Chapter 11: Damsel, schmamsel
Chapter summary: Netherese princesses are not like other princesses. Jarlaxle finds wands and beholders to be a bad mix - for the beholders.
Disclaimer: Jarlaxle and Athrogate are the property of R.A. Salvatore and Wizards of the Coast. Forgotten Realms and Karsus the archwizard are the property of Wizards of the Coast. Fan characters belong to me. Other canon characters may appear throughout the story. Preview image is the property of iDaisan, commissioned by me a few years ago.
The violent discharge of the drow's wand, now fully visible in his hand, met the rays straight on. He threw the wand in immediately afterwards as well, though with no hope it would save him. An explosion of pure magic took place as a result, colours of blue, white, purple and green going every which way and causing an enormous ruckus of noise throughout the cavern. Jarlaxle fully expected horrible burns, disintegration of his limbs or even a state of petrification. The beholder howled in pain only to grow silent, but even as the fancy display of power continued before him, the elf felt no ill effects apart from the pain from his impact with the boulder. He was far too close to the magic for this to make sense, making him wonder if he was already dead. There was a slight shift of long, white skirts and a woman's sandalled feet appeared, heels facing him, but even as he looked further up to see who it was did this vision disappear. With that the magical explosion also ended and Jarlaxle found himself looking at a partially disintegrated, partially petrified beholder lying on the ground. The half that had been turned to stone lay in parts already crumbling. He couldn't help but feel it was a fitting end to such a creature.
As for himself, he found he was no worse for the wear. In fact, his body even seemed healed from the damage done by the beholder's telekinetic toss. Not that his situation was in any way improved, of course, for now he faced a queen of demons.
"How in the Nine Hells did that happen?" she asked, apparently as puzzled as he was.
"Hells, Heavens, the Middle Planes," Felicia's voice echoed through the caverns, "whatever works."
"Brat!" Lilith hissed, seemingly forgotten all about the drow before her. That was how secure she felt around mere mortals. Well, apart from Karsus' daughter, it would appear, judging from how her serpentine eyes resembled that of a skittish doe. Was Lilith afraid of Felicia?
If Jarlaxle had been intrigued by this human before, he was fully captivated now, especially as he found his voice-magnifying wand had gone 'missing'. Naughty! Skilled, but oh so naughty!
On top of the standing stones that Athrogate and the Shade had fought behind appeared Lucifer, although the tiny feline behaved in a most peculiar fashion. Jarlaxle wasn't all too familiar with cats – his preference lay with the bigger and deadlier ones – but it seemed the creature was in the process of vomiting. He made strange wheezing sounds and bent over, his tail hanging low. His little form trembled just as something small and dark came out of his mouth. It rolled around before settling on top of the rock, although the cat didn't seem interested in studying it. Instead he ran off to Lolth knew where.
The thing that Lucifer had coughed up didn't seem content to lie still, either. It grew in size, and fast. Lilith seemed quite fascinated with it, and while Jarlaxle did consider himself curious, he decided instead to take advantage of the demon's distraction to slip away. He climbed behind the boulders from before only to spot Felicia hiding inside the stone tunnel that Athrogate had used to surprise the wizard with. She motioned with her hand for him to follow and he did, as silently as only a dark elf could. This had to be the first time in a long time that he could hear his heartbeat pound away in his ears.
Throw in some great treasure on top of this and he'd definitely count this as one of his better adventures.
Karsus' daughter led the way through the tunnel, although they went the long way around, the drow guessing so as to not be spotted by Lilith. Athrogate met them along the way, Lucifer not far behind. Felicia rushed past them with no greeting or explanation, and the drow hesitated. Betrayal number two was surely around the corner.
The dwarf surprised him by following the princess without so much as a question. He did stop and motion for the elf to follow, and while Jarlaxle still had his doubts about the human, he knew Athrogate was eternally loyal to whomever he chose to work with or for. As a dwarf, he was also naturally suspicious of strangers, especially humans, and he was quite good at seeing through deception. Against his own paranoia, the drow decided to follow him. He did stop once as the tunnel went up and allowed him a bird's eye view of what was happening to Lilith. Felicia's voice bounced off the caverns again just as he did so, however, keeping the demon queen suitably distracted. Lilith's fists reduced boulders to rubble, but of course the princess was nowhere near the area. The black thing that Lucifer had coughed up, Jarlaxle saw, had turned out to be a chardalyn, quite possibly the biggest one he'd ever seen. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of spell was stored in there, let alone how Felicia had managed to shrink it enough for the cat to swallow it.
Their trek continued, and he noticed they were heading further up and away from the lowest level. It was a long way back to the surface, though, and surely it was only a matter of time before Lilith was able to locate them and give chase. As much as he prided himself on understanding the people around him, he found it hard to see how Felicia was going to get them out of there.
Just as the thought to go his own way struck him, she took a sharp turn to the left, Athrogate and Lucifer hot on her heels. Jarlaxle paused and glanced in the direction they'd gone. It didn't go very far and appeared a dead end, but Felicia stepped up to the wall of stone with confidence. She looked back to see the drow in his lurking spot and she waved for him to follow, more insistent this time, as if she was nagging at him. Nothing but a kind smile was on her face, however, and considering his other options weren't all that attractive, he decided to step closer.
She performed a simple hand gesture and uttered a command word. At first there was only silence, but then a blue-white swirl appeared on the rock. It grew bigger, fast, stretching and expanding until they beheld a magical portal the size of a tall human man.
"I studied it earlier," Felicia explained. "It will bring us to the surface, albeit the desert only. It's a one-way portal and will take a long time to close, but I'll be able to deal with that. Quickly now." She motioned for them to go through.
Both dwarf and drow hesitated, but the familiar didn't. Lucifer jumped through without a second thought. No scream of pain came, although the dwarf was still the first to rush through after him.
Jarlaxle shot Felicia an expectant look. "Ladies first."
"No, I must insist you go first," she said, which had him hesitate, even as Athrogate informed them from the other side that it was perfectly safe to go through. "I have a way of sealing off this portal prematurely, but it will only happen as I go through it."
"You do realise how valuable you are to the scholars of Waterdeep?" he argued. Valuable to nobles, too, for that matter.
Despite how he was very clearly speaking of monetary rewards, the princess merely smiled. "I have every reason not to be re-captured by Lilith," she said and indicated the portal with her hand. "And I hope you realise how valuable you and Athrogate are to me?"
That sent him rocking back on his heels, for it was obvious she wasn't speaking in terms of money. Then again, she didn't want to be all alone and could use the help. It was understandable, even relatable.
"I trust you understand this goes against my usual policy," he informed her before taking a step towards the magical doorway.
Her smile turned far too bright and beautiful than was good for him. "I'll see you on the other side."
He shot her a look so as to suggest she'd better, but then the sound of something wet slapping against stone reached his keen ears. His sense of danger immediately kicked in and he spun around. Black tentacles, seemingly growing out of the stone itself, moved with an unnatural speed. Jarlaxle was grabbed around his leg and Felicia around the neck, but not before she was able to grab him by the shoulder and scream out a prayer. He heard the name of her deity then – Hekate – and he felt divine power surge through him. It seemed strangely familiar, though he couldn't even begin to place it. The effect was immediate as well – the tentacle wrapped around his leg fell away like a slippery bar of soap.
Felicia was hoisted into the air, however, slowly choking from the tentacle's grip. Jarlaxle reached through his belongings for a chardalyn he knew would help, but the princess was of a different mindset.
"Go!" she managed to choke out. "What I did won't... last long!"
"Come to care for this drow already, have you?" the voice of Lilith cut in and then the demon appeared behind the dark tentacles. Still naked, but without the fur, wings or tail. Her eyes were a golden colour and her horns had grown in size, but her aura was the same. "Don't worry, princess, I'll be doing you a favour killing him." She reached out with her hand and touched three of the tentacles. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't caught by them, but they grew in size, mouths opening to reveal rows of sharp fangs. Jarlaxle had two daggers out and elongated into rapiers in no time.
"I'm not leaving without her," he mustered the courage to say in the face of such overwhelming power, drawing a look of surprise and despair from the dangling woman.
"She's hardly as valuable as you may think," Lilith countered. "Most of her memories are gone and so are her spells. She's not cut out for killing and no man in the world will want to buy such an educated and powerful woman for a wife. The best you'll get is the usual scholar's pittance."
Coughing sounded from the princess and then she surprised both by prying away the tentacle enough to talk. "Don't fight those things. They're like hydras. Cut down one and-" Her words were interrupted as the tentacle strengthened its grip.
"So naughty, telling on me like that," the succubus said with a disapproving sound. "You need to repair your taste in men, too." She shot the dark elf a meaningful look.
In response, Jarlaxle rushed forth with his blades and cut deep – into the tentacle that held Felicia aloft. It split apart easily and down she fell, coughing and spluttering and proving she was still conscious. Dropping his swords, which would just disappear and return to his magical glove anyway, the drow caught the falling woman in his arms. Lilith sneered and forward came her dark 'hydras'. Jarlaxle didn't wait for them to reach him, however, and turned on his heel and ran. One tentacle caught up to him, but the sorceress' prayer seemed to hold true still as it couldn't grab a hold. He jumped through the portal, fully expecting the things to follow. As he stepped into the desert and spun around, however, he saw the portal was gone.
Sunlight greeted him like an old enemy, but his enchantments stayed true and kept him from getting severely weakened. He dropped to his knees and Felicia fell from his arms rather unceremoniously, getting covered by sand in the process. Lucifer jumped her almost immediately, which elicited even more coughing and wheezing from the unfortunate woman. Athrogate added to it with roaring laughter at her expense. It took a bit, but eventually she managed to regain her breath and get up on her feet. She put a hand to her throat and it lit up with healing energy even as she started walking away from the area.
"We need to get as far away from here as possible," she managed to say without any difficulty. "Lilith has the power to bring those ruins to the surface if she wishes."
As if on cue, the ground beneath them began to rumble. It was all around them, however, suggesting that they were right on top. Looking around, Jarlaxle managed to spot the very faraway entrance that they'd come across at the beginning of this misadventure. He rushed over to Felicia as fast as he could, thus learning of the difficulty of running in sand, closely followed by Athrogate and Lucifer. The cat jumped into the sorceress' arms and the drow then held out his hands to both human and dwarf. "It would help tremendously if you were both – all – willing to come with me."
Silent communication took place between mage and familiar. Felicia then fixed him with a nod and Lucifer stepped over to sit on the elf's shoulder. Jarlaxle looked to Athrogate who simply grabbed his hand and nodded grimly. The mercenary then grabbed the princess' hand and less than a split second later the quartet stood at the entrance of the ruins. It had remained largely unchanged, except for the fat vultures dozing off in the sun. Their camel mounts were nowhere to be seen.
The earth continued to rumble and the pervasively evil aura of Lilith grew stronger as she got closer to the surface. Some vultures woke up and made startled noises. Ruins and boulders shot up through the sand, along with the medusae from before. They seemed to have prepared for this, however, no doubt due to some connection to the demon queen below, and hovered above it all in a translucent bubble.
A good amount of disoriented kobolds came next. They yapped about before organising into a full run away from the area they were in, though they had even worse luck running through the sand than the elf. As more of the ruins came through, they seemed even more determined to get out, jumping on top of their kin and pushing them down to get ahead. Did they sense the approaching evil or were they simply in a dumb, panicked frenzy?
Just as the beholder area started rising, however, a violent ripple went through the sand, stopping only a few meters shy of the fleeing kobolds. Something seemed to rip up the very fabric of the world they stood in and then the ruins immediately started sinking. The sand turned into a whirlpool, sucking in kobold stragglers and screaming medusae alike. Even as good of a distance away as the four of them stood, they could still feel the winds pulling at them towards the centre of the maelstrom. The carrion birds had at this point fled the scene.
The storm lasted for about twenty seconds more before it stopped. The sun continued to shine as if nothing had happened and the surviving kobolds looked about, more confused than before.
Most distinct, however, was the abrupt disappearance of Lilith's evil aura.
"What spell was stored in that chardalyn your familiar coughed up?" Jarlaxle chose to ask Felicia at that point.
"An old spell of my father's," she replied. "I found it in the room with the device that Lucifer and I were held in, back when we searched it." An apologetic look came to her face. "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I figured you might not want me to bring it if I told you what it does."
Jarlaxle's snowy eyebrows shot up to the middle of his brow. Those last words intrigued him so much he temporarily put aside the issue about the sorceress' uncanny ability to move about so silently not even he could hear her. "What does it do?"
"It creates a powerful vortex that sucks anything near it into the Abyss," she said. The drow's face fell. "It was a fail safe in case Lilith should refuse to let me go when the time came for her to do so. I don't know how it survived the fall, but it's most fortuitous for us that it did."
"Not so much the kobolds and medusae," he remarked. Not that he cared for such creatures, but she had shown such sympathies. It was peculiar to see her be so reckless in the short time he'd known her, and then there was the fact that she had tricked him for this idea. Jarlaxle didn't like being tricked.
"The medusae were loyal to Lilith," she said and shrugged, not a single trace of remorse on her face. "Had Lilith been banished and denied her prize, those snake-women wouldn't have left us alone."
"If that's how you felt about them, why stop me from torturing one of them?" he pressed.
"It wasn't necessary," she shot back. It was a chilling logic, one he was all too familiar with. While he could appreciate her resourcefulness, he still struggled with accepting her treatment of him, let alone her recklessness.
He also didn't like how he hadn't seen through it. Yet at the same time, a part of him found her more intriguing than ever. "For the record, I happen to be extremely reckless, just ask my dwarven companion."
"Aye," Athrogate said with a nod. "Had us all fight a dracolich once. Just three of us."
To that Felicia raised an eyebrow and an amused smile graced her features. "I owe you an apology, then. Both of you."
Further protests died away at Jarlaxle's lips, although he managed to quickly pick himself back up. "Apology accepted. Do let me know next time you decide to rip the fabric of reality apart."
A giggle actually escaped her lips, then, a sweet sound that seemed most fitting, it not terribly stereotypical, after such a wild adventure. "You'll be the first to know," she said and threw him a wink. The only thing missing to make this a story from fairy tale books, the drow reasoned, would be a kiss, but of course reality kicked in before that could happen.
It came in the form of the earth rumbling again. Lucifer hissed angrily, Athrogate brought his morningstars to bear and Jarlaxle flipped out two wands, one for banishing lesser creatures of the Abyss and another to counter the toxic fumes that some demons were able to release. It was ridiculous that this was all he had to show for, but there were no dragon corpses around, at least not to his knowledge.
"No more teleportation?" Felicia asked him and he noticed she hadn't even assumed a fight stance.
"I'm out for the day," he said, now his turn to look apologetic. "I fear I'm not very good at rescuing Netherese princesses."
A warm smile graced her lips. "We do tend to bring more trouble than usual." A joke, even in this moment. The drow couldn't help but appreciate it. Her smile faded away in favour of determination, however, and instead of leaving, as the elf would have expected her to, she stood her ground. "I like to think we come with more perks, though. Let's see if we can turn back this tide somehow."
"Ye're more optimistic than I am," the dwarf said, though he didn't leave either.
"Not one bit," she replied, and then the sands parted.
A roaring wave came at them first. Jarlaxle swapped wands quickly, activating the power of one that he'd bought from a war wizard in Cormyr. A bubble encased them, not all too different from what the medusae had been floating in earlier, and they soared high above the area, just narrowly dodging the sand that surely would have drowned them all. More waves came after the first one as the ruins from before rose up, though no creatures came with them. No dead medusae or kobolds, and no demons. The quartet waited, fully expecting an attack at any moment. The waves grew smaller with each one until finally, none came. A long silence followed, but it seemed for all intents and purposes that this was simply the aftermath of the vortex ripping apart two worlds, and that the Prime and Abyss had merely repaired themselves.
One building had become partially uncovered, the elf noticed. It stood a good distance away from the ruins, but he could see it. Judging from the startled sound that the princess made and the direction she looked, she too had noticed.
"That's the old temple of my goddess," she informed them. "I'd recognise that door anywhere."
Judging from the sky and what he'd learned of the surface during his time there, Jarlaxle easily concluded it would be night soon. "It's a good a place as any to rest, provided the beds are still serviceable."
"Unless it's inhabited," Felicia reasoned. "There's no telling what's happened to it in all the time it's stood there."
Athrogate let out an impressed whistle. "Still standing now. Well done fer humans."
"We commissioned your people to build it, actually," the princess informed him.
That seemed to surprise the dwarf. "Humans with sense exist? Now that be a twist!" Then he roared with laughter. If the human was bothered by Athrogate's racist remark, however, she didn't show it.
"Did you find any keys on the bottom level?" Jarlaxle remembered to ask.
"Only one," she said and held up a white key with wings. "I notice each and every key has had some kind of link to my faith somehow. The silver key for the moon, the golden key for the light-bringer and the winged one for-"
"Birds?" Jarlaxle supplied helpfully.
"Angels," she corrected him. The drow stared at her unblinkingly. "Though which one of the three orders it refers to is anyone's guess."
Jarlaxle was still caught up in the fact that the goddess of this reckless, manipulative and thieving princess was connected to angels. "Perhaps it means all three?" he managed to say in the end, to which she shrugged.
"The Iynges are the messengers between gods and mortals," she listed, "the Synochesis are the ones connecting mortals to gods and the Teletarchai are the rulers of initiation. If all their powers have been combined into one key, it's possible that activating this could kill me."
"Most likely there's more than one, then," the drow reasoned.
"Most likely," she echoed, her eyes glued to the key in her hand. Then, before anyone could nag at her, she grasped it tightly in her hands, closed her eyes and summoned forth a light from the very heavens.