The Sundering: The Sentinel Part 19

Arietta raised her brow. "Yes, I suppose I did." She was as surprised as Kleef, for it was an unspoken rule of life in Ma.r.s.ember that a n.o.ble never apologized to a commoner. Fortunately, Arietta was no longer in Ma.r.s.ember. "And I meant it. I wouldn't deceive you on purpose. Not again."

A look of mock suspicion came to Kleef's face. "Are you really Arietta Seasilver?"

Arietta smiled. "It's hard to believe, I know," she said. "I'm still a little stunned myself."

"Well enough," Kleef said, laughing. "Apology accepted-not that I needed one."

Arietta did not find the remark rea.s.suring. "Why not?" she asked. "Because you don't care that I'm not Chosen? Or because you already knew? Please be honest."

"Because what you call yourself isn't as important as what you do," Kleef said. "You're here, trying to do right by your G.o.d and your realm. That's all that matters to me."

"That's not an answer."

"But it's honest," Kleef said. "That's what you asked for-and it's all you're going to get from me."

Arietta smiled wistfully. "Then I guess I have my answer." She rose onto her toes and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for being so gentle."

Kleef's jaw dropped in disbelief. He studied her openly for a moment, his expression slowly changing from surprise to delight, then he nodded to himself and, smiling, looked back to the river. Arietta returned to her perch at the front of the raft, took up the trident again, and they continued to float down the canyon.

Kleef's pragmatic dodge had made her realize that she was behaving like the worst sort of n.o.ble, worrying about appearances rather than substance. Kleef and Joelle had never cared whether she was Chosen or not, only that she was there with an arrow when the need arose. And Malik had cared only because her delusion gave him a way to avenge his wounded pride.

But Kleef was right. The best thing she could do for her companions-and the mission-was to let go of her wounded pride. She had to accept herself for who she truly was, then do everything in her power to deliver the Eye to Grumbar's Temple.

With her mind at ease, Arietta soon caught two large river gar that they roasted over the cooking fire that evening. Determined not to sleep, Kleef insisted on standing vigil all night, then rowing all day.

As incredible as Kleef's stamina was, Arietta and Joelle knew it couldn't last forever. By the third day, they'd thought of several ways to keep Yder away, such as asking Sune to guard Kleef in his sleep or allowing him to rest only during the day, when Yder might not be searching for a way into his dreams. But Kleef rejected them all, and in the end the two women resorted to simply keeping him company, maintaining a constant stream of chatter to make certain he did not fall asleep.

The gorge continued to deepen and darken, with waterfalls and tributaries feeding the river from both sides. The sky became a jagged band of light trapped between the rocky walls of the canyon. As often as not, the sky was filled with rippling fans of color-green and gold, sometimes even crimson and purple-but it was never blue. When the sun appeared at all, it was dim and mottled, or shaped like a sickle or a spider or a skull.

On the fifth day, Kleef said, "Someone's watching us."

Arietta grabbed her bow, then stood and followed his gaze down river. He seemed to be looking about fifty feet up the canyon wall, where a lone dragon tree clung to a small ledge.

"Where?" Arietta asked. "All I see is a tree."

"Under the tree," Kleef said. He had bags beneath his eyes the size of Arietta's thumbs, and his posture was so slouched and awkward it looked as though he might collapse any moment. "There's a man in a robe. Bald and thin, sunken gray eyes."

Arietta stepped to Kleef's side, then double-checked his line of sight and saw that he was still looking toward the ledge. She glanced back at Joelle, who had been seated next to her in the back of the raft, and gave her head a worried shake. Joelle nodded and stepped to Kleef's other side.

"I don't see him, either," Joelle said. "Can you point him out?"

"No," Kleef said. "Then he'll know we've seen him."

"He probably knows already." Arietta waggled the tip of her bow. "I'm afraid I wasn't very subtle when you said we were being watched."

Kleef frowned, taking far longer to consider her words than he should have. Finally, he removed a hand from an oar and pointed at the tree.

"There," Kleef said. "It's the second time I've seen him."

"When was the first time?" Arietta asked, trying not to show her growing concern. "And why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I wasn't sure," Kleef snapped. "But I am now."

"That's good," Joelle said, in a tone of exaggerated patience. "Where did you see him the first time?"

"In the mouth of that little cave we pa.s.sed," Kleef said. "I thought it was just a trick of the shadows-"

"Until you saw his eyes follow us down the river," Malik finished. He was in the front of the raft, and had just sat up.

"You saw him, too." Kleef looked toward the little man. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because then he raised his cowl and disappeared," Malik said. "I thought my eyes were deceiving me."

"They weren't," Kleef said. "I saw him pull his cowl up, too."

"Perhaps the shadows were playing tricks on both of you," Joelle suggested. "And even if you did see someone, wasn't the cave on the other side of the river? How would he get across and up to that ledge?"

Kleef furrowed his brow and looked down river again, and his eyes grew doubtful.

Seeing that they were thirty paces from the ledge, Arietta said, "There's an easy way to find out. Just move the raft closer to the cliff. If he's there, maybe Joelle and I will see him, too."

Kleef looked back down river, then shook his head. "It's too late," he said. "He's gone."

Arietta exchanged worried looks with Joelle and realized they had both come to the same conclusion. She tucked her bow back beneath the security line they had rigged to keep their equipment from falling off the raft, then returned to Kleef's side.

"I'll take the oars for a while," she said. "You can rest, and Joelle will ask Sune to guard your dreams."

Kleef refused to yield the oars. "I'm not imagining things."

"All the more reason to get some sleep," Joelle said. "If someone has been watching us, it may be that the Shadovar have found us on their own."

"He didn't look like a Shadovar," Kleef said. "Too pale."

"And yet, he emerges from the shadows on both sides of the canyon," Joelle said. "Who else could cross the river and appear in front of us so easily?"

Kleef looked uncertain.

"Kleef, even Helm can sustain you only so long," Arietta said. "Your thinking is clouded and slow, and you can barely stand. You are going to fall asleep."

"And it's better to do it now, when we can try to protect you," Joelle said. "And when Yder may not be looking for your dreams."

"Indeed," Malik agreed. "It has been so long since you have dreamed that Yder may even believe you've finally figured out how to keep him away."

"Finally?" Arietta asked. Fighting to keep the anger out of her voice, she turned toward the little man. "Are you saying you already know how to keep Yder away?"

Malik looked genuinely confused. "You do not?"

"No." Joelle's voice was seething. "If we knew, why wouldn't we have tried it four days ago?"

Malik shrugged. "Because it is not for you to try." He looked toward Kleef, then said, "And I can only believe the oaf has never tried it because it is easier to fight shades than to forsake his bitterness."

"Bitterness?" Kleef asked. He leaned so far forward between the oars that Arietta reached out and caught him by the arm. "What does that have to do with my dreams?"

"You are angry at your G.o.d," Malik said. "And that is what gives Shar power over you. Give up your anger, and we will all be the safer. Yder won't be able to use his G.o.ddess's power to enter your dreams."

Kleef scowled and shook his head. "I'm not angry at Helm," he said. "Why should I be? Helm's been dead for the last hundred years."

"And yet, you've spent your whole life serving him," Arietta said. She was not happy to find herself agreeing with Malik, but her recent disappointment with Siamorphe gave her some insight into what Kleef must have been feeling all those years. "You've kept faith with Helm's Law and honored your duty, all while watching your superiors profit outrageously by turning their backs on everything you stand for. Of course you're angry. Who wouldn't be?"

Kleef turned to her with a confused look. "You think Malik is right?"

"So do I," Joelle said. She laid a hand on his arm and smiled. "And so do you, if you look inside yourself. Will you try to give up your anger? For us?"

"And for our quest," Malik added. "After your mistake at the citadel, it is the least you can do to protect the Eye from our enemies."

Kleef glowered at the little man for a moment, then finally nodded. "I'll try." He relinquished the oars to Arietta, then stepped to the back of raft and said, "If I start to talk or thrash around-"

"I'll wake you," Joelle promised. "But you won't. Sune and I will be watching over your sleep, too."

Kleef's only response was an unintelligible grunt, then the raft rocked as he dropped onto the deck and stretched out. Arietta heard Joelle whisper a soft prayer to Sune, and two breaths later, Kleef was snoring. Instead of dropping back into his usual repose, Malik remained alert and anxious, scanning the canyon rims and studying every shadow they pa.s.sed. Once, he raised his arm as though to point, but quickly lowered it again and announced that he was no better than Kleef. He thought he had seen the bald-headed man again, but it had only turned out to be a turtle resting on a boulder.

Arietta spent the rest of the day keeping them in the middle of the river, where it would be difficult for the Shadovar or anyone else to launch an attack. Then, toward the end of the afternoon, the current started to move much faster, and the gorge grew so deep that the bottom was cloaked in permanent twilight. They began to hear a faint whispering in the canyon ahead, and soon the whispering became a constant drone.

Finally, the drone became a steady thrum, and Arietta said, "We must be getting near the end. That's beginning to sound like the waterfall Theamont warned us about."

"I am sure it is." Malik pointed toward a hanging ravine on the south wall of the gorge. "And there is our way out."

Arietta barely glanced at it before shaking her head. Although there was a small gravel bank beneath the ravine where they could beach the raft, the mouth was nearly fifty feet up a sheer cliff.

"We're not that close to the waterfall yet," Arietta said. "There's bound to be a bigger gulch or side canyon before we reach it."

"Perhaps, but it is not the waterfall I am worried about," Malik said. "It is that."

He pointed again, this time straight down the canyon. At first, it was difficult for Arietta to identify the source of his concern. All she could see was the river disappearing into the gloom that filled the bottom of the gorge.

And then she realized that the gloom was his concern. It lay on the water like the approaching dusk, a gray dimness seeping into the air above, spreading upriver toward the raft, creeping along the canyon walls around them.

It was the Shadowfell, and it was coming for them.

CHAPTER 16.

THE MOUTH OF THE RAVINE HUNG FIFTY FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, a gray wedge of nothingness opening into the cliff's craggy dark face. While there were no crevices into which a fist or foot could be jammed while a climber paused to rest, there were plenty of rough-textured k.n.o.bs and flat-bottomed divots to use as handholds and toe rests. The ascent was going to be tiring but fairly safe-and not really much of a challenge compared to some of the palace towers Joelle had climbed in her time as a jewel thief.

Satisfied that she was not likely to encounter any unexpected obstacles during the climb, Joelle returned to the river's edge, where her companions sat among a tangle of logs. As she approached, Malik rose and offered her a coil of braided rope, which he had spent the last two hours creating from the vines they had used to lash the logs into a raft.

"It will hold anything," he promised. "Even the oaf."

"You're sure?" Joelle asked. "Because you'll be coming up third. If it breaks before then, you'll be trapped down here with Kleef."

"Anything," Malik a.s.sured her. "I took extra care because I knew my own life would depend on its strength."

Joelle rewarded him with an approving smile. "I'm glad you understand."

She accepted the coil and slung it over her shoulder, then stepped over to where Arietta was sitting with Kleef's head in her lap, monitoring his slumber for any sign of bad dreams. After more than eight hours of sleep, the big watchmen was starting to look more like himself. The bags beneath his eyes had retracted into mere circles, and even his cheeks seemed a little less hollow.

Joelle dropped to her haunches next to Arietta and asked, "Any sign of trouble?"

Arietta shook her head. "Nothing yet."

"Then let him sleep until I finish the climb," Joelle said. "Once I'm in the ravine, it will take a little time to tie off the rope." Arietta nodded. "I'll keep an eye out."

"Good." Joelle glanced downriver toward the hazy dimness that was the Shadowfell creeping toward them. "The sooner we're out of here, the better."

Joelle started to rise, but stopped when she felt Arietta's hand close on hers.

Arietta didn't say anything. She just looked at Joelle with soft eyes and an arched brow, and Joelle saw the confusion inside her-the conflict between what Arietta was feeling and what she thought she should be feeling, the conviction that she should be the master of her emotions rather than a servant to them.

That was wrong, of course. Sune's wors.h.i.+pers knew that emotions were the true guide to happiness, that only by paying attention to their desires and their anger and their joy could they come to know their own souls and live in harmony with their true natures. Unfortunately, that was not something Joelle could simply explain. It was something that everyone needed to discover in her own way-and that included Arietta.

After a moment, Joelle smiled, then raised the hand Arietta was holding. "Yes?" she asked. "Was there something else?"

Finally seeming to realize what she had done, Arietta blushed and shook her head. "No, not really." She released Joelle's hand, then said, "Just ... be careful."

Joelle laughed. "Be careful? Where's the fun in that?"

She leaned down and kissed Arietta full on the mouth. At first, the n.o.blewoman seemed too stunned to react, but her lips finally began to soften-and that was when Joelle broke off and looked into Arietta's eyes.

"For luck," she said. "I hope you don't mind."

Arietta seemed barely able to shake her head. "N-not at all."

"Good." Joelle smiled and turned to climb the cliff. "Maybe we'll do it again."

In the dream, Kleef and Arietta sit side by side at a campfire. They are nestled against a log somewhere in Faerun, looking out over a moonlit river. Malik and Joelle are long gone, though Kleef doesn't know whether they are dead or have simply parted ways.

Arietta reaches over and takes his hand. She says nothing, does not even look at him. She just watches the flames and twines her fingers into his, and Kleef knows that she is the one.

Arietta understands him in a way no one else can. She sees the despair that weighs on those who keep faith in a dead G.o.d, and the rancor that eats at those who honor their vows while others grow rich by flaunting theirs. But most of all, she recognizes the strength it takes to stand firm in a sea of corruption, to remain true to a sworn duty while the tide of depravity pulls the sand from beneath one's feet.

Kleef knows that Arietta sees all this because she is a kindred spirit. Like him, she values honor and duty for their own sake, and she believes that the gifts a person receives in life carry a sacred duty to use them in the service of others.