Idal - glad you like my take on Aerie. By starting this story in the middle of things, I wound up skipping a lot of the character development, particularly with she and Anomen. I think that once I've gotten this rolling again, I may go back and do some one-shots/shorts in the vein of 'Things That Go Boom In The Night', looking at some earlier episodes. Both Aerie and Anomen can be exasperating when they first join with you, to the point that it's tempting to just dump them and pick up someone less annoying, but if you keep them along, there are hints of growth that intrigued me. Aerie, in particular, showed more than a touch of steel in her spine; she couldn't have survived what she'd been through any other way, and I rather like the way she's turned into a balancing point between Jess and Jaheira. Thanks for taking the time to review!
And I'm pleased to finally be able to correct the name of the Vulgar Monkey. A small detail, but it always bugged me, once I realized it was wrong.
OOO
Jess hit the door of Lady Galvena's Parlor House at a dead run, just in time to see a pirate flung through a window to her right in a shower of glass. Fighting her way through the screaming women that were trying to escape the tavern in the front of the brothel, she could see Minsc, face twisted into a berserker's rage, greatsword moving so quickly that it was little more than a blur, bodies already scattered at his feet.
Minsc at any time was a formidable fighter; Minsc in his berserk state was a natural disaster in motion. He had destroyed the common room of the Vulgar Monkey in passing, ripping the front door from its hinges as he exited, and began cutting a bloody swath through the streets of Brynnlaw while his companions struggled in vain to keep pace with him.
Jess was the first to arrive after Minsc. Jaheira and Anomen were next, with Yoshimo bringing up the rear; the bounty hunter had used his shortbow to pick off anyone trying to attack the big ranger from behind. He put it away as he leaped up the steps, drawing the katana that he favored for close fighting. Jess shouldered the last of the fleeing women aside and leaped forward into the fray, followed closely by the others.
A rangy, bearded man came at her with a longsword; Jess parried him easily with her left blade, bringing the right up in a brutal arc that ended beneath his ribcage. Pulling the blade free, she spun in search of her next opponent. From the corner of her eye, she saw a pirate leap at Minsc's unprotected back, dagger held high. Without pausing, she completed the turn, drew her right arm back and hurled the scimitar end over end, burying it in the pirate's gut; he screamed and dropped to the ground, clawing feebly at the burning blade. Reaching him, Jess pulled the scimitar free, using the left blade to slash his throat at the same time.
Anomen and Yoshi stood back to back in the center of the room. Anomen wielded the Flail of Ages with brutal efficiency, crushing the ribs and skulls of his opponents, while Yoshi's blade, its silver gleam quenched with crimson, slid effortlessly past the defenses of those he faced, unerringly finding the heart or throat.
Jaheira had stationed herself beside the door that they had entered through, her whirling staff taking down reinforcements as they arrived. One finally thought to come in through the broken window behind her, slipping a garrote around her neck. She dropped the staff as her hands flew to her throat, fingers struggling to slide beneath the slim cord that was cutting off her breath.
Jess started for her, but found herself cut off by a burly pirate with a massive falchion. "Anomen!" she shouted as she parried his attack. "Help Jaheira!"
The knight lunged, bringing all three heads of the flail crashing down on the man's head; he dropped like a stone, and Jaheira twisted free of the garrote as Yoshi sprang forward to challenge the three men who had come through the door in her absence.
Distracted by the growing melee by the door, Jess had briefly taken her eye off her opponent, who proved skilled enough to take advantage of the opening. The glimpse of a flash of steel from the corner of her eye gave her just enough warning to jerk backwards, but the tip of the falchion sliced across her forehead, drenching her face in blood.
Idiot! she berated herself, as her focus snapped back to her assailant. He tried to draw away as she closed with him, green eyes blazing with anger, but backed into the bar. Advancing, she knocked his sword aside and brought her foot up squarely into his groin. As he doubled over, she brought one scimitar down on the back of his unprotected neck, sending his head rolling across the blood covered floor.
Turning, she saw that Jaheira had retrieved her staff and joined Yoshimo and Anomen in finishing off the remaining reinforcements. Minsc was in the process of decimating the last of those that had been inside the tavern, apparently unhampered by a rather large dagger buried in his left thigh.
That's going to hurt when he comes down, she thought, scanning the tavern as she tried to decide where to go. A stout door behind the bar looked promising, but there were also the stairs to the second floor. Which way?
"Where is Aerie?" Minsc bellowed, glaring around. Almost absently, he reached down to pull the dagger from his leg.
"Minsc, wait!" She approached him cautiously. He had never attacked one of them while berserk, but they all took pains to stay out of his way on such occasions. The big man glowered at her, nostrils flaring with anger, but allowed her to examine him. "Anomen, a little help here?"
The knight paled at the sight of her bloody face and was at her side instantly, already beginning a healing spell.
She waved him away. "Not me – Minsc!" His eyes widened in astonishment at the sight of the dagger, and he regarded Minsc with awe – and more than a bit of concern.
"Will he allow us to remove it?" he asked her in a low voice.
"I think he'll let me do it." She put a hand on the dagger. "This is going to hurt a bit, Minsc."
"It is nothing," he growled. "Fix it so that we may find my witch!"
Taking a deep breath, she pulled at the dagger; it slid free, accompanied by a gush of blood. Anomen instantly laid his hands over the wound, murmuring the words of the spell. Jess threw the dagger away as Jaheira and Yoshimo approached.
"You okay?" Jess asked, peering at the ugly, narrow bruise encircling Jaheira's throat.
"I'll wager I look better than you at the moment," the druid replied dryly, reaching up to touch the bloody gash as she released a healing spell. "You were taught to duck, weren't you?"
"Yeah," Jess replied with a smirk, "by the same teachers who told me never to turn my back on an unsecured point of access." Picking up a rag from the bar, she decided that the chances of finding clean water here were slim, poured ale from a mug onto the rag and used it to wipe her face.
"Good point." Jaheira wrinkled her nose distastefully. "I hope you plan on bathing before we share a room again."
"Unless Aerie has a cleaning cantrip memorized when we find her, it's pretty much a given," Jess assured her, grimacing at the smell, "but right now it's either beer or blood, and the beer won't gum my eyelids shut when I'm trying to fight."
"Enough talk!" Minsc barked as Anomen stepped away from him. "We must find my witch now!"
"My thoughts exactly, Minsc," Jess told him. She looked from door to stairs. "Which way?" she wondered again.
"They took her into the back," a tremulous voice announced. Startled, Jess looked around the devastated tavern, seeing no one alive save herself and her four companions. Walking around the bar, she found a wide-eyed girl of perhaps eighteen huddled beneath it. She shrank back in fear as Jess crouched beside her, retreating into the shadows as far as she could.
"We won't hurt you," she told her in as reassuring a tone as she could manage, acutely aware of the blood that remained on her armor, face and hands. "You can come out."
"It might be safer for her to remain where she is," Yoshimo remarked. "More pirates may show up."
Jess nodded. "He's right," she told the girl. "You're safer here, but you said that you knew where they took the elf they brought in earlier tonight?"
She nodded. "In the back rooms," she said, pointing to the door behind the bar. "It's where Galvena keeps the ones that –" she bit her lip, looking down. "Some of the men – they like girls that are – unwilling. So she has Vadek kidnap them. She keeps them locked up in back, and she gets top price for them until - until the men get tired of them."
"That's how you came to be here, isn't it?" Jess guessed. "But she let you loose; what keeps you from leaving?"
"I tried," came the answer, barely more than a whisper, "once." She inched forward into the light. Behind her, Jess heard Anomen's sharp intake of breath, Jaheira's muttered oath.
At some point in the past, the girl had been beaten, and badly, the bones in her face broken and left to heal unaligned. Brown eyes stared sadly at her from the ruin of what had plainly once been a pretty face.
"Who would have me now?" the girl asked softly. "Where could I go?"
Jess closed her eyes. She did not need this. I came here for Imoen - and now Aerie – but how can I look them in the eyes knowing that I left this girl in this pit? How could I live with myself?
I couldn't. She opened her eyes. "What is your name?"
"Kyla, lady."
"My name is Jessime, Kyla," Jess told her, "and you'll go with us when we leave. I'll find you someplace safe." She stood, looking at her companions. "And if anyone has any objections, you had damn well better keep them to yourself."
"None whatsoever," Jaheira murmured, her eyes bright with anger and unshed tears.
"None," Anomen echoed, his face stunned. "What manner of devil is this Galvena?"
"A dead one," Jess replied shortly, reining in the rage that threatened to flare out of control. "Minsc, open the door."
Instead, the big man knelt in front of the girl. She shrank back again, but he extended his cupped hands toward her. "Boo says that he will stay and protect you," he said. "We will be back once evil's butt has been thoroughly kicked."
Kyla looked questioningly at Jess, then accepted the hamster hesitantly. Minsc stood and strode purposefully to the door. In seconds, it had been reduced to so much kindling, and Jess found herself looking down a long, narrow hallway lined with closed doors. A final door sealed off the end of the hall.
She tried the first door, found it locked. It was not as sturdy as the main door, and a sharp kick below the knob sent it flying open. She peered inside and felt her heart sink as her eyes fell on the cowering figure tied to the bed. Not Aerie, but another that she could not in conscience leave behind. Ten doors on each side; twenty rooms. Twenty girls? How am I going to do this? Never mind. Worry about that after you find Aerie.
"We'll be back," she promised the girl.
"Should we free her?" Anomen asked.
Jess shook her head. They had been in the brothel for only a little more than five minutes, although it already seemed as though a lifetime had passed. "Galvena's likely rounding up more reinforcements; she'll be safer here than running loose in the middle of a battle. Everybody take a door and work your way down. Don't cut anyone loose until we've dealt with Galvena."
The next room she tried was unlocked and empty. She tried a third door, found it unlocked. She opened it and stood for a long moment, torn between relief and amusement.
Aerie had managed to pull one of the blades from her boots and, by a seemingly impossible contortion of her fingers, was busily cutting through the ropes that bound her wrists, so intent on her task that she did not even notice Jess' entrance.
"Would you like some help," Jess offered, grinning, "or should I just come back when you're done?"
The avariel twitched in surprise, losing her grip on the slim blade. Jess dropped to her knees beside her, retrieved the blade and finished cutting the rope in seconds.
"I've got her!" she shouted as she cut through the gag, pulling the rag out of Aerie's mouth. Footsteps thundered in the hall, and Minsc burst into the room, sweeping the elf up into a hug that was – for Minsc – surprisingly gentle, tears running down his cheeks as he stroked her hair.
"I'm all right, Minsc," Aerie assured him over and over, her head laying against the massive chest and her eyes closed contentedly. "I'm fine now."
"You're sure?" Jess asked. "They didn't –" she paused awkwardly.
She shook her head. "No, though not because they didn't want to."
Jess let out a sigh of relief. "Good." She'd kill them all anyway. For the intent, and for those who hadn't been so lucky."Minsc, take Aerie back to the inn and stay with her –"
"No!" Aerie stepped away from the ranger, shaking her head resolutely. "No, Jess. I want to stay. Galvena's going to kill Claire if we don't stop her."
Jess nodded slowly. "All right, but you stay behind us and use your spells. Minsc, stay with her."
"Jess," Yoshimo called in a low voice from the hall. "Company."
"Here we go," Jess murmured, stepping out into the hall to face the cluster of pirates crowding through the door at the far end. Anomen stepped up beside her. Not enough room here for more than two to fight side by side. That could work to our advantage.
"Jaheira, use the spear," she instructed calmly. "Yoshi, watch the rear. Anomen, let them come to us."
The knight nodded, eying the motley bunch with open contempt. They were obviously aware of the carnage in the tavern; none of them seemed anxious to make the first move. Let's give them something to think about. "Aerie, send a spell their way."
She frowned as the elf began her chant; while she could not understand the words, she had spent enough time around mages to recognize the more commonly used spells, and this one definitely sounded familiar. Surely she wouldn't be casting –
"Down!" Jaheira hit her and Anomen from behind, taking all three of them to the ground just as a lightning bolt sizzled through the air overhead. Raising her head, Jess exchanged a wide eyed glance with the druid before they both turned to stare at Aerie.
"Sorry," the avariel apologized timidly, staring in astonishment at the results of her spell. "I've never tried to cast that one inside before."
"It's not generally recommended," Jess advised her as she rose somewhat shakily to her feet. Although it was, Jess had to admit, as she surveyed what remained of their would-be attackers, damned effective. They're going to be a long time getting that smell out of the woodwork. "Try to stick with your missile spells in close quarters," she added. "They're easier to control."
The avariel nodded with a sheepish smile. "I'll remember that," she promised. Minsc stood behind her, beaming with pride.
Jess turned back to Anomen and Jaheira with a shrug. Why do I get the feeling that if we'd arrived ten minutes later, it would have been all over but the cleanup?
OOO
Fully three quarters of the rooms were occupied, giving Jess a total of sixteen extra lives to worry about. Most of them were young and much prettier than the voluntary employees of Lady Galvena's Parlor House. Of course they are, Jess thought savagely. They haven't had the chance to try to run away yet.
Most of them huddled fearfully on their beds, watching the companions with untrusting eyes. A few begged for release, and two appeared to be completely catatonic. Jess reassured each of them as best she could, but steadfastly refused Aerie's request to cut them loose.
"None of them seems to be Claire," Jaheira reported as they gathered near the end of the hall, picking their way around the scattered bodies of the pirates that Aerie's lightning bolt had fried.
"Do you think there are any more rooms like these?" Jess asked, trying to suppress the feeling of stark dread that the notion gave her. How was she supposed to storm Spellhold while shepherding a flock of rescued prostitutes? Imoen, what am I going to do?
"Only one way to find out," Jaheira replied, her expression making it clear that she shared Jess' apprehension.
Going through the door, they found themselves at the foot of a stairway leading upward. Jess and Anomen led the way, moving fast, weapons ready. They burst through the door at the top into another empty hallway, this one wider, with several open doors leading into bedrooms, more comfortably furnished than the stark holding cells downstairs. Jess turned around cautiously, alert to any threat, but the rooms that were visible were empty, the disarray within them giving mute testimony to the hasty departure of their occupants. One door remained closed at the end of the hall, near the main stairway. Jess approached, reaching for the doorknob, then paused. Turning, she silently waved the others to either side of the doorway, turned back and kicked the door open, spinning to one side as a dagger flew past the open doorway through the space she had occupied an instant before.
"That's far enough." A woman's voice, harsh and cold, spoke from inside the room as Jess stepped back into the doorway, raised scimitars ablaze with coruscating flame.
Galvena faced her defiantly, another dagger held to the throat of a girl who could only be Claire. Beside her, a lean-faced man with dark, cunning eyes watched them intently, his hands loose and ready at his sides.
Jess raised her gaze from Claire's bruised and bloody face to Galvena's hate-filled eyes.
"There's heart thorn on this blade," the woman hissed. "One cut and she joins her beloved Sanik in the afterlife."
"Let her go!" Aerie pushed by Jess and advanced on Galvena, eyes blazing, Minsc on her heels like a giant shadow.
Jess stared in astonishment. What the hells is she doing? Dammit, Minsc is supposed to be the berserker!
Galvena eyed the avariel contemptuously. "I'll let her go when I'm safely away from here and not before. Try to cast a spell and she dies."
A slight change in the set of the man's shoulders caught Jess' eye, and she went cold, knowing what was about to happen. Aerie's attention was focused entirely on Galvena and Claire. You're growing up fast, little sister, but you've still got a lot to learn.
Too quickly for the eye to follow, the man produced a dagger from a concealed sheath and hurled it at Aerie.
There was no time for reflection; Jess knew that the blade was almost certainly treated with heart thorn, ensuring irrevocable death from even a minor wound. She knew also that there was no way humanly possible to intercept the blade before it struck the avariel.
No way humanly possible. Without hesitation, she summoned the taint, feeling it fill her blood with divine fire, sharpening her senses, quickening her reflexes. Time seemed to slow for everything around her, and she could clearly see the dagger spinning end over end as she dropped the scimitar from her right hand and stepped around Minsc and Aerie. She snatched it effortlessly from the air by the hilt and, with a flick of her wrist, sent it flying back the way it had come, burying it in the flesh of the man's upper arm. He stiffened immediately, one hand clutching spasmodically at his chest, but Jess was already turning to grab Galvena's wrist, pulling the dagger away from Claire's throat and yanking the girl from her grasp.
Twisting, she shoved the girl behind her, toward Jaheira, not daring to remain in contact with her; a wild exultation had filled her at the death of the man, and the taint fought her for control, wanting to expand the slaughter to everyone within reach. Not since her battle with Sarevok had she allowed it this much of a purchase within her, and she struggled now to reclaim the ground she had surrendered.
I did it for Aerie, she told it grimly. To save her life. Not to kill. I'll use you, if I have to, but I won't be what you want me to be. I won't!
With a final, desperate effort, she shoved it away, but as it reluctantly subsided, she thought she heard the same voice that had haunted her dreams in the early days after leaving Candlekeep:
*YOU WILL LEARN!*
Then it was over; the unnatural strength and speed left her, and time resumed its normal flow. Her actions and her struggle for control had taken place in between heartbeats. Galvena stood before her, staring in stunned disbelief from the corpse that fell to the floor beside her to Claire, now well out of her reach. Backing away, she raised her dagger, pulling a second blade from a sheath at her hip. "I won't die as easily as Vadek, bitch!" she snarled. "Come on!"
Jess stepped toward her, shifting the scimitar to her right hand and feeling the taint surging forward again, eager for blood. Kill her! Rip her head off and paint the walls with her blood. Hurt her the way she hurt Kyla and the gods only know how many others. She deserves it.
No. She stopped, breathing hard. She deserves to die, but not this way.
She began to back away, but Galvena mistook her reluctance for fear and lunged forward with a savage cry.
A single word from Aerie released a spell that knocked Galvena sideways into the wall. She slid to the floor and staggered to her feet, but the avariel stepped forward, chanting rapidly as her hands wove a complex pattern in the air. As she completed the spell, she held her right hand out before her, curling it into a fist.
Galvena's arms flew to her sides, the daggers falling from her hands as the breath was squeezed from her by a massive, invisible hand. Her eyes bulged as she struggled in vain to escape, her face going rapidly from red to purple to black. Aerie stood before her calmly, clenching her hand ever tighter. Bones cracked and Galvena screamed, a high, breathless sound. At last, a gout of blood erupted from her mouth and nose, and her head dropped to the side, eyes staring blankly ahead.
Aerie opened her hand, her face expressionless as what was left of Galvena dropped to the floor in a broken heap. She turned to Jessime and burst into tears.