„Shadows of Brynnlaw"
The sea was easy to like. The breeze on the main deck was always fresh, a pleasant change from the stale air of the Sphere and even more pleasing when compared to the smell of the over-populated city. The lower boards began to stink before the end of the second day of the voyage, but refreshment was always only few steps and a deck away for anyone who would wish to take a deep breath of scent of the Sea of Swords. Among the waves the Sun was warmer and the stars closer. One could spend the whole night watching the constellations on the night's sky, unperturbed by anything or anyone. On the sea the gods were speaking through the stars.
The seasickness was the only enemy they had to face on the board of ship Galante. None from Daria's team spent a lot time on a ship before and even Jaheira with her close bond to nature could stoically withstand the constant rocking of the wooden board. But they were finally going to save Imoen. This thought alone was enough to look forward with joy.
Not one of them, not even Minsc could say with clear conscience that had no doubts that the Shadow Master would keep to his end of the deal, but that he did. The Cowled Wizard's prison was located on one of the pirate islands of the Sea of Swords, built in secret by a guild of gondites and accessible only by Wizards' teleports or a ship. Aran Linvail came out with a solution, buying the loyalty of an eccentric pirate captain Saemon Havarian and his crew from the ship Galante. It didn't completely eradicate all the suspicions the party had towards the Shadow Master, but helped calming wariness of most of them.
They departed the day after an assault at the vampires' guild, time they needed to make the provisions, close the Sphere and, in Jaheira's case, recover after few minutes of being basically dead. The druidess categorically refused to be a reason of any further delay and was yelling at anybody who came near, just to confirm that he was feeling as good as always. The only time a smile was appearing on her face was when she was looking at Xan and Daria, sitting together on the main board.
There wasn't much place for privacy in the limited space of a ship, but Daria managed to sneak close to Xan often enough for a quick hug, just to whisper few tender words to his pointy ear. It wasn't to last forever, she knew. Something would happen to lead to a vision she had in the druid's grove, but it didn't bother the diviner too much. Maybe they'd go their separate ways, maybe she'd be no more… But the future was distant and she had the next day, next week and maybe even a year just for her, just for them, when she could hold his hand and watch a sunset or sunrise from the board of a ship. Wasn't it enough? She could lean on him and put her chin on his shoulder, tell him she loved him and he would answer 'I love you too' or just sigh and kiss her gently, no matter how many times she'd say it. It seemed to be the happiness she sought for so long.
Valygar and Yoshimo stopped plotting, after a while Minsc as the last one of the team got used to the rocking of the waves, and Jaheira didn't yell at everybody anymore, completely healed. Only Viconia was as always bitter, muttering that males shouldn't be trusted every time Daria got near.
Coming on the ground from the board of Galante Daria decided she was going to like the sea.
She was never going to like the pirates though, she knew instantly after Saemon Havarian disappeared in a light of a portal, leaving them at the mercy of vampires, already waiting for them in the darkness of the dock. Pirates were known of their lack of any loyalties and this was no exception from this rule. The Shadow Master was to be thanked for bribing such an unexceptional specimen, but to do that they'd have to find a way back to Athkatla first.
But it wasn't why they came here, and now that after so many trials they finally faced their destination, Imoen was the only person Daria was planning to worry about. But to do that, she had to get into the Spellhold, a place where illegal mages were brought to disappear, and it wasn't an easy task.
But compared to all the things they did so far, how hard could it get?
Galante was docked safely in a small dock of Brynnlaw, a pirate town perched at the edge of an island somewhere south to Athkatla. It appeared to be a friendly place, but as far as Daria knew Havarian seemed friendly as well, just until the moment he betrayed them. Deeper into the island, where even pirates didn't dare to venture the murky construction of the Spellhold, an Asylum for mentally instable mages, was daring Sun's glow to light the everlasting shadows of this place. Only the highest spire of the building could be seen from Brynnlaw.
The day so joyfully began with facing vampires just before the dawn, the party spent gathering gossips and tales about the Cowled Wizards' sanctuary, listening to drunken sailors' talk and buying drinks in the only tavern in the tiny town. By afternoon they had a long list of unfathomable and often impossible things wizards were said to do to their prisoners behind the stone walls, and only two possible ways to enter.
An island ruled by pirates had to have a pirate king, the one keeping the anarchy in reasonable boundaries under his chaotic set of laws. In Brynnlaw ruled Desharik, and as the only account of what passed for law for the pirates, he had a deal with the Cowled, stating that the two groups, the pirates and the inhabitants of Spellhold, would not meddle in each other's business under normal circumstances. In exchange for all the provisions regularly delivered to the asylum Desharik could from time to time trust the wizards with taking care of mental condition of a suddenly maddened pirate, who only accidentally also had an ambition of becoming a new pirate king. The truce was all the Cowled Wizards needed from the pirates and neutralizing trouble makers who wanted to destroy the stability on the island could only be counted as another profit.
Starting a rebel meant to endanger Desharik and force him to use his connections with the Cowled, to put Daria's party into custody, would took too much time and resources, it would put them all in a mortal danger, not to mention that all they'd achieve would be ending behind the bars of an Asylum. Bribing the pirate king was a much more reasonable alternative and Daria quickly employed her divinations to discover what a rich and powerful pirate would take in exchange for showing them a way to enter the dark asylum.
After she got from the bushes, where her vision squeezed all food out of her more successfully than the seasickness, the diviner declared flatly that they were not going to make any sort of deal with Desharik or the pirates, and they would try the other way they heard about. She wouldn't say a thing about what she saw no matter who and how asked.
The other hopefully valid information they managed to extract from the sea of gossips flooding Brynnlaw was that on the north end of the port, in a hut separated from other dwellings, lived adept Perth, a rarely used official voice of the Cowled Wizards in town. The man, who was said to be just as mad as any inmate of the asylum, was never leaving his hut, spending days practicing magic or conducting dreadful experiments. And what was more important he was known to be the only person on this side of Spellhold walls that possessed a key to its doors, and a warding stone to its defenses.
The meeting with adept Perth was bloody, though they knocked at the doors and asked politely for what they needed. The mage was completely unreasonable, nearly as mad as the gossips said. But they were too close to their goal to hesitate now. Daria took the ward stone from his cold fingers feeling very little remorse.
'It is the last night we spend without Imoen' the diviner though, lying on the bed in her room on the second floor of the tavern. 'Tomorrow everything is going to change for better.' She relaxed opening herself for any vision that would come.
It wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible… She wanted her year, or a month, or maybe at least a week of it… It shouldn't be like that!
It shouldn't… couldn't be like that…
She threw the runes up again, the eleventh time since the vision and bent over the pattern. It didn't change. It was a horror, an irony…
Her hands trembled when she gathered the runes into her grasp. The stones fell between her fingers and she pressed her palms to her forehead trying to wake up from this insane dream. She didn't have a year, a month or a week. She had a day of life. She wasn't going to leave the Spellhold alive.
The others… what would happen to the others? A new fear stabbed her in a heart. Was she going to lead her friends to their death again? Was there any way of going back? She picked the rune stones from the table, knowing what she had to do, was seeing all the lines of future weaved into a loop around her neck.
"Come in Yoshimo."
The bounty hunter entered through the door he was only trying to hear anything through, with an easy smile on his face, as if he'd just been caught on an innocent prank. All this time he was deceiving them with his smiles, calling them 'his friends'…
"Sit down, please" she asked, feeling old and worn out all of sudden. Fatigue and bitterness wormed its way to her bones, staining her face. "Don't say a thing. Just listen" she cut when he opened his mouth. A cheery smile not for a second disappeared from his lips.
"I know. And I know why. And I think I understand…" Her voice broke at the end of the sentence. She coughed awkwardly to clear her throat. "You were sent to gain our trust and spy on us, to keep us safe until we reach the Spellhold and then deliver me to him." Only now Yoshimo stopped smiling, his face freezing without any expression, mute, and she could help but guess what he was thinking about. Maybe only how to escape, or maybe he was planning to win her mercy, trying to persuade her to spare her life. Geas wouldn't let him kill her, but some small part of her desperately wanted to believe that not only the spell was stopping him from doing that.
"The harm is done and my fate is sealed. Tomorrow we will enter the Spellhold and nothing will go as we planned. I will be captured, but not by you. Your influence on my future ended and nothing you'd do or not wouldn't stop what is meant to happen, that's why no one will learn about your betrayal yet." Yoshimo reacted on these words, his eyes widening as if he didn't understood what she said. Daria continued, trying to withhold the fear that if she stops she'd lose the last ounce of control over the future and last piece of what the stupid called bravery.
"The trap already closed and there are no means for rescue for me. All I can do now is to protect the others, but for that I need you." She took at deep shuddered breath. "Once I'll be killed all geas conditions will be fulfilled and you will be free. Don't expect any reward from Irenicus. Flee. It's your only way to survive. The others will need your help to escape, but they will also try to avenge my death. In exchange for your life help them, leave a ward stone, a key to let them escape before you disappear. That's all I ask for."
Yoshimo closed eyes and covered his face with his hand. When he removed it the cheery smirk was back on his place.
"You can count on great Yoshimo, my friend." He winked, and though they both knew now how false his mask was Daria felt some strain leaving her, with the knowledge that though this friendship was fake from the beginning it also had something very true in it.
The bounty hunter left the room, whistling a cheery melody. Daria took a deep breath and sealed one more emotion in her mind.
Only minutes passed since he began to make himself comfortable, though it was futile endeavor at least, given the state of the hole meant to be his place of rest for the night, when he heard a gentle knock at what passed for a door in his 'room'.
"Come in" he asked out of habit, rummaging through all the scrolls he unloaded from his pack, which they liberated from adept Perth's hut. The hinges, that kept in place the piece of wood imitating door, creaked, but the floor didn't complain loudly that someone stepped on it. Whoever came had enough sense not to enter a room where two people could barely find enough place to stand by the bed squeezed by the opposite wall. Xan turned to see who was standing by the door and saw Daria, with almost nothing on her.
It wasn't that the sun elf was naked, no. She was dressed quite decently in light tunic and leggings, which probably belonged to Jaheira, but without a single amulet or magic ring on her. After countless attacks on her life she got used to wearing protective charms even in her sleep and a pirate tavern didn't strike him as a place safe enough to change this reasonable custom. The diviner didn't wear her thick black cloak or her heavy dark robe, so compared to her usual level of dressing she was practically unclothed.
She smiled gently, tenderly, when he turned to look at her. His gaze fell to her bare shoulders, but returned to her face almost at once. He certainly wasn't going to lose control over his reactions again, just like the last time she wore something lighter, in Trademeet.
"I can't sleep. Would you mind if I stayed with you for a while?" she asked, leaning on the doorframe. Xan glanced around his undersized abode. It only had a window, completely covered with dirt, and a bed, now buried under a pile of scrolls.
"Make yourself comfortable" he sighed, putting the scrolls back to his pack in even bigger disorder than before. He'd have to reorganize them first thing in the morning.
She closed the door behind her and sat on the bed, putting her arms around him. He held her back, just like he got used to during long hours of lazy boredom on the ship. They barely talked then, watching the clear sky, rarely choosing some neutral topic, like the weather of the arcane. Every serious conversation could lead to lead to painful matters and none of them seemed to want look too close into the future or past. Every thought could lead Xan to uncomfortable ones, like that he was only a remedy for a heart broken after Anomen's leaving, that maybe Daria wasn't old enough to know what love was. They both wanted to avoid awkward words so they spoke about the weather, thinking about clouds.
Daria kissed him on a cheek and then on the mouth, trying to stir him from his thoughts, demanding some attention. He kissed her back trying to shake of all the grim pondering. She helped him in this task pressing her body against his and deepening their kiss with boldness and lust he did not expect from her.
"Mmph… Daria… It might not be a best moment for that" he uttered through her lips, but she didn't reply. She was trembling in his grasp and he began to suspect that passion had nothing to do with it. He carefully guided her to sit back on the bed, feeling the taste of her lips even though the kiss has already ended. His arms closed around her, keeping the sun elf cuddled to his chest.
"I want this to happen" she whispered.
"Daria… dear… It's natural that you're afraid, I'd be seriously alarmed of you were not, but it's not a way to deal with it. After all these trials you faced to find Imoen don't let your courage desert you now. We will be lost without it. We will be lost most likely anyway, but…" Xan fell silent realizing he was straying from the subject and not really helping. He held her a bit closer. Usually she wouldn't be bothered by his realistic attitude, but for once he wanted to comfort her properly.
When after a while she didn't speak, neither her trembling subsided, he risked a look at her face. The sun elf immediately shifted to hide it from his view, but not before he saw tears silently flowing from her eyes in an unstoppable stream.
"Melamin… what's the matter?" For the first time he called her his love. His love was crying…
How could she tell him? She wanted to assure him that all that happened mattered, that nothing was in vain. …that even if she died he'd find happiness again, after time. But for once she wanted to spare him the worry, the pain the future was to bring.
"Everything's going to be alright" she sobbed and he heard a sharp lie in her voice. He fell a chill rising up his spine.
"You saw something, didn't you?" he forced the question out.
"Spellhold is blocked from my sight… I see nothing." It sounded logical, but he knew her too well not to recognize when she was trying to hide something. A horrible thought struck him.
"Something's going to happen? Someone's going to… die?" he asked with empty voice, struggling to utter the last word. He didn't know, but somehow he suspected that she didn't come here because of fear of the unknown, but quite the opposite. He couldn't know what awaited them in the Spellhold, but of one she made him certain. It was a farewell.
"Answer me, please." Daria avoided eye-contact, but he took her face in his palms, giving her no other option but to look at him. And she looked like an empty husk of wild fear, a person staring straight into the face of death, seeing nothing behind it.
He buried her in his arms again, unable to watch the mind-taking fear changing her features into a mask. Together they were, holding to each other like two shipwrecks, only dragging each other deeper into despair, until the tiredness dulled their senses and welcomed them in its sleep. Hours might have passed, but it was like a blink of an eye, before a loud knocking sounded at the doors.
"Daria! I know you're in there!" A loud banging at the door woke them both up from this hypnotic sate, along with Jaheira's voice. "You haven't been in your room for the night! Could you both dress and come downstairs? We're waiting for you!"
She looked up at the majestic and sinister building rising on the cliff. It didn't look like it was fragile and easily washed up by the sea like the buildings in Brynnlaw. No, it had something terrifying and ancient about it, making it look like it was older than the cliff and the sea, like if it was a projection of madness itself, inhibiting these lands from the first breath drawn here by a conscious man, or even longer - madness waiting in this land to grip those who would only appear.
She tried to step forward, but her feet wouldn't listen to her. A gauge in her throat was throttling her, making it only barely possible to breathe. The scent of the sea, the soft caress of the Sun, the sound of the waves splashing at the shore… so sharp that it almost hurt, yet so sweet she couldn't stand the notion that it's the last time she feels them.
She was going to die in a moment. Her stomach lurched and she knew she wouldn't make even a single step. She was going to die and never feel those wonderful emotions, sense the word around her, exist anymore. She would crumble to dust and all that will be left of her would be an essence of her sire. Her knees weakened when she tried to understand that what was her would be destroyed in a moment and she simply wouldn't be anymore.
Tears began to roll down her face. She wouldn't make a step. She wanted to live, more than ever, now that she knew her love returned. To jump into the water and feel the soothing cold burden of wet clothes on her skin, to swim as far as she could, to Athkatla even, it all seemed to be more possible than... than death.
"Don't fear Daria! The evil Irenicus will be the one to fall under the punishing fist of righteousness!" How wrong Minsc was…
"Child, I know it's difficult, but we shouldn't linger." Lingering is all she had left of life.
"From what I heard the dark magic of this Irenicus has caused enough harm already. He's all the evil of magic impersonated and we have to defeat him." We wouldn't.
Yoshimo stayed silent, without a cheery mask on his face. He didn't need to pretend anymore. It would all be over soon.
Xan stood in front of her. When she raised her eyes at him she saw the reflection of her own fear and despair mirrored in his. 'We had so little time...' she only managed to think when he suddenly embraced her, burying her in his arms, and kissed her in the mouth fully, deeply. 'And so the last vision falls into place like a puzzle' she let herself being swept by what buried itself into her mind as a scent of magic forever. There were always some unexplained visions of the future ahead showing her, sometimes in strange situations, but now there was nothing, and all that remained was the end.
She caressed her beloved's face for a moment, tenderness silencing any other emotion.
"I'm ready melamin. I can go now" she whispered.
He didn't answer looking into her face as if he was trying to remember every detail of her features for the rest of his life. He probably did.
And then they entered the Spellhold together, walking arm in arm.