One Touch
The sounds of explosions were fading. Their captor had long since left the room, and nobody had attempted to enter the dank, murky chamber for quite a while.
It was time to act.
Moving slowly, he surveyed the scene before him.
Minsc, in a cage that had been welded shut. Stripped of his armor and sitting on the floor, alternating between sobbing and muttering to his hamster, he resembled nothing as much as a lost and confused child.
Alaeth, unconscious on the floor of one of the suspended cages, blood and fluid still seeping from her latest wounds, her clothing reduced to rags after numerous hurts, spells, and weapons had been inflicted upon her. The girl had resisted for the first few days - weeks? - but lately she had seemed to be resigned to her fate. That, or she had forgotten what it was like to not endure excruciating pain in almost every waking moment.
The earthly remains of what was once their friend Dynaheir, sprawled all over the bottom of one of the other suspended cages.
The third suspended cage was empty.
The fourth was not.
Don't look, he told himself. It'll only make it worse.
He looked, of course.
Jaheira was awake and alert, pacing back and forth in the cage next to Minsc's. Every now and then she glanced in the direction of Alaeth's cage; sometimes, she looked towards the empty cage instead. Her facial expression was calm and controlled, but the fear underneath it was still clearly visible to anyone who knew her well enough. It was there in the darkness of her hazel eyes, in the small furrows on her otherwise smooth forehead, in the turn of the corners of her mouth, in the very way she paced her cage.
More than anything, he wanted to take the fear from her, to tell her it'd be all right and that everything would be fine. He wanted to hold her in his arms, to break her out of her cage, to walk out of this dungeon with her and face the warm sunlight again. He wanted to touch her again, just once.
The temptation was almost overwhelming. He could not have the other things, but he could have a single touch. Who would blame him, considering the circumstances?
I would. And so would she.
He allowed himself one more moment to look at her before turning towards the fourth suspended cage, where Imoen was kneeling on the floor and talking nervously with herself. The locks on the suspended cages had simple mechanisms; mounted out of reach from the inside, they could be opened by dislodging a single pin. Using every scrap of the force that had been granted him, he touched the lock on Imoen's cage, nudging the pin.
-.-.-
Imoen heard a slight clattering beside her. Turning around, she saw the pin that held the cage's lock together fall out, landing in the murky fluid under her with a soft plop. Did the explosions damage it? She pushed the door tentatively. It budged. She pushed harder. The door flew open. Her blood rushing with excitement, Imoen jumped out of the cage and onto the solid floor and ran towards Alaeth's cage, fumbling with the lock as she shouted Alaeth's name in an attempt to wake her.
-.-.-
He watched as the two girls freed Jaheira and Minsc and fled the room with them. Jaheira's face still held an echo of fear, but it had also begun to show her old familiar determination. If anyone could get the children out of this hellhole, it would be her.
Take good care of them, my love. Don't despair, and don't be afraid. You are my strong, beautiful lioness; you can conquer anything. Be strong for them... for me. I... I will wait for you.
His grip was fading. Letting go at last, Khalid's spirit began his long, lonely journey to the fugue plane.
