Avatar - Tantras Part 1

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TANTRAS.

by Richard Awlinson.

For their kindness and support, this book is dedicated to: Anna, Frank, Patricia, Gregory, Laura, Marie, Millie, Bill, Christine, Martin, Michele, Tom, Lee, Joan, AUison, Larry, Jim, Mary, and Alice.

PROLOGUE.

Forester had lived in Shadowdale all of his life, and in the recent battle against the forces of Zhentil Keep, he had fought bravely to defend the bridge over theAshabaRiveron the western edge of the dale. Now he toiled alongside his friends and neighbors, hefting bodies onto carts, trying to identify dead dalesmen. A cleric of Lathander who could write almost as well as Lhaeo, the scribe of the late Elminster, took down the names of the dead as the burly fighter called them out.

"Here's Meltan Elventree, Neldock's son," Forester said flatly as he grabbed the dead boy by the arms. The fighter had ceased to feel miserable after he'd moved his dozenth corpse. Now, after having hefted over fifty dead bodies, including close friends and even relatives, Forester really only took particular notice when someone was noticeably heavy or light.

"Poor lad," the cleric sighed. He moved his face close to the wax tablet he held and inscribed the name of the farmer's son. "Neldock will be heartbroken."

"He has another son," Forester said coldly as he lifted the body into the rough wooden wagon that stood next to him. "You know, Rhaymon, I thought you'd handle this much better. Lathander is the G.o.d of Renewal, right? You should be happy all these men are getting a fresh start."

Rhaymon ignored Forester's sarcasm and read over the list on his tablet. "So many young lads," he said softly. "So much wasted potential."

After placing Meltan Elventree in the wagon, the giant-sized fighter stopped for a moment and wiped his long, stringy black hair out of his eyes. Like everyone else on the corpse detail, Forester was covered with sweat and blood and smelled of smoke and death. He brushed his calloused hands over his dull brown tunic and looked out over the scorched area around him.

A blue-gray haze hung over the forest outside the small town ofShadowdale. The fires that Lord Bane's troops had started with their flaming arrows and foolish magic had been doused by a miraculous rainfall, but smoke still hung in the air. Forester didn't even wonder about the huge eye that had suddenly appeared over the dale and shed a tear that saved the town and the forest from fiery destruction. After all, the G.o.ds now walked the Realms, and such wonders were almost commonplace. The tear from the heavens was no more or less awe-inspiring to the dalesman than the attack on the town had been, even though the G.o.d of Strife himself had led the enemy army to their doorsteps.

In fact, the residents of Shadowdale, like most of the men and women who lived on the continent of Faerun, felt numb, almost oblivious to the chaos that had surrounded them since the time of Arrival. On that day, all of the G.o.ds were cast out of the Planes and took over human hosts, or avatars, in various places throughout the Realms. Since then, everything that people had always regarded as constant had proved to be unstable.

The sun was erratic in its course. On some days, it didn't rise above the horizon, while on others four suns would appear and rise into the air like fireworks. One moment snow fell from the sky, and the next it was literally raining cats and dogs. Plants, animals, and even people were totally unpredictable-sometimes mutating into beautiful, magical things, sometimes changing into terrifying abominations.

Worst of all, the ancient art of magic had become completely unreliable, even dangerous to those who tried to use it. The mages, who should have been the ones to rectify the mysterious chaos in the Realms, instead became feared harbingers of it. Most magic-users simply hid away to meditate about the problem, but those who were reckless enough to try to cast a spell - any spell - found that their art was more unpredictable than the sun. There were even rumors that Mystra, the G.o.ddess of Magic, was dead and that the art would never again be stable throughout thelandofFaerun.

Even the great Elminster, the most powerful mage in the entire Realms, had fallen victim to the chaos. He was dead, supposedly killed by two strangers to the dale who had been sent with him to defend theTempleofLathander. People all around the small town were demanding that the strangers be punished for the murder, that Elminster be avenged. Unlike the chaos rampant in the world around them, this crime was something the people of Shadowdale felt they could do something about.

For most people now accepted the chaos as a part of their lives. It only took a few scant days after the fall of the G.o.ds for the men and women of Faerun to realize that they had little control over their world, so they had best get on with their lives. Farmers once again tried to grow their crops, and craftsmen returned to their trades - even though their plants now talked to them occasionally, or their tools suddenly turned to gla.s.s and shattered to pieces.

In Shadowdale, the dalesmen had learned of the impending attack from Zhentil Keep, their ancient enemies from the North, and fought the battle with the evil armies as they did any other. Many brave men had died, and had it not been for the Knights of Myth Drannor and the Riders of Mistledale, Shadowdale itself might have been overrun. But the dalesmen had somehow managed to drive the invaders off. Now, as with any battle, the survivors were left to bury the dead and repair the damages.

The trade road leading northeast from Shadowdale, little more than a well-used dirt path, was filled with townsfolk and soldiers as they solemnly moved into the forest to stack corpses and dismantle the traps they had set for the Zhentish. The road crawled through the worst of the scorched forest and, since it was the site of much of the daylong battle between the dalesmen and the army from Zhentil Keep, most of the destruction wrought by the combatants was centered upon it.

As some of the men from the dale used teams of draft horses to topple barricades, others, like Forester, handled the unlucky task of gathering the bodies of their comrades and loading them onto the wagons. Most of the wounded dalesmen had already been moved from the battlefield to a makes.h.i.+ft hospital in the center of town, but occasionally someone would start to clear a stack of bodies only to find someone alive underneath the pile.

Forester realized he was staring at a pile of bodies and shook his head, as if to dislodge any unwanted thoughts from his mind. The fighter rubbed his dirty, sweaty neck and turned to the next corpse.

"Hey, Rhaymon! I need your help to move this one," the fighter called to the cleric. "He's too heavy for me to lift."

"Who is it?" the cleric of Lathander asked softly. Ash and sweat covered his square jaw and wavy blond hair.

"I think it's Ulman Ulphor. No, wait... it's Bertil, not Ulman," the fighter grunted as he took the sword out of the corpse's hand and took a firm grip on the body. "I thought he wasn't trusted with weapons."

"He wasn't," the cleric sighed. "But everyone who didn't leave town before the battle was armed."

Rhaymon carefully placed the flat sc.r.a.p of wood that held his wax tablet on the wagon, along with his stylus. The tablet held a list of the dead who had been identified, which Rhaymon composed in rough shorthand. Later he would transfer the list to parchment. That would normally be done in his room at theTempleofLathander, but the temple had been destroyed in the battle. The cleric frowned as he thought of the ruined temple.

"Let's get at it," Forester snapped. "I don't want to be out here when darkness comes."

Rhaymon grabbed the rotund corpse by the feet and helped the fighter toss it onto the wagon. As the cleric picked up his tablet and stylus again, a howl echoed through the woods. Rhaymon looked around nervously, but Forester chuckled softly and wiped his hands on his tunic.

"It's only a scavenger... some big cat or a wolf drawn by the smell of blood." Forester shook his head and turned to the next body. When he saw that it was a young Zhentish soldier dressed in the black armor of the Zhentilar, elite army of Zhentil Keep, the fighter cursed. He dragged the body to the side of the road, where it would remain until the men collecting the corpses of the Zhentish picked it up. But as Forester turned back toward the cleric, the Zhentilar moaned softly.

"d.a.m.n!" Forester hissed. "He's still alive." He moved to the unconscious Zhentish soldier, took out his dagger, and slit the young man's throat. "There's another who won't get away."

Rhaymon nodded in agreement and motioned for another dalesman to come and move the wagon a little farther up the road. Forester sat on the back of the wagon as it lurched into motion, and the cleric walked wearily behind, checking and rechecking his list. Before they had gone more than a few yards, though, they heard a shriek from the area they had just cleared. Rhaymon turned in time to see a ghostly image of the Zhentish soldier Forester had just killed rise above its corpse.

"You'll pay for what you've done!" the ghost cried, staring grimly at the man who had murdered him. "All the Dales will pay!"

Forester lost his balance on the wagon and tumbled into the road. Rhaymon tried to help the fighter to his feet, but before either of the dalesmen could flee, the ghost floated to their side. Forester looked up into the pale, angry eyes of the dead soldier and uttered a silent prayer.

Rhaymon, however, was not so quiet about it. "Begone!" the cleric shouted, holding his holy symbol - a rosy pink wooden disk - out toward the undead creature. "Lord Lathander, Morninglord, G.o.d of Spring and Renewal, help me to banish this undead creature to the Realm of the Dead!"

The ghost merely laughed, and Forester felt dizzy when he realized that he could see through the undead soldier to the charred ground and burned trees at the side of the road. He considered reaching for his dagger, but he knew that it would be of little use against a spirit.

The ghost smiled broadly. "Come, come, Lathanderite. The G.o.ds are here in Faerun, not in the Planes. Lord Myrkul doesn't inhabit the Realm of the Dead now, so you shouldn't expect me to run off to an empty h.e.l.l. Besides, since I don't see your G.o.d nearby, why do you expect your prayer to be answered?"

A small crowd of dalesmen had gathered around Forester, Rhaymon, and the ghost. Some had their weapons drawn, but most simply stood, watching the spectacle as they would a play at a fair. One man, a lean, hawk-nosed thief in a dark cloak, moved through the crowd to stand at Forester's side.

"So what are you going to do to us?" Cyric asked the ghost, spreading his arms wide. "No one fears a live Zhentish soldier here. A dead one is even less of a threat."

Forester looked up at Cyric. The dark-haired thief had been the fighter's commander during the Battle of Shadowdale. Cyric was a brilliant leader and had rallied the dalesmen against a huge force of Zhentish cavalry - a force led by the powerful Zhentish wizard, Fzoul Chembryl. Though Forester considered Cyric a great man and a champion of the dale, there were many who thought him suspect because of his friends.h.i.+p with the cleric and magic-user accused of Elminster's murder.

Rhaymon, who still held his holy symbol in front of him, and Forester, who still sat unceremoniously upon the ground, his hand near his dagger, felt a burst of cold air rush from the ghost as it moved toward Cyric. The crow's-feet around the thief's eyes deepened and multiplied as his eyes narrowed to slits. The ghost spread its arms wide to embrace Cyric as it moved toward him.

Cyric laughed as the ghost pa.s.sed right through him.

"You're not a real undead creature," Cyric said through an evil grin. "You're just another product of the chaos in the Realms." The thief turned and started to stroll away.

The Zhentish soldier screamed once more, longer and louder than he had when he first emerged from his corpse, but no one paid any attention. Most of the dalesmen returned to their duties. A few headed back toward town. Rhaymon helped Forester up, and as soon as he was on his feet, the fighter ran down the road after Cyric. The apparition of the Zhentilar simply faded from view, whimpering and moaning as it disappeared.

"How... how did you know?" Forester gasped between panted breaths.

Cyric stopped for a moment and turned back to face the fighter. "Did you see anyone running away? Do you feel any older?"

A look of complete confusion crossed Forester's face. "Older? Of course not. Do I look older?"

"No. That's how I knew it wasn't an actual ghost. A real ghost, created when a truly evil man dies, is so frightening that those who look upon it age ten years in an instant. Ghosts radiate fear, too." Cyric shook his head when he saw that the fighter still didn't understand.

"Since you didn't look any older than you did when we were defending the bridge, and since none of the other dalesmen were running away, I figured it couldn't be real."

Forester still looked confused, but he nodded his head as if he understood completely. Cyric scowled. These dalesmen are idiots, he thought. "Look," the thief said at last, "I don't have time to give you a treatise about the undead. I need to find Kelemvor. I was told he came this way about two hours ago."

"He was here," Forester said, "but he disappeared into the woods some time back. I haven't seen him since."

Cyric cursed softly and headed for the trees.

"Be careful!" Forester called as Cyric walked toward the smoky forest. "We heard some kind of wild animal in there a little while ago."

Most likely a panther, Cyric thought. At least that means Kelemvor's not far away. The thief drew his sword and cautiously moved into the forest.

Smoke hung in the air deep into the woods, so that Cyric found it difficult to breathe at times. His brown eyes reddened as stinging tears ran down his lean face and streaked the grime still caked there from the battle. The thief squinted and continued to press on through the groves of oak and tangles of vines that filled the forest around him.

After moving east for about an hour, Cyric noticed that the air was clearing and he could breathe more easily. He discovered a tuft of black fur on a large th.o.r.n.y bush, but as the thief was examining the fur, he heard a branch snap loudly to the south, then another. Quickly he ducked behind a tree and gripped his sword more firmly.

Within two minutes, a blood-spattered Zhentish archer rushed past Cyric's hiding place. The archer was breathing hard, his arms and legs pumping frantically. After every two or three steps, he threw a worried glance back over his shoulder. Birds of various shapes and colors erupted from the bushes and shot noisily into the sky as the soldier pa.s.sed.

Cyric started to scramble up the tree, hoping to avoid whatever was chasing the young archer. Halfway up, thoughts of the Spiderhaunt Woods, where Cyric had tried to escape from some giant spiders by climbing into the tree-tops, rushed into his head. Perhaps this is a mistake, he thought.

Before Cyric could leap to the ground, a large black panther burst from the trees and headed north after the Zhentish archer. The creature's beautiful green eyes were sparkling with malevolent glee as it raced through the forest and out of Cyric's sight.

"Kel," Cyric muttered softly and started to climb down from the tree. He heard a short, high-pitched screech to the north, followed quickly by the roar of the panther as it savaged its victim.

Cyric's eyes glazed momentarily as pity welled inside him for Kelemvor Lyonsbane, the powerful, highly skilled fighter who had been his companion for nearly a year. Kelemvor had traveled alongside him, along with Adon, a cleric of Sune, and Midnight , a spirited, raven-haired magic-user, on a quest to rescue the G.o.ddess of Magic. Now Adon and Midnight were imprisoned in the dungeon of theTwistedTower, awaiting trial for the murder of Elminster, while Kelemvor roamed the woods in the form of a panther. But the fighter had no control over his transformation into a beast.

The Lyonsbane family was cursed.

Long ago, one of Kelemvor's ancestors had abandoned a powerful mage during a battle, choosing instead to strike out after a treasure. The mage's dying curse made it impossible for the Lyonsbanes to do anything for less than altruistic reasons. However, over time, the curse reversed itself. Now a Lyonsbane could not do anything except what was in his own best interest. To aid another, he must receive a reward. Kelemvor had no choice but to become a hardened mercenary - or turn into a monster until he killed someone!

I wonder what activated the curse this time? Cyric thought as he crept through the underbrush.

The panther was lying down, licking the blood from its claws, when Cyric entered the small clearing. The torn body of the Zhentish archer was stretched out in front of the animal. As soon as the panther saw Cyric, it tensed, started to rise, and bared its perfect, white teeth in a savage snarl. Cyric leveled his sword defensively and backed up a cautious step.

"It's Cyric, Kel! Stay back! Don't make me hurt you."

The panther growled deep in its throat and crouched, as if it were about to pounce. Cyric continued to back up slowly until he felt a large oak behind him. Grimly he prepared to run the panther through if it leaped at him. The panther appeared ready to pounce at any instant, but instead it suddenly became very still, then threw back its head and gave a high, piercing yowl.

As Cyric watched, the panther's fur rippled spasmodically. The beast spread its jaws wide, wider than should have been possible. Two hands, covered with gore, reached out from inside the creature, grabbed its jaws, and forced them even wider. There was a sickening tearing sound, and suddenly the panther's body, starting at the mouth, split in half. The animal half dropped to the ground and instantly started to disintegrate.

A s.h.i.+vering, naked, manlike creature collapsed on the ground beside the pile of disintegrating animal flesh, where the panther had crouched only seconds before. Cyric stood frozen in awe. Though he had witnessed Kelemvor's transformation from panther to man once before, in Tilverton, the thief was both fascinated and revulsed by the spectacle. He found it impossible to turn away. Soon the shape on the ground became thoroughly human.

"Who-who did I kill this time?" Kelemvor asked softly. He tried to lift himself off the ground, but he was too weak.

"A Zhentish soldier. The dalesmen will thank you for it later." Cyric removed his cloak and wrapped it around Kelemvor's shoulders. "What caused you to change, Kel?"

"Elminster," Kelemvor said, shaking his head weakly. "He promised to remove the curse if I fought for Shadowdale in the battle. But if Elminster's dead, I can't receive my payment." The fighter glanced at the body of the Zhentish archer and shuddered. "I'm just glad it wasn't one of the dalesmen."

"Why? The dalesmen are no different from the Zhentish." Cyric scowled at the fighter. "Do you know what I just saw? I saw Forester, that big oaf who fought with me at the bridge, slit the throat of a helpless, wounded Zhentilar rather than take him prisoner."

"Remember, this is war, Cyric." The fighter flexed his arms. Finding his strength returned, Kelemvor pushed himself up from the ground. "You can't expect the dalesmen to tie up troops caring for the wounded of their enemies. Besides, the Zhentish started this. It serves them right."

"And does it serve Midnight and Adon right to be locked up in theTwistedTower, waiting for the dalesmen to find them guilty of Elminster's murder?" Cyric snapped. "You and I know that they didn't kill that old man. It was probably Bane's avatar or a misfired spell. But the villagers need someone to blame, so they'll undoubtedly find our friends guilty."

"That's not true! Lord Mourngrym will give them a fair trial. Justice will be served."

Cyric stood in shocked silence for a moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, almost a growl. "Mourngrym will give the dalesmen exactly what they want. The justice served here will be the same as that given at the executions in Bane's temple in Zhentil Keep."

Kelemvor turned away from the thief and started toward the bushes. "I need to find my clothes and my armor. Are you coming?"

As the fighter disappeared into the underbrush, Cyric swore softly. Clearly Kelemvor had been fooled by the facade of law and truth the dalesmen had erected for themselves. "I'll just have to deal with this alone," the thief vowed to himself as he marched off after the fighter.

I.

THE TRIAL.

There were depths to the darkness surrounding Midnight that she feared to explore. The room was perfectly black. It might have been a storage area at one time, or perhaps a large closet. The momentary glimpse that the magic-user had been given of the tiny cell when she and Adon were first locked away had revealed very little. The light from the torch their jailer held hadn't seemed to illuminate the room, and Midnight now wondered if the ceiling, walls, and floor of the cell had been painted black to keep her disoriented.

She'd been bound and gagged to prevent her from casting any spells, but the dalesmen had neglected to blindfold her. She had a horrible feeling of total isolation in the pitch-dark room. Only the sound of Adon's breathing reminded Midnight that she was not alone in the cell.

The network of ropes around the magic-user held her arms behind her back and bound her legs together tightly. Her wrists and ankles had been tied, too, and her fingers awkwardly touched the heels of her feet. Lying with her face pressed half against the floor was the only position that was remotely comfortable. At least it allowed her an occasional hour or so of sleep. Even then, though, pain constantly shot through her body.

After the first few hours in the black room, the magic-user's initial panic began to subside, only to be replaced by a numbing fear. Was it possible that she had been forgotten and left there to die? Again and again, she attempted to scream, but her m.u.f.fled cries yielded no response. Occasionally she heard Adon s.h.i.+ft in the darkness. Midnight wondered if the cleric was awake. He had said nothing since they were taken prisoner at the ruinedTempleofLathander. The mage knew the cleric hadn't been gagged. If he didn't speak, it was probably because he was unconscious or in shock.

As Midnight thought of all that had happened to her and her friends since they had left Arabel less than a month ago, she wondered why she hadn't gone into shock, too. First Mystra, the G.o.ddess of Magic, had entrusted her with a shard of power in the form of a pendant. Then the G.o.ds had been thrown out of the Planes because of the theft of the two Tablets of Fate - ancient artifacts that listed the names of all the G.o.ds and their spheres of influence. Next Midnight had gone with Kelemvor, Cyric, Adon, and the G.o.ddess's intended avatar to save Mystra from Lord Bane, the G.o.d of Strife.

When they rescued Mystra, the G.o.ddess took back the power she had given to Midnight and tried to enter the Planes using a Celestial Stairway. The stairway, like many others throughout the Realms, was actually a path to the Planes, a direct link from the world to the homes of the G.o.ds. But before Mystra could climb the stairway and reach her home in Nirvana, Lord Helm, the G.o.d of Guardians, had stopped her.

Though Mystra tried to defeat Helm, the G.o.d would not allow her to pa.s.s into the Planes without the Tablets of Fate. And because Helm still had much of his G.o.dly power, he was able to stop the fallen G.o.ddess easily. In the end, Mystra had been killed, but not before she returned the pendant to Midnight , along with instructions to seek out Elminster in Shadowdale and find the lost Tablets of Fate before the Realms suffered even more damage.

While traveling through the chaos-ridden lands of Faerun, Midnight and her companions had been brought together as friends. The magic-user had gained Kelemvor as a lover, and Cyric and Adon as close allies. She had been lucky until now, although she felt she was a mere p.a.w.n in the conflicts of the G.o.ds, she had lost nothing. Not like Adon.

For clerics, the crisis in Faerun after the night of Arrival had been especially trying. Priests found that they could cast spells only if they were within a mile of their deity.

Worse still, they saw their deities take on flesh and blood to survive. Now the G.o.ds had all the limitations of a mortal frame. But Adon seemed to accept all this as the will of the G.o.ds.

Until the day the heroes left Tilverton.

On that day, a wors.h.i.+per of Gond had attacked Adon with a knife and slashed him savagely across the face. Because Midnight and her allies needed to escape into the desolate area around the Shadow Gap in order to lose the mob that followed them out of Tilverton, they could not take the unconscious cleric to a healer. An ugly scar formed on Adon's face. Some might have considered this a mark of glory. Adon, however, was a wors.h.i.+per of Lady Sune, the G.o.ddess of Beauty.

Suddenly Adon felt as if he had been abandoned by Sune, as if he had done something terribly wrong and deserved to be punished. The once-joyful young cleric grew morose and sullen. Midnight had hoped that helping to save the Dales from the armies of Zhentil Keep would help Adon recover his spirit, but the incidents at theTempleofLathander, when Elminster and Midnight battled Lord Bane, only deepened the cleric's depression.

And unless I can find a way to prove that it was Bane - not Adon and I - who killed Elminster, Midnight thought, things could get a lot worse for both of us.

Midnight reviewed the battle at the temple over and over again in her mind, examining each minute detail. She knew there had to be some way to prove that she and Adon had not killed the great sage, but she simply couldn't discover it.

She heard a noise at the door: the sound of keys rattling on a chain. The heavy door swung open, and Midnight was forced to squeeze her eyes shut as the bright flame from a torch nearly blinded her.