Pathway

Chapter 186: Life Or Death [5]

"The city will be saved." 

The king said, looking at Chang Chang. He nodded, as if coming to a decision. 

"Druya, Abron, Obarnbring the weaponmaster, the warmaster, and the regency council here. We have a lot to talk about and little time to do it. I want our scouts recalled as soon as possible. Collect all their information, their best guesses as to the strength of the drow force and where they'll hit the city's defenses first."

"They won't attack the doors. That much we know. They'll hit us at our weakest points along the wall and try to breach it."

Obarn replied the king.

"That'll be perfect," 

King Lagarma said, nodding. He pointed at Chang Chang. 

"Take yourself and your men to the library, but wait for me outside the doors. Do you hear? Don't go in to Gallazza unless I'm there with you. Whatever happens, I'll do what I can to protect you."

"You're needed with your army. I can do this"

Chang Chang protested.

"You forget you're arguing with a king, and a dragon. Didn't anyone ever teach you that that's not a wise thing to do? We do this my way or not at all, understand?"

King Laggarma said. His voice held a trace of humor, but his eyes were hard.

Chang Chang nodded and bowed. 

"As you say, my king."

Around her, the others bowed as well, and a chorus of "my king" echoed in the vast hall. 

Chang Chang waited with Ju Feng outside the library doors. Nerves tossed about in her stomach, making her fidget and pace, until finally Ju Feng drew her near him and held both of her hands in his. He reminded her.

"You don't have to do this. You can change your mind."

"I'm not afraid for myself. But I spoke for both of us back there. I never asked if if you could accept it, if the worst happened."

Chang Chang said. She squeezed the hand of Ju Feng who looked at their joined hands and said firmly. 

"My fate makes me confront the darkness, and it will make me encounter my deaththe thing I most want to deny. That being said, we're going to do everything we can to make sure the worst doesn't happen with you. Do you have a plan?"

Chang Chang smiled bitterly at him. 

"The plan is the Lochal. I think she knows where the sphere is, she just doesn't know that she knows."

"Really?" 

Ju Feng said in confusion.

"Just trust me." 

Chang Chang told him.

The door to the plaza opened, and king Laggarma and an escort of guards came down the hallway to meet them. King Laggarma's eyes gleamed with an eager light. Color suffused his face, and everything about his movements suggested new life. Ju Feng wondered how much of his energy was a mask he wore for his people's sake. They and she would likely never know what this cost him.

"Are you ready?" 

The king asked aloud, pulling Ju Feng from his thoughts. He heard the voice of Chang Chang saying.

"I'm ready."

Gallazza sat in his customary place by the fire when they entered. When he saw them, he stood, putting his back to the wall as if expecting an attack. Chang Chang ignored him and called to the empty air. 

"Lochal?"

The dwarf woman appeared at her elbow, making Chang Chang jump. 

"I am here."

"I've come for the sphere." 

Chang Chang was aware of a palpable tension in the room as the others, even Gallazza, waited to hear the dwarf woman's reply.

"I do not know where the sphere is." 

The seneschal said sadly and continued. "If I knew"

"But you also said there was one tome about the library. But you also said there was one tome about the Arcane Script Sphere you were forbidden to share. What tome is that?"

Chang Chang interrupted

"It is forbidden. I'm sorry."

The Lochal said softly.

"Call forth the tome. You have my permission."

King Laggarma commanded the Lochal who had confusion written all over her face. 

"I I cannot."

"You can't because the artifact is inside of you. It made itself a part of you, just like all the ancient tomes in this room, but it did so to hide." 

Chang Chang said, grateful that her hunch had proved correct. Behind her, king Laggarma let out a breath. Chang Chang rushed on, addressing the Lochal and the sphere. 

"I don't know if I'm worthy to wield the Heavens Silver Fire or not, but I want to help Myria. Please, let me help the city."

The Lochal's ghostly form wavered, and they all thought she was going to disappear. Then they were staring at a tiny silver crystal hovering in the air in front of her, no bigger than a pea. Miniscule symbols scrawled across its surface, but they were indiscernible to their eyes. Despite its size, when they beheld the sphere, their hearts raced with excitement.

Then it began to grow.

The sphere expanded, spinning as it swelled to three, four, then ten times its original size. Transfixed, they watched as the primordial symbols on the artifact's surface sprang into focus. Seals revealed themselves, the patterns graceful, elegant, and unfamiliar, the seals of a lost divine.

"Written by Mystra herself." 

Chang Chang whispered. A prickling sensation touched the back of her neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gallazza moving toward her, faster than she thought possible for anyone to move. Without thinking, she grabbed the sphere in her two hands and called Mystra's name in her mind. Gallazza charged her, hands reaching for the sphere, but Ju Feng was suddenly between them, and the two men slammed into each other. Gallazza howled, grasping for Ju Feng's neck. Ju Feng twisted out of the yaomo's grasp and pinned Gallazza's arms behind his back.

The sphere warmed in Chang Chang's hands. Tendrils of silver energy swirled from it and closed the space between her and Gallazza. The energy enveloped the yaomo, and distantly, she heard him scream again. Divine Mystra, Icelin uttered silently, may your memory protect us now. Her stomach clenched, and a familiar sickness took hold of her. The Silver Fire swelled, and Gallazza's mind opened to her in a rush. Imagesan audience chamber where a yaomo female sat, then a gathering of drow prepared to go to war. She saw a temple made of crystal spider webs, beautiful and cold, where whispers drifted from the shadows.

"The Dark Creeper."

"Nameless, shadow wanderer."

"How does he earn the mistress's favor?"

"He is nothing."

Sweat broke out on Chang Chang's skin. Fire rose up from the spider's web, hungrily consuming the temple. Somewhere, she heard Gallazza's scream of surprise and fear. This was no memory she pulled from his mind. It was her own memory, mingling with hisfire, the wild magic unleashed within her. Chang Chang gasped. She felt herself losing control, her body trembling. Every part of her screamed at her to rein in the power of the crystal, to stop now before someone died. Probably, herself.

No. I can't do this.

Then, from the depths of the fire, a new voice spoke directly into her mind: Let it go. I'm here. I will watch over you. King Laggarma's voice, Chang Chang thought, dazed. Yet the rough scrape of the dwarf's voice changed and distorted in her mind, becoming by turns a woman's voice, gentle, soothing, and familiar, before turning back to the king's again. A presence enveloped her, like cool hands clasping her shoulders, urging her to relax, and fall. Chang Chang released a breath and let herself go.

The Silver Fire erupted in a storm.

Distantly, she heard Gallazza scream again. Perhaps the Silver Fire would tear both their minds to piecesyet Chang Chang felt no such madness descend upon her, linked as she was to the yaomo. Wherever Gallazza's pain came from, the Silver Fire wasn't causing it.

Instinctively, she reached for the drow with her mind, seeking him among the fiery ruin of Phodoma. She ran down unfamiliar city streets, rearing back as flames surged out at her, forming strange shapes in the air. Spiders, the face of a yaomo priestess, a demon formed of ripples of melting flesh. Chang Chang cried out and covered her eyes.

"Chang! Chang, wake. Wake!"

Ju Feng's voice echoed above the roaring fire. He knew the power of trance. He had been there before. It wasn't an illusion, she could die inside the trance. He made a hand seal and began to lift her up.  Chang Chang uncovered her eyes, but a light blinded her. Unseen hands grabbed her and pulled her off her feet. She soared above the city. The buildings shrank beneath her, and the fire and black smoke became a dizzying blur.

"Wake!"

Her eyes snapped open. She was in the library, lying on her back on the floor, the sphere clutched to her breast. Ruen's face floated above her, his voice calling to her, but faint and jumbled, as if she were underwater and it slowly drawing her up.

"What happened?"

Chang Chang asked. She blinked to clear her vision and tried to sit up.

"Take it easy for a breath or two," 

Ju Feng said. He supported her back so she could look around the room. Slowly, the objects and people in the library swam into focus. She saw king Laggarma lying on the floor not far from her. His face glistened with sweat, and he was pale, so pale that Chang Chang instinctively reached out to him and cried out. 

"He's hurt!" 

The dwarven king waved away her concern. 

"I'll be fine. You can hold a lot of power for one little girl with little to no level of power herself."

He drew in a wheezing breath. He coughed and wiped a stream of blood from his chin.