Free The Paladins by James M. Ward, David Wise Page A

nauseating jumble in his mind, it occurred to him that he should cooperate with the fiends and tell them what they wanted to know.
    “Bid the gate to open in the name of the past and present Lords of Waterdeep,” he told them. “That will activate it.”
    “Well done, slave,” thought Shaakat to the magically charmed prisoner. “Now tell us, what manner of creatures are your friends in shining armor who vexed us?”
    “Paladins of Tyr.”
    “Tyr!” shrieked both fiends as though they’d been slapped.
    “A greater power of Mount Celestial” squealed Rejik.
    “They seek this gate as well,” offered Noph. “They’ll be here soon, too. Perhaps we can all work together.”
    The vrocks looked down at Noph, then up at each other, and burst into fits of laughter. Around them, the manes chittered and slapped at each other playfully, and the barlgura shifted to the walls of the chamber. Using their chameleonlike ability, they blended with their surroundings.
    “Here’s the plan,” thought Shaakat to Rejik. “We’ll lay down a warding circle against creatures of law and goodness. You maintain it while the troops attack and I cast deadly magic until they’re all dead!”
    “Agreed, agreed! They can’t survive that!”
    In hedonistic anticipation of slaughter, they bent their wills upon the lesser tanar’ri once more and began to organize them for the ambush.

Chapter 6
    Even if you want the job done right, have someone else do it. That way, you’ll never get the blame.
    “Khelben was right when he said there was a great force of evil at work here,” whispered Miltiades.
    The group lurked down the hall from the gate chamber, listening to the riot of fiends within. Miltiades handed Khelben’s map to Aleena, who tucked it into a pocket. “The gate to the Utter East is just ahead, and it sounds as if the fiends are massing there. They must be involved in the kidnapping plot. They’ve probably been stationed there to intercept us!”
    “So much the better,” hissed Kern, hefting his hammer and gazing toward the noise with a glint in his eye. “Save a princess and destroy fiends! Tyr blesses us this day!”
    “For the last time, she’s not a princess!” moaned Aleena, rolling her eyes and shaking her head in exasperation.
    “Whatever.”
    “We can’t simply rush in there and start swinging,” protested Trandon. “We have no idea of how many fiends we’re up against.”
    Kern frowned at the warrior. “We know they stand between us and our quest, and we know the longer we wait, the more of them there will be to destroy. What more does a champion of Tyr need to know?”
    “Nothing,” agreed Jacob.
    “All right,” said Miltiades, ending the discussion with the tone of his voice. “The enemy is before us and our course is clear. Prepare for battle.”
    “Wait!” Aleena cried in a hushed voice. “Trandon’s got a point. That sounds like an army of fiends in there.”
    Kern and Jacob groaned impatiently. Miltiades looked at her with an expression that reminded her that he used to be undead.
    “Stop!” she hissed. “Look here. I’ve got a spell that’ll let me look in that room and see what we’re up against.”
    “I don’t want to know the odds,” whispered Kern.
    “But intelligence can help us win the battle, or at least win it more quickly, with less casualties! That helps secure our mission. Remember? To save the princess?” She spat the last word with scorn.
    “Shh!” cautioned Miltiades. “We waste time. Aleena cast your spell quickly and conduct your espionage. The rest of you prepare for the charge.”
    “And,” added Kern, “she’s not a princess.”
    Aleena took a deep breath to quell her rising irritation. As she released the air from her lungs, she reached into a narrow pocket at her hip and withdrew a bit of bat fur, which she ripped in half and placed into each palm. She rolled back her eyes and shut them, clenched her fists and touched the knuckles of her thumbs