Resurrection

Yor'thae, Lolth's rebirth will be stillborn.

As the weight of that statement settled on Halisstra's shoulders, Eilistraee continued, The demon carries Quenthel Baenre to the Pass of the Soulreaver beneath of the Mountains of Eyes.

My mother waits on the other side.

An image of high peaks formed in Halisstra's mind, dark spires that rose until they reached the roof of the sky. She had seen the mountains in the distance when first she had materialized on the

Demonweb Pits. At the mountains' base stood a dark opening, the sole means of passing through the range-the Pass of the Soulreaver. The name of the pass triggered some old memory in her, as though she had once read of it during her studies in House Melarn, but the particulars escaped her.

How long before she reaches the pass, Lady? asked Halisstra.

A pause, then, She will reach them before the tired sun of my mother rises anew.

The connection grew tenuous. The spell was soon to expire. Halisstra felt her goddess moving away from her. She tried to grab on, but Eilistraee slipped through her fingers.

Before the spell dissipated entirely, she mentally blurted, Does Danifae Yauntyrr still accompany Quenthel Baenre?

She sensed a hesitation and instantly regretted asking such a selfish question. Still, Eilistraee offered an answer, as though from far away, and the words gave Halisstra hope.

Yes. A pause, then, Doubt is her weapon, daughter.

The connection went quiet. Halisstra opened her eyes, found herself again clad in her cumbersome flesh, sitting across from Feliane. The elf's eyes too were rimed with tears.

"The Lady favored us," Feliane whispered.

"She did," Halisstra answered. "She did, indeed. If Lolth has no Chosen. ."

"Then she will die," Feliane finished.

Halisstra could only nod.

Spontaneously and at the same moment, the two sisters in faith stretched out their arms and embraced, lit with the afterglow of contact with the divine.

"We will succeed," Feliane said, and to Halisstra it sounded more question than statement.

"We will," Halisstra affirmed, though Eilistraee's last words troubled her. For whom was doubt a weapon? Whose doubt? She had no answers.

In short order, Uluyara emerged from her trance, and Halisstra and Feliane related the substance of their communion.

Uluyara took it in with a nod, then said, "The Baenre is three leagues from here. Her route follows the souls. We'll track her, find her, and kill her."

"Her route leads to the mountains," Feliane said. "To the Pass of the Soulreaver."

"Then that is where we are going too," said Halisstra. "We must reach it before the sun rises."

They would once more ride the foul wind of the Demonweb Pits. Halisstra knew they would catch Quenthel and Danifae before they reached the Pass.

"We should assume that Baenre is accompanied by more than the nalfeshnee and Danifae,"

Uluyara said. "The wizard, the draegloth, and the mercenary you told us about may yet travel with her."

"Agreed," Halisstra said.

As they prepared to set off, Halisstra thought of Danifae, hesitated, then said to Uluyara,

"Danifae Yauntyrr said to me once that she had been called by Eilistraee. I would. ." She trailed off. "She saved me once, from the draegloth. I would like to give her another chance to answer the Lady."

Uluyara's face showed incredulity. "Is not accompanying Quenthel Baenre answer enough?"

she asked. Her face softened at Halisstra's frown, and she reached out a hand as though to touch

Halisstra, though she did not. "Halisstra Melarn, your guilt over your life before Eilistraee is affecting your judgment. I know the feeling well. But no one called by the Lady would travel with a priestess of Lolth. If Danifae is with the Baenre, then she is with the Baenre."

Halisstra heard sense in Uluyara's words, but she did not want to throw Danifae away so quickly.

"You may be mistaken," Halisstra said. "Let us see what events bring. If she is to be a servant of the Lady, she will show it when she sees me."

Feliane's gaze shifted anxiously between them.

Uluyara's brow furrowed. She started to speak, stopped, and finally said, "Let us not argue about this, not now. As you say, we will see what we will see. I will be pleased to be wrong."

Halisstra stared at the high priestess a moment longer and decided to let the matter rest.

"Gather near me," Halisstra said.

She sang the prayer that would again change them all to mist and let them ride the wind.

When she finished the spell, their bodies metamorphosed into vapor. As it had before, Halisstra's field of vision swelled and contracted in a way that made judging distances difficult. Still, she felt in control of her body. They rose from the spire, heading skyward toward the souls high above.

As they ascended into the cloud-roofed sky, Halisstra spared a glance back at the temple, on the tor they had claimed in Eilistraee's name. She knew she would never see it again.