Sacrifice of the Widow: The Lady Penitent, Book I Read Online Free PDF Page B

been put in place with sprinkles of holy water and wafts of incense, invisible to any who did not have the magic to detect them. They were a potent barrier, one that prevented enemies from teleporting or shifting there—even in astral or ethereal form. The forbiddance spells were permanent, and only the most powerful of spellcasters could remove them. The only way to bypassthem was with one of Eilistraee’s holy songs, and even that held no guarantee of safety. Those who used the song to slip past the magical barrier would, if of evil intent, arrive with grievous wounds—possibly even fatal ones.
    The cavern narrowed, and the floor rose and fell. The priestesses clambered over half-formed stalagmites that looked like sagging lumps of dough. Several times, Thaleste’s scabbard scraped against the soft limestone, tracing a faint line. The novice had a lot to learn about moving silently.
    “The cloakers are going to have ample time to spring an ambush, with all that noise you’re making,” Cavatina warned her.
    Thaleste was breathing hard from her exertions. Her face darkened in a blush. “My apologies, Mistress.”
    “Dark Lady,” Cavatina corrected. “There are no matron mothers here.”
    “Dark Lady. My apologies.”
    Cavatina accepted the apology with a nod.
    Eventually, they reached the spot where the cavern ended. The ceiling was low enough that Cavatina could have touched it. A faint breeze issued from a crack above her head. A narrow chimney, barely as wide as her shoulders, twisted up to the surface. She watched as Thaleste peered up into the opening.
    There was movement inside the chimney—a flutter of wings. Thaleste shrieked as something small and black burst out of it. Cavatina, who had started to draw her sword even as Thaleste flinched, slid it back into its sheath. She stared at the creature as it flew away, squeaking.
    “A bat.” She sighed. “The next time something comes hurtling at you, Thaleste, try drawing your sword or casting a spell.” She nodded at the chimney. “Now check the glyph.”
    Thaleste, blushing, murmured a prayer, casting a detection spell. Just inside the chimney, a glyph spranginto luminescence, sparkling like the light scattered by a diamond. Frowning in concentration, Thaleste studied its outlines, her finger tracing through the air in front of it.
    “A songblast glyph,” she announced at last, letting the glow fade. “Untriggered. Nothing evil has passed this way.” Her shoulders relaxed a little as she said this.
    “Unless it was ethereal,” Cavatina reminded her.
    The shoulders tensed again.
    “Fortunately, the ability to assume ethereal form is something that few creatures—and only the most powerful spellcasters—are capable of,” Cavatina continued. “And those that are capable of ethereal travel have no need for entrances like this one. They can pass through solid stone.”
    Thaleste swallowed nervously and glanced at the wall next to her out of the corner of her eye.
    “The walls here are thick,” Cavatina assured her. “Any spellcaster out on an ethereal jaunt would materialize inside solid stone long before reaching this spot.”
    Thaleste nodded.
    “We’re done here,” Cavatina said. “Let’s go back.”
    As they made their way back along the winding corridor they’d just traveled, Cavatina once again saw Thaleste startle. “Have you spotted something, Novice?”
    Thaleste pointed at the ceiling. “A movement. Behind that broken window.” She gave her mentor an apologetic smile. “Probably just another bat.”
    Cavatina chastised herself for having missed whatever Thaleste had just spotted. She should have been paying more attention. Then again, Thaleste was a nervous one. She’d only occasionally ventured outside the walls of her residence in Menzoberranzan. Her trip to Skullport had been an act of desperation. Eilistraee only knew how Thaleste had managed to survive as many decades as she had inside the City of Spiders. She was prone