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."Abdel was momentarily caught off guard by the answer.The rushed qualification seemed vitally important, yet at the same time the being seemed almost ashamed, as if it had violated some extra-planar law or an obscure immortal code of honor by sharing too much."You aren't in charge here, are you?" Abdel asked, slowly beginning to understand.The being shook its head slowly."I am but a servant of divine will, Abdel.I cannot take an active part in your destiny.Events must unfold as they will.""And I suppose you won't tell me my destiny," Abdel said wearily."Even the powers I serve cannot say."Abdel spat in disgust.The parched ground devoured the moisture."You are of no more help to me than my mortal advisors," he sneered.He turned toward the doors and marched through the nearest one without looking back.Chapter ElevenThe vast expanse of the lifeless Abyss vanished, replaced by the unmistakable sights and sounds of battle.Armored men hacked and chopped at each other.Arrows and sling stones flew through the air indiscriminately striking their targets.Foot soldiers used pikes and pole-arms to unseat their mounted rivals or were trampled beneath the churning hooves of enemy steeds.The horses reared and neighed, froth spraying from their snapping teeth, their flanks covered in sweat and blood.The dead and dying lay underfoot, crushed, cut, stabbed, and gored.The clash of steel on steel, the panicked screams of horses and men, and the groans of the mangled, mutilated soldiers writhing on the turf mingled in a single dull roar—the song of battle.Abdel was surrounded by the carnage on all sides.He had materialized in the exact spot he had stood when Yaga Shura had breathed his last.The giant's corpse lay only a few feet away, now pounded into a barely recognizable pulpy mountain of flesh by the boots and hooves of the battling armies.The big sellsword had no idea how long he had been gone, but from the condition of Yaga Shura's corpse he knew it was long enough for the tide of battle to have swept over this one spot several times.From his vantage point amidst the chaos Abdel couldn't gauge the ebb and flow of war.He had no idea which side was winning, and he didn't care.It was all moot anyway.The dragon that he had glimpsed before being snatched away into the Abyss would destroy Saradush—it would destroy both armies, and it would destroy Jaheira and Imoen if Abdel couldn't save them.First he had to find them.He glanced down at what remained of Yaga Shura's axe, then turned his attention elsewhere.He had no need of the enchanted weapon to hack his way through the wall of mortal soldiers between him and the women he loved, and Abdel was a swordsman, not a woodcutter.Fortunately, swords were in great supply at this point in the battle.He snatched a heavy, broad blade from the hand of one of the fallen, ignoring the feeble protests from the clutching corpse too stupid to know it was already dead.Abdel struck without thought, savagely hacking down anyone in range in his mad attempt to simply thin the throng surrounding him.He ignored the counterattacks directed at his own unarmored body.His mind blocked out the pain, and his immortal spirit absorbed the countless blows and healed his wounds.The small corner of Abdel's mind not obsessed with mowing down the hapless men between himself and his missing companions noted that his healing powers were stronger than ever— many of the wounds closed so fast Abdel didn't even to start to bleed.\Nevertheless, he was soon covered in sticky crimson fluid and warm gore from head to toe.The blood of his opponents matted his hair and soaked into his clothes.The cloying scent clung to his nostrils, and he could taste the coppery tang on his tongue.Rubbing the back of his blood-soaked hand across his eyes couldn't clear the crimson veil from his vision.And through it all, the essence of Bhaal within Abdel stayed calm.He did not revel in the massacre of friend and foe alike, this was not death to be savored.This was slaughter with a single cold purpose: Find Jaheira and Imoen before the dragon turned its attention to the battlefield.The impossibility of Abdel's task never entered his mind.He ignored the facts—thousands of combatants milling about over an area expansive in size—and allowed himself to believe he would somehow stumble across his lover and his sister.Through the confusion of bodies Abdel occasionally saw distant visions of death and destruction raining down on the city of Saradush.A single flick of a great scaled tail toppled the spires of a noble's mansion.A blast of deadly fire from the sky incinerated entire city blocks.A gigantic reptilian beast descended on leatherlike wings to rend and devour a dozen unfortunate victims fleeing through the streets.The glimpses of the great wyrm ravaging Saradush merely spurred Abdel ever onward in his hopeless search.Then he heard his name, screamed with primal, animal rage over the cacophony of the conflict
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