Although she didn't understand why Thalia was so anxious to leave, Jaheira didn't want to be the cause of them staying another day and insisted she could splint herself with her magic until her foot had fully knit to her leg. Edwin was nearly as anxious as Thalia, though he didn't let his emotions be read quite so easily. His arrogant aloofness irritated the party, but it was harder to ignore the sinister glint in his eye.
They soon veered off the caravan-worn cobblestone roads, wandering deep down what was now familiar as part of the endless footpaths used by hunters and locals. A dirt space only a few inches across provided a sort of navigation through the woods, which all looked the same at this point.
Thalia ducked another low-hanging branch, the twigs snapping in her face. They certainly all made a great deal of noise and even the silent Jaheira had difficulties staying so quiet now. The bush was too dense and overly green, and seemed to catch on every loose thread, snapping off in chainmail or pulling a string of cloth. Fir trees and leafless rotten logs added to the terrific musky smell of dirt and plants. Although she had begun to get used to it all, Thalia still hated the woods.
"Why don't your robes rip?" called Imoen as she stumbled towards the back. "Edwin?"
The mage, who had been leading with Jaheira to where he believed his prey was, didn't even bother looking back. "Do you truly believe a Red Wizard would let himself wander about in torn or dirty robes?" he said. "Idiot," he added under his breath.
It was true. His robes were just as much a garish camouflaging nightmare as they had been the day he purchased them in Thay. Somehow, Thalia doubted he had even done that. Judging from what he had earlier called the "innate supremacy of wizards", she wouldn't be surprised if he had his own slave tailor.
"Dunno," said Imoen in a voice far too cheerful for someone who trudged through ankle-deep cold sludge and whose face was covered in scratches. "Never met one before."
The wizard let go a deep sigh of exasperation. "Now there's a surprise." Had he been anyone else, Thalia would've smacked him upside the head. As they hadn't run afoul of anyone or anything so far, his skills were still largely unknown.
Through the bush, they didn't make it quite as far as she had hoped they would. The sun had soon fallen over the horizon, taking the sparse light with it, and they stumbled through the last layers of bush by magelight until they found a suitable clearing to camp.
Once the tents were set and a fire got going, Jaheira took Khalid and Imoen hunting for food. When the two of them looked at each other, Jaheira scowled and said if her leg stayed damp, it would creak and stiffen. A few curses and dim balls of sunlight for Imoen's sake followed after them through the brush as Khalid attempted to calm her. Viconia left soon as well, moving to a more private clearing a few trees away with her bags, no doubt to make up for the prayers she missed at twilight.
Thalia sat on the damp earth before the fire and unbuckled the leather collar that protected her neck, coughing as she drew breath. Keeping a half eye on Edwin, who had begun to wander about the small clearing, she drank deeply from her waterskin.
"What're you doing?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.
He bent down and placed one finger on the ground, as if pointing to an insect. He sighed and began to speak in a gravelly monotonous tone, in some language Thalia could only guess as Thayvian.
"I'm talking to you." Against the better judgment of her aching muscles, she stood and made her way over to him. She tensed, put off-kilter by the unexplained magic.
His chanting took on an irritated note but he didn't address her. A pale glowing thread left his finger and wobbled about like a thin worm.
"I asked you, what—?"
"I heard you the first time, you inconsiderate ape," snapped Edwin, finally lifting his finger, the thread vanishing in a puff of smoke. He stood to face her, squaring his own smaller frame up to hers, his face a mask of impatient anger. "How your miserable troup managed to survive unaided in the wilderness is a mystery to me, as even your drowish cleric refuses to lay a basic ward, and when I attempt to offer assistance all I am met with is suspicion and questioning! Did it ever occur to you that you would not understand what I'm doing?"
Thalia wiped his spittle off her face, wincing internally as she did. " Nothing is going to attack us so close to town, not even a bear."
Edwin rolled his eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Had you allowed me to complete my ward, we would not now have to deal with him."
Thalia spun around, scanning the barren treeline. The campfire's light didn't extend very far, though, and all beyond was black. "With who?"
Cocking an eyebrow and a finger, he pointed upwards, slightly over her shoulder and clicked his fingers. As his loose sleeve rolled down, the intricate tattoos covering his skin were exposed further and one, which wove about his forearm in a band of symbols, began to glow. Anticipating the result, Thalia reached for her sword but before she could draw it, a branch overhead rotted and let out a powerful crack before falling with a crash behind her. With it, came an elf.
"With him," said Edwin dryly.
The assassin scrambled to his feet, favouring the leg he had fallen on. Short and slight with a belt of throwing knives and dressed in soft black cloth, he must've known he stood little chance out of the shadows and instead drew himself up to his full height.
"I've a message to convey," he said without the slightest waver in his voice. "Your interference may have caused minor inconvenience but die knowing your actions have been futile."
A dark smirk crossed the elf's face. Before any could answer, he charged, a small sword in his hand. Thalia tensed her body into a defensive stance. When he stood only a few feet from her, he leapt, raising his blade. She raised hers and settled back on her haunches to spring a counter.
But he never touched down. Instead, a flaming ball the size of his head slammed into his side and knocked him clean across camp. Only the broad side of a tree stopped him from careening off into the night. Dazed but woken violently by the pain, he yelped, thrashing as he tried to bat out the flames that feasted on his clothes and flesh.
Edwin frowned, then spoke another word and waved his arms wider, like a conductor before an orchestra, sending a command to the flames. The power was tightly controlled and contained as it roared past her. The flames leapt to obey, growing hotter and larger as they engulfed the poor elf and melted the flesh from his bones. When they vanished, all that was left was a charred skeleton with a few small pools of silvery molten metal that lay where his weapons had fallen.
Pleased with his work, the wizard knotted a bag of magic components to his belt and knelt on the ground again to prepare a series of wards.
It took Thalia quite a few tries to sheathe her sword, so hard her fingers trembled. The seasoned assassins who came after her with arcane spells gave off faint breezes or disturbances in the air, but Edwin was a tornado in comparison.
Thalia marched from the clearing to where Viconia had disappeared to tend to her own spells. When she entered the smaller clearing, she knew Viconia had felt it. While her prayer circle had been set up and her book open to certain pages, she leant against a tree, deep in thought.
"What exactly did he do?" she asked quietly, her brow furrowed in concern.
"Knocked an assassin out of a tree and sent a fireball after him," said Thalia.
Viconia's expression of worry only deepened. "That display wouldn't require but half what I felt. He was showing off, like as to me. I should not have lost my temper with him, that was… unwise. He is shrewd."
She returned to her book and turned a page, deep in thought. Thalia shook her head, grinding her teeth together. "Anytime you want to continue sharing, I'm standing right here," she said.
Viconia threw her book down and glared up at Thalia. "Whilst we were raising the skeletons for aid in the mines, I had to threaten him with disembowelment to assist, yet when he started it was an effortless exercise for him. Yet, he acted exhausted and drained to disguise his power. When we get to find this Dynaheir, you best kill her," she warned. "Whatever ally she might be able to provide is not even in the same competition as to him. Regardless, a Red Wizard is not an enemy one wants to make."
"You think he's really a Red Wizard?" Thalia's eyebrows shot up and a pang of Viconia's concern entered her. "What could one be doing so far west?" The journey from Thay would have taken him months, perhaps over a year, even if he rode a mount to death, and through very treacherous and war-ravaged terrain.
Viconia shook her head at the questions. "Of his being a Red Wizard, I have no doubt that a Thayvian magician as he is one. If he is not, he is powerful and arrogant enough to carry the moniker. The order is secret and paranoid and could have infinite reasons for coming west. The incoming war between Amn and Baldur's Gate, the iron crisis, an as-of-yet unforeseen disturbance in the Planes."
Thalia looked back to the trees, where Edwin continued to lead the powdery thin thread of the ward around the camp. When he completed the round, the thread of the ward connected and shimmered briefly before stiffening and weaving into delicate symbols a few inches above the ground.
"While I do not understand how surfacers conduct partnerships, let me give you this piece of advice, for the sake of this group and my own life," said Viconia seriously. "Do not trust him with yourself. Trust his power. Trust his loyalty, so long as this arrangement benefits him. The only true loyalty he has is to self-interest, then, perhaps to his order."
"I know you said he was powerful but, how much? Could he truly destroy us?" asked Thalia, without taking her eyes off him.
Viconia thought for a moment, evaluating the wizard who sat before the fire, staring deeply into the flames. "Easily," she said, her voice hollow. "A failed attempt at eliminating him would mean our deaths."
"If he's so powerful, why did he need to hire us?" asked Thalia. "He could've just incinerated the damn stronghold by himself."
Viconia paused and made a face, clearly disliking the answer she had to give. "I do not know."
)*(
A chill started Thalia from her sleep, though the night was warm and calm. But when she opened her eyes, a black nothingness embraced her. Panic threatened at the edge of her mind, but when light returned it was no matter of comfort.
Gentle flames of candles flickered the world back to life. Despite the light and familiar landscape, the world felt dark and cold, foreboding and unfamiliar in a way Thalia could not put a finger on. She was back in Candlekeep once more.
She stood on the gravel road before the door to the priest's quarters. The new moon cast little light over the grounds, no different than the last time she had seen it. A guard wandered by with a torch, the familiar scroll-and-eye seal of Oghma on his cloak, but it did nothing to comfort her.
She turned back to the door before her and tried to push forward, but the doorknob was slippery with blood. When she finally shoved it open, the priest quarters were as she had left them. Rugs torn, pillows slashed, books defaced, priceless valuables smashed. In the center of it all, the assassin, curled into himself, still and dead. Broken glass and feathers held in his sticky, drying blood.
Before her eyes, the nameless assassin crawled to his feet. The door slammed behind her. His eyes were glazed and unseeing, his flesh bloated and pale. His body wobbled like a ragdoll, supported by some greater force. No breath or natural movement came from the standing corpse. Held from whatever afterlife claimed him, she knew he had been waiting for her all this time.
Before him hovered a rough-hewn dagger of parched bone, ready for a willing hand to drive it deep. The assassin bid it no attention, instead looking at Thalia, waiting for the inevitable, and knew no hope.
A rage bubbled within her as images of Gorion's death whipped before her mind. She strode past the blade, which clattered harmlessly to the ground, and wrapped her fingers around his throat. She had to ensure this beast stayed dead, the first herald of Gorion's death.
There was no anger, no hate in his eyes, only acceptance of his fate and a shade of relief. He filtered through her clenching fingers as pale smoke and left her grasping at air, as he whispered off to whatever afterlife he deserved.
Candlekeep was peaceful once again.
Satisfied, she turned to leave but barring her exit was the parched bone dagger, risen from the floor, its point trained on her heart. One became five. Five bone white claws that forced her back against the far wall. When there was nowhere left to turn, the center talon pushed hard against her unprotected chest, puncturing the skin. Blood did not flow but a blackened ichor. Thalia was paralyzed with fear. She could do nothing but tremble before it.
Listen to what is bred in the bones . The voice echoed off the walls of the room and the walls of her mind but no one spoke the words.
For emphasis, the other four daggers pressed gently into her, caressing like a long lost lover, before withdrawing. Gasping with relief, it was short-lived. One by one, the daggers shattered, their irregular shards still hovering before her. And then, slowly, they began to rearrange themselves. Before they even completed the sigil, she knew what it was. The bone mosaic of a smiling skull, surrounded by twelve drops of blood.
There was a flash of motion and the shards buried themselves in her chest.
Thalia awoke in an instant, gasping. She pawed at her chest, but there was no evidence of the assault. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and the last images of the dream from her mind. She bit her knuckle in an effort to keep back the unreasonable terror that shook her, but it was to little effect.
"Bad dreams?" a voice asked innocently.
The wizard sat cross-legged by the fire, his eyes locked on hers. A sinister smile stretched his lips. She returned his steady gaze but couldn't gather together enough of her sensibilities to keep it.
Thalia rolled back to her bed and turned her back on him. He tuttered and she heard the swish of his robes on the grass as he walked closer until he stood above her.
"If you ever desire an answer, know it is mine to give," he whispered.
Stunned, a million questions and what ifs spun in her mind, each bringing new waves of worry and driving the fear deeper. How could he possibly know? Was it written on her forehead? Was it some curse and he magically detected it? Did he crawl into her dreams while she slept like an insidious demon? Did he know how much they tormented her and he wished to cruelly play with her mind? What if there was some greater cause, though?
What if he was right?
Thalia refused to give him the pleasure of asking, so she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to take her from him.
)*(
When morning came, a large part of Thalia wished that when she opened her eyes, the wizard was gone. However, when she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, he stood at the edge of the clearing with his arms crossed like a vile parasite. While the others went through the morning rituals of breakfast, small talk, and an inventory of their arms and armour, he stood in the shadows of the trees with a harsh glare and scowl as though the very sunlight offended him.
Jaheira had to ask Thalia three times if she was prepared before getting a distant grunt of agreement. Thalia was a million miles away, her eyes transfixed on the Red Wizard. She wondered if she had merely misheard or imagined their encounter last night. Perhaps it was part of the dream. But somehow, she doubted it.
Before the sun had risen fully, Jaheira smothered the fire and announced that it was time to leave. She estimated they would reach the gnoll stronghold by dusk, but that it would be best to let her, Viconia, and Khalid search in the dark, as the humans would likely get lost. While surface elves were still able to see quite well in low-light conditions — a characteristic shared somewhat with half-elves — millenia below ground had honed the dark vision of the drow.
"What actually are gnolls?" asked Imoen a few minutes later.
"A tall warrior race built from lean muscle with some canine ancestry," said Jaheira from the front.
"Vicious dogs on two legs with spears," added Thalia.
"Yes, I suppose." Even Thalia could hear the disgust in Jaheira's voice. "Many tribes of gnolls make pacts with their god for magical power and are led by these warlocks."
"Although they are little more than a nuisance, their cruelty is truly profound," drawled Edwin as he lingered in the back. It was the first words he had said without being prodded since they had set off. "Gnollish warlocks perform some of the more barbaric rituals outside the civilized races, the Corruption of the Soul Consumed being an interesting one."
Thalia hung her head and silently hoped Imoen wouldn't ask but, of course, she did. "What's that one about?"
"Captives are eaten alive by females," said Edwin in an uninterested, factual voice, "who are then swiftly impregnated with the tormented souls of the dead and birth the half-demonic gnolls, all within the ceremony, who are set to fight to the death amongst themselves. The victor is then consumed by their mother-gnoll, the twice-tormented soul slain as newborn, to embody victory and defeat, innocence and corruption."
Imoen tripped over a root and clung to Thalia. Turning to support her, she glared at the petty smugness on Edwin's face. Imoen was drained of colour and she gave a muttered apology.
"That's enough of this," Jaheira called back. "Shut your mouth. We have no need of this rubbish. We are only fighting them, not debating the extent of their evil."
"Perhaps you should only give orders to those beneath you, druid," said the wizard waspishly. "Though even the trees would likely not take to being so rudely commanded."
Thalia could hear Jaheira grind her teeth but she held back her anger.
"H-Hey," said Imoen, pointing through the trees with a still-nervous hand. "Think we could check out the cave?"
Following her arm, Thalia saw the large vertical crack that ran up the mountainside, the area within dark and foreboding even in the bright sunlight. She smiled to herself. Imoen was probably seeing all sorts of treasures and riches within, perhaps all guarded by a dragon and it was exactly the sort of distraction she was looking for now.
Jaheira tossed it a cursory glance. "We might be adventurers, Imoen, but there is no need to disturb nature's homes of bears and wolves," she chided. "We've no need of their hides nor meat and I will not partake in hunting for sport."
"Do wolves and bears normally leave quite so much blood around?" asked Imoen, a note of excitement entering her voice. Sure enough, just before the depths retreated into impenetrable darkness, thick layers of blood had dried on the cave floor, far more than any animal would leave behind with a kill.
"N-No," said Khalid, meeting her eye with a fond smile. "They wouldn't."
Taking up her staff, Jaheira sighed and started to explain to them the monsters that would likely make such homes along the south-western Sword Coast, from the cunning little blue goblins known as xvarts, to magical winter wolves with a bite as cold as Icewind Dale, to large intelligent spiders who teleported around at will.
At this, Viconia had it. "If minions of the Spider Queen lay within," she said bitterly, "I will send them to the Demonweb Pits myself."
Their minds made up, the group pushed through the trees and came face to face with the darkness. Jaheira tossed a globe of sunlight within, throwing the cavern into stark relief. Instantly, Thalia knew this was no den of magical animals. It resembled Mulahey's chambers, the bizarre collection of finery among the damp, dank cave walls. Frayed rugs sat at odd angles over the uneven floor, shelves filled with potions and jars containing strange floating things, a handful of books and loose bits of curled parchment, and an absolutely colossal four poster bed. An awful stench permeated the cave, a sickly sour that assaulted their noses, bringing a cough from Thalia.
"Is this—someone's house?" asked Imoen, confused, torn between a desire for treasures and not exactly wanting to steal from a hermit.
Jaheira pushed the light deeper, revealing a scattered pile of bloody human bones at the end of the blood trail, most still having strips of flesh that had long since gone rancid.
"Probably," sad Thalia, turning from the mess of the monster's last meal, "but I'm pretty sure we're going to kill them so you can take their stuff, Im."
"Who disturbs me?" a powerful voice boomed from the deeper darkness. With footsteps that made the ground tremble, a broad creature, over ten feet tall, stepped into the light. Draped over his body were sheets of cloth, sewn together in a crude robe. His grey-blue skin hung in tough wrinkles, his head was squat and almost squared, his single eye narrowed in anger.
"That… does not appear to be a spider," said Viconia flatly.
"An exiled ogre mage," said Jaheira, not taking her eyes off the creature. Still, she barely blinked at the monster. "No great threat to cities, but still, better disposed of to protect the hunters of the area."
The ogre's beady eyes zeroed in on Jaheira. " None will—"
Whatever none would do, however, they didn't find out because at that moment there was a great crack and the taste of bitter acid in the air. A moment later, a trio of violently green arrows embedded themselves in the ogre's chest. He howled in pain, his voice echoing off the stone walls. The arrows, slightly transparent and humming with magic, sizzled, dripping poison down the ogre's front.
"Are we not going to kill it?" demanded Edwin. "Go on, attack! Shoo!"
The ogre lunged desperately, swiping a great fist at the group, who scattered. To her own horror, Thalia saw Imoen pushed deeper into the cave while Thalia herself and the rest backed out. Jaheira's faint light cast deep, flickering shadows through the battle.
Drawing her sword, Thalia slashed at the ogre's leg with a desperate cry but her blade was barely able to penetrate the thick hide. Imoen's arrows only stuck in the outer layers, irritating more than hurting. He turned to face her, roaring in senseless rage, only to find more arrows fly at his open maw. A high pitched shriek of pain and panic.
"Imoen, run!" shouted Thalia desperately. She tried to run past the ogre but he stumbled at her, knocking his shelf over to prevent her advancement. The jars shattered as they hit the ground, scattering ingredients and noxious fluids over the ground.
But Imoen didn't listen and continued slinging arrows. She found a handful of sensitive spots that brought the creature more distracting pain as the warriors battled it with slightly more success, dodging the ogre's frenzied swipes.
The ogre mage had enough, however, and Thalia recognised the crude arm waving and nonsense words of spell-casting, its face screwed in a concentration that would not be disturbed.
"Back!" shouted Jaheira, leaping backwards herself.
Khalid followed her movements deftly, but Thalia lingered a moment too long. Finishing with a resounding clap, the ogre cast its spell. A poisoned cloud of dense green fog wove around the ogre, choking the air and bringing tears to Thalia's eyes. It burned her lungs, bringing her to her knees. Coughing, a confusing dizziness threatened to overwhelm her. Her chest seized as she struggled to draw breath.
Khalid pulled her back into the clear air of the cave's entrance. Gasping, Thalia hacked out the last wisps of the poisonous gas from her lungs.
"Im-Imoen?" she rasped, as she realised the girl wasn't among them. She wiped the tears off her face and struggled to her feet.
"Get out of there, child!" shouted Jaheira. She knelt to the ground and fished for a spell component.
Thalia raised her blurry vision to the cave. The ogre waved its massive arms again, preparing a second spell, eye shut in concentration. The green fog still grew, however, threatening to swallow the cave. Already, it had grown taller than most men and crawled up the cave walls. Imoen dropped her bow and scurried up the remaining bookshelves to get above it.
Khalid only just managed to hold Thalia back from running head-first into the poisonous gas again. She took up her new throwing dagger but it bounced off the ogre's tough hide and clattered harmlessly to the ground before flying back to her clammy hand.
"Imoen!" she shouted again. She didn't dare think of what might happen if she didn't get out. Visions passed of Imoen in the mine, choking on her own blood.
Imoen stood on the top of the tallest remaining bookshelf, somewhat unsteadily. She tossed a scared smile to the rest of them and Thalia spotted the flaming dagger in her hand. She gave a shrill battle cry and leapt from the bookshelf, arms outstretched. The ogre stumbled, losing the spell it was working on, as it suddenly found the girl splayed across its shoulders. Imoen struggled to find a better position but worked fast and by some manner of luck and skill, she thrust the magical dagger into the beast's only eye, driving it to the hilt.
A horrifying shriek echoed as it was blinded, thrashing desperately as blood streamed down its face and robes. Imoen dropped to the ground and fell to the darker depths of the cave to escape the stumbling and dying ogre. After a great deal of blind bumbling that knocked over most of the furniture and the rest of the bookshelves, the ogre collapsed at last, Imoen's dagger still sticking from the bloody mess that was its eye.
Inching forwards warily, Jaheira scattered lights through the darkened cave, revealing the lower storage area, where Imoen hid with a huge grin on her face, her eyes wide and shining.
"Didja see what I did?" she gushed, leaping up and running back to the nearly dead ogre. The hilt was slick with blood and she redoubled her grip, managing to yank it free at last. Imoen laughed, taking a dramatic stance and stabbing thin air with great flourish. "I just went — hoha! — and then the ogre just went — argh! — and then all the blood went everywhere and — hey, what're you doing? Yeah, you, wizard man! Edwin!"
Edwin shifted through the scattered books on the floor, tearing out certain pages and sliding them in his own spellbook. His head whipped up at the sound of his name and he sneered. "Merely taking that which none of you will miss," he said. "Oh, I've noticed that stolen spelltome you cart around with you, little rogue. You think your mind will ever be able to comprehend arcane mysteries or, much more likely, turn to mush at the first sight of the Abyss?" he challenged.
Imoen's smile hardened somewhat. "I just want to learn Burning Hands ," she said innocently enough, shoving past him to dig through the remainder of the ogre mage's treasure.
She was eventually able to wear Edwin down and he translated a few of the less-stained books with a spell and roll of his eyes. But it wasn't for free, he warned. When Thalia saw his eyes gleam, she feared the worst and was about to make any such deal between him and Imoen null and void, but all he wanted was the wand. He claimed it to be a Wand of Summoning, left on a high plaque by the ogre. The walnut wand was about a foot long, tipped with a shimmering sapphire and carved with gasping, gaping mouths of what were surely demons or other foul spirits. Even Imoen, who so looked forward to looting and shiny magical items, grimaced at it and practically threw it at him.
With the ogre mage and its home sufficiently destroyed, they returned to the thin hunter's path that wove through the bush. Imoen returned to her usual cheery self, recounting her slaying of the ogre mage in great gory detail before attempting to compose a very poorly rhyming song about the battle. It would be the first one in the songbook The Adventures of Imoen the Magnificent (and Friends), Vol.1 .
As they clawed their way through the bush of the woods, it started to thin beneath their feet. The rugs of wet leaves and logs let up. Even the brambles became less dense and they were able to move through the forest in relative freedom. Sunlight came through the trees in weak splatters then hearty streams as the forest gave way almost entirely, to be replaced by a rugged moor and spring wildflowers of as the sun hung low in the sky.
Imoen winced as the fortress came into sight over the next hill. A bloodied white flag flew from the towers of grey brick. It was an abandoned stronghold, full of crumbling walls and battlements, but they could even see in the dim twilight from over a hill away that it was very heavily populated by the canine gnolls.
"You said she was last seen around t-t-the stronghold?" asked Khalid, not taking his eyes off the furry beasts.
Edwin smirked at his stutter but gave a short nod. "She shouldn't have gotten too far now."
Drawing weapons, the elves left the humans to prepare camp on the edge of the wood as they wandered out to search for Dynaheir and scout the castle. Tripping over his incantations, the wizard spent quite a bit longer warding the camp than he had the night before and Thalia couldn't suppress her satisfaction that the proximity of the gnoll stronghold unnerved him.
Imoen sat on the ground, her knees pulled up to her chin as she stared into the fire, her boots tapping as she thought. Thalia knew what she was thinking. It was the same thing on her mind. Was Dynaheir truly deserving of the bounty? Would any of them right now kill her this night? While Bassilus had terrorized a town and risen a zombie army, all they had to go on now was the word of a strange Red Wizard who was none too trustworthy himself. Worse, even, if they did spare her life, did any of them have a true chance against Edwin if they provoked him?
The silent minutes dragged on into hours and the twilight deepened into a suffocating blackness, marred only by the fires lit by the gnolls in their stolen castle. Still, there was no sign of the elves. Thalia couldn't decide if that was good or bad. If they had killed Dynaheir when she wasn't with them, it would hardly make her guilty in this wrongful execution.
Edwin sat on a log, his elbows lent on his knees and fingers steepled as he stared into the fire, his eyes blank and his mind deep in thought.
A thought occurred to Thalia suddenly. "Why aren't you preparing your spells for the next day?"
Edwin took a moment to tear his gaze from the flames, then fixed her with an irritated look. "I am ."
"Did you make a pact for power?" Thalia remembered many powerful Thayvian magicians sought such partnerships to ease their journeys into unlimited power. At least in the stories. Normally, some brave adventurer cut them down shortly thereafter.
"I am no mere warlock or sorcerer," he snapped, insulted by the insinuation. "I am a wizard and everything I am is born from my own vast talent. Have you even ever seen a wizard prepare spells?"
Imoen lifted her head from her knees, interested. "No."
Edwin turned his glare towards her. He sighed and ran a hand over his bald head before relenting and rattling off his explanations in his own proud anger. "To complete a spell is to complete a complex series of mental and Planal acrobatics, to tune into the laws of the universe and command them to my will. Only after completing the majority of the routine and attuning physical components to the spell can I rest. Then, in combat, I need only to complete the last trigger of the spell and it is released. As for now, I require peace and quiet ." To make his point, he stood, muttering darkly to himself, and was about to storm back into the woods, but he spotted something.
"Finally," he snarled.
Thalia followed his eye. Over a small hill, the three elves had returned. When she saw the bloodied blades, her heart leapt to her throat, but the fur on Khalid's confirmed it was gnolls.
"We cannot wait until first light," declared Jaheira. "Gnolls see but nearly as well as elves in the darkness and will discover their fallen soon. We might be able to take the rest of them by surprise, however, if we move quickly."
Edwin muttered darkly about having to do everything himself as he fitted a bolt into his crossbow, but still followed the elves' lead. They climbed the path up the rocky slopes to the castle quickly as they dared, but every stone tumbling down the path was an avalanche, every long shadow under the moon was a monstrous gnoll come to devour them. Thalia redoubled her grip on her sword and carried on, only slightly unnerved.
The gnolls the elves had killed were strewn about the crumbling steps. They were even more hideous than the drawings in bestiaries depicted: twelve feet tall and powerfully built with a large hump on their back and little neck, but with the long claws and snarled muzzle of a hound, and the scraggly pelt of an animal been through hardship. Even though they were recently dead, they still reeked of rotting flesh. Thalia remembered the gruesome ritual Edwin had so gleefully brought up and cursed him. In the dark of night and with the smell of wet dog in her nostrils, it was suddenly a lot more intimidating.
As they got closer, gruff snarls and grunts wafted over the high walls. The sounds of crackling fires and many padded footsteps followed. The group crowded against the wall. A few steps forward a cracked hole from which the light of the gnolls' fire flooded onto the stone. From within, a crude drumbeat started, punctured by canine yelps and howls and a rhythmic thumping. Privately, Thalia didn't think much of Dynaheir's survival right now.
"Gnolls are n-not archers," whispered Khalid, "but they are fierce in close c-combat. Keeping them at a distance will be k-key. On my signal."
Viconia and Thalia both took up their throwing daggers as Khalid and Imoen notched their arrows. Thalia's stomach tightened in anticipation. Three. Jaheira began to prepare a druidic spell. Two. Thalia tensed to spring forward. One.
They stepped out into the light and but a few arrows and daggers were released before the great company of gnolls realised where their attackers were. For a moment, Thalia was paralyzed. A roaring bonfire sat in the middle of the courtyard, logs piled high until it nearly was taller than the walls. Dozens of heavily armored gnoll warriors rapped the butt of their rusty halberds on the ground in time to the drumbeat. A handful of robed gnolls yelped in a constant stream, waving their arms as though fending off a swarm of invisible bees.
Khalid made short work of the unarmored gnolls with his arrows. But the warriors charged, their claws scraping the stone as they ran on all fours. A few moments later, Jaheira stopped chanting and ghostly tendrils of green light sprung from the cracks in the stonework, wrapping about the gnolls' ankles and holding them fast. Some of them tried to push forward but the vines refused to release them. The harder they pulled, the tighter they were constricted. Howling in frustration, their claws and blades were not enough to rip apart the magical plants.
Victory in sight, they made short work of the defenceless gnolls. Even as the spell began to wane in power and some of the vines snapped and withered, there were few enough beasts that they were still taken care of at distance. When the vines fully receded back into the ground, all the gnolls were dead.
"That… has gone better than I thought it would," said Jaheira, frowning.
"Yeah," said Imoen, disappointed, scuffing the dusty ground with her boot. "I thought they'd put up more of a fight."
As if to answer, a pained howl pierced the night and sent a chill of dread down her spine. A moment later, she heard the pounding of many paws on stone.
"It appears that was not the whole of the clan," said Viconia, backing behind the wall again.
Gnolls appeared on top of the battlements and the walls, charging down the stairs to meet them all in the courtyard, snarling and shouting in mangled Common. Thalia unsheathed her sword unsteadily and pushed a trembling Imoen behind her. Gnolls leapt into the courtyard, charging on all fours. Long ropes of saliva whipped across their faces. She could see the eyes of those nearest, wild and filled with murderous frenzy.
But amongst this, Thalia felt a heat behind her that gathered into a scorching wave. She tore her eyes off the gnolls and looked back at Edwin. His hands were filled with white light, his eyes closed in concentration. Remembering the fireball, Thalia dragged Imoen to the ground.
"Get down!" she shouted, and the others ducked.
Taking his cue admirably, Edwin released the spell with the incantation and threw the ball of brilliant white light at the leading gnoll. It struck him in the forehead and he collapsed. Spreading like a plague, the spell wove its way through the gnollish reinforcements, until they all collapsed, face-first to the ground. Some fell down the stairs, others from the top of the battlements. But, to Thalia's amazement, they weren't dead. Their chests rose and fell with their breathing, their faces were calm and completely devoid of malice. In fact, they almost looked like house dogs, if very ugly house dogs.
Silence fell heavily as they stared in surprise. All that could be heard was the gentle breathing and occasional snore of the gnolls.
"What are you fools waiting for?" demanded Edwin. "I was under the impression this was a company of warriors." Talking to himself again as he was want to do, he took another component from his belt and spoke an incantation. A trio of pink magical bolts orbited from his shoulder to fingertip, before striking the nearest three slumbering gnolls, who gave a yelp before dying in their sleep.
Scrambling upright and grabbing their weapons, the company of warriors slew the sleeping gnolls easily, their weapons reaching neither resistance nor tension. Gradually some began to wake up from the clatter of weapons as their fellows died. The first gnoll to awaken lashed out at Khalid, who fell back in shock and pain. Jaheira screamed reflexively.
Khalid, however, was in a terrible state. The claws had dug long dents in his armor and torn the soft flesh of his neck. His helmet was perhaps the only thing to have saved his life from being taken outright, but even that seemed to be coming to a swift end. Blood poured helplessly as he gasped. Abandoning the gnolls' corpses, Jaheira fell to her knees and held him close. They shared a few brief moments of a smile before Khalid choked and finished bleeding out. Her smile stiffened and Jaheira undid the leather straps of his helmet, sliding it from his head to stroke his hair.
Imoen buried her head in Thalia's shoulder, shaking. She held Imoen tight, cold in her shock. Khalid and Jaheira had taken so many other adventures against far more dangerous beasts than gnolls — how could he meet his death so suddenly?
Jaheira lay her husband back on the ground, out of the way, then looked almost motherly as she saw Imoen's distress. "Oh, it's alright," she said. "This will not have been the first nor last time he's died, though it may well be the cleanest." She turned Khalid's head back and forth. "No organs have been destroyed, no limbs removed, just a few clean slices across the neck." She almost sounded pleased. "With such a wonderful priest back in Nashkel, I say we save our sorrows for the witch."
Imoen looked up hopefully, still clinging to Thalia. "S-So, he's not gone?"
Jaheira smiled. "What do you think adventurers spend all those treasure hoards on?"
Imoen let out a wet chuckle and dried her eyes. Thalia laughed in disbelief, looking at the bloody and lifeless body of Khalid. She hoped it was true but Jaheira's certainty was of great comfort. Perhaps when they were back at Nashkel, this would all be a funny story and they could catch Khalid up on what had happened.
With their grief suspended, they began to explore the ruins. Scattered around were a great deal of questionable magical components that even Edwin turned his nose at, as well as stores of brittle weaponry, dried and roasted meats of unknown origins, and some semblance of honorific sculptures the gnolls probably considered "art". A few prisoners had been dead for several days, their bodies beginning to succumb to the elements and already somewhat magically mangled by the gnolls. Yet all of them were men.
"Here!" shouted Jaheira.
Thalia left the tower she had scoured with Imoen. Jaheira looked down into a wide, dry well. The girls rushed back down to the courtyard. Viconia grew a small ball of faerie fire, which drifted down to illuminate the darkness. At the bottom was an unconscious woman in long purple robes. The light seemed to rouse her and when she saw the human and elven faces, she stumbled to her feet, squinting past the light.
"Hello?" she called in a deep harmonious voice that echoed off the walls. Though Thalia didn't want to think of what the gnolls had planned for her, she was still so relieved they had found her intact she forgot their purpose in coming here.
"Have no fear, we will get you out," Jaheira called back with a smile. She rushed back to the campsite, returning shortly with a length of rope.
Imoen tugged gently on Thalia's armor. Following her gaze, Thalia saw the victorious smirk and the shine in his eyes, how they reflected the bonfire's light, and she felt all her relief vanish in an instant of fear for Dynaheir's life. Viconia stood in the shadows and watched from a distance away, wary of what decisions they might make in the coming minutes.
Jaheira had returned with a rope and cast it down the well. After a few failed starts, she managed to pull Dynaheir to the surface with Thalia's assistance. Dynaheir was a young human mage, her curly black hair having grown ungainly and slimey, her simple purple traveling robes torn and stained, her dark brown skin heavily bruised, and her nails ripped and bloody. Thalia grimaced at the thought of how long she must've been trapped down there, kept alive by those beasts. Dynaheir was not many years older than Thalia or Imoen, but there was something in the gentleness in her face and the calm in her voice that spoke of age and wisdom.
She smiled gratefully and clung to Jaheira to stand. "Thank… you," she said in a halting, thick accent. Though not Thayvian, she was still most certainly eastern, her accent softer and warmer than Edwin's. "Your assistance is much appreciated. That was truly a dastardly fate you have saved me from."
She raised her glance and locked eyes with Edwin. By the flickering light of the roaring bonfire, he had let down his hood, the light dancing over the magical tattoos that marked him as a Red Wizard. There was a moment of confusion, then a flicker of uncertain fear, and Dynaheir let go of Jaheira to grip the barrel of the well for strength. His smirk widened as he drank in her fear.
"I-I see bravery is not all that motivates you," she said, a note of panic creeping in her voice. "Am I to be rescued from one death to be delivered to another?"
Jaheira put a hand on her shoulder and stood between the two mages. "No," she said stonily. "Absolutely not."
Edwin's confidence shattered and he advanced on the women. "We had a deal, wretch!"
Dynaheir turned to the others with a pained look. "I assure you," she said. "I make far better friend than enemy."
Edwin's hand went to his belt of spell components instinctively. "As do I!" he snarled. He dropped one to the ground with a whispered stream of commands. The pouch burst into searing white flames, devouring itself into ash.
"No!" shouted Thalia, taking a step forward.
At once, rolls of malevolent, creeping magic overpowered them. Thalia's muscles and bones stiffened unbearably. She stood helpless and unmoving as a stone statue. A vulnerable fear came over her and, had she control of her body, it would surely be trembling. Through great effort, she opened her eyes, her heart fluttering like a caged bird. Her lungs strained for breath against the iron that held her in place. The others were in a similar state, their frozen faces betraying their last emotion before the spell had taken hold.
Edwin took in their helplessness with a mocking shake of his head. He stepped uncomfortably close to her and she could feel his breath on her. "It is a great shame you insist on being quite this stupid," he whispered with remorse.
A million spells and ways he could stop her heart ran through her mind. He had so easily won before the fight began and held them all in the palm of his hand. He could simply take the dagger from her own belt and slit her throat. The silent, instant spells he could cast from his tattoos, seemingly without end, only increased her heart rate. She begged with her eyes, straining against the stiffness of her body.
He averted her eyes, his brow furrowed in thought. He stepped back to inspect the other statues. As he turned from her, she felt the spell crack. A cool numbness trickled down the back of her neck, spreading through her limbs and breathing feeling into them. Her chest labored under shallow breaths, her knees buckled, her hands clenched into fists.
His eyes flicked over her, an echo of excitement in his private smile.
The expression only served her fear. The cool numbness turned icy in a flash and she fell, as a marionette cut from its strings, into an unceremonial heap at his feet. Her legs quivered as the spell held on with its last breath.
"Impressive," he muttered to himself. "And here I thought such enchantments might only be resisted by full-blood—" He stopped suddenly, a realisation dawning.
Elves.
There was a small whistle of a short blade pulled from its sheath. Viconia peeled herself from the shadows and from the brief look of surprise and distress that came over him, she had pressed the sword point into his back. Thalia grinned as she saw the drow's calm, smooth face, still half in darkness.
Edwin's concentration wavered in his well-disguised fear. The others twitched and moved, jittery at first, as the spell wore off. Imoen was the next to fall, with a small shriek of fear, then Jaheira and Dynaheir righted themselves.
"Enemies need not be made tonight," said Viconia to the wizard, taking her blade from him and moving between him and Jaheira's staff. "I know the witch cannot truly mean so much to you that you would throw away your own life."
"Enemies were made long before your time, drow," said Dynaheir, her fear replaced by a wary pride. Turning back to Jaheira, she continued, "If you might bare my company, I will be a fearsome opponent to any such servant of Thay that might follow him."
"What, pray tell, you were about to do as I had rendered you all immobile?" said the wizard scathingly.
Viconia locked eyes with Thalia, reminding her of the similar conversation they had shared about Edwin's formidable power, and she thought the elf would rather they kill Dynaheir where she stood.
"Of course, you are welcome to join us, Dynaheir," said Jaheira, as though he hadn't spoken. "Another companion to share the weary road is always welcome." Imoen nodded and Dynaheir breathed a sigh of relief.
"Idiots! You do not know what you're asking! I cannot have this witch poison you with her lies," snapped Edwin, shoving Viconia to the ground. "If you insist upon her, then I will continue with you."
His proposal was met with tense silence as all looked to one another to make a decision as to who would tell Edwin "no", especially after that last spell had brought them so close to their own demise.
"Better an enemy in the open than one in the bushes," said Viconia shrewdly, picking herself off the dusty, bloodstained ground.
Edwin fixed her with a cold look but, deciding that was the most positive answer he would get, said, "Glad that has been settled. I shall return to camp, then." And he left the gnoll stronghold.
"That could have gone better," said Jaheira uneasily.
"Would you rather have him skulking on the outskirts and wait for an opportunity to strike or travel with us and let us keep an eye on him?" said Viconia, raising an eyebrow. "This benefits us far more than it does him. All we can do now is hope he does not realise it."
"I would rather the Red Wizard be dead," said Jaheira, rounding on Viconia. "You already had the chance to do it!"
Viconia stiffened, squaring her shoulders. "I have won us a powerful ally in battle, one who has acquiesced to your sole request."
"One who would kill us in our sleep had he the opportunity," warned Dynaheir. "Thayvians are not a sort to take as traveling companions."
"So long as none of you are truly as stupid as he believes," said Viconia harshly, "he will continue to act in our interests, which is good enough for I." And she followed Edwin down the path to return to the camp.
Not far behind her, Jaheira swore to Dynaheir they would protect her as best as they were able. Jaheira carried the fallen body of her husband and Thalia helped Dynaheir as they made their way down the hill again. From the distance, Thalia could already see the red robes sit by the fire and she had a terrible feeling he would become an even more unpleasant intrusion and they would all sleep with one eye open.