"Well?" Kalandyn said, feeling like his brother was stalling after a few minutes of silence. "Get on with it!"
"Alright! Alright!" Killik said, "It all started five years ago in Baldur's Gate after I fell into the garden of my current employer and got bashed on the head by a stick his daughter was wielding…"
"… You were knocked out by a girl." Kalandyn then said flatly, "Why did I get the feeling there was going to be a girl ending up getting involved somehow?" The comment earned the blue skinned elf two things: a chuckle from Drizzt, and a dirty look from Killik.
"You want to hear the story or not?"
"Right. Sorry brother… please continue." Kalandyn said, before becoming quiet.
"Thank you." Killik said, "Now as I was saying…"
~O~O~O~O~O~
It started five years ago in Baldur's Gate, I had just barely escaped from some loyal members of a crooked guard's squad after swiping his private ledger containing some information about his handlings of some illegal acts like smuggling, slave trading, accepting bribes from pirates to look the other way, things like that. I was planning on dropping off this ledger with the higher ups of Baldur's Gate, when I slipped off of a wall I landed on during my flight and landed in the garden of Lord Armsworth, and passed out. When I came to sometime later, I found myself tied to a chair, my tail weighed down with a ball and chain, and looking at the lord himself and his daughter.
They were both redheaded humans with blue eyes, Lord Armsworth being your basic middle-aged human with some gray in his hair, while his daughter, she was about, hmm… sixteen then, short for a human at a couple of inches under five feet, looked like your normal nobleman's daughter wearing fine clothes, expensive jewelry, and was pretty average in terms of beauty and innocent looks. Of course, despite her looking innocent, that girl had a mean streak in her the size of a stag! Let me tell ya, Arietta Armsworth was like a little wasp in her attitude towards me at first, bashing my head in with a branch a few times, giving me dirty looks, and making several rude gestures towards me. Sure she's gotten a bit better now, but at least she—
~O~O~O~O~O~
"Killik. You're getting off track here." Kalandyn said, giving his brother a look, while Drizzt chuckled at Killik's description of this "Lord Amsworth's" daughter.
"Huh? Whoops, sorry Kal!" Killik said in response, "Anyway, after I explained to Lord Armsworth what I was doing in his garden…"
~O~O~O~O~O~
"I see," he said to me, "I never was too fond of captain of the guard, I will see to it that his superiors get this ledger, however I think I have something you can do for me."
"It's not something I'm going to want to block from my memory, is it?" I asked him, since he glanced at his daughter when he mentioned the job, and she was just staying quiet and glaring daggers at me.
"No! No, nothing like that, I simply require a rogue like you to help me with a problem concerning another noble I'm unfortunately involved with. His son is arranged to marry my daughter in five years, however, there is an unforeseen circumstance involving that."
"I'm going to guess that the son is an idiot, your daughter is in love with someone else, the other noble is a bunjiro- pardon my drow there my lord, it's a habit I picked up from my mother- and is planning to use your daughter for blackmail purposes, the son is planning on killing your daughter after the wedding, or is there something else I'm missing?" I then asked him, remembering the usual possibilities for wanting to get out of an arranged marriage. Of course, she didn't even make a sound as I listed things off, and commented on that as well. "She's not much of a talker, is she?"
"My Arrietta is mute. And unfortunately, the other noble is aware of this fact, and also happens to have a rather frightening tradition in his family that involves the bride must having the ability to speak, for if she does not, she must die as she is imperfect in his family's eyes, and with myself having no other heir, if my daughter dies then my estate will be in danger as soon as I die."
Now, at this point I figured out that Armsworth was thinking of doing to protect his daughter, and the main thing was trying to end the wedding. So, I decided to help him out.
"So, in order to protect your daughter and make sure she inherits your estate if you die, you need me to help rescue her, right? Are we talking a kidnapping to go into hiding, assassination of the other guy's son, or something else? If you need help, then you've found the right fey'ri for the job, Killik Rydrion, at your service my lord." I said to him, "But, I can't help you if I'm tied up like this, and I'd really like to be able to walk around and move while I think."
Once I was free, Lord Armsworth and I got to work planning things out, with Arietta making various gestures while trying to communicate… I got the hang of it eventually though.
Eventually we came up with this: The other noble, one Count Wraithbone, had an interest in collecting treasure, and willing to buy or trade for some very rare artifacts owned by other nobles with whatever he could. Favors, money, equipment, the rarer the artifact, the more desperate he became. While planning, I found this book full of cryptic poetry that was pretty old, which Armsworth said was just a worthless thing. Reading it while I thought about it, I noticed that the poem on the first page seemed to be referencing something I had actually been to before: a ruined castle in Riftwood, where my mother would take me, Kal, and our sister Emeraude out to relax and play when we were younger. Telling this to Armsworth, and after comparing some places described in the poems to other places in Faerun, we realized the book was able to lead to treasure, if one could decode the cryptics of course. After we discovered this plan, me, Lord Armsworth, and Arietta started coming up with a plan, disguising myself with the help of Khrima, a mask, and a nice looking outfit, Lord Armsworth would present me as the Blue Phoenix to the Count, along with a wager of my own devising: Using the book as a guide, The Count would select one poem from it and I would travel around, decode the cryptics, and bring back the treasures that were at the destination I picked out from the cryptics. If I could pull this off with just one poem as my guide within the next five years, Count Wraithbone would have to take the treasures instead of Armsworth's daughter. But if I could not, then the wedding would go as planned.
When the wager was proposed, the Count's love of artifact collecting won out against the marriage, and he accepted it, however, the poem he chose was the most challenging one for me to decode: The Six Ancient Heroes, which told about "the path of the unicorn" which was followed by six heroes in their quest to find and defeat a fiend, never specified if it was a demon or devil though. Anyway, the poem tells how the heroes sacrificed themselves, and where they were buried all over Faerun by an unknown being known only as "The Master of Dungeons."
The time limit started the moment the poem was selected and told to me, and between then and now? I've only found five out of the six artifacts and delivered them to Armsworth in Baldur's Gate already.
~O~O~O~O~O~
"Right now, there is only a little over a month before time runs out, and I was going to try and decode where the last treasure was in Baldur's gate when Kal contacted me and asked me to see him in Silverymoon. So, I took the book with me and my notes so I could try and puzzle it out on the road. Ironically, so far I've managed to narrow it down to this area of Faerun, but due to running into Drizzt, and getting sick…. Well, you can see where I'm going with this, don't you?" Killik said as he finished his tale.
However, Kalandyn and Drizzt looked at him in disbelief.
"Are you serious right now Killik?" Kalandyn said, crossing his arms and frowning at his older brother. "I mean, how can you even remember what Armsworth said back then? Five years is a bit of a long time for humans, but for us, it's like something that happens in a couple of minutes! Also, a mute girl being unable to speak at her wedding and then dying unless you collect artifacts while relying on a book of poems to find them and then give them over in a trade to the villain sounds pretty ridiculous, it just can't be true."
"Kalandyn does have a point." Drizzt said, "And what sort of name is Wraithbone? The story itself sounds unbelievable in all honesty, not to mention how it just so happens that you've managed to pinpoint the treasure to this region, but not an exact location."
"Okay, I'll admit that Khrima helped me out a bit by reminding me what they said," Killik replied, poking a bit at one of the purple spots on his body, "and that the whole situation is just contrived, but I swear its true! Kal, you got to believe me, this is what's been happening for the past five years!"
Drizzt looked at the brothers, Kalandyn having his arms crossed and looking at Killik sternly, as he seemed to think about what the older of the two had claimed happened. Killik on the other hand, was still covered in a few purple spots, and gave a pleading look to his brother, and the drow wondered if the blue skinned elf would support his older brother or not. Personally, the lavender eyed ranger thought the whole situation to be unbelievable and silly, and wasn't sure if Killik was actually telling the truth at this moment or not. The ranger could not think of a reason for why the fey'ri could try to manipulate them in his current state however, but something just didn't seem right about all of this.
"Alright, I believe you." Kalandyn then said, getting a surprised look from Drizzt while Killik gave a sigh of relief.
"Are you sure? How can you believe such a ridiculous tale?" the ranger then asked, only to get a laugh from the blue elf.
"Yes, I'm sure." Kalandyn told Drizzt. "As for how I can believe him, well, our grandfather also got himself into some rather unbelievable situations, as did our mother, and our great uncles. A saying that developed recently for House Rydrion is 'If a Rydrion's story sounds unbelievable or impossible, then it did in fact, happen as they told it.' Anyway Killik, I'll help you find this last treasure and see you deliver it to the help the girl. Besides, what sort of brother would I be if I didn't help my big brother try and rescue his crush from trouble!" That last tease from the blue elf caused Killik to send a glare before the fey'ri leaned back against the headboard of the bed.
"What about you Drizzt, are you going to help as well?" Killik then asked, before giving a small yawn.
"Yes, while I do not fully believe your tale, I will still assist you, if only to see if what you claim is true. We shall leave when you are recovered."
"Fair enough." Killik then yawned, and soon slipped back to sleep.
~O~O~O~
Along the docks of Calimport, Jarlaxle was thinking of getting on a ship in order to try and find his target somewhere else. Of course, as he was considering his next destination, he heard a sound that brought a slight smile to his lips, the voice of a woman.
"So, you're looking for the Blue Phoenix, are you?" he heard the voice say, and noticed that it came from above him. Looking down at his shadow and seeing that something with wings was overhead, he looked up and saw an avariel flapping her wings as she frowned and crossed her arms. The avariel, or winged elf, had tanned skin covered in tattoos, long black hair that was tied back into a high ponytail, and-as the dandy drow also noted very quickly- an outfit lined with the fur of what might have been a tiger that was incredibly skimpy as it consisted of a furlined armored breastplate, leather shoulderpads, bracers, a cloth tabard decorated with the image of a bird flying through the sky that was over wrapped around a pair of cloth shorts, a pair of leather boots that went up to her knees, and a chain wrapped around her left arm that ended with a weight on one end, and a blade that was safely hanging by her hip in a sheath at the other end. Another thing the drow noted was that the avariel's wings were more tropical than the brown, white, or speckled wings of avariel he had heard about, as this one had orange and bright green wings growing out of her back. The Dandy drow then realized that in his examination of the woman, he had yet to answer her question and quickly spoke up.
"Yes, and it is quite rude to eavesdrop my dear." He said, "Allow to me to introduce myself, I am Jarlaxle Baenre, and who, my lovely lady, would you be?" After giving his name, the drow then took off his hat and showed his bald head to the woman before giving her a dramatic bow. The woman however, seemed unamused by the flattery as she landed on the ground and spoke up.
"My name's Zanfalca Eaglewind, and I'm the one who is going to find the Blue Phoenix, and bring him in. I've been trailing him for four years now, and while he's left me hints as to where he headed next, this time the hint states that this may be the last chance I have. OnceI figure out the stupid riddle, I will beat him to his next location, and I will not let anyone get in my way of reclaiming that staff he stole from my tribe back in Chult." The woman said, giving the dandy drow a glare that would have made any other man back away quickly from fear.
"Oh?" Jarlaxle then asked, seemingly unphased by the look. "Perhaps you and I can make an arrangement. I help you with your little riddle, and we both travel together to where it leads. We can handle who gets to take him away later, but as we have the same goal, would it not be better to have an ally who can help you make the hunt go oh so much easier?"
The woman looked Jarlaxle dead in the eye as he switched the position of his eyepatch, as she thought about the offer. Figuring that there may be nothing better to do, she sighed and nodded. "Fine. But if you intend to take him, at least make sure he gives back that staff he stole to me so I can take it back to where it belongs."
"Very well." Jarlaxle said, placing an arm around Zanfalca's shoulders, "Now then, about that clue you were given?"
Zanfalca however, did not seem to like men touching her as she grabbed Jarlaxle's arm and managed to bend it behind his back. "First of all, do not touch me." She then said, "Second of all, the clue on that card he left behind on one of the islands in the Sea of Fallen Stars, I forget which one, was that ' The Blue Phoenix's final flight, if you make it, shall be at the Gate of a Hero.' I've yet to figure out, as decoding cryptic messages isn't my strongsuit, but I assume its probably going to be Baldur's Gate, since that is the only place I know of that even refers to it."
"My dear Zanfalca," Jarlaxle said, once his arm was released, "I believe you might just be correct, and that this may be an interesting partnership for us both."
"We will see." Zanfalca said, smirking a bit.
The two then headed further along the docks, in order to best find a ship that would take them directly to Baldur's Gate.
~O~O~O~
Wow! Hard to believe it's been a full year since I first started this fic… with only seven chapters published… Well, since I have started outlining the rest of this story hopefully things will move much more quickly in terms of how fast chapters will be published. Anyway, it seems that Jarlaxle has an ally now, what will become of this I wonder? Will Killik be able to return in time to help Armsworth win the bet? Where is the last treasure he has to retrieve? Will Jarlaxle and Zanfalca's trip to Baldur's Gate run smoothly?
Well, I already know the answers being the author, but I would love to see what your thoughts are for these questions! So please, leave a review and as this story goes on, and stay tuned to see if you're guesses are right!
