prepare the lanthorn—gather yourselves." He started to repeat the order in Elvish, but Abdel held up a hand, stopping him.

"I ca

The elf queen turned her face up to him, a look of haughty displeasure crossing her brow for the briefest moment before she realized he was right.

"What would you risk to save her?" she asked him.

"Nothing," Elhan answered for him. "We will risk no more lives for this girl."

"No," Jaheira interrupted before Abdel turned on the elves. "Abdel is right. She's only one, but one is enough."