Free The Floodgate by Elaine Cunningham

priest shifted. “I could fashion an explanation, but why waste breath on something that will not change the situation?”
    Matteo silently accessed “the situation.” Kiva was gone, and with her the secret of the gate to the Plane of Water. A smaller concern, but no less urgent to Matteo, was what part Andris might have played in this. Andris believed his destiny was bound to the elven people, and Kiva was the only elf he knew. It seemed incredible that Andris would have anything more to do with the treacherous elf woman, but Matteo could not be certain.
    After a long moment, he put words to his fears. “Do you suspect that Andris might have aided Kiva’s escape?”
    The priest shook his head. “Kiva was long gone before the jordain came. After she regained her senses, she was examined immediately, if briefly, by one of our inquisitors. She named an accomplice, who was duly executed.”
    “Zephyr,” Matteo murmured, bringing to mind the kind, worn face of the elderly elf-the only jordain who had made him welcome during his service to Procopio Septus. “What evidence was brought against him?”
    “The sentence was just,” the priest assured him. “Kiva told the truth about him, if little else. The inquisitor deemed her too weak to continue, yet she fled within the hour. I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but there you have it”
    This pronouncement mingled good news and bad. Andris was not culpable, but on the other hand, Kiva had been running free for quite some time. Zephyr had been executed by the light of a gibbous moon, as was Halruaan custom. Since then moondark had come and gone, and a plump crescent overlooked the temple like a lazy, heavy-lidded eye.
    Matteo swallowed his frustration. “What efforts have been made to recover her?”
    “Officially, none,” the priest told him. “You see, Kiva has disappeared into the forested pass that leads through the mountains into the Mhair Jungle. By treaty with the Mhair elves, Azuth’s priests cannot enter that pass. Wizards, swordsmen and commoners among Azuth’s followers are not bound by this prohibition, but none have found the elf’s trail.”
    “Nor will they. Following an elf in a forest is like tracking a falcon’s flight in a cloudy sky.”
    “Just so. You understand why we were hesitant to ask for assistance elsewhere.”
    Matteo understood perfectly. As long as Kiva’s disappearance brought no additional harm to Halruaa, the Azuthans would seek her quietly, hoping to retrieve her before her escape became general knowledge.
    He studied the priest “You wouldn’t have told me any of this without good reason.”
    The priest raised his eyebrows at this blunt speech, but he did not offer a disclaimer. “Do you know this Andris well?”
    Matteo repeated words he had spoken many times before. “As well as one man can know another.”
    His host smiled thinly. “Is that an expression of brotherhood or cynicism?”
    “Both, I suppose.”
    “A wise balance. Tell me: in your opinion, did Andris go after Kiva? For vengeance, perhaps?”
    “Were he so inclined, he would have ample reason.”
    “Interesting,” the priest murmured. He looked keenly at Matteo. “You tracked this jordain to the temple. Could you follow him into the forest?”
    “I would fare better with some assistance. There are two men at the Jordaini College who are excellent trackers, and good fighters. Will you send for them?”
    The priest nodded. “If you think their expertise will balance the additional delay, yes. You trust these men?”
    Matteo’s answering smile was both sharp and sad. “As much as I trust anyone.”
    Three days passed as Matteo awaited the arrival of his jordaini brothers. He spent much of the time in the temple’s library, studying maps and lore of the Mhair Jungle. The rest he devoted to learning to ride the huge, tame lizards the priests kept in their stables-just as a precaution, or so the stable hands assured him at every opportunity. These