Ch. 36…Ambush

I've never been turned to stone, but I gather the process is neither as swift nor as painless as it appears. I could tell by the way the sweat popped out on Anomen's brow that returning to flesh was also terribly painful. His breath came in short gasps and he twitched uncontrollably. It looked like his muscles cramped in random spasms. I crouched down beside him.

"Can't you help him?" I snapped at Jaheira.

"I have done what I can," she said. "Nature must take its course."

Anomen's gauntleted hand banged against my boot. It looked like he was trying to control his movements and couldn't.

"—Fine," he said. I frowned. He didn't look fine or sound fine.

"He's in pain," I said.

"Pain—better," he gasped.

"You don't look like you feel better."

"I suspect he means it is better to feel pain than to feel nothing," Jaheira said. Anomen gave a jerky nod and I remembered that Jaheira had been petrified before.

"Trapped—head." I looked to Jaheira for a translation.

"When you are stone, you cannot see or hear or feel. Your mind is still conscious however. You are indeed trapped in your own head. You are not truly dead or alive, but in some state between. To stay in that form long would be to court madness." We both shuddered. It sounded like the imprisonment spell that her fellow Harpers had once threatened me with. We killed them for that.

I was aware that Sarevok paced nearby. When I looked at him, he spoke.

"We should get moving, if he is capable, or return to the pocket plane. This is not a defensible location." We were in the dark, under the earth, in the drow's dominion. It was not a good place to be. Sarevok was right.

"Help me up," Anomen told me. I rose, and a bit doubtfully, pulled him to his feet. He staggered and winced.

"Best if I walk this off," he said. Jaheira and I helped him walk around for a few moments, and then he cast a healing spell upon himself and said he was ready to go on.

"You missed a real treat," Imoen told him. "You should have seen Keeta, riding the hive mother like it was a wild horse."

"What?"

"Hush," I told her and Sarevok glared at us both.

"Tell you later," she promised Anomen. He gave me a questioning look and I shook my head at him.

The cavern was so large that we ended up spreading out a bit to search for the way out. Imoen used her light spells and Keldorn called upon Torm to make him see truly so that invisible drow could not sneak up on us. We eventually found a passageway that sloped steeply downward. It was impossible for those of us in armor to walk quietly when our boots slipped and skittered on the smooth rock. Imoen drank an invisibility potion and scouted ahead in her soft nimble boots.

She returned with a worried face.

"It's an ambush," she said. "There's a big room full of drow. They're ready for us too. They know we're coming. And there is a gallery all around the room and it is packed with crossbowmen. And I don't see any way up there. There must be a hidden stair or ladder, but I couldn't find it."

"What are their numbers?" I asked. She shrugged.

"There are two or three dozen warriors, maybe. And there are at least another two dozen archers up above."

"Can we all go invisible and just run right through?" I asked. Keldorn frowned. He hated sneaking around. Imoen shook her head.

"There are too many of them, they're blocking the way out," she said.

"A straight fight then," I said. "Any suggestions?"

"I can drop some spells on them first," she said. "But since they're drow—" Spells didn't always work on drow, due to their innate magical nature.

"I don't suppose you can do that fire elemental trick again?" I asked Jaheira.

She shook her head. "Not yet. If I spend too long in that form, I may not be able to change back."

Imoen summoned her skeleton warriors and Jaheira called up a fire elemental, which sure looked puny now that I'd seen her transformation. Anomen gave me an apologetic look and called up a skeleton warrior of his own. If we were going to be facing a lot of missile fire, it made sense to call skeletons instead of, say, cave bears, but I didn't have to like it. The bears were kind of cute and I hated the skeletons.

Invisible again, Imoen crept forward and dropped a horrid wilting on the drow. As soon as we heard the shouting, we sent in the summoned creatures. Imoen raced back to us and drew her bow. We charged into the room.

We were badly outnumbered but that didn't worry me too much. We formed a loose half ring, protecting both Imoen and our retreat and forcing the warriors to come at us a few at a time. The summoned creatures milled around the outside of our protection, striking at random targets but providing a welcome distraction to the drow.

It didn't take long for me to see that the archers were going to be our biggest problem. The crossbows the drow generally use are small but they are cleverly designed. Their bolts could penetrate normal armor and potentially even the heavily enchanted armor that we wore. I just hate being shot at from above. The archers had a clear shot at us in every direction and didn't have to worry too much about hitting their own fighters.

The room was certainly designed for an ambush. What Imoen had called a gallery was little more than a wide ledge cut into the side of the cavern. It was roughly carved, with no railing. However, there was a slight design error. The drow and their duerger workers were people of short stature. The ledge probably seemed safely high in the air to them but if I went on tiptoe, I could hook my hand over it. I thumped Sarevok on the arm to get his attention and pulled him to the wall.

"Kneel," I ordered. "Get on one knee, now." I sheathed my sword so my hands were free. He frowned but did as I said. I planted my boot on his bent leg and then stepped onto his shoulder. With a quick push, I shinnied onto the ledge before the drow quite realized what I was doing.

The archers tried to shove me right back off again, but unlike them, I was unhampered by weapons. I was also bigger and heavier than any of them. I pushed, shoved, kicked and slung them off the ledge, down into the melee below. There wasn't much room to swing a sword, so once I'd cleared a bit of space, I pulled my morning star and went to work. Bolts struck me from close range, in a staccato tempo, as the archers concentrated on me. Most of them bounced off my armor. A couple of bolts pierced my left arm, where the plate was thinner. The one that pierced my thigh was more troublesome, for it hurt when I moved. I could have really used a shield.

Luckily the rate of fire on even those small clever crossbows was pretty low and I was able to kill or dislodge the last of the archers before the warm trickle of blood had soaked all the way down to my sock. I pulled the bolt out of my thigh. It hadn't penetrated too deeply and it came right out when I tugged it. Lucky for me the bolt had a plain four-sided point with no nasty barbs. Pulling it out still hurt though. I pulled the other bolts out of my arm and threw them aside. Then I looked down. I would have liked to jump right on top of the drow with the fanciest armor but Sarevok was engaged with him. I didn't want to poach his kill and irritate him worse than I already had so I picked a different victim.

He sure didn't see me coming. My weight knocked the breath out of him, giving me time to bash in the back of his skull. The face of the drow beside him was a child's portrait of surprise: huge eyes, open mouth. I swung the morning star in a two-handed grip and smashed him into the wall. He didn't get back up.

We were clearing the room out nicely, to the point that I began to think we should block the far passage so the ambushers couldn't escape. My thought came a bit too late. Sarevok killed the commander, and the remaining drow forces broke and ran. Oh, well. We'd killed most of them.

I saw Jaheira healing her own wounds and Anomen was checking on Keldorn.

"Turn around," I told Sarevok.

"I've been hit?" he asked.

"You look like you backed into a porcupine," I said and started pulling out bolts. There were a couple of fairly tight groupings along the back edge of his cuirass, close to the weakest parts of the plate. Someone had damned good aim. Luckily I had asked Cespenar to make Sarevok a new arming coat to wear under his armor after all the damage that had been done to it recently. Its mail gussets were now made from enchanted chain cannibalized from an old mail shirt I never used any more.

"You didn't feel this?" I asked. Even when a bolt doesn't pierce through, it can still give you a pretty good thump. I certainly felt like I had been worked over with a quarterstaff.

"Not really."

I thrust my gauntlets into my belt so I could work with my bare hands. A trickle of blood ran down the inside of my left wrist. I flicked it away before it could make my palm slippery. He noticed though. Sarevok didn't miss much.

"Take us out of here," he said with a look that told me he didn't want an argument. I felt torn. We all were injured. Even Imoen had taken a wound at some point, for I saw a bloodstain on her robe. However none of us seemed badly hurt and we had plenty of healing potions. I wanted to go after those drow while they were still weak and disorganized. And I didn't want to give them time to set up another ambush, particularly here, in a room built for such.

"We shouldn't let them get away," I said.

"Keeta, we're all tired and you're not looking so good either," Imoen said. "Look, I'll cast a couple of skull traps. If anyone comes back in here, they'll get a big surprise. Okay? I'm about out of spells and so is Jaheira. We all need some rest." I sighed and agreed.

And actually, once the excitement of the fighting had worn off and we were back in the pocket plane, I realized that I didn't really feel that wonderful. Once Sarevok was patched up, he headed off to his room to read, he said. I figured he was going to do some research on Sigil. I grabbed Jaheira's arm before she could disappear and asked her to come to my room. Once there, she helped me out of my armor. It was getting harder for me to move.

"Are you hurt?" she asked and then hissed when she saw that my pants leg was soaked through.

"It's not that," I said. "I think the bleeding has stopped."

"What then?" she asked as I stepped out of my ruined pants. She got a cloth and started washing the wound. She cast a healing spell, muttering as if it were a curse instead.

"My back is really hurting." I was getting stiffer by the moment and even raising my arms to get out of my tunic and undershirt was extremely painful. I actually felt tears come to my eyes from the effort. There is something about back pain that is particularly brutal. I guess because you can't move or do much of anything without using your back.

"Your arm is still bleeding as well," she said.

"Yes, yes, but it's my back—" She looked at it.

"I—see," she said. "Lie down here on the bed."

I made her lay down a couple of old blankets first so I wouldn't bleed all over the covers, because I really hate sleeping with the smell of blood. It was actually very difficult to lie down because the pain was getting worse and worse. I managed, with some cursing and complaints, and then she left. I thought she was going for some more healing potions but she brought Anomen instead.

"Ack," I said. I was naked. "Thanks for the warning."

"Come, girl, there is nothing here he hasn't seen before," she said. True enough but I was still embarrassed. None of us were particularly modest around each other. There is so little privacy when you are camping on the road and must guard each other while bathing or using the privy. Still, there is a huge, huge difference between being naked in front of a traveling companion and being naked in front of a former lover. Anomen's face was as embarrassed as mine but when he took a good look at my back, he froze.

"How did this happen?"

Jaheira told him. His expression turned to something I had last seen on Sarevok's face.

"Gods," I said, turning my face to the pillow. "Not another lecture. I thought you of all people would understand."

He made no reply, but his hands touched my shoulders and I felt the healing energy flow into me. It felt warm and nice.

"This goes far beyond deep bruising," he said. "You've damaged your spine."

"It didn't hurt much until now."

"That's fairly common. But really, Keeta, what were you thinking—"

I turned my head and gave him a look. He didn't finish his thought. I noticed that Jaheira had left us. I suppose she figured we didn't need a chaperone.

"I'm not going to start second-guessing myself now," I said finally. "No matter how many people tell me to do so. If I have to sit down and calculate all the risks before I do something—well, I just can't. I don't work that way. Indecision will kill me quicker than anything."

"I understand." Anomen's hands moved lower down my backbone and the pain diminished. "Still—jumping on top of a hive mother—"

"Anomen, please." Now I was feeling sorry for myself. "I was hoping that you, at least, still believed in me." His hands stopped. "I know I make mistakes but I'm not really totally incompetent."

"Nobody thinks that you are," he said. I made no reply. "We fear for you," he added. After a few minutes, he said, "My lady, forgive me. I must ask. Are you and Sarevok—Keeta, are you happy?"

"I don't know," I said. "Sometimes. I—oh, gods, Anomen, I can't discuss this with you." He looked into my eyes. His smile was sad. I knew then, despite all that had happened, he was still the best friend I could ever ask for.

"Does it bother you, the, er, closeness of your relationship?"

"That I'm sleeping with my half-brother?" I tried to smile but my lips quivered. He really knew me too well. "It's just—you know, Anomen, we joke about it sometimes but I never really thought of Sarevok as my brother. But something Imoen said the other day—and he insists that he is my brother—am I just kidding myself? I guess I thought that Bhaal was some kind of a spirit or something when he got all those women pregnant. Is what we're doing really incest?"

"Keeta, Bhaal was originally a human, and he was a mortal again during the Time of Troubles. I think we must assume that all the Bhaalspawn were conceived in the flesh." His words and his face were calm but his eyes were worried.

"So you agree with him." I sighed. "But I've met quite a few Bhaalspawn by now and none of us look at all alike. You'd think if we had the same human father, at least some of us would resemble each other. Wouldn't we?" Something in Anomen's face alarmed me. "What?"

"You and Sarevok—there is a resemblance, Keeta."

"Oh." Great. He wouldn't have said anything if the resemblance wasn't very strong. "You're not making me feel better, Anomen."

"I apologize, my lady." His hands moved again on my back and energy flowed through me. The pain lifted. I gave a little moan of relief.

"I take back what I just said. That feels a lot better." He smiled back at me. With the pain gone, my mood lightened. "Well, at least I don't look like Gromnir Il-Khan or Yaga-Shura, the fire giant. Or do I? Feel free to be brutally honest." Anomen gave me a long grave look, but his eyes twinkled a little and I could see that he was considering teasing me. I gave him a mock frown.

"You didn't meet him, but Yaga-Shura looked like a full-blooded giant, and that was one of the reasons I wondered—and anyway, how did Bhaal do it? A human male and a giant woman? I mean, really, is that even physically possible?"

"Obviously it must be possible, although I doubt that it would work the other way around. I don't see how a human woman could bear a giant's child and survive."

"Yes, but how—" We both looked at each other.

"Perhaps Bhaal used an enlargement spell," Anomen suggested. There was a pause and then we both snickered. I wondered if Cespenar would know the truth of it. Perhaps he would tell me, if I asked nicely.

"Rest now, but don't go too long without eating. Your body will need sustenance after this healing." He took the extra blanket off the couch and draped it over me.

"Thank you, Anomen." His hand stroked my hair and then he left. My eyes fluttered closed. I was exhausted.

A noise woke me. It was the rattle of dishes on the little table. I peered over at Sarevok.

"Anomen says you should eat," he said. I hadn't done a very good job of washing all the blood off earlier, but there was fresh water on the dresser and I cleaned myself up. I felt less groggy when I was done. I wrapped up in a blanket to keep off the chill and sat next to him. There was a bowl of stew, a plate of thin pancakes and a small pot of tea.

I rolled up one of the pancakes and dipped it in the stew. Not bad. Sarevok poured himself a glass of wine and sat back to watch me eat. For some reason, he reminded me of a doting parent overseeing a recalcitrant child.

"If I clean my plate, do I get a prize?" I asked. He smiled.

"Perhaps."

"I don't set much store by 'perhaps'," I grumbled but I was really hungry and gobbled everything down. "Where's my prize?"

"What would you like?"

I gave him a long look through my lashes. "Dessert, of course." He beckoned me over and I settled on his lap. His arm encircled me. "Do you have any fruit pie?" I asked. His lips turned up a bit and he shook his head. "Custard? Pastry? Candied nuts?" I leaned in closer as I spoke. I noticed that his eyes followed the edge of my blanket as it started to slip down my shoulder.

"Too bad," I pouted, assuming a face of extreme disappointment. He caught my hand before I could pull the blanket back in place. "So you have nothing special for me? Nothing at all?" He laughed and pulled me in against his chest.

"I have something you may find to your liking."

The next day, there were illithids on the menu. I fell in love with my sword all over again. I've feared mind flayers since the first time I saw one and it gave me pleasure—very great pleasure—to cut them down while their mind attacks bounced harmlessly off me.

We had already dispatched the few remaining drow forces that were willing to stand against us and the illithids appeared to be Sendai's last defense. Her inner sanctum was a circular room, meticulously carved from the native rock, with dark marble floors and a gilded ceiling. It reminded me of one of the tackier shrines to Waukeen, where aspiring merchant families held their weddings and name day celebrations.

Around the room were seven raised platforms, each containing a statue of a haughty, sharp-featured drow woman, bearing a remarkable resemblance to Sendai herself. The statues were all in different poses with different weapons and armor, like many aspects of a single goddess. I wondered if she made her people worship her images. Perhaps she had tried, but I hadn't heard any of her dying warriors calling on her name as their end came, but only upon Lolth.

Imoen jabbed me with her elbow.

"They're golems," she whispered. Sendai made golems in her own likeness? That was just plain weird.

Sendai stood in the center of the room and waited for us to approach. I was not as good as Sarevok at spotting a sibling but she was easy, dead easy. She reeked of Bhaal's blood. Instant antipathy struck me like a blow. Her eyes flicked over the men at my side and looked straight at me.

"My army has been slaughtered, falling helplessly before your might. You would have made a great ally to our cause. Alas, the time for such possibilities is past." She spoke in heavily accented Common.

"Your recruiting methods leave much to be desired."

"We lost the opportunity. We would have approached you after you killed Sarevok Anchev, but you disappeared."

"Ah." So if we had not been taken captive by Jon Irenicus, we would have learned of these Bhaalspawn much, much sooner. Was this another crime to chalk to his account, or had he inadvertently done us a favor by saving us from their plots until we were stronger and more prepared to deal with them? Her eyes had returned to Sarevok and her elegant brows drew down in a thoughtful frown and then rose in recognition.

"And despite all reports, Sarevok Anchev yet lives," she mused. Her nostrils flared. "Naught but a spark of divinity is left to him yet he still lives. I was not told of this. How can this be?" Her eyes bored into me as if she had every expectation that I would answer her question. And then her eyes widened. "You have raised him? One of the kin? What sorcery is this?" She looked at me and then at Sarevok, and then she gave another cruel laugh. "What a bull of a man. I suppose he has his uses."

"Shall I kill her now?" Sarevok asked.

"Fine by me," I said.

"Wait," she said. "I can help you. Let me join forces with you."

"No thanks," I said.

At the same moment, Sarevok asked, "What can you offer us? Your army is destroyed." I frowned at him.

"Does your male speak for you?" she asked silkily. "I had heard that surfacer females allowed their men to rule them but thought it just another lie of the matron mothers. Nevertheless I shall answer. My forces may be depleted but the resources of the Underdark are vast. Given the right opportunity, other houses will ally with us. I can arrange this."

"No thanks," I said again. I had already experienced all the drow intrigue I could stomach during my time in the Underdark.

"Wait," she said again. "I have knowledge you need. I can help you slay that proud old fool, Abazigal."

"Tell us of him," Sarevok said. Sendai smiled at him but looked at me.

"When we have an agreement, I will speak. Do we have an alliance, rivvil?" I didn't need Keldorn's warning headshake to know she was untrustworthy. She was drow and she was Bhaalspawn.

"No," I said. "We do not." Still smiling, Sendai disappeared.