Would the Lord of Bats craft a homunculus from Japheth's corpse?
The image of such a transfiguration broke through his loss and the traveler's dust. Japheth rolled onto his knees, gritting his teeth against complaining muscles. Sweat broke on his brow. He heaved himself to his feet.
The sideways bell vibrated like a cage restraining a rabid wolverine. He could see into the bell from its wideopen bottom, but the side Neifion had claimed was obscured by a haze like hundreds of flapping leathery wings. At any moment the Lord of Bats would emerge, without pacts or oaths to restrain him. He'd appear in the full flush of his strength...
"No," mused Japheth, anot all his strength." He still wore Neifion's lesser skin.
The Lord of Bats's freedom shriek redoubled in volume. The trek bell exploded like a hobgoblin's wall -breaker mortar. The shock wave punched Japheth into the waiting folds of his cloak, and he was gone.
*****
"What was that?" Anusha said. She craned her head to look down the tunnel toward the balcony. The molten- winged creature she'd glimpsed was gone. "I saw a light," said Yeva.
"It had wings. I think it carried something. It went by the balcony too quickly for me to tell."
Yeva took a step closer to the exit, then paused. "Are you sure it wasn't an aboleth?"
"It wasn't an aboleth," Anusha replied. "Well, I only saw it a moment. I guess it could have been."
"Let's go," Yeva decided.
Then the fiery light returned. This time Anusha clearly saw a manlike figure with wings of fire. It brandished a flaming sword in one hand. In the other was a ridiculously large temple bel l.
The creature's enormous wings thundered as it lowered the bell onto the balcony. Yeva grabbed Anusha's arm and tried to pull her down the corridor. "We need to get back," she whispered.
"No, wait!" Something about the bell was familiar.
The odor of rotting fish hit Anusha. A tentacle wide as a tower squirmed over the balcony. Its black length entwined the fiery-winged humanoid, who cried out in surprise. The tentacle yanked, and the creature was snatched out of sight.
The bell fell freely a silent instant until it smashed onto the balcony, bounced onto its side,.and caromed across the floor.
Yeva hauled Anusha back with surprising strength. A boom hammered the air.
Despite Yeva's insistence, Anusha's eyes remained locked on the exit. "Look," she said. "The bell is near the arch."
Yeva let go of Anusha's arm. The woman's face lost some of its agitation. She said, "It doesn't look like something the aboleths made. Maybe you're right, Anusha. Let's take a closer look."
Anusha nodded.
A scream burst from the bell caught in the tunnel mouth. The iron shell vibrated with... fury? No, exultation.
"Nor does that sound like an aboleth," said Yeva, her voice raised over the ecstatic bellow.
Anusha nodded. What was it about the bell that tugged at her memories? Something that should have been obvious to her. Had the Eldest stolen away her memory of why the bell was familiar?
The ecstatic call didn't fade after several moments—it swelled.
They both flinched when a dozen splintering lines cracked across the bell's face.
Bats poured from the fissures like smoke. The iron object burst apart like a peeled fruit, revealing a creature Anusha had last seen sitting at a table in Castle Darroch.
"Oh no," Anusha said.
When she'd seen Neifion in the castle, he'd been harmless, trapped, and quiescent. Now he was transformed. An aura of needle-toothed bats veiled him. He seemed physically larger, and muscle visibly rippled beneath his formal black clothing. The scream of demented joy emerging from him had just burst an iron vessel. If it hadn't already, the noise would draw the attention of every lesser aboleth already roused from slumber.
A pocket of nothing opened only paces from Anusha, and a man stepped through. His eyes were red as a demon's—or as the eyes of someone walking the crimson road.
"Japheth!" Anusha gasped.
"I found you," he replied. A sad smile brushed his lips. He swayed, then fell unconscious at her feet.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Year of the Secret (1396 DR), Xxiphu
"Stay back, Anusha!" Yeva said. "It could be an aboleth trick."
Anusha shrugged off Yeva's restraining grip and leaned down to look at the unconscious man.
It was definitely Japheth, though he didn't look healthy.
"Disguise seems too subtle for the creatures we've found here," Anusha said.
"Well, that's true," Yeva said.
"This is Japheth, the one who sent me a vision!"
"Ah. Well. Of course. Who else would he be? And who's the screamer back there?"
"A wicked creature called the Lord of Bats who's probably trying to kill Japheth. Let's get out of here."
The Lord of Bats's scream ceased. They had only moments before Neifion took stock of his surroundings and saw, if not Anusha and Yeva's dream forms, then at least the all-toocorporeal warlock lying in the moist corridor. Yeva was no help carrying the unconscious man. Her hands passed right through him. After a few heartbeats of fumbling, she gave up in disgust.
Thankfully Anusha found Japheth's weight bearable, if she maintained concentration. She pulled him up and across her armored shoulders. They moved down the corridor, and Anusha tried not to drop the lolling Japheth on his head. Yeva hurried in the lead, saying she would make sure the way was clear.
The Lord of Bats did not notice the furtive figures moving away down the slimy tunnel. He concluded his victory scream with a hearty laugh, simultaneously sinister and booming. Anusha supposed he reveled in the return of his autonomy.
With any luck, Neifion would draw local attention. Maybe a clutch of aboleths would descend upon the Lord of Bats, catching him before he readjusted to the return of his power, and that would be that.
Anusha reached the tunnel fork where Yeva waited.
Yeva eyed Japheth, then glanced back along the way they'd just come.
"Is he following us?" Anusha asked.
"I don't see a Lord of Bats or anything else. The tunnel's clear as far as I can see."