The Adversary

447 Pages·2013·1.88 MB·English

by  Evans Erin M

When the trials begin,
in soul-torn solitude despairing, the hunter waits alone.
The companions emerge
from fast-bound ties of fate uniting against a common foe.
When the shadows descend,
in Hell-sworn covenant unswerving the blighted brothers hunt, and the
godborn appears, in rose-blessed abbey reared, arising to loose the godly spark.
When the harvest time comes, in hate-fueled mission grim unbending, the
shadowed reapers search.
The adversary vies
with fiend-wrought enemies, opposing the twisting schemes of Hell.
When the tempest is born,
as storm-tossed waters rise uncaring, the promised hope still shines.
And the reaver beholds
the dawn-born chosen’s gaze, transforming the darkness into light.
When the battle is lost,
through quake-tossed battlefields unwitting the seasoned legions march, but
the sentinel flees
with once-proud royalty, protecting devotion’s fragile heart.
When the ending draws near, with ice-locked stars unmoving, the threefold
threats await, and the herald proclaims, in war-wrecked misery,
announcing the dying of an age.
—As written by Elliandreth of Orishaar, c. –17,600 DR
FORGOTTEN REALMS®
THE COMPANIONS
R.A. Salvatore
THE GODBORN
Paul S. Kemp
THE ADVERSARY
Erin M. Evans
THE REAVER
Richard Lee Byers
February 2014
THE SENTINEL
Troy Denning
April 2014
THE HERALD
Ed Greenwood
June 2014

This book is dedicated to the memory of Benjamin G. Goodier, who came of age in the Santo Tomas
Internment Camp and survived to continue a whole chain of Benjamins, including my favorites—
Benjamin K. and Benjamin I. His stories sparked the idea for this book.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
PROLOGUE
F F ’ . B it shouldn’t have.
ROST CRUSTED THE LEAF CURLED A HANDSPAN FROM ARIDEH S FACE UT
She shut her eyes, a thousand half-formed thoughts buzzing in her
skull. But only one took hold: it had been hot enough the day before that
there was no way frost—
The hyah, hyah, hyah of a crow scattered her thoughts. She winced and
turned her face to the ground. Hot the day before … or maybe it was the
same day, or maybe it was a lifetime ago. She couldn’t be sure of
anything but the cold air, the hard ground, and the bare forest around
her, vanishing into thick patches of fog.
Farideh pushed herself up. She brushed away bits of leaf and dirt, and
hissed as the motion sent a tremor through her arm. Every muscle felt
stiff and overdrawn. And her head—the tiefling blinked heavily as the
throb behind her eyes surged to a state that couldn’t be ignored. She
pressed one hand to her eye, cupping the curve of her horn ridge as she
did, trying to remember what had happened. Maybe she’d fallen ill.
Maybe she’d drunk too much whiskey. Maybe Havilar …
Farideh looked around the clearing for her twin. The light through the
tree branches was bleached as white as old bone and just as lifeless. She
eyed the ragged edge of fog creeping over the clearing, a season’s worth
of dead leaves, the bare sentinels of trees staring down at her. Their low
creak of protest broke the silence as a sagging earthmote settled into the
trees to her left.
Farideh jumped to her feet and scuttled back, away from the leaning
trees. The floating island of earth was caught by the trunks like a rock
clutched in a giant hand. It hung so low that she could make out the
strange blue flowers flocking the meadows beneath its rocky spires. And
it was slowly sinking lower.