The sun was already high in the sky when Jagen awoke, roused by the strange sounds around him; the birds singing,the squirrels chirping,the wind blowing through the foliage. He felt cold, cold and wet. Why was he so cold? Looking at his surroundings, he started in surprise.
He wasn't in his room. Dammit, he wasn't even in Candelkeep! So where was he and how did he end there? As he stood up to get a better look at his environment, he winced in pain. His arms and his face were scratched and his left shoulder hurt like hell.
Looking at himself, he realized he was covered in mud, twigs and leaves entwined in his long dirty hair.
" What does all of this mean? " he wondered aloud.
He could feel his gut clenching with fear. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
The worst part, was that he was sure that somehow, he already knew what, but couldn't remember...
" Gorion? " he called.
Surely, his stepfather couldn't be very far. He never was.
" Gorion? Father? " he repeated, his voice pleading.
An irrational panic rose in his heart as a dark feeling crept in his mind.
He had often wished that he could be truly alone sometime, without a monk or another watching him or even the benevolent if constant care of Gorion. It wasn't too much to ask for some privacy from time to time, right?
Now, however, in this unknown, cold place, he would give everything for even the disapproving stare of the stern Ulraunt.
" Father? "
It was almost a whimper, now.
Why did his shoulder hurt so much? Looking at it, he noticed the wound. It wasn't a pretty sight. It was a burned hole in his flesh, so deep, it must have reached the bone. Suddenly, he remembered the fiery projectile searing through the night and his shoulder, shortly before the woman who cast the spell was in turn hit by Gorion's magic.
The old man had unleashed a veritable storm of magic, attacking their four assailants with an impressing array of spells. Jagen could remember frequently looking back as he was running away, he remembered the ogres falling to the power of his stepfather. But the armored man completely ignored the old man's magic. He just drew his enormous sword while Gorion, realizing the futility of his casting did the same with his dagger. It hadn't even be a fight.
A single blow, and the old man was impaled by the cruel sword of his enemy. A single blow, and his father was... dead.
" GORION! " screamed Jagen, as the memories flooded his mind and tore at his heart.
Sobbing, he fell to his knees. He had hoped so hard that it would just have been a bad dream. So hard.
He stayed there, sobbing and kneeling in the dirt for what seemed an eternity,paralyzed by grief. However he didn't cry. He couldn't. He felt so cold, so cold inside. Maybe the tears as frozen as he felt his heart was.
It would have been much of an understatement to say that Imoen was worried. She's been searching for Jagen for hours, now,since she had been sure that the big armored man and his flunky were really gone. She watched last night, hidden in a bush, when Gorion and his half-elven ward had been ambushed by the armored fiend and his group. The pink haired aasimar had never been so afraid in her life, not even the time she snuck in old Ulraunt's room and stole his purse of spell components. She saw everything; Gorion's death, Jagen's flight. She had waited, crying, until the couple left, and at least one hour afterwards to be sure they weren't coming back. Then, she tried to follow Jagen's tracks, hoping to catch up with him before something nasty did.
However, she was no ranger, and she quickly lost his trail.
Now, she just tried to guess where she would have gone if she had been in his place. She doubted that he had tried to outsmart eventual pursuers in the state he should have been, so the more likely option was that he just ran forward, trying to get away from the murderers as quickly as possible.
A brief cry of pain, suddenly broke her thoughts. It was Jagen's voice! Quickly, she drew her short bow, notched an arrow, and ran in the direction she thought the scream came from.
She quickly found herself exiting the woods and back to the road, and quickly spotted Jagen running from a couple of angry-looking gibberlings. Without thinking, the young rogue shot the monster who seemed the closer to catch his prey. The gibberling dropped dead, an arrow sticking out of his neck. The second monster and Jagen noticed her at the same moment.
" Imoen? " asked the half-elf, disbelief and wonder written all over his face.
If the remaining gibberling hadn't been charging her, now, she would have exploded with laughter, so funny was his expression.
Well she could always make fun of him later, she thought.
And at this moment she realized that she wouldn't have the time to draw another arrow before the little monster reach her.
" Oh, crap! "
She dropped the bow and unsheathed her dagger, with shaking hands; the gibberling leapt at her.
And was intercepted in mid air by a lethal beam of magical energy. What touched the ground at the end of the leap was a corpse.
Imoen picked up her bow and grinned weakly at Jagen, still shaking from the fear and excitation of the battle. It was the first time she had killed anything, except perhaps the occasional insect. She didn't have a choice. They were going to hurt Jagen. She couldn't let them. In the stories, heroes kill monsters all the time, so, it wasn't a bad thing, was it? But if it wasn't a bad thing, why did she feel so bad about it?
" Imoen? Are you okay? Did it hurt you? " asked the half-elf worriedly.
The aasimar had a little hysterical giggle. He asked her if she was alright? Her? It was just plain hilarious. She wasn't the one bleeding after all.
" It's me who should worry about ya, Jay. I...I saw what happened to mister G yesterday. I'm so sorry... "
Instantly, the worried look on Jagen's face changed into a cold, emotionless mask.
" I'm okay, Im. I'm fine, really. After all, I'm alive. " he said bitterly.
Imoen didn't answer to the obvious lie, instead, she just hugged her friend. Jagen didn't move at first, then slowly, almost shyly at first then more and more tightly, he hugged her back.
" Imoen... You have to go back to Candelkeep. This man... He was after me. He will come back for me, or send people to kill me. I... don't want you to get hurt because of me. You're all I've left now. "
" I'm not going anywhere without ya! How are ya s'posed to survive if I'm not here to look out for ya? We've only been apart for a few hours, and look what state you're in already! Besides, I can't get back in the keep without a rare book or a lotsa money. Ya know that. "
" Yeah, I suppose you're right. Without you those things probably would have gotten me. " reluctantly agreed Jagen.
Then, he looked suspiciously at her.
" What are you doing here, anyway? Gorion didn't tell anyone about our departure. He didn't even tell me. How could you know? "
Imoen grinned sheepishly. She had hoped he wouldn't think about those kinda details...
" Well, I, err...read a letter Mister G let on his desk. I knew you would be leaving well before you did, and I decided I would follow you two. I'm never going anywhere! So, I figured that if I followed you without you noticing until we were far enough, Gorion wouldn't send me back. I think... perhaps, the letter is still on his body. Perhaps, we should...Y'know..."
" ...Return there and take the letter. I... suppose we should. I can't just let him like that on the road anyway. Let's go. "
Jagen gently disentangled himself from Imoen, and took her hand. Together, they went back to Gorion's body and found the letter Imoen had seen earlier. They couldn't dig a tomb for him, so instead they build a cairn a few yards from the spot where Gorion had been killed. Imoen also found some gold pieces on the ogres bodies.
" So, where are we going now, big bro? " asked Imoen, once they were done.
She was exhausted. She hadn't slept in a long time, and the sun has already well begun the second half of his daily trip.
She tried to put up a brave face, but she badly needed some rest, while Jagen's shoulder was in dire need of healing.
" Gorion...He said that if we should come to be separated, I should go to the Friendly Arm, to find two friends of him, Khalid and Jaheira. So, I suppose it will be our next destination. " declared the half-elf, gazing sadly at his stepfather cairn.
There was so much he would have wanted to say...
Imoen grinned at him, trying to cheer him up. Taking what she figured to be a heroic pose, she pointed to the east.
"C'mon, Jay! To the Friendly Arm, ho! "