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.She seemed to find nothing amusing about the apparent dissension in the ranks; if anything, the display made her nervous."Nothing to worry about," Kelemvor said to the girl."Trust me."Caitlan nodded slowly, unable to shift her gaze away from the dark-haired magic-user and the cleric."Ah, with a fiery temper, matching her flaming heart!" Adon said."Portions of your anatomy will be flaming if you do not cease this instant!" Midnight cried.And so it went, until the air grew thin, and storm clouds gathered overhead.Suddenly, the sky split with a mighty roar, and a summer shower poured warm rain upon the heroes.Adon continued to drone on, occasionally pausing to spit out rain water, but the sounds of the storm served to muffle his voice until his words were nothing but a dull hum buried beneath the patter of the rain.Midnight threw back her head.The gentle caress of the rain served to relax the magic-user's nerves, and as the storm grew worse, Midnight closed her eyes and gave herself over to the soothing sensations caused by the steady rainfall.She smiled, imagining strong, firm hands massaging her temples, neck, and shoulders.She pictured Kelemvor's arms; they seemed strong enough to wrestle a tree from its roots, and yet they were furnished with hands gentle enough to wipe away the tears of a child.Midnight's mount reared up and the magic-user shook herself from her daydream."I sent Adon back to convert Cyric to the ways of Sune," Kelemvor said with a grin, despite his notable annoyance at the constant flow of the rain.His long black hair was matted to his skull, and the gray streaks made him look as if he wore the fur of a skunk who had died of fright.Midnight felt it her duty to tell him so, and he hung his head, muttering some private oath, attempting to ignore the rain as he continued to speak."We have not discussed." He paused and spat out a mouthful of water."Division of duties."Midnight nodded."You, being the woman, will be in charge of preparing the food and all other domestic chores."Midnight's mount shuddered as his mistress ground her powerful legs against his flanks and dug her hands firmly into his neck."Being the woman?" Midnight said, biting back the spell she had studied that morning that would turn the pompous ass beside her into a species more suitable for his attitudes.Then she remembered the last time she had prepared a meal for an entire party.The lone cleric who had not partaken had to use all his healing spells on her unintentional victims."Caitlan can help you.We will divide the man's work amongst ourselves."Midnight flinched, trained her eyes forward, and spat out a simple, "Aye.""Well met!" Kelemvor said, and slapped Midnight's horse.The mount turned his head slightly, and ignored the blow that was supposed to cause him to go galloping off at a mad pace.Midnight's grip on the animal loosened and became a pleasant caress.Kelemvor turned back to speak with the others, and Midnight strained hard to remember exactly why it had been so important to her to ride with these men.Unconsciously, her fingers had found the surface of her pendant, and she was still stroking the blue-white star when she noticed the effects the rain were having on the flatlands surrounding them.Patches of ground grew damp, while others hardened as if to solid rock.Elsewhere, small fissures opened in the surface of the earth.In other places, whole areas of green grass rose up at an incredible pace, nurtured by the strange rain.Suddenly, the soaked earth became black and charred, and trees long dead began to sprout and grow, their blackened limbs reaching out to the sky as if imploring the maker of this madness to stop at once.Small armies of worms hung from the quivering branches, growing to obscenely bloated sizes before exploding and turning into blood-red apples.Small black bugs crawled about the fruit, then revealed themselves to be tiny black eyes, which blinked wildly at the falling rain.Beautiful saplings sprouted and grew upside-down out of the earth, their most fragile upper branches impossibly assuming the weight of the main trunk as it grew straight up.The trees were filled with gorgeous green leaves and transparent pink and golden fruit.At their crowns, the trees began to sprout a network of amber roots that reached high into the air and intertwined with the new roots/branches from its nearest neighbor.Finally, even the branches of the decaying trees reached up into the air and joined the network, their ebony strands mixing with the amber roots.Where only moments ago there had been nothing but barren earth now stood a lush forest filled with miracles and mysteries.Above the road, the network of roots had formed a canopy of crisscrossed roots and charred tree limbs that grew tighter and more complex until the sky, which was now red, was visible only in patches and rain fell only lightly on the heroes.Travel through the new forest, even on the road, was slow going.And soon the road itself became blocked by trees, and the heroes had to follow it on foot as best they could through the tangle of tree limbs on the ground."I get the feeling we're completely lost," Cyric mumbled as he pushed through a tangle of vines into a clearing."Impossible," Kelemvor said gruffly."There is but one road, and it leads only to Castle Kilgrave and what lays beyond.""But we may have gone off the road some time ago, Kel.Who can tell?" Midnight said, stopping to help her horse over a branch and lead it into the open area."We may have been traveling in circles for hours," Adon whined
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